2019 October Listenings

Posted on October 1, 2019
Tags: music and stuff

百合花 - 燒金蕉

I’m really glad there are still decent bands in Taiwan. 不聽可惜

Release date: 2019-09-06

[9.0/10]

Telefon Tel Aviv - Dreams Are Not Enough

FFO Have A Nice Life and Planning For Burial. All banger no filler.

Release date: 2019-09-27

[8.8/10]

Richard Dawson - 2020

Doesn’t disappoint whatsoever.

Release date: 2020-10-30

[8.7/10]

Minor Pieces - The Heavy Steps Of Dreaming

Slowcore will never die, but you will. Exquisite lofi glitchy folk / electronica.

Release date:

[8.7/10]

Proc Fiskal - Shleekit Doss

I didn’t really pay a lot of attention to his last album, but this EP totally slays… awesome UK grime. Also gotta say it’s insane how Hyperdub always manages to find dope stuff.

Release date:

[8.6/10]

Loraine James - For You And I

Glitchy club music. I like the techno beats on this album. Another stunning release from Hyperdub!

Release date: 2019-09-20

[8.6/10]

Maria w Horn - Epistasis

FFO Ellen Arkbro, Kali Malone and Abul Mogard. I’m a sucker for this type of music…

Release date: 2019-10-25

[8.6/10]

Ernest Hood - Neighborhoods

So this album was actually released in 1975… I guess Pitchfork is quite accurate in calling it proto-ambient? A large portion of this album consists of field recordings and they really do help bring out an imagination of the American suburbs, and they pair very well with the old time sounding instrumentation. Nice stuff.

Release date: 2011-01-01

[8.5/10]

DJ Spinna - 1997 Beat Tape

Nujabes fans will definitely dig this.

Release date: 2019-06-21

[8.5/10]

Weatherday - Come In

This is what would happen if Phil Elverum plays punk rock. The track My Sputnik Sweetheart is especially visceral. Overall an awesome emo album (can’t believe there are actually still people that know how to do a proper emo record…)

Release date: 2021-01-14

[8.4/10]

HTRK - Venus in Leo

Delicate indie electronica / pop. Somehow feels like a sadder Beach House…

Release date: 2019-08-30

[8.3/10]

S S S S - Walls, Corridors, Baffles

Borderline noise experimental electronica. Think Ben Frost’s By the Throat, but more abrasive. I’m a sucker for this kind of stuff…

Release date:

[8.3/10]

Floating Points - Crush

This one is more techno than jazzy electronica. Still pretty dope.

Release date: 2000-01-01

[8.2/10]

Sana Obruent - End Game

Haunting ambient. It gradually gets more intense as the album approaches its end.

Release date: 2017-12-08

[8.2/10]

Toshifumi Hinata - Broken Belief

Pretty good new age. This is a compilation of the artist’s music from the 80’s so I guess it makes sense.

Release date: 2019-09-19

[8.2/10]

Danny Brown - uknowhatimsayin¿

I feel like it’s much more surprising if one day Danny Brown puts out a wack album. This album is killer just like his older stuff.

Release date: 2019-10-04

[8.2/10]

Cult Of Luna - A Dawn to Fear

I don’t know what’s not to like about this band or this album.

Release date: 2019-09-20

[8.2/10]

Sote - Parallel Persia

Techno / experimental album from Iran. The plucked ethnic instruments in the songs give a cacophonic yet enticing feel to the overall sound of this album, and the beats are pretty killer.

Release date: 2019-04-26

[8.1/10]

Old Man Saxon, Cer Spence - Goldman Sax

Quality chillhop. Gorgeous instrumentals and flows.

Release date: 2019-04-24

[8.1/10]

Ka Baird - Respires

Minimalistic experimental album. Pretty fun to listen to, but requires multiple listens. Greg Fox played the drums for this album.

Release date: 2019-10-25

[8.0/10]

Afrodeutsche - Break Before Make

Funky, upbeat techno music.

Release date: 2018-06-08

[8.0/10]

Pessimist, Karim Maas - Pessimist & Karim Maas

Chilling, dark and restrained techno.

Release date: 2019-06-21

[7.9/10]

Klein - Lifetime

That first song was pretty spooky. I like how this album’s overall sound has a raw distorted quality to it. Pretty decent experimental album.

Release date: 2021-01-21

[7.8/10]

Air Max ’97 - Ice Bridge

Intense techno tracks here. Put out a full length already…

Release date: 2019-09-27

[7.8/10]

Philippe Cam - Rotterdam

Chilled-out ambient / minimal techno. Some tracks remind me of Visible Cloak’s stuff.

Release date: 2021-03-12

[7.8/10]

Carl Gari, Abdullah Miniawy - Whities 023 (The Act of Falling from the 8th Floor)

Pretty neat album. Bass-heavy electronica plus Egyptian chants and trumpets.

