20

Clark, Totems Flare [Warp]

Last year we got a slammer from Clark with his Turning Dragon album. And it looks like Chris is not going to slow down any time soon. Dark punctuated electro and techno beats are accompanied by experimental twists and even Clark’s own distorted voice. With a distinct touch of over-compressed synth stabs, wandering acid arpeggios and schizophrenia driven rhythms, Clark scratches at the faces of all the confident IDM albums this year, standing out all on its own with plenty of room to slither and bleed. While Warp records continues to explore its pop and indie side, it is Clark who drives the label’s acclaimed electronic branch towards new heights and frontiers.

~ Headphone Commute

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Download: Rainbow Voodoo

19

William Basinski, 92982 [2062]

Ever since The Disintegration Loops, Basinski has been impressing us with his beautiful melodies which he records on a magnetic tape and then splices into loops on his reel-to-reel. It seems such a simple concept, yet its execution and impact, although often imitated, has not been matched till this day. With 92982, Basinski digs up his earlier pieces, that continue to captivate me in that dreamlike state evoked by repetition, and slight drifting of sound. Beneath the humming and the hiss of this aged field recording hides a melancholic flashback to he distant times, revealing itself only upon continuous listening and complete surrender into the sound. This is another instant classic.

~ Headphone Commute

Official Site   Download from Amazon

Download: 1

18

The Clonious, Between The Dots [Ubiquity]

I first heard Paul Movahedi's The Clonious project on the Yes Yes Yall's blog compilation followed by the "Androit Adventures" EP. Then, out of nowhere "Between the Dots" dropped on Ubiquity, and it's seriously a wonderful album. The sound is somewhere between fellow Austrian and collaborator Dorian Concept and Prefuse 73. Jazz influenced hip-hop without a lot of boundaries put on it. At times very forward-thinking and at times more traditional. Tracks like "If Joe Had The Power" and "One At A Time" make nice anthems. Definitely a young hip-hop producer on the rise.

~ gravelheadwrap

Download: If Joe Had the Power

17

Intrusion, The Seduction Of Silence [Echospace]

Spearheading the output of today's finest minimal dub techno genre is a Detroit based label, Echospace. And Stephen Hitchell, aka Intrusion, is one of its staple artists. In 2007, Hitchell along with Rod Modell froze our hearts with Echospace's The Coldest Season. It is now time for the thaw. In a blanket of white noise and minor chords, Hitchell unveils an album that brings life back into our hibernating souls. By the next decade, journalists will tire of comparing these dubbed out sounds to the output of The Basic Channel, and will begin to draw parallels to the releases of Echospace, of which Intrusion, is in no doubt will be the most memorable.

~ Headphone Commute

Echospace Official Site   Buy from Amazon

Download: Montego Bay

16

Ben Frost, By The Throat [Border Community]

Hearing Ben Frost for the first time is a physical experience. Your neck stiffens, your heart drops, and your teeth become super sensitive. Somewhere behind your back you feel the breathing of a wolf. His eyes scanning for that vein. The music of Ben Frost is the genuine experience of acoustic terror clawing from your ears towards your soul, each sound turning into a new layer of movement in this ambient hardcore ballet, dancing in the midnight with the beast. I was already impressed with Frost's 2006 soundtrack for the sterile ward of the unstable, Theory of Machines. Three years later that meditation cultivates into organic monster, ready to leap at you through your daydreams, and grab you by the throat. Hear what everyone is talking about! Superb.

~ Headphone Commute

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Download: Through The Roof Of Your Mouth

15

The Flaming Lips, Embryonic [Warner Bros.]

I'll be honest, I feel somewhat guilty about writing off The Flaming Lips in 2007; who knew they had this album in them? Wayne Coyne is almost 50, after all, and I think I can be forgiven for figuring that it was all mid-tempo "adult" indie from here on out. "Embryonic" immediately reminded me of their "Priest-Driven Ambulance" phase; harsh, metallic, like an LSD trip gone very bad. Yet, you know, in a good way!  Hard to believe that this band started releasing music in 1984; I was two years old at the time.

~ playbynumbers

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Download: Watching The Planets

14

Kona Triangle, Sing A New Sapling Into Existence [Dealmaker]

Kona Triangle is a wonderful collaboration between beat makers Lone and Keaver & Brause. Lone made quite a few waves with his second album Lemurian last year, and has been trying to keep the momentum going with a solo album and 12" this year in addition to this collab. Keaver & Brause debuted last year with his excellent album "The Middle Way". The Kona Triangle release really caught me off guard this year. I had no idea this collaboration was in the works, and it's been one of the most heavily played albums in my player this year. Nice warm, summery beats from two of instrumental hip-hop's best young producers.

~ gravelheadwrap

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Download: Shine Alight

13

Phoenix, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix [V2]

I first discovered Phoenix with the film Lost in Translation. While "Too Young" was very charming, it's always a band I didn't think of I could sit through a full album. Their classically themed fourth album changed that in a hurry. With three years from their last album, Phoenix have semingly perfected a sound that is every bit as pop-friendly as a synth rock band can be, but also extremely engaging to a more indie-inclined audience. The fact that they can bait and switch between electronics and guitars and rock and dance music so effortlessly is a testament to their songwriting. Any other band attempting this style of music would make for very jarring sound, but with Phoenix it's seamless and incredibly enjoyable. While commercial television is trying to ruin the opening two tracks by playing them until oblivion over everything, there's plenty to enjoy further into the disc. Ditch any pretensions you may have about this album's popularity and just enjoy it.

~ onecaseman

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Download: Lisztomania

12

Lone, Ecstasy & Friends [Werk]

With his compatriate Bibio changing up his game in 2009 and a very late release date, Lone's new album has flown criminally under the radar. Ecstasy & Friends is Matt Cutler's follow-up to last year's eye-opening Lemurian, a record that garnered a lot of interest from the hip-hop world even though his debut album flew under the radar. Not surprising, this album continues in the same hip-hop vibe as Lemurian. Slowed-down, summery beats, Boards of Canada-esque synth work, and well-timed tempo shifts dominate the record, but it's a sound that's so endearing, you don't mind hearing it again. There's certainly a sense of Lone settling into a formula here, and it would be nice to hear him evolve in the way Bibio and Clark have this year, but you certainly can't blame him for sticking to this sound when it's not remotely like what anyone else is doing, and it sounds this good.

~ onecaseman

Download: Love Heads

11

Lotus Plaza, The Floodlight Collective [Kranky]

Deerhunter guitarist Lockett Pundt struck out on his own this year with his first album under the Lotus Plaza alias. Bradford Cox seems to get all of the attention as the Deerhunter frontman, but Pundt is a key contributor to the sound. Because of this, The Floodlight Collective won't sound too different to anyone who's followed Deerhunter over the last couple of years. Pundt is largely credited with bringing the dreamlike, shoegazy quality to a lot of Deerhunter's work, and it's easy to see as you float through the album. Words like etherial and hypnotic are thrown around way too often as adjectives for music, but Lotus Plaza, I can't think of better descriptions to fit the music. Vocals and percussion are partially muted through the haze of guitar. When you take this type of approach with the album, really going for dreamlike, it's easy to put a listener to sleep, but that's what so remarkable about The Floodlight Collective. The haze is something you can hold onto throughout the album without ever needing a pillow.

~ onecaseman

MySpace  Buy from Amazon

Download: Red Oak Way