Since Blood Orange's 2011 debut album, Coastal Grooves, Dev Hynes (of Test Icicles and Lightspeed Champion) has flourished as a behind-the-scenes songwriter, producer and magician, creating memorable work with artists like Solange Knowles and Sky Ferreria. Yet it's with this project that his deep well of talent is beginning to find a real home of its own. While Coastal Grooves felt like a one-man band re-imagining Prince's gender bending b-sides, this follow-up comes across as a fully fleshed-out, original, contemporary take on nostalgia, with Hynes channeling his inner Michael Jackson. Joined by a solid crew of guest musicians and vocalists including Dirty Projectors' David Longstreth, Chairlift's Caroline Polachek, Clams Casino, and rappers Despot and Skepta, Hynes applies his catchy and lovely song-writing skills, and what results is a communal urban vibe where artists share talents, crafting quality, time-traveling modern/retro/R&B/pop/hip-hop/indie music that effortlessly blurs lines. Though the songs on Cupid Deluxe are filled with yearning and struggles of the heart, the spirit feels freer, warmer, and even kind of laidback, like listening to a classic '80s R&B radio station. If you've been into the decade's past revivalist like Toro y Moi or Twin Shadow, know that Blood Orange has perfected the formula.

Also known as one-half of experimental R&B act Hype Williams, Dean Blunt lifted the notorious tape-hiss fog and scattershot eclecticism of his previous work and instead delivered a 19-track, 40-odd-minute album that for the first time felt like a unified concept. Mostly sculpted from orchestral and folk-oriented samples (harp glissandos, forlorn acoustic blues guitars, and operatic choral vocal arias) fused with the occasional blunted beat pattern or gauzy synth patch, the minimal instrumental combination here gives The Redeemer a bewitching yet alien feel, while Blunt's half-sung/half-spoken vocal recitations add an emotional weight. (Think the confessional urban soul of artists like Gil Scott-Heron meets the dry, heartbroken drawl of Will Oldham or Bill Callahan.) Even at its most experimental, the record displays an intimacy and heart-on-sleeve dedication that contrasts sharply with the ambiguity and subjective irony of Blunt's past work. Though by no means pop or traditional R&B, The Redeemer is one of the most soulful new albums that we have heard this year.

Bill Callahan is one of those rare artists who continues to deepen and grow with each record in a long and winding career. Released back in September, Dream River would be no exception, another wonderfully satisfying album that is both soothing and mysterious. As strange as it sounds on paper for an artist who could rightly be called "Americana" to be releasing dub versions of his tracks, as Callahan has been doing of late, in truth, Dream River begs this treatment; it's a slow-moving, percussive and spiritual collection that relies as much on its languid grooves as it does Callahan's moving songwriting and powerful voice. Roots music indeed, and Drag City delivers the full-length dub version in late January.

As DJ/rupture, Jace Clayton's productions have navigated the experimental dance scene towards the outright avant-garde, usually thriving on a broadband feed of adventurous, underground music from around the globe. This album, however, marked a bit of a departure for the artist. Released under his proper name, Clayton narrowed his focus, exploring the compositions of pianist/vocalist/dancer Julius Eastman, who was a part of the New York minimalist scene during the 1970s and '80s -- a contemporary of Phillip Glass, Steve Reich and Albert Ayler. Clayton found himself hypnotized by Eastman's work and life, and after staging a live performance of several key pieces, he took the recordings of the concert and processed them through various studio effects, utilizing reverb, sweeping filters and delay. However, his presence is minimal throughout, Clayton altering the original dual pianos' plinks and pounds, rolls, swirls and strides just enough, leaving the beauty and openness of the original pieces intact while simultaneously breathing a new life into the music. It makes for not only a long-overdue look into the art of a nearly forgotten son of NYC, but also a new look at Clayton as well.

A frequent collaborator with the prolific Ty Segall, Mikal Cronin has also been honing his own wonderful brand of '60s-inspired garage pop for years. Drawing on influences ranging from Phil Spector to Elephant 6 to the Shins, Cronin really came into his own with his Merge debut. His lyrics on MCII perfectly capture the uneasiness -- and the ambivalence -- of growing up and struggling to make important life decisions. The musical arrangements are bold here, self-assured and really fun. And while there are moments of shimmering pop perfection throughout, Cronin's reflective balladry is just as great in songs like "Piano Mantra," where his longing voice shines through a bed of piano and strings. Joyful and full of ear candy, MCII was a great surprise for 2013.

Berlin-based experimental composer Lucrecia Dalt's deep and mesmerizing Syzygy saw the artist maturing not only her compositional prowess, but her technical abilities as well. A suite of nine pieces that bring extreme dichotomies of high- and low-end frequencies, anchored by droning clouds of bass, ghostly layers of multi-tracked vocals, and sharply arpeggiating piano figures, this is NOT an album to be listened to on lousy computer speakers. Everything here feels immaculately placed, yet still infused with a life force that pushes Dalt closer in stature to the likes of experimental sirens like Meredith Monk, Maja Ratkje, and Joan La Barbara. A calming, hypnotic work that slowly unfurls and wraps itself around you as you get lost in its deceptive textures, Syzygy is a subtle killer, and stands out as one of the year's best explorations in experimental songform.

As a resident at Berlin's infamous Berghain club, arguably the techno capital of the world, Marcel Dettmann set the standard for other DJs to follow; his anticipated follow-up to his 2010 full-length debut has done the same for electronic music makers. Dettman's sound is here in spades: minimal, dark, experimental yet visceral. Brutal bangers build out of eerie industrial haze and then turn back into cavernous beatless space. Metal scrapes against metal, drones throb in pitch black, and guest vocalist Emika appears to lend her wordless gasps to the mix. File under: Powerful modern techno.

