D'ya every wish you were a music journalist?

No?

Really?  I think you're lying

Well I do wish........... so I'm gonna play make-believe and deliver my personal year-end top ten list (not particular order)

Rob Clutton - Dubious Pleasures (rat-drifting)
Usually I'm not so found of solo instrument recordings but this just blew me out of the water. The compositions are solid and the sounds that this man conjures from his bass are fabulous, and range from the solemn to the bizarre. Highly recommended!

Christian Wallumrod Ensemble - A Year From Easter (ECM)
I was surprised by this one.  This is a fairly stark recording which has much of that ECM-ness to it... but transcends it.  Arve Henriksen (as per fucking usual) is brilliant with his smooth trumpet tone.  The disc is ice-cold and the cyclical quality of the compositions evokes Messiaen or aspects of non-Symphony No. 3 Gorecki.

Autechre - Untilted (Warp)
Autechre really outdid themselves on this.  At first it sounded very uniform to me, but there's a great deal of deftness and beauty to this one, and it's more accessible than other recent efforts, but without compromising cleverness... really kept me coming back.

Supersilent - 7 (Rune Grammofon)
I confess!  I haven't yet seen it... I don't yet really own it.  But boy am I gonna be happy to get my hands on it.  The downloaded audio sounds great, and really captures the range and scope that Supersilent are capable of.  I also evokes the live show I saw of theirs at the Guelph Jazz Festival... Brilliant!

Okkyung Lee - Nihm (Tzadik)
Really intriguing disc by this Korean-born cellist.  She certainly has a good ear, mixing near traditionalist compositions with kaleidescopic displays of extended techniques. 

Keith Fullerton Whitman - Multiples (Kranky)
This record spans many eras of electronic music, as others have said. Brings to mind the classics: Dockstader, Subotnick and Terry Riley, but shot through a post-IDM lens.  Really lovely textures, and I enjoy the working method and how it is illuminated through the artwork.

Akron/ Family & Angels of Light (Young God)
Frayed and frazzled psychprogfreakfolk stuff from the Akron/ Family coupled with the American Gothic Stylings of Michael Gira. A great combination, and a nice wide palette!

Jamie Lidell - Multiply (Warp)
Fun and catchy as fucking hell!  Another one of those trips through time (strangely similar titles!)--this time through various eras of soul/ funk/ R& B... spans Otis Redding, James Brown, Fela Kuti, Prince, Junior Boys, with forays into Pop Group territory!

Vashti Bunyan - Lookaftering (Fat Cat)
What can I say? A welcome return from this hippy! Delicate and beautiful, with new touches which make it slightly more interesting than "Just Another Diamond Day". Almost echoes the Cocteau Twins' "Victorialand" and "Twinlights EP"

Lenin I Shumov - EP (Blocks Recording Club) Crazy and great.  Falls somewhere between early Einsturzende Neubauten, and the B-52s... Yes, that's a good thing. Outlandishly odd song structures, vocal insanity and colourful instrumentational touches (electrified autoharp, viola, free-jazzy piano a la "Aladdin Sane")  They have a Myspace... please visit them here

....

Now it's time to talk yummy reissues... but just briefly.  "Lullabies to Violaine" by Cocteau Twins was much appreciated... remastered as fuck with those tough to find singles compiled!  I was pleased as punch when I heard "Elevation" by Pharoah Sanders.. deliriously beautiful.  "Song To Comus" was pretty cool cuz now you don't have to shell out $42 for their first album.  Ummm that "Tropicalia" compilation on Soul Jazz is pretty bloody rad with its crazy liners and wicked lineup of Brazillian faves... I'm happy No New York got reissued but I must say didn't seem like they really remastered!   The Gary Higgins "Red Hash" disc was a surprise to me seeing as it was really because of Ben "Six Organs of Admittance" Chasny that it got put out. I'm not so fond of SOOA, but Gary Higgins is lovely. Finally... I'm so glad to see Slowdive get reissued... But guys @ Castle, that new design is hideous and cheap-looking!  But oh well, at least you put out all those amazing b-sides and eps!  THANK YOU!

Anyway.. that was my list.

here are concert highlights (no order again):  1. Supersilent @ Guelph Jazz Festival,  2. Irshad Khan @ that weird Unitarian Church on Dunbar Road, Waterloo, 3. Autechre @ the Opera House, Toronto, 4. Diamanda Galas @ Open Ears 5. Mark Dresser/ Satoko Fuji/ Jim Black et. al with Sticks & Stones, Guelph Jazz Festival 6. Bob Ostertag, Pierre Hebert @ Open Ears in Kitchener. 7. Peter Brotzmann Chicago Tentet @ Rivoli, Toronto....

The end.