Root Blog

2010

Jefre Cantu – Ledesma (Root Strata / The Alps / Moholy-Nagy)
Getting married to Barbara
Taking The Wife to Texas – Marfa, Big Bend, Austin.
Everyone and everything @ On Land 2010: Week long slumber party with Ilyas & Liz. Cooking Indian food with Ilays for everyone. Heartbreaking instore @ AQ by Christina. The IA/LH duo wasn’t so shabby either!
Seeing Morton Feldman’s ‘Rothko Chapel’ preformed live
Helga & Andrew’s wedding: performing with Tony / Dancing to Peaking Lights / Playing the gong in the ceremony.
Records by Dadawah, Tashi Wada, Matthew Young, Messages, Arp / Arp & Anthony Moore & Barn Owl
Cassettes by Pete Swanson, Earn, Driphouse, Rene Hell, Antiquity & No UFO’s
The films of Nathaniel Dorsky
Playing music with old friends and falling in love with music making all over again.
Performing with Jonas & Paul Clipson @ the NYC Film Festival
Selling off most of what I own in preparation for the move to Berlin in the spring & coming to the realization that I don’t need or miss any of it.

Maxwell August Croy (Root Strata / En)
Recordings that got me through the rough parts: Infinite Body – Carve Out The Face Of My God (Post Present Medium), Jefre Cantu-Ledesma – Love Is A Stream (Type)
Recordings that made me shake a ass: Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Before Today (4AD), El Guincho – Pop Negro (Young Turks)
Live sets: Byron Westbrook @ The Lab, Oneohtrix Point Never + Nate Boyce @ On Land, Dan Higgs @ Grace Cathedral, Fennesz @ Swedish American Hall
On Land Festival (everyone/everything, the warm family vibes were even more palpable this year)
Getting over my fear of singing.
Making music with James, recording & releasing my/our first album and performing at On Land.
Good-bye road trip (and Desert Vision Quest) with JZ, you are missed bro.
Therapy + pain killers
Chani (and the trip to Portland, in style)
Letting go…

Matt Carlson (Golden Retriever)
Brother Raven – VSS-30
Nobuhiko Obayashi – Hausu (Janus 35mm restoration)
Rene Hell – Porcelain Opera
Gaspar Noe – Enter the Void
Pulse Emitter – live at Chapel Performance Space, Seattle
Operative live at On Land, San Francisco
Kyle Gann – No Such Thing as Silence: John Cage’s 4’33”
Seth Nehil – Furl
Jonathan Lethem – Chronic City
Ethan Rose – Between Rooms and Voices, performance at Town Hall, Portland

Jonas Asher (Grasslung)
Further Reductions “Decidedly So” 7″ (Captured Tracks)
The Films Of Paul Clipson
Mark Lord – Live Prov, RI –  “Zyclone B Zombie” by Throbbing Gristle Cover
Earn all & everything including Ekhein.
The Films of Bradley Eros
Driphouse and the GEL Tapes Resurrection
Pale Blue Sky “Shades Of Grey” LP (Arbor)
Roe Enney “Damnatio Memoraie” forthcoming Phaserprone Tape
Psychic TV – Live @ Europa – Brooklyn, NY 12.09.2010
Bruce McClure “Fist 1 – Improper Frictions” @ Lincoln Center, NY 10.02.2010
Mat Brinkman “Phantasmatgoria” The Hole Gallery NY 09.18.2010
On Land Festival
Thought Broadcast “Demo 1” Tape (Gel)

Alexis Georgopoulos (Arp / The Alps / Q&A)
Durutti Column – Stucki
CFCF – The River
Oni Ayhun – Untitled (OAR003–B)
James Blake – Klavierwerke EP
Sun Araw – Off Duty + Boat Trip
Charanjit Singh – Ten Ragas To A Disco Beat
Tensnake – Coma Cat
Tame Impala – Innerspeaker
Arch M – Land Huxt
Washed Out – Life of Leisure
Factory Floor – Lying
John Roberts – Glass Eights
Chris Carter – The Space Between