Back in 2003, we ran a rave review for the debut full-length by Express Rising, the solo project of Chicago-based producer and renowned record collector, Dante Carfagna. In the decade since, he's been busy conceiving compilations such as the Personal Space: Electronic Soul collection that made our "best of" list last year, amongst many others. But this year, out of the blue, came the follow-up that we'd been waiting a long, long time for. While his previous Express Rising album was largely comprised of inscrutable and mysterious samples, this one contains a battery of finger-picked guitars, organs, and lazy pedal-steels. Featuring simple, compelling riffs and exceedingly lovely and low-key melodies all thoroughly imbued with a nostalgia you can't quite place, the music comes across like a brilliant amalgamation of the Hired Hand soundtrack, Fleetwood Mac's "Albatross," and the inward guitar excursions of Durutti Column.

London sound-art trio Factory Floor have earned a solid reputation over the past few years thanks to a steady series of singles and EPs, and a blistering, powerful live act. Finding a somewhat unlikely home with DFA Records, their eagerly anticipated debut full-length proved to be one of the strongest, most gripping releases that the label had ever pressed. While the trio have established themselves firmly amongst avant and experimental circles with a tendency to continually break down and degrade the borders between performance, research, development and recording, here they have successfully managed to distill all of those qualities into an album that takes their jagged, noisy intensity and focuses it like a white-hot laser beam. These tracks are rhythmically pulsating beasts that combine the rigid linearity, gurgling synth sequences and throbbing machine rhythms of early Chicago house and acid techno with a clattering, post-punk/no wave inspired commitment to raw instrumental texture via metal percussion and severely mutated guitar work. Undoubtedly one of the most visceral and intense dispatches of 2013.

When Matthew Barnes a/k/a Forest Swords first appeared back in 2010 with the Dagger Paths EP, his mysterious, cinematic assemblage of dubstep, post-rock, R&B, instrumental hip-hop, ambience and tribal percussion intersected into something that was called witch house while simultaneously sidestepping anything else that fell under that genre tag. We wanted to hear more and with Engravings, Barnes picked right up from where the EP left us but with an expanded sound palette utilizing hand drums, buckets, bass, guitars (and other string contraptions from around the globe,) thumb pianos, keyboards, contact mics and samplers to form a dreamy collage of emotion and imagery. If you can imagine a cross between Morricone and Burial you're getting close, only Forest Swords' music is grittier and more jagged than the latter, with an earthy, organic flow that so many of today's beatmakers lack.

While working as a side man with Kurt Vile and various other collaborators, Steve Gunn has steadily and quietly been refining his brand of finger-picked Fahey styling over the last few years, and though he's released some great solo stuff before, Time Off was certainly his breakthrough. Front-porch jammer "Water Wheel" kicks the album off and sets the pace, with Gunn playing guitar softly against a solid rhythm section, awash with crackling percussion. Next up, "Lurker" burns bright like an American Beauty b-side with shimmering acoustics and a wandering electric solo sealing the deal. "Street Keeper" has a nice late-'60s/'70s baroque vibe -- maybe Left Banke? Moby Grape? -- while "New Decline" riffs on the road-weary chug of Boogie with Canned Heat. Everything on here is superb: slide guitars, in-the-pocket playing, and thoughtful singing. An instant classic, Time Off may sound like it came from the early-'70s, but is one of the best of 2013.

After some enjoyable yet fairly straightforward techno 12"s, Brooklyn's Huerco S switched gears and created one of the most interesting and engaging full-length electronic records of 2013. The vibe is hazy and psychedelic, and though this is certainly rhythmic music by a producer clearly capable of producing solid cuts aimed at the dance floor, he instead took a more refreshing, cerebral approach for his debut album. There is a constant sense of motion, with clanky beats that recall prime-era Warp Records blended with deep, dubby workouts, but these tracks never sound like simple pastiche; they instead somehow possess a more human touch, with a masterful hand at work here, and the composition has not suffered for the sake of being "outsider."

With increasing frequency in 2013, indie bands appropriated R&B melodies, lyrics and styles with varying results; one of the rare groups who found their own sweet spot was the soft-spoken duo known as inc. Brothers Andrew and Daniel Aged have been in the background of many soulful heavyweight productions over the past few years, and with No World they brought an authentic, respectful and natural aura to their own songs, resulting in a sound that manages to actually be R&B rather than aping it. The album is a beautiful slice of modern-day, quiet storm, mid-tempo jams that take a cue from the best of the 1990s and 2000s, as the duo inject their own slow-burning, sensual blend of Maxwell and Aaliyah, peppered with subtle rhythmic references to footwork, trap rap and dubby electronica throughout. These brothers are serious, not ironic, and the purity, passion and understanding of the R&B genre comes across throughout in a natural and sincere way, making for one of the year's most surprising and intoxicating debut albums.

This NYC rapper has taken many by surprise with a series of excellent self-released albums, and this year's The Night's Gambit may just be his best platter yet. Ka's third full-length is a stellar entry point into his universe, with a sturdy balance between haunting, noire-ish production and a hushed, hypnotic flow that puts as much weight and emphasis on his dark, detailed lyrics as it does his beats. During an era that has seen many of the biggest and most hyped rap records fall flat thanks to an overemphasis upon overcooked production and flaccid rhymes, The Night's Gambit is a refreshing breath of crisp evening air.

