Tags: music and stuff
Ian William Craig - Red Sun Through Smoke
[9.5/10]
Release date: 2020-03-20
Zelienople - Hold You Up
Meditative slowcore. Best pop record in 2020 so far. If David Sylvian one day decides to make slowcore music it’s very likely to sound just like this album.
Release date: 2010-01-01
[8.8/10]
Loke Rahbek, Frederik Valentin - Elephant
Ambient / experimental album. Not your average easy listening ambient album, this one uses a lot of different sound textures to create a wide range of moods, from lofi ambient tracks like Touch and Vision to The Heart of Things, which is almost field recording fused with indie folk instrumental ballad, then to tracks with more prevalent electronica influences like Scarlett and Solina. Good stuff…
Release date: 2003-04-01
[8.5/10]
Racine - Quelque Chose Tombe
FFO Tim Hecker, Kara-Lis Coverdale and Ben Frost. I think that pretty much covers just about every living person on earth?
Release date:
[8.5/10]
Alex Zhang Hungtai, Tseng Kuo Hung - Longone
Top notch ambient record. Don’t expect any Sunset Rollercoaster style indie rock on this album though, as the grooves in it are pretty well hidden underneath the various layers of synth textures, or in some tracks like the dissonant Scrambled Egg or Broken Gate, a lovely song with organ and piano playing in D major, there really isn’t such thing as a consistent groove.
Release date: 1992-01-01
這張很好聽
[8.4/10]
The Fear Ratio - They Can’t Be Saved
Who doesn’t love quality dub techno / ambient / IDM / industrial techno / any kind of trippy & immersive electronic music that makes you forget how much time has passed as you put the album on repeat and didn’t feel the need to change things up? Fav tracks: Sender, Grey Code, The Invisible Girl, though the entire album is pretty dope.
Release date: 2020-03-13
[8.4/10]
Horse Lords - The Common Task
Microtonal math rock. Truly an underrated band. Camille thinks it’s super annoying though.
Release date: 2020-03-13
[8.4/10]
Nicolas Jaar - Cenizas
While not really familiar with the stuff he put out under his own name, the AAL album from last month was spectacular in every aspect. This album is on the same level as the said AAL album: both are equally arresting and gnarly, but this one has more contrasts in tonalities and features more playful lead lines, like those pentatonic synth lines on Gocce.
Release date: 1992-01-01
[8.3/10]
Sega Bodega - Salvador
Glitchy minimalistic experimental / cloud pop. FFO Sophie and Rina Sawayama.
Release date: 2020-02-14
[8.3/10]
Le Berger - Our Imagined Self Importance
Twenty minutes of pure ambient goodness. People who dig William Basinski would also dig this.
Release date:
[8.3/10]
Mhysa - Nevaeh
Claustrophobic bedroom / experimental ambient pop. The extremely minimal instrumentals do contribute to an overall desolate atmosphere in the record. Good stuff.
Release date: 2019-10-25
[8.2/10]
Dan Deacon - Mystic Familiar
Neo-psychedelia / indie pop. Quality stuff, trippy & quirky & bright. I like his older stuff but I think this one is his best yet.
Release date: 2020-01-31
[8.2/10]
Pantha Du Prince - Conference Of Trees
Compared to his older stuff this one features more orchestral sounds and elements from the classical genre, but still retains that playfulness and subtle danceability found in other Pantha Du Prince albums.
Release date: 2020-03-06
[8.1/10]
The Flashbulb - Our Simulacra
I tried listening to The Flashbulb’s older breakbeat stuff when I was in high school and wasn’t impressed… guess people really acquire new appreciation for more interesting / challenging music as they grow older? Anyway this intense IDM album contains tracks ranging from laid back jazz to shredding tunes with catchy beats like Stabmyself. Good stuff.
Release date: 2020-03-24
[8.0/10]
Psypiritual, The Lasso - Kirlian
Jazz-hop / chill-hop. Didn’t pay a lot of attention to the lyrics but the flows on this album are tight AF. The instrumentals are what you’d expect from The Lasso, whose The Sound Of Lasso from last year is also super fire.
