A Closer Listen的2010年代最佳专辑

评语：【Rock, Post-Rock, Folk & Jazz】 Yowie ~ Synchromysticism (Skin Graft, 2017) Contrasting as they may sound, post-rock and math rock are collaborators in the dismantling of rock’s bloated cadaver. Post-rock pulls on the textures and timbre until they unravel into a wide-open space. Meanwhile, math rock meddles with the underlying structure. At the noisiest and most visceral extreme of math rock, the bones of rock are painstakingly reformed into the exoskeleton of a bizarre creature. The creature’s name is Yowie. With just two guitars and a drumkit, Yowie twang, crash, and squeal their way into a stop-start barrage of noise. A language of paradox is needed to describe them. The music is disjointed, yet fluidly progressive; it is a repetitive pattern, yet it rewrites its DNA multiple times per track. On first listen, this record sounds like far-out free jazz. However, its sounds emerge not from improvisation, but from the premeditated exactness of an algebraic equation. (Samuel Rogers)

评语：【Rock, Post-Rock, Folk & Jazz】 Wrekmeister Harmonies ~ Then It All Came Down (Thrill Jockey, 2014) The collective project directed by JR Robinson that is Wrekmeister Harmonies has produced some of the most gut-wrenching music of the decade. Then It All Came Down, based on the Truman Capote interview with Charles Manson-affiliate Bobby Beausoleil, is perhaps the harshest album among them (which is saying something, considering the topics include genocide and pederasty). Its contrasts are executed with utmost precision, eliciting emotional responses as extreme as the material that demands them. Robinson’s ten-year-long exploration of the transitions between dark and light is consistently embodied here in the deliberate, yet intense pace, the intervention of a great many talents of very different sorts coming together to perfectly perform profoundly horrifying music. Dispel all illusions: we are the product of unimaginable acts, and we must face them with the fear they are due, for if we fail, all we will produce is more misery. This is metal at its life-affirming best. (David Murrieta Flores)

评语：【Rock, Post-Rock, Folk & Jazz】 William Tyler ~ Modern Country (Merge, 2016) The title could not be more distinct and appropriate— William Tyler’s Modern Country is desolate, beautiful road trip music for solitary passengers in the American West. With a five-piece backing his deceptively tricky acoustic guitar work, Tyler supposes a future of instrumental Americana that gets its essence from evocation and meditative passion. “Highway Anxiety” seems to be titled more after the terrifying, awe-inspiring big sky than claustrophobic traffic. “Gone Clear” turns krautrock repetition into rhizomatic explorations of wordless storytelling that can rival any contemporary folk singer. The record aims high, and nearly reaches the pastoral ideal that it assures us does exist in the wild, wild country.

评语：【Rock, Post-Rock, Folk & Jazz】 Vijay Iyer & Mike Ladd ~ Holding It Down: The Veterans’ Dreams Project (Pi Recordings, 2016) What happens after war? Peace? Or does violence hunker down in the unconscious and resurface in dream? These are among the questions tackled by Holding it Down, one incarnation of a larger audio–visual–performance project. I’ve been game for any Mike Ladd project, since I first heard his breath-taking Welcome to the Afterfuture (2000). But Holding it Down is a high-water mark for everyone involved. Nine American veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars are represented on this disc: Maurice Decaul and Lynn Hill deliver their own poetic interpretations of their dreams; seven others have their dreams transformed by Ladd, Pamela Z, and Guillermo E. Brown. Underneath it all, renowned jazz pianist Vijay Iyer blends in with electronics, guitar, drums, and cello. This is not a jingoistic, pro-military record; but neither does it make a specific anti-war statement. This is a record about trauma and guilt, but also about a shared humanity and an extending of empathy. (Samuel Rogers)

