I know lists get all kinds of eye-rolling, and I certainly claim no expertise or superiority with mine; I'm simply sharing some of my favourites records (and shows) from this year.
Albums:
Andy Stott - Faith in Strangers
Austerity Program - Beyond Calculation
Ambarchi/O'Malley/Dunn - Shade Themes from Kairos
Bohren and der Club of Gore - Piano Nights
D'Angelo - Black Messiah
Grouper - Ruins
Fennesz - Becs
Helm - The Hollow Organ
Hiss Tracts - Shortwave Nights
Jon Porras - Light Divides
Lee Gamble - Koch
Lykanthea - Migration
Marissa Nadler - July
Mesa Ritual - s/t
Mike Weis - Don't Know, Just Walk
No UFOs - MPC Tracks Vol. II
Run The Jewels 2
Secret Pyramid - The Silent March/Into the Black (vinyl repress)
Swans - To Be Kind
Young Widows - Easy Pain
Not on the list because the vinyl hasn't arrived in the mail and thus I still haven't heard these albums because I live by strange rituals: Old Man Gloom - Ape of God; Oren Ambarchi - Quixotism (fingers crossed Editions Mego does in fact press this on vinyl).
Shows
(all occurred in Winnipeg)
Low - West End Cultural Centre
Oren Ambarchi/crys cole/Rosa Reaper - The Windsor
Total Life - Union Sound Hall
Killer Mike - Union Sound Hall
Neko Case - The Burt
