Marissa Nadler - On the Path of the Clouds (Sacred Bones)
]]>Hunki Dori - Reverie (Ingrown)
Fire-Toolz - Eