1) Thelonious Monk / John Coltrane: At Carnegie Hall
Rumors of this tape have circulated for the last several years. Finally, an archivist at the Library of Congress discovered it in the 'Voice Of America' archives. The two earlier recordings of these two masters playing together were both from a run at the 5 Spot café - their fist (and presumed only) stint playing together. Those recordings, while fascinating, only hint at the potential of this remarkable pairing. Finally, with these Carnegie Hall recordings we get to hear the ensemble in full bloom. 'Trane is now totally comfortable with the tunes (and the challenge of soloing with Monk comping behind him) and soars lyrically over the changes. Of course, he had much to learn from Monk rhythmically as well, and the playing around he does with the heads shows this. Monk, the teacher in their relationship, seems thoroughly energized and totally present in this performance. As an added bonus, the recording quality was excellent and the production is near flawless - it sounds like it was recorded yesterday.

2) Boards Of Canada: Campfire Headphase
Fans of this duo will find this album just as tight, shiny, and deliberate as any of their previous. Folks new to the group will discover just how mesmerizing and totally engrossing the world of Boards Of Canada can be. Characterized by flawless production, the sounds they create truly do have you in a suspension of disbelief throughout. The addition of acoustic instruments adds just the right touch of earthly texture.

3) William Parker Quartet: Sound Unity
Masterful, confident, and totally swinging affair by the best ensemble working in Jazz today. William Parker: bass, Rob Brown: Alto, Lewis Barnes: Trumpet, Hamid Drake Drums - wow.

4a/b) Maxwell Davies: Naxos Quartets no. 1 & 2 / Naxos Quartets no. 3 & 4
These quartets were commissioned by the great classical label, Naxos. They sum up the state of 20th century string quartet music nicely. A great blending of technique, intellect, and emotion. Although the music sometimes meanders a bit, the whole is quite cohesive - with an inner logic that's fairly easy to follow. A very rewarding listen.

5) Conlon Nancarrow: Lost Works, Last Works
Known primarily for his works for player piano, Nancarrow was a remarkably versatile and continually inventive composer. This album collects some true rarities and what might be considered "oddities" in his oeuvre - including a piece for tape and one for prepared piano. But aside from the wonderful music, this disc would be worth the price just for the 30'50 minute long interview with him that concludes this offering.

6) Meat Beat Manifesto: At The Center
They did it again. I really tried to avoid putting another Thirsty Ear album on my list this year - but I just couldn't do it. This album collides Jack Dangers a.k.a. Meat Beat Manifesto with several great downtown scene jazz musicians (including Peter Gordon and Craig Taborn) in what is becomes a quite uncommon album. Difficult to describe - but great soundtrack music. Put on your headphones and imagine you're a superhero…

7) Sleater-Kinney: The Woods
Sleater Kinney's defection to sub-pop has resulted in a mighty, mighty album. Sub Pop's production creates an incredibly heavy and suspiciously early-90's sounding album. This is a new sound for the group and it seems like they are both uncomfortable and newly energized - which makes for a wonderfully edgy album. Distortion! Fuzz! Grunge is dead, long live grunge!

8) John Coltrane: One Up, One Down: Live At The Half-Note
Long available as a bootleg (I've long cherished my set) this is some of the most intense "jazz" you will ever hear. Incredibly well rehearsed (they've been playing these changes for a couple of years now), loose, and ready to explode. This is just about the end of the 'Classic' Coltrane quartet - and everyone seems to know it. While the band is more focused and full of fire than on any of their studio recordings - Coltrane already seems to be reaching into his next phase, making his duets with Elvin Jones the clear highlight of these recordings. The bootlegs have more than twice the music released on this two disc set - hopefully we can expect a Volume 2 soon.

9) Iannis Xenakis: Music For Strings
Given my taste it seems remarkable to me that I've waited so long to sample Xenakis' music. Maybe it's just the joy of hearing something new - but I really love this record. I particularly enjoy several "sea-sick" moments of micro-tonal string playing (ala Glenn Branca) and the many semi-ecstatic crescendos into glorious cacophony. Maybe you wouldn't like this record after all…

10) Lyrics Born: Same !@#$ Different Day
After all the (as Michael would say) 'heavyosity' of the previous picks I had to throw in a good old-fashioned party record. Much like Young MC was an antidote to N.W.A in the early 90's (or was it the other way around?) Lyrics Born and the rest of the Quannum crew help counter the doom, bling, and gloom of the proto-gangsta rap of today. The first track "Hello" is guaranteed to get your party started - and there isn't much let up from there. Did I mention these are all remixes? A delightful finish is DJ Spinna's take on "I Changed My Mind". Cat throws everything but the kitchen sink at the tune and leaves your head spinning. Wonderful.

Corey Edwards
the "Invisible Employee"
Top 10 of 2005
(presented alphabetically to diffuse assumption)

1) Dufus - Ball of Design A timely record, Dufus' Ball of Design is filled with anger, hope, passion, and their own, special brand of cornball naïveté. Teetering somewhere between Dylan, Zappa, Ween, and the Moldy Peaches, the hippe-punk cacophony of Ball of Design is a hook bearing extravaganza. The music is too intricate, too polished to be purely organic, yet tribal enough to retain a powerful immediacy and freshness. Just when you think they've gone completely 'round the bend they suck you back in - and just as often vice-versa. For those with a sense of humor, a sense of innocence, and a sense of moral outrage.

2) Fast 'N' Bulbous - Pork Chop Blue Around the Rind A Captain Beefheart Tribute project, Pork Chop Blue Around the Rind succeeds where so many others have failed. Instead of hollow imitation, Fast n' Bulbous - a band composed of seasoned improvisers from both the rock and jazz worlds - uses some of the tightest, polyrhythmic rock and roll compositions ever written as foundations for swinging arrangement and electric improvisation. With energetic interplay between guitar and brawny, big brass, the songs remain familiar yet fresh, bouncy, rootsy, and meaty; a heady stew of sounds true to their source yet lacking the excoriating scraw and chlack that has kept so much of the general public away from one of the most original American artists to have ever moistened a microphone.

3) Frisell, Bill - Richter 858 Accompanied by an accomplished string trio and his own electronic embellishments, celebrated jazz guitarist Bill Frisell, provides the soundtrack for the distinctive artwork of Gerhardt Richter. The haunting, at times explosive, often evocative and eerie soundscapes inspired by Gerhardt's equally moving art, retain Frisell's signature delicacy, humor, and beauty while providing a different window through which to view this amazing musician's compositional skills and sensibilities. This hybrid/multi-channel CD (which will play on any CD player) features a CD-rom slideshow of Richter's art (much of which is also included in the booklet) that plays along with the music. Beautiful.

4) Kang, Eyvind & Martine, Tucker - Orchestra Dim Bridges Orchestra Dim Bridges is an aural experience that somehow manages to combine both the beautiful and the bizarre in a way that marginalizes neither aspect, thus retaining an accessibility and a freshness capable of captivating a wide audience of discerning listeners. Combining the talents of two of the arguably more original musical minds out there, as well as the many styles they have at their musical fingertips, Orchestra Dim Bridges remains unclassifiable. Is it electronica? Jazz? Experimental? Oh, wait - I know: it's damn good.

5) Koenjihyakkei - Angherr Shisspa You wouldn't like Koenjihyakkei. Nobody likes Koenjihyakkei. Can you even pronounce it? Does the translation - One Hundred Sights of Koenji - offer any illumination? What if Orff was a Japanese punk drummer virtuoso, obsessed with the obscure Zeuhl stylings of Magma, and charged with writing music for the apocalypse? What if love came on a roll in perforated sheets like toilet paper? The band's fourth release, Angherr Shisspa, is part jazz, part prog, part rock, part opera, part your hair down the middle with a post-hole digger. Koenjihyakkei is one of those bands you just have to hear. Or not . . . probably not.

