Top 10s for 2009: Petter Ottosson (Fang Bomb)
Having spent this year, as well as a good part of the last few, listening mainly to old music, it has been somewhat difficult to create a year-end top 10 in the traditional sense. But there should still be plenty of material to choose from. Even if t wasn't all new, I did actually listen to a lot of music in 2009. Interesting things did happen. And, in the meantime, Fang Bomb released brilliant records by Jasper TX, Ronnie Sundin, Peter Broderick & Machinefabriek and Paul Baran.
These were the major cultural events in 2009, as registered by the Fang Bomb office:
01. Chris & Cosey
The rediscovery of the year. Especially their debut album, "Heartbeat", from 1981.
02. Taking Fang Bomb to Malmö
The Fang Bomb-mobile headed down to Malmö in July for a showcase at the Krets Gallery, and it turned out to be a very enjoyable evening indeed. Nice people, brilliant performances by Jasper TX, Anders Dahl and Ronnie Sundin, and art by Thomas Ekelund.
03. Atom™ - "Liedgut"
Uwe Schmidt is finally back in form, wearing cufflinks and the most elegant moustache you will ever see. "Liedgut" is the modern day equivalence of Kraftwerk’s "Radio-activity".
04. Travelling to Tromsø
Glaciers, mountains, sheep and turquoise waters, all in basking sunshine and with the perfect traveling companion.
05. Current 93 - "Aleph at Hallucinatory Mountain"
Although it is nowhere near "Black ships ate the sky" or "All the pretty little horses", it's most definitely a decent Current 93 album. And that is good enough for any top ten list.
06. Atom™ - "Muster"
And here he is again. Another remarkable album, programmed in a way that would make Frank Bretschneider take back everything he has ever said about "complex rhythm-structures".
07. The never-ending Ghostbusters cult
Franchise perfection continued this year with the release of a new computer game, and a few brilliant scenes with Woody Harrelson and Bill Murray in "Zombieland".
08. Mika Vainio - "Vandal EP"
There is at least one great Vainio record every year. Last year it was Ø’s "Oleva". This year, it was the "Vandal EP".
09. Seeing DAF perform again
Two mature men, dressed in black, reunited at the Arvika festival. With Robert Görl on drums and everything else on CDr. What they might have lacked in subtlety they made up for in enthusiasm. Brilliant stuff.
10. "Undergången - An Audio Companion To The End-Tymes"
The ultimate decay-and-doom party tape, 120 minutes long and quite possibly the last cassette ever to be released by Fukk Tapes Let's Erase.
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Fang Bomb's most recent releases include Peter Broderick & Machinefabriek's "Blank grey canvas sky" and Paul Baran's "Panoptic". New, interesting things are planned for 2010.
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