‘Bake me off!’ illustration by Lisa Cradduck

too much about what’s essentially my dream job, but on the other hand our website is so knackered we have to manually code every time we want to make something bold, italic or a bigger font, and when it comes to coding the dazzling array of links, embeds and subheadings you’re about to take in, the frustration makes me want to bash my computer’s stupid face in.



Yet for all those interminable hours spent trying to find the one missing forward slash that’s broken the whole website, there’s a real thrill to finally pressing publish on each of our end of year top 100s. Without wishing to blow our own trumpet, it’s so genuinely heartwarming when people tell us they’ve waited all year for our list, or discovered something they really love. It bolsters our resolve to cover the kind of music that we really don’t feel like anyone else is really covering, and the kind we feel so deeply passionate about sharing. I think I can speak for all of tQ’s staff when I say that we all get introduced to at least one or two new records we haven’t heard ourselves in the process; a particularly saucy, serene, sad or psychedelic record or two thrown our way by one of our columnists among their personal top 20s. When the top 100 gets published, I usually spend as much time as I hope you will devouring every one of our picks, whether for the first time or the fiftieth.



Which brings us neatly enough to the inevitable. The ability to bring you all this incredible music gets harder and harder every day, and without your help there’s every chance that this year’s end of year lists could be our very last. As more and more of the advertising that online publications like us rely upon to survive gets swallowed up by Facebook and Google, and as social media algorithms continue to squeeze out the kind of in-depth writing we try to provide in favour of clickbait and bilge, every year it becomes harder and harder just to keep the site running. If you’ve ever been introduced to any music you love via our website, and if you’re able to spare the money, please do consider donating to the site via the link below. Once you’ve done that, please enjoy our favourite 100 reissues, compilations, mixes, live albums, soundtracks and miscellany of 2019.

Patrick Clarke, Staff Writer The end of the year is at once the most stressful and the most rewarding time to work for The Quietus. Our co-founder John Doran has already explained the existential dread that list-making invites for a website that doesn’t believe in scoring music at all as part of his introduction to our top 100 Albums list , more eloquently than I could ever hope, but so too do the practical aspects of putting our three big lists together take their toll. I’ll try my very best not to whingemuch about what’s essentially my dream job, but on the other hand our website is so knackered we have to manually code every time we want to make something bold, italic or a bigger font, and when it comes to coding thearray of links, embeds and subheadings you’re about to take in, the frustration makes me want to bash my computer’s stupid face in.Yet for all those interminable hours spent trying to find the one missing forward slash that’s broken the whole website, there’s a real thrill to finally pressing publish on each of our end of year top 100s. Without wishing to blow our own trumpet, it’s so genuinely heartwarming when people tell us they’ve waited all year for our list, or discovered something they really love. It bolsters our resolve to cover the kind of music that we really don’t feel like anyone else is really covering, and the kind we feel so deeply passionate about sharing. I think I can speak for all of tQ’s staff when I say that we all get introduced to at least one or two new records we haven’t heard ourselves in the process; a particularly saucy, serene, sad or psychedelic record or two thrown our way by one of our columnists among their personal top 20s. When the top 100 gets published, I usually spend as much time as I hope you will devouring every one of our picks, whether for the first time or the fiftieth.Which brings us neatly enough to the inevitable. The ability to bring you all this incredible music gets harder and harder every day, and without your help there’s every chance that this year’s end of year lists could be our very last. As more and more of the advertising that online publications like us rely upon to survive gets swallowed up by Facebook and Google, and as social media algorithms continue to squeeze out the kind of in-depth writing we try to provide in favour of clickbait and bilge, every year it becomes harder and harder just to keep the site running. If you’ve ever been introduced to any music you love via our website, and if you’re able to spare the money, please do consider donating to the site via the link below. Once you’ve done that, please enjoy our favourite 100 reissues, compilations, mixes, live albums, soundtracks and miscellany of 2019.

PLEASE DONATE TO THE QUIETUS HERE.











