Anders Ilar comes back with an intelligent minimal techno album, full of ambient and glitch elements that compliment the ongoing groove in every single way. And I guess it wouldn't be fair to file Sworn under minimal techno. After all, the only stylistic hint at that category is its four-four beat, and not on every track. The rest of the music is as close to techno as was The Last Resort by Trentemøller (I mean that in a good way). And I don't just accidentally mention that name. The production and experimental IDM touch, which Anders Ilar is so proficient at, indeed reminds me of Trentemøller's excellent work. And it shouldn't be a surprise. The Swedish producer has considerable output behind him on many excellent labels, such as Shitkatapult, Audio.nl, the dearly missed Merck, and its offshoot, Narita. The latter mentioned label survived its parent only by a year and a half, announcing the news that during late summer of this year (2008), it will release its last compilation, sadly titled Terminal (although it also fits within Narita's nomenclature relating to the Tokyo airport). Meanwhile, its last release this past April was none other then a collaboration between Anders Ilar and Fredrik Hedvall, titled Melt. Ilar's 2006 LP on Merck, Ludwijka, and its extended release in 2007 on Shitkatapult should serve as an excellent base and a great predecessor to Sworn. I usually begin my Ilar playlist with the former and end it with the latter, and I recommend you do the same. This is a great [re]discovery!

With his twelfth album, Tom Jenkinson takes even a further departure from his staple Squarepuher sound of broken beats atop slapped bass and twisted triggers of the Amen Break. Warp's own store, Warpmart, categorizes the album as "Drum and Bass / Breakcore / Electronica", but I assure you, nothing could be further from the truth! (kind of misleading actually). Just A Souvenir is more in the realms of experimental rock and future jazz, with a touch of electronic treatment and a few very tasteful drills, where Jenkinson continues evolving (as a true musician should) in his experimentation with abstract accompaniment of acoustic instruments (mostly his custom built 6 string bass guitar once again) and drums that effortlessly morph between organic and digital. With Just A Souvenir, Jenkinson introduces an element of early garage rock, with vocoder and all, and reminds us once again of his amazing instrumentalist skills. First thing's first - I like it! And after only a few listens, the melodies come back haunting me later during the day. A true sign that I will return to the album! Just A Souvenir opens up with a track titled, Star Time 2 (makes you wonder about its first part) with a fun funky synth/clavichord melody and light beats. From then on Squarepusher moves into improvisational, jazzy, and effected bass slaps over barely comprehensible vocoder blurbs. All of it is truly of psychedelic nature with sparking notes in a kaleidoscope of white, red, green, blue and yellow. On his site, Jenkinson explains that "this album started as a daydream about watching a crazy, beautiful rock band play an ultra-gig." He then goes on describing his fluorescent trip which included an Eskimo on the drums and a classical guitar player that could speed up and slow down the time in his vicinity. I recommend you read up on on Tom's blurred delirium before embarking on this trip. Then bathe yourself in this album which is the interpretation of Jenkinson's memory of the daydream which he held on to as a souvenir. Running at (only) 45 minutes long, Just A Souvenir picks up where Hello Everything left off, becoming more organic with every track. If that sounds like your cup of tea, then you'll enjoy this rubber band trip through time. Only the way Squarepusher could.

Glitch is a fascinating and underappreciated genre. I can see why most people find it boring; it's minimal, repetitive, and easy to make (though hard to make well). But when done right - and Shuttle358 is one of the most underappreciated practitioners of the genre - it can be endlessly hypnotic and beautiful. The 12k label has thankfully reissued "Frame," the 2000 classic, and I think it's a very good place to start re: glitch, which I'm assuming our readers aren't necessarily familiar with. (And as long as I'm writing about this, I might as well add; the next step could perhaps be the Mille Plateaux compilations or Oval's 94diskont.)

Another remix album from the Echospace crew, and a CD re-release of an earlier vinyl release, at that, but absolutely worth picking up. The previous five mixes are now fleshed out to nine total, and all are worth listening to; the source material is the classic Juan Atkins track ("Starlight", often altered to near-unrecognizability). Plenty of interesting variation, from dub to playful techno to ambient, produced by the label's usual stable of artists (Intrusion, Convextion, Modell, Hitchell).

It was David Madson's 2001 instrumental 10", Cloud Dead Number Five, that first grabbed my attention; I was quickly convinced that he had mastered a particular brand of hip-hop/ambient (roughly, Stars of the Lid meets 'Endtroducing...'), and I've kept an eye on his work since then. I'm happy to report that "Pretty Swell Explode" is the ideal introduction to his sound, and probably his most consistent release; Madson has come a long way from the lo-fi fragmented mix tapes of his earliest work. This album contains various remixes and a healthy dose of new and previously unreleased tracks, including a memorable guest spot by Jessica Bailiff, the best vocalist on Kranky and a common Madson collaborator.

