RKP Albums of the Year 2016

Here's a list of twenty releases from 2016 which I found to sync up with my brainwaves the best, along with a highlight track from each of them.

Genres include Rock, Folk, Jazz, Electronic, Dub, Trip Hop, Glitch Hop, Tishoumaren and Afrobeat.

Featured artists hail from US, UK, Canada, France, Estonia, Germany, Senegal, Australia, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Algeria, Russia, Niger and Belgium.

1. Ty Segall - Emotional Mugger (US)

2. Acid Arab - Musique de France (France)

3. Mark Ernestus' Ndagga Rhythm Force - Yermande (Germany, Senegal)

4. Suuns - Hold/Still (Canada)

5. Mono/Poly - Cryptic (US) [EP]

6. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - Nonagon Infinity (Australia)

7. Sunwatchers - Sunwatchers (US)

8. Ital Tek - Hollowed (UK)

9. BADBADNOTGOOD - IV (Canada)

10. Nonkeen - The Gamble (Germany)

11. Dele Sosimi Meets Prince Fatty & Nostalgia 77 - You No Fit Touch Am in Dub (Nigeria, UK)

12. Maarja Nuut - Une Meeles (Estonia)

13. Ukandanz - Awo (France, Ethiopia)

14. Massive Attack - Ritual Spirit (UK) [EP]

15. Woods - City Sun Eater in the River of Light (US)

16. Kel Assouf - Tikounen (Niger, Belgium)

17. Rainer Jancis - Hibernatus (Estonia)

18. Pye Corner Audio - Stasis (UK)

19. Imarhan - Imarhan (Algeria)

20. Holy Palms - Jungle Judge (Russia)

RKP Top Electronic Tracks of 2016 So Far

Here's a list of my favourite electronic tracks released in the first half of 2016, set in no particular order.

Genres include House, Techno, Ambient, Drone, Industrial, IDM and Dub.

Orson Hentschel - Shirari (Feed the Tape)

JK Flesh - Trinity (Rise Above)

Not Waving - 24 (Animals)

Norin - Sundets pärla (Bakom planteringen)

Anenon - Machines (Petrol)

UFOCUS - Sins in Suburbia (Guidance For The Puzzled)

We Will Fail - Patience (Hand That Bites)

Driftmachine - Dogov Godov (Colliding Contours)

Haraam - Hyenas On The Border (Sleeper Cell)

Mondkopf - Crawling Sea (The Last Tales)

Yen Towers - Bid III (Bidders Must Justify Their Price)

Ital Tek - Aquamarine (Hollowed)

Sollilja - Peninsula (In Looking, Disappears)

SØS Gunver Ryberg - Pantodont (AFTRYK)

Mmoths - Deu (Luneworks)

RKP Top Electronic Tracks of 2015

Here's a list of my favourite electronic tracks released in 2015, set in no particular order.

Genres include House, Techno, Ambient, Drone, Industrial, IDM and Dub.

Featured artists hail from US, UK, Italy, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Brazil, Australia, Ethiopia, Malaysia and Estonia.

Oobe - Softcore (Stealth)

Mikael Seifu - The Lost Drum Beat (Single)

Ricardo Donoso - Matutinum (Saravá Exu)

Tzusing - Frankencense And Myrrh (A Name Out Of Place PT. II)

Alessandro Cortini - La Guardia (Risveglio)

Superpoze - Time Travel (Opening)

Oil Thief - Death Sieve (Obsolescence & Monality)

Meat Beat Manifesto - Lurker (Kasm02)

Kerridge - WOSN (Always Offended Never Ashamed)

Legowelt - Freebasin' For David Bohm (Rising Sun Systems - Oberheim Space)

JK FLESH - Hide & Seek (Nothing Is Free)

Tont - TNT (TNT)

Container - Eject (LP)

Jhereko - Mammal (Deep Yearn)

Pole - Käfer (Wald)

Tokyo trance-psychedelia

Boredoms

The Tokyo psychedelic music scene is known for its trademark noisy acid-drenched guitar mayhems, the sound of which was pioneered by the likes of Les Rallizes Denudes, Fushitsusha and High Rise, carried on by Acid Mothers Temple and others. But at the very end of the 2nd millennium and at the very beginning of the 3rd, a group of electronically informed musicians on the lookout for more chilled out mind expanding trips tried out something other than punching the fuzz and noise into your face and came up with their unique brand of trancey upbeat psychedelia. I present some of my favourite tracks from the scene.

The sound I'm talking about is centred around Boredoms – one of the foremost bands in the Tokyo noise scene since late 80s that went through a remarkable transformation as they mellowed out by the late 90s to start layering more structured soundscapes while keeping it mind-expandingly trippy:

Boredoms' guitarist Seiichi Yamamoto has had many side projects but the most long-lived of them is Rovo, a band immediately distinguishable by its fusion-jazzy approach with two drummers and an electric violin in their ranks:

Another one of Yamamoto's successful offshoots is a collaboration with Bravo Komatsu under the name Guitoo. The song I've chosen builds up in an ethereal and blissful way, it seems simple at first but has many spacey layers going on which erupt as the song takes off with a tasty desert rock riff set on top of an urban breakbeat percussion:

One of the most underrated bands in the Tokyo underground is Hanadensha (translates “flower train”), fronted by former Boredoms bassist Hira. Those interested in a hypnotizing groove with Japanese spoken word vocals and a looping sampled/processed didgeridoo (or sth like that) should lay their ears on this:

OOIOO, a girl band lead by Boredoms' drummer Yoshimi, is hard to categorize. Their music makes some people think of primordial nature, others of tribal dancing. It's calm but not without mind tickling intensity. Here OOIOO convince the listener that they've uncovered the threshold to a New Age somewhere in the forests of Hokkaido: