Hi there,

I was asked to do this for a magazine, so I thought I may as well post it here too.  On my SWHQ website I'll just be posting my top music of 2009 (some of which is also below), but here's what I think are probably the most special albums to me of the last 10 years, in alphabetical order.  I see some people have done top tens, but for me that's impossible - 10 years distilled into just 10 albums, no way!  With some artists it tends to be a run of 2 or 3 albums where I just love everything they do.  So I ended up with more like 50 albums in my list, and I'm sure I've forgotten loads of things too (by the way Tool isn't one of them, I'm well aware they released 2 albums in the last 10 years).  This is really just my personal selection, and I realise that there are lot of great records missing from my list - so I guess you can assume that for whatever reason they didn't grab me quite as much as these babies.....

Air - Virgin Suicides / Talkie Walkie
Oren Ambarchi - Suspension / Grapes From the Estate / In the Pendulum's Embrace
Aphex Twin - Drukqs
Autechre - Untilted / Quaristice
William Basinski - The River / The Garden of Brokeness
Bjork - Vespertine
Boards of Canada - In a Beautiful Place Out in the Country / Geogaddi
Bola - Fyuti
Kate Bush - Aerial
Corrupted - Llenendose De Gusanos
Dalek - Gutter Tactics
Fovea Hex - Neither Speak Nor Remain Silent
Godspeed! You Black Emperor - Yanqui U.X.O.
King Crimson - The Power to Believe
Thomas Köner - Unerforschtes Gebiet
LCD Soundsystem - Sounds of Silver
The Mars Volta - Octahedron
Massive Attack - 100th Window
Meshuggah - I
Monolake - Gravity / Cinemascope / Momentum
Murcof - Remembranza
The Necks - Aether
Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero
Nurse With Wound - Salt Marie Celeste
Oceansize - Everyone Into Position / Frames
Portishead - Third
Prefuse 73 - Vocal Studies and Uprock Narratives
Radiohead - Kid A / Amnesiac / In Rainbows
Sand Snowman - I'm Not Here / The Twilight Game
2nd Gen - Irony Is
Shearwater - Rook
Shit N Shine - Ladybird
Sigur Ros - ( )
Set Fire to Flames - Telegraphs in Negative
Squarepusher - Ultravisitor
Stars of the Lid - And Their Refinement of the Decline
Sunn O))) - Black One / Monoliths and Dimensions
Susanna and the Magical Orchestra - Melody Mountain / Sonata Dwarf Mix Cosmos
Uton - Whispers From the Woods
Venetian Snares - Chocolate Wheelchair
VidnaObmana - Dante Trilogy
Scott Walker - The Drift
Wolf Eyes - Burned Mind
Thom Yorke - The Eraser

Fave reissue of the decade has to be the Gas "Nah und Fern" box set, closely followed by the Neil Young Archives.

Best live concerts I saw were by Prince and Magma (you don't see them in the same sentence very often.)

Best films I saw were Chris Cunnigham's videos and short films, David Lynch's Inland Empire, and the Swedish film Let the Right One In.  And probably loads of other stuff that I can't bring to mind right now.  I should add Amelie to that list

Probably I'll be adding and amending this list and other things occur.  But for now Merry Xmas!

S

There is now a microsite dedicated to the new No-Man DVD Mixtaped. It includes information about the 2 disc set, and extracts from the concert film and documentary.  Please note that there are only a couple of hundred left of the limited 2,000 edition run of the set with the bonus live CD.  This version is exclusive to the No-Man Store. 

Lasse Hoile's remarkable video for SW's Harmony Korine is nominated for Best Cinematography Award and Best Music Video Award at the prestigious Plus Camerimage - International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography.  PLUS CAMERIMAGE will take place from 28th November - 5th December 2009 at the Festival Centre, Grand Theatre in Aódz, Poland.  For more information and to view the full list of nominees, check the festival website.

Headphone Dust now have the brand new King Crimson 40th anniversary reissues in stock. In the Court of the Crimson King is available in 2 CD, CD+DVDA, or deluxe 5CD+DVDA versions, while Lizard and Red are both CD+DVDA.  All of these releases include new 5.1 surround sound mixes and bonus tracks mixed by SW.  In the Court of the Crimson King and Lizard also include new stereo mixes by SW and Robert Fripp.

Two long out of stock Bass Communion titles are now available at Headphone Dust.  The very first Bass Communion CD is available again, and at a lower price of £8 plus shipping.  This album saw SW experimenting with purely textural music for the first time, starting to develop the style that would eventually lead to the classic Ghosts on Magnetic Tape a few years later.  Not as dark as later BC recordings, the debut album highlight is undoubtedly the 25 minute version of Drugged, which processes a recording of Robert Fripp into a shimmering 25 minute whirlpool of beauty.