This chart was compiled from ballots by Jennifer Lucy Allan, Bobby Barry, Tristan Bath, Charlie Brigden, Patrick Clarke, John Doran, Christian Eede, Noel Gardner, Ella Kemp and Sean Kitching. It was compiled by Doran and built by Clarke and Eede

100. Beatrice Dillon - RA.706 Beatrice Dillon -

(Resident Advisor)

99. Atomic Forest - Disco Roar Atomic Forest -

(Now Again)

98. Kristian Eidnes Andersen - Antichrist (Original Soundtrack) Kristian Eidnes Andersen -

(Cold Spring)

97. Cabaret Voltaire - Methodology ‘74 - ‘78: The Attic Tapes Cabaret Voltaire -

(Mute)

96. Miss Jay - HNYPOT 334: Need For Speed Mix Miss Jay -

(Honey Soundsystem)

95. James Holden - A Cambodian Spring OST James Holden -

(Border Community)

94. Laurel Halo - DJ-Kicks Laurel Halo -

(!K7)

93. V/A - Music And/As Process V/A -

(Self-released)

92. V/A - Music From Jarvis Cocker’s Sunday Service V/A -

(Ace)

91. Sun Ra Arkestra - Live In Kalisz 1986 Sun Ra Arkestra -

(Lanquidity)

90. John Coltrane - Blue World John Coltrane -

(Universal)

89. V/A - Third Noise Principle: Formative North American Electronica 1975-1984 V/A -

(Cherry Red)

88. Leif - Freerotation 2019 Leif -

(Self-released)

87. Dome - 1-4+5 Dome -

(Editions Mego)

86. Mark Fisher & Justin Barton - On Vanishing Land Mark Fisher & Justin Barton -

(Flatlines)

85. David Axelrod - Seriously Deep David Axelrod -

(Get On Down)

84. Fever Ray - Live At Troxy Fever Ray -

(Rabid)

83. V/A - Mogadisco: Dancing Mogadishu (Somalia 1972 - 1991) V/A -

(Analog Africa)

82. Scott Walker / Sia - Vox Lux OST Scott Walker / Sia -

(Columbia)

81. Sonic Youth - Battery Park, NYC: July 4, 2008 Sonic Youth -

(Matador)

80. Tanita Tikaram - To Drink The Rainbow (An Anthology 1988 - 2019) Tanita Tikaram -

(Needle Mythology)

79. “Blue” Gene Tyranny - Out of the Blue “Blue” Gene Tyranny -

(Unseen Worlds)

78. James Righton - Benjamin (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) James Righton -

(Marathon Artists)

77. Horace Tapscott With The Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra - Live At IUCC Horace Tapscott With The Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra -

(Soul Jazz)

76. Eris Drew - Raving Disco Breaks Vol. 1 Eris Drew -

(T4T LUV NRG)

75. V/A - A Short Illness From Which He Never Recovered V/A -

(Blackest Ever Black)

74. Boards Of Canada - Societas X Tape Boards Of Canada -

(NTS)

73. Jerry Goldsmith, Leonard Rosenman and Tom Scott - Planet Of The Apes (Original Film Series Soundtrack Collection) Jerry Goldsmith, Leonard Rosenman and Tom Scott -

(La-La Land)

72. Throbbing Gristle - Part Two: The Endless Not Throbbing Gristle -

(Mute)

71. V/A - Fracture Presents Turbo V/A -

(Astrophonica)

70. Dan Levy - I Lost My Body (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) Dan Levy -

(Lakeshore)

69. Yoshi Wada - Lament for the Rise and Fall of the Elephantine Crocodile Yoshi Wada -

(États-Unis)

68. re:ni - Crack Mix 254 re:ni -

(Crack)

67. Gene Clark - No Other Gene Clark -No Other

(4AD)

66. Masayuki Takayanagi New Direction Unit - April is the Cruellest Month Masayuki Takayanagi New Direction Unit -

(Blank Forms)

65. Sybil - DIM167 Sybil -

(Dimensions)

64. V/A - Taxi Sampler 01: Rhythms & Vibes from the Spirit of Young Africa V/A -

(Python Syndicate)

63. Nicholas Britell - If Beale Street Could Talk (Original Motion Picture Score) Nicholas Britell -

(Lakeshore)

62. James Bernard - Dracula / The Curse of Frankenstein James Bernard -

(Tadlow)

61. VTSS - Discwoman 62 VTSS -

(Discwoman)

60. Robert Ashley - Automatic Writing Robert Ashley -

(Lovely Music, Ltd.)