After a series of engrossing and tantalizing singles, EPs, and guest appearances, youthful UK songwriter King Krule finally delivered his eagerly anticipated debut full-length. One of the year's most unique and satisfying releases, 6 Feet Beneath the Moon is a beautiful, odd, and wholly endearing album of surprising intimacy. It's a record that sees a young man coming to terms with the realities of the human condition, waxing lyrically on the struggles of social interaction, the dramas of failing relationships, and the joys of the simple pleasures of being in the company of loved ones, but delivered via a streetwise perspective that lets sensitivity shine brightly behind his deceptive vocal style. Filled with stark yet lush soundscapes often carried by little more than Marshall's signature guitar work, a minimal, skittering beat, a deep, soft bass or warm, liquid synth cloud, and pillows of cavernous reverb, 6 Feet Beneath the Moon was seemingly tailor-made for dark, late-night lamentations, social sessions of bottomless imbibing and conversing, and stolen glances toward a loved one between the lines, be they reciprocated or unrequited.

With Pull My Hair Back, Jessy Lanza took us on a sexy journey into minimal electronic pop and R&B, displaying her love of '80s boogie vocalists like Patrice Rushen and '90s girl groups like SWV while channeling their sweet, sexy, phrasing and subtle textures into her own brand of modern electronic quiet storm. Co-written and produced by Jeremy "Junior Boys" Greenspan, the power of Pull My Hair Back could best be attributed to the less-is-more formula; similar to peers like the xx or inc., Lanza offers a fuller landscape of minimalism across the album, embracing the bedroom as much as dance floor. It makes for a wonderfully engulfing listen, where fond memories of the past inform and update the present with a fresh use of restraint without sacrificing groove.

While My Bloody Valentine thrilled many fans this year with their long-promised follow-up to 1991's Loveless, the more subdued Mazzy Star made a less-heralded yet completely captivating return that eked past m b v to find a rightful place on our Best of 2013 list. Seasons of Your Day picks right up from where 1996's Among My Swan left us, with tangles of silky pedal steel, the childlike pulse of a tambourine, wafts of acoustic guitar strummed from a coffeehouse stool, the sonorous sound of a distant glockenspiel, and above all, the oft-imitated-never-replicated languorous, drawling croon of Hope Sandoval. As much as this group's cosmically twangy folk-rock sound has been strip-mined in recent years, Seasons offered continued proof that David Roback and Sandoval still reign supreme.

The prolific Cass McCombs returned this year with the epic and beautiful 22-track, 85-minute, Big Wheel and Others. Dripping with heartache, passion and longing, slide guitar is everywhere, floating gorgeously through the lovely "Angel Blood" and "Sooner Cheat Death Than Fool Love." During one of the album's most notable standouts, "Brighter" (which also reappears with guest vocals from the late Karen Black), McCombs' voice is thick with regret as he sings, "I stopped in for a little while/and learned a host of sins/I wandered off a little while/'cause you can never win." On "Honesty Is No Excuse," he admits, "I took your love and I used it." McCombs' songwriting is earnest and though subtle, can suddenly feel like a punch in the gut. Brimming with emotion, this is a stellar set from start to finish.

Though initially self-released in the fall of 2012, What's Your Rupture? re-released Parquet Courts' debut album, Light Up Gold, early this year to wide acclaim. While this Brooklyn band of Texas ex-pats may tread similar territory as groups like Superchunk, Archers of Loaf, and Goo-era Sonic Youth, they managed to put a totally fresh spin on the recent '90s-worship vibe. Light Up Gold is filled with hooks and catchy guitar lines and that just-right half-spoken-sung vocal drawl; throw in some steady Feelies-esque rhythm grooves, Wire-y guitar lines and an overall Jonathan Richmond care-less vibe and you've got a record that's hard not to love. The band closed out 2013 with the equally great Tally All the Things That You Broke EP, which is also included with the deluxe pressing of Light Up Gold. If you missed out earlier, you know which version grab.

Of all the new talent that we were introduced over the past year, this young San Francisco singer-songwriter delivered one of the most timeless albums that we had heard in a while. Released on Tim Presley's (a/k/a White Fence) Birth Records imprint, Jessica Pratt effortlessly conjures haunted late-'60s/early-'70s folk artists like Sibylle Baier, Karen Dalton, and Linda Perhacs, with gorgeous finger-picked acoustic guitar accompanying her soulful, crackling voice and lovely harmonies. A phenomenal album, this is a new talent that we're sure to be hearing more from in the coming years.

No one today makes music like the alto saxophonist and composer Matana Roberts. Her records are not only rich and immensely enjoyable, they are powerful reminders that there are still musicians with uncompromising vision and ambition. The New York-based Chicago native is working through a 12-album project weaving her personal ancestry with broader themes of African-American history, culture and identity. While the first installment, 2011's terrific Gens de Couleur Libre, had a big, brash sound, this year's Mississippi Moonchile strips things down with a smaller ensemble that often moves in a more experimental, free-jazz direction. There's still plenty of gospel, blues and folk though, and featuring 18 songs in just under 50 minutes with no interruptions, Mississippi Moonchile plays out like a bit of musical theater while combining the sweep and grandeur of Mingus with the adventure of Chicago's AACM scene and the genre-bending Black Jazz label. This is jazz on an epic scale, something the music world sorely needs now. We can't wait for the third chapter.

The second full-length from Shifted found the UK producer pulling from both the noisy, ambient sound design of his Covered in Sand project and the murky industrial "S-M Techno" that he creates as Alexander Lewis, making for one of the most gripping electronic albums of this past year. Released on Dominick Fernow's Hospital Productions offshoot Bed of Nails, there's a foreboding, apocalyptic undertone hovering amidst the stark, granular-textured atmosphere of Under a Single Banner, the propulsive, rolling rhythms as much a clarion call to a dark and dank dance floor as they are an ominous tension-builder. Fans of Sandwell District, Bronze Age (a/k/a Kris Lapke), Fernow's own Vatican Shadow guise and Marcel Dettmann (who also appears on this year's Best Of list) should not miss this standout from techno's most outer fringe.

While veteran UK producer and DJ Paul Woolford has been on the scene for quite some time, his recent reboot as Special Request indeed proved to be special. Released in October, Soul Music is a lengthy and relentless exploration of jungle, breakbeat, and 'ardcore, inspired by the UK pirate radio sound system culture of the '90s. Every few years it seems like a record appears that updates jungle and nails it, and this project's sole mission is about bringing that often forgotten and tossed aside genre into the modern conversation. As jungle continues to stick its head back into the mainstream, many UK artists have re-embraced the cut-n-paste, rave-tastic atmosphere that bass and breaks, time-stretching, distortion, and vocal samples can create. However, Special Request differs by not presenting his productions in a heady, clinical version -- first and foremost, this is jungle to dance to. Having made his mark in the house arena, Woolford is well aware of what it takes to move a crowd, and every track here could be a primetime highlight. Special Request captures the sound system vibe, as well as the overall energetic fever that made that music so magnetic.

It had been five years since Leyland Kirby had issued anything under his alias the Stranger, but the wait was worth it. Released on the always-stellar Modern Love imprint, Watching Dead Empires in Decay features Kirby's trademark clouds of unsettled spectral ambience anchored by a more kinetic pulse; nearly every track here pushes forward via layers of slowly creeping, pulsating tribal pulsations crafted on what seems like funeral drums and abandoned scrap metal. It is one of the most simultaneously visceral and eerie records of Kirby's career, and provides a lovely counterpoint to the more romantic explorations of melancholy undertaken via his Caretaker albums. There's little to no remorse to be found on Watching Dead Empires; instead, the listener is left fending for themselves in a desolate, treacherous landscape that seems as though it has taken on a life (or afterlife) of its own, devouring any and all who dare to enter it; as such, this album fully delivers, arguably making it one of Kirby's best under any of his many pseudonyms.

Formed in the mid-2000s, These New Puritans have been one of the more interesting contemporary bands in the UK, and after a three-year wait they returned with Field of Reeds, a mature and passionate record that also marked quite a departure for this somewhat underrated group. Abandoning their unique fusions of youthful DIY post-punk, Brit-pop, and dubstep, we were thrilled to hear the band taking chamber music and avant-classical aspirations to new heights. Playing more like movements within an opera than a simple suite of songs, TNP employs space, drama, and a more ambitious and diverse instrumental palette to set the scene, augmenting their rock-trio lineup with emotive brass and string arrangements, orchestral percussion, and even the sounds of broken glass and rustling leaves. Like the music of late-period Talk Talk, Arthur Russell, or Current 93, this record is an exploration of moody orchestral pop with touches of stern British folk, filled with deep ambiance and broad landscapes that create a stark yet rich tapestry of floating passion, sparse melody, open atmosphere, and tightly arranged restraint.

Paring away some of the hiss that was slathered across earlier releases, Tim Presley delivered Cyclops Reap, his most immediate and finest White Fence album to date. Here, verses barrel into hooks that tumble into bridges that collapse into the next song. Riffs sometimes reference the past, like a nice vamp in "New Edinburgh Man" that is a dead ringer for the riff from the Byrds' "I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better," or a fingerpicked flutter on "Only Man Alive" that sounds like it could have sprung from Nick Drake's fingers. Presley's voice is strongest, though, when he falls into a hazy country shuffle on "To the Boy I Jumped in the Hemlock Alley" and "Live On Genevieve," and with the help of a wiry lap steel, he comes across like a Mayo Thompson or Syd Barrett with a slight West Coast drawl. Presley is a songwriter whose rock songs often feel more like beat poetry than anything else, but the freewheeling spirit never lessens the power and presence of these tracks.

With more than a dozen full-lengths under their belt, Yo La Tengo again surprised us with a concise and laser-focused pop album that explored some heavy themes, but never failed to sweeten our day. At this point, the band draws on a deep and varied skill set, with complex multi-part percussion, emotional orchestration, great piano and thrilling guitar leads, and Fade was produced by Tortoise's John McEntire in Chicago, a first-time collaboration that is such a perfect fit you might wonder why these old friends have never tried it before. But in many ways, the timing just felt right here, and 30 years into their career, the band scored their highest charting album to date and continued to draw new fans into the every-expanding Yo La Tengo family.

This past summer, Zomby returned with what would be his most wide-reaching and expansive outing to date. Feeling like a personalized collection of the UK producer's own favorite tracks of the last year, With Love plays like a mixtape of Zomby by Zomby, if you will, a captivating mise-en-scéne with tight sequencing and well-placed snippets of inspiration that could almost be considered a grime version of J Dilla's Donuts. Miniatures of frenetic and soul-drenched rhythms sit next to more spacious movements of stark beauty, minimalist compositions, and intergalactic digital constellations. He treats his love of grime, jungle, trap, R&B, dubstep, French house, and hip-hop with extreme care and refinement, while distancing himself from the London scene a bit and aligning himself more with the recent sonic and rhythmic trends on American soul. Across 33 tracks, every aspect of his discography thus far is touched upon, as Zomby time-travels from party to party, with every moment, emotion, and sonic nuance detailed and re-imagined in the warm glow of high-definition darkness.

This one turned a lot of heads at Other Music this year, and invoked a lot of references to Jefferson Airplane, Shocking Blue, and Fleetwood Mac. New reissue label to watch Machu Picchu (an arm of OM fave M'Lady's Records) did a really beautiful job in resurrecting a record that deserves every bit of its "lost treasure" status. Pulling the electric 12-string tone and close vocal harmonies of the Byrds and the grand pop gestures of the Mac into refined psychedelic landscape, every song on the album is a mindblower, thanks in no small part to Marsha Rollings, whose vocals can evoke the woolliness of Grace Slick on songs like ""J. Rider" and "Sweet Lilac," or the sweet and soulful interplay of Stevie and Christie at their prime.

