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The Wire's Top 50 Releases 2019

December 2019

Listen to a selection of tracks from this year's top 50 Releases of the Year, as voted for by The Wire's contributors. You can read more about the artists featured in our chart, as well as those featured in the Top 50 Archive Releases of the Year, in The Wire 431.

75 Dollar Bill “Tetuzi Akiyama” 0:03:57
Angel Bat Dawid “What Shall I Tell My Children Who Are Black (Dr. Margaret Burroughs)” 0:03:20
The Art Ensemble Of Chicago “We Are On The Edge” 0:08:21
Moor Mother “After Images” 0:02:48
Morton Feldman/Philip Thomas “Intermission 5” 0:03:11
Klein “Listen And See As They Take” 0:05:02
Kali Malone “Litanic Cloth Wrung” 0:13:26
People Like Us “Do You See What I Hear” 0:07:10
Joshua Abrams Natural Information Society “Finite” 0:07:22
Sunn 0))) “Troubled Air” 0:11:45
Sarathy Korwar “Bol (featuring Zia Ahmed & Aditya Prakash)” 0:09:19
Jaimie Branch “Nuevo Roquero Estéreo” 0:08:13
Purple Mountains “Nights That Won't Happen” 0:06:08
Matana Roberts “Raise Yourself Up / Backbone Once More / How Bright They Shine” 0:05:45
100 Gecs “Hand Crushed By A Mallet” 0:02:06
JPEGMAFIA “Jesus Forgive Me, I Am A Thot” 0:02:36
Laurie Anderson/Tenzin Choegyal/Jesse Paris Smith “Lotus Born, No Need to Fear” 0:07:08
Tunes Of Negation “Tundra Erotic” 0:09:47
Zonal “System Error featuring Moor Mother” 0:04:06
Carl Stone “Baroo” 0:06:58
King Midas Sound “In The Night” 0:05:51
Sote “Pipe Dreams” 0:06:45
Sunwatchers “Beautiful Crystals” 0:06:45
Loraine James “Scraping My Feet” 0:04:26
James Tenney “Study #2” 0:01:56
Yatta “Blues” 0:03:06
Sunn 0))) “Frost” 0:10:57
Jennifer Walshe “All The Many Peopls (extract)” 0:03:12
Big Stick “Rascal” 0:01:58
Caterina Barbieri “Spine Of Desire”  0:01:32
Nkisi “V” 0:06:07
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds “Spinning Song” 0:04:43
Billy Woods & Kenny Segal “Red Dust” 0:03:24
Duke “Duke Bit Puyo” 0:06:18
Jay Glass Dubs “To My Benefitors” 0:07:34
Félicia Atkinson “Moderato Cantabile” 0:07:58
Saint Abdullah “The Birds Discuss The Journey (featuring John Butcher)” 0:03:39

1
75 Dollar Bill
I Was Real
(tak:til/Thin Wrist)

2
Angel Bat Dawid
The Oracle
(International Anthem)

3
The Art Ensemble Of Chicago
We Are On The Edge (A 50th Anniversary Celebration)
(Pi)

4
Moor Mother
Analog Fluids Of Sonic Black Holes
(Don Giovanni)

5
Morton Feldman/Philip Thomas
Morton Feldman Piano
(Another Timbre)

6
Klein
Lifetime
(Ijn Inc)

7
Kali Malone
The Sacrificial Code
(iDEAL)

8
People Like Us
The Mirror
(Cutting Hedge/Discrepant)

9
Joshua Abrams Natural Information Society
Mandatory Reality
(Eremite)

10
Sunn 0)))
Life Metal
(Southern Lord)

11
Sarathy Korwar
More Arriving
(Leaf)

12
Little Simz
Grey Area
(Age 101)

13
MC Yallah x Debmaster
Kubali
(Hakuna Kulala)

14
Carl Stone
Himalaya
(Unseen Worlds)

15
Jaimie Branch
Fly Or Die II: Bird Dogs Of Paradise
(International Anthem)

16
Purple Mountains
Purple Mountains
(Drag City)

17
Matana Roberts
Coin Coin Chapter Four: Memphis
(Constellation)

18
Kim Gordon
No Home Record
(Matador)

19
100 Gecs
1000 Gecs
(Dog Show)

20
JPEGMAFIA
All My Heroes Are Cornballs
(EQT)

21
Tyler, The Creator
IGOR
(A Boy Is A Gun/Columbia)

22
Laurie Anderson/Tenzin Choegyal/Jesse Paris Smith
Songs From The Bardo
(Smithsonian Folkways)

23
Solange
When I Get Home
(Columbia)

24
Tunes Of Negation
Reach The Endless Sea
(Cosmo Rhythmatic)

25
Damon Locks Black Monument Ensemble
Where Future Unfolds
(International Anthem)

26
Zonal
Wrecked
(Relapse)

27
Carl Stone
Baroo
(Unseen Worlds)

28
King Midas Sound
Solitude
(Cosmo Rhythmatic)

29
Éliane Radigue
Occam Ocean 2
(Shiiin)

30
Sote
Parallel Persia
(Diagonal)

31
Sunwatchers
Illegal Moves
(Trouble In Mind)

32
Freddie Gibbs & Madlib
Bandana
(Keep Cool/RCA/Madlib Invazion/ESGN)

33
Loraine James
For You & I
(Hyperdub)

34
James Tenney
Changes: 64 Studies For 6 Harps
(New World)

35
The Caretaker
Everywhere At The End Of Time (Stages 4–6)
(History Always Favours The Winners)

36
Yatta
Wahala
(PTP)

37
Sunn 0)))
Pyroclasts
(Southern Lord)

38
Jennifer Walshe
ALL THE MANY PEOPLS
(Migro)

39
Big Stick
LP
(Drag Racing Underground)

40
FKA Twigs
Magdalene
(Young Turks)

41
Caterina Barbieri
Ecstatic Computation
(Editions Mego)

42
Nkisi
7 Directions
(UIQ)

43
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Ghosteen
(Bad Seed Ltd)

44
Billy Woods & Kenny Segal
Hiding Places
(Backwoodz Studioz)

45
North Sea Radio Orchestra/John Greaves/Annie Barbazza
Folly Bololey (Songs From Robert Wyatt’s Rock Bottom)
(Dark Companion)

46
Duke
Uingizaji Hewa
(Nyege Nyege Tapes)

47
Clipping
There Existed An Addiction To Blood
(Sub Pop)

48
Jay Glass Dubs
Epitaph
(Bokeh Versions)

49
Félicia Atkinson
The Flower And The Vessel
(Shelter Press)

50
Saint Abdullah
Mechanical Flirtations
(True Aether)

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