Katharsis Jan. 3 '16

Tonight we continued with 2015 releases that stood out for me. Download the show recording mp3 or stream it here

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Katharsis Dec. 27 '15

Tonight we went through some 2015 releases that stood out for me. More next week. Download the show recording mp3 or stream it here

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Katharsis Favourite Releases from 2009

Now, with some distance from last year, I present my 'short' list of favourite releases from 2009:

I have actually been sitting on this list since the new year and had intended to add short descriptions/reviews of each of these (reviews for some were published in BeatRoute last year) but I just haven't had the time and sadly probably won't for a long time. Some googling will lead you to much better reviews of these than I could ever write and these records are deserving of the highest calibre of writing to describe them.

For now my cryptic genre codes will have to suffice as a description (a lot of these terms have become so ambiguous they are now meaningless to most; sorry):

a = ambient instrumental (acoustic and/or electronic), e = electronic (uptempo), g = glitch (electronic), n = neo-classical, p = post-rock, i = indie-rock/pop, f = folk

A Broken Consort - Box of Birch (a,n)
A Broken Consort - Crow Autumn Part Two (a,n)
Alva Noto - Xerrox Vol II (a,n)
Ametsub - The Nothings Of The North (a,g,e)
Animal Hospital - Memory (a,n,p,f)
Balmorhea - All Is Wild, All Is Silent Remixes (Vinyl) (a,n)
Barzin - Notes to An Absent Lover (i)
Bell Orchestre - As Seen Through Windows (a)
Bill Callahan - Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle (i)
Clouwbeck - Wolfrahm (a,n)
Dakota Suite - The Night Just Keeps Coming In (a)
David Bazan - Curse Your Branches (i)
DM Stith - Heavy Ghost (i,a)
Early Day Miners - The Treatment (i)
Evan Miller - Transfigurations on Lap-Steel Guitar (a,f)
Felix - You Are the One I Pick (i)
Fjordne - The Setting Sun (a,g)
Forest Tate Fraser - The Fall EP (i,f)
Fuqugi - Gransofa + Nightingale (a,p)
Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest (i)
Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions - Through The Devil Softly (i,f)
Ilyas Ahmed - Goner (a,i,f)
James Blackshaw - The Glass Bead Game (a,n,f)
Jasper TX - Singing Stones (a,e)
Jasper TX & Anduin - The Bending Of Light (a)
Jonathan Kane - Jet Ear Party (i,p)
Jon-Rae Fletcher - Oh Maria (i,f)
Klumpes Ahmad - In Bed We Trust (a,g)
Knots - The Blistering Sun, the Pale Moon, Hahahaha (i)
Kreng - L'Autopsie Phe´nome´nale De Dieu (a,g,n)
Kurt Vile - Childish Prodigy (i)
Laura Gibson - Beasts Of Seasons (f)
Lisa Germano - Magic Neighbor (i,f)
Lusine - A Certain Distance (e)
Mark Eitzel - Klamath (i)
Mark Templeton & Aaron Munson - Acre Loss (a,p)
Mirah - (A)Spera (i)
Mount Eerie - Wind's Poem (i)
Mountains - Choral (a)
Nancy Elizabeth - Wrought Iron (i,f)
Nels Cline - Coward (a)
Nick Cave and Warren Ellis - White Lunar (a,n,f)
Pale Air Singers - Pale Air Singers (i)
Peter Broderick & Machinefabriek - Blank Grey Canvas Sky (a)
Pillowdiver - Sleeping Pills (a,p)
Pixel - The Drive (a,g)
Rachel Grimes - Book of Leaves (a,n)
Rameses III - I Could Not Love you More Vinyl (a)
Riceboy Sleeps - Riceboy Sleeps (a)
Seaworthy - 1897 (a,f)
Shannon Stephens - The Breadwinner (a,i,f)
Shannon Wright - Honeybee Girls (i,f)
Sholi - Sholi (i)
Steven R Smith - Cities (a,f)
Tara Jane O'Neil - A Ways Away (a,i,f)
The Antlers - Hospice (i)
The Green Kingdom - Twig and Twine (a)
Tim Hecker - An Imaginary Country (a)
Timber Timbre - Timber Timbre (i,f)
Tiny Vipers - Life on Earth (a,i,f)
Tomasz Bednarczyk - Let's Make Better Mistakes Tomorrow (a)
Tsukimono - Heart Attack Money (a,g)
Various - Dark Was The Night (i)
Vetiver - Tight Knit (a,i,f)
Vic Chesnutt - At the Cut (i,f)
Viva Voce - Rose City (i)
Volcano Choir - Unmap (a,i,p)
Wye Oak - The Knot (i)
Years - Years (a,g,f)
Zelienople - Give it Up (a,i,p)

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Best of 2008 List

As promised, a more complete list of my favourite 2008 releases...

Better late than never, these were the sounds of Katharsis in 2008 and will provide moments of bliss for years to come (I will edit and flesh these out as time allows):

Aidan Baker & Jakob Thiesen - A Bout De Souffle (Waterscape) Aidan Baker maintained a dizzying release schedule this year. This collaboration with crack percussionist Jakob Thiesen is a tasty mix of drone, electronica, kraut and jazz; much more upbeat than his usual work in doom purveyors Nadja. There are moments that will literally leave you at breath's end. Fans of Tarentel's current work will enjoy.

Aidan Baker & Tim Hecker - Fantasma Parastasie (Alien8) A brilliant experimental ambient/electronic collaboration that yields results greater than the sum of the parts. Their individual strengths are reflected and magnified and blend together beautifully. Highly recommended.

Alias – Resergam (Anticon) More impressive textured electronic pop from Brendon Whitney. Some solid instrumentals, and vocal contributions from Yoni Wolf of Why? and One AM Radio.

