Yikes... another year has flown by, but at least we had some good listening. Here are my top ten picks as well as a few honorable mentions. Thanks to everyone and best wishes for '02 Love 'em or hate 'em... these are my picks. Congratulations and many thanks go out to these artists and all the others for keeping my soundworld interesting! And of course, thanks to the readers, each and every one. Let's do it again next year, shall we? .10: alva noto: transform   (9.1) (Mille-Plateaux /Raster-Noton - 2001) - Extraneous details are stripped away to reveal skeletal beat-patterns, deep emissions and bits of audio detritus. .09: Arovane_Phonem: AER (VALID)   (9.1) (Vertical Form - 2001) - Scuffed-up beatronics combine synthesized sweetness with digitally-effected scruffiness. .08: André Estermann: Balloon   (9.1) (Sellwell - 2001) - Buoyant electronic ephemera with spunky percussion is not too heavy, not too light.... .07: Cyber Zen Sound Engine/Matt Borghi: The Intercepted Transmissions   (9.1) (N-Light-N Records - 2001) - Fall into the fading hues of a most personal autumn with restrained music and more-abstract atmospherics. .06: Matt Borghi: December Impressions   (9.1) (Matt Borghi - 2001) - Somber-but-sweet tonal washes are smeared across vast, cold soundscenery. .05: vidnaObmana: Tremor   (9.2) (Release - 2001) - An eerie beauty exists where all things Obmana seem to converge in darkly delightful ambiguities. .04: steve roach: early man   (9.2) (Projekt - 2001) - Ageless surround-sound environments rise like a dense swampy haze to engulf modern ears in atmospheres of long ago and far away. .03: In The Nursery: Engel   (9.3) (ITN Corporation - 2001) - Too rousing for mere background music, neosymphonic anthems rise to gloriously enveloping atmospheres. .02:aspen: music from passing cars   (9.3) (Label - 2001) - A perfect mix of electronic experimentalism, rhythmic effects processing and laid-back arrangements. .01: shuttle358: Frame   (9.3) (12k - 2000) - Indefinable-though-alluring soundforms have been reshaped by a process of easy-on-the-ears experimentalism. Errata: Well #%#&!... in my mad rush, I somehow short-changed Paul Vnuk, Jr. AND Solar Fields... so without reordering or taking away from those who've already been posted, their discs also in my top ten (which just happens to have 12 entries). D'oh! paul vnuk jr.: silence speaks in shadow   (9.2) (Hypnos - 2001) - Soundscape meets cityscape in a panoramic blend of shapeshifting ambient streams and subtle occurences. Solar Fields: Reflective frequencies   (9.2) (Ultimae - 2001) - This sparkling production achieves an admirable balance between amorphously undulating contours and tasteful beatronic sensibilities. Honorable Mentions: Jeff Pearce: The Light Beyond   (9.1) (Hypnos - 2001) - This live recording of gorgeously gaseous ambient guitar soundclouds is a keeper! Shur-i-kan: Advance   (9.0) (Freerange Records - 2001) - A dozen very tasty tidbits of highly-refined sweetness are crisp, clear, cool and very musical... dazzlingly so! James Johnson: Linger   (9.0) (Space for Music - 2000) - For one short hour, shape-shifting realms of vastness, softness and transcendental lightness will linger in your environment. Alias Zone: Lucid Dreams   (9.0) (CyberMotion - 2001) - A heat-drenched neverworld between ethnic music, current electronics technology, electro-organic soundscapes and astute artiness. novisad: Seleya   (9.0) (Tomlab - 2001) - Short, sweet and scruffy pieces of half-forgotten memories are obsessively replayed in almost-abstract snippets. Hazard: Wind   (9.0) (Ash International - 2001) - Electronic breezes of a very altered nature are stylized into natural/tecnhological hybrids of captivating mystery. A Produce: Smile on the Void   (9.0) (Hypnos - 2001) - Gorgeously rendered and often sweetly tonal atmospheres seem to be field recordings from another planetary system. sogar: basal   (9.0) (12k - 2001) - Subtle eccentricities and relatively obscure soundforms are stirred into curiously ear-catching transmissions. Three releases scored particularly high as well: Biosphere: Substrata2   (9.3) (Touch - 2001) - A classic has been re-released, repackaged and broadened with the inclusion of a second disc. Vidna Obmana: Subterranean Collective   (9.4) (Projekt - 2001) - 17 preternaturally exotic soundscapes fill this must-have collection from the masters! Steve Roach: Structures from Silence   (9.3) (Projekt - 2001) - Worlds of wonder will open (again, or for the first time) with this delicate balance of activity and stillness. Posted December 5, 2001