50 Unheralded Albums from 2011

50 Unheralded Albums from 2011

In just one more trip around the sun, another swarm of immensely talented but under-recognized musicians has harnessed its collective talents and discharged its creations into the void. This list is but one fraction of those dedicated individuals who caught our ears with some serious jams.

Amon Tobin

Concert Photos: Amon Tobin @ Congress Theater (Chicago, IL)

We’ve been talking about it for months, and it finally happened: Amon Tobin brought ISAM to Chicago. Named after Tobin’s latest album, the multimedia masterwork has been making the rounds (mostly in Europe) since June, but now audiences in the US are getting a taste of the immersive performance.

Amid a geometric configuration of cubes, upon which colorful, dynamic visuals were projected, Tobin worked from a laptop station. The music, composed primarily of manipulated, non-instrumental field recordings, paired with the projection mapping to create a mesmerizing synthesis of sound and light. You can read all about Tobin, his latest album, and the ISAM tour in our recent feature story. Design studio Leviathan has a full list of credits on its website, so you can see who was responsible for the killer visuals. Photographer Wallo Villacorta captured these images at the Congress.

Amon Tobin

Amon Tobin

Amon Tobin: An Electronic Pioneer’s “Field Work”

With his new album, DJ and electronic artist Amon Tobin has made the complete transition to using and manipulating sound sources that are styled after field recording. The material, often unrecognizable and shaped into rhythmic pulses, also comes with a new shape-shifting 3-D installation for his upcoming tour.

Eskmo

Eskmo: Hypnotic Electronics Guided by Intuition

Eskmo, a.k.a. San Francisco-based electronic musician Brendan Angelides, isn’t big on descriptions; he prefers to have his music speak for itself. And speak it does, with clear-eyed synth melodies and crunchy dubstep polyrhythms.