59. V/A - WXAXRXP Sessions V/A -

(Warp)

58. Ben Frost - Dark (Cycle 1) Ben Frost -

(Lakeshore)

57. Jane Weaver - Loops In The Secret Society Jane Weaver -

(Fire)

56. Maleem Mahmoud Ghania with Pharoah Sanders - The Trance of Seven Colors Maleem Mahmoud Ghania with Pharoah Sanders -

(Zehra)

55. Ben UFO - Rainbow Disco Club 2019 Ben UFO -

(Resident Advisor)

54. Roland Kayn - Scanning (1982-1983) Roland Kayn -

(Reiger Records Reeks)

53. Mark Hollis - Mark Hollis Mark Hollis -

(Parlophone)

52. The Fall - Hex Enduction Hour The Fall -

(Cherry Red)

51. Louis Moholo Octet - Spirits Rejoice Louis Moholo Octet -

(Otoroku)

50. Mark Korven - The Lighthouse OST Mark Korven -

(Milan)

Robert Eggers' follow up to The Witch, a similarly unique affair about the trials and tribulations of a pair of lighthouse keepers, continues to use the work of Mark Korven, who washes up a darkly evocative work that seems to balance on the edges of sanity, if not beyond. Low strings mimic the swelling and bowing of wood against the sea, while the drones of whales and the seductive sighs of sirens permeate the air, whispers of the water. But this relative calm is soon broken with portentous strings, doom-laden accordion, and penetrating foghorns, all working in tandem to seemingly illustrate a further downward spiral into madness, and what can seem like ambience suddenly reaches out to grab you by the throat. And it doesn't let go. After The Lighthouse, silence feels unbearable.

Charlie Brigden

49. Fabio & Grooverider - 30 Years Of Rage Fabio & Grooverider -

(Above Board Projects)

2019 marked 30 years since Fabio & Grooverider launched their upstairs room at Charing Cross club Rage where they supported numerous emerging sounds such as bleep techno, hardcore and darkside jungle. 30 Years Of Rage revisits those days and pulls together some of those parties’ biggest tracks taking in classics by Leftfield, Nightmares On Wax and Foul Play across two volumes.

Christian Eede

48. Alice Coltrane Sextet - Live at the Berkeley Community Theater 1972 Alice Coltrane Sextet -

(BCT)

47. Autechre - Warp Tapes 89-93 Autechre -

(NTS / Warp)

Warp kick-started its 30th anniversary celebrations midway through 2019 with a weekend of broadcasts on NTS taking in shows and music from some of its key acts. One of those acts was Autechre who, over the course of two hours, dug deep into the vaults back to a time when they were more directly taking influence from the early techno and rave-inspired sounds of the time. This was a rare insight into the pair’s earliest material from a time that gave us such twisted bangers from them as ‘Cavity Job’ and ‘Accelera 1 & 2’.

Christian Eede

46. Don Cherry - Brown Rice Don Cherry -

(A&M)

Few before or since have demonstrated comparable ease in connecting with other musicians, regardless of background or ethos, like Cherry. His ability to locate the deepest, most humanistic, and spiritual links in disparate traditions remains sublime. Lots of musicians profess that they don’t recognise genre, but it’s hard to think of an artist who lived it as much as he did. Earlier this year, Brown Rice was reissued on vinyl for the first time in more than four decades, and its contents sound more prescient, beautiful, and unique than ever.

Peter Margasak

45. Michael Abels - US (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) Michael Abels -

(Back Lot)

44. Peter Ivers - Becoming Peter Ivers Peter Ivers -

(RVNG Intl.)

43. Emile Mosseri - The Last Black Man In San Francisco (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) Emile Mosseri -

(Lakeshore)

42. Martin Bartlett - Anecdotal Electronics: Live Experiments & Other Recordings Martin Bartlett -

(Arc Light Editions)

The recordings on Anecdotal Electronics are crammed full of whimsy and wonder. It is the sound of a man experimenting as he goes and you can almost see the smile on his face, or a perplexed looked after altering a knob an getting something that he wasn’t expecting. The songs range from jaunty workouts ‘Muscle Music (Edit)’, full on freak-outs ‘Time Passing X (Edit)’ and the songs that showcase his philosophical leanings ‘More Lines from Chuang Tzu (Edit)’ and ‘Electronic Recalcitrant’. It’s the latter that really feel fresh and exciting. ‘Three Songs’ is the standout track on the album, as not only tells the story of how Bartlett built and designed his own synths, but the music is lyrical, playful with an abrasive element that is hard to ignore.

Nick Roseblade

41. Barker - FACT Mix 720 Barker -

(FACT)

Barker’s debut solo album, Utility, was one of 2019’s finest albums with the Berlin-based producer exploring rich melodies entirely unshackled from kick drums. This mix of all-original material places those kinds of sounds alongside hefty drums and a more direct techno sound, giving an insight into what you might expect from one of Barker’s own live sets at a club.

Christian Eede

40. Arthur Russell - Iowa Dream Arthur Russell -

(Audika)

The latest posthumous Arthur Russell release is the result of a decade of archival work by Steve Knutson and Russell's partner Tom Lee. Across the stripped back and beautiful record, there are collaborations with the likes of Rhys Chatham, David Van Tieghem and Henry Flynt. Multi-instrumentalist Peter Broderick also worked alongside Audika Record on the compilation, to complete a number of almost-finished songs.

