Things Dan Bodah liked a lot in 2009

       

* White Magic's New Egypt was one of the more exciting records I heard in 2009 -- effortless, with Mira improvising vocals and yipping over a hazy, driving trance groove that's like an Alicia Keyes locked groove on a turntable immersed in laudanum
 

* Several bands in 2009 put out records full of songs that sounded like they'd been taken from 70s AM radio archives, stripped down to their beats, and then abstracted in echo-chamber autoclaves. Out of the autoclave come pleasurable psychedelic indulgences like Sun Araw's albums Beach Head and Heavy Deeds, Blues Control's fabulous ep Local Flavor, and Pocohaunted's reggae-in-fog Passage. 

* It was so odd reading all those reviews of Von Trier's film Antichrist without ever seeing or intending to see the movie myself. The knowing way they discussed the genital mutilations was especially weird.

* I haven't gotten to the bottom of Oneida's Rated O yet -- not sure if it has a bottom, really. Three CDs of neo-prog noise rock wherein our pseudonymous heroes reinvent the rock opera for the post-Merzbow age.

 

* The Master Musicians of Bukkake, despite the unfortunate name, created a working musical ritual for a nonexistent tribal religion on this year's Totem One. In a darker direction, San Francisco's Barn Owl did something similar on From Our Mouths, A Perpetual Light last year.

 * I rediscovered Brian Eno's Taking Tiger Mountain at full volume on the car stereo. I'll admit that I first heard Third Uncle via the Bauhaus version, but rediscovering it this particular time made Bauhaus's version unlistenable. The production on Tiger Mountain is absolute genius -- it's such its own  sound world that listening is still fresh this many years later.

 * In 44 Presidents, MZA and Maria Sputnik perfectly capture the weirdness of the Facebook profiles of each of the American Presidents. 

* Anla Courtis, of Argentina's noise/psych rock band Reynols, and Aaron Moore of Brooklyn's Volcano the Bear collaborated together on the stunning assembled-by-mail record Brokebox Juke. Fractured spatters of improvisation somehow hang together into surprisingly warm and engaging free explorations. 

* Idiosyncratic lutist Jozef Van Wissem from the Netherlands and London-based ambient 12-string guitarist James Blackshaw have both been putting out their own great records for several years now, but it's a special treat to hear them playing together as a Brethren of the Free Spirit on the record All Things are from Him, through Him and in Him. 

* Sublime Frequencies continues to bring out some of the greatest "world music" around -- scrappy, dangerously compelling stuff like Dabke 2020 by the Syrian madman Omar Souleyman (not to be confused with the other, more well-known Omar Suleiman), and the hot hot hot Treeg Salam from Western Sahara's Group Doueh. Proprietor Sir Richard Bishop's own latest, Freak of Araby ain't no laughing matter either (or is it? One can never tell with SRB). 

* Oh, I could go on (Bishop Perry Tillis's In Times Like These, Sunn O))))'s Monoliths and Dimensions, the new RRR-1000 and WFMU Locked Groove records, etc)... 

* R.I.P.: 

  John Storm Roberts 

  Jack Rose  Sirone  Elizabeth Clare Prophet 

  Les Paul  Rashied Ali  J.G. Ballard 

 Paul Harvey   

  Max Neuhaus

                    Lux Interior

To check out other WFMU DJ's Top Ten 2009 lists click here.

Comments

[bartleby]

Due to a miscommunication for most of the film Antichrist I expected Bjork to come and rescue Willem Dafoe. Finally I asked my friend "when is Bjork in this?"

[Me]

So you liked Antichrist? Whats with the picture.

[Car Alarm Install]

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[Dan B]

I once took a walk in those foggy woods with blood all over my hands and shirt, too. I tended towards the middle of the frame, though, personally.

[El Runk]

Hey Dan !

Thanks again for 12 months of superb shows. Have a wonderful 2010.
Many greetings from El Runk !

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