I would’ve included it although it’s a big fav of mine, but I noticed it go a lot of likes.
Reissue of the decade along with Sgt Pepper & The Beatles (White Album) IMHO.
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My favourites this year have included albums released by the following artists:
Bruce Springsteen
Pond
Richard Hawley
Ese and the Vooduu People
Calexico & Iron and Wine
The Delines
Sharon Van Etten
Lloyd Cole
Josh Ritter
Andrew Bird
Julia Jacklin
Jake Xerxes Fussell
Until a few weeks ago, I think I would have said that my album of the year was To Believe by The Cinematic Orchestra. Now, having heard Nick Cave and the Bad Seed’s Ghosteen and Titanic Rising by Weyes Blood, I’m not so sure.
So, on reflection I’m going to plump for Weyes Blood by the narrowest of margins.
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This is very high on my album of the year. Acid Tongue has long been my all time favorite Jenny Lewis album and this is an absolute return form. Love. loss, death, heartache, all wrapped up in beautiful words and music,
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Took its time to grow on me but then I saw her live at RNCM and it suddenly made sense. Glad to see if in lots of end of year lists.
Lana del rey- Norman F****** Rockwell
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Quite good but my goodness it’s overlong. I could grow a beard.
Got to agree: it could lose 3 or 4 tracks and not suffer. I also find the f word annoying on some songs, and I am no prude! Still comfortably the best LDR album for me though
I am really enjoying the new Tindersticks, ‘No Treasure But Hope’. One of those bands that just keep ploughing their own furrow with quiet quality.
Bruce
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So, here’s this year’s list – whittled painfully down from the 159 albums I bought that were released for the first time this year, plus a couple of re-issues.
I’ve tried to give at least some insight as to what’s what – I appreciate that the list contains a lot of off-track music, but that’s what I listen to!
Rock, Metal, Pop
De Lorians - De Lorians
Japanese jazz-rock fusion that’s two parts Soft Machine Third and one part contemporary Zappa.
Chris Forsyth - All Time Present
Superb musician, whose guitar style is somewhere between Tom Verlaine and Richard Thompson but is definitely his own.
The Hu - The Gereg
Mongolian metal, with a hint of Glam. Heavy on the horse-head fiddle and throat singing. One of my most-played albums of the year.
Le Superhomard - Meadow Lane Park
French pop in the style (and yes, very much so, of later Stereolab. None the worse for that though!
Motorpsycho - The Crucible
Three long-form Prog tracks from Norwegian veterans – one of their best for years (and that’s saying something.
Nodens Ictu - Kozfest Live
Festival time with Ed Wynne (of Ozric Tentacles fame). Time to break out that old tent and accessories.
Alain Pire Expérience - APEX
Pop music as if it’s a paisley 1967/8. And in Belgium.
Rammstein - Rammstein
A long wait for this one, and at first I was a little underwhelmed, but it’s grown enormously. The video here is a little NSFW (though in a National Geographic sort of way).
Space Debris - Freak Valley Festival - Archive Volume 5
German space/stoner rock that really comes into its own live. Couldn’t find an exact video match, but this will give you a clue. Their “Dark Star” is variations on the Voodoo Chile (Slight Return) riff, under the title of Mountain.
The Spacelords - On Stage (Live)
More German stoner rock, this time a hairier three piece.
Tool - Fear Inoculum
An even longer wait! Utterly brilliant though to make up for it.
Stephan Thelen - Fractal Guitar Remixes
Swiss guitarist’s second album of the year (if you count the parent studio album as his first). I pick this version because of the remixes in general, and the Bill Laswell one in particular. Also features Marcus Reuter, Henry Kaiser et al. The video is from the originating, un-remixed album.
Electronic
JB Dunckel & Jonathan Fitoussi - Mirages
Combination of the bloke from Air and Fitoussi, a leading French analogue synthesist, this is a combination of the ethereal and the unmistakeable sound of instrumental Air.
Eskostatic - Serpentines & Valleys
A cross-border collaboration this time – Martin Nonstatic from The Netherlands, and Esko Barba from Sweden, in a typical Ultimae album of chilly glitch.
Alva Noto & Ryuichi Sakamoto - Two (Live at Sydney Opera House)
German Noto (Carsten Nicolai) adds gentle beats, subterranean mumblings and the occasional muted crash, while Sakamoto sketches out the barest ghosts of tunes on the piano. The combination works way better than my ham-fisted attempt to describe the indescribable!