Evan Caminiti (Barn Owl, Higuma)
Saffron Grill- I’m having withdrawals without eating Saffron for going on two months.  True food for the soul.
Popol Vuh- Everything.
Loren Connors- Hell’s Kitchen Park LP reissue
Richard Youngs- Beyond the Valley of Ultrahits LP
Harmony of the Spheres compilation on vinyl- My Amoeba score of the year.
Lisbon, Portugal- beautiful city.
The Drop Edge of Yonder by Rudolph Wurlitzer
On Land Festival- fun
Telecaster 72’ Custom- glorious new axe.
Neil Young live at the Fox Theater, Oakland- Neil-electric-solo: dream come true

Date Palms (Gregg Kowalsky & Marielle Jakobsons)
Miles Davis – Bitches Brew (Legacy + Collectors Editions)
Sun Araw – On Patrol (Not Not Fun)
Spiritualized – Ladies and Gentlemen We are Floating in Space (Reissue)
Starving Weirdos – On Land Performance
Keith Fullerton Whitman – Generator (Root Strata)
Washed Out – Life of Leisure (Mexican Summer)
Faust – Faust IV (Vinyl Reissue)
Earth – A Bureaucratic Desire for Extra Capsular Extractions (Reissue, Southern Lord)
Beach House – Teen Dream (Sub Pop)
Prince Jammy – Prince Jammy Presents: Strictly Dub (Reissue, Pressure Sounds)

Greg Davis
10 tapes for 2010
robin fox – a handful of automation (editions mego)
mist – glowing net (pizza wagon)
bee mask – from a will-less gigolo of a divinity to the gore-spattered lion on his own hearth, odysseus becomes “odysseus” (deception island)
flower man – house of cards (flanger magazine)
1958-2009 I-III (ekhein)
rene hell – lucifer pt. II (arbor)
john clyde evans – go gracious kiki change (autumn records)
chris weisman – fresh sip (autumn records)
keith fullerton whitman – generator (root strata)
celer – rags of contentment (digitalis)

Pete Swanson
Gate – A Republic of Sadness
Call Back The Giants
Operative – Pulse/Ramp
Zola Jesus – Stridulum
Keith Fullerton Whitman – Generators series of cassettes
Jefre Cantu-Ledesma – Love is a Stream
Aaron Dilloway – A Foxhole Point of View
Earl Sweatshirt – EARL
Ensemble Economique – Standing Still, Facing Forward
Dangerous Boys Club – VRIL

Koen Holtkamp (mountains)
Gunn – Truscinski Duo – Sand City (Three Lobed)
Grasslung – Sincere Void (Root Strata)
William Tyler – Behold The Spirit (Tompkins Square)
Alvin Curran – Under The Fig Tree (Die Schachtel)
Ted Lucas – Om (Sebastien Speaks)
Catherine Christer Hennix – The Electric Harpsichord (Die Schachtel)
Kris Kristofferson – Please Don’t Tell Me How the Story Ends: The
Publishing Demos 1968-72 (Light In The Attic)
Corridors – s/t (Sedimental)
Date Palms – Of Psalms (Root Strata)
Jim Sullivan – UFO (Light In The Attic)

Live Highlights :
Getting to see and hear the entire cycle of Eliane Radigue’s
‘Naldjorlak’ performed by Charles Curtis, Bruno Martinez and Carol
Robinson. James Blackshaw and Tape multiple times as we were lucky
enough to tour with them.  Jon Mueller’s impressively focused set in
Raleigh, NC.  Some other memorable performances off the top of my head
– Minamo in Tokyo, Bert Jansch adding some much needed warmth to a
very chilly evening in Philadelphia, Endless Boogie’s locked in groove
pretty much levitating the entire audience, Che Chen & Robbie Lee
coaxing otherworldly incantations out of there vast array of
instruments, Chris Forsyth and Steve Gunn getting me psyched to hear
some solo acoustic guitar performances again.

