10 YEARS IN 20 RECORDS
The last ten years have delivered their fair share of hits and misses, and this list doesn’t pretend to be in any way shape or form exhaustive. This is just, in no particular order, the definitive list of the 20 albums that have defined the noughties at themilkfactory.

THE 2009 REVIEW
Twelve months compiled into just twenty albums. From the thousands of records released each year, it is difficult to get even a handful on the site, and even more difficult to decide which ones were the best of the lot. This is however the twenty albums that have marked the 2009 for themilkfactory.

JAGA JAZZIST A Family Affair
Inteview with Lars Horntveth by themilkman
One-Armed Bandit is the first release from Norwegian supergroup Jaga Jazzist in over five years. A constantly changing formation, the band has been around for fifteen years, with at its core brothers Lars and Martin Horntveth and their sister Line. While their sound has always encompassed a variety of genres, it relies primarily on a driven form of power jazz. With their last record to date, the band took to more rock structures and abandoned the electronic textures that had characterised previous releases. With this latest offering, they once again bring electronics into the fold and swap heavy rock forms for more cosmic prog rock. Here, band composer in chief Lars Horntveth talks about the five year break, how working on external projects benefit the band as a whole, working with Tortoise’s John McEntire and spending over half his life with the band.

BEN FROST Colours Of The Night
Interview by themilkman
In the space of just a handful of records, Australian-born musician Ben Frost has defined a very particular sound, which blends in elements of modern classical, metal and electronica into haunting cinematic soundscapes. Although his first album proper was published on Room40 in 2003, it is with his debut contribution for Valgeir Sigurðsson’s Bedroom Community, Theory Of Machines (2006) that he began to receive the attention he deserves. With his latest opus, By The Throat, Frost has developed a much more organic sound, which he developed with a number of collaborators, including Valgeir Sigurðsson, Nico Muhly, Sam Amidon, Swedish hardcore metal band Crowpath, Arcade Fire drummer Jeremy Gara and Icelandic string quartet Amiina. Ben took a few minutes out of his current tour with the Bedroom Community guys to talk to themilkfactory about his many influences, how he got acquainted with Bedroom Community, how he faced the weaknesses in his work and addressed them, and how things are not just black and white.

ORGANISMS
Food/Vladislav Delay/Eyebrow, Union Chapel, Islington, London, 12/11/2009
Reviewed by themilkman
British jazz saxophonist Iain Ballamy and Norwegian drummer extraordinaire Thomas Strønen, as Food, and Vladislav Delay joined forces for a pretty special evening of experimental atmospheric music at London’s wonderful Union Chapel.

JUST LIKE HEAVEN
Fennesz/Grouper/Natural Snow Buidlings, St Giles In The Fields, London, 4/11/2009
Reviewed by themilkman
Fennesz, Grouper and Natural Snow Building invested St Giles In The Fields church for an evening, bringing distortions and processed guitars to a haven of piece in the heart of central London.

RICHARD SKELTON Landings
TYPE055 Type Recordings 2010
Reviewed by themilkman
Originally released on his own Sustain-Release imprint, Landings, Richard Skelton’s second album under his own name, is now given a full release on Type, and bring his stark atmospheric work to a bigger audience.

KOUTARO FUKUI Gently Touching The Conception
SEM005 SEM Label 2009
Reviewed by David Abravanel
Koutari Fukui is a man of many hats – sometimes film music maker, label owner, commercial sound designer – but a full-time sound sculptor. Built from basic sound sources, this is a contemplative soundtrack.

EFTERKLANG Magic Chairs
CAD3X01 4AD 2010
Reviewed by themilkman
Having recently signed to 4AD, Efterklang return with their third studio album and showcase a more mature, if less passionate, sound.

DANÍEL BJARNASON Processions
HVALUR7CD Bedroom Community 2010
Reviewed by themilkman
A new addition to the excellent Bedroom Community collective, Iceland composer and pianist Daníel Bjarnason delivers a very impressive first album of modern classical music.

VARIOUS ARTISTS Ambient Pop 2010
KOMPAKT77 Kompakt 2010
Reviewed by themilkman
Kompakt deliver their annual selection of ambient electronic, now in its tenth year, curated by label boss Wolgang Voigt.

NEST Retold
SERE001 Serein Limited 2010
Reviewed by themilkman
The project of one-time Deaf Center member Otto A. Totland and British musician Huw Roberts, Nest collect on this debut album a collection of beautiful atmospheric pieces tinted with classical brushes.

ROBERT A.A. LOWE & ROSE LAZAR Eclipses
THRILL234 Thrill Jockey 2010
Reviewed by themilkman
Second collaborative effort between Chicago-based artists Robert A. A. Lowe, who provides music and art, and Rose Lazar, who contributes art.

BJ NILSEN The Invisible City
TO77 Touch 2010
Reviewed by themilkman
One of the strongest and most cohesive representatives of the Touch stable, Swedish musician BJ Nilsen delivers another particular impressive piece of work.

I/DEX Layers
LMC1001 Lagunamuch Records 2009
Reviewed by themilkman
Hailing from Belarus, I/Dex has created, with his second album, a particularly stunning piece of brittle and evocative electronica.

FOUR TET There Is Love In You
WIG254 Domino Recording Co. 2010
Reviewed by themilkman
Five years on from his last album as Four Tet, and coming on the back of an excellent EP and a split release with Burial, Kieran Hebden returns with a new full length.

TU M’ Monochromes Vol. 1
LINE040 Line 2009
Reviewed by themilkman
Italian multimedia duo Tu M’ collects four tracks from their Monochromes project which, despite the missing visuals, manage to captivate all the way through.

CALIKA Crooked / Slack Jaw
AB024 / HPLL043 Audiobulb Records 2009 / Highpoint Lowlife 2009
Reviewed by themilkman
Two years on from his last record, Calika refines his sound processing and delivers two quite radically different EPs on Audiobulb and Highpoint Lowlife.

VARIOUS ARTISTS In The North EP
DUSTV017 Dust Science Recordings 2009
Reviewed by themilkman
The Black Dog lead this might fine techno EP, with contributions from Carl Taylor, The Bass Soldier and Grievous Angel, to mark the return of Sheffield’s finest label, Dust Science.

DARK CAPTAIN LIGHT CAPTAIN Remix EP
LOAF31D LOAF/Lo Recordings 2009
Reviewed by themilkman
While Dark Captain Light Captain are gearing up to record their second album, this excellent remix EP open their pastoral acoustic sound some interesting new grounds.

ALPINE. Fr:om Harmed Weather To Stark, Micro, Climates
HPLL038 Highpoint Lowlife 2009
Reviewed by themilkman
Alpine. is the most recent recruit of the Highpoint Lowlife squad, and this, his first release, is a particularly engaging and confident ambient collection.

MARK PRITCHARD ? / The Hologram
HOHUM003 Ho Hum Records 2009
Reviewed by David Abravanel
What indeed? It’s a new single from Mark Pritchard, which, fittingly, sounds little like anything else he’s done.