Release date: 2005-02-27
[8.0/10]
Star Searchers - Avatar Blue
Pretty decent vaporwave.
Release date:
[7.9/10]
Jacaszek - Music For Film
Haunting dark ambient. Not like one of those spooky dark ambient tunes that achieves nearly nothing music-wise, this one is bleak yet thoroughly enjoyable.
Release date: 2005-01-01
[7.8/10]
Vladislav Delay - Rakka
This one sounds more like Ben Frost than Vladislav Delay’s older minimal glitch techno. Turbulent yet majestic.
Release date: 2021-04-15
[7.8/10]
Odious Mortem - Synesthesia
Tech death. The vocals could be done better but the guitars on this record is outta this world.
Release date: 2014-05-23
[7.8/10]
Soccer Mommy - Color Theory
Indie folk / pop. I like her first album much more than this one… it is still a good album, just not as dazzling and refreshing.
Release date: 2020-02-28
[7.8/10]
Leo Takami - Felis Catus And Silence
Japanese ambient / new age meets guitar-focused jazz music. Kinda reminds me of softer songs from those Japanese jazz fusion giants…
Release date: 2020-02-28
[7.5/10]
Caribou - Suddenly
Though somewhat lacking in depth and complexity when it comes to songwriting this is definitely an album I can see people enjoy and for good reasons. I like the lofi hip-hop / R&B / pop vibe going on in this record, and the lead melodies are all done pretty well. The warped guitar and keys are very subtle but somehow still manage to sit in the mix just right.
Release date: 2020-02-28
[7.3/10]
Vyva Melinkolya - Violet
Shoegaze / indie pop. Fuzzy and worbly.
Release date: 2021-05-14
[7.3/10]
Hilary Woods - Birthmarks
Melancholic experimental drone folk.
Release date: 2013-04-16
[7.3/10]
Intronaut - Fluid Existential Inversions
I’d still say their best album is 2013’s Habitual Levitations. This album is least experimental among their discography, and overall doesn’t sound as well constructed. I do like the melodic parts with interesting chord changes, on the other hand the riffs are borderline repetitive and don’t really do much for me.
Release date: 2020-02-28
[7.0/10]
Electric Sewer Age - Contemplating Nothingness
Eerie experimental / ambient release. I like Coil more than the music Danny Hyde releases under this moniker.
Release date:
[7.0/10]
Real Estate - The Main Thing
Indie rock veterans tries and succeeds in ripping off their older materials. This is by no means an awful album, all the elements you love from their previous stuff are all present on this album, but the lack of innovations and new ideas places this album in an awkward position in Real Estate’s discography.
Release date: 2020-02-28
[6.4/10]
U.S. Girls - Heavy Light
I very much prefer U.S. Girls’ 2018 album In A Poem Unlimited, which is delightfully groovy and funky, to this one. This album contains elements from gospel, blues and country, but not really in a way that I find appealing.
Release date: 2020-03-06
[6.3/10]
Tycho - Simulcast
Wasn’t too keen on catching up with whatever Tycho was putting out… This album sounds like those background music you’d hear on vlogs of some Youtube content provider who happens to claim to be big fan of “alternative” / “indie” music. To be more specific I think the texture of the lead synths is actually pretty cool, but the songs are all pretty predictable and feel rather lackluster. Overall it just wasn’t a lot of fun listening to this album.
Release date: 2020-02-28
[6.0/10]
Code Orange - Underneath
I don’t like it… If I want metalcore / industrial crossover band I’d look for Vein over Code Orange any given day. The metal songs are pretty obnoxious with cringe worthy The softer, more alternative rock leaning tracks don’t do much for me either. Treading uncharted waters overall is definitely a good thing for bands, but this one just shows how such attempts could fail horribly.