39. Mark Jenkin - Bait (Original Score) Mark Jenkin -

(Invada)

"An original drone was created very separate to the film but then I realised it might work as a score. From there I created a set of about 12 drones (eight of which are on the album) which were mostly variations on a theme and I began to place them in the edit to match the score. The drones work very well with the sounds of the sea, which is pretty much omni-present throughout the film and makes it easier to embed a drone without it being a big 'musical' statement."

Mark Jenkin

38. V/A - Nigeria 70: No Wahala Highlife Afro Funk & Juju 1973-1987 V/A -

(Strut)

The first new entry in Strut’s Nigeria 70 series for almost a decade is one of its very finest. Focusing on a time in Nigerian music where established styles like highlife and juju began to intersect with jazz and funk, as well as exploring musical links between Nigeria and Benin, it is a glistening and essential listen.

37. Rupa - Disco Jazz Rupa -

(Numero Group)

Rupa Sen Biswas’ ‘Disco Jazz’ sold barely any copies in 1982, and the Bengal-born singer quickly faded into anonymity. However after someone uploaded the record to YouTube, original copies suddenly became worth hundreds. Dan Snaith, aka Caribou’s use of one track ‘Aaj Shanibar’ in his DJ sets has garnered it over a million views. Newly reissued by Numero Group, the record stands up to its sought-after reputation. A wild and immensely enjoyable lost gem from the golden age of Indian disco, Disco Jazz is a must-listen.

Patrick Clarke

36. Mica Levi - Monos (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) Mica Levi -

(Invada)

Levi's score sounds instinctive, and its first appearance in the film is an intense and wavering synth melody, juddering away while the Monos train, their bodies and stamina being mercilessly pushed by the Messenger. But the tune isn't brutal, there's a warmth to it despite what it sounds like, which seems to illustrate the contradiction of what is less a group and more a family – albeit an incredibly dysfunctional one.

Charlie Brigden

35. Mort Garson - Mother Earth’s Plantasia Mort Garson -

(Sacred Bones)

From the synth strut of 'Baby Tears Blues' to 'You Don't Have to Walk a Begonia’, Mother Earth’s Plantasia continues to hold special dominion within a nebulous sonic sphere that has trickled into 1980s Library Music, 16bit RPG-soundtracks and far beyond. Now, thanks to the efforts of Sacred Bones, we have a chance to view it as something more than Garson probably ever wished for it to be. Not least from the vantage point of an era where mass plant extinction, from the Chile sandalwood to Saint Helena olive, is no longer some idle cosmic threat but a we-could-actually-be-fucked reality, let’s honour Garson by not simply viewing his 1976 album as something lovely, or even groundbreaking, but as a cue to heed the red flag for what it is.

Brian Coney

34. CCL - Unsound Podcast 56 CCL -

(Unsound)

If you don’t know much about CCL, this mix for Unsound is a great way to get acquainted with them as the Seattle-based DJ runs through various sub-aquatic sounds mostly shy of the 100 BPM mark. In little over an hour, they hit on UK dancehall, D&B, jungle, various chugging delights, EBM and electro, all of it blended to perfection.

Christian Eede

33. Mary Lou Williams - Mary Lou Williams Mary Lou Williams -

(Smithsonian Folkways)

Mary Lou Williams’ discography as a musician, composer, arranger and band leader is among the most imperious in the history of jazz, but among her hundreds of releases, this slender 1964 LP might be the very best of them all. For its breathtaking opener ‘Black Christ Of The Andes’ alone, this LP is an absolute must.

Patrick Clarke

32. DEBONAIR - RA.677 DEBONAIR -

(Resident Advisor)

2019 felt like they year that DEBONAIR deservedly finally broke through following years of excellent sets at clubs across the country alongside hosting one of NTS’ best shows. This mix for Resident Advisor shows off various sides of her club sound, touching on EBM from Front 242 and A Split Second, banging techno by LSDXOXO and great recent material by Yves Tumor and Nkisi, amongst lots more.

