Guillermo Scott Herren has already released three albums this year and on top of that sneakily put out a Japan-only album titled “Meditation Upon Meditations” consisting of nothing more than beats. From what I can tell, the most recognizable tracks on here go all the way back to 2005. “Travel Journal” was a bonus track for the Japanese version of 2005’s “Surrounded By Silence,” here we have it renamed as “So Much Over Time.” Other tracks include “Return From Home” and “Pescado” that were featured on the “Megachopped Suite,” a download-only from the Warp website accompanying 2007’s “Preparations/Interregnums” albums. Fans of Herren’s work will not be disappointed with this release. It is a mixture of the old and new weaved in and out of each track. Here’s a simple thought: I love how Herren uses his voice for harmonization over the melody for much of his beats. Why isn’t this one out on wax?

For my part, The Clonious came out of nowhere this year with his wonderful “Androit Adventures” EP including a collaboration with relatively newcomer, beatmaker/singer Muhsinah and producer/remixer Dorian Concept. “Between the Dots” is the answer to the “Androit Adventures” EP. From Vienna, Austria, home to like-minded producer Dorian Concept, The Clonious is making some serious moves with his two releases on Ubiquity. If I had to describe the sound, it fits somewhere between the futuristic soul of production trio Sa-Ra Creative Partners, the energetic, synth-noodling of Dorian Concept and the warm, layered, stuttering beats of Dimlite. The Clonious seems to be no stranger to the keys and horns, tracks like “If Joe Had The Power” bring out the musician over layered melodies and hip hop claps while a trumpet or sax ride out the beat creating some serious electronic funk. No joke. What’s really caught me off guard about many of the tracks on “Between the Dots” is not only the production but the live instrumentation. The fusing of jazz patterns over beats is nothing new. However, there seems to be some of that found throughout the release and it works out well. Both The Clonious and Dorian Concept work the keys on “Dataflow,” a jazz-influenced stepper, one of my favorites from the album. Other collaborations include Dudley Perkins and Georgia Anne Muldrow.

This album is serious business - some of the best dark drone/ambient music I've heard this year. Closest to Deaf Center in terms of Type's catalogue, and despite the heaviness, it also somehow contains patches of the soaring strings that Stars of the Lid do so well. Harrowing at times, but very good.

Peter Hook, formerly the bassist of both Joy Division and New Order, is (according to everyone involved) kind of a dick - he led to New Order's first breakup, in 1993, and also to their second, earlier this year. Thus, the remaining 3/4ths of New Order have created a new band, and it's the wackiest thing Bernard Sumner has ever done; an album of acoustic pop songs, without a synthesizer in sight. It veers a tiny bit towards cheese, at times, but is quite worth checking out.

~Treibgut fits snuggly into the sonic world of Raster-Noton. For this EP, his first release for the label, Grischa Lichtenberger's primary sources are found sounds from the world around him, including the sound of a sliding tabletop, the noise of a radiator and the humming of a broken device. Apparently, the music reflects Lichtenberger's reflections on the landscape of the river Rhein. Which, frankly, comes as something of a surprise since nature is just about the last thing that the music evokes. The atmosphere is extremely industrial and manufactured. Like the music of label primus motor Alva Noto, Lichtenberger's work is all percussive. He takes his sound sources and manipulates and processes them, cuts them up and rearranges them into rhythmic structures. But while Noto's music is often quite refined and minimal, ~Treibgut is like a jackhammer and power drill got together and decided to form a band. Opening track, 0406_01_RS!, is like the cacophony of a factory – metal on metal, pistons pumping rhythmically, distorted bursts of steam, flying sparks from a welder’s blowtorch. With one exception, the tracks all bear similar names, rows of numbers and letters, like numbered incidents in a long line of laboratory experiments. Or products on an assembly line. There are no melodies in the conventional sense of the word or other discernible instruments at play. The drill effect that users of the Ableton Live's Beat Repeat are so familiar with is the defining sound throughout. It’s a mechanical world. The one exception is calipso, which appears to refer to the CALIPSO environmental satellite launched jointly in 2006 by NASA and CNES, the U.S. and French space programs, and which measures aerosols and clouds 24 hours a day. Appropriately, it features a slightly lighter touch and an unusual sounding guitar providing the sole instance of melodic content on the EP. But the power tools are back in full force on the closing track, 0106_13_lv_3 sand ausheben, which translates as "excavate sand" - an indication that there is more heavy lifting to come. The title ~Treibgut refers to the German proverbial Treibholz, describing a piece of wood floating in a river or the sea. "In this sense it expresses a relation to things: between the observer and the floating thing, which has obliterated its functionality, there is no immediate connection – there is a lack of unifying meaning. Of it, the observer always only sees aspects, while the thing, without him on its mind, drifts by." It'll probably take you a while to grasp the meaning of the concept. Meanwhile, it is best to let the power tools do their work...