6) Korekyojinn - Isotope A wheeling, searing, breathtaking ride of a live concert featuring one of the tightest combos out there. Avant-prog at its finest with discombobulating polyrhythms, knuckle-cracking virtuosity, and explosive, fist-full-of-lips-on-the-weekend energy. Heavy, happy, mathy music for people who can dance but just plain don't want to. Rzzzzzz!

7) Maoz, Eyal - Edom Edom is jazz/rock with a mild Middle Eastern tinge from a talented quartet of downtown NY superstars. Headed by guitarist Eyal Maoz and featuring the organ of John Medeski, Edom is funky, dirty fun. Loose, contagious compositions, driven by warm acoustic bass and tumbling drums, sizzle beneath the firepower of Maoz and Medeski's riveting interplay. Edifying and electrifying, Edom deserves to be in your ears. Just buy it, you hobo.

8) Machine and the Synergetic Nuts - Leap Second Neutral A jazz fusion combo, Machine and the Synergetic Nuts dish out one heaping helping after another of infectious, hook laden, ecstatic grooves. Melding 70's fusion sensibility with modern heat and thrang, the band is accomplished and confident, performing with the aggressive energy of an angry bear chasing you across a treacherous spill of sharp shale scree. See if you don't just fall down and get eaten on the rocks by this captivating group of groovsters.

9) Mum - Yesterday Was Dramatic, Today is OK Mum's first album, finally receiving domestic release, was recorded when the Icelandic quartet were still teenagers. An obvious precurser to 2002's Finally We Are No One, Yesterday Was Dramatic, Today is OK is innocent, intimate and fascinating in its intricacy; a confoundingly successful blend of electronica and folky acousticity both for fans of those genres and those not usually so captivated by them.

10) Pelican - The Fire in Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw Often billed as 'Instru-metal', Pelican's auditory excursions on The Fire in Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw are wider ranging than before. Expanding upon the pure power-drone of past albums, the band utilizes a wider compositional pallet, achieving even deeper levels of complexity. Featuring dual guitars, bass and drums, Pelican is capable not only of the expected, typical sonic wash associated with such combos but a further and surprising depth of understanding and musical clarity.

1) Albert Ayler: Holy Ghost -It's usually hyperbole to say something like "I've been waiting most of my adult life for this collection" - but for me that statement is true. Believe it. Albert Ayler's story is (like Daniel Johnston's below) too complex to be told here. As an impressionable jazz saxophone wanna-be I had a constellation of heros that I worshiped - but ultimately it was Coltrane and Ayler that had the most profound impact. While Coltrane's music had a spiritual quality that instantly hooked me - and a complexity that often perplexed me - it was Albert Ayler's music that pushed me over the edge. It truly terrified me. His playing was all the proof I needed that I'd never make it as a musician. People argue about whether his playing is even musical at all. This argument used to really piss me off. Now I know the answer (for me) is that it doesn't matter - his "playing" is some of the purest spiritual communication I've ever heard. Music is many things to many people - but no one can convince me that this "noise" isn't proof that music can be transcendent. I've priced this 9-CD, gloriously packaged box set at my approximate cost ($80) so that more people might be able to experience it.

2) Morton Feldman: Patterns In A Chromatic Field - Written relatively late in Feldman's career (1981), this piece is a bit of an anomaly. While the word "busy" isn't something that is typically used to describe a piece of Feldman's work, this piece comes closest to needing it. True to the title, this work has an almost visual quality - sounds shine in both their attack and decay. The musicians - Marianne Schroeder on piano and Rohan de Saram on Cello - understand that the most important elements of any Feldman piece are tempo and articulation, and they give a fantastically focused and subsequently quite beautiful reading of this most impressive piece.

