Avant Music News Best of 2015 (So Far)

2015 is halfway over and this year has seen quite a number of notable releases. This list includes over 100 albums each of which is worth a listen, if not more. The ordering below is rough, but should give you an idea of what we are thinking. Releases that we have reviewed feature links to said reviews. Enjoy.

Album of the year candidates
Biota – Funnel to a Thread
Magma – Slag Tanz
Merzbow / Mats Gustafsson / Balazs Pandi / Thurston Moore – Cuts of Guilt, Cuts Deeper

Excellent Releases
Scott Amendola – Fade to Orange
Anna Clock – Celestial
Kris Davis / Infrasound – Save Your Breath
Andrew Drury – The Drum
Andrew Drury / Quartet – Content Provider
Tomas Fujiwara & the Hook Up – After All is Said
Guapo – Obscure Knowledge
Stephen Haynes – Pomegranate
Jack O’ The Clock – Outsider Songs
Kiss the Frog – Hillmonster
Ligeia Mare – Amplifier
Roy Mattson – Mesmer
Northaunt – Istid I-II
NYM – Untitled
Han Earl Park / Catherine Sikora / Nick Didkovsky / Josh Sinton – Anomic Aphasia
Abbey Rader / West Coast Quartet – First Gathering
Remote Viewers – Pitfall
Daniel Rosenboom – Astral Transference / Seven Dreams
Schnellertollermeier – X
Sound Awakener – September Traveler (second review)
The Spanish Donkey (Joe Morris / Jamie Saft / Mike Pride) – Raoul
Robert Scott Thompson – Palimpsest
Tunnels of Ah – Thus Avici
Gebhard Ullmann / Basement Research – Hat and Shoes

Honorable mentions
Aires & Rui P. Andrade – Pânico-Ambiente
Apocryphos – The Prisoner’s Cinema
Ariadne – Ex Tempore
Atomic – Lucidity
Autistici – Live at Electric Spring
Michel Banabila / Oene van Geel – Music for Viola and Electronics
Daniel Barbiero / Jimmy Ghaphery – The Convergence of Parallel Lines
Barton Rage / Bill Laswell – Realms I
Beauty School (Chandler / Djill / Heule) – Residual Ugly
Black Dirt Oak / Jantar – Presage
The Bridge Sessions – Sonic Communication
François Carrier / Michel Lambert – iO
François Carrier / Michel Lambert / Rafal Mazur – Unknowable
Brett Carson – Quattuor Elephantis
Drew Ceccato / Tommy Babin / Chris Golinski – Tor
Piotr Cisak / Pawel Oleksinski – Lao
Jeff Cosgrove / Frank Kimbrough / Martin Wind – Conversations with Owls
DarkMatterHalo – Darkness Interrupted
Discordian Community Ensemble – Draught, Suspicion
Harris Eisenstadt – Golden State II
Eliogabal – Mo
Ensemble Signal – Steve Reich: Music for 18 Musicians
Far Rainbow – No Medicine That Can Cure a Fool
Lorenzo Feliciati – KOI
Agusti Fernández, / Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard / Bjørn – Amarnath
Cassio Figueiredo – Diario
Funerary Call – The Mirror Reversed – Part 2
Pete Furniss / Haftor Medbøe – Bitter Together
Gamardah Fungus – Bardo Thodol
Jeremy Gill – Capriccio
Vinny Golia – Solo at Gold Lion Arts
Milford Graves / Bill Laswell – Space / Time Redemption
Devin Gray – RelativE ResonancE
Gush – The March
Rich Halley / 4 Creating Structure
Ross Hammond – Flight
Ross Hammond / Catherine Sikora – Perfect Plasticity
Ross Hammond / John Bafus / Steuart Liebig – Lowburn
Hu – Vibrational – The Epic Botanical Beat Suite
ICP Orchestra – East of the Sun Net 2015
Ima x Atto Plain – Ima x Atto Plain
Iron Fist of the Sun – We Can Yield Our Own Footsteps
Jaga Jazzist – Starfire
Henry Kaiser / Ray Russell – The Celestial Squid
The Kandinsky Effect – Somnambulist
Karjalan – Sissit Want You Dead
Kaze – Uminari
Kellari Trio (Koskinen / Innanen / Hauta-aho) – Kellari Trio
Khost – Corrosive Shroud
Locrian – Infinite Dissolution
Lone Echo (Devin Sarno) – Lone Echo (EP)
Jon Lundbom / Big Five Chord – Jeremiah
Rudresh Mahanthappa – Bird Calls
Maoz / Ilgenfritz / Ligeti – Hypercolor
Rob Mazurek / Exploding Star Orchestra Galactic Parables, Vol.1
Myra Melford / Snowy Egret – Snowy Egret
Metallic Taste of Blood – Doctoring the Dead
Mz.412 – Hekatomb
Oiseaux-Tempête – Utopiya
Steve Olson Conversations
Jonah Parzen-Johnson – Remember When Things Were Better Tomorrow
Craig Pedersen / Quartet – Ghosts
Pines – The Field Journal
The Quash Wagon Reclusion – A Room with Tempered Walls
Amy Reed – Solo Guitar
Rivener – Fires in Repose
Rent Romus / Life Blood – The Otherworld Cycle
John Scott (Stereocilia) – Slow Motion
Secret Keeper (Stephan Crump / Mary Halvorson) – Emerge
Sound Awakener – Be Whole
Spin Marvel – Infolding
Superimpose (Matthias Müller / Christian Marien) – Edinburgh
Tecumseh – Seven
Roger Turner & Otomo Yoshihide – The Last Train
Michael Vlatkovich / Septet – Ask 7
Eli Wallace / Jon Arkin / Karl Evangelista – Cabbages, Captain, & King
Yasunao Tone / Talibam! / Sam Kulik – Double Automatism
John Zorn – Simulacrum