This year we discovered (via our friends Captured Tracks) Bona Dish, a short-lived four-piece from early-'80s Hertfordshire, UK, who were releasing music at the height of the UK DIY-era that rivaled the best of Delta 5, Dolly Mixture, Marine Girls and Kleenex/LiLiPUT, which is just about some of the highest praise we can give to a record. The band was made up of two sets of art school couples who created songs with a perfect sense of economy, full of scrappy, melodic bass lines and angular, scratchy, metallic guitars, all which sounded like instant DIY classics to our ears.

It looks like we've included a Gene Clark reissue on our 2003, 2007, 2011, and now, 2013 year-end list. It's pretty obvious that we love the man, and this is possibly one of the best archival releases we've heard from him yet, featuring sparse and intimate acoustic demo recordings dated from right around the time of what is arguably his greatest solo album, White Light. Clark possessed one of the most tender and heartbreaking voices in all of folk and rock music, and this collection captures him near his absolute peak as a songwriter and performer, with a handful of never-before-released tracks and stripped-back versions of classics that have honestly never sounded finer.

While this French popette recorded just a handful of singles and EPs before vanishing from the scene, Clothilde is renowned in collectors circles as perhaps the greatest of the '60s-era yé-yé girls. Original copies of her records often fetch triple-digit prices, and while she's had a few of her songs appear on assorted yé-yé compilations over the years, it's wasn't until recently that she received her own complete retrospective release. Accompanied by informative liners and some lovely photos, Born Bad's stellar collection includes both of her extended play records as well as her one Italian single, and the recording quality sounds great. Clothilde possessed a true talent as a performer, her releases often instilled with more maturity, more rhythm, and more psychedelic undertones combined than many of her contemporaries. Ranking right up there with Françoise Hardy's Vogue recordings, France Gall's early Philips sides with Gainsbourg, and Jacqueline Taïeb and Stella Zelcer's late-period EPs, this is some of the finest yé-yé pop of its kind.

Best known for pioneering the Hi-NRG sound and launching the career of Sylvester, Patrick Cowley is an undeniable disco legend. Yet for all we know of Cowley as a disco producer and DJ, it wasn't until recent that his experimental leanings really began to emerge. The always reliable Dark Entries imprint teamed up with the Honey Soundsystem party collective to shed a little more light on a lesser-known side of the man, via this 2LP collection of his gorgeous, game-changing soundtracks for gay porn films made between 1973 and 1981. Far from the schmaltzy wah-wah that one associates with '70s adult films and his own brand of high-powered disco (there's only one disco cut in this set), Cowley's work here is more akin to the space-aged synthscapes of German kosmische artists like Klaus Schulze or Manuel Göttsching, but with an understated groove that is most certainly the Megatron Man. Deep, sensual, and bubbling with a languid dreaminess, this is Cowley's disco music stripped to its core: warm, skeletal beats, percolating synths, and a keen sense of melody that must have worked perfectly in their original erotic context. One of the strongest archival finds of the year, those with even a passing interest in cosmic music, disco, proto-techno, or fans of cosmic disco of a more recent vintage (Chromatics, Glass Candy, the Drive soundtrack, et al.) need this!

Deux Filles were an alleged duo of French females who recorded two albums of breathtaking, dreamy ambient pop etudes before disappearing in the mid 1980s, never to be seen or heard from again. Thanks to the LTM label, both 1982's Silence & Wisdom and 1983's Double Happiness returned to circulation where they rightfully belong. These records turned out to be the work of former UK child star and noted experimentalist Simon Fisher Turner and ex-The The member Colin Lloyd Tucker, who blend a droning classical majesty of Eno's early ambient works with a more sensual and gently brooding atmospheric palette of post-punk experimentation. Languid piano, hushed, spectral voices, and heavily processed washes of gauzy guitar and synthesizer are anchored by deep, slow moving bass lines; the whole thing makes for some of the most haunting and wholly intimate ambient music ever recorded.

Digable Planets' second and final album has become a much-loved cult record within the elder hip-hop community since its original release back in 1994, and this past year Blowout Comb received a special double-vinyl reissue through Light in the Attic's Modern Classics offshoot. Coming off their top-20 hit "Cool Like That" and a Grammy, Doodlebug (Craig Irving), Ladybug Mecca (Mary Ann Vieria), and Butterfly (Ishmael Butler, who resurfaced almost two decades later with the excellent Shabazz Palaces project) were facing a backlash from haters who branded their jazz-rap formula as mere novelty. With Blowout Comb, Digable Planets set out to show they were deeper and more valuable to the genre that anyone could have predicted. Instead of relying heavily on Blue Note-era jazz samples, the trio brought in more live players to give the record a party-in-the-park, jam-session vibe. Also removed is the "cool like that" type of phrasing and cutesy lyrics, replaced with deep reflections on '90s boho New York, and a strong embrace of the self-empowerment, mythology and fight of the past Civil Rights movement. There's a bit of jazz, some bohemia, lots of vibing and prophesying, some funk, and a whole lot of love, and it all makes for a classic time capsule of a lost era in hip-hop.

$15.99 CD
$19.99 LP+MP3

NYC's own Squirrel Thing label did the world a solid by issuing this stunning collection of music from Molly Drake -- yes, the mother of English folk musician Nick Drake -- offering 19 examples of her beautiful songcraft. The intimacy is devastating and wholly engrossing as Molly sings and accompanies herself on piano throughout, and in her chordal phrasings and gentle delivery one can hear the roots of Nick's own songwriting skill. Her music often evokes an alternate universe in which Emily Dickinson harbors Busby Berkeley dreams; her lyrics display an equally tempered tenderness and intelligence whose sweetness is anchored by a melancholy that obviously transferred into Nick's work. This is a breathtaking archival release of great importance, and one does not even need to be a fan of Nick's music in order to enjoy this. Rather, the collection focuses solely on Molly's own artistic merit, the value of which cannot be overstated.

