Here it Is The end of the year and the day after winter solstice

What A good year for music. In fact I caught up with many releases I had let fall away through out the decade. A perfect example would be Of Montral " Hissing Fauna Are You The Destroyer?" Which proves Kevin Barnes is a genius. It's like taking early David Bowie, Ray Davies, Neu and Kraftwerk to the moon and back again. THe Liars " Drums Not Dead" a record of great ideas and great "songs". Like an updated and contemporary SY " Bad Moon Rising". Gets into your head and flows out into your backbone and the rest of your nervous system. Prince Far I " Chapter 3" re release of his early 80's lp of the same name. The Slits, David Toop and Adrian Sherwood are all in the mix. Like all good dub records this one turns the room upside down and everything else is weightless.

What didn't make this list would be Mt. Eerie " Wind Poem" too fresh in my collection to make an impact. What I did like about my initial listens were the drones and lullaby melodies and a tribute to " Twin Peaks" tv show. Parts sound like The DEAD C jamming with Sunn O)))). A very dark and beautiful record for sure.

The count down...

2009 Best

10. WOEBOT / Woebot ( self released).

09. DOOM / Born Like This

08. Broadcast and The Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults Of The Radio Age

07. Antony and the Johnsons / Crying Light

06. 5 Years - Hyper Dub Compilation.

05 Warp 20 ( unheard)

04 Sight Below

03 Animal Collective / Merriweather Post Pavilion

02 Grizzly Bear / Veckatimest

01 Decemberists / Hazards Of Love

Reissues

01. The Beatles / Mono Box Set Remastered

02. Warp 20 ( chosen)

03. Every Mouth Must Be Fed

04. Abner Jay/ The Story Of Abner Jay

05. Tomorrow Come Someday OST

Singles and individual songs

Radiohead / These Are My Twisted Words

Thom Yorke/ Feeling Pulled Apart By Horses

Atlas Sound / Walkabout

Animal Collective/ " Brother Sport/ Bleed"

Burial and Four Tet " Wolf Cub/ Moth"

Woebot / Central One EP

Grizzly Bear / "Two Weeks"

Ghost Box: Haunted Electronic Folklore

The Ghost Box label began  sometime in 2004 by Jim Jepp and graphic designer Julian House to look towards the past for inspiration without sounding retro but unique and new.  Artists ie. The Advisory Circle, Eric Zann, Belbury Polly, The Focus Group and Mount Vernon Arts Lab tend to draw heavily on musique Concrete, library music, soundtracks from the 60' and 70's, found sounds, old theme songs, folk and psychedelia. None of the music sounds serious, turgid, or weighed down by academic nonsense and preciseness. Each bit of music sounds like it could acompany any  instructional film from 30 years ago.

Even with their similarites  each group and artist sounds nothing alike but share a interest in imaginary worlds, " English" Surrealism, folklore and vintage electronics. Creating tiles like " The Farmers Angle", " The Willows", " We Are All Pans People", " Mind How You Go" add to the unique and odd feelings asscociated with each release.

All covers are designed by Julian Hose and have an iconic 60' s type of collage combined with vintage Penguin paperbacks, instruction manuals and educational books for British  elementary school children. Julian has also designed album artwork for  notable music acts like Broadcast, Stereolab and Primal Scream. He has also had his artwork featured in British publication Wire. 

The Focus Group a pseudonym for Mr. House creates their tracks using tape loops and found sounds. The songs that have beat combo rhythms and  are hurky jerky affairs that often resemble  a English Negativland minus much of the social commentary and sense of humor. 

If you have any interest in early Doctor Who, Tomorrow People, 321 Contact, 70's Public Television shows especially the ones on during weekday afternoons you might have watched had you been home sick from school then the label might be for you. They are pricey an average cd can cost somewhere around $20. You can opt to buy their music on iTunes for about half that but you don't get the complete artwork and little details that make Ghost Box releases so unique.