Best of Echoes 2013…So Far.

Ambient Chamber Music leads The Best of Echoes 2013
….So Far

At the halfway point of the year, I look back on some of the albums that rise above the crowd.  And this year it’s been harder than most to narrow it down to the 25 CDs you’ll see below, let alone picking a number one.  But here’s the list I came up with.  Five of the picks were Echoes CD of the Month selections and three of them are in the top three.  That makes sense, but there’s also a lot of surprises.  Olivier Libaux‘s Uncovered Queens of the Stone Age came out of nowhere with its subtle, seductive and heart-rending covers of tunes by Queens of the Stone Age.  It’s going to be the CD of the Month in July.  An album that didn’t get nearly enough attention was Syrianna‘s  The Road to Damascus.  This ad hoc group put together one of the best world-fusion albums in a long time with members from Algeria, Ireland, Jordan, United Kingdom, and Palestine.  Think, spaghetti-eastern music or Dick Dale goes to the Middle East.  There are many more discoveries here, from the chamber pop of Rachel Zeffira‘s The Deserters to the Russian electronica of Koan‘s Argonautica, which brings a melodic sensibility to trance.  You can hear The Best of Echoes 2013…So Far, tonight on Echoes.

THE BEST OF ECHOES 2013… SO FAR

1. Rhian Sheehan – Stories from Elsewhere (Darla Records)
2. Ólafur Arnalds – For Now I Am Winter (Mercury Classics)
3. 

   Ludovico Einaudi – In A Time Lapse

   Ludovico Einaudi – In a Time Lapse (Ponderosa Music & Art)

4. Olivier Libaux – Uncovered Queens of the Stone Age (Music for Music Lovers)
5. Jon Durant and Colin Edwin – Burnt Belief (Alchemy Records)
6. Jah Wobble & Marconi Union – Anomic (30 Hertz)
7. Ulrich Schnauss – A Long Way to Fall (Domino Records)
8. Rachel Zeffira – The Deserters (Paper Bag Records)
9. Syriana – The Road to Damascus (Real World)
10. Koan – Argonautica (Section Records)
11. Still Corners – Strange Pleasures (Sub Pop)
12. Hol Baumann – Human – Live at Nuit Hypnotique (Ultimae Records)
13. Glenn Jones – My Garden State (Thrill Jockey)
14. Robert Jurjendal – Source of Joy (Unsung Records)
15. Sumner McKane – Select Visual History (Sumner McKane)
16. Seven Saturdays – Seven Saturdays (Lunada Records
17. Karl Hyde – Edgeland (UMe)
18. Dead Can Dance – In Concert (Pias America)
19. Wall – Shoestring (Big Picnic)
20. Saul Stokes – Formation (Saul Stokes)
21. Rena Jones – Echoes (Cartesian Binary Recordings)
22. Mono – For My Parents (Temporary Residence)
23. William Tyler – Impossible Truth (Merge Records)
24. Shaman’s Dream – Prana Pulse (Sounds True)
25. Hem –Departure and Farewell (Redeye)

John Diliberto (((echoes)))

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