3) Revolutionary Ensemble: And Now… - One of the most formidable groups in the 70's "free jazz" scene, the trio of Leroy Jenkins on violin, Sirone on bass, and Jerome Cooper on percussion proved that collective improvisation didn't have to be a free-for-all group squall. Using their collective backround in classical and world musics they created a group sound that was as unique as it was musical. Their reunion in 2004 is a welcome return to form. As original as their earlier work and yet with an unmistakable group sound, this album is a delight that shouldn't be missed by anyone with a taste for modern creative music.

4) Califone: Heron King Blues - Hmmm. I like Califone. I really like this album. But how to describe it? Layers. Lots of layers. Folk-ish… stuff. Sometimes the melody wins - when it pokes through, that is. "Experimental Rock" is such a miserable category - let's not describe it that way. If you've been in the store much when I've been working, chances are good you've heard it. Loops? A (negative) reviewer on Amazon called it a "musical slow boat to china". Hah! Whatever.

5) Vandermark 5: Elements of Style, Exercises in Surprise - Ken Vandermark's writing just keeps getting better and better, in my opinion. As prolific as he is, and considering how many different musical configurations he puts himself into, it's remarkable that his writing for his flagship group has gotten progressively more focused rather than diffused. This is the natural evolution of the great unheralded 70's "free jazz" group experiments like (the aforementioned) 'Revolutionary Ensemble', Anthony Braxton's 'Creative Music Ensemble' and just about anything Sam Rivers had anything to do with. Truly cohesive as a unit but still able to produce unhinged (yet cogent) improvisational turns, this group is state of the art 'Creative Music'.

6) Frank Black: Frank Black Francis - Two discs. The first disc is Black Francis and his guitar doing mid-'80's pre-Pixies demo versions of songs which would go on to be hits for the band. Should end all arguments over whose band the Pixies were. In fact, why did he even need a band? The second disc contains remixes of new acoustic recordings by Frank of many Pixies hits (with a lot of title overlap with the first disc, naturally). The producers responsible for the studio work, the Two Pale Boys, turn the sparse source material into a lounge-y heroin dirge. I mean that in a good way. You'd never expect to hear this kind of sonic treatment (and lethargic tempos) applied to these songs. And horns! It's so surprising that on first listen you can be really confused - sort of like the first time you heard the Clash's 'Rock The Casbah' muzak-ed and playing in the supermarket. It works, though. It really works.

7) Marilyn Crispell: Storyteller - This album has an enormous gentleness. This is a quality I often overlook when evaluating music, or at least undervalue. Usually because gestures of gentleness are often accompanied by a maudlin quality or a flair for sad drama. Not here. More complex than mid-70's Keith Jarrett but with a similar touch - the trio arrangement ensures real communication and gently (there's that word again) pulls Crispell back from the depths of self-absorption. Mark Helias on double-bass is languid and understated and Paul Motion on drums is at his most sublime - often tricking the ear into believing the piano is doing all the work. Speaking of Motian, this record is a perfect (and perfectly logical) next step for folks who love the early 60's Bill Evans trio records.

8) Zony Mash: Farewell Shows - It was a bit of a toss-up between this title and another Wayne Horvitz project Mylab: Mylab. I finally chose the Zony Mash because I have such fond memories of seeing them live at the OK Hotel in the mid '90's. This is (obviously enough) a live recording and it represents the energy and inventiveness of the band as well as any recording can. Not remarkable for stellar improvisations - though Horvitz is certainly capable - but for their remarkable group "groove". They have an uncanny ability to follow and prod one another rhythmically to great effect. Comparable to Medeski, Martin & Wood - but more focused and hard driving.

