Long-running drone lords Sunn O))) released not one but two new albums in 2019, Life Metal and its companion piece Pyroclasts, and have been playing gut-rumbling live shows in perpetual search of “the brown note” ever since. Life Metal has made many year-end lists, and that being the case, we thought we’d ask Sunn O))) guitarist Stephen O’Malley to pick his favorite albums of 2019. He didn’t deliver quite what we asked for, but instead sent us a list of “11 loved albums at the end of 2019″ — some of which did not come out over the last 12 months. O’Malley’s picks encompass Nick Cave’s latest offering, Hildur Gudnadottir’s chilling score for the HBO mini-series Chernobyl, industrial-noise musician Puce Mary’s apocalyptic 2018 LP and more. See the full list below, as well as Sunn O)))’s 2020 European tour dates, which include a three-date “Let There Be Drone” residency in Paris.
Stephen O’Malley’s “11 loved albums at the end of 2019”:
Imrat Khan – Raga Marwa
Stomu Yamash’ta – Peace and Love
Nick Cave – Ghosteen
Deathprod – Occulting Disk
Hildur Gudnadottir – Chernobyl OST
Puce Mary – The Drought
Catherine Christer Hennix – Selections from 100 Models of Hegikan Roku
Laurie Spiegel – Unseen Worlds
Henning Christiansen – OP.50 Requiem of Art (Aus – Celtic) FLUXORUM ORGANUM II
Tinariwen – Amadjar
Sarah Davachi – Pale Bloom
Sunn O))) 2020 tour dates:
1/24/2020 Orion – Rome, IT
1/25/2020 TPO – Bologna, IT
1/26/2020 Live Club – Trezzo d’Adda, IT
1/29/2020 De Kreun – Kortrijk, BE
1/30/2020 Kulturfabrik – Esch-Sur-Alzette, LU
SUNN O))) – Let There Be Drone: One Residence, Two Concepts, Three Concerts
1/31/2020 La Gaité Lyrique – Paris, FR
2/01/2020 La Gaité Lyrique – Paris, FR
2/02/2020 La Gaité Lyrique – Paris, FR – duo/Shoshin performance