Christian Eede

31. Shellac - The End Of Radio Shellac -

(Touch & Go)

Shellac of North America played their first Peel Session in 1994, three months before their first album, At Action Park, was released on Touch And Go. Of the four songs they played for BBC radio, only ‘Crow’ made it onto the debut, with ‘Canada’ and ‘Disgrace’ ending up on Terraform in 1998 and ‘Spoke’ only surfacing on Excellent Italian Greyhound in 2007. The second part of the album is more of an honorary Peel Session, given that it is an eight-track live album recorded in front of an audience at Studio 4 of Maida Vale. According to Ken Garner’s very useful book The Peel Sessions, after the DJ died unexpectedly in October 2004, Rob Da Bank hosted his show for the rest of the year, "using Peel's already planned running orders, and already commissioned or recorded sessions" which included this blistering December 1 set. The band dedicated the session “and probably the rest of our career” to the DJ. The undoubted highlight is a strident but poignant ‘The End Of Radio’, complete with alternate lyric: “John Peel was a hell of a man.”

John Doran

30. Sunn O))) - BBC 6 Music Session for Mary Anne Hobbs Sunn O))) -

(BBC)



John Doran [writing in The Guardian] BBC 6 Music ushered in Halloween this year with a gloriously autumnal live session by Sunn O))). On her mid-morning prime-time show the next day, Mary Anne Hobbs played a reverberant section of their 30-minute drone metal track Troubled Air, and introduced the band to her large audience as the “overlords of experimental metal”. Using a dizzyingly large backline at Maida Vale studios, they summoned warm waves of overdriven guitar noise, complemented by a heavenly swell of trombone, which crashed up against current hyped playlist hopefuls and canonical heavyweights including Depeche Mode, Missy Elliott and Tom Waits.The Guardian]

29. Martin Bartlett - Ankle On Martin Bartlett -

(Arc Light Editions)

What these recordings show is a musician, and philosopher, who was ahead of his time. Sadly he died at a time when electronic music was starting to get recognition as a serious art form, not just a fad, and this might be the reason why Bartlett isn’t as well-known as his peers. Plus there isn’t a lot of his recordings, but what is available shows in inquisitive mind, with an innate understanding of melody and composition. With these albums we are being given vital recordings that will hopefully shine the spotlight on an underrated and long forgotten composer, producer and pioneer.

Nick Roseblade

28. upsammy - Dekmantel Festival 2019 upsammy -

(Dekmantel)

Dekmantel’s main stage, at which Dutch DJ upsammy played this set, isn’t the most intimate of spaces which makes her steadfast commitment to playing the music she wants to play all the more admirable. In this case, that involved angular techstep, jungle and various IDM curios all put together and paced impeccably.

Christian Eede

27. UKAEA - Threads Mix, 21 October 2019 UKAEA -

(Threads)

When he's not assembling end time animist raves and possession cult rituals with a mass of musicians and performers, Dan Jones also performs strident techno as a solo producer, also under the UKAEA name. He can be found once a month testing battle weapons on Threads, a London community radio station in Tottenham.

John Doran

26. Batu - Truancy Volume 240 Batu -

(Truants)

Batu is a DJ very much at the top of his game right now, adept at playing various styles and tempos, as he evidenced in numerous sets around the world this year. This set for the Truants blog’s long-running mix series is an example of his wide-ranging ability as he fuses together all manner of tripped-out modern club sounds and psychedelic techno while crossing tempo boundaries with ease.

Christian Eede

25. Ernest Hood - Neighborhoods Ernest Hood -

(Freedom To Spend)

On the introductory ‘Saturday Morning Doze’, birds’ singsong and sounds of a hazy and lazy Saturday are framed within glossy synth lines and tender zither strums. While the ambient music tropes he uses would today soon be renounced as kitsch, Hood’s earnestness elevates them to pure sonic euphoria. Like the “olly olly oxen free" melody that a girl first sings on ‘After School’ only for Hood’s keyboard to repeat it, with glee. Or the nocturnal ‘August Haze’ that employs distant dog barks, insect chirrups, and a faint swinging radio transmission to masterfully preserve the essence of a sweltering hot and careless summer night. It all ends at night, too, with a game of Kick the Can and the Happy Days theme song hummed in passing, as the time to go home approaches.

Antonio Poscic

24. British Murder Boys - Receiving The Law British Murder Boys -

(Downwards)

150 copies of limited edition cassette album Receiving The Law were given away during a rare British Murder Boys set at fabric earlier this year. This was recorded at their residency at the Willem Twee Studios earlier this year - but obviously it isn't twee at all, and features a markedly different sonic palette from what you might expect. Piano, sordid mutterings, Regis channelling Jhon Balance, David Tibet and Marc Almond all at once feature, along with a cover of Lou Reed's ‘Real Good Time Together’.

23. Craig Leon - Anthology of Interplanetary Folk Music Vol. 2: The Canon Craig Leon -

(RVNG Intl.)

Brian Eno once remarked that his intention was not to soothe those awaiting a flight but to remind them that death, should it come, need not be feared. A far flight from Spotify’s akimbo onslaught of pre-packaged ambient playlists and an integrated Headspace subscription. Leon’s record is similarly interruptive in this landscape. This is music for interplanetary airports and as much as it soothes, it sonically unsettles. But that said – when the project is taken holistically – the listener also risks being unsettled by the contexts that lie in its peripheries.

Aaron Skates

22. Call Super - Crack Mix 300 Call Super -

(Crack)

Every new mix from Call Super feels like a treat and this one wastes little time getting going as the Berlin-based DJ and producer sets things off just north of the 140 BPM mark. Finding a course through spaced-out techno, classic hardcore, electro, jungle techno and more, he soon winds down proceedings a little in the home straight via head-scrambling polyrhythms and blissed-out house.

Christian Eede

21. Anna Meredith - Eighth Grade (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) Anna Meredith -

(Columbia)

Eighth Grade is a comedy of awkwardness, a drama of social unease and stomach-knotting cringe. In this sense it resembles – or is at least some kind of z generation heir to – TV shows like The Office and Curb Your Enthusiasm. But unlike those older peers, a great deal of Eighth Grade’s tension is generated by the brilliant score from Anna Meredith. The one-time Camberwell Composers Collective co-founder has produced an electronic soundtrack of dizzying intensity, like EDM with all the macho drops and pumping bass stripped out, still left with all of its thrills, its high-wire fervour, its maximalist delirium.

Robert Barry

20. Årabrot - Die Niebelungen Årabrot -

(Pelagic)

Die Nibelungen comes from the mighty Årabrot’s live soundtrack to Fritz Lang’s classic silent films of the same name. Kjetil Nernes’s shifting collective brought in members of Gnod, Nurse With Wound and Current 93 for a five hour long performance, now honed and trimmed into two extraordinary 20-minute movements. ‘Part I’ is disparate, ominous and intense in its sparseness, showing Nernes’ brilliance when it comes to atmospherics. Disparate industrial grinds and screeches cut arrhythmically through the drone, but so to do moments of real beauty. Then, on ‘Part II’, the band begin to let loose a little. Rumbles of guitar give way to a hint of the hard-riffing power of Årabrot’s last two studio LPs, but always handled with a deft dynamism that betrays the depth and skill of one of the modern greats.

Patrick Clarke

19. The Velvet Underground - The Complete Matrix Tapes The Velvet Underground -

(UMG)

The Complete Matrix Tapes takes in 43 tracks in total, offering alternate live versions of the same song in some cases. The recordings featured on the 8xLP box set were captured across two nights at San Francisco's North Beach club the Matrix. The shows (on November 26 and 27, 1969, which was Thanksgiving) formed part of an 18-date residency that the band took up in San Francisco across November and December of 1969, which saw them play shows at the Matrix and before that another venue called the Family Dog.

Before his (still unsolved) murder in 1983, Peter Ivers had been feted by Muddy Waters, signed by Van Dyke Parks, shared concert bills with Fleetwood Mac (wearing a nappy and nothing else), and – perhaps most famously – lent his singing voice to the Woman in the Radiator in David Lynch's debut feature *Eraserhead*. But despite the song he wrote with Lynch, 'In Heaven' being covered by everyone from Devo to Modest Mouse, Ivers never found the success he may have deserved and his music was largely forgotten – until now. *Becoming Peter Ivers*, released this year on RVNG Intl., contains demos for his Lady in the Radiator song and many other tracks from his 70s solo albums for Warner, mostly stripped down to just his strange reedy voice, a keyboard and a drum machine making up a strangely intimate portrait of one of America's great lost oddball musicians.

18. V/A - Electro Acholi Kaboom from Northern Uganda V/A -

(Nyege Nyege Tapes)

The closest Western comparison to the genre of electro acholi could be the trend of hiring a DJ at your wedding as opposed to paying for a cover’s band. The early pioneers of the genre, featured here between 2003 and 2008, found a niche in a culture where wedding troupes have up to twenty-five members. The computerised sounds these producers made mirrored the rhythms traditionally performed with a large-scale percussive range of calabashes, ankle bells and call and response vocals. To give a contemporary twist the tempos of electro acholi tracks were sped up using multi-layered drum machines.The result is a high-energy album that’s universally familiar as party music

Clyde Macfarlane

17. SOPHIE - Oil Of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides Non-Stop Remix Album SOPHIE -

(MSMSMSM)

Arriving in mid-summer, this two-part addendum to SOPHIE’s excellent 2018 album, Oil Of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides, serves as a treasure trove of previously unreleased tracks from the producer that have become favourites over the course of her tour dates of the last couple of years. There’s also a generous helping of new takes on tracks from last year’s album, complete with SOPHIE’s distinctive, metallic sound design.

