One of the things that I abhor about end of the year lists are the gems that slip between the cracks or are only realized after the “Top Albums” have been codified. Dark Light In The Wake of Silence is one such gem and was tipped off by its humble creator in a thread on eMusic’s message boards who had just noticed that it had been added to the service’s available albums. This is an album that by all rights would have passed under my nose without me taking much of a second glance having been buried under some 300+ new releases and originally misclassified as New Age Ambient–not a genre I dive into very often.
Dark Light In The Wake of Silence is a pensive album that fuses elements of Middle Eastern and North African musical traditions to Western concepts of rhythm and harmony. Each song is stitched to the next in a long billowing collage of movement, there are moments of rest but as a whole the album moves like a ceaseless engine of sound and texture. The first comparisons that leapt to mind as I listened to it for the first time were the moodiness of Amon Tobin, the expansiveness of both DJ Cheb I Sabbah and Natacha Atlas, and tempered by the Arabic Pop styling of Cheb Mami. Knossos has created a truly world spanning album.

On Knossos’ website, the composer describes the music and the process as thus:

[A]n instrumental excursion into the heart of world fusion; assembling post-rock sensibility with the complexity of IDM, D&B and Abstract electronica. Featuring a myriad of eastern instruments in an environment blurred with ambient guitar clusters, electronic glitch, and dense rhythmic intensity.

It is an apt description and its realization is well executed though my only complaint is that on occasion the most delicate and often most interesting passages played on the stringed instruments are swallowed up in the mix. While the notion of decomposing the work into less discrete passages of ambient and soundscapes there is, for me at least, a perceptible loss of the original vision. However, stepping slightly farther back from the work and can be heard that Knossos is creating a future perception of traditional works and in that they succeed.

Ruhsuz, while shedding many of the layered effects found in many of the songs, conveys the concept of tradition as seen through futurism by using an infectious hook that sounds most at home on a clear night under an expansive sky but is bound tightly to sharp drum programming. The result is a song the evolves from a bare structure of melody and rhythm into a passionate dance piece. Similarly, Unknown To The Sea has an oud and bass playing counterpoint all awash in pink noise and soft pads further blurring the lines between what should be yesterday and tomorrow.

If Dark Light In The Wake of Silence is any indication of Knossos’ talent and vision I will certainly be eagerly anticipating their next release. Highly recommended.

• Balkan Beat Box – Self-Titled
• Blackalicious – The Craft
• Celso Fonesca – Rive Gauche Rio
• DJ Cheb I Sabbah – La Kahena
• Doves – Some Cities
• Grupo Fantasma – Movimiento Popular
• LCD Soundsystem – Self-Titled
• Lemon Jelly – ’64-’95
• M.I.A. – Arular
• Nortec Collective – Tijuana Sessions Vol. 3
• Ohmega Watts – The Find
• Sleater-Kinney – Woods
• Sufjan Stevens – Illinoise
• Yerba Buena – Island Life

This is going to be tougher than I expected…

Unlike some of my more ambitious friends–Hello, Kansas!–pondering only twenty albums for a Best Of list is more than enough, partly because I discover new music on a daily basis that was not released in the same year and that listening not only consumes my time but also colors my preferences. So the challenge before me is to whittle this list down to a top five with the criteria being those albums that impacted me most in the past year. Time to start chewing on my pencil and re-listening to all these albums.

• Ananda Project – Relight
• Balkan Beat Box – Self-Titled
• Bebel Gilberto – Remixed
• Blackalicious – The Craft
• Celso Fonesca – Rive Gauche Rio
• DJ Rap – Bulletproof
• DJ Cheb I Sabbah – La Kahena
• Doves – Some Cities
• Grupo Fantasma – Movimiento Popular
• Khoiba – Nice Traps
• LCD Soundsystem – Self-Titled
• Lemon Jelly – ’64-’95
• M.I.A. – Arular
• Minus The Bear – Menos El Oso
• Nortec Collective – Tijuana Sessions Vol. 3
• Ohmega Watts – The Find
• Sleater-Kinney – Woods
• Sufjan Stevens – Illinoise
• Yerba Buena – Island Life
• Zuco 103 – Whaa!

By the way, what are your top five albums of this year?

Blackalicious’ The Craft hit the streets in late September, their third release to date and is arguably one of their best. Now, before I am taken to task by the Hip-Hop purists let me explain where I am coming from.

As I have written before, one of the things that plagues the genre is a staleness of the product. Much of what is heard on the radio and seen on the television works over the same tired samples, rhymes, and stereotypes. The licensing laws enacted over a decade ago certainly contributed to the stale production but also the lazy state of pop music certainly hasn’t help either. However, The Craft breathes new life into Hip-Hop by approaching the album as an overall work of art and by living up to the namesake of the title.

With this album Blackalicious has built upon a growing tradition of mixing studio wizardry with live instrumentation, something that has been done with great success with groups like Heiruspecs and The Roots. While the album has a tendency to appear as rhythmically sparse it is in the layering that a density begins to emerge, particularly on tracks like Rhythm Sticks where the drum programming is re-enforced by orchestral stabs. Rising up from that foundation is the first indication that the band has taken a new turn with their sound as The Craft has a decided rock slant. Powers is the best showcase of this new sound in that it is the most anthemic and hip swaying number with the whole number channel Prince from the backing vocals and crunching rhythm guitars to the soaring melody held by the lead guitar.

All of this adds up to an album that will make a longtime Blackalicious fan and Hip-Hop fans in general do a double take, but it is one of the best albums to introduce Rock snobs to the world of rhyming. If Blackalicious continues to evolve their sound by taken chances and staying true to their internal vision of what makes a song a good song and what makes an album a great one than their work to come can only surpass their work to date. The Craft is a superlative album and is a must have for the collection of anyone who appreciates great art.

Ohmega Watts’ latest album, The Find is a refreshing look backwards to a sound that is reminiscent of the Jazz influenced Hip Hop of the early to mid 90′s with beats and loops that recall A Tribe Called Quest, Digable Planets and De La Soul. The message maintains a positive outlook , rhymes dance around the everyday struggle and the affirmation of a life lived with confidence and pride in oneself.

Where It All Started is one of the stand out tracks and while though it is a shout out to the life of the MC with name drops of the places and people that influenced him it is a well constructed story covering childhood trips to Coney Island and block parties where he discovered the B-Boy and DJing. Production is solid, carrying the MC forward and providing elements that give the song a reference point like the 808 drop in the opening strains ushering in the year of 1979.

The Find is a well built album that even for is unabashed nostalgia moves the genre forward. The liner notes point out that Watts is influenced by contemporary artists such as RJD2 and The Herbaliser where the cut and paste style of those artists can be heard best in A Request where the bass line wobbles about a hopping drum line and a skipping guitar melody. Sprinkled about are vintage R&B samples, funky little break beats and turn arounds as well as the occasional prog rock guitar riff blowing in from the 70′s.

The album in its entirety is a beautiful vision and is an incredible showcase of Ohmega Watts’ talent. If you have a love for Hip Hop, soul, breaks or if you just love artists that push beyond the artificial label boundaries imposed by listeners this album is highly recommended. I for one will be tacking it on my Best of 2005 list.