9) Daniel Johnston/Various: Discovered Covered - First of all, Daniel Johnston is not dead. I just want to get that out of the way. For the uninitiated, D.J.'s back story is too complicated and long to recite here. Let's just call him an "oustsider artist" and leave it at that. This set has two discs - the first is various artists covering their favorite Johnston songs, the second disc is Johnston's original versions of these same songs. The beauty of this package is, then, that it functions both as a great covers album as well as a greatest hits package (for half the price!). There is so much to be said about Johnston and his music (and his art) that the reader is best left to investigate on her own (the liner notes are pretty weak). Or better yet - just listen. Guest artists include 'Death Cab For Cutie', 'Eels', Tom Waits and many other wanna-be hipsters. Daniel Johnston is, for better or for worse, a bandwagon to be jumped on - fortunately, though, most of these are artists approach his music with respect and leave the "irony" that has plagued previous covers of his songs at home.

10) Northern State: All City - This "Three College Girl Hip-Hop Crew" is often likened to early Beastie Boys - a comparison which does a disservice to both groups. Feminist protagonists in rap are few and far between and unlike some of their rock counterparts (the Donnas come to mind) they don't gender-twist misogynist lyrics and sentiments to demonstrate their "empowerment". Rather, they are clever, confident and independent - threatening the rap-averse with different tactics - but to the same affect - as their male counterparts. OK, the beats are often mediocre (though there are a couple of nice production cameos like ?uestlove and Pete Rock) and the lyrics are sometimes self-consciously, well, "college-girl". Still, this album is great for its interesting flows and for shaking up preconceptions - Oh, and you can dance to it too…

Corey's Top 10 List for 2004

1) Bill Frisell: Unspeakable Collaborating with legendary producer Hal Willner for much of the album, 'Unspeakable' comes across fresh and quirky, a balance of taut playing, perfectly cued loops, samples, and an unstoppable merging of imaginations. Fun and beautiful.

2) Eyvind Kang: Virginal Co Ordinates Hypnotic, somber, uplifting; 'Virginal Co Ordinates' further establishes Eyvind Kang not just as a musician but also a composer to watch. Recorded live, this excursion into minimalism combines written material with subtle improvisation. Kang's violin hovers over a 22-member orchestra, including Mike Patton on electronics and surprisingly subtle vocals. At once haunting and grand.

3) Mark Lanegan: Here Comes That Weird Chill Initially conceived of as a single promoting an upcoming album, 'Here Comes That Weird Chill' grew into an 8-track EP of rare effect. While there is no denying the gritty, sometimes ratcheting, industrial feel of this small collection, it is not without its human side. Lanegan’s craggy voice exudes a warmth and passion similar to what I felt upon noting the EP's miniscule retail price. Grab it while it's still in print.

4) Mylab Inspired in part by late 1900’s folk music, Mylab stretches to include the realms of pop, urban, funk, jazz, bluegrass, and others. Throughout there is evident a pleasant layer of grit. Mylab is a new brown bean jumping hot in the bottom of an old tin pan.

5) Talking Heads: The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads This album, released in 1982 on record and tape, remained unavailable on CD until 2004. Expanding upon the original double-album with 16 new tracks, this belated release is the ultimate greatest hits -a two-CD collection spanning four years of performances. Undeniable proof that this band really could burn down the house.

6) Tin Hat Trio: Book of Silk Continuing their tradition of melding classical, tango, and international folk with the avant garde, 'Book of Silk' provides a somber and warm example of this band's talent in both composition and execution. Swirling and captivating, 'Book of Silk' will ensnare you and take you places less traveled.

7) Tortoise: It's All Around You Lush, orchestrated tones, intricate melodies, and dense, elaborate rhythms build and rebuild to produce a dreamy, thought provoking combination of rock and jazz. Steady and even, 'It's All Around You' isn't saying anything particularly new but the way it enunciates is delicious.

8) Tom Waits: Real Gone Dressed in a kind of archaic, industrial hair shirt, there is more distortion and noise on this album than any other Tom Waits has released. While it somewhat resembles his popular 1992 release, 'Bone Machine', it is less forgiving than said pop-tinged album. It's not just noise that sets this album apart, though. The feel of songs like "Hoist That Rag", "Sins of the Father", and "Trampled Rose" -due in part to the inimitable talents of Marc Ribot- show an exciting, if not dramatic, new direction. Aptly titled, 'Real Gone' is out there in a way that few of his Tom's albums have been; real adventure.