Christian Eede

16. V/A - STUMM433 V/A -

(Mute)

"John Cage’s '4’33' has been present in my musical life for as long as I can remember as an important and inspiring composition. When the idea of every Mute artist doing their own interpretation of the piece came up during a conversation with Simon Fisher Turner, I immediately thought this was the perfect way to mark the label’s MUTE 4.0 (1978 > TOMORROW) series."

The Normal, aka Mute’s Daniel Miller

15. Hesska - Discwoman 77 Hesska -

(Discwoman)

The former Gesamtkunstwerk DJ and current NTS Manchester and CITS resident comes up with an incredible mix for Discwoman which ranges from Klein to Loraine James via Moor Mother, Afrodeutsche and DEBBY FRIDAY.

John Doran

14. Suicide - Suicide Suicide -

(Mute)

“There was no conversation saying, ‘Oh ‘Rocket U.S.A.’ should be the first track on the album.’ We just recorded our set live in the studio, exactly as we had been playing it for years, all in the order that you hear it on the album. It took us the amount of time it takes you to listen to the album for us to record it. About 35 minutes.”

Martin Rev

13. Bobby Krlic - Midsommar (Original Score) Bobby Krlic -

(Milan)

When it comes to folk horror soundtracks, Midsommar – like many modern folk horror films – doesn’t follow in any obvious way, the legacy of its forebears. Like 1973’s The Wicker Man, Krlic’s music makes use of diegetic folk singing but it’s nothing like the bucolic, folk jollies of Paul Giovanni’s imagination. And while it has the compositional finesse of scores like Luboš Fišer’s Valerie and her Week of Wonders and Mark Wilkinson’s Blood on Satan’s Claw, it sounds nothing like either.

Lara C Cory

12. Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė, Vaiva Grainytė and Lina Lapelytė - Sun & Sea (Marina) Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė, Vaiva Grainytė and Lina Lapelytė -

(Skira)

Sun & Sea (Marina) represented Lithuania at this year’s Venice Biennale, winning the prestigious Golden Lion for Best National Participation. The exhibition consisted of a single and unbroken eight hour opera, viewed from platforms by a public who had queued up to 3 hours to get in, and performed by a cast of holidaymakers, reclining on a beach artificially created in a disused military warehouse. Singing at times alone, and at times in sweeping unison, each character’s concerns, foibles and neuroses become entwined with simple but gorgeous grace - a pushy mother, a workaholic father, a long distance couple anxious about when they’ll next be together. Viewed in person it is moving in the extreme, finding immeasurable depth in the most basic aspects of humanity, made all the more powerful by its transience. Such is the strength of the music, written and arranged by Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė, Vaiva Grainytė and Lina Lapelytė, that Sun & Sea (Marina)’s brilliance is preserved, at least in part.

Patrick Clarke

11. Leon Vynehall - DJ-Kicks Leon Vynehall -

(!K7)

"I wanted to approach this more like a compilation than a stand-alone 'mix'. To me, compiling a DJ-Kicks is a significant statement of intent and representation, so with that in mind, I thought more about the selection than the mix."

Leon Vynehall

10. The Deontic Miracle - Selections from 100 Models of Hegikan Roku The Deontic Miracle -

(Blank Forms Editions)

Selections from 100 Models of Hegikan Roku is an essential record; it is a marvel that we can finally hear what happened that night in Stockholm, under conditions as ideal as they ever were for long-form sonic exploration. Remember, as Brouwer wrote, that “right through the walls of causality ‘miracles’ glide and flow continually, visible only to the free, the enlightened.” Hennix and her compatriots enlighten.

Canada Choate

9. Popol Vuh - The Essential Album Collection Vol. 1 Popol Vuh -

(BMG)

8. V/A - Kankyō Ongaku: Japanese Ambient, Environmental & New Age Music 1980​-​1990 V/A -

(Light In The Attic)

Together, the twenty three tracks here promote a warmth that feels somewhere close to paradise. In fact, Kankyō Ongaku leaves you wondering what would happen to our society, to Britain in 2019, if we toned things down a bit and tuned into these frequencies in our public spaces? My god. That's nirvana right there.

