Best of 09

#1 Leyland Kirby - Sadly, The Future Is No Longer What It Was

Some of you know Leyland Kirby as The Caretaker or V/Vm. Others may not know him at all. Either way, this album transcends everything he's done in the past. Kirby began focusing on dreams and memories when he started releasing music under The Caretaker. His music seems to be dedicated to this general theme since then. But The Caretaker tries hard to be spooky and fill a niche. This release under his real name sounds more personal. It's a 3xCD release, totaling nearly 4 hours of music. The biggest standout track to me is the sixth track on cd #2, "I've Hummed This Tune To All The Girls I've Known." He uses an instrument I've only heard from early 80's moog artists. He makes it wail and weep. The first and last tracks are melancholy doodles on the piano with swells of drone, and they are heart breakers.

CD 1: When We Parted, My Heart Wanted To Die (76:40)

1: When We Parted, My Heart Wanted To Die (Friedrichshain Memory) (15:06)
2: The Sound Of Music Vanishing (11:15)
3: The Beauty Of The Impending Tragedy Of My Existence (7:36)
4: And As I Sat Beside You I Felt The Great Sadness That Day (12:52)
5: Tonight Is The Last Night Of The World (9:36)
6: To The Place Between The Twilight And The Dawn (20:15)

CD 2: Sadly, The Future Is No Longer What It Was (78:57)

1: When Did Our Dreams And Futures Drift So Far Apart ? (9:53)
2: Not Even Nostalgia Is As Good As It Used To Be (9:40)
3: Sadly, The Future Is No Longer What It Was (20:26) 4: Stay Light, There Is A Rainbow A Coming (12:16)
5: And Nothing Comes Between The Sadness And The Scream (6:59)
6: I've Hummed This Tune To All The Girls I've Known (12:48)
7: Not As She Is Now But As She Appears In My Dreams (6:55)

CD 3: Memories Live Longer Than Dreams (79:58)

1: Memories Live Longer Than Dreams (8:37)
2: Don't Sleep I Am Not What I Seem, I'm A Very Quiet Storm (13:17)
3: A Longing To Be Absorbed For A While Into A Different And Beautiful World (13:20)
4: Days In The Wilderness (4:17)
5: Stralauer Peninsula (16:56)
6: We All Won That Day, Sunshine (2:44)
7: And At Dawn Armed With Glowing Patience, We Will Enter The Cities Of Glory (Stripped) (10:47)

(disc1/disk2/disk3) (Mediafire/mp3/256/417mb)

Best of 09

#2 Celer - Capri

2009 was the year I really got into Celer. After I gave Capri a try, I fell in love and began grabbing every release I could. Then July came along, and news of Dani's death hit me hard. Will told me each album represents a certain time of their life, and each track is a moment/feeling/experience they shared together. Their sound is so personal, and although the listener will never connect to the songs as closely as the creators, some of the emotion seeps through the swells and it's true beauty shines. Celer has raised the bar for my expectations as far as drone goes, and they have given me a new appreciation for ambient music in general.

1: Mouthfeels Of Capreae (3:03)
2: Polaroid Family Portrait (3:40)
3: Unequal Temperament (2:06)
4: Ascensionaires (3:19)
5: A Pause (0:42)
6: An Erne Of A Sigh (3:00)
7: With Ice, Anent The Steam (1:05)
8: We Missed You Favonian (4:21)
9: Listen To The Inverted Sounds, Falling (2:22)
10: Op.0 (0:33)
11: Is Lands (2:40)
12: Bracelets Passed To Spanish Hands (1:29)
13: Paired Plateaus (2:08)
14: When Ice Makes You Weep (2:13)
15: Transposing Piano (1:08)
16: In Characteristic Form (4:17)
17: Transcribe This Past (1:38)
18: Still Running (3:24)
19: In A Past Of Haze, These Beaches (0:58)
20: I’ve Got My Love To Keep Me Warm (2:19)
21: Sonata For Dual, Unaccompanied Piano (3:04)
22: Craven Gardens (3:51)
23: Lint White (7:27)
24: Others World (1:21)
25: Symtolomny (2:28)
26: Anacapri (4:18)
27: Lists Of Sycophants And Wishing (3:01)
28: Rich Telescopes (4:10)
29: A Sorted Ending (1:18)

DOWNLOAD (Sendspace/mp3/v2/106mb)

Best of 09

#3 William Basinski - 92982

I don't have much to say about this album. It is Basinski in his best form. He gives you a tease of his ability and loops it. The sound washes over you until it becomes ingrained in your being. When my room is at a certain shade of darkness, I can hear the third track of this album. When I ride the trains in the rain, I hear dlp 3. His tracks haunt me, and the more I listen to them, the more goosebumps I get.

1: 92982.1 (12:54)
2: 92982.2 (22:45)
3: 92982.4 (19:59)
4: 92982.3 (7:07)

DOWNLOAD (Mediafire/mp3/v2/80mb)