With a new year just a couple of hours away in the UK, it’s time to create a new thread for all things A/MC/D. I have no doubt it will be the source of the best musical recommendations on the internet. Like every year.
To kick us off, I thought I’d re-post the Top 10 AOTY from the 2024 thread, as I know that, like me, many people pick up so many amazing discoveries from the lists in this thread.
2024 A/MC/D Thread Top 10 AOTY
1: Abul Mogard & Rafael Anton Irisarri - Impossibly Distant, Impossibly Close - 31 points
2: Rafael Toral - Spectral Evolution - 18 points
3: Adam Wiltzie - Eleven Fugues for Sodium Pentothal - 15 points
4: MINING - Chimet - 14 points
5: Jasmine Wood - Piano Reverb - 11 points
Sarah Davachi - The Head as form’d in the Crier’s Choir - 11 points
Klara Lewis - Thankful - 11 points
8: Lisa Lerkenfeldt - Suite For The Drains - 10 points
9: Canadian Rifles - If The Sea Would Ask Me - 9 points
10: Cowboy Sadness - Selected Jambient Works - 8 points
Klara Lewis & Yuki Tsujii - Salt Water - 8 points
Who will be first to post a recommended record released in 2025?
Just in reference to that 2024 releases list…was there much love for the Kali Malone album in last year’s thread? I absolutely loved it…I thought it was really varied in sound and style and was a culmination of her experiments over the last few years. I guess The Sacrificial Code remains her essential release just because it’s a near perfect drone record.
@wonton - Have a look at the posts at the end of the corresponding 2024 A/MC/D thread on the 'board and you can see all the albums that received votes from Thread contributors last year. Ms Malone got some love, but didn’t quite make the top 10. And yes, TSC is magnificent!
It was three points of the top ten, and agree that it’s a great record!
Living Torch made our top five in 2022, and just checked and here’s our top ten from 2019 (featuring The Sacrificial Code), another fantastic collection of records x
And @bennyhana22 too, thanks for the update, can see Kali buried in amongst a host of artists that I’m unfamiliar with. That said, I’m looking forward to really delving into this genre again this year (and therefore this thread also) after having moved away from ambient music somewhat in recent years. I can feel myself being pulled back in though, as a counterpoint to my metal/punk focus over the last few years.
This is actually from March last year but I’ve only just become aware of it a couple of days ago and I don’t seem to be able to stop listening to it! Dark forest ambience that sometimes almost veers into black metal. There are no beats, blast or otherwise, but the background screams of anguish and tremolo picked guitar drones on tracks such as Wounds of Land and Body or the guttural vocals in the latter half of closer The Veil Between Forest and Glade lead you to think it may suddenly burst into full on metal but it never does, it always pulls itself back from the brink.
If I’d heard this last year it would have been very high on my EOY list.
I’ve been inching my way through the EOY top 10s @old_man_burner posted at the end of last year – as more of a dabbler in this world I’m really enjoying taking time to explore these recommendations from the more ITK thread denizens. From the first list (which had the most albums I’d already heard), the below stood out for me:
The Greenhouse record is just lovely. Aralkum feels like it might take a bit longer to click but that there’s a really rewarding listen there if I persevere with it.
Listened to this today at work. While I tend to steer away from the black noise part of ambient, have to say this flowed very well and enjoyed it a lot. Great rec. Loved the comedown tracks after the two noise-y tunes.
Absolutely lovely stuff, and thanks for sharing. The Galya Bisengalieva album Polygon from 2023 was only one point shy of making the top ten too. So is well worth your time x
I’ve just been listening to Instrumentals 2015 by Flying Saucer Attack. It passed me by 10 years ago, but I highly recommend it. Lovely stuff if you like guitar drone.
