40

1000 Names, Worth Making A Noise About ! [Eklektik]

1000 Names is an act making off beat noise in this new generation of beatmakers. It was great to hear these guys finally release something after hearing all the hype being played on such radio shows as Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide and Benji B’s Deviation. The influences that this release is built upon include 80/90s video game graphics to acts like Madlib, Flying Lotus, and Prefuse 73. Europe is doing it big with the beats; watch out.

~ gravelheadwrap

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Download: Fly To The Cities

39

Peter Broderick, Float [Type]

Hailing out of Portland, Peter Broderick emerges on the beloved Type Records, with this cozy and cinematic modern classical album. Combining string instruments and his gentle piano playing, Broderick steps up to the stage which has been a bit lonely since Max Richter's 2006 masterpiece, Songs From Before. This young musician has a bright future ahead of him, having already worked with Library Tapes and Efterklang. Float gently captures the familiar and elegant elements of our favorite classical compositions. As any soundtrack written for a passing life, it transcends its message past the minor key, allowing the listener to relax, breathe in, and float with the music.

~ Headphone Commute

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Download: A Snowflake

38

Color Cassette, Small Town Smoker [Mobeer]

The Moteer micro-brewery pumped out a real gem with Color Cassette's "b-sides" to their 2009 debut album, assembled as its own album here. Downtempo, indielectronic folk or something with even more adjectives and those words mixed together is probably the best way to describe this. If you've heard Moteer's founders The Remote Viewer or anything else Moteer, Color Cassette is a natural evolution of that sound. How this Lexington, KY crossed up their sound with the likes of The Boats and The Remote Viewer I'll probably never know. So delicate and intricate, Small Town Smoker is that relic that's barely survived, and is all the more pristine because of it.

~ onecaseman

Download: Acrost Ponds

37

Jacaszek, Treny [Miasmah]

Michal Jacaszek records melancholy stringed melodies, then digitally manipulates the samples into loops and reverberations, and creates timeless pieces that echo the ghostly voices of overbearing loss. And that's not just my observation. The modern classical pieces were inspired after a collection of elegiac poems, written by a Jan Kochanowski after the death of his little daughter, Orszula. It's no wonder that the music is filled with emotion, tension, and grief. Jacaszek delicately folds his fascination with passing, vanishing, and ending, using a masterful hand of a musical poet. A graceful addition to an already growing roster of a rapidly maturing label.

~ Headphone Commute

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Download: Lament

36

Evan Bartholomew, Secret Entries Into Darkness [Somnia]

Evan Bartholomew is a man of many faces. But among his tech-house moniker of Evan Marc and a critically acclaimed downtempo psybient alias of Bluetech, lies his deep and musical side, covered with his real name. Spawning another label, Somnia, Evan has confidently entered the landscape of ambient and modern classical with his late 2007 release, Caverns Of Time. But with Secret Entries Into Darkness, Bartholomew descends even deeper into the realms of the uncharted and unknown, keeping the listener a little spooked and at all times captivated. This album unfolds its secrets with multiple listens, as the blissfully meditative pads turn into hypnotic pulsating tones and drag you down, closer towards the very center of being. Looking forward to continuation of this series on a beautiful new label, Somnia. 

~ Headphone Commute

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Download: Light Reflecting Black In Shadow

35

Daedelus, Love To Make Music To [Ninja Tune]

Daedelus seems to have no problem releasing large amounts of quality music; I’m pretty sure his limits are endless. “Love to Make Music To” is Daedelus’s newest release and quite a nice one at that. He seems to be singing more and more these days over his very dance-floor grooves and laid back soulful pieces. Daedelus always has a different, unique take on his sound on each release. Sometimes the sound is simply a continuation in a new direction. Either way, I’m liking the direction Daedelus has gone on “Love to Make Music To.”

~ gravelheadwrap

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Download: Get Off Your HiHats

34

Zomby, Where Were U In '92? [Werk]

The title says it all. Zomby’s debut release is a throwback to early hardcore/rave music. It's an interesting take on the ever changing dubstep genre and well, early 90s hardcore/rave music. I can say that after first hearing the album, it left me feeling a little nostalgic of the days when I first learned about DJ-ing and raves and the people involved in my home town. But, that’s besides the point. The point is that Zomby really shook some ground with “Where Were U In ’92?” I’m sure Zomby has opened up many young ears to a pioneering sound.

~ gravelheadwrap

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Download: Float

33

Shocking Pinks, Emily [DFA]

The rule about remix albums is: remix albums are not very good, or at the very least, they're inconsistent. "Emily" (also released a vinyl double-pack under a different name, "Cutout / Dressed to Please") is possibly the best one that I've yet heard, as all five tracks---extended DFA-ish and/or dub techno expansions---are improvements on the originals as well as outstanding songs in their own right. One of the remixes even managed to find itself as our top song of the year, and deservedly so.

~ playbynumbers

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Download: Cutout (Expanding Head Band Version) 

32

Crystal Antlers, Crystal Antlers [Touch And Go]

I really don’t know much about these guys other than that they are from Long Beach, CA and went on tour this summer. The Crystal Antlers EP/album is one of the craziest releases I’ve heard in awhile. The vocals are interesting, both in the lyrics and the way they aresung. The music is very energizing and upbeat; it’s a huge psychedelic freak-out with bits of punk, garage, and surf thrown in. The production is wonderful, its very airy and sounds reminiscent of a 60s psych album.

~ gravelheadwrap

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Download: A Thousand Eyes

31

Windy & Carl, Songs For The Broken-Hearted [Kranky]

This duo has been around for quite a while, but I hadn't really been too impressed by anything they've done until now. But I am now very impressed! Pastoral drone/ambient, with occasional guitar and vocals; the closest comparison I could think of was with their Kranky labelmate, Stars of the Lid (and this is better than SOTL's latest full-length). Sounds like: sitting in an autumn forest in the middle of the night.

~ playbynumbers

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Download: My Love