Night After Night

Playlist.

Conrad Schnitzler - Ballet Statique (Con) (M=minimal)

Courage Cloak - Praise the Thaw (self-released < Bandcamp)

High aura'd & Mike Shiflet - Awake (Type)

Robert Fripp - Sound Warehouse, Chicago, Illinois, June 18, 1979 (DGMLive)

Van Morrison - Common One (Legacy)

Grateful Dead - Fare Thee Well: Soldier Field, Chicago, IL July 5, 2015 (Grateful Dead/Rhino)

Kansas - HSBC Brasil, São Paulo, Brazil, Nov. 21, 2014 (audience recording, origin unknown)

Motörhead - No Remorse (Sanctuary)

Gentle Giant - The Power and the Glory (Alucard)

John Luther Adams - Ilimaq - Glenn Kotche (Cantaloupe Music)

David Sylvian - Playing the Schoolhouse (Confront)

Michael Formanek Ensemble Kolossus - The Distance (ECM; due Feb. 12)

Ches Smith with Craig Taborn and Mat Maneri - The Bell (ECM; due Jan. 15)

Avishai Cohen - Into the Silence (ECM; due Feb. 12)

Mamoru Fujieda - Patterns of Plants - Sarah Cahill (Pinna)

King Crimson - Mainichi Hall, Osaka, Japan, Dec. 13, 1981 (DGMLive)

Rapoon - blue days (Zoharum)

Gangrung Tatik - Banyuwangi (Awesome Tapes from Indonesia < Bandcamp)

Abnormality - Contaminating the Hive Mind (Sevared < Bandcamp)

Will Mason Ensemble - Beams of the Huge Night (New Amsterdam < Bandcamp)

Best of Boston Music 2015.

Right now on the Boston Globe site, you can read a couple of pretty great team-sourced lists of the best recordings released by local artists in 2015. There's one for pop music and one for classical music; naturally I took advantage of my editorial access and contributed to both lists. Here are my five small but meaningful contributions, all together in one place:

ARTEM BELOGUROV
“American Romantics: The Boston Scene”
You could argue no masterpieces are resurrected by this illuminating recital, but you’d be missing the point. Belogurov, playing on a mellow 1873 Chickering, artfully surveys piano works by Boston’s best-known promulgators of the Romantic lineage: eminences Foote, Paine, and Chadwick, alongside forgotten figures like Ethelbert Nevin and Arthur Whiting. Of especially keen interest is the Rhapsody in E minor by Margaret Ruthven Lang, the first woman to have a composition played by the Boston Symphony — and who attended BSO concerts beyond her 100th birthday.

ELDER
“Lore”
Eminent already among stoner-metal circles, the trio of vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Nicholas DiSalvo, bassist Jack Donovan, and drummer Matthew Couto took their collective game to the next level on their third full-length LP. Mind you, Elder can still noodle a colossal riff into mass hypnosis. But here, the group leavened its Sleep-ier tendencies with pinwheeling guitar slaloms, arresting dynamic shifts, shimmering krautrock grooves, and other proggy flourishes.

MARTI EPSTEIN
“Hypnagogia”
Transported by a recording of Morton Feldman’s otherworldly “Rothko Chapel” while studying music in college, composer Marti Epstein related in a recent Globe interview, she formed a style in which musical elements coincide or coalesce seemingly of their own volition. The four pieces elegantly rendered here by the Ludovico Ensemble range in length from under 2 minutes to more than 45, and call for varying instrumental forces. But all share qualities of spaciousness and luminosity, twinkling like constellations or twirling like mobiles. (www.cdbaby.com)

MORGAN EVANS-WEILER
“Violin/Sine”
Simple, even severe methods plus intense focus produce transfixing results on this latest self-released disc from a performer, composer, and sound artist who’s also one of the local scene’s hardiest organizers. His three pieces here have a Rothko-like quality: Elongated, uninflected violin strokes lap against pealing electronic tones like subtly contrasting color planes, conjuring ripples and shimmers as they lap and fuse.

FÓRN
“Weltschmerz”
Following up on its brutal, brilliant 2014 debut LP, “The Departure of Consciousness,” sludge-metal quintet Fórn greeted the end of 2015 with an EP well suited to the end of days. The band’s penchant for pitch-black, downtuned anthems of obsessive dread remains intact with “Dolor” and “Saudade” — each around 11 minutes and split into two parts — but equally evident is a surprising knack for anguished beauty, which makes these haunted ruminations feel oddly humane.

Playlist.

Joseph Kudirka - Beauty and Industry - Apartment House (Another Timbre)

Jürg Frey - Circles and Landscapes - Philip Thomas (Another Timbre)
> In Memoriam Cornelius Cardew; Circular Music No. 5; Extended Circular Music No. 2; Pianist, Alone (2); Miniature in Five Parts; Extended Circular Music No. 9

Troy Schafer - Untitled No. 4 (Round Bale < Bandcamp)

Linda Catlin Smith - Ricercar - Elinor Frey (Soundcloud; h/t Simon Reynell)

Kati Agócs - The Debrecen Passion; Requiem Fragments; By the Streams of Babylon; ...like a treasure hidden in a field; Vessel - Kati Agócs, Lisa Bielawa, Lorelei Ensemble, Boston Modern Orchestra Project/Gil Rose (BMOP/sound; due in January)

Daniel Wohl - Holographic (New Amsterdam; due Jan. 29)
> Replicate - Iktus Percussion; Formless - Mivos Quartet; Holographic - Bang on a Can All-Stars; Pixelated - Mantra Percussion Quartet; Source - Olga Bell, Caroline Shaw; Progression; Shapes - Mivos Quartet

Touré Kunda - Casamance au Clair de Lune (Celluloid)

Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou - The Kings Of Benin Urban Groove 1972-80 (Soundway)

King Crimson - Shibuya Kohkaido, Tokyo, Japan, Dec. 9, 1981 (DGMLive)

Tangerine Dream - The Official Bootleg Series, Volume One: Reims Cathedral December 1974 & Mozartsaal, Mannheim October 1976 (Esoteric)

King Crimson - Place De Nations, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Aug. 5, 1982 (DGMLive)

Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphony No. 1 in C - Berlin Philharmonic/André Cluytens (Mangora Classical)

Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphony No. 2 in D - Philharmonia Orchestra/Otto Klemperer (Andromeda)

Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphony No. 3 in E-flat ("Eroica") - Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra/Erich Kleiber (Decca)

Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphony No. 4 in B-flat - Philharmonia Orchestra/Herbert von Karajan (Warner Classics)

Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphony No. 5 in C minor - Vienna Philharmonic/Carlos Kleiber (Deutsche Grammophon)

Pierluigi Billone - Legno.Edre V. Metrio - Chris Watford (Soundcloud)

Morgan Evans-Weiler - Violin/Sine (Individual Lines)

Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphony No. 6 in F ("Pastoral") - Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique/John Eliot Gardiner (Deutsche Grammophon)

Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphony No. 7 in A - Boston Symphony Orchestra/Leonard Bernstein (Deutsche Grammophon)

Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphony No. 8 in F - Chamber Orchestra of Europe/Nikolaus Harnoncourt (Warner Classics)

Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphony No. 9 in D ("Choral") - Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Elisabeth Höngen, Hans Hopf, Otto Edelmann, Bayreuth Festival Chorus, Bayreuth Festival Orchestra/Wilhelm Furtwängler (Warner Classics)

King Crimson - Kakado, Nagoya, Japan, Dec. 10, 1981 (DGMLive)

Gordon Beeferman - Four Parts Five (Innova)

Marc Yeats - The Shape Difference - Chamber Cartel (Bandcamp)

Chamber Cartel - Interiors: Compositions by Adam Scott Neal (Bandcamp)
> Tidal; Tèarmunn; Adhmad; Bascule; Figures in Bas-Relief; Interiors; Keys

Jordan Nobles - Undercurrents - Contact (Redshift Music)
> Simulacrum; Temporal Waves; Grace; Stones Under Water; Undercurrents; Ostinati; Stasis

King Crimson - Expo Hall, Osaka, Japan, Dec. 12, 1981 (DGMLive)

Henry Purcell - Twelve Sonatas of Three Parts - The King's Consort (Vivat)

Abnormality - 2007 Demo (Bandcamp)

Abnormality - The Collective Calm in Mortal Oblivion (Bandcamp)

Abnormality - Contaminating the Hive Mind (Sevared < Bandcamp)

Alex Keller - Black out (mimeome < Bandcamp)

Ehnahre - Douve (Kathexis; due in January)

Chaos Echoes - Transient (Nuclear War Now! < Bandcamp)

Rush - R40 Live (Anthem/Rounder)

Playlist.

Sky-Pony - Beautiful Monster (Knitting Factory)

Mivos Quartet - Reappearances (Carrier)
> Alex Mincek - String Quartet No. 3; Wolfgang Rihm - Quartettstudie; David Brynjar Franzson - on Repetition and Reappearances; Felipe Lara - Corde Vocale

XTC - Oranges & Lemons (Ape House)

Yes - Fragile (Panegyric)

King Crimson - The Elements of King Crimson (Tour Box 2015) (DGM)

Duke Ellington - The Duke at Fargo 1940: Special 60th Anniversary Edition (Storyville)

Swans - Forever Burned (Young God)

Ozzy Osbourne - Blizzard of Ozz (Epic/Legacy)

Johannes Brahms  - Violin Concerto in D - Janine Jansen, Orchestra dell Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia/Antonio Pappano; Béla Bartók - Violin Concerto No. 1 - Janine Jansen, London Symphony Orchestra/Antonio Pappano (Decca; due Jan. 8)

Bell Witch - Four Phantoms (Profound Lore < Bandcamp)

Scott Walker & Sunn O))) - Soused (4AD)

Swans - Cop/Young God + Greed/Holy Money (Young God)

Jim O'Rourke - Steamroom 20 (Bandcamp)

Gilad Hekselman - Homes (Jazz Village)

Melvins - Lysol (Boner)

Allison Cameron - A Gossamer Bit - Contact (Redshift Music < Bandcamp)

Tangerine Dream - Quantum Key (Cupdisc/Eastgate Music)

Morgan Evans-Weiler - Violin/Sine (Individual Lines)

Anthrax - For All Kings (Nuclear Blast; due Feb. 26)

King Crimson - Old Waldorf, San Francisco, CA, Nov. 28, 1981 (DGMLive)

Chris Dingman - The Subliminal and the Sublime (Inner Arts)

Jefferson Airplane - Surrealistic Pillow (RCA)

King Crimson - Commodore Ballroom, Vancouver, British Columbia, Dec. 1, 1981 (DGMLive)

Catherine Lamb - middle/moving (self-released; download here)

Cecil Taylor - Garden, 1st Set (hatOLOGY)

Fela Anikulapo Kuti & Egypt 80 - Original Suffer Head (Lagos International)

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Shahen-Shah (Real World)

King Crimson - Fridays, ABC-TV, Los Angeles, CA, Dec. 4, 1981 (DGMLive)

Ten albums without which 2015 would have been less rich, and more.

Today - Friday, December 11 - the Boston Globe posted lists of the best albums of 2015 as selected by six critics: staffers James Reed, Sarah Rodman, and Jeremy Eichler, plus regular contributors Julian Benbow, Jon Garelick, and Siddhartha Mitter. Those lists will all be in this Sunday's print edition, too.

Last year, I was able to slip a list of my own into print, in the context of my then-extant monthly series "Newer Music" With that column now discontinued, a listing of the records that moved me most in 2015 migrates to the one place over which I retain complete control.

I'd love to think that I'll come back to these lists and add helpful little blurbs, but given my track record of late, if I hesitate I might never get this posted, or at least not in 2015. And so, without further ado...

10 albums without which 2015 would have been less rich.

1. Steve Reich - Music for 18 Musicians - Ensemble Signal/Brad Lubman (Harmonia Mundi)

2. Greg Stuart & Ryoko Akama - kotoba koukan (Crisis/Lengua de Lava)

3. Jeph Jerman & Tim Barnes - matterings (Erstwhile)

4 (tie). Jürg Frey - Mémoire, horizon; Extended Circular Music Nos. 1, 2, 5, 6, 3 & 7; Architektur der Empfindungen - Konus Quartett, Mondrian Ensemble (Musiques Suisses)

4 (tie). Jürg Frey - Grizzana and other pieces 2009-2014 - Ensemble Grizzana (Another Timbre)

6. Anna Thorvaldsdóttir - In the Light of Air - International Contemporary Ensemble (Sono Luminus)

7. Paula Matthusen - Pieces for People - Terri Hron, James Moore, Jamie Jordan, Mantra Percussion, Kathleen Supové, Yvonne Troxler, Molly Shaiken, Tiit Helimets, Wil Smith, orkest de ereprijs/Wim Boerman, Todd Reynolds (Innova)

8. Michael Pisaro - A mist is a collection of points - Phillip Bush, Greg Stuart (New World)

9. Allison Cameron - A Gossamer Bit - Contact (Redshift Music)

10. James Moore & Andie Springer - Gertrudes: music for violin and resonator guitar (New World)

 

10 more notable albums.

Henri Dutilleux - Métaboles; Violin Concerto, "L'arbre des songes"; Symphony No. 2, "Le double" - Augustin Hadelich, Seattle Symphony/Ludovic Morlot (Seattle Symphony Media)

Lukas Foss - Symphonies Nos. 1-4 - Boston Modern Orchestra Project/Gil Rose (BMOP/sound)

Ted Hearne - The Source - Ted Hearne, Mellissa Hughes, Samia Mounts, Isaiah Robinson, Jonathan Woody, Courtney Orlando, Anne Lanzilotti, Leah Coloff, Taylor Levine, Greg Chudzik, Ron Wiltrout, Nathan Koci (New Amsterdam)

Jenny Olivia Johnson - Don't Look Back - Megan Schubert, P. Lucy McVeigh, Amanda Crider, Jessica Schmitz, Eileen Mack, Andrew Delclos, Todd Reynolds, Peter Gregson, David Russell, Melinda Menezes, Lisa Liu, Dan Kozak, Isabelle O’Connell, Eliko Akahori, Jake Penn Kozak, Jude Traxler, Jenny Olivia Johnson, Nathaniel Berman, Adam Weiner (Innova)

Missy Mazzoli - Vespers for a New Dark Age - Mellissa Hughes, Victoire, Glenn Kotche, Lorna Dune (New Amsterdam)

Andrew Norman - Play; Try; Boston Modern Orchestra Project/Gil Rose (BMOP/sound)

Dmitri Shostakovich - Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District - Passacaglia; Symphony No. 10 - Boston Symphony Orchestra/Andris Nelsons (Deutsche Grammophon)

Sarah Kirkland Snider - Unremembered - Padma Newsome, DM Stith, Shara Worden, Unremembered Orchestra/Edwin Outwater (New Amsterdam)

Scott Worthington - Prism (Populist)

Nordic Affect - Clockworking - compositions by Maria Huld Markan Sigfúsdóttir,  Hildur Gudnadottir,  Hafdís Bjarnadóttir,  Thurídur Jónsdóttir, and Anna Thorvaldsdóttir (Sono Luminus)

 

Another 10 notable albums.

Alex Cobb - Chantepleure (Students of Decay)

Sarah Davachi - Barons Court (Students of Decay)

Chris Dingman - The Subliminal and the Sublime (Inner Arts)

Mary Halvorson - Meltframe (Firehouse 12)

Iron Maiden - The Book of Souls (BMG)

Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly (Top Dawg/Interscope)

Bill Seaman - f(noir) (Eilean)

Joanna Wallfisch & Dan Tepfer - The Origin of Adjustable Things (Sunnyside)

Kamasi Washington - The Epic (Brainfeeder)

Windhand - Grief's Infernal Flower (Relapse)

 

10 labels to follow.

Another Timbre
Caduc
Edition Wandelweiser
Erstwhile
Glistening Examples
Irritable Hedgehog
Populist
New Focus Recordings
Sono Luminus
Weighter Recordings

Playlist.

King Crimson - Dome, Brighton, England, October 16, 1971 (King Crimson Collectors' Club/DGM)

Yes - Relayer (Atlantic/Rhino)

King Crimson - Orpheum Theatre, Boston, MA, March 27, 1972 (King Crimson Collectors' Club/DGM)

Kacey Musgraves - Pageant Material (Mercury Nashville)

King Crimson - Zoom Club, Frankfurt, Germany, April 12, 1971 (DGMLive)

Bent Knee - Shiny Eyed Babies (self-released < Bandcamp)

King Crimson - Sound Track, Denver, CO, March 13, 1972 [actually March 14] (King Crimson Collectors' Club/DGM)

Parliament - Funkentelechy Vs. the Placebo Syndrome (Casablanca)

King Crimson - Zoom Club, Frankfurt, Germany, April 13, 1971 (DGMLive)

Dream Theater - Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory (Elektra)

Dream Theater - Images and Words (ATCO)

Dream Theater - The Astonishing (Roadrunner; due Jan. 29)

Dream Theater - Dream Theater (Roadrunner)

Bent Knee - Davis Square Theatre, Somerville, MA, July 19, 2014 (YouTube)

Scott Walker + Sunn O))) - Soused (4AD)

King Crimson - Eastown Theatre, Detroit, MI, November 13, 1971 (DGMLive)

Queensrÿche - Operation: Mindcrime (EMI America)

Ann Southam - Simple Lines of Enquiry - R. Andrew Lee (YouTube)

Anne-F Jacques & Tim Olive - Dominion Mills (845 Audio)

Anne-F Jacques - Sabel ou sel (atrito-afeito)

Cassandra Miller - Philip the Wanderer - Philip Thomas (SoundCloud)

Richard Ayres - No. 38 Three Small Pieces for String Quartet - Quatuor Bozzini (SoundCloud)

Anna Höstman - Moths Drink the Tears of Sleeping Birds - Quatuor Bozzini (SoundCloud)

Marti Epstein - Hypnagogia - Ludovico Ensemble (Ludovico Ensemble Edition)
> Hothouse; Grand Island; A Little Celestial Tenderness; Hypnagogia

Jethro Tull - Too Old to Rock 'n' Roll, Too Young to Die! (Chrysalis)

John Mackey - The Sheltering Sky - Baylor University Wind Ensemble/Eric Wilson (YouTube)

Johann Sebastian Bach - "Goldberg" Variations; Ludwig van Beethoven - "Diabelli" Variations; Frederic Rzewski - The People United Will Never Be Defeated! - Igor Levit (Sony Classical)

Steven Wilson - 4 1/2 (Kscope; due Jan. 22)

Janelle Monáe - The Electric Lady (Bad Boy/Atlantic)

Stone Temple Pilots - Thank You (Atlantic)