In the 70s, French musicians created tons and tons of material for use in film and television, most of which was never released. The material was mostly avant-garde use of jazz and what little electronic material they had, mainly Moogs and home made synths. Loosely involved in this scene, in 1975, Bernard Fevre released the ultra-rare The Strange World of Bernard Fevre, a composition of experimental electronics and library music. Three years later, as Black Devil, he released the classic, but rare "Disco Club" single. In 2001 and 2002, Luke Vibert started to shed the light on much of this material in his "Nuggets" series for Lo, on which Fevre appears. In 2004, Rephlex re-released the "Disco Club" single. Since then, Fevre has gone on to release three albums of what is new/what is old material for Lo, to great acclaim. This album is a more official re-release, but the track listing is different, and there has definitely been some updates to the sounds, though how much who knows. What's important is that everything Fevre has done, whether he did it in the 70s or recently, has been incredibly intriguing work, and this album is no exception. Strange New World wavers between synth-based experimental and electro sounds.

Times New Viking are my favorite band of the year, for sure; I've spent the past few months absorbing their back catalog, and "Present the Paisley Reich" is just barely their best album (the competition is very strong in each case). This album is where it all comes together; unbelievably energetic and caustically abrasive indie/punk (with a couple slower tracks) delivered in a perfectly calcluated wall of noise, which actually belies their songwriting ability. Times New Viking could, in all seriousness, sell millions of records if they just did straightforward pop songs - though then they wouldn't be able to write songs entitled "Imagine Dead John Lennon." (Also check out their charming blog on the Matador website, entitled "Fuck Your Blog.")

Dorian Concept’s “When Planets Explode” was released earlier this year on the great Kindred Spirits label to much acclaim and here we are with another killer release, “Trilingual Dance Sexperience.” The two track 12” is full of heavy synth, house influenced and energetic goodness. Words cannot describe the warmth and intensity found in the title track “Trilingual Dance Sexperience” and “Tropical Hands.” Dorian Concept seems to have always poked around in the house music genre and the title track has really taken his sound full circle blurring the lines of future beats and spacey house into one. “Tropical Hands” feels like a rocket ship gearing up for blast off and BOOM, away we go—the track explodes into a 4/4 hip hop beat stepper full energy and yes, much warmth and intensity. Highly recommended.

Risil is a group headed by Guillermo Scott Herren (Prefuse 73, Savath & Savalas) consisting of Tyondai Braxton (Battles), Roberto Carlos Lange (Savath & Savalas), Ryan Rasheed (LebLaze), Alejandra and Claudia Deheza (School of Seven Bells), John McEntire (Tortoise), Eva Puyuelo Muns (Savath & Savalas), Zach Hill (Hella), Laurenz Pike (Triosk, Pivot) and members of Sunn O))). “Non Meters Vol. 1” is a densely layered excursion into a melodious, textured, fuzzy, droned out, powerful noise. The beauty found in this release is immaculate. The Deheza sister’s voices jump back and forth singing “There Has to Be” and “Air” in a southing, rhythmic manner on the track titled “There Has to Be.” Eva Puyuelo Muns’ vocals on “Son of Yucatan” gives me goose bumps as she sings a soft melody over quiet guitar and hints of percussion rattle in the background. What I find most interesting about the release is the combination of rhythm over this immense wall of whirling sound. The vocals at times are nothing more than a harmonization of the melody or vocoded and sung at the same volume as everything else. The sounds of free jazz, drone metal, electronic, choral music and everything in between are present on “Non Meters Vol. 1.” Highly recommended.

Listening to Tummaa requires preparation. At least, it requires knowledge of the intent behind this album. Let me set the stage. The intent is 'darkness'. And this is its music. Tummaa reflects the mood recreated by Sasu Ripatti, composing under the moniker Vladislav Delay, while living on a remote island in the Baltic Sea during the time of year known as 'kaamos' (polar night). This is precisely the time from December to February, where there is only a few hours of light per day. This overall feeling of darkness made an enormous impression on Ripatti. The track titles alone construct the following message: Kuula (Kiitos) means Bullet (Thank You); Mustelmia means Bruises; Musta Planeetta - Black Planet; Toive - Wish; and finally Tunnelivisio (ok, can you guess that one?) - Tunnel Vision. Ripatti last made a sizable impression on me with his previous album Whistleblower. Now, back in Finland after seven years of living in Berlin, Ripatti returns with a few elements from his roots as a percussionist. The album may take more than a few listens for the followers of Vladislav Delay's to get into the groove. There is no dub on here. Instead, gentle piano riffs and Rhodes licks are interrupted with clicks, chirps and musique concrète snippets of sounds snatched from a variety of metallic and industrial sources. Even a deep rumbling sigh becomes a bass here. This is Ripatti's return to the source of acoustic and organic. “I wanted to take a new direction with Vladislav Delay, with more acoustic sound sources,” he explains. “I avoided as much electronics as possible, wanting to bring myself closer to my background as a drummer and percussionist. [...] I just love hitting things... making sounds physically without needing a power plug.” The album incorporates some abstract and jazzy improvisation featuring a live trio – Lucio Capece on saxophone and clarinet, Craig Armstrong on the keys, and Ripatti on percussion. After intensive sample manipulation, some modulations remind me of descending spaceships from the 70s. Some sound a lot like circuit bending emissions. Some sounds are like nothing I've ever heard before (from an organic source). All of this is blended with the swirls of abstract effects, sporadic glitches and scattered ambiance, floating in a three dimensional stereo field. Through this dark and somber concoction, full of dread and isolation, we descend into Tummaa. I can imagine the overall recording to be a flashback to a bad psychedelic trip. At times groovy, hypnotic, and rough around the edges. The entire experience will keep your ears prickled up, and your eyes wide open. A serious juxtaposition of sounds even for a seasoned listener.