Robin Turner

7. Hildur Guðnadóttir - Chernobyl (Music From The Original TV Series) Hildur Guðnadóttir -

(Deutsche Grammophon)

It can’t be overstated just how key Hildur Guðnadóttir’s music was to the success of Sky and HBO’s acclaimed retelling of the Chernobyl disaster when it was broadcast in Spring. Incorporating recordings from an actual nuclear power plant, Geiger counter clicks, the occasional drip of an unseen fluid and the distant whirrs and thuds of machinery ground scenes in stark reality, while Guðnadóttir’s sparse and looming compositions capture both the chaos of the explosion itself, and the unshakeable existential terror of the aftermath. Listened to on its own terms, it is just as harrowing as the story it scores.

Patrick Clarke

6. Underworld - DRIFT Series 1 Underworld -

(Smith Hyde Productions)

To even summarise each moment of Drift is a challenge. What I can say is the elements of surprise and familiarity work together to form a deep, dark and wonderful hole, unmanageable by its very nature, and beautifully chaotic. The essential ingredients of Underworld are all there. Karl Hyde’s mesmerising and monotonous stream-of-consciousness vocals over Rick Smith’s glitchy techno and disorientating acid synths often come into the mixture, but often new elements reveal a new side to Underworld’s ever-growing pasture of material.

Esme Bennett

5. V/A - Speedy Wunderground: Year 4 V/A -

(Speedy Wunderground)

I think the key to the Speedy Wunderground sound is to be heard in its agility and can be summed up by number four of producer Dan Carey’s ten commandments: “Recording of all records will be done in one day and finish before midnight. The recordings will be a snapshot of the day. Mixing will be done the day following the recording, also in one day only. This will prevent over-cooking and ‘faff’.” There is literally no faff whatsoever to Scottibrains’ liquid Kraut belter ‘Sustained Threat’; even the merest threat of faff has been eradicated by the track being mixed by Carey’s 13-year-old daughter, Orla. ‘BmBmBm’, a berserk volley of dynamics in future funk, that somehow doesn’t lose sight of the dancefloor despite ending up a corruscating ray of noise and grindcore ferrocity, a Speedy Wunderground anthem for the ages, if ever there was one.

John Doran

4. Patrick Cowley - Mechanical Fantasy Box Patrick Cowley -

(Dark Entries)

"These days I cannot perceive things in quite the same light as previously. The finite nature of our physical bodies is made painfully apparent by David's accident. I feel fragile, like a Japanese house or a piece of lace. I am touched in a very deep and sensitive place by the people around me… David, Richard, George and Steven - some of the men that mean much, they are parts of me I don't want to lose. But I am reminded not too gently that other forces will make their power felt beyond my conscious efforts to endear and be endeared… to inspire & be inspired to probe and develop and ease the pain and to serve as material to others for similar exploration. To love and be loved is a simple thing, as simple as life and death. I am growing."

Patrick Cowley, an excerpt from the Mechanical Fantasy Box journal

3. AYA - FACT Mix 738 AYA -

(FACT)

As well as producing one of 2019’s best EPs in the Tri Angle-released and departt from mono games, AYA (FKA LOFT) blends through modern distortions of club music at a dizzying pace on this mix for FACT, finding time along the way for delightfully silly edits by The South Yorkshire Mick Mucknall and HMT Hard Cru’s DJ Space Heater, as well as her own banging donk-esque take on Caterina Barbieri’s ‘Fantas’.

Christian Eede

2. V/A - Strain Crack & Break: Music From The Nurse With Wound List V/A -

(Finders Keepers)

It’s a release full of very groovy, but often intense music, getting high off its own sense of mission. There are some fabulous cuts to get lost in, such as the edit of Igor Wakhévitch’s piece, ‘Materia Prima’ (from his must-have Docteur Faust LP), a menacing space rock plod driven by bubbling synths that then turns tail and wades into Tago Mago territory. The great Philippe Besombes is here too, with a moody reflection from his 1975 LP Libra. ‘La Plage’ (The Beach) is the soundtrack to the most uninviting beach you can imagine and not at all like the rumbustious compositions he made with Jean-Louis Rizet. Rather it feels like a sonic prompt to those arty post-punks waiting just around the corner.

Richard Foster

1. The Caretaker - Everywhere At The End Of Time The Caretaker -

(History Always Favours The Winners)

Stage 6 is heart-breaking, distressing, overwhelming. Once immersed you genuinely feel lost. It’s impossible to understand what is happening around you. It is confusing, overwhelming. You feel isolated. You might ask yourself why you would put yourself through such an experience but then isn’t that the power of all great art anyway – to experience and to feel unknown emotions, states, and perspectives? It’s not an easy journey but you feel different for undertaking it.

Maybury

The Quietus Albums Of The Year 2019