Alva Noto – Unitxt (Raster-Noton) Only Carsten Nicolai can make Office documents converted to audio files and French poet Anne-James Chaton reading the contents of his wallet and reciting golden number ratios sound so cool.

Atlas Sound – Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel (Kranky/4AD) Between his solo work as Atlas Sound and his work with his Deerhunter this was Bradford Cox's year. He is prolific, hard-working, immensely talented and humble, a winning combination. His throwaway bedroom and tour bus recordings posted on his blog are better than many artists can muster in the confines of million dollar studios and his official releases are simply brilliant. Believe the hype.

Au – Verbs (Aagoo Records) A stunning follow-up from this Portland art-pop/indie-folk collective guided by Luke Wyland. Verbs is padded out with contributions from nearly thirty collaborators, a list which includes featured vocalists Sarah Winchester (A Weather) and Becky Dawson (Ah Holly Fam'ly, Saw Whet), as well as members of Yellow Swans, Parenthetical Girls, and Evolutionary Jass Band, among many others. For fans of Efterklang, Animal Collective, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, and Grizzly Bear. Highly recommended.

Autistic Daughters - Uneasy Flowers (Kranky) Strong, sparse and measured later Talk-Talk-inspired minimalist ambient pop.

Azeda Booth — In Flesh Tones (Absolutely Kosher) Gorgeous abstract ambient electronic pop that is flush with realized potential and exploding with creative energy. Jordan's vocals and lyrics embody beauty in brokenness and are girded by Marc and Morgan's sublime musical accompaniment. Highly recommended.

Balmorhea – Rivers Arms (Western Vinyl) Beautiful instrumental music with folk, classical, jazz, and 20th-century classical inspirations. Fans of the Rachels will enjoy. Highly recommended.

Barbara Buchholz – Moonstruck (Intuition) Exquisite moonlit pop from theramin virtuoso Barbara Buchholz. Yes, theramin. No, there are no warbling sci-fi or surf-rock sounds here, the theramin work is so beautiful and subtle that you'll almost forget that it's there. In her hands the theramin is a serious instrument not a novelty item. Arve Henriksen is just one of her gifted collaborators on this album. Highly recommended.

Bass Communion – Molotov & Haze (Important Records) Each track of beautiful but blistering aural overload is balanced with a track of serene minimalist ambient comfort. Mindblowing.

Beach House – Devotion (Carpark Records) Hauntingly beautiful minimalist pop music; like the sound and light of a distant oceanfront carnival glimmering through the fog. Highly recommended.

Because of Ghosts - This Culture Of Background Noise (Feral Media) This Australian post-rock outfit recorded by Harris Newman proves that there's life left in the genre yet.

Benoît Pioulard – Temper (Kranky Exquisite ambient pop music. Windy Webber of Windy & Carl had this to say in her Oct. '08 Stormy Records email newsletter: "I'm not going to do it justice here, I'll simply say I have had a copy of it since Christmas 2007, and I've played it almost every day since. That's how good it is. you simply need to own it."

Bersarin Quartet - Bersarin Quartet (Lidar Productions) Beautiful classical/electronic ambient music

Bill Hetherington and the Asian Tigers — Bill Hetherington and the Asian Tigers (Independent) Strong solo record from Ex-Boyfriend's member

Bitcrush - Epilogue in Waves (n5md) Not only does Mike Cadoo craft excellent post-rock/ambient electronic music he runs the stellar n5md label which is putting out all kinds of great material in the same vein

Boduf Songs - How Shadows Chase the Balance (Kranky) Nocturnal, atmospheric ambient/folk

Bohren & Der Club Of Gore – Dolores (Pias/Ipecac) Doom-jazz, horror-jazz, jazz-noir, however you label it, they invented it and have further refined it on Dolores. This is some most uneasy easy-listening. Highly recommended.

Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago (Jagjaguwar) Though it has been expounded upon elsewhere by many others this is a beautiful recording.

Chad VanGaalen — Soft Airplane (Flemish Eye/Sub Pop) Chad continues to write original ear-catching songs that put artists like Beck to shame. Along with Azeda Booth and Women Chad is putting this town on the map in the indie rock world. So good (as always).

Chequerboard – Penny Black (Lazybird) Beautiful, understated instrumental electronica

Christopher Bissonette - In Between Words (Kranky) Absolutely stunning orchestral/electronic ambient/noise. Highly recommended.

Clinton St. John — Black Forest Levitation (Independent) Extremely strong solo outing from Cape May front-man. A very stripped down, sparse affair that lets the quality of the songs shine through.

Collections of Colonies of Bees – Birds (Table of the Elements) Enthralling multi-guitar instrumental post-rock. Rhys Chatham fans will love. Highly recommended.

Damien Jurado – Caught In the Trees (Secretly Canadian) Damien Jurado does not disappoint. There are some heartrendingly beautiful moments on this disc.

Dan Goldman - Luxury Pond (Independent) Masterfully-crafted quiet pop. Absolutely superb. Highly recommended.

David Grubbs - An Optimist Notes The Dusk (Drag City) Hypnotizing narcotic guitar tones. So Good. Had me from the first notes.

Deerhunter – Microcastle/Weird Era Cont (Kranky) Packed with earworms that demand & withstand compulsive repeated listening. Think Everly Bros./Beach Boys channeling The Pixies & recording for Factory. If you judged them based on their jet-lagged shambolic technical problem-plagued end-of-tour Sled Island performance you need to give them another chance. Highly recommended. (Also see Atlas Sound review above.)

Destroyer – Trouble In Dream (Merge) Mr. Bejar & co. are in fine form. His vocal timbre, phrasing and verbosity are an acquired taste, but his music is excellent and he is truly a gifted poet.

Dodos – Visiter (French Kiss) Strong pop songwriting and the most mind-blowing percussion work this side of Jim White.

Dolly Sillito - Smartbomb For Heartache (Chicken Wire) Reminiscent of Blossom Dearie or Jonie Mitchel. The last track kills me. So good.

Dreamend – The Long Forgotten Friend (Graveface Records) Ambitious, intricate, well-crafted indie rock with the melodic strength of Mercury Rev, Summer Hymns or Ester Drang's orchestral pop, the ambient brilliance of Bark Psychosis, and the folk-noir of the Black Heart Procession.

Earth - The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull (Southern Lord) Heavy, dark ambient instrumental rock; Bill Frisell guests (& rocks out).

Eric Cheneaux – Sloppy Ground (Constellation) Some wonderfully off-kilter guitar-pop/rock. There is nothing sloppy about his playing; Cheneaux is a guitar wizard. Some of the quieter numbers are very old-sounding (like civil war anthems).

Erik Levander – Kondens (Rumraket) Stellar experimental instrumental electronic music. Brilliantly blends acoustic, classical instrumentation with electronics.

Ezekiel Honig - Surfaces of a Broken Marching Band (Anticipate) Masterful ambient electronic from the proprietor of the fantastic Anticipate label. Stars of the Lid fans should check this out.

Fabio Orsi - Audio For Lovers (Last Visible Dog) More masterful ambient electronic music.

Fax - Yo Recuerdo (Static Discos) This contemporary of Murcof and fellow-member of the Nortec Collective creates electronic music that is a little more accessible than Mr. Corona but is innovative and strong in its own way. Head-fi, not club fare. Highly recommended.

Fennesz – Black Sea (Touch) Experimental electronic ambient masterpiece from a true sound innovator and pioneer. Highly recommended.

Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes (Sub Pop) Very reminiscent of early My Morning Jacket but good nonetheless.

Four Tet – Ringer EP (Domino) A return to the brilliant abstract electronic music of his earlier releases. His divergences into jazz territory with Steve Reid haven't really grabbed me...

Gerry Hebert Quartet - Beat Niq Sessions Volume 2: Constructive Interference (Plunge Records) My kind of jazz

Gianna Lauren – Fist In A Heart (Independent) If you liked Julie Doiron's album with the Wooden Stars, you'll love this record. It really blew me away. A wonderful discovery. Some beautiful guitar-work.

Goldmund – The Malady of Elegance (Type) Stunningly beautiful ambient solo piano. Highly recommended.

Gregor Samsa – Rest (Kora Records) Absolutely arrestingly beautiful orchestral post-indie rock; like the Rachel's with vocals. Highly recommended.

Gregory & The Hawk - Moenie & Kitchi (FatCat) Pleasant indie-pop. Actually a solo effort from songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Meredith Godreau, produced by Adam Pierce of Mice Parade.

Grouper - Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill (Type) Ethereal, delicate ambient folk.

Günther – Nuclear Stallions (Lakesong Press) Blistering, multi-guitar math/post-rock.

Hammock - Maybe They Will Sing for Us Tomorrow (Darla) An ambient gem commissioned for the US debut art exhibition of the Riceboy Sleeps (Jonsi Birgisson, lead singer/guitarist of Sigur Ros and Alex Somers of Parachutes) art opening. The record is a studio recording of the sound installation that they wrote and performed for that event. The title of the record comes from a Riceboy Sleeps painting that they love.

Hauschka – Ferndorf (FatCat) Bertelmann is still tinkering with his piano, placing bottle caps on the strings, clamping wedges of leather, felt or rubber between them, wrapping the hammers with tin foil, weaving guitar strings around the piano's guts, and doing God-knows-what-else under the lid to coax percussive embellishments along with melodious sounds from the instrument. Electronic flourishes and textures are also expertly employed. Bolstered this time out by cellos, violin and trombone. A rewarding progression beyond his previous explorations of the possibilities of prepared piano.

Heaven And – Sweeter As the Years Roll By (Staubgold Germany) Dark, intoxicating, post-rock/jazz from some German improvisational masters. Highly Recommended.

Heidi Elva – Ships and Trees (Vitamin Records) Intricate ambient folk-tronic pop music. Very Nordic-sounding despite her New Zealand/Australia origins.

Helena Espvall & Masaki Batoh - Helena Espvall & Masaki Batoh (Drag City) Espers cellist Helena Espvall and Ghost's Masaki Batoh are unfailing in their delivery of artfully rendered, experimental music.

Helios – Caesura (Type) A highly organic and textured mix of synthesis, sampling and conventional composition, resulting in songs that cross boundaries between post-rock, downbeat IDM and epic, shoegaze electronica. Highly recommended.

Ida – Lovers Prayers (Polyvinyl) Such a beautiful record from such a wonderful band. Some absolutely beautiful moments. Another fantastic album from a band with such a strong catalog. Highly recommended.

Immune – Not Until Morning (Eglantine Records) Dark, moody post-pop in the vein of Bark Psychosis.

Jacaszek – Treny (Miasmah) Experimental orchestral-electronic album of the year. Absolutely stunning. Highly recommended.

James Blackshaw - Litany of Echoes (Tompkins Square) Blackshaw's blissful ambient 12-string acoustic guitar work augmented with minimalist piano in places and rich orchestration in others. A wonderful progression. One can easily get lost in the beauty of his music. Highly recommended.

Jasper TX – Black Sleep (Miasmah) Dark ambient experimental with a deep, harrowing cinematic quality.