Roky Erickson was already a rock and roll legend for his pioneering days inventing psychedelic garage rock with the 13th Floor Elevators, and after a combination of copious amounts of LSD and brutal electro-shock therapy at the hands of the Texas State Correctional Authority, nobody could have expected a second stage in his musical career. Yet his solo recordings from the late '70s and early '80s are amongst the most potent guitar rock LPs ever released, and after years of bootlegs and spotty collections, Light in the Attic has given these albums back to the world. If you don't have any of these, start with The Evil One, but you will be returning for the rest soon enough.

EM Records nailed it once more with this outstanding career overview of Spanish fourth-world dub aestheticists Finis Africae. Formed in the early/mid 1980s, the group ably weaved a lush latticework of polyrhythmic percussion, chattering rhythm boxes, melodic bass lines, echo-laden vocal chants, and flittering textures of brass, thumb piano, wiry guitar lines, and even New Age instruments and sensibilities into a collection of tracks that defy simple genre categorization. This group is truly unique amidst an era of endless experimentation with cultural re-appropriation and aesthetic re-contextualization, using then-contemporary electronic tools to augment more traditional acoustic instruments from different countries and cultures. A Last Discovery compiles the group's more rhythmic explorations while El Secreto de las 12 focuses upon their more ambient and Balearic sides, and both are standout releases that shine light upon a group who had managed to elude the retrospective spotlight up until recently.

A long-out-of-print classic of dub-infused, dark, minimal techno, Greek producer Konstantinos Soublis' Vibrant Forms was originally released in 1999 on the legendary Basic Channel-affiliated Chain Reaction record label, and saw a welcome reissue this year by the mighty UK imprint, Type. Slow, thick, and hazy reverb-laden sounds are propelled by kick drums and swirling synthesizers, which get tweaked in the most subtle ways, and are gradually interspersed with intricately built rhythmic elements, from hi-hats to layered tribal drums. The results are immersive and hypnotic, making Vibrant Forms nothing less than a foundational and must-have addition to any electronic music collection.

Light in the Attic's epic reissue campaign for Lee Hazlewood's LHI label reached its crowning achievement with this lavish, beautiful box set collecting the remainder of Hazlewood's own LHI recordings not yet re-released, as well as those of numerous satellite acts and pet projects. Spread across four CDs, we found this to be an incredible treasure trove of essential Americana filtered through a distinctly European lens, as Hazlewood was at the time stationed in Sweden -- those Swedish adventures were also documented via the first official release of Hazlewood's Cowboy in Sweden film on a DVD, which is included in the box. Along with a stunning hardcover coffee table book and a number of bonus ephemera, it all adds up to be one of the most essential collections not only for Hazlewood fans, but possibly even for the sort of decadent yet down-to-earth vagabond renaissance man that Hazlewood came to represent.

It's not often we're presented with an album that does nothing less than end up the traditional history of minimal music in America as we know it, but that's exactly what R. Andrew Lee's recording of composer Dennis Johnson's long-lost, five-hour solo piano opus November did this year. Dating from the 1950s, it prefigured both the long durational work of Morton Feldman in the 1980s, as well as being an acknowledged direct influence on La Monte Young's magnum opus, The Well-Tuned Piano. Far from being a historical curiosity, November is a superb composition in its own right, wonderfully full of silent spaces between decaying notes, slowly accumulating pauses and resonances that sculpt time in a way that only the best minimalist music can.

Detroit denizen Otis G. Johnson's Everything - God Is Love '78 seemed to simply float out of the aether via the incomparable Numero Group, presenting us with one of the most spectral, unclassifiable listens we heard all year. Ostensibly a gospel record, it swaps that genre's sometime exclamatory exhortations in favor of a supremely personal vision that's much more akin to a private conversation between Johnson and God, with crepuscular tempos provided by a Hammond Rhythm Ace. Almost dirge-like, with tinkling keys and compelling bum notes and an obfuscating cloud of tape hiss providing a near celestial backdrop, the haunting late-night vibe present throughout proves simply undeniable.

We saw a serious, and to our ears welcome, rehabilitation of New Age music this year, most notably with Light in the Attic's four-LP box set, I Am the Center, which documented some of that scene's weirder and most wonderful corners, as well as reissues from new age pioneers Iasos (on Numero Group), and Laraaji, whose Celestial Music 1978-2011 is just the kind of career retrospective we had been waiting for all along. It truly highlights the man's outstanding musical trajectory and achievements, which often branched out into ambient and more experimental contexts. Over the past three decades, Laraaji has created transcendent and gorgeous music with an electronically modified zither that combines a sense of gritty experimentation with an otherwise dream-like musical palette, at all times bypassing New Age clichés such as syrupy synth lines or cringe-worthy pan flute mumblings. His is a singular musical contribution, merging vital sound experiments with deep spiritual healing and a truly original artistic vision.

Noted record producer Craig Leon's incredible LP of post-punk analogue electronic wizardry finally saw reissue in 2013. Originally released in 1981, Nommos is a monstrous, hypnotic beast of an album in which Leon combines the rough-edged primalities of early electronic synthesis with a more studied compositional sophistication. The record's five extended explorations were inspired by African ceremonial rhythms, and predate and foresee the electronic tribalism of early house and techno and the gritty ambient textures of the Mego/Blackest Ever/Modern Love set. It's of the same contextual cloth as Eno and Byrne's My Life in the Bush of Ghosts and Hector Zazou & Bony Bikaye's Noir Et Blanc, in that all three albums were released nearly simultaneously and explored the same physical alchemy of African music with electronic tools that were arguably as primitive in aesthetic nature, if not more so, as a thumb piano or slit drum.

