2. Actress

Ghettoville/Hazyville Box

(Ninja Tune / Werkdiscs)

Purporting to be Actress’ final release under his enigmatic moniker, Werkdiscs and Ninja Tune put together this stunning deluxe box set, which twins his most recent LP Ghettoville with the first of his quartet Hazyville, originally released in 2008 to the square the circle (or the triangle) of Actress’ succinct discography. Beautifully assembled, and more substantial than many a more gratuitous ‘deluxe’ edition to have accompanied the year’s larger releases, it’s an oblique elegy to an artist whose never revealed all that much. With forty 12” pages of abstract collages to explore there’s so much here to get lost in while you ponder how you got from Hazyville to Ghettoville in the first place.

---