Jóhann Jóhannsson – Fordlandia (4AD) Breathtakingly beautiful music with slowly building, gradually morphing, hypnotically repetitive strains showing the influence of minimalist luminaries Glass, Reich, Nyman, Bryers, Pärt et al. Like Max Richter, Hauschka, and others, Johannsson is pulling orchestral music in exciting new directions. Johannson's strength, besides his goosebump-inducing string arrangements, is his seamless weaving of classical instrumentation with the elements of electronica, processed guitars and structure-shaking bass. Fordlândia is a heady, deeply affecting work. Highly recommended.

Kangding Ray - Automne Fold (Raster-Noton) Solid, sophisticated, often very accessible experimental glitch/electronica release.

Lambchop – OH (Ohio) (Merge) Kurt Wagner makes sublime, slow and deliberate, relaxed Americana, but also knows how to rock out. Popeye is a stand-out track and hints at the lasting influence of his collaboration with Co-lab.

Land of Talk – Some Are Lakes (Saddle Creek) Produced by Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, this was one of the best guitar-rock records I heard this year.

Lawrence English – Kiri No Oto (Touch) My introduction to English's ambient brilliance. In addition to creating stunning music he also runs the consistently strong Room 40 label.

Library Tapes - A Summer Beneath The Trees (Make Mine Music) The best I have heard yet from Library Tapes. Beautiful orchestral electronic ambient. Highly recommended.

Lotte Kestner – China Mountain (Independent) Stunningly beautiful, sparse, melancholic pop from Trespassers William singer/songwriter Anna-Lynne Williams. Highly recommended.

Lucid 44 – Co. Mah Coal (Tonto Is Jesus) Markus has a fantastic distinctive weathered voice in the vain of Chris Cornell or Tom Waits and plays some of the darkest, saddest folk music this side of old Songs:Ohia. Each release is stronger and more confident.

Machinefabriek – Dauw (Dekorder) My introduction to Machinefabriek, and a welcome discovery. Masterful ambient experimental electronic music. It has been described as sounding "something like Arvo Part, something like Mogwai, something like Philip Jeck and something like Fennesz" and "Post-rock without the rock". Really really good. Highly recommended.

Mark Kozelek - 7 Songs Belfast (Caldo Verde Records), Nights LP (Caldo Verde Records) & The Finally LP (Caldo Verde Records). If I had to pick a favourite of these 3 excellent Kozelek releases it would be the Finally LP, a collection of rare covers. Kozelek reinvents and owns these songs.

Max Richter – 24 Postcards In Full Colour (FatCat) Exactly what the title suggests: aural snapshots hinting at the full scope of what the tracks could be as longer, more fully-developed songs. The most post-rock sounding recording yet from this self-described post-classical composer. Highly recommended.

Miss Murgatroid & Petra Haden - Hearts and Daggers (File Under Music) Brilliant collaboration. The vocal harmonies are impeccable, the music sublime.

Murcof – The Versailles Sessions (Leaf) Venturing light years beyond his contemporaries Murcof splices, dices & morphs harpsichord, viola de gamba, violin & flute with mezzo soprano vocals, found sound & his own digital wizardry.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!! (Anti) This is literature set to reinvigorated rock & roll music. Nick Cave is brilliant and his band is as deadly as ever. Together they put artists half their age to shame.

Okay – Huggable Dust (Absolutely Kosher) Hypnotic indie rock from an incredibly gifted and challenged artist. Great art is truly born of great hardship.

Peter Broderick - Home (Bella Union) Updated Jan. 30 '09 I'm a bit late to the party with this one, but it is just too good not to mention. Combining all of the best features of some of my favourite solo acoustic/mellow-pop artists like Jose Gonzalez, Sam Beam (Iron & Wine), Benoît Pioulard, Canyon Country, Jim James (My Morning Jacket), Kings of Convenience with intricate, beautiful melodies, wonderful vocal harmonies, heartwarming-optimism and an uplifting & calming aesthetic, Peter Broderick has struck gold with Home. After a busy year performing and recording with the likes of Efterklang, Machinefabriek, Horse Feathers, She & Him, Loch Lomond and Norfolk & Western and on the heals of his gorgeous, string and piano-based instrumental full-length debut, Float, Broderick somehow found time to write, perform, and record, this stunning ethereal folk-pop masterpiece. Did I mention he's just 21!? Unbelievable... You have to hear this record. Once you hear it, you'll have to own it.

Rafael Anton Irisarri – Daydreaming (Miasmah) Beautiful ambient piano with tasteful synths & electronics; right up there with Deaf Center or Goldmund.

Retribution Gospel Choir – Retribution Gospel Choir (Caldo Verde) Low's Alan Sparhawk cranks the amps Crazy Horse style combining meaty guitars with stoner-rock rhythms & some super catchy melodies. Produced by Mark Kozelek who often plays live with the band. Highly recommended.

Rudi Arapahoe – Echoes From One to Another (Symbolic Interaction) Very impressive post-classical/ambient electronic release; moments that are right up there with Jacaszek's Treny and older Murcof.

Sam Phillips - Don't Do Anything (Nonesuch) Post-break-up album from an incredibly gifted artist. Very strong.

Shearwater – Rook (Matador) Carrying the Mark Hollis/Talk-Talk torch admirably.

Sigur Rós - Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust (XL Recordings) I'm a sucker for Sigur Rós.

Simon Fisk - Vague Hotels (Plunge) More of my kind of jazz.

Skyphone – Avellaneda (Rune Grammofon) A real grower. Organic electronic instrumental folk music.

Snailhouse – Lies On The Prize (Unfamiliar) Mike Feuerstack is a criminally under-heard quiet-pop master.

Snowblink – Long Live (Independent) Playful, beautiful, quiet pop.