If we could have given one of Other Music's longtime favorite labels, the great Italian imprint Die Schachtel, a wish list of Italian rarities to reissue, the sole album from the brief partnership of Raul Lovisoni and Francesco Messina would have landed at the very top. Produced by the legendary Franco Battiato, and inspired by the classic French novel Mount Analogue (A Novel of Symbolically Authentic Non-Euclidean Adventures in Mountain Climbing) by mid-20th century Pataphysician Rene Daumal, Lovisoni & Messina charted course to a sonically rarefied air, one riven with deeply atmospheric chasms and reflective pauses. Cloud-shrouded and all-enveloping, with vague washes of synth and strings, and thoughtfully patterned harp, it is astonishingly rare that an album this quiet and thoughtful was nevertheless able to completely seize every aspect our thoughts and attention.

Awesome Tapes from Africa continued their strong string of releases this year with a revelatory mid-'80s album from famed Ethiopian composer and keyboardist, Hailu Mergia. With a Moog synthesizer, Rhodes electric piano and a drum machine as backing, Hailu produced gorgeously hypnotic symphonies led by accordion harmonies, all set to traditional Ethiopian rhythms and melodies. Mergia's airy, chanting vocals, combined with his accordion arrangements, resemble nothing less than the great harmonium melodies of Pakistan's Qawwali and Sufi devotional music. The entire recording is full of gorgeous compositions which link the jazzier tunes found on the acclaimed Ethiopiques compilations to the analogue/digital hybrid sounds of Africa's '80s synth-pop.

Literally years in the making, the esteemed Luaka Bop label finally unleashed what may just be the crown jewel in their reissue catalogue with this epic overview and retrospective of the work of Nigerian synth wizard, Afro-futurist, and overall renaissance man, William Onyeabor. A true innovator who took the polyrhythmic James Brown pulsations of Nigerian Afrobeat and shot them straight into the future, he utilized that indestructible beat and turbocharged it with layers of percolating keyboards and laser-guided synth and machine textures. These recordings are raw, rough, and ready to move, and his lyrics cover many of the same socio-political topics that many Afrobeat bandleaders addressed during the period. That this music was made by one man, alone in a home-built studio (save for the occasional female backing chorus), when many of his peers were rolling with bands a dozen or more strong, is just a further testament to the sheer power of these recordings in both sonic force and compositional prowess.

This eponymous 1977 album from Brazilian vocalist Orlandivo is an absolute classic that deserves every ounce of the crate-digger gold star status it has obtained over the years. Recorded with heavyweights Joao Donato and Ivan Conti, it's a gorgeous slice of stoned samba soul that's heavy on serpentine synth, clavinet, and electric piano layers, and anchored by slowly percolating percussion grooves, sun-soaked horns, and softly cooing female backing vocalists. Orlandivo himself sounds thoroughly baked throughout, delivering his vocals in a relaxed, hypnotic croon that's engrossing yet somewhat odd at the same time. Donato's contributions absolutely kill, his keys being the glue that holds the entire album together, with slinky rhythms that come across like a collaboration between Stevie Wonder and Sun Ra. Give thanks to Kindred Spirits for this stellar reissue and for returning this killer LP back to the masses.

Editions Mego recently initiated a much-needed vinyl reissue imprint for a number of seminal electroacoustic and musique concrete works originally produced in France's INA/GRM studios; while each is important in its own respective right, we found two particular Recollections GRM releases to be of special relevance. Bernard Parmegiani's De Natura Sonorum is not only a key work in the composer's ouvre, but it is often regarded as one of the most quintessential documents of concrete tape composition ever produced. His heavily processed and reconfigured assemblages of percussive textures, alien tonal manipulations, and detailed cut-and-splice edit work are all derived from field recordings of the natural environment, but with Parmegiani mutating them into foreign landscapes so far removed from their natural habitat that he in turn creates startling new worlds of sound within.

Luc Ferrari's Presque Rien is a wholly different beast. Originally issued across a number of different albums (some never before on vinyl) and collected onto one double-LP set for the first time, Presque Rien features next to none of the usual manipulations of magnetic tape composition most associated with the movement. Instead, Ferrari's pieces here are overlapping sets of environmental field recordings presented in an almost poetic simplicity; the sounds of a fishing village at dawn's awakening, a group of girls having a picnic in a spacious field, and the quiet characteristics of a forest at night are all documented, with Ferrari taking these candid moments and amplifying their intensity via extremely subtle manipulation and processing.

These are arguably two of the most important documents of musique concrete composition ever released, and it's lovely to have these pieces collected all into one place.

Saada Bonaire were a one-off post-punk era group that released but one lone single in 1984 before vanishing; a deep, dark slice of dub exotica, the single featured three tracks fusing together traditional Middle Eastern instrumentation with top-notch electro grooves produced by Dennis "Blackbeard" Bovell. Gliding overtop of this wonderful combination are sensually detached vocals that fused the icy, harrowing chill of Nico or Judy Nylon with dreamy harmonies and an innate tunefulness. It was a minor revelation to see this collection that gathers the single along with excellent, newly uncovered archival recordings anchored by hypnotic blends of Mid-East hand drums, slinky bass grooves, and innovative synth and drum machine programming, not to mention Turkish string and wind arrangements. There's a playfulness and experimentation that runs throughout as well, and to hear the group essentially pioneering new forms that would sadly go unheard until recently proved to be head-scratchingly impressive. Saada Bonaire's eponymous retrospective stood out as one of 2013's most notable archival releases, filled with surprises and a sound that is at once both very much of its era, yet still deeply timeless and alien.