9) Yoshida/Fujii: Erans Fujii is a noted jazz pianist, Yoshida a legendary drummer forming the core of such underground, Japanese punk/noise groups as Ruins, Koenji Hyakkei, Musica Transonic, YBO², and others. One might find the combination unlooked for but this album proves their visions are not only compatible but compelling. Despite the potential implied, chaos is never allowed to run off with the music tucked under one hoary elbow. Within each explosion of sound, each flurry of motion, there lies a calm heart of direction. Though delicate flurries of beautiful little notes are kept to a stark minimum, the album isn’t all thump and skraang, either. The interplay between these two amazing musicians is startling, scintillating.

10) John Zorn: Electric Masada Volume Four of John Zorn's 50th Birthday Celebration series documents this most recent and powerful incarnation of Masada at the climax of a three night run at New York's Tonic. Full of noise and invention, this is a stunning example of why jazz is not dead (it just smells funny). Spifftacular!

Mike O’s Top Ten List 2003

1) Total Shutdown: The Album

2) Impaled: Mondo Medicale

3) Television: Marquee Moon / Adventure

4) Nile: In Their Darkened Shrines

5) Ludicra: Hollow Psalms

6) Lords Of Light: Lords Of Light

7) The Who: Who’s Next (Deluxe Edition)

8) The Locust: Plague Soundscapes

9) Agoraphobic Nosebleed – Altered States Of America

10) Iron Lung / Lana Dagales: Split CD

Ralph Carney – This Is! Overdubbing himself on saxophone, clarinet, keyboards, percussion, and more, Ralph Carney references traditional swing and folk music as well as avant-garde and sheer whack to produce a rich and humorous one man carnival ride.

Dave Douglas – Freak In Trumpeter Dave Douglas interjects fragments of techno, electronica, blues and Eastern tantric rhythms into the mix for an energetic trip into the cool.

Dufus – 1:3:1 Dufus’ punk orchestra displays a clear-eyed cohesion under the skin of their collective insanity, providing an unexpected and effective musical depth with hooks that’ll leave you reeling. I wet myself.

Dysrhythmia – Pretest Too smart to be labeled metal, too down-to-earth and edgy for the stodgy world of prog, Dysrhythmia’s energetic instrumental assault on your senses will keep you guessing and entertained time and time again.

Bill Frisell – The Intercontinentals Famed jazz guitarist Bill Frisell teams up with a collection of intercontinental musicians to produce one of his most beautiful albums to date; a delightful musical experience seasoned to taste with Mediterranean, Malian and American flavors.

Koby Israelite – Dance of the Idiots A wide array of musical genres, -klezmer, surf, free improvisation, death metal- mixed together with a healthy dose of humor, Dance of the Idiots provides for a complex and enjoyable musical ride that grows with each listening.

King Crimson – The Power To Believe Hard edged enough to compete with groups like Tool yet still dazzling listeners with the genius of their signature harmonic intricacy, King Crimson cranks out one of their best albums in years. The instrumental track ‘Level Five’ is worth the price of admission alone.

Jon Madof – Rashanim Startlingly dynamic, Jon Madof’s guitar trio produces a lush and complex array of classic and original Jewish jazz compositions with a degree of competent ease one does not expect to find on a debut recording. Not to be missed.

The Magic Band – Back To The Front John ‘Drumbo’ French brings alumni of Captain Beefheart’s Magic Band back together for a stunning album of career wide retakes. You’ll not believe your ears.

John Zorn – Voices in the Wilderness A double disc collection of John Zorn’s Masada compositions as interpreted by some of the down-town scene’s most popular and creative artists. A wide array of sounds from rock to klezmer to jazz; there is something for everyone on this beautiful and amazing collection.