Whole lotta praise for Black Midi's debut album: "An experimental, genre-less and extremely noisy sound to exceptional results. Beyond weird... a legitimate one of a kind record... a masterpiece" - Paste Magazine. "Their determination to not bend to conventional song structure makes 'Schlagenheim' an engaging piece of work that will reveal its true nature over […]
"Instead of pressuring themselves to explore totally new sonic territory, the five core members of Hot Chip deepen their existing sound, going down rather than out. The lush production of the album, in conjunction with the emphasis on positivity in the lyrics, creates an enveloping musical and emotional atmosphere" - PopMatters says of the new […]
"This quintet finds cross-cultural influences from traditional Korean music, post-rock, and atmospheric metal... The result is a project that interweaves diasporic influences just as heterophony interweaves distinct melodies" - PopMatters says in it's review of third album by Korean avant-rock band Jambinai (8 of 10 stars). Interesting and fun to listen music, in any case...
"Callahan writes about his happiness, and how much his happiness proves to be enlightening for us... 'Shepherd' feels like his most something album ever—his warmest, his most generous, possibly his most profound... It is a high note, fond and deep and sustained" - Pitchfork says of it's latest choice for Best New Music. Listen to the album at […]
American hard-rockers Baroness have a new album 'Gold & Grey' out, with a new guitarist, and the one to end the color-themed series. Consequence of Sound says the band finds "themselves in a place of great maturity, exhibiting superb musicianship", NME says it's "super-tight, slick and takes sonic soundscapes to the next level entirely", Exclaim's […]
American folk singer-songwriter Rhiannon Giddens' new album 'the is no Other' (lowercase and capitalisation are intentional), is a collaborative concept Italian jazz multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi, merging Giddens' banjo playing with Turrisi, who draws on North African, Middle Eastern and Italian traditions. This cross-over shows "the ease with which the boundaries of genre and nationality can […]
"It’s the sound of borders breaking, of traditions mingling, of a utopian closeness that so often seems so far away" Pitchfork says in review of Jai Paul's album 'Leak 04-13 (Bait Ones)'. It has leaked online six years ago ("looking back, it’s sad to think about what could have been, but it is what it […]
"There’s drug money, and speedboats, and ass shaking, and the U swagger. You can hear and come to appreciate his love for this place and its music. The album is so rich with the subtext of Florida, and local rap history, it feels lived in" - Pitchfork says about Denzel Curry's album 'ZUU', giving it […]
"All the tenets of grime are still there — the jittery drums, the minor-key synthetic melodies, the choppy tension... While Skepta still raps with speed and precision, he does it with a sense of discipline and authority that feels new" - Stereogum writes about their latest choice for Album of the Week, Skepta's fifth studio […]
The Quietus prefers avantguard electro and hip hop, and modern metal. Aseethe is the letter. 'Throes' is third album by doom/drone metalers from Iowa, and that geography you can hear on the album - "there are more than a few moments here that call to mind this indelible memory of the plains: extended drone passages […]
Flying Lotus is a "master at shifting tone, and knows how to take listeners on an exhilarating journey that unites both calm and chaos" - NME says in it's review of sixth album by experimental producer-rapper (they gave it five out of five stars). The album includes guest appearances by Solange, George Clinton, Thundercat, Toro y […]
Consequence of Sound gives Tyler, the Creator A- for his new album 'IGOR' - "Tyler has become more focused, honing his production skills and discovering that the art of crafting albums is more rewarding than shock value and banger clout... While the harmonic soulfulness expressed on 'IGOR' is among the best in hip-hop, Tyler’s choice to manipulate […]
"'Reward' goes down smooth, languidly hypnotic like a meditative zen state. It’s starkly beautiful, with a patience that was no doubt derived from the long, arduous hours she spent making furniture" - Stereogum writes about their latest choice for Album of the Week, folk-rock singer-songwriter Cate Le Bon and her fifth album 'Reward', which she made […]
Arizona experimental rap trio Injury Reserve have an album out that will "definitely appeal to the types of rap fans who listen to stuff like Death Grips and Run The Jewels", Brooklyn Vegan writes about the threesome's debut. Production "ranges from heady electronic music to abrasive industrial, and rappers Ritchie With a T and Stepa […]
"In just 35 minutes of music. 'Living Theatre' is a spectacular album, remarkable for how much it crams into such a short space of time, and for what worlds it manages to conjure within the confines of ten songs, two of which are instrumental... Perfect intersection of nature and artifice, the very definition of what organic music […]
