Monday, January 14, 2013 at 09:00AM 
Suzanne Ciani
Doing the Listening Station features kept me watching for reissues all year round in 2012. By December I had sunk countless hours into LPs in that department. These are the best I came across. Enjoy the rest of AiMT 2012 here.
Full list after the jump.
Friday, January 11, 2013 at 09:50AM 
Arkansas, Little Rock, Pepperboy Friday, January 11, 2013 at 09:00AM 
Rachel Evans (Motion Sickness of Time Travel)
Does the word "ambient" mean anything to you in 2012?
It seems as though its usage becomes more and more scarce as the years go by. One might even call it out of fashion. Artists and journalists seem to be slightly squicked out by it. "Drone," a vaguer and less informative term, is more favored by the newer generation of artists and listeners. But despite these apparent trends against the A-word, the music itself is probably as big and as fascinating as it's ever been. In 2012 artists like Oneohtrix Point Never, Tim Hecker and Julianna Barwick stayed busy with press, festivals, touring, and recording—they essentially became indie household names. Blog darling Julia Holter has continued to put ambient pieces in her experimental indie pop records. Meanwhile Brian Eno, the man who coined the term "ambient" and arguably invented the genre, recorded his first solo ambient effort in two decades.
This list highly personal, but I believe it represents a large scope of an ever-splintering genre—from the noisy, to the lush and melodic, to the in-vogue lo-fi tape hum of recent years, to more folk and classical-leaning disciplines. Please enjoy, and watch the AiMT 2012 tag for more lists.
Full list after the jump.
Thursday, January 10, 2013 at 10:00AM 
Theophilus London
To kick off AiMT 2012, I got some help from the homey DJ E-Yo, who hosts KXUA's The Concrete Schoolyard. That's a hip-hop show I created around 10 years ago. I held it down for four years (tops), but E-Yo has kept the name going for an additional six. By all accounts, the show is his now, and he owns it like I never owned it. Check it out on the KXUA stream every Thursday night from 8 until 10 pm (Central), and/or watch the KXUA blog for podcasts.
People have been grilling me about year-end features, and I appreciate the interest. I wanted to start rolling them out before the New Year, but travel, snow storms, power outages, and 60-hour work weeks have stalled me quite a bit. Luckily I have all the features done and will be posting one per day over the next week or so. Thanks for your patience!
Full list after the jump.
Wednesday, December 12, 2012 at 08:37PM 
Arkansas, Little Rock, Pepperboy Friday, December 7, 2012 at 03:11PM Baby Armie, Dance Chart Wednesday, November 21, 2012 at 08:09PM 
photo by Quinten Daniel
While I've been busy not blogging, Little Rock's own 607 has found time to drop his 38th album and continue his reign over the Arkansas hip-hop circuit. Back in May, he gave the scene quite a scare with a statement which seemed to announce his immediate retirement. He later clarified by saying that he was only taking some time off to organize, not retiring.
Lucky for us, the wait is over and YIK3LIF3! The Lord and the Duchess is now available. It's 19 tracks strong, and Lord Six was kind enough to set it as a "name your price" endeavor on his Bandcamp. Once you spend some time with it, you can understand why he chose to take a timeout to strategize on how to package this new material. It's probably his most accomplished work to date, both artistically and in terms of commercial appeal. And per usual, there's plenty of variety to appeal to a large listener base. (Expect to hear radio-ready country rap, money-making anthems, even a Boards of Canada flip as you can hear below.)
"Puppy Breath" — flip of Boards of Canada's "ROYGBIV":
Full album stream after the jump.
607, Arkansas, Little Rock Thursday, November 15, 2012 at 11:17AM 
Fax Label, Pete Namlook, R.I.P., ambient Thursday, November 1, 2012 at 11:39PM Baby Armie, Dance Chart 