评语：【Rock, Post-Rock, Folk & Jazz】 Kamasi Washington ~ The Epic (Brainfeeder, 2015) Few albums are as accurately named as The Epic, Kamasi Washington’s triple-disc album from 2015. Perhaps the only alternate title would have been Jazz Odyssey, and Derek Smalls got there first. Pushing nearly three hours, The Epic taps into the spiritual jazz vein, but in a manner that could be described as ‘maximalist’. Centring his arrangements around a versatile octet, Washington throws a choir and orchestra into the mix for added impact rendering the results suitably, er, epic. This album wasn’t ushered out on a mainstream jazz label, either; rather, it appeared on Flying Lotus’ Brainfeeder, more typically the home of instrumental hip-hop. It placed The Epic outside the traditional jazz channels which, added to Washington’s work with Kendrick Lamar and Erykah Badu, made it more approachable to a fresh audience. Crucially though, this is an album that didn’t alienate older jazz fans either: if the genre as a whole was in danger of getting a little bit sleepy in its 11th decade (or thereabouts) The Epic was a shot in the arm. (Jeremy Bye)

评语：【Rock, Post-Rock, Folk & Jazz】 Dawn of Midi ~ Dysnomia (Thirsty Ear, 2015) I first heard this 2013 record performed live in a small venue, and as soon as that frankly perverse kick drum entered nonchalantly during the first minutes of “Io”, I was transfixed until the end. Moving dramatically from their debut of free-form jazz, the Brooklyn-based trio of piano, contrabass and drums offer 46 continuous minutes of the most restrained composition possible within the pantheon of that genre. Does it even belong? Unless you count two-note ostinatos, melody is minimal to barely-there and scales are almost wholly ignored; instead, African rhythms rule with a wooden fist. And like a voracious organism, the three musicians constantly evolve from the established meter or tempo on their own growth trajectories, their individual lines undulating with varied accents and syncopation, until they end up meeting again by apparent (yet entirely calculated) happenstance. The hypnosis induced renders this set less jazz and more spiritual trance, as your corporeal extremes seem to repel each other ~ feet magnetised to the ground on which they (unwisely) wish to dance; head leering up at the stars. (Chris Redfearn-Murray)

评语：【Modern Composition】 A Winged Victory for the Sullen ~ S/T (Erased Tapes, 2012) A Winged Victory for the Sullen are somewhat of a dream team, but their debut is still their finest hour. The piano hovers over strings, creating a fragile sound where ambient meets modern classical music. Some musicians just click, and this is the case for Adam Wiltzie and Dustin O’Halloran. They know when to increase the drama and when to let it simmer. It was as stunning then as it is now. (James Catchpole)

评语：【Modern Composition】 Third Coast Percussion ~ Paddle to the Sea (Cedille, 2018) Without meaning to get too personal: some of my best listening happens in the bathroom. At almost two hours, the expanded edition of Paddle to the Sea is long enough for the most luxurious of bubble baths. More than that, it is intrinsically aquatic. Each percussive note is one droplet, but soon a torrent emerges in David Skidmore’s composition, with the bonus renditions of Jacob Druckman and Philip Glass as vital tributaries. The short arrangement of Zimbabwean mbira music is a highlight, and my only wish is for the crosscurrents of American minimalism and traditional folk cultures to be more extensively navigated. Nonetheless, as the mallets of Third Coast Percussion row ceaselessly on, the boundary between myself and the water becomes osmotic. (Samuel Rogers)

评语：【Modern Composition】 Lubomyr Melnyk ~ Windmills (Hinterzimmer, 2013) Lubomyr Melnyk’s piano compositions are legendary, but this record gave many listeners their first taste of his ‘continuous piano music’. Melodies are able to hypnotize listeners with a fountain of notes, but it isn’t just a pretty face. There’s a narrarive within Melnyk’s music, and dark turns are aplenty; major sequences can easily turn to rainy minor arpeggios. While Melnyk’s technique is impressive, it’s all about the music; it never sounds like an exercise. More impressive is his ability to wring out emotion and pour it out through his music, even within an unending stream of notes, as well as an ability to produce soothing music when it should be suffocating. (James Catchpole)