Sahel Sounds reissued this stunning album of atmospheric, nearly minimal West African electronic music at the beginning of the year, but it sold out in the blink of an eye and we weren't able to feature it. A couple of months ago they thankfully repressed it, we reviewed it, and it disappeared in the blink of an eye again. Once heard it was easy to understand why it kept vanishing so quickly, as it's nearly impossible to not come under the spell of this instantly beguiling music. Sani hailed from Niger, and had previously composed a lot of the incidental music for the state TV and radio, when he went into the studio in 1978 to record his sole album, which only saw release as a cassette at the time. Marrying an electronic organ to traditional Nigerian melodies, the simple, subtly shifting melodies finely ride the line between the ancient and the future, with deep bass notes throbbing beneath the keening of sustained, electric overtones. Here's hoping for more copies come 2014!

EM Records' reissue of this eerie, intoxicating collection of early-'80s DIY dub experiments from Australian producer Sheriff Lindo set the store ablaze, offering up wild fusions of spaced-out machine beats and heavy steppers grooves. The whole album echoes (no pun intended!) similar explorations undertaken by Adrian Sherwood's finest work with the On-U Sound collective, all the while injecting these cuts with an even more raw and punk aesthetic that nods toward both classic Jamaican vibes and the future that digital dancehall would soon revolutionize. Easily at the top of this year's archival reggae releases.

Manna from heaven for power-pop fans, early in the year Numero Group rolled out a reissue campaign for Zion, Illinois hometown heroes (and DIY trailblazers) Shoes. Brought back to print were coveted double-LP pressings of 1975's self-released, lo-fi pop classic One in Versailles, the equally great yet head-scratchingly shelved Bazooka (which Bomp! founder Gary Shaw has called one of best rock albums of the era), and 1977's career kick-starter Black Vinyl Shoes, which landed them a single on Bomp! and led to an album deal with Elektra. Numero also issued an incredible double-LP set featuring the original home-recorded demos for the group's major label debut, 1979's Present Tense, notably including some unreleased gems that didn't make the final album. By the end of the '70s, the band would be counting Seymour Stein, Joey Ramone and Gene Simmons as fans, and in the years since have inspired countless groups, from Material Issue to New Pornographers and beyond. It's all letter-perfect guitar pop for the ages, and if you love the classic sounds of bands like the Replacements right on up to Other's own Nude Beach, then you need to put on some Shoes.

We were thrilled when Lion Productions offered up a limited edition, legit re-release of Guy Skornik's Pour Pauwels, arguably one of the best French psych-pop records of the early 1970s that had remained sadly elusive for decades. A timeless blend of lush orchestration, searing psych-rock, baroque melodies, and deep funk fluidity, this surrealist song cycle is based upon the writings of noted French writer, journalist, and counter-culturalist Louis Pauwels. Ranking with similarly quintessential LPs of the era like Serge Gainsbourg's Histoire De Melody Nelson, Pour Pauwels' ten songs play as the tale of a man's struggle through existential crisis, searching for meaning and truth in a society of political turmoil and the youth movement's full embrace of the liberties of sexual, commercial, and cultural revolution. It goes without saying that this is a platter of top-quality art-pop, and Lion are to be commended for their beautiful packaging, including a thick booklet with new liner notes, an interview with Skornik, and a reproduction of the original liners, penned by Pauwels himself.

$14.99 CD
$17.99 LP

Swamp Dogg's classic early-'70s stuff was finally made available again legitimately this year, and Rat On from 1971 is as good as it gets. The Dogg, born Jerry Williams Jr., takes the slinky groove of Sly Stone or Parliament and combines it with the biting wit and fiery guitar burn of Frank Zappa, cemented together by a vibe that blends country soul with bayou musk. His albums sound like no one else yet ring oddly familiar, pulling no punches yet serenading you with tender platitudes. He straddles the line between commercial promise and cult obscurity, never letting one side win out over the other, and it's precisely that extreme dedication to his craft and creative voice that has made his LPs highly desirable amongst diggers worldwide. Fans of everything from Betty Davis to last year's Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters electric reissues owe it to themselves to pick this one up.

Way back in February we predicted that this album would end up on our Best of the Year list, and so it has. A co-release from D.C.'s great PPU label and the awesome Richmond, Virginia record shop, Steady Sounds, Earle Hotel Tapes features some completely inscrutable and incredible outsider bedroom synth-funk from the Trash Company, an almost entirely unknown project from Richmond-based artist Max Monroe that dates back to the mid '70s. Reminiscent of very little else, it revealed Monroe as a true American original, with totally scorched-sounding, minimal rhythm-machine backing tracks accompanying his dryly laconic and soulful crooning. A no-brainer of a buy that fits comfortably next to longtime OM outsider faves like Kenneth Higney, Tommy Jay, Tonetta, or hell, even more well-known visionaries like Suicide and Iggy Pop.

Like 2012's excellent 122 BPM: The Birth of House Music, which traced the story of the very first house recordings long before legendary labels such as Trax and D.J. International were established, Still Music label head Jerome Derradji furthered his reputation as a pragmatic house historian with this revelatory new compilation, highlighting an overlooked history, circa 1985-1989, from the perspective of an influential group of mostly Latino originators. Operating from Chicago's North Side, producers Matt Warren, Ralphi Rosario, and Miguel Garcia joined forces with Sunset Mobile Disco to establish Sunset Records, injecting the signature Chicago sound with salsa, industrial, and new wave influences. As you can imagine, the music is joyous and energetic, with opening track "Kill Yourself Dancing" becoming a motto for the entire label's output. These recordings showcase a huge amount of talent scouted by Sunset Records, ranging from Boom Boom & Masterplan's electro anthem "Face the Music" to White Knight's deep and acidic "Acid Dub." With extensive liner notes, as well as reproductions of lost photographs and artifacts, the attention to depth and detail is impressive.

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