Time once again to go over my favorite ambient and electronic releases of 2010. This year was particularly excellent for pure electronic music, especially the kind inspired by the classic sounds of 70s Kosmiche music from Germany and a kind of imaginary new age electronic from a forgotten 80s. On the other hand, and perhaps this is merely an estimation from someone who has “heard it all,” I felt the pure ambient releases of 2010 were generally rather plain and stale as a rule, with a few notable examples. Nevertheless, we are living in the best of all possible worlds if we enjoy electronic music—so much so that it is now impossible to keep up with it all. A wonderful problem to have. Here are my picks for the year, in no order …

Scott Cortez—Twin Radiant Flux (12k/Line)

Cortez was the mastermind behind the art-damaged beautiful noise group Lovesliescrushing in the 90s, and suffered for years in obscurity, perhaps because their music was so far ahead of its time. Now that blissed out shoegaze is back in vogue, not to mention all sorts of sandblasted ambient sound (see Jefre Cantu-Ledesma below), it appears people are finally taking notice. This year gave us the excellent collection, Girl. Echo. Suns. Veils, of older rarities and a marvelous disc of classic drones, as well as a reworked reissue of the Chorus album (also on Line thanks to the kindly intervention of Richard Chartier) from a few years back that had, like, no distro anywhere. My favorite is Twin Radiant Flux, a white-hot set of drifting dreamtones and submerged melodies. Let’s hope this prolific phase continues indefinitely.

Keith Berry—The Cartesian Plane (Elevator Bath)

Another treasured obscurity returned this year, in the form of a lovely new 12″ picture disc from Keith Berry. This is deep and austere droning of the highest caliber (think Paul Bradley or Thomas Köner) by a name that deserves to be known by a far greater audience of ambient fans. Perhaps Berry is an acquired taste, judging by the extremely minimal nature of his work. Nevertheless, the keyword with this one is: enveloping. Don’t miss.

Stellar OM Source—Trilogy Select (Olde English Spelling Bee)

2010 was the year of classic electronic music sounds reborn for a new generation of hipsters—one that takes imaginary 80s new age soundtrack music and combines it with pure kosmiche into a strangely familiar, yet wholly alien terrain. I heard great records by Oneohtrix Point Never, Dylan Ettinger, Radio People, Steve Moore, Emeralds (see below), all in this vein, and all terribly good listens. Not sure 80s new age ever sounded like this, but who cares. It’s kind of like hauntology where the artist is half-remembering something from childhood and trying to recreate the feeling. Anyway, Stellar OM Source’s Trilogy Select cobbles together tracks from three previous solo CDRs to make a record that’s like a less polished, more punk-rock Oneohtrix Point Never—in other words, completely wasted electronic music from the sulphuric acid planet. Recommended if you liked Carpenter’s soundtrack to Assault on Precinct 13 and early (think Blackdance) Klaus Schulze.

Pale Blue Sky—Shades of Grey (Arbor)

This one came as quite a suprise to me—fabulous airy ambient that reminds me of nothing less than Steve Roach’s magnificent Structures from Silence. If you’d told me this was released in 1982 on some private press new age label, I’d have believed you. No. It’s 2010. Stratospheric and elegant, I played this for days on end along with the split PBS did with Cloaked Light, also on Arbor.

David Tagg—Pentecost (Install)

One of the rare Tagg releases not on CDR or other disposable formats, this record is entirely composed of organ drones stretched and melted and reshaped. I was surprised at how frequently I found this one on the player, as it’s rather understated the first few times you listen. As you get into it though, the sound is positively HUGE, almost like the delicate cloud sculptures of William Basinski. Tagg’s work is always released in very limited forms (still looking for a copy of his excellent Waist Deep Seas of Milk myself), so don’t sleep on this one.

Concert Silence—9.22.07 (Infraction)

If you, like me, were a bit disappointed by the use of vocals on the latest Eluvium (or, worse still, put off by his gradual progression toward sickly sweet piano compositions) you might want to look out for his release under the name Concert Silence, which harks back to his earlier records like Lambent Material with a tougher, noisier edge. I thought this was perhaps the most compelling pure ambient release of the year, perhaps not a tough feat in what I felt was a relatively weak year for ambient, but still excellent work. Recommended for fans of early Stars of the Lid.

Jefre Cantu-Ledesma–Love Is a Stream (Type)

Talk about shoegaze coming back in full force. Some of us (me) are still saying, “hey, it never left!” Here’s a great example of dream pop with most of the pop extracted and backfilled with crunchy noise on the order of Fennesz or perhaps the rougher side of Grouper. This record seems to me to be most indebted by recent Fennesz, but I have to admit that I’ve played this one a whole lot more than I have Black Sea, so there you are. Ledesma also released interesting work on Install (a split with David Tagg) and an excellent krautrocky throwback as part of his band The Alps, called Le Voyage, also on Type.

Emeralds—Does It Look Like I’m Here? (Editions Mego)

I guess this was the year of Emeralds. I bought so many records by them and their offshoots and solo projects, and I loved them all. Perhaps it’s because they’re so similar? Either way, nobody right now is doing music the way they are, and in such quantity. The big one this year was their Mego debut, Does It Look Like I’m Here?, and it got a lot of press in surprising places, such as the rather trendy and less-than-adventurous Pitchfork. But this does nothing to reduce the power of this amazing record, which is likely their most focused and accessible work yet. If you, like me, prefer their earlier, noisier work to the new, more melodic Vangelis-y stuff, there was plenty of that to go around, too. I also enjoyed the records that arrived to reissue out of print cassette releases by offshoots/solo projects from Mark McGuire, Outer Space, Imaginary Softwoods, Mist, and Colored Mushroom and the Medicine Rocks.