Christina Carter
Booked Up Bookstore in Archer City, Texas
San Francisco in September
Shooting Pool
Drinking Wine
Sidereal Astrology
Old Family Photographs
Wille Nelson
R.G. Vliet Archives at Texas State University
Finding Scorpions and Helping Them To Escape
Reading Poets on the Bus

Ilyas Ahmed
things i got and loved this year:
fursaxa –  mycorrhizae realm
sun city girls – funeral mariachi
tamio shiriashi – sax solo performance at subway in ny
leonard cohen – live at the isle of wight 1970
cold sun – dark shadows
pete swanson – ghost o clock
chromatics – night drive(deluxe edition)
bulent – benimle oynar misin
the doors – live at the matrix
steve gunn – boerum palace
endless boogie – full house head

Scott Hewicker (The Alps)
Charanjit Singh – Synthesizing: Ten Ragas To A Disco Beat
Catherine Christer Hennix – The Electric Harpsichord
Demdike Stare – 12″ Trilogy: Forest of Evil, Liberation Through Hearing, Voices of Dust
Dum Dum Girls – I Will Be
Royal Baths – Litanies
Date Palms – Of Psalms
Gonjasufi – A Sufi and A Killer
Dadawah – Peace & Love
Mount Kimbie – Crooks & Lovers
Grasslung – Sincere Void
Arp – The Soft Wave

Jeff Witscher (Rene Hell)
richard youngs “beyond the valley of ultra hits” lp
daily life “necessary & pathetic” lp
brian mcbride “the effective disconnet” lp
ted lucas “s/t” reissue lp
flower man “house of cards” cs
headboggle “banjo signal generator as advertised” cs
joanna newsom “have one on me” 3xlp
charanjit singh “synthesizing: ten ragas to a disco beat” reissue lp
fielded “terrageist” lp
keith fullerton whitman “generators” 2xcs

Jon Porras (Barn Owl)
The Drop Edge Of Yonder By Rudolph Wurlitzer
Neil Young – Live Solo at Fox Theatre
Popol Vuh  – Letzte Tage, Letzte Nächte
Stan Brakhage – Wedlock house
Caretaker – A Persistent Repetition of Phrases
Fuqugi – Gransofa + Nightingale
General Store on Judah
Slowdive – Outside Your Room EP
Loren Connors – Hymn of the North Star
Neil Young – Le Noise
Clair Cassis – s/t
Popol Vuh – Nosferatu Soundtrack
Trouble Coffee

Richard Youngs
New Zealand
Japan
New home
Reel to reel recording
Tinned grapefruit
Campervanning
BBC iPlayer
Memory foam pillows
Rediscovering Hong Kong Phooey
Coffee

Adam Forkner (White Rainbow)
pizza
coffee
hashbrowns
tri-fire volume one 12″ 45 on peoples potential unlimited
( http://homepage.mac.com/claymovie/ppu2/catalog2/tri-fire-volume-one.html)
megazord
lil b
whiterainbowpizza.bandcamp.com
“i heard you just do hyphy and comedy sets now”
ipad in general
“mugician” ipad app that’s like a microtonal synth that’s set up as an 11 string fretless guitar