I had very very high hopes for this album. TV on the Radio's previous effort, 2006's "Return to Cookie Mountain" was (in my view) the best album released that year, and I approached "Dear Science" with bated breath; thankfully, my hopes were mostly fulfilled. It isn't quite as good as Cookie Mountain, but makes for a very interesting step forward; it's also a bit of a grower. Sitek has abandoned the "standing in the middle of a hurricane" approach to song production, for better or worse, and the sound of their third LP is brighter, more open, with greater variation in style and genre; Tunde's singing has improved as well. Apart from a couple missteps, the album is very consistent, and will certainly be in my top 10 for the year.

Somehow Todd Chappell managed to squeeze out another ambient release this year. Maybe "squeeze out" is not such a great term. He simply opened the windows and let the inspiration fly in. After all, this Memphis artist seems to write a couple of tracks a week. In Window Seat, Chappell creates lighter melodies with an uplifting character of a major chord. Personally, I like things a bit darker and gloomier, a note with which Chappell closed up his debut, Dream Dialogue. With Window Seat he promises a glimpse of a better day. The sophomore release for Chapelle, composing under the alias The Ideal Setback, opens up its petals in a morning glory after a heavy midnight storm. For me, the two albums encompass the yin and yang of Chapelle's awakening to the complex beauty of the simplicity within minimal ambient sound. One, measured with darker and brooding dissonance; the other, with basic ratios of baroque tonality. Both are in play, depending on the mood. In Window Seat, Chappell attempts to touch the essence within Brian Eno's words: "Ambient Music must be able to accommodate many levels of listening attention without enforcing one in particular; it must be as ignorable as it is interesting." These words were printed back in 1978, within the liner notes of Eno's Music for Airports - one of my all-time favorite ambient pieces till this day. Thirty years later, Chappell keeps these ideas going. Recommended for super early mornings, when you haven't slept all night, and your mind is overly tired, but still awake.

With a title over ten words, you'd think that Benjamin Page composed a post-rock or perhaps an ambient album, where track and album naming is something of an art form. Nothing could be further from the truth. Page's solo release under Elite Barbarian moniker, titled It's only when you get to the end that it all makes sense, is an abstract and experimental electronic improvisation utilizing samplers and hardware synthesizers. Listening to this music is a mild demented experience. In a humid summer haze, I put my ear against a hollow, cold, and sterile wall, to eavesdrop on the copulating circuit organisms, dying in the process. At the center of this bleeping pile is a solitary piano, protecting its modesty with ripped out coiled strings. The sounds are kept and twisted against their own will, in a foreign confinement, away from their beloved ones. Only now and then, they are permitted to venture beyond the virtual barricades of their man-made asylum, for a brief glimpse of their abandoned soul. This album makes the first catalog addition to Front & Follow, a new Manchester based label releasing limited edition and attention oriented packaging. The releases are not constrained to physical copies - digital editions are available from a number of online stores (iTunes, Amazon, Bleep).

The record patiently awaits its turn among the large pile of music. Finally it is allowed to play, to shine, to sing, and to scream in its beautiful agony. It's like this: if you are a drooling mischievous apocalyptic follower of Godspeed You! Black Emperor or Mono, as well as Pelican, Neurosis, and Isis, then you absolutely must get this album. One Starving Day is a group of Italian musicians, with a previous experience in some hardcore bands, but what they whip up on their debut album, Broken Wings Lead Arms to the Sun, is beyond metal, beyond screamo and post-nu-post-rock. It is a blend of very melodic and voluptuous swells of unfolding desperation which erupts into the mass of lava... flowing... slowly... All you can do is just stand there, agape, watching it helplessly wash over your ears, consuming everything in its path. Take the intimate lyrics on my favorite track on the album, Leave: "on these tears / lay down, and wait / for becoming / an abandon / to soothe / all your fears / a pure heart / to soothe / and leave". Into this deadly cocktail, throw in the spacey 70s synth sweeps, raw violin screeches, and explosive (excellent) drumming. And I did mention the screamed vocals, right? That may sound discouraging to some listeners (or readers), but it works very well for One Starving Day, and is actually more than welcomed by yours truly (surprise!). The CD was released on Washington DC based Planaria Recordings, and then repressed on a colored 12" vinyl with two extra unreleased tracks on an accompanying 7" by KNVBI Records. Whether you're a collector or not, this record must be in your library for the likes of the above mentioned bands.

Metaform is 30 year old Justice Aaron, an instrumental hip-hop producer with a whimsical style that recalls The Avalanches and DJ Shadow. I was tipped off to him through last.fm (thanks scarsandglasses), and that type of discovery seems appropriate for this record, whose sound comes across very much as an amateur having fun with different sounds instead of a pro with a refined sense of a style. That description is not meant as disrespect, as that approach is really the charm of this album. Metaform tackles a lot of different sounds in the hip-hop framework, yet extends outside it when needed. It kind of stands apart from a lot of the instrumental hip-hop out right now as it goes back to some of the more predominant sounds around the turn of the millenium. It really begs the question of why those sounds went out of fashion. Metaform's definitely showing there's a lot to do with playful, sample-based beats, and that producers don't have to stay so moody all the time. This is the sound of a producer going all out.