Another year has flown by. This year started off slow as far as top of the charts quality but picked up steam towards the end. The odd thing about this year is that the volume of really good stuff below the top 25 was quite large. I can’t imagine doing a top 100. We did miss many releases this year. Budgets have been tight and time has been hard to come by, not to mention a long period of simply staying away from music. So without further delay here is our unapologetic top 25.
As you can see from the results we gravitate toward the ambient\kosmische around here. Special honorable mention to King Buffalo as we didn’t get to listen enough and do a solid review but it should probably be on the list. Also would like to say keep up the great work to all the labels that participate in collaborative releases so we can all save on shipping! We need more of this!
Click the album links for the reviews.
| 1 | Korb – III | Really hard to pick between the top 2 |
| 2 | Studio Kosmische – Ritual 74 | Every Bit as good as Korb |
| 3 | Mythic Sunship – Light/Flux | Return to top form |
| 4 | Svenska Psykvänner – Böjda Toner | Not alot of love for this superb record |
| 5 | Various – International Space Station (vol1.) | 4 way split perfection by Elon Musk, Electric Moon, Kanaan, and Kungens Man |
| 6 | Klaus Schulze – Deus Arrakis | A return to classic form for the perfect goodby |
| 7 | Upupayāma – The Golden Pond | This could be a bit low. An outstanding second record |
| 8 | Acid Rooster – Ad Astra – The Ominous Drone | Quoting ourselves “Two 20-minute plus extended jams of Kosmische perfection.” |
| 9 | Edena Gardens S/T | Extremely good collaboration |
| 10 | Kanaan – Diversions Vol. 1: Softly Through Sunshine | Kanaan also returning to top form |
| 11 | Loop – Sonancy | It took a while but we finally caught on. |
| 12 | Kandodo4 – Burning The (Kandl) | Another one that grew on us. Took a while to appreciate the noisier side of the project. |
| 13 | Modern Stars – Space Trips For The Masses | A dark trip down the Spacemen 3 hole. Cover also probably cover of the year. |
| 14 | Kombynat Robotron – Spontane Emission | Loved the lighter touch |
| 15 | Motor!k – 3 | Another under the radar classic |
| 16 | Magic Shoppe – Mono Lake | Always love their sound |
| 17 | Space Invaders – Garden Of The Wizard | A vastly underrated record |
| 18 | The Janitors – Noisolation Session Vol.2 | Some of their best work |
| 19 | IO Audio Recordings – Awaiting The Elliptical Drift / VVK | Very solid and unexpected quality. |
| 20 | Sula Bassana – Nostalgia | Wasn’t what I was expecting at all and it was a nice surprise. |
| 21 | Pure Land Stars – Trembling Under The Spectral Bodies | Dreamy! |
| 22 | The John Denver Airport Conspiracy – Something’s Gotta Give! | An upbeat classic |
| 23 | Black Market Karma – Aped Flair and Hijacked Ideas | Another very solid release by BMK |
| 24 | Kikagaku Moyo – Kumoyo Island | Not their top effort but that still better than most |
| 25 | Kungens Män – Kungens Ljud & Bild | They just keep cranking out the quality |
Thanks for this list!
On spot number 5, though: Mythic Sunship is not on the compilation, but Kungens Män is.
Good catch thanks!