Also repressed and back in stock is the most recent Bass Communion CD Molotov and Haze, which presents 4 crafted and layered guitar sourced pieces, 2 noisy (Molotov) and 2 transcendently beautiful (Haze).

Coming early in 2010 will be a box set on ToneFloat called "Complete IEM", which will feature remastered editions of all of the recordings made by SW's krautrock inspired project Incredible Expanding Mindfuck between 1996-2001.  In the meantime a handful of copies of the original CD edition of one of the albums "IEM Have Come For Your Children" have been retrieved from SW's own stash, and we are making these available for anyone who would like an original copy of this album, which was issued in an edition of only 1,000 copies in 2001.  If you would like a copy please email  hd@swhq.co.uk, limited to one copy per customer/household. Price is £15 plus shipping. THESE ARE NOW SOLD OUT.

Finally, Headphone Dust have copies of the 2LP vinyl edition of the most recent Porcupine Tree album "The Incident" priced at £20 plus shipping.  The album comes on 180 gram vinyl in a beautiful heavy duty gatefold sleeve with inner bags.

Lasse Hoile's full length feature version of the film based on the recording of Steven Wilson's first solo album "Insurgentes" will be premiered at this years CPH:DOX international film festival. Much more than a simple documentary, the film is also part surreal road movie and part an exploration of the issues of creating, packaging and marketing music in an era when iPods, Mp3's and download culture are changing and eroding perceptions of exactly what the album is supposed to sound and look like.

The official world premiere screening at 21.30 on the 13th November has now sold out, so a second screening has been scheduled for 23.15 and tickets are now available here. There are also still some tickets available for an earlier preview screening on the 6th November at 17.00, but please note that the film-makers will not be in attendance at this screening.

The film will also be screened at the Swedish Sensurround Music Film Festival on the 19th November. You can download the festival brochure here.

Then on Saturday, 5th December it will be screened at the UNERHÖRT! Musikfilmfestival in Hamburg, Germany, at 4pm.

For more information about the Insurgentes documentary and album please visit the official Insurgentes website.

The first 3 in a series of King Crimson 40th anniversary reissues are now available. In the Court of the Crimson King, Lizard, and Red have all been remixed into 5.1 surround sound by SW, as well as new stereo mixes of In the Court of the Crimson King and Lizard by SW and Robert Fripp (Red remains the original 1974 mix). In addition many bonus tracks and alternate takes have been mixed from the master tapes into stereo for the first time. Check out the official King Crimson 40th Anniversary Reissues site for more information on track listing, formats, and where to buy.

There is a new release by SW's experimental project Bass Communion available over on Steven's website. Last year Bass Communion collaborated with Frans De Waard's Freiband on a 3 inch CDR called 'Haze Shrapnel', which contained a new piece by Bass Communion and a re-interpretation by Freiband. Now arrives the return hook-up - Headwind/Tailwind features a new 10 minute Freiband piece, and a 10 minute reconstruction by Bass Communion using the Freiband track as source material. You can get it now from Headphone Dust.

Mixtaped is the first ever DVD release from No-Man.  Comprising the band's sell-out performance at London's Bush Hall in 2008, a career-spanning documentary, and numerous extras.

The Burning Shed edition comes with an exclusive audio CD of highlights from the Bush Hall performance.  Pre-order now from Burning Shed - shipping from 5th October

DVD 1: No-Man's complete Bush Hall live performance with 5.1 and stereo options (90 mins).  Live photo gallery.

DVD 2: Returning - An 85 minute career-spanning documentary including previously unseen footage, photos and images, and in-depth interviews with every member of No-Man past and present.  Extras - Complete videos for several No-Man songs spanning 1990-2009. Rare live footage. Deleted scenes.

CD: Mixtaped highlights - Tim and Steven's personal selection of highlights from the live DVD presented on an exclusive 42 minute audio CD.  Only copies ordered from Burning Shed will include this bonus CD.

The new vinyl only Bass Communion release "Litany" is now in stock at Headphone Dust. Litany uses choral/vocal samples and looping techniques to create perhaps the most spiritual and beautiful BC release to date. 2 tracks / 23 minutes. The EP comes in a beautiful heavy duty card sleeve designed by Carl Glover.   Super limited, we have a handful of the remaining 250 copies on clear vinyl. Black vinyl edition limited to 1,000 copies.