Brad Rose (Foxy Digitalis / Alter Eagle)
Top 10 Albums I First Heard in 2010 That Did Not Come Out in 2010
This list is going to be hip-hop heavy since 2010 was the year I really got into hip-hop.  I’m also not including stuff reissued this year that I wasn’t familiar with until said reissues come out (like Drexciya, which would be near the top otherwise) because that seems too easy.
Kanye West “808s & Heartbreak”
Took me long enough, but this is probably now in my top 5 or 10 albums of all-time at this point.  Incredible.
Lil Wayne “Tha Carter III”
Look, I’m a bit slow sometimes.
Skinny Puppy “Back & Forth Series Two”
I’ve always associated Skinny Puppy with a bunch of douchey goth kids I knew in middle school, so I never really cared.  Then there was love for this being thrown around by Mike Weis of Zelienople, so I paid attention and fuck.
GZA “Liquid Swords”
So, so good.  Now if RZA could just make a solo album worth a damn.
Beat Konducta “Vol. 3-4: Beat Konducta in India”
I’m an absolute Madlib fanboy at this point.  100%
Zanov “Green Ray”
I’ve got another Zanov album but hadn’t ever heard this one and damn am I glad I did.  I wish shit like this was being reissued rather than every shitty, third-rate psych band from South America’s long-lost live album.
Surgeon “Force+Form”
Shit, I guess I just broke one rule since a new vinyl version of this came out this year, but whatever – fuck it.  This is hardcore.
Mother Mallard’s Portable Masterpiece Co. s/t LP
Great synth compositions under one weird-ass moniker.  See: Zanov re: Reissues.
Desire “II”
Somehow never heard this one last year, but it definitely hit the spot early this past summer.
Joker “Digidesign / You Don’t Know What Love Is”
Best.Bass.Sound.In.The.World. No.Contest.

Roger Tellier-Craig (Le révélateur)
Josh Burke – Prana (Aguirre)
Radio People – Radio People (Digitalis)
Reuben Son – Cortical Migrations (Digitalis)
Date Palms – Of Psalms (Root Strata)
NEU! – Neu! ’86 (Gronland)
J. Hanson – Boolean Blues (Digitalis)
Emeralds – Does It Look Like I’m Here? (Mego)
Pulse Emitter – Over Clouds (Root Strata)
Arp – The Soft Wave (Smalltown Supersound)
Driphouse – Airlocks and Pallet Jacks
Luc Ferrari – Ephémère I & II

Mike Weis (Zelienople)
My first year as a parent. Little Jee has already inherited his dad’s habit (good? bad?) of using ambient music as a means to fall asleep. Grasslung was a favorite
Ten years and four children later, Zelienople rolls on
burning the American folk songbook with Scott Tuma. Highlight performances were opening for two Bonnie “Prince” Billy shows; one at a dive, the other at a posh theatre. Another one at The Hideout with an ad hoc band of Tuma, myself, Ben Boyd, Emmett Kelly and Jim White.
channeling the spirit of Florian Fricke and Holger Trulzsch with Xela in Chicago and at On Land
channeling Lucifer for the North Sea recordings
On Land was the superior (extended) weekend of the year. Great performances and excellent vibes all around, such a beautiful community of musicians and fans.
Discovering Korean Shaman music
Free summer concerts under the Frank Gehry pavilion – Tortoise, Omar Faruk Tekbilek, Tinariwen, Pavement
took advantage of nap hours to finally record a solo album
R.I.P. Fred Anderson, Bill Dixon, Sigmar Polke, Adam Mills, Lorrie Otto

John Twells (Xela / Type Records)
Top 10 Live/DJ events 2010
Slayer & Megadeth @ Tsongas Center Lowell, MA
Keith Fullerton Whitman & Felix Kubin @ The Goethe Institut, Boston, MA
Iron Maiden @ The Bell Centre, Montreal, Canada
Grouper & Ilyas Ahmed @ aQuarius Records, San Francisco, CA
Reuben Son @ Whitehaus, Jamaica Plain, MA
The Great IQ @ Zebulon, Brooklyn, NY
Pete Swanson @ Cafe Du Nord, San Francisco, CA
Black To Comm @ Paragon, Providence, RI
Swans @ The Middle East, Cambridge, MA
Actress @ Middlesex, Cambridge, MA

Alex Cobb (Taiga Remains / Students Of Decay)
Curren$y: “Pilot Talk”
Barn Owl: “Ancestral Star”
En: “The Absent Coast”
Smoke DZA: “George Kush Da Button”
Jefre Cantu-Ledesma: “Love is a Stream”
Tamaryn: “The Waves”
Federico Durand: “La Siesta del Cipres”
Chubby Wolf: “Ornitheology”
Demdike Stare: “Forest of Evil”
Starlito: “Renaissance Gangster”