Andrew Chalk—Ghost of Nakhodka (Faraway Press)

Been a while since Andrew Chalk has appeared on one of my lists, but this record had to be included. Hard to describe this one, it’s almost like lysergic celtic elfland music to play while you read Robert Holdstock’s Mythago Wood. Completely entrancing. I think this appeared on cassette originally (whatever), but now it’s on CD with a monstrous opener piece that opens the door, and then several miniature Enoesque Music for Films vignettes to close things up. Fantastic music by yet another unsung master of the form.

A Young Person’s Guide to Kyle Bobby Dunn (Low Point)

Had never heard of Kyle Bobby Dunn prior to this release, but he’s got my attention now. This sprawling two-CD set (apparently comprised of older material among other things) runs the gamut from austere ambient to more “symphonic” (for lack of a better descriptor) material that you might have expected from Stars of the Lid. Appropriate, then, that one of his earlier records appeared on Sedimental, same as the beloved first SotL record, Music for Nitrous Oxide. Smooth and nice, perfect late night winter listening.

Moon Wiring Club—A Spare Tabby at the Cat’s Wedding

Though I’ve followed the Ghost Box label (and, unwittingly, most of the other hauntology boffins before they had a name for it) for a while, somehow the extremely fine Moon Wiring Club eluded my notice until February of this year. No longer, as I have picked up all four of his records since then, including this one, which is brand new and available in two attractive formats with different tracks. Where I might have found some of the other Ghost Box crew “not going far enough” into the weird brambles of curious British electronic music, MWC digs deep into the BBC archives to source some completely sick samples of the kinds of curiosities only a true weirdo with an enormous collection of cult fiction would appreciate. This material is incredibly well realized, from the almost edible (and consistent) packaging and artwork, to the endless samples from dozens of radio plays and strange public TV sources. For me, this was the music I’d always hoped would exist one day, and here it is before us.

Reissues and Short Stuff

Balam Acab—”See Birds” 12″ (Tri Angle)

I don’t know what witch house is and I don’t care. It sounds a little bit like dubstep mixed with that weird shuffly southern rap beat that you hear on the radio sometimes, bass like on cough syrup. So they made up a scene of it and started some buzz, whatever, that’s how it always seems to go, since time immemorial. I picked up this interesting little 12, though, and it’s dead good. Reminds me a bit of Burial if you introduced Seefeel’s penchant for unusual texture and the vocalist from Cranes. Will definitely be on the lookout for more.

Washed Out—Life of Leisure ep (Mexican Summer)

I guess it’s the most popular thing on my list, but I played this more than any other release this year. It is “chillwave” so take it however you will. Kind of stuttery italo-disco samples and lyrics you can’t quite understand. I think I would have been gaga for this as a teen, just making out with every PYT in my way, if I’d had this record back then. I saw the guy live too and was pretty impressed by the whole thing, especially since it’s just a guy in front of some equipment dancing the night away. Nice work if you can get it.

O Yuki Conjugate—Ambiguism 1983-1987 (Vinyl on Demand)

I’d be remiss if I left this thing out, a monster 4-LP set of incredibly difficult to locate work by the original masters of ethno-tribal ambient music, O Yuki Conjugate. Tons of great music in a sumptuous box set with bonus booklets and other goodies. If you know OYC, you know what to expect.
Reminds me of a time, now long gone, when it felt like anything in music was possible.

Edward Larry Gordon—Celestial Vibration (Soul Jazz)

Who could have expected this one coming? Mr. Gordon (aka Larajji) is one of the treasures of ambient music and holy minimalism. Here’s a very welcome reissue of one of his earliest albums (earliest?) on CD—one hour of the celestial zither meditations sure to straighten out the kinks after a long day at the office. I found myself playing this one in the car a lot and appreciating the way light would bounce around as I drove through a forest on the way to work. Absolutely unmissable work.

Celer—All at Once Is What Eternity Is 3″ (Taalem)

There was a whole ton of Celer released this year, and I have to admit that most of it did not strike my fancy. A few records of extended drones, and nothing really grabbed my attention in the overwhelming landscape of ambient music today. Perhaps it is just that I have heard too much of it, I don’t know. What I did really like was this tiny gem of a 3″ CDR, released on the French label Taalem. This reminds me of the Celer albums I’ve liked in the past, such as Engaged Touches and Discourses of the Withered. As with all excellent 3″ releases, it is over far too soon for me, though I must admit that 20 minutes is quite often just the perfect amount of tantalizing ambient.

Honorable Mentions or Favorites Unrelated to the Genre

Teen Dream by Beach House (Sub Pop)
Gemini by Wild Nothing (Captured Tracks)
Keep a Weather Eye Open by Ben Fleury-Steiner (Infraction)
Liumin by Echospace (Modern Love)
The Art of Dying Alone by BVDub (Glacial Movements)
Traba by Simon Scott (Immune)
Shoals by Taylor Deupree (12K)
Before Today by Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti (4AD)
Returnal by Oneohtrix Point Never (Mego)
Panoramic Dreams Bathed in Seldomness by Celer (Basses Frequences)
Causers of This by Toro y Moi (Carpark)
Colored Mushroom and the Medicine Rocks (Wagon)
Mark McGuire—Off in the Distance (Cylindrical Habitat Modules)
Mist—Glowing Net ep (Amethyst Sunset)