Soccer Committee & Machinefabriek – Drawn (Digitalis) A wonderful collaboration that reminds me of Grouper's better work.

Springheel Jack - Songs and Themes (Thirsty Ear) This is truly my kind of jazz. J. Spaceman guests.

Stephan Mathieu – Radioland (Die Schachtel) Tasteful ambient electronic.

Sumner McKane – What A Great Place To Be (Independent) Wonderfully uplifting ambient guitar rock in the vein of Lanterna.

Sun Kil Moon – April (Caldo Verde) A solid release. Heron Blue is one of the best songs Kozelek has written yet.

Sylvain Cheveau/Felicia Atkinson – Roman Anglais (O Rosa Records) Wonderful collaboration. Cheveau's music with Atkinson's spoken word. Highly recommended.

Tanya Tagaq – Auk/Blood (Jericho Beach/Ipecac) Her music is arresting & bewitching, using the ancient art of throat singing in a cutting-edge context to craft something utterly original

Taunus – Harriet (Ahornfelder) F.S. Blumm and co. craft some wonderful musical moments.

Taylor Dupree – Sea Last (12k) One of the best ambient electronic artists of our era. I can't believe I only discovered him this year. (He runs the 12k label)

Thalia Zedek - Liars and Prayers (Thrill Jockey) A return to the blistering rock fury of her work with Come. Highly recommended.

The Abassi Brothers – Something Like Nostalgia (Dynamaphone) Brilliant cinematic instrumental ambient music. These guys should be scoring soundtracks.

The Drift - Memory Drawings (Temporary Residence) My kind of jazzy post-rock. Highly recommended.

The Fun Years – Baby It's Cold Inside (Barge) If you enjoy Belong's dark apocalyptic ambient music you'll dig this.

The Green Kingdom – Laminae (The Land of Records) If you dig the soothing ambient sounds of Loscil this should also please. Highly recommended.

The Middle East – The Recordings of The Middle East (Independent) Absolutely gorgeous and uplifting album from a completely obscure young Australian band. Some of the best indie-pop/rock I heard this year. Highly recommended.

The Neighbourhood Council – Set Pieces EP & Live at CJSW EP – They are now rechristened as BRAIDS and have relocated to Montreal. Considering their youth these are hugely impressive recordings. This band has a very uplifting and original sound. They opened for Azeda Booth and Deerhunter at Sled Island in a soft-seat theatre and easily provided the best performance of the show. So impressive were they that they drew a standing ovation with calls for more from an audience of whom most had never seen or heard of them before. I've heard rumours that Rough Trade has offered to release their first record (once they get around to recording it). Watch out for these guys!

The New Year – The New Year (Touch & Go) Long awaited, long appreciated. Highly recommended.

The Walkmen – You & Me (Gigantic Music) These guys have a distinct sparse, smoky, late-night sound and are at the top of their game with this release. Highly recommended.

Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band – 13 Blues For 13 Moons (Constellation) Apocalyptic post-rock blues filled with wails of worry, hope and fury. “Blind, Blind, Blind” perfectly expressed my response to the provincial & federal election results this year. “We want punks in the palace; Cause punks got the loveliest dreams...”

Till The Old World's Blown Up And A New One Is Created (Werner Dafeldecker, Martin Brandlmayr, Christian Fennesz) - Till The Old World's Blown Up And A New One Is Created (Mosz) Highly indulgent in places but oh so good in others.

Tindersticks – The Hungry Saw (Beggars Banquet/Constellation) Classic pop. Staples and co. are still going strong.

Tujiko Noriko/Lawrence English/John Chantler – U (Room 40) Absolutely floored me. My introduction to Noriko. Ambient experimental electronic pop with ethereal vocals. Highly recommended.

TV On The Radio – Dear Science, (Interscope) Brilliant and deservedly widely acclaimed. This should be topping pop/rock music charts.

Voice of the Seven Woods – The Journey (Kning Disk) Beautiful warm ambient instrumental solo electric guitar music. Highly recommended.

Windy & Carl - Songs for the Broken Hearted (Kranky) Another dense and perfectly executed exercise in sublime ambient experimental music, marrying colossal sound layering with the most gentle, emotionally resonant sounds imaginable.

Women – Women (Flemish Eye/Jagjaguwar) Moments of brilliance. A band obviously brimming with potential. Recorded by Chad van Gaalen.

Woven Hand – Ten Stones (Sounds Familyre) A strong release as always. Edwards as the rock and roll manifestation of a biblical prophet is a tired but true comparison. His recordings smolder with the same fire and brimstone, branded with his unmistakable harrowing vocals, the clatter and ring of steel and the resonance of horsehair and wood.

Yellow 6 - When the Leaves Fall Like Snow (Make Mine Music/Darla) Double disk of transcendent, enveloping, tube-glowing, ambient instrumental solo electric guitar music. Highly recommended.

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Katharsis/Music For Hedghogs/Post-Everything 2008 Round-up, Jan. 12 '09

This week, part 2 of my 'best of 2008' review. The show recording is divided into 2 files found here and here or here and here.

