A Look Back at
2008
Tom Sekowski
Best Concerts of 2008

Gordon Monahan, Olivia Block & Joda Clement @ The Music Gallery, Toronto (Jun. 26)
part of Suoni per il
> LMR report

Master Musicians of Jajouka @ The P.hoenix Concert Theatre, Toronto (Jul. 15)
> LMR report

The Sun Ra Arkestra + Coleman Lemieux & Compagnie @ Palais Royale, Toronto (Oct. 21)
> LMR report

Frances-Marie Uitti & Sharon Kanach @ Hart House, Toronto (May 28)
Scelsi in Words and Music part of SoundaXis '08
> LMR report

Neil Young & Wilco @ Air Canada Centre, Toronto ( Dec. 9)

Malcolm Goldstein & AIMToronto Orchestra @ Somewhere There, Toronto (Mar. 9)
> LMR report

naw / Keith Fullerton Whitman / Klimek @ The Music Gallery, Toronto (Oct. 23)
at the third annual X Avant Festival of New Music
> LMR report

Christopher Willits & Stars of The Lid @ The Music Gallery • Toronto (Apr. 28)
> LMR report

Aki Onda, Alan Licht & Michael Snow @ The Music Gallery, Toronto (Dec. 12)
> LMR report

Les Moineaux D’entendre perform Décagé @ The Music Gallery, Toronto (Feb. 22)
dedicated to Fluxus and John Cage
> LMR report

KTL & Németh @ The Music Gallery • Toronto (May 18)
part of VTO Eight
> LMR report

Robin Minard and Jaap Blonk @ Isabel Bader Theatre, Toronto (Jun. 4)
part of SoundaXis '08
> LMR report

Christian Weber | Jesse Kudler + Chandan Narayan | Black Soul + Christian Weber
Joda Clement + Steve McFarland @ Loft, Toronto (Nov. 11)
> LMR report

Aidan Baker | Tim Hecker | Pram @ The Music Gallery, Toronto (Oct. 25)
at the third annual X Avant Festival of New Music
> LMR report
Records that shook my head around

I realize it’s tricky putting these lists together. Often, many records will slip through the cracks, while at other times, I tend to have short-term memory span. I’m sure I’ve forgotten a slew of records that appeared in 2008, while a mountain of records released last year will come to my attention in the next year and onwards. If you ask me why these records made it to my lists, I’ll answer simply. Each one had something unique to offer – something that made me pay more attention to these than to most other stuff that came through my CD player. With that said, here is what I recall from the last twelve months in terms of recorded music:

Lucio Capece & Sergio Merce Casa [Organized Music from Thessaloniki]
Lionel Marchetti – Adèle et Hadrien Le Livre des Vacances [Optical Sound]
Orchestre Poly-Rhythmo de Cotonou Funk & Sato from Benin’s Obscure Labels [Analog Africa]
Tomasz Krakowiak La Ciutat Ets Tu [Etude Records]
Fluorescent Grey Gaseous Opal Orbs [Record Label Records]
Seth Nehil Amnemonic Site [Alluvial]
The Advisory Circle Other Channels [Ghost Box]
He Can Jog Middlemarch [Audiobulb]
His Name is Alive Firefly Dragonfly [Acuarela]
The Rational Academy A Heart Against Your Own [Someone Good]
Guy Gelem Works [Split Femur]
David Grubbs An Optimist Notes the Dusk [Drag City]
Carl Michael von Hausswolff Music for Ataturk Airport, Istanbul [Auf Abwegen]
Ammasu Akapoma Group The Music of Ammasu - Brong-Ahafu, Ghana 1976 [Country & Eastern]
Tomasz Bednarczyk Summer Feelings [Room 40]
RLW / TITO Mahlzeit [Hinterzimmer]
Tarek Atoui Mort aux Vaches [Staalplaat]
Ampanman Wood Wind Tide [KwanYin Records]
Michael Esposito / FM Einheit The Sallie House [Firework Edition]
Zeitkratzer Volkmusik [Zeitkratzer]
Pantaleimon Tall Trees EP [Abaton]
Toot – Axel Dörner / Thomas Lehn / Phil Minton Two [Another Timbre]
Fuck Buttons Street Horrrsing [ATP]
Carlos Giffoni Adult Life [No Fun]
Arsenije Jovanovi_ – Galiola Works for Radio, 1967-2000 [and/OAR / Alluvial]
Anthony Pateras / David Brown / Sean Baxter Interference [emd.pl Records]
Insect Factory Air Traffic Control Sleep [Insect Factory]
FM3 - Buddha Machine II Brown [FM3]
David Szczesny Luxated Symmetry [Porter Records]
Lawrence English Kiri No Oto [Touch]
Favourite compilations of the year

