2016 In Retrospect Part 1 – Mixed Blessings

Presented for your delectation, my now traditional (this is the third!) musical review of the departed year in mixtape form, featuring great big slabs of some of the amazing sounds that graced the Foggy turntable over the last 12 months. 2016 was an absolutely fantastic year for music of all genres, which is just as well, because it was a truly rotten year in just about every other respect. And in these straightened times, I’m convinced that it’s more necessary than ever to accentuate the positives and try and use the current rude health of our culture as a noisy way of blotting out all the crass, vulgar, wealthy, sneering, tax-avoiding faces that otherwise seem to have a complete monopoly on the media….

To whit, just have a look at some of the produce on offer here: From Kid Lib fusing my two great loves of Radiophonics and Jungle, Sculpture at the top of their game and new releases from old friends such as Brood Ma, Kemper Norton and Mark Vernon; to discovering artists such as Vanessa Amara, Tongues Of Light and even a new release from legendary electronic music pioneer Halim El Dabh! I could go on (and frequently do – incessantly, so I’m told), but it’s probably better just to let you dive in and the sample the delights first-hand. Strap on your ear-goggles and let’s roll:

Of course there were many tracks I didn’t have time to include, but honourable mentions must go in particular to Tom White, Rothko with Johny Brown, Tetherdown, Puce Mary, rkss and Monkeys In Love (for this adorable promo video alone – admit you wish these people were your friends). It’s amazing how quickly two hours vanishes when you have so much quality to choose from.

If forced to pick one musical highlight of 2016, I would say the biggest musical surprise was certainly the return of Aussie sample overlords The Avalanches – with apologies to those of you who apparently assumed it would be a recording of a squeaky gate or a radiator or something. If you had told me this time last year that they would be imminently releasing a follow-up to their much-loved Since I Left You after a sixteen year hiatus, I would never have believed you. Had you told me it would actually prove to be on a par with their debut (and in some ways eclipse it), I would have summoned you a nurse. But there you have it, sometimes the hype truly is justified. It should have been a sprawling, unfocused mess and in many ways it was, but complete with a gossamer light touch and the sense that it was all being flung together effortlessly in front of your ears. And, most crucially, in a year in very short supply of simple joy, Wildflower was an album completely stuffed with it. Bravo, gents. Just don’t keep us waiting so long for a third….

That tracklist in full (because it seems Mixcloud doesn’t do that any more):

1. Tongues Of Light – Healing (Extract)
2. Kid Lib – Falling
3. Demdike Stare – Sourcer
4. Lone – Triple Helix
5. Sculpture – Zyprazol
6. Brood Ma – Molten Brownian Motion 1
7. Konx-om-Pax – Stay
8. The Sprawl – Drowning In Binary
9. Ordinate – OR21
10. Matmos – Ultimate Care II (Extract)
11. Graham Dunning – Fictional Toxins
12. Cosmic Neighbourhood – Dragonfly
13. Dan Hayhurst – Polyphase
14. Cavern Of Anti Matter – Hi Hats Bring The Hiss
15. Merz – Serene
16. Assembled Minds – Through The Morris Light
17. The Avalanches – If I Was A Folkstar
18. Beatrice Dillon & Rupert Clervaux – A Different River Once (Extract)
19. The Avalanches – Saturday Night Inside Out
20. Tom Scott – Dewpoint
21. Freeholm Wilson – House By The Sea
22. The Dandelion Set – Judy Switched Off The TV
23. Anohni – 4 Degrees
24. Revbjelde – Strensham Chunt
25. Ekoplekz – Working Man’s Dub
26. Halim El Dabh & Ron Slabe – Cirrocumulus
27. CukoO – Rain
28. Drömloch – Beguine
29. Sarah Angliss – Jellied Heel
30. Kemper Norton – Seven Stones 2
31. Tongues Of Light – Healing (Extract)
32. Vanessa Amara – Untitled (From ‘You’re Welcome Here’)
33. Mark Vernon – Cracked Shell (Tape Transplant)
34. Mark Vernon – See You On The Other Side

Author: Robin The Fog

Sound Artist, Radio Producer, DJ, founder and chief strategist of tape-loop proejct Howlround. Devout Catalyst. View all posts by Robin The Fog