Stan Molchanov, host of the excellent show Post-Everything that follows Katharsis from midnight to 2:00, and Timothy Heck, host of one of the most exquisite radio programs ever broadcast anywhere (Music For Hedgehogs) collaborated with me on this show. For 4 hours we played off of each other, pontificated, and presented some of our favourite releases from the past year. Enjoy: Bohren and der Club of Gore, the Middle East, Dominique A, the Dodos, Adem, Skyphone, Tujiko Noriko/Lawrence English/John Chantler, Tape, Helios, Azeda Booth, the Neighbourhood Council (recently rechristened as BRAIDS), Woodpigeon, Women, Yellow 6, Picidae, Lotte Kestner, Andy Dixon, Wim Mertens, the Green Kingdom, Volcano, Chambertronica, Hauschka, Heaven And, L'ocelle Mare, James Blackshaw, John Balke, Arc Lab, Benoit Pioulard, Au, Gianna Lauren, David Grubbs, Off the International Radar, Ecstatic Sunshine, Collections of Colonies of Bees, Kieran Hebden & Steve Reid, The Drift, Russian Circles, Mogwai, Because of Ghosts, Arliss Parker, Taunus (we went overtime so the recording ends here), Dot Tape Dot, Balmorhea, Dokkemand, and Machinefabriek/Soccer Committee. Whew! What a marathon, and we still didn't cover all we wanted to. I will try and post a more complete list of my favourite 2008 releases soon.

The recording is in .ogg vorbis format recorded directly from the cjsw stream. I prefer vorbis files to mp3’s due to their better fidelity at similar bit rates (ie. an .ogg vorbis file sounds better than an mp3 file of a similar bitrate) and the fact that vorbis is open source (ie. non-proprietary). Most computer audio software programs can play .ogg files but I realize that not all hardware music players (such as the iPod) can play .ogg files. If you want to convert the show recording to an mp3 or AAC file so that you can load it on to your iPod I recommend FreeRIP for PC users.

There is always some quality degradation with conversion between compression formats but as the cjsw .ogg stream is at a higher bitrate than the .mp3 stream converting the .ogg recording to an mp3 of similar bitrate shouldn’t sound any worse than a recording of the mp3 stream.

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Katharsis Best of 2008, Part 1 - Jan. 5 '09

I'm back. This week I begin my review of my musical highlights from 2008. You can download the show recording here.

Featured this week: Dan Goldman (Luxury Pond), Snowblink, Ida, Heidi Elva, Barbara Buchholz, Dolly Sollito, Gregor Samsa, Goldmund, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Hauschka, Max Richter, Library Tapes, Bersarin Quartet, Jacaszek, Rudi Arapahoe, Christopher Bissonette, Aidan Baker & Tim Hecker, Erik Levander, Fax, Fennesz, Azeda Booth, Tagaq, Felicia Atkinson/Sylvain Cheveau, David Grubbs, and Balmorhea. Each of these artists released fantastic albums in 2008. A good number of them were exciting new discoveries for me.

Tune in for part 2 on Jan. 12. Timothy Heck (Music for Hedghogs) and Stan Mochanov (Post-Everything) will be weighing in with their favourites and we will discuss the year in music.

The recording is in .ogg vorbis format recorded directly from the cjsw stream. I prefer vorbis files to mp3’s due to their better fidelity at similar bit rates (ie. an .ogg vorbis file sounds better than an mp3 file of a similar bitrate) and the fact that vorbis is open source (ie. non-proprietary). Most computer audio software programs can play .ogg files but I realize that not all hardware music players (such as the iPod) can play .ogg files. If you want to convert the show recording to an mp3 or AAC file so that you can load it on to your iPod I recommend FreeRIP for PC users.

There is always some quality degradation with conversion between compression formats but as the cjsw .ogg stream is at a higher bitrate than the .mp3 stream converting the .ogg recording to an mp3 of similar bitrate shouldn’t sound any worse than a recording of the mp3 stream.

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Katharsis Jan. 7 '08 - Best of 2007

This show highlighted some of my favourite music released in 2007. Here is my Best of 2007 list:

Noteworthy 2007 releases from artists currently at (or near) the top of their game that caught my attention. Maybe not their career-defining release yet solid none-the-less and definitely worth a listen:

A Northern Chorus - Millions Too Many (Sonic Unyon) Possibly their most succinct understated and accessible songs to date.

Akron Family - Love is Simple (Young God) Named by Michael Gira (Swans, Angels of Light, Young God Records) as one of the best bands on the planet; so good that he has used them as his backing band for Angels of Light.

Aloha - Light Works (Polyvinyl)

Amon Tobin - Foley Room (Ninja Tune) Tobin continues to expand the frontiers of avante garde electronic music this time eschewing record samples for field and live recordings that he sourced himself.

Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha (Fat Possum)

Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam (Domino)

Arcade Fire - Neon Bible (Matador)

Azeda Booth - Mysterious Body (Indie) A striking debut, but the band has evolved significantly since this recording and only those who have heard them live (with the full line-up) truly understand what these guys are capable of. 2008 will be their year…

Bill Callahan - Woke on a Whaleheart (Drag City) Lovely ‘solo’ record from Mr. Smog.

Bonnie "Prince" Billy - Ask Forgiveness (Drag City)

Eluvium - Copia (Temporary Residence)

Explosions in the Sky - All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone (Temporary Residence) The bonus remix disc was the real highlight for me.

Feist - The Reminder (Arts and Crafts) Deserving of every Grammy it is nominated for.

Film School - Hideout (Beggars Banquet) Driving, propulsive, shoegazey rock.

Fridge - The Sun (Temporary Residence) A long awaited return that takes some time to get into but buries into your consciousness after repeated listens.

Grinderman - S/T (Anti) Nick Cave and some of his fellow Bad Seeds rock out in a way that belies their age.

Guitar - Dealin' With Signal & Noise (Onitor) Lovely shoegazer electronica.

Harris Newman - Decorated (Strange Attractions Audio House) Takoma-ish ‘american primitive’ solo acoustic guitar instrumentals for fans of Fahey, et al.

HRSTA - Ghosts Will Come And Kiss Our Eyes (Constellation)

Inhabitants - The Furniture Moves Underneath (Drip Audio) My kind of jazz.

