most honourable mentions - 2013

so, might i let my final entry in this years musical reflections be dedicated to some most honourable mentions; the releases that i was forced to agonisingly remove from my final short-list of exceptional works that saw the light of day across the last twelve months.

in some cases i found the releases to be slightly flawed, or perhaps a little too patchy, when forced to be over-critical, but for the most part it was simply a case of forcing myself to strip back the final list to the absolute bare essentials. either way, the selection reads thusly.

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ancient mith - and the dead shall lie there

always a pleasure to get to audition a new long-player from the perennially captivating ancient mith. how he is more than capable of  delivering a full albums' worth of texts without once losing sight of the cohesive whole or growing tedious... and here's to the next eu-tour!

david lynch - the big dream

anything new from david lynch will always be a notable moment, since my teenage fascination with his creative world, and how intruiged i am to see him release a new album so soon since the previous outing. more confounding, infuriating, mesmerising, captivating material to be sure.

soso - not for nothing

how i have long been partial to the works of the mighty soso, and how this latest outing is immediately captivating and remains so for its short duration. i am always struck by the sheer craft that he employs with each of his releases, giving them always the necessary gravitas to enthrall.

nosunnofood - nosunnofood

edison has been one of my 'all-time-favourite' producers for a long time now and how any outing from his musical realm is surely guaranteed to captivate, enthrall, entertain, sooth and stimulate. a perfect excursion back into his sonic landscapes between official solo releases.

james p honey - dIv_ØØNYgHN

the young captain honey murdering his way through half-an-hour of barbed materials. for my money always more visceral and captivating when stripped-down, these songs are further proof of his magnificent artistic path over the last few years.

earl sweatshirt - doris

probably the most 'hyped' release on this small list and how it was a curiously-intriguing item indeed. there can be no denying his incredibly powerful voice, nor his excellent flow, and how the lyrics and, for the most part beats, were able to generate a consistent journey though his world.

prodigy & alchemist - albert einstein

an unexpected treat to be sure. i cannot begin to explain how much i listened to the early mobb deep records as a teenager, nor how bemused i was by their plunging descent into utter dross. so, what a delight to hear prodigy offering bar after bar of gold, over a full-albums' worth of solid beats.

action bronson & harry fraud - saab stories

scarcely able to bring myself to allow this release art onto this blog, but i cannot deny how many times i listened to 'alligator' and 'seven series triplets' this year; only two out of the six songs on offer, but just so compelling as to carry the weight of the release onto this list.

tesk - nerves

an absolutely stunning debut release from the masterful tesk. how it probably would have been in the short-list had it not arrived so late in the year, only giving me the chance to begin to be blown away by all that lays within. a full tape of shimmering magical hues. utter bliss.

home - word

how little could be more welcome that a futher release from the always-masterful home. how this new set of ten songs carried me forward through this year on buoyant wings, always offering a keen and clear eye on the reasons why we are indeed moving forward. truly wonderful.

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so, there we have it, my humble take on the musical facts in the case of 2013. i sincerely hope that you found a few enjoyable moments within, have managed to discover some new treats for your own archives, or simply enjoyed the shared understanding of mutual tastes, and how i sincerely hope that we are all still here this time next year to celebrate once again.

in final parting, i would also like to reference a number of artists that didn't make it onto any of these lists, simply by way of my having not had the chance to audition their works over the last twelve months. i am keenly looking forward to hearing the latest releases from the following:

jesu, boards of canada, carcass, odd nosdam, the haxan cloak, arcade fire, low, billy woods & blockhead, cathedral, burial, bill callahan, dakota, tim hecker and many more ...the tale is ongoing indeed...

sending all the love, keep safe and take care

jamesreindeer

leipzig, deutschland
30th december 2013

dyxz.born.rndr - european tour 2013 - blackened tone poems from the industrial district

having said farewell to the skribble-pott family at the 55mm2 festival, dyxz and i drove south down the open autobahn for a little more than two hundred kilometers listening to opium lord and 'dopethrone' in its entirety at full volume with the hi-end turned way down until we reached the rhein-main decorative stamp compound a couple of hours before sundown. we had a day and a half to relax, including a pizza and donut party at the knertz compound with the legendary oskar ohlson and winterismyname, and not least of all linking up with out third man for the rest of the tour, the staggeringly-powerful martin born, our free-jazz legend, wheel-man and all-round unbelievably amazing soul. with our sights set firmly on the road ahead we gathered together and headed south out of mainz towards our first show as a trio with the always wonderful k-gruppe family in karlsruhe.

the weather was a lot better than the traffic as we rode the autobahn south to karlsruhe, but how slowly building storm-clouds and the dry heat could only spell inclemency for later on in the evening, but how it held out long enough for the utterly astonishing vegan barbecue that tomi and the k-gruppe family had laid on for us. quite impossible to put into words and how it quickly had to become the focus of the pre-show activities once the warm hugs and greetings and show technicalities had been taken care of. how much of a delight it was to also get to once again cross paths with bold captain astronautalis, the ever-mighty brock and to become gladly acquainted with oscar and mo, on guitar and drums respectively. how it was also a delight to get to talk with the parenthetical girls over the fantastic aformentioned barbecue.

still, one had to remain somewhat keenly aware that our presence on the line-up for the evening did seem ever-so-slightly at odds with the rest of the program, but how we could only ever treat that as an amusement and a delight indeed. naturally the evenings music began with our dyxz.born.rndr set and, although we had previously planned to keep it a little more on the dark-jazz that blackened-noise side of the coin, i seem to recall it actually being a rather sinister twenty-five minutes or so indeed. but the sound was crystal clear for our part and how the performance was a greatly enjoyable one indeed, although it might be perhaps argued that only a smaller percentage of the audience were ready to bathe in quite such blackened shrouds before the onset of really rather more uptempo tones. but how it was a privilege to grace the stage in every way and yet more so to take in the rest of the evenings' music.

having heard many enthusiastic reports on the parenthetical girls from a number of trusted sources in the lead up to the show, we were all most keen to witness their performance and how they indeed took to the stage with gusto and set about a super-energetic set of songs which had me think of a great number of different influences, but none so concrete that i would dare to hint at in these lines. how it did very much gladden and tickle me that zac, their vocalist very much had an 'ancient mith' way about him and did indeed attempt and successfully scale most parts of the location including a protracted path across the bar, and of course never once missing his queue or breaking his neck. it was definitely a sight to behold and a suitable effective segue from our blackened-shroud jazz-murmurings into astronautalis' full-blown live-rap extravaganza.

as many times as i have had the fortune of performing alongside astronautalis, i can quite honestly state that his performance alongside oscar and mo at the halle14 this night will easily remain one of the most memorable thusfar, not simply as we had the delight of witnessing him with his bandmates for the first time, but also of what became the intimacy of the show due to something slightly more than mere technical difficulties with the sound during the performance. the details need not be discussed, but the upshot of the situation being that the band performed without the aid of the sound system in the location; mo played his drums as they stood, oscar his guitar just running through his amp and andy perfoming his vocals without amplification. i guess this desperate action needed to be taken a mere four or five songs into the set, but how the rest of the performance continued and ended thus and how it really did prove to be a most admirable accomplishment by the good gentlemen onstage, but also a tremendous treat for those in attendance.

still, with the live music concluded in fine style, the rain-storm having rolled in and the mid-week evening wearing on fast there was just enough time to recline a little while in the most-comfortable back-stage area at the halle14 with the ever-splendid young robin, a dog with whom it seems most every passing musician falls in love with, the remains of the staggering barbecue and some rather amusing conversation with the astronautalis troops about something along the lines of a thread involving carmen miranda. but how the time was marching on fast and how we all had different cities to be in tomorrow. we bid the troops fond farewells til next time and started to think about final teas before taking ourselves into the sleeping with keen anticipation of a splendid breakfast with the k-gruppe family in the morning and then the drive further south and over the border into the ever-stunning switzerland.

after a most-comfortable nights' sleep we all awoke slightly blurry-eyed from the late night and early start but we quickly bolstered with tea and sunlight and the brief drive from the location to the k-gruppe family compound. the ever-wonderful tomi greeted us at the door and how we all slowly began to gather around the kitchen table, taking our fill of the amazing breakfast selection and generally relaxing our way into the mid-morning before we would have to think about taking to the road once more, a fine finish to another wonderful karlsruhe episode indeed. with a hearty round of farewells we made our way back down onto the street as the first light rain of the day began to fall and started to think about the journey by the schwarzwald and over the border into the majestic swiss lands.

so, might we quickly take another moment to send so much thanks to the k-gruppe family, everyone involved, everyone who came down, the charming parethetical girls, captain astronautalis, brock, mo and oscar, and how we look forward to seeing you all again at some stage further down the path.

next field report - low dronings from below the
abandoned freight-cars drowning in the heavy rain

jamesreindeer,
mülheim an der ruhr, deutschland
16th june 2013