评语：【Modern Composition】 Jürg Frey ~ Grizzana and other pieces 2009-2014 (Another Timbre, 2015) Modernity does not need to be all about speed and futurist force lines. Talking about this decade in particular, it does not need to be all about data and automation: to the contemplation of the cosmic dimensions of information there still corresponds a contemplation of the gesture as it relates a subject to an environment. Frey’s work as minimalist provides that sense of background, so much so that in this compilation comes to include the use of field recordings; the transcendental is not to be found in the folds beyond 3D, but within the mirroring of the body and its surroundings. A pattern, a repetition, is in this sound-world an exceptional matter. Material life is intimately connected to its immaterial counterpart, without one commanding the other: being modern is also being peacefully in tune. This music, in other words, is a safe space from the violence of futures that pretend not to include all of us. (David Murrieta Flores)

评语：【Modern Composition】 Dmitry Evgrafov ~ Comprehension of Light (Fatcat, 2017) There’s often a pensiveness to modern classical music that distracts us from the viscerally spiritual, where thoughtful arrangements shutter out any possibility of weeping to a violin ascension or a bristling piano phrase. Dmitry Evgrafov begins Comprehension of Light with that all-too-familiar subtlety, but by track four the cinematic ambience cracks into a breathtaking uplift that still gives me butterflies whenever I feel emotionally functional enough to listen to it. From “Rajas” onward, the album is an unwavering exercise in beauty; there is no need for any subtext that cannot be summated by the titular goal of basking in lightness. Piano and string trills rise ever upward, and chord patterns repeat themselves with a sense of natural, effervescent spiraling. The narrative path of the album mirrors the trajectory of a Terrence Malick film, and it could indeed soundtrack one with its life-affirming, glacial power. (Josh Hughes)

评语：【Modern Composition】 Colin Stetson & Sarah Neufeld ~ Never Were the Way She Was (Constellation, 2015) As solo artists, both Colin Stetson and Sarah Neufeld play their respective instruments (saxophone and violin) with the conviction of sculptors chiseling away rock in an attempt to defy nature through art. Stetson battles the confining metal with otherworldly breathing, and Neufeld treats each piece of wood and string as undiscovered territory, drawing attention to the physicality of her craft. Together, their work is positively alchemical, imitating instruments that do not exist through borderline formless compositions that meander and falter like a living creature. Never Were The Was She Was is a succinct, melancholic record that hones in on the elemental aspects of sound— the thumping clicks of fingers on “Won’t Be A Thing To Become,” the fibrous bow motions on the title track— and takes them to their logical extremes. The compositions feel both restrained and wide open, as though Stetson and Neufeld have discovered a nebulous space that has never before been articulated so well. (Josh Hughes)

评语：【Modern Composition】 Christina Vantzou ~ No. 2 (Kranky, 2014) Right before Vantzou veered entirely into ambient, she created a hybrid of modern composition that arguably gave the neo-classical style of the 2000s its crowning culmination. No. 2, like all the productions in that style, emphasizes the bending of the rules instead of their destruction, presenting a highly accessible facade for a darker, deeper interior. But it also achieves something only the most acclaimed neo-classical bands/composers of the previous decade did, and does so in every track: the dramatism of the style is restrained by means of an ambient approach, articulating powerful, moving environments that do not need more than five minutes to develop. It gives the style’s innate eclecticism room to breathe and be effective, also giving listeners just the right amount of time for an immersion that the more melodically-inclined albums of this kind end up eluding. No. 2 shows us the spirit of the decade in an unexpected format: a hybrid, accessible, complex, uncompromising, yet careful work of art. (David Murrieta Flores)

评语：【Field Recording & Soundscape】 Philip Samartzis & Daniela d’Arielli ~ A Futurist’s Cookbook (Galaverna) When people find a favorite song, they want to play it over and over. The same principle holds true for a person’s favorite sound, and A Futurist’s Cookbook has plenty to choose from: grain, rain, sheep bells, and the album’s most endearing touch, noodle-making machines. Italy’s Pollinaria farm is filled with sonic treasures, and Samartzis weaves them into a comforting, homespun soundscape while d’Arielli provides the pictures . A few words here and there cue the listener to the specific source. When it’s over, we all go out for pasta. (Richard Allen)