Jesu - Conqueror (Hyrdahead) & Pale Sketches (Avalanche) Jesu’s split EP with Eluvium on Temporary Residence was wonderful as well.

Joanna Newsom - Joanna Newsom and the Ys Street Band EP (Drag City)

Low - Drums and Guns (Sub Pop) A return to their more musically stark and challenging roots.

Lucid 44 - and God Gave Me Legs (Tonto is Jesus) Awesome voice; “sad bastard death folk”.

Maserati - Inventions for the New Season (I Have a Dagger) Post-rock lives.

Max Richter - Songs From Before (FatCat) More brilliant post-classical from this ambient electronica-influenced composer.

Mice Parade - S/T (Fatcat) More fantastic electronic post-rock from Adam Pierce's Mice Parade, featuring contributions from members of Mum & Stereolab (among others).

Mick Turner/Tren Brothers - Blue Trees (Drag City) Beautiful captivating work from the Dirty Three's Mick Turner and Jim White.

Mono - Gone: A Collection of Ep's 2000-2007 (Temporary Residence) A stunning collection of some of Mono's best rarities.

Mum - Go Go Smear the Poison Ivy (Fat Cat)

Nina Nastasia & Jim White - You Follow Me (Fat Cat) Nina Nastasia's exceptional songs are almost eclipsed by Jim White's brilliant drumming, expertly recorded by Steve Albini.

Off the Sky - Form Creek (12k) One of several 2007 releases for the very prolific Jason Corder; fantastic experimental ambient electronic.

Odessa Chen - The Ballad of Paper Ships (Indie)

Piano Magic - Part Monster (Important) Latest impeccable work from Glen Johnson's Piano Magic produced by Guy Fixsen (Laika). Rock reminiscent of Kraftwerk and New Order that beautifully expresses the frustration of modern urban living.

Pinback - Autumn of the Seraphs (Touch and Go) When does Rob Crow sleep?

Sea and Cake - Everybody (Thrill Jockey)

Shannon Wright - Let in the Light (Quarterstick)

Sigur Ros - Hvarf/Heim (XL) The acoustic renderings of some of their favourites, stripped of their signature guitar sound are strikingly beautiful and really show the strength of the underlying song writing.

Sir Richard Bishop - Polytheistic Fragments (Drag City)

The Besnard Lakes- Are the Dark Horse (Jagjaguwar)

The Innocence Mission - We Walked In Song (Badman)

The Summerlad - City of Noise (Saved By Radio)

Thurston Moore - Trees Outside the Academy (Ecstatic Peace!)

Ulrich Schnauss - Goodbye (Domino)

Vic Chesnutt - North Star Deserter (Constellation) Recorded at Hotel 2 Tango in Montreal with A Silver Mt. Zion (!!!).

Viva Voce - Lovers, Lead The Way (Amore!Phonics)

Wintersleep - Welcome to the Night Sky (Labwork)

Wooden Stars - People Are Different (Sonic Unyon)

2007 releases by artists that I discovered this year, was fairly impressed by and hope to hear more of in the future:

Arc Lab - No Spectre (N5MD)

Arve Henriksen - Strjon (Rune Grammofon)

Benni Hemm Hemm - Kajak (Morr)

Chris Miller - S/T (Indie)

Damiak - Micalavera (N5MD)

Dan Deacon - Spiderman of the Rings (Carpark)

Doveman - With My Left Hand I Raise The Dead (Brassland) The more I hear, the more I like….

Howard Hello/Greenness - S/T (Sickroom) Howard Hello were brilliant and criminally overlooked.

Ian Wyatt - S/T (Indie)

Ilad - National Flags (Indie)

Kutin - Menora (Karate Joe)

Kyle Bobby Dunn - Music for Medication (This Generation Tapes)

Last Days - These Places Are Now Ruins (N5MD)

Le Loup - The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations Millennium General Assembly (Hardly Art)

Les Petits - Mighty Antlers of Songs EP (Saved By Radio)

Lights out Asia - Tanks and Recognizers (N5MD)

Lint - S/T (Indie)

Michael Harrison - Revelation (Cantaloupe) Hypnotic kaleidoscopic solo piano played on a uniquely tuned piano that evokes Indian ragas.

mwvm - Rotations (Silber)

Near The Parenthesis - Of Soft Construction (N5MD)

Panda Bear - Person Pitch (Paw Tracks)

Prism Of Eternal Now - 100% Pure Audio Soundscapes (Kranky)

Proem - A Permanent Solution (N5MD)

Rachel Smith - Famous Secrets (Indie)

Radical Face - Ghost (Morr)

Run Return - Sum of an Abstract (N5MD)

Seaworthy - Map In Hand (12k) Beautiful ambient instrumental post rock from down under, in the same vein as the Dirty 3.

She Is So Beautiful/She Is So Blonde - S/T (Science of Sound)

Slaraffenland - Private Cinema (Hometapes) Dynamic, experimental, post rock from the Danes' answer to Sonic Youth.

Sleeping People - Growing (Temporary Residence)

Snake Mountain - S/T (Indie)

Spider - The Way To Bitter Lake (Story Board)

Subtractive LAD - No Man's Land (N5MD)

The Bird Ensemble - Migration (Indie) Beautiful exuberant post rock in the vein of Explosions in the Sky.

The Consonant C - S/T (Indie)

Tobias Lilja - Time is on My Side (N5MD) Dark brooding experimental post-Talk Talk music reminiscent of David Sylvian's recent work with Fennesz.

