With Madlib supplying two of his best recent beats with "The Healer" and "My People", YNQ affiliate Karriem Riggins chopping up flutes and sub-bass for surefire single "Soldier", and Sa-Ra getting particularly behind the beat Dilla-style on "Master Teacher" and "That Hump" (the former tune gifted to the project by Georgia Anne Muldrow, jazzing it up on keys at mid-song turnaround), it's not only clear that Badu put in serious work for her newest, but also that those she selectively surrounded herself with knew they were a part of something big. Right up there with Voodoo in my books...

Trying on and sending up as many styles as depicted on the technicolour cover, Lowe's debut (released in North America as Pure Pop For Now People at the time) jumps from disco- and reggae-fied new-wavery to 10cc-like lite balladry, rockabilly sass and spirited pub-rock, already cynical as hell after years with Brinsley Schwarz and as go-to producer for Stiff. It's been a few months since its re-release, but better late than never for a mention on the site, especially considering the pretty-much-unanimous love for it among us staffers. I'd be shocked if it didn't end up being voted our reissue of the year!

Samamidon is the newest release from Iceland's Bedroom Community label. This album pretty much acts as a tribute to the great appalachian banjo player Dock Boggs. It makes sense since Samamidon is best known for his banjo and fiddle skills. The wonderful thing about this album is that it is deeply rooted in the old world but yet has morphed into something beautiful and new. With the addition of ornate string compostions and baroque additions to the songs, Samamidon has crafted an absolutely stunning album. Think Sufjan Stevens and Dock Boggs.

Heitor Villa-Lobos was one of the foremost figures of Brazilian classical music of the early 20th century. His mostly self-taught writing style merges rhythmic ideas of Stravinsky with baroque dances, French theory and 18th century counterpoint. He was also a strong nationalist who found common ground between Brazilian folk music and the classical tradition, a technique which would eventually generate his well-loved series Bachianas Brasileras. This 1956 recording features four of the nine J.S. Bach-inspired classics, conducted by Villa-Lobos himself. It also contains arguably the best recording of his famous Bachianas, No. 5 for soprano and 8 cellos.

Rufus Harley is the real pied piper of jazz. He is the first American Jazz musician to adopt the Scottish Highland bagpipe  as his primary instrument.  He has said the bagpipes are a spiritual instrument as the drone uses the ancient vibrations of the universe. Rufus adopted idioms of jazz, blues and funk into his playing. His technique was quite unorthodox, but yet still incorporated all facets of the bagpipes' sounds. To some Rufus seemed like an oddity and gimmicky, wearing a traditional Scottish kilt and Viking-style helmet. To others, Rufus was redefining the sound of '60s jazz.

This is the second album released by NYC's The Silver Apples in 1969. This group are known for building a crazy system of audio oscillators that provided most of their driving bass beats, and mixing them with drums and poetic lyrics. Contact is full of minimal psychedelic electronic elements, drones, dissonance, pulsing beats, raw emotions and BANJO!  I love that they layered the banjo into the bassy beat mix, something that makes them stand out from the likes of  Spacemen 3 and Suicide, whom the band are often compared to. Tracks like "Ruby" and "Confusion" showcase the use of banjo, and "I Have Known Love" could quite possibly be one of my favourite songs of all time. Bassy Banjo Goodness!

Every year, there's at least one, if not several, albums that if I'd only heard/fully absorbed them a scant few weeks earlier, they would be proudly displayed in my top 15 of the year. In 2006, it was Converge's No Heroes and Grizzly Bear's Yellow House. This year, it's Baroness' exceptional Red Album. A potent mixture of metal, Southern rock, ambient interludes, and prog dalliance, this record is as invigorating and consistently surprising a metal album as you'll hear. Their willingness to inject their music with moments of disarming calm and beauty pay huge dividends. Cannot stop listening to this.

This straddles my two favourite genres of music, noise and new age--perhaps you could call it harsh-ethereal. The title of the album does a good job describing it: Quaking Earth Vibrations. The album is one long piece that starts with the lighter-spirited wash of inspiring flute-loop and static fuzz. It slowly turns into a louder and harsher beast. A very, very nice piece from Blasphemous Mockery (Wolfgang Nessel of Heavy Water, Blood Honey and Bummer in the Summer festivities). If you want a window into the noise and psych-drone community in Toronto, this would be a good one.

I put these two albums up for my favourite song, "Nave Maria", which appears on both albums in different versions. The Best Of focuses on more folk-oriented Ze songs and offers a slightly stripped-down version of "Nave Maria", while the album "Nave Maria" has the original version with '80s-era effects mixed in. Nave Maria is a fun album that jumps all over the place, with some energetic and often outrageous Brazilian tunes. The song in question is a very compelling track with percussive soprano harmonies in the chorus and a pretty danceable beat. It drives and accelerates through some pretty interesting guitar sounds, like you're climbing up a volcano that's erupting with diamond lava.

The Weather Station are a local 5 piece that consist of banjo, mandolin, and violin. They create a brilliant myriad of sounds that ranges from new, and old-time appalachian folk, celtic, and experimental. Their music reflects the harsh landscapes of the east coast, urban confusion and rural absolutes.  This is quite possibly one of my favourite albums of the year.  Look out for their monthly residence at the Tranzac starting in December.

After a mind-blowing display of charismatic star-power at Aretha Franklin's free show on Bloor Street last week, I can't stop listening to this collection of unreleased gems from her Atlantic-era prime. Admittedly, none of this material is as instantly memorable as the classic hits from the proper album releases; still what is here is top-notch soul, sung with a passion and insight that you don't see much anymore. Bow down to the Queen Of Soul!

While their ex-bandmate Matt Pike chose a road toward destruction and mayhem, the rhythm section of stoner rock trio Sleep--bassist Al Cisneros and drummer Chris Haikus--sought a path of enlightenment. Or least a place to smoke more dope in peace. Whatever the case, their duo Om has taken a concept that felt a little thin on paper--the bass-and-drum duo--and actually found ways to grow within its limited palette. Pilgrimage finds the band playing with more comfort and fluidity than ever. A 'metal' band that gets 'heavy' by forsaking volume for presence and patience is a beautiful thing indeed.

One cannot ignore Bartok's remarkable contribution to educational music for young musicians. Coincidentally he was also one of the 20th century's great ethno-musicologists. His '44 duos for two violins' was written in 1931 as primarily educational compositions and are based around the peasant folk melodies of his native Hungary. Rich in Bartok's characteristic harmonic invention the '44 duos'  also produce an astonishing range of texture and timbre, rhythmic vitality and subtle melodic contour. An intimate look at the compositional devices and detailed skill made famous in his larger works.  

French saxophonist Barney Wilen is perhaps best known for his work on Miles Davis’s soundtrack for Louis Malle’s Elevator to the Gallows from 1958. A restless visionary, the Frenchman later experimented with tapes of a car race, and in 1972 released the colossal Moshi, an ambitious spiritual jazz travelogue of his two-year journey through Africa. Ten years later, he hooked up with the hard-edged atonal electronic ensemble Diese 440 for a set of whirring and pulsating improvisations. It’s an unlikely combination but is utterly convincing and miles ahead of what Wilen’s former leader was doing at the time.

Similar to how Albert and Donald Ayler used marching band music to their own jazz ends, so did these brothers incorporate horns and woodwinds within the realm of Indian ragas. Along with the Yaala Yaala releases, this has to be one of the most fascinating international reissues I've heard all year!