The National have their eight studio album out, 'I Am Easy to Find', and critics like it: "It’s rarely sounded as vulnerable as it does here--song after song" - the A.V. Club; "It might challenge some fans and may not ever grow on others, but more than anything, it proves that the National are not […]
"On 'Adore' Numenorean managed to step outside of the mold of their main influence and craft an intricate and emotional album" - Metal Storm reviews second album by Canadian post-black metal band (or blackgaze, which is essentially the same) Numenorean. Everything is Noise has words of praise as well - Numenorean delivered "a beautifully conceived progressive […]
Hælos have the ability to dig deep into core, universal themes like love, faith, and loss, and on their second album, 'Any Random Kindness', the band have decided to focus their gaze outwards, addressing themes ranging from the destruction of the planet to the emptiness and loneliness of social media. The band have also chosen to broaden […]
We needn’t raise technology to be a “monster.” 'PROTO' is a love song to the capacity for machine-made music to be full of life - artist Holly Herndon wrote about her amazing new album which she made with help from a artificial intelligence she named Spawn. She explains in an interview with the Vice: "We wanted to […]
"With 'I: Voice', Warforged aim to explode away from obscurity with perhaps the most unpretentiously progressive death metal releases of recent times, taking inspiration from deathcore to tech-death and beyond" - Invisible Oranges reviews debut album by Chicago black-death metal quintet Warforged. Angry Metal Guy is equally enthusiastic: "With time and a little trimming this arboraceous […]
Each track on second album by Chicago-based poet, singer, activist, and teacher is named after a cultural icon who inspired Woods and shaped her identity as an artist and individual. "'Legacy! Legacy!' dapples in R&B, funk, rap, jazz, and even some electronica", and is "a beacon for a type of self-empowerment informed by the predecessors who […]
"On 'Young Enough', Charly Bliss have brightened and broadened their sound, adding new clarity and texture without sacrificing any of the full-speed-ahead immediacy that they had on 'Guppy'... The melodic intensity never lets up over the course of 40-or-so minutes. It’s a fun record to an almost exhausting degree" - Stereogum reviews Brooklyn power-pop band's second album; […]
"Ghostly, experimental jazz that sets a new standard for music of its kind. A deeply tasteful and meditative recording" - PopMatters really likes debut album by Odum, out today. It's a new band consisting of Chicago underground masterminds Eric Block (Veloce) and Bruce Lamont (Yakuza, Corrections House), and Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley added drums […]
"You can hear a band pushing past their boundaries with striking results" - Guardian's Alexis Petridis says of his Album of the Week choice, Vampire Weekend's 'Father of the Bride'. "The lyrics occasionally suggest that the musical restlessness is meant to mirror the uncertainty of the world in 2019, but ultimately 'Father of the Bride' […]
Folk-rock quartet Big Thief have a new album 'U.F.O.F.' out on Friday, and it's Stereogum's pick for this week's Album of the Week. At the basis of the album stands "lead songwriter Adrianne Lenker now widely regarded as one of the most technically skilled and lyrically incisive musicians to emerge over the past five years. […]
"She draws from Armenian folk performances, classical choral music, and improvisatory jazz, only to defy all expectations for every single one of these genres" PopMatters reviews avant-garde folk by Armenian singer Areni Agbabian. "The key to Areni Agbabian's success on 'Bloom is' a purity of emotion; passion laid bare".
"The beats here may slap like club beats slap, but the sounds that twist and turn over them are unlike anything else, mixing the energy of punk, the squelch of p-funk, the strut and heat of ballroom house, the future shock of experimental electronica, and the wild, freeform harmolodics of free jazz – not to […]
Ishmael Ensemble's debut album 'A State Of Flow' comes out next week. Guardian says it's "pitched somewhere between astral jazz, burbling electronica, trippy minimalism, psychedelic dub and 20 years of club culture". Listen to song 'Lapwing' here, or an awesome live performance here.
"'Designer' is Harding’s third album, and like the two that preceded it, it’s absolutely gorgeous, at least on a surface level. Her music rests on delicate little details: lightly strummed acoustic guitars, brushed cymbals, softly tapped bongos and xylophones, piano lines that move like ripples across a lake’s surface... Every song has a subtle groove, […]
"Michael O’Neill has pretty much been a ‘those who know, know’ sorta figure, but word of mouth isn’t enough for an album this good" - the Quietus reviews debut album by Mancunian alt-rapper Michael O’Neill. "Sam Weaver, O’Neill himself and electroacoustic musician Danny Saul have combined for something that’ll likely need several listens before you […]