Release date: 2020-11-08
[5.0/10]
Wouter Van Veldhoven - Verzamelen I
A collection of tracks by the artist in the past decade. Gentle, calm ambient music created with modular synth and recorded onto degraded tapes. More organic sounding than the Japanese variation of this kind of music.
Release date:
[8.4/10]
Zelienople - Pajama Avenue
Pretty classic slowcore. FFO Aerial M.
Release date:
[8.3/10]
Vatican Shadow - American Flesh For Violence
Who doesn’t love quality dub techno / industrial albums?
Release date: 2019-12-06
[8.3/10]
juneunit - juneunit
Very nicely executed dub techno / ambient.
Release date: 2019-10-20
[8.2/10]
輕描淡寫 - 小圈子
Dreamy vaporwave / ambient from… Shenzhen? 誰啊…
Release date: 2017-07-14
[8.2/10]
R Beny - Echo’s Verse
Deep, immersive ambient record.
Release date: 2019-05-15
[8.2/10]
SØS Gunver Ryberg - Entangled
Dark sounding industrial techno. There are danceable tracks like Palacelike Timescale Of Black, and then there are noise tracks like Trispider. Cool album.
Release date: 2020-05-09
[8.2/10]
Lawrence - Films & Windows
Decent deep house / ambient techno. 11 absorbing tracks, while not like a lot of artists nowadays that fuse their entire album into a singular narrative this still feels like a really cohesive album.
Release date: 2013-09-16
[8.1/10]
Brunnen - The Garden Of Perpetual Dreams
Experimental / ambient / noise album. Lots of diverse sound going on, there are almost The Caretaker like ambient tracks and then there are harsh tracks like The Revenge Of The Killer Maracas. Or maybe call it sound collage / hauntology music?
Release date:
[8.1/10]
Tony Njoku - Your Psyche’s Rainbow Panorama
Avant-pop / vaporwave pop. Need some more time to get familiarized with it…
Release date:
[8.0/10]
Roll The Dice - Until Silence
Epic experimental electronic music. There are growling tracks that reminds me of Ben Frost’s sound, and then there are slow, smooth piano-dominated tracks like Haunted Piano.
Release date:
[8.0/10]
Thantifaxath - Void Masquerading As Matter
I dig Sacred White Noise a lot but totally slept on this one when it came out in 2018. Compared to the former this record is not as discordant and eerie. Still a stellar black metal album though!
Release date:
[7.8/10]
Pye Corner Audio - Dark Phase
Acid club / IDM. Groovy stuff.
Release date: 2020-07-31
[7.7/10]
Mavi - Let The Sun Talk
Lofi jazz-hop. I think the lyrics are on point, but the instrumentals don’t really have a lot of kick.
Release date: 2019-10-18
[7.7/10]
Somaticae - Catharsis
Spooky ambient.
Release date: 2021-06-02
[7.6/10]
Sudan Archives - Sudan Archives
Hip-hop / R&B with unconventional violin lead lines. Pretty enjoyable.
Release date: 2019-11-01
[7.6/10]
Oto No Wa: Selected Sounds Of Japan 1988-2018
When compared with last year’s similarly themed compilation release by Topshelf, this one features tracks that are more playful and less contemplative. Still a good record but I’d take the one release by Topshelf any given day.
Release date: 2017-08-18
[7.5/10]
Nautilis - Are You An Axolotl
IDM / hip-hop. While stylistically diverse this album feels a bit unfocused than my liking.
Release date:
[7.4/10]
Edmund Finnis, Galya Bisengalieva, Robert Ames - Edmund Finnis: Brother
Sombre modern classical music. Too short…
Release date:
[7.2/10]
Yukari - Echo
Korean chillwave / dream pop. The entire album sounds pretty safe and harmless.
Release date: 2007-09-25
[7.1/10]
Kitty - Haha, I’m Sorry
The lyrics are pretty nonsensical but the songs themselves are alright, pretty neat cloud pop / rap stuff.
Release date: 2019-10-18
[7.0/10]
Comments