The first EOY list went out the other day, I hope you had a chance to read it. Big up to the contributors. More to come in the coming days/weeks. Loads more, in fact.

Reet Maff’l - Lank Christmas or The Night Is Darker Now

This band describes what they do as “spoken weird” so that is a good indication of what they’re at. This release is a short piece that upends familiar Christmas songs with tales of sorrow and dread. It’s comical and harrowing at once, although the music itself is really, really nice. Fair play.

Farren Laen - To Will One Thing

This three-tracker is deceptively complex. Colourful and expressive, it could be seen as your standard bouncy techy house stuff, but it really warrants repeated listening. There are layers and levels that unfurl with each play, and it’s really quite joyful.

Libby Heaney & Nabihah Iqbal - The Whole Earth Chanting

This is a human/AI collaboration that I only happened upon this week. Commissioned by Radar, the contemporary arts research programme at Loughborough University in England, it combines the talents of post-disciplinary artist/quantum physicist Libby Heaney and artist/DJ/ethnomusicologist Nabihah Iqbal. While this Bandcamp release is just a series of excerpts it’s a rather beautiful insight into the project, which saw Heaney record human chants and then train an AI to produced its own chants. Iqbal then reworked this material in a live setting.

OE 012 - V​.​A. - Donne Che Corrono Coi Lupi (Osàre! Editions)

Donne Che Corrono Coi Lupi translates as Women Who Run with the Wolves. You probably could have guessed that from the album artwork. This compilation, curated by Elena Colombi, features some absolutely masterful work from artists like Cucina Povera, Bergsonist, Maral, Borusiade, Silvia Kastel and Deradoorian among others. It’s quite diverse, with whispering ambient alongside gnarly EBM-esque numbers (Borusiade’s track sounds like a gothic 80s take on The Prodigy’s ‘Breathe’).

Icarus Redux - High Speed Magic 013

This mix was prefaced with a tweet about a “170bpm ambient gabber trip”. I immediately assumed that DjRum would feature, and sure enough he’s first up. Icarus Redux, who’s featured here before with his bold and uncategorisable mixes, manages to move from Rum to Shed and Daniel Avery, Oceanic, Beta Librae and Titonton Duvanté by way of Steve Reich, Lighght reworking Will Smith and finishing up with a nightmarish version of Burial by way of Low Limit. Not for the faint of heart.

Zvrra: The ‘Wednesday Alternative’ Mix

In answer to this question, “What would be the ideal setting to listen to the mix?”, Zvrra answered “At that one cool friend’s house that’s got fancy lights and a pool table.” Nice. It’s a colourful techno mix, yet it bounces back and forth in its energy, rather than starting at point A and driving relentlessly to B (or Z).

Julia Reidy - Gardening

Once again, Longform Editions has provided us with a series of rather excellent sounds. This one jumps out for no other reason than when I was listening to it playing from my phone (I know, I know) it sounded like it was coming from the air around me. Rather than its source being the machine that was in my hands, it genuinely appeared to come from nowhere and everywhere at once. This is most fitting as the release contains “cold” synth tones that play over snippets of sounds recorded while the creator was indeed gardening. The release notes say that: “Gardening attempts to establish a kind of suspended harmonic space, with scenes from this particular environment shifting in and out of focus.” I think it succeeds.

Momose Yasunaga - Body In Ether

A beguiling and lovely release from start to finish. I wish I could say more.

Salamanda - 卄Happy QuarantineҨ

Did anyone have a happy quarantine??? This is a super set of tracks from Seoul-based duo Salamanda. ‘Week 1’ is particularly trippy, while ‘Week 2’ pairs muted 80s synth melodies and lush ambience with a soft yet driving percussive line.

Dynoman - Journeys

Dynoman combines focused techno sounds with elements of the Pakistani music of his heritage on this, his debut album. It’s a fusion of culture and futurism, as evidenced by the artwork. While I wouldn’t go so far as to call them DJ tools, some of the tracks feel a bit long in an album setting, but would be relentless in the club. The weirdo melody of ‘Groove Paralysis’ is a standout for me, and the album is rounded off with a remix of opener Hypnotize by fellow New York-based artist Bergsonist.

Piernikowski - Świat Jest Jak Echo

I think Pointless Geometry is my new favourite label. This is the third release of theirs I’ve featured in recent months. It’s the soundtrack, or rather the A part of an AV work by Piernikowski that was released earlier this year (you can see the V part below). The title translates as The World is an Echo. The music is something like a Carpenter score, all wavering synths and 80s slime.