The Rosen Corporation - “Hades” Live
Now this is MUCH easier. Take the sound palette from Vangelis’ Blade Runner soundtrack and create three whacking great compositions (one live, below) that do all the right Blade Runnery things without any plagiarism. It is superb (as is most of The Rosen Corporation’s stuff).
Tangerine Dream - The Sessions V
This is the “new” trio, following the loss of Edgar Froese. I must admit I thought carrying on was a poor decision, but mostly I’ve been proved wrong – especially with their series of “Session” disks’ which feature very lengthy improvisations that work really well and borrow very little in style from old Tangs. This is the latest (it’s a double CD).
Lisa Bella Donna - Afternoon Dreams
Lisa started her career off as Adam Smith, keyboard player with US Progsters Eye, but over the last couple of years she’s branched out on her own with a veritable blizzard of albums, all of them top stuff.
It’s hard to pick a winner but her double album dedicated to what the Moog can do (with a bit of help from an ARP) is just heading it for me. Marvellous sounds that will grace the best of systems, she never lets her undoubted technical skills win over the music.
Jazz
Matthew Halsall - Oneness
Given that this is an album of off-cuts from 11 years ago, it shows no signs of it. Lovely, textured chamber jazz.
Rymden - Reflections And Odysseys
Lovely stuff from Dan Berglund, Magnus Öström and Bugge Wesseltoft. Yes, there are strong elements of E.S.T. here, but when Wesseltoft switches to electric piano I’m hearing influence from mid-70s Herbie Hancock.
The Comet Is Coming - Trust In The Lifeforce Of The Deep Mystery
Great beats, strong tunes and Shabaka Hutchings blowing up a funky storm.
Classical
Josef Suk – Asrael Symphony
Czech Philharmonic, Jiří Bělohlávek, Decca
Jean Sibelius – Kullervo Symphony
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra & Lund Male Chorus, Thomas Dausgaard, Hyperion
P.S. I discovered Mahler! Yay!
Something Other
Charlie Cawood - Blurring Into Motion
Mini Chamber stuff that falls roughly into the same category as North Sea Radio Orchestra. It’s charming stuff and a debt of thanks to Denis A.
Iona Fortune - Tao of I Volume 2
Part of a set inspired by the I Ching (but don’t let that put you off) this is downtempo music combining synths and traditional Chinese instruments that never falls into the New Age trap (not that all New Age is bad).
Klaus Morlock - Dead Maids Assembly
There’s an increasing number of fake “historical” music being made by modern musicians and this is one of them, purporting to be a German composer of soundtrack music for cheap horror and soft porn movies in the 70s. Whoever’s doing it, they hit the mark very well and this is my favourite (and not because of the cover, though the Three faces Of Janice runs it close)
Reissues Of The Year
The Beatles – Abbey Road
Well, duh!
Tangerine Dream - In Search Of Hades (The Virgin Recordings 1973-1979)
A pricey box, but a well-written book, decent remasters (including the HiRes stuff from Steven Wilson) but what makes this a winner are the extras – the three early concerts in pristine sound, the proper Coventry Cathedral soundtrack, Tyrannus Oedipus, the two CDs from the formative Phaedra sessions et al.
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What a fantastic list, Nick. Plenty there to get the teeth into.
Cheers! I think it’s my 17th annual list (I dropped out for a year, tired of my own voice).
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Thank you @Nick.Lees for your tireless enthusiasm for finding new bands, albums and music that are not the normal fodder of the forum and your well considered efforts in letting us know your opinions in your annual reviews. 
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Nick, I, like many others here, I’m sure, always look forward to your album of the year post. Thanks.
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Nick, apart from Tool and Tangerine Dream (oh, and the Beatles!) I haven’t heard of any of these artists, but in part this is what makes these music threads so interesting. I am always amazed how many new or different artists are mentioned on this forum
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Excellent list. Matthew Halsall was an unexpected find for me this year. Snapped up his whole wonderful catalogue on Bandcamp.
It is great to find new stuff and heart warming that there are still people out there making inspiring music.
Increasingly I sort of dread posting this - it’s a lot of work but mostly I fear creating my own little Pseud’s Corner (Ooh look at me - I listen to a lot of niche stuff that no-one’s heard of).
On the other hand I look forward to the thread in general - I’m always looking to expand my horizons, and quite frankly the What Are You Listening To thread passes me by,
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Best post of the year, Mr L.
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