Tunng - Good Arrows (Thrill Jockey)

Unrecognizable Now - In A Cave or a Coma (Pehr)

Mind-blowing. Albums that are the best thing that I have heard from these artists yet. Some are brand new artists and some have been putting out great music for years that I am just catching on to. These albums will be hard for these artists to follow up. Highly recommended:

Angels of Light - We Are Him (Young God) Backed up by the Akron Family, Michael Gira picks up where 16 Horsepower and Lullaby for the Working Class left off and the results are captivating.

Apparat - Walls (ShitKatapult) Sascha Ring's (co-founder of the iconic Berlin techno label Shitkatapult) strongest and most accessible album yet. Kinetic and invigorating.

Bracken - We Know About the Need (Anticon) Stunning debut album from Chris Adams (Hood). Highly recommended for fans of The Books and Bark Psychosis.

Colleen - Les Ondes Silencieuses (Leaf) Brilliant. Stunning. Beautiful.

Deerhunter - Cryptograms (Kranky) & Fluorescent Grey EP (Kranky) Noisy & chaotic yet hypnotic and affecting. Hopefully these guys don't self destruct.

Do Make Say Think - You, You're A History In Rust (Constellation) Their best album yet (and that's saying a lot).

Efterklang - Parades (Leaf) Epic, bombastic, sweeping, ethereal, jubilant and much more organic/less electronic than their previous work.

Grandfather Fire and the Holy Morning - S/T (Indie) The core of this band used to call themselves Red Not Evil, but they evolved so significantly that it was felt that a name change was required. A bass/drums/multi-guitar feast recorded live at a cabin in the woods by the band that oozes chemistry and soars to new heights.

Hammock - Raising Your Voice Trying to Stop and Echo (Darla) Ethereal uplifting shimmering guitar-based shoegaze.

James Blackshaw - The Cloud of Unknowing (Tompkins Square) & O True Believers (Important) Lush, hypnotic, eastern-inflected, instrumental 12 string acoustic guitar bliss.

Klimek - Dedications (Anticipate) Sebastian Meissner is an experimental ambient master in the vein of Tim Hecker and Stars of the Lid (his aptly-titled previous album was called Music to Fall Asleep). This release sees him paying tribute in song to people that have inspired him (from Michael Gira to Mark Hollis to Steven Spielberg to Marvin Gaye...) yet sounding only like Klimek.

Mark Templeton - Standing On A Hummingbird (Anticipate) A huge leap forward for Edmonton (soon Montreal) based Mark Templeton that has been earning him widespread acclaim in the experimental electronic world; right up there with the work of Tim Hecker, et al.

Marsen Jules - Golden (Genesungswerk) After Last.fm kept feeding me Marsen Jules tracks and loving everything I heard, I was so impressed that I had to get all of his solo albums to date, including this masterpiece. Stunningly beautiful experimental ambient.

Miracle Fortress - Five Roses (Secret City) (Maybe) like what Brian Wilson fronting My Bloody Valentine would sound like. I could not get enough of this cd last year. Of the many strong records nominated for the Polaris Prize this one would have been my pick.

Murcof - Cosmos (Leaf) Cosmic, celestial, deeply moving work from Fernando Corona, an electronic artist light years ahead of almost everyone else in his genre.

Nadja - Touched (Alien 8) Dense, dark, soul-destroying ambient doom.

RF & Lili De La Mora - Eleven Continents (Time Release) Dreamy, delicate, ethereal, melodic, blissful pop.

Ral Partha Vogelbacher - Shrill Falcons (Monotreme) This was originally released in the UK in 2006 but made it's way to our shores in 2007. Sinewy, seething, tension-filled indie rock.

Slow Six - Private Times in Public Places & Nor'easter (Western Vinyl) Slow Six are carrying on where the Rachels appear to have left off.

Stars of the Lid - And Their Refinement of the Decline (Kranky) Another 2 disc ambient opus from SOTL.

Tarentel - Ghetto Beats on the Surface of the Sun (Music Fellowship/Temporary Residence) This was originally released as 4 LP's on The Music Fellowship that were so mind-blowing I had to play them uninterrupted in their entirety on my show. Now released on 2 CD's by Temporary Residence this is a sprawling 2-1/2 hr. journey to musical regions previously unexplored.

Twilight Sad - 14 Autumns & 15 Winters (Fat Cat) I'm a sucker for the well-crafted, cathartic, Scottish quiet-loud rock that these guys deliver.

Special Mention:

Various - (CJSW Live Sessions) A Sound Experiment Incredibly strong collection of Calgary artists recorded live on various programs on cjsw (Katharsis included). Awesome!

Best new music festival:

Sled Island. It was no Tanned Tin but finally, Calgary gets a musical fiesta of big-name international ‘underground’/indie/cutting edge rock/pop/whatever augmented by some of the best bands in the country/region. The success of the event may have enticed Richard Branson to bring his Virginfest to Calgary this year, but I expect Sled Island 2008 will still provide a more musically enriching experience. Now if we could only get something akin to The Wordless Music Series or Mutek it would be heavenly…

The show recording is in .ogg format taken directly from the cjsw stream. Due to the size of the file Badongo has split it up.

When you download the split files, you will notice that they have file extensions such as .aa .ab .ac etc...

You will also have to download a file with the .badongo extensions.

Make sure you download these files into the same directory.

The easiest way to merge the files back together is to use Badongo’s free Badongo Buddy software for Windows or their free File Merger for Mac OS X.

If you don’t want to or can’t install the Badongo software onto your computer, you can download the small filemerger.bat file. This file is a simple batch file that will copy the split files back together into one piece. If you would like to inspect the contents of the .bat file, you may open it in notepad or Word.

If you run Linux or FreeBSD, you can simply use the “cat” command to put the files back together.

For example
cat filename.ext.aa > filename.ext
cat filename.ext.ab >> filename.ext
cat filename.ext.ac >> filename.ext

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