As 2010 bows out, it is time to look back on a year that has been rich in new music, some from very well established artists, and some from entirely new comers. Here are themilkfactory’s twenty favourite records of the year, and this year for the first time, this list is augmented with thirty other records that have marked the year.

With no less than four albums in the top 20, the year belonged to Rune Grammofon, and more particularly to Supersilent, who occupy two places, including the top spot. Room40 also place two albums in the twenty best records on 2010, while new imprints Desire Path, Hibernate and Textura also feature with some strong releases.
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STRIË
Sléptis
SOUND003
Soundscaping Records 2010
10 Tracks. 56mins26secs

Norman Records: CD

Who exactly is Iden Reinhart, the artist hiding behind Strië, is something of a tightly kept secret. While the Soundscaping website remains pretty vague about the project, we are informed that Reinhart ‘is a retired prodigy actress and cellist’ who appears to live a secluded life somewhere in a rural town in central Europe. This is certainly enough to create more than an element of intrigue around Strië, which is not dispel by the fact that she has recently been seen performing alongside Greg Haines or has contributed to Erik Skodvin’s recent album, Flare, on Sonic Pieces. Sléptis spreads its wings across modern classical, electronic soundscapes, sprinkled with light field recordings and occasionally tinted with eerie processed vocals or dislocated spoken words, and abstract jazz, never quite settling on any particular genre, but never quite intently bringing them together in one unique form of expression either. Continue Reading »

ANDREA FERRARIS & MATTEO UGGERI WITH MUJIKA EASEL & ANDREA SERRAPIGLIO
Autumn Is Coming, We’re All In Slow Motion
HB20
Hibernate Recordings 2010
08 Tracks. 54mins44secs

Amazon UK: DLD US: DLD Boomkat: CD | DLD iTunes: DLD

This album is the fruit of the meeting of two artists with substantial pedigrees in experimental music. Andrea Ferraris learnt his trade in various hardcore outfits during the nineties before moving towards more experimental forms of electronic and electro-acoustic music, while Matteo Uggeri has been active with various collaborative projects ranging from noise and post industrial to field recordings-infused melodic electronica since the mid nineties. The pair met after working on a series of collaborative projects led by Maurizio Bianchi and Andrea Marutti, and decided to work on a collaborative project of their own. The pair are here joined by Japanese musician Mujika Easel, who provides occasional piano and vocals, and Italian sound artist Andrea Serrapiglio, who plays cello, and with whom Ferraris has previously collaborated as part of experimental quartet Airchamber 3. Continue Reading »

BJØRN TORSKE
Kokning
STS196
Smalltown Supersound 2010
09 Tracks. 52mins01mins

Amazon UK: CD | LP | DLD US: CD | LP | DLD Boomkat: CD | LP | DLD iTunes: DLD

With countless projects and collaborations under his belt, Norwegian musician, producer and DJ Bjørn Torske has had, since his first appearance, as Alegria on SSR Records almost twenty years ago, fingers in more pies than one could care to mention, but when he landed on Smalltown Supersound, a few years ago, he found his natural place alongside the likes of Diskjokke or Lindstrøm. His debut album for the label, Feil Knapp, combined elements of house and disco with more playful electronic forms and occasional Krautrock hints.

Krautrock appears to be the starting point of Torske’s latest offering, his fourth, and filters through much of the album, in various doses. Continue Reading »

ULTRALYD
Inertiadrome
RCD2105
Rune Grammofon 2010
05 Tracks. 40mins44secs

Amazon UK: CD | DLD US: CD | LP | DLD Boomkat: CD | LP iTunes: DLD

Even to Rune Grammofon’s standards, Ultralyd are a pretty odd offering. Taking elements of contemporary experimental jazz, abstract composition, rock and heavy metal and fusing them together into something quite unique. Formed in 2004 when bass player Kjertil D Brandsdal joined the trio of saxophonist Frode Gjerstad, guitarist Anders Hana and drummer and percussionist Morten J Olsen, Ultralyd released their first self-titled album, published on UK imprint FMR Records, that same year, then a second, Chromosome Gun, a few months later on Load Records. Gjerstad left in 2006, and was replaced with Kjetil Møster, just in time to record their Rune Grammofon debut, Conditions For A Piece Of Music. Inertiadrome follows the very limited, vinyl-only album Renditions which Ultralyd published last year on RG’s sister imprint The Last Record Company. Continue Reading »

Using a prepared piano as his instrument of choice, Düsseldorf-based musician and composer Volker Bertelmann, AKA Hauschka, has developed a very personal style since his first release back in 2004. With his latest album, he teamed up with the Magik*Magik Orchestra in San Francisco and explored the orchestral side of his work in depth for the first time. To coincide with the release of the album, Hauschka embarked on a tour which saw him joined by different formations according to the country he was playing. We took the opportunity to catch up with the man following his UK to talk about his new album, the techno project he is about to unleash, the joys and problems of playing with different orchestras, the unpredictability of playing a piano loaded with ping pong balls and having other artists adding vocals to his music. Continue Reading »

CLEM LEEK
Holly Lane
HB19
Hibernate Recordings 2010
08 Tracks. 42mins52secs

Amazon UK: DLD US: DLD Boomkat: CD | DLD iTunes: DLD

It’s been a rather busy year for young British musician and composer Clem Leek. In the space of just a few months, he’s had a number of releases coming out on Experimedia, Dead Pilot or his own imprint, Schedios. The latest in this flurry of releases, Holly Lane, is published on the excellent Hibernate Recordings in a limited run of just two hundred CDs, with an additional run of fifty also including an exclusive bonus three-inch CD.

A pianist with a recent MA in Music Composition, Leek expands on his instrument of predilection to incorporate a wealth of filed recordings, processed guitars and electronics. Holly Lane is a particularly haunting piece of work where all sounds and melodies are wrapped in layers of effects, their edges smoothed and blurred to the point where it is virtually impossible to identify for sure where any of them starts or ends, or what the sound sources are exactly. Continue Reading »

AXIS TRIO
Anthem
ALP049CD
Accretions Records 2010
11 Tracks. 59mins30secs

Amazon UK: DLD US: DLD iTunes: DLD

The cover of Axis Trio’s second album shows a complex set of geometrical shapes arranged in interconnecting symmetrical patterns, highlighting the origins of the three members of Axis Trio. Formed of Moroccan pianist Amino Belyamani, Iranian American bassist Sam Minaie and Pakistani American drummer Qasim Naqvi, also a member with another fine jazz ensemble, Dawn Of Midi, who released their debut album, First, earlier in the year, Axis Trio first appeared two years ago with The Hand, an album released on SNP Records, and have, over the years, performed alongside some of the finest names on the jazz scene. As a formation, they operate on a primarily acoustic template, but their sound, like the intricate patterns of the cover of this album, is more complex than may appear at first. Continue Reading »