Ben Vida (Birdshow / Soft Circle)
Driving around listening to Hot 97.
Rick Ross:  Aston Martin Music
Drake: Up All Night
Kanye: POWER
Kanye: Monster
Big Boi: Back Up Plan
Alicia Keys: Un-Thinkable (I’m Ready)
Alicia Keys: Try Sleeping with a Broken Heart
Usher: Hot Tottie
Fabolous: Killin Em
Rihanna: What’s my Name?
Lil Wayne: Right Above It
Birdman: Money to Blow
The Dream: Panties to the Side

Danny Paul Grody (The Drift / Moholy-Nagy)
Moving in and nesting with my loved one.
Unexpectedly winning “best original music score” from Cinema Eye Honors (NYC) for the documentary film October Country.
Releasing my first solo record Fountain.
Playing with old friends more than ever, all at once.
My beloved La Pavoni espresso machine.
Live: Tinariwen, Neil Young, Debashish Bhattacharya, On Land Festival!
Performing at Grace Cathedral – a 6 sec. natural reverb… wow!
Books:  The Other City (Michal Ajvaz), By Night In Chile (Roberto Bolano), Master & Margarita (Mikhail Bulgakov)
Camping at Patricks Point with good friends.  Gorgeous temperate rainforest meets the rugged Pacific Ocean.
Cooking more.

Rob Fisk (Common Eider, King Eider)
bill orcutt live
ghent belgium drinking beer
pete swanson live
berzum twister
snow
6 duck hearts on a skewer
ape do good printing
gregory falling asleep during wolf eyes
grouper tattoo party
amsterdam bike ride to cheese farm

Scott Goodwin (Operative)
Top Everything Parties for Twenty and Ten
(No particular order)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3IHHARQu10&feature=related
Gamelan Sadha Budaya
Smegma, Oregon Painting Society, Brother Raven, Kevin Shields, John Goff present “Warlock Jazz” @ Holocene
Miracles Club @ Holocene 7th Birthday party
Golden Retriever @ Holocene CMG benefit
Unifactor/”Cop Donut Shop” @ Yes and No
Ecstasy Blog Record Release Party Valentine’s Miracles Club Djs, E*Rock, DJ Spencer D, Operative DJs
Oregon Painting Society (feat. Wolly Mammoth Comes to Dinner) Witchangel/Hexenhaus @ Portland Biennial
Whitewater Rafting on the Deschutes River Deschutes, OR
Yellow Swans – Going Places

Andrew Scott (Metal Rouge)
Wikileaks
Modra @ Highwire Gallery
City Peoples Farmers Music @ The Echo Curio (RIP!)
Barn Owl @ Synchronicity
Hanging out with the Jooklo Duo in LA
Inca Ore @ Synchronicity
Tom Carter @ Echo Curio
All the Peaking Lights sets I saw this year (9 of them!)
Josephine @ Eagle Rock Center for The Arts
Ornette Coleman @ Royce Hall (despite Flea’s guest appearance)


Darren Ho
(Driphouse)
TOP X NO ORDER:
Rene Hell / Three Legged Race split on Arbor
Moire Index (2010) and Grid Index (2009) Book and CD-ROM + solo show @ Pace Gallery by Carsten Nicolai
Grasslung “Sincere Void”
Eurorack Modular Synthesizers
Puredata & GEM
Infinite Body “Carve Out The Face Of My God”
Omar Souleyman @ Central Park Summerstage
Aphex Twin 2010 DJ sets on Youtube
Root canal operation at the endodontist, one block away from ground zero.
Morgan Egg and Mark Lord “last chance in heaven b/w discontinue stardust” LP (2009)

Konrad Jandavs
(No Ufo’s)
Fabulous Diamonds “II” (Siltbreeze)
ARP “The Soft Wave” (Smalltown Supersound)
Geoff Mullen “Bongo Closet” (Type)
Actress “Splazsh” (Honest Jon’s)
Jefre Cantu-Ledesma “Love Is A Stream” (Type)
Horrid Red “Empty Lungs” (Holidays)
Date Palms “Of Psalms” (Root Strata)
Deerhunter “Halcyon Digest” (4AD)
Keith Fullerton Whitman “Disingenuity / Disingenuousness” (Pan)
Alastair Galbraith “Mass” (Siltbreeze)