评语：【Field Recording & Soundscape】 Lawrence English ~ Viento (Room40, 2015) The wind is howling; the temperature has dropped to -40. What should you do? For most people, the answer is obvious. But for Lawrence English, the answer is, “Go outside and start recording.” This is the sound of nature’s fury, taken from within the storm. Viento reminds us that nature is not always safe; sometimes it is wild and dangerous. If you’re looking for a wind recording, this should be your go-to piece. It’s only one of English’s many albums on the subject, but it’s his rawest and his best. (Richard Allen)

评语：【Field Recording & Soundscape】 Izabela Dłużyk ~ Soundscapes of summer (LOM, 2016) One of our favorite stories of the last decade is that of a blind woman who became an incredible field recording artist. Izabela Dłużyk traveled into the forests of her native Poland to capture the sounds of swallows and seas, then structured her album to replicate the rhythms of a single day. She has some of the best ears of any field recordist we’ve ever covered; the crispness of this set puts the listener right in the forest with her. A follow-up, Soundscapes of spring, was released a year later; we’re hoping for two more to complete the cycle. (Richard Allen)

评语：【Field Recording & Soundscape】 Institute of Landscape Architecture ~ Melting Landscapes (2018) Melting Landscapes is not only an incredible research project; it’s also a crisp set of field recordings presented in exquisite fashion, accompanied by a book of album-sized photographs. One can view the subject while listening to its demise. The timely project draws attention to the threat of climate change through the lens of the Morteratsch Glacier. Side A concentrates on the beauty of snow and ice; Side B traces the melt from drip to torrent. Science, art and politics converge, underling the importance of significant action now. (Richard Allen)

评语：【Field Recording & Soundscape】 Howlround ~ Ghosts of Bush (The Fog Signals, 2012) You might expect a field recording album to contain some outside recording (such as in a field), but The Ghosts Of Bush gathers its atmospherics from the interior of a building. Bush House, to be precise, the former home of the BBC World Service which closed its doors for the last time in July 2012, but not before a plucky studio manager had walked its corridors late at night, committing what was there – and not there – to tape. These tapes were then spooled onto reel-to-reel recorders and the most interesting elements looped and layered (it’s a technique that Howlround still employs). The result is decidedly spooky; the atmospheres captured unsettle the listener as if the building was aware its days were numbered and the ghosts in the machines and the walls were having one last attempt to communicate their secrets. It’s a fitting tribute to a building with over 70 years of history, the ambience truly resonates. (Jeremy Bye)

评语：【Field Recording & Soundscape】 Chris Watson ~ In St Cuthbert’s Time (Touch, 2013) Chris Watson is best known as a wildlife recorder: if you want to hear lions devouring their prey from inside the carcass, or the sound of a whale breaking the ice at the pole, he’s the man to ask. He’s also presented Radio 4’s Tweet of the Day programme, which shares recordings of mainly British birds for early risers. Birds feature a lot on In Saint Cuthbert’s Time, too, which is an attempt to capture a 7th Century Soundscape of Lindisfarne, or Holy Island. As much of Watson’s work is to accurately capture the sounds of a location, this album presents something of a departure for him: to skip back some 1,200 years by ignoring the noise of people, boats and cars, and focus on the wildlife with the occasion sound emitting from the monastery. That ‘ignoring’ bit is no small task, and it must have taken Watson many hours to record and piece together the resulting album. Split into four tracks, one for each season, the listener can treat it as a virtual time machine, and let the imagination conjure the scenes of monks, seals and waves; or you can delve into the accompanying booklet and read about the island and its history from scholars at Durham University. Either way, In Saint Cuthbert’s Time is a brilliant, rewarding listen. (Jeremy Bye)