Various Artists Graceful Degradations: Variations [Sourdine]
Various Artists Dr. Boogie presents Rarities from the Bob Hite Vaults [Sub Rosa]
Various Artists Born to the Breed – A Tribute to Judy Collins [Wildflower]
Various Artists Teaism - Music Inspired by The Art and Culture of Tea [Static Caravan]
Steinski What Does It All Mean? - 1983 – 2006 Retrospective [Illegal Art]
Various Artists Favourite Places [Audiobulb]
Various Artists Doom & Gloom - Early Songs of Angst and Disaster 1927-1945 [Trikont]
Various Artists Como Now - The Voices of Panola, Co., Mississippi [Daptone Records]
Various Artists The Best of Polish Smooth Jazz... Ever! [Recycling Records]
Various Artists Migrating Bird – The Songs of Lal Waterson [Honest Jon’s Records]
Various Artists Blood, Muscle & Air – The Intimate Voice [Sonic Arts Network]
Various Artists Peter Grummich Plays Staubgold – Dinner Music for Clubbers [Staubgold]
Various Artists FabricLive 42 – FreQ Nasty [Fabric]
Most memorable re-issues of the year

Blue Notes The Ogun Collection [Ogun]
William Basinski & Richard Chartier Untitled 1-3 [Line]
Carl Stone Woo Lae Oak [Unseen Worlds]
Peter Brötzmann Die Like a Dog – The Complete FMP Recordings [Jazzwerkstatt]
Yoshi Wada Lament for the Rise and Fall of the Elephantine Crocodile [EM Records]
Fela-Ransome Kuti Lagos Baby 1963-1969 [Vampisoul]
Various Artists The Jewelled Antler Library [Porter Records]
Death in June & Boyd Rice Scorpion Wind [Nerus / Soleilmoon]
Big Dipper – Supercluster The Big Dipper Anthology [Merge]
Joe McPhee, Lisle Ellis, Paul Plimley Now What? [hathut]
Sun Ra Secrets of the Sun [Atavistic]
Sun Ra Media Dreams / Sleeping Beauty / On Jupiter [Art Yard]
Club 8 The Friend I Once Had [Labrador]
A Handful of Dust Now Gods, Stand up for Bastards & The Philosophick Mercury [No Fun]
Ayler, Cherry, Tchicai, Rudd, Peacock & Murray New York Eye and Ear Control [ESP Disk]
Mars The Complete Studio Recordings NYC 1977-1978 [No More Records]
Don ‘Sugar Cane’ Harris Sugar Cane’s Got the Blues [MPS/Promising Music]
Thomas Feiner & Anywhen The Opiates – Revised [SamadhiSound]
Zbigniew Namys_owski Quartet Live at Kosmos, Berlin [Jazzwerkstatt]
Alexander von Schlippenbach Piano Solo ’77 [FMP]
Marvin Ayres Cellosphere [Burning Shed]
Orlando Julius Super Afro Soul [Vampisoul]
Few solid music DVDs

Olivia Block, Sandra Leah Gibson and Luis Recoder DVD (untitled) [SOS Editions]
Wojciech Has The Saragossa Manuscript (music by Krzysztof Penderecki) [Mr. Bongo]
Bernhard Gal Installations [Gromoga]
Frances Marie Uitti & Yota Morimoto (untitled) [13AL]
Various Artists Inside Out in the Open [ESP Disk]
Dead Boys Return of the Living Dead Boys – Halloween Night 1986 [MVD]
Lydia Lunch Video Hysterie: 1978 – 2006 [Atavistic / MVD]
Various Artists Everything I Own is Broken or Bent [Corleone]
Wyndel Hunt / Thom Heileson Unit of Selection [Dragon’s Eye]
Kraftwerk and the Electronic Revolution [Sexy Intellectual / Chrome Dreams]
Tony Palmer Fairport Convention [Voiceprint]
We welcome your comments and feedback
Tom Sekowski
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