Avant Music News Best of 2016: Part I – Honorable Mentions

Here we go again – our annual list of our favorite recordings for 2016. Or “lists” I should say. This year we received a record number of recordings to review. Given the volume of great music that came out this year, we’ve broken the “best of 2016” listing into two parts. We couldn’t review every one, and we still haven’t listened to many. (Sorry!)

Today is for the honorable mentions. This is a very long list, but the releases herein are all very good and highly recommended. We reviewed a few of these, and linked the reviews where they are available.

Tomorrow will cover our picks for albums of the year.

Like this list? Feel free to peruse previous years’ lists.

Honorable Mentions

156 – Memento Mori
Rez Abbasi Junction – Behind the Vibration
Alchymie & Gregg Skloff – The Kuiper Belt
Amendola v. Blades – Greatest Hits
The Apophonics (Butcher / Edwards / Robair) – In Situ
Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society – Real Enemies
Jon Armstrong – Burnt Hibiscus
Bafus / Brewer – Tangled Tones
Aidan Baker – Dualism
Aidan Baker/ N / Dirk Serries – Enomeni
Daniel Barbiero / Ken Moore – Frequency Drift
Battle Trance – Blade of Love
BC Grimm – Orbis Obscura
Eraldo Bernocchi and Prakash Sontakke – Invisible Strings
Andrew Bernstein – The Great Outdoors
Beyond Sensory Experience – The End of it All
Birken – Monstera
Black Spring / Miles Cooper Seaton – West of Will & Cvrst Patience / Adige (for Luigi Lineri)
Borbetomagus – The Eastcote Studios Session
Tim Brady – Instruments of Happiness
Braeyden Jae – Fog Mirror
Anthony Braxton – Quintet (Tristano) 2014
Lucas Brode & Grant Calvin Weston – Spiritual Branches, Sleepless Burial
Burial Hex – Throne
Taylor Ho Bynum – Enter the Plustet
CARL – Moon Pools and Petroleum Play
Gaetano Cappella – Maiella
Carrier / Beresford / Lambert / Edwards – OUTgoing
Chat Noir – Nine Thoughts for One Word
Rhys Chatham – Pythagorean Dream
The Claudia Quintet – Super Petite
Rodger Coleman / Sam Byrd – Perihelion
Joseph M. & Colombo The Living Earth Show – I Watch the Fire as the Days Echo Away
Colossloth – Outstretch Your Hand
Common Eider, King Eider – Extinction
Santi Costanzo – Deeprint
François Couture – Spam Me
Cyanotype – Two Silent Schnauzers
Tim Daisy – Relucent
Tim Daisy / Celebration Sextet – The Halfway There Suite
Dal Niente & Deerhoof – Balter / Saunier
DarkMatterHalo – Cataclysmic Beauty
Gareth Davis / Merzbow – Atsusaku
Kris Davis – Duopoly
Deus Ex Machina – Devoto
Mark Dresser Seven – Sedimental You
Duet for Theremin and Lap Steel – 10
Timothy Dunne – Metaphrase
Eighth Blackbird – Hand Eye
Electric Bird Noise – Nighttime Tides
Moppa Elliott – Still Up in the Air
Empirical – Connection
Ergo – As Subtle as Tomorrow
Forrest Fang – The Sleepwalker’s Ocean
Alvin Fielder / Damon Smith – Song for Chico
Cassio Figueiredo – Expurgo
Jonathan Finlayson / Sicilian Defense – Moving Still
Lesley Flanigan – Hedera
Tucker Flythe Quartet – The New Gilded Age
John Eckhardt / Forresta – Bass, Space & Time
Fresh Cut Orchestra – Mind Behind Closed Eyes
Satoko Fujii / Joe Fonda – Duet
Full Blast (Brotzmann, Pliakas, Wertmüller) – Risc
Gaudi – EP
Ghost Flute & Dice – Melody is God
Josh Green & The Cyborg Orchestra – Telepathy & Bop
Stephen Grew / Trevor Watts – Con Fluent
Rich Halley 5 – The Outlier
Ross Hammond / Sameer Gupta – Upward
Matty Harris – Double Septet
Haunted Me – The Pale Ones
Havre de Grace – The Black Sea Part II
Anna Högberg Attack – Anna Högberg Attack
Honey Ear Trio – Swivel
George Hurd – Navigation Without Numbers
Hyper + Amir ElSaffar – Saadif
I.P.A. – I Just Did Say Something
Kamran Ince – Passion and Dreams
International Contemporary Ensemble – On the Nature of Thingness 
Vijay Iyer / Wadada Leo Smith – A Cosmic Rhythm with Each Stroke
Jambinai – A Hermitage
Kaada / Patton – Bacteria Cult
Bobby Kapp / Matthew Shipp – Cactus
Reid Karris – Lacrimis de ex Arborum
Khompa – The Shape of Drums to Come
Amirtha Kidambi / Elder Ones – Holy Science
Franklin Kiermyer – Closer to the Sun
Julie Kjær 3 – Dobbeltgænger
Knuckleball (Levine / Hannaford / Gray) – Knuckleball
Kuhn / Sewelson / Cleaver / Roland – Our Earth / Our World
Peter Kuhn Trio – The Other Shore
Okkyung Lee / Christian Marclay – Amalgam
Sebastian Lexer / Steve Noble Muddy Ditch
Jockel Liess – Bordun Chorus
Jockel Liess – Fluid Variations
Limited Liability Sounds – Surrounding Countryside
Lone Echo (Devin Sarno) – Noize
Jon Lundbom / Big Five Chord – Bring Their ‘A’ Game (EP)
Jon Lundbom / Big Five Chord – Make the Changes (EP)
Jon Lundbom / Big Five Chord – Make the Magic Happen (EP)
Jon Lundbom / Big Five Chord – Play All the Notes (EP)
Svetlana Maras / Bodies Under the Waterfall – Angry Ambient Artists Vol. 2
Maroney / Ilgenfritz / Niescier / Drury – Mind Games
Miya Masaoka – Triangle of Resistance
Rafal Mazur / Keir Neuringer – Diachronic Paths
Rob Mazurek / Emmett Kelly – Alien Flower Sutra
Beth McDonald – Cold Weather Birding
Meridian Arts Ensemble – Seven Kings
Hedvig Mollestad Trio – Black Stabat Mater
Mondo Flockard – Mondo Flockard
Jemeel Moondoc / Hilliard Greene – Cosmic Nickelodeon
Morgen Wurde – Brach Auf
Mossenek – Paranoia Plague Shrine 1
Naked Truth – Avian Thug Var
Nhung Ngyuen / Cinchel – The Movement of an Old Soul
Michael Nicolas – Transitions
Tomonari Nozaki – Concession (EP)
Tomonari Nozaki – Credence
Offthesky – Silent Went to the Sea
Eleonore Oppenheim – Home
Kresten Osgood Trio – Live in Gothenburg
Ed Palermo Big Band – One Child Left Behind
Pappenheim – Bekkenjordet
Park / Lash / Sanders / Pugh – Sirene 1009
Evan Parker / Seymour Wright – Tie the Stone to the Wheel
The Paul Swest – Wizard Talk
The Pololaniks – The Suspicious Slumber Party
Peter Ponzol / Abbey Rader – It’s Time
Poppy Nogood – Music for Mourning
Post Haste Reed – Duo Under a Canopy of Angels… a River of Stars
Noah Preminger – Dark was the Night, Cold was the Ground
Reconnaissance Fly – Off by One
The Research Institute – Music for Prepared Guitars
Rhyton – Navigating by Starlight
Rivener – Svengali Gaze (EP)
Steve Roach – Shadow of Time (Expanded)
Jason Roebke Octet – Cinema Spiral
Romus / Rankin-Parker / Pearce – Live at Vamp Vintage Art Music
Rova – Channeling Coltrane Electric Ascension + Cleaning the Mirror
Roswell Rudd / Jamie Saft / Trevor Dunn / B.Pandi – Strength & Power
Sabbagh / Miller / Jermyn – Lean
Scheerling / Thaumaturgist – Vertoeven LVI / Mysteries van de Droom Var
John Scott (Stereocilia) – The Road to the Unconscious Past
Seven Impale – Contrapasso
Sevenism – Saline Celestial / Fluid Pulse, Echo Rise and / Release. Now I Float
Sloth Racket – Triptych
Wadada Leo Smith – America’s National Parks
David Smooke – Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death
Some Some Unicorn – Unicornucopia
Sophia – Unclean
Sound Etiquette – Sound Etiquette
Spires That In The Sunset Rise – With Michael Zerang Kata Physin
Squier Squier – OverSleep
Amory Stephenson – First Autumn
Subterraneanact & Machinefabriek – Persistent Objects 
Sun Ra / Merzbow – Strange City
Tanya Tagaq – Retribution
Ten – Yukon Youth
Toc (Ternoy / Cruz / Orins) & The Compulsive Brass – Air Bump
Toxydoll – Bullsheep
TriAngular Bent – TriAngular Bent
Tunnels of Ah – Surgical Fires
Twinesuns – The Empire Never Ended
Various Artists – A Night in the Country: The Quietened Bunker
Various Artists – A Year in the Country: Audiological Transmissions Artifact #1
Michael Vlatkovich – Mortality
Mat Walerian / Matthew Shipp / Hamid Drake – Live at Okuden
Mike Weis – Sound Practice
Daniel Wohl – Holographic
Erik Wøllo – Star’s End 2015 – Silent Currents 4
WorldService Project – For King and Country
Z’ev – Eleven Mirrors to the Light
David Zakarian – 11
Nick Zoulek – Rushing Past Willow
Christopher Zuar Orchestra – Musings