评语：【Experimental】 Zs ~ New Slaves (The Social Registry, 2010) Zs are a band of Brooklyn experimentalists, whose debut as a sextet was a marriage of free jazz and noise rock. Over the subsequent years, they lost some members but added additional flavours of avant-garde sound to their house blend. New Slaves might be the zenith of their genre-bending programme. On this release, Zs are a quartet covering two guitars, a sax, percussion, and electronics. The hackneyed phrase “wall of sound” has relevance here: the majority of the eight tracks are rapidly percussive, with the gaps filled by digital whirrs, woodwind screeches, and guitar distortion. (The two-part “Black Crown Ceremony” is an exception, with its soft, ritualised ambience.) It is tempting to see Zs as the progeny of New York’s no wave movement; but the aggressive totalism of Michael Gordon’s Trance (1994) is an equally cordial neighbour. Across seventy minutes, New Slaves loops, reiterates, and catapults itself into your long-term memory. (Samuel Rogers)

评语：【Experimental】 Wu Man ~ Immeasurable Light (Traditional Crossroads, 2010) Wu Man is a world-class maestro of the Chinese pipa – a short-necked lute, with four strings picked upright. Like many masters of traditional instruments, she is fluent in the long history of her instrument, including its connections to the middle-eastern oud. She is also immersed in the modern art music of the West: Philip Glass and Terry Riley are firmly in her repertoire. Fans of kaleidoscopic crossover can check her out in the Silk Road Ensemble. But there is a greater pleasure in the understated Immeasurable Light, where Wu Man builds original compositions in the gaps of ancient manuscript sources. With minimal accompaniments from her own overdubs, and from the Kronos Quartet, Wu Man ranges from meditative rituals through to lightning-fingered folk dances. She crashes together the old with the new, the middle with the far East, and the rustic with the elegantly refined. (Samuel Rogers)

评语：【Experimental】 Mediafired ~ The Pathway Through Whatever (Exo Tapes Inc., 2011) The Pathway Through Whatever emerged during the rise of vaporwave. To this day, it’s gloriously unashamed in its experimentation, sampling everything from Queen to UB40 to Kate Bush. Like Pepsi, it was an effervescent explosion, unabashed and high on a sugar rush, and the high tempo tunes landed on the right side of insanity. (James Catchpole)

评语：【Experimental】 Matmos ~ Ultimate Care II (Thrill Jockey, 2016) Alternately known as “the washing machine album,” Ultimate Care II makes laundry fun by exploring every percussive aspect of the appliance. Whether the machine swirls or rinses, and whether Matmos taps or beats, the music works its way to a frenzy of techno excitement ~ without the aid of traditional instruments. This release is unique in its field, and creates interest in something that most consider maudlin. After listening, one may become open to the rhythmic potential of all types of appliances, and may never hear one’s home the same way again. (Richard Allen)

评语：【Experimental】 Kreng ~ Grimoire (Miasmah, 2011) As above, so below, says the old occult paradigm, having found its concrete modernity in the bloody cuts of the (musical) collage procedure. The sounds of old find themselves lodged uncannily amidst the noises of the present; the godly stench of the ever-dying sun floods our decade with the irradiance of the 20th century. Classicism, reanimated, stumbling under the beautiful opaqueness of the moon, simmers with the jazzy promise of freedom. But the mask is no longer a mask, since what it hides is nothing. Descend into the crypt, find the mirror in which no gaze is ever returned, and feel the rush of true experimentalism: a slight, yet immense step into the unknown. Grimoire is a force, almost unmatched, in this grand exercise of unravelling, the best we can sacrifice to experience some beyond. (David Murrieta Flores)

评语：【Experimental】 Katie Gately ~ Katie Gately (Public Information, 2013) We were big fans of the Public Information label – and if it ever returns from its current dormant state, we’ll be on board again – as it was our first introduction to several fascinating artists. In terms of old artists uncovered, there was F.C. Judd and some excursions into library music; for the new blood, there were releases from Ivvvo, Austin Cesear and Acteurs. But the debut EP from Katie Gately stood out among the crowd, and caught the attention alongside 2014’s track “Pivot”. The EP not merely announces an exciting new voice in electronic music but instantly justifies any expectations across its 20 minutes. Offering ethereal multi-layered vocals on a luxuriant bed on one track, there’s an effortless pivot to oppressive, spine-chilling horror set in an abandoned factory on the next. All are shot through with an artist’s ear for sound design and set Gately apart from the crowd at an early stage. (Jeremy Bye)