Trevor Montgomery (Lazarus / The Drift / Moholy-Nagy)
Golden Retriever ( Root Strata )
JD Emmanuel – Wizards – Reissue ( Important )
Beach House – Teen Dream ( Sub Pop )
Date Palms –  of Psalms ( Root Strata )
Paul Clipson / Jefre Cantu-Ledesma Within Mirrors ( Students of Decay )
Daniel Higgs – Say God ( Thrill Jockey )
Emeralds – Does it look like I’m here? ( editions Mego )
Jefre Cantu-Ledesma –  Love is a Stream (type)
Barn Owl –  Ancestral Star ( Thrill Jockey)
Golden Retriever – 2 ( Bucket Factory )

Tom Carter
10 New York shows that melted my face off in 2010, even if I can’t
remember the dates (or the months for that matter)

John Duncan performance consisting of a dozen ringers planted in the
crowd in a suddenly pitch-black auditorium stripping off their clothes
and clawing their way naked and screaming over the backs of fleeing
audience members (Airway was pretty good too); @ Performa Fest,
January

Sitarist Kushal Das at the Chandayan Center’s annual dusk to dawn
Indian concert. If a molten rod of white light shooting up the spine
from the sacrum and out your uppermost subtle orifice is ‘sick’ (as my
friend Steve likes to say), then this was surely the ‘illingest’
performance of the year; @ Chandayan Center, May

Omar Souleyman rocking the brickwall reverb and the urban courtyard
canyon vibe, edging out (slightly) his amazing set at Central Park the
day before with Tinariwen @ Issue Project Room, June

Peter Stampfel and one of Martha Colburn’s interns (sorry, forgot who)
playing an improvised banjo/toy electric keytar soundtrack to Martha’s
collection of 16mm animated porno films; @ my house, July

What better way to cap  Sir Richard Bishop’s July-long Monday night
residency at Zebulon than with a SRB/ Bill Orcutt  duo set? None that
I can imagine; @ Zebulon, July

Tectonic Loren Connors & Margarida Garcia (doublebass) duo
improvisation, akin to watching brass orchids unfold. Please beat me
with the yardstick if I attempt to measure out the ‘best’ Loren
Connors show I saw last year; @ Union Pool, September(?)

Phill Niblock with David First, Al Margolis, Robert Poss, and Phill
Niblock turned every atom of the air into mercury at the Electric
Temple drone-athon (with visuals provided by Richard Garet, Phill
Niblock, and Katherine Liberovskaya) @ Issue Project Room, October

Vishwa Mohan Bhatt (Mohan veena) weeping metal tears of joy down a
fretboard by candlelight; @ West Village Presbyterian Church, October

Pandit Ramesh Mishra (sarangi) & NItin Mitta (tabla) stoking the prana
furnace in a surprise duo set after an already-excellent performance
accompanying vocalist Paromita, while surrounded by the boisterous
Bengali community of Queens; @ PS 131Q, December

Chie Mukai’s first US performance (how is this possible?), stalking/
owning the stage, trance-like, in a pair of oversized glitter heels,
radiating rosined strokes over wine-stained brains (and finishing with
a transfixingly silent dance encore); @ Zebulon, December



  1. michael on December 21st, 2010

    the best post

  2. Roger on December 21st, 2010

    Hhhmmm, I know this is kind of like cheating, but I need to add that Rene Hell “Lucifer pt. II” tape to my list…

  3. Derek Holzer on January 7th, 2011

    moving to Berlin? Cool, seems like half the US has relocated here already! ;-) I’d be happy to show you around and talk music when you arrive. Drop me a line if you’re interested. Derek

  4. […] time. But fuck, I’ve done so many lists this year (Top 25, random tape list, vinyl reissues, another list… I think that’s all) that it’s been hard to try and figure out what kind of angle […]

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