This is that great time of the year when all of those top-“n”-albums-of-year lists come out (where n is contained in N, the set of natural numbers). It’s your chance, and civic responsibility, to catch any jems that you missed over the year. My advice this year (as opposed to last year when I gave no advice at all) is simple: do not trust any list that doesn’t have Venetian Snares’ amazing “Rossz Csillag Allat Szuletett”. Tough to say whether it is my #1 of the year, but it’s so strong that any list without it is ruled whack the in the courts of fresh jams.

With a little help from my friend Rooter (who isn’t much of a help because I haven’t entered in all of my music, nor is he really a friend), here are some of my favorites, in no particular order:

B.J. Nilsen: Fade to White
Boris with Merzbow: Sun Baked Snow Cave
Biosphere: Dropsonde
Kevin Drumm / 2673 Split
Carlos Giffoni: I am Real
Hrvatski: Irrevocably Overdriven Break Freakout Megamix
Alva Noto + Ryuichi Sakamoto: Insen
Arcade Fire: Funeral
Venetian Snares: Rossz Csillag Allat Szuletett
Ryoji Ikeda: dataplex
Animal Collective: Feels
Fennesz + Sakamoto: Sala Santa Cecilia

Ryoji Ikeda’s “dataplex”, out on Raster-Noton.

Ikeda’s latest is magnificent: both conceptually and sonically. The range and command of frequencies is most impressive. The layout and track ordering of the album is very unique and, in my opinion, a huge strength.

I’m away from my desktop right now and I have more albums on there (if you know what I’m sayn and I think you do!), so I’ll probably add more later. I’ll try and include some releases that make the list more diverse.

Since you’re already bored with my list, I recommend Boomkat’s list:

http://www.boomkat.com/charts.cfm

Wire magazine has a great list too, but I won’t reprint it here because I don’t want to get SUED. A lawsuit would likely bring CCROW.NET to its knees, and no one wants that. No one.