Release date: 2019-09-06

[7.7/10]

Yosi Horikawa - Spaces

IDM + hip hop + world music(?). The songs are pretty fun to listen to.

Release date: 2020-02-01

[7.7/10]

Equip - Nocturne Catacombs

Funky vaporwave.

Release date:

[7.6/10]

Deathprod - Occulting Disk

Industrial / dark ambient. Spooky af.

Release date: 2019-10-25

[7.4/10]

Tribe Of Colin - Age of Aquarius

Techno music. A pretty safe one.

Release date: 1969

[7.4/10]

Comit - Remote Viewing

Organic sounding techno.

Release date: 2019-08-12

[7.4/10]

J Rick - No Retreat No Surrender

Short and sweet UK hip-hop / jazzy pop mixtape. I think this mixtape are a bit unfocused at times, but then I like how jazzy it sounds throughout the entire project.

Release date: 2008-11-10

[7.3/10]

Topdown Dialectic - Vol. 2

Pretty safe compared to their first album.

Release date: 1998-11-29

[7.2/10]

Stavros Gasparatos - Rage Park

Gloomy modern classical.

Release date: 2020-03-27

[7.1/10]

Mestozi - Peak Communication

On the artist’s Bandcamp page there are tags like “folk rap”, “neo-folk” and “blues”, so that’s a strong indication of this album being something quite refreshing to listen to. However IMO none of the songs are really that memorable. I’d say this is still pretty much chillwave rap.

Release date:

[7.0/10]

Claro Intelecto - Forgotten Wasteland

Dub house / techno. Pretty good and I like how the beats are a bit distorted, but this EP overall doesn’t stand out from the rest of the crowd.

Release date: 2019-06-21

[7.0/10]

Mark Lanegan - Somebody’s Knocking

Alternative rock jams with a gothic undertone. Kinda sounds like the Killers with a raspier vocal if you ask me…

Release date: 2019-10-18

[7.0/10]

Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Bryce Dessner, eighth blackbird - When We Are Inhuman

Not the strongest stuff from Bonnie Prince (Viva Last Blues and I See A Darkness are two albums I’d consider as his magnum opus) . Still a pretty soothing album though.

Release date: 2019-08-30

[6.9/10]

Danny Scott Lane - How to Empty a Cup

Shimmery ambient.

Release date:

[6.8/10]

Angel Olsen - All Mirrors

Indie chamber pop. I feel like this album has a chanson like grandiose quality to it. Not the biggest fan of the flamboyant overall sound of this album…

Release date: 2019-10-04

[6.7/10]

Bakongo - Momoweb / Disposition / Goulbap

Techno with some African percussions.

Release date: 2019-09-06

[6.7/10]

slowthai - Nothing Great About Britain

overrated

Release date: 2019-05-17

[6.5/10]

Wilco - Ode to Joy

Don’t see how this album is different from all the other Wilco albums. Definitely not an awful album though.

Release date: 2019-10-04

[6.5/10]

DIIV - Deceiver

This could be any other shoegaze band’s stuff and I wouldn’t be able to tell which band came up with it. Or maybe I’m just too old for this…

Release date: 2013-06-25

[6.1/10]

Thaiboy Digital - Legendary Member

Maybe it’s just me but I’ve always found mumble rap to be an obnoxious form of music… To be fair some tracks do have decent instrumentals, but then even in the best moments on this album it’s just less irritating radio trap bangers.

Release date: 2019-09-26

[5.8/10]

Opeth - In Cauda Venenum

OMG CAN’T FINISH

Release date: 2019-09-27

[4.6/10]

當代電影大師 - 狀態

… I mean the songs are just really not good… the narcissistic lyrics and the pretentious whiny vocals don’t help either. 整個受不鳥

Release date: 2019-10-18

[4.4/10]

Kanye West - Jesus Is King

I guess Ye made this album just for the lulz. Closed on Sunday, you’re my Chick-fill-A? This line says everything about the album.

Release date: 2019-10-25

[4.0/10]

Fabulous Diamonds - Commercial Music

Grossly overlooked experimental album.

Release date: 2021-06-01

[9.0/10]

Madteo - Noi No

King Midas Sound + minimal techno.

Release date: 2019-08-09

[8.5/10]

Soccer Mommy - Clean

FFO Shura and Jay Som. However the album sound very exuberant and lush, and is much more in the vein of indie rock music compared to the said two artists.

Release date: 2018-03-02

[8.4/10]

Pan Sonic - Aaltopiri

I still like Kesto more…

Release date: 2000

[8.1/10]

Sarn - Postmodern Trash

Even if the singing is totally off I still consider this a fun one… just that probably not everyone will enjoy it. The brass in the track Fss is pretty nasty.

Release date:

[7.2/10]

Jóhann Jóhannsson - Virðulegu Forsetar

Not a fan of the triumphant sounding horns. Overall sounds pretty safe to me.

Release date: 2004

[6.6/10]