1 STEVE RODEN (ON THE BOARDS, SEATTLE, WA) As much as I enjoyed Roden’s CD Transmissions (voices of objects and skies) (Fresno Metropolitan Museum/New Plastic Music), there was something even more satisfying about watching him build loops in a live setting—not to mention observing his strange habit of singing to a table. (Roden told me, “I sing ‘into the table’ because I can’t bear the thought of singing and looking at people . . . it’s my disappearing act!”)

2 ANDREW DEUTSCH, THE SUN (AND/OAR) A CD consisting of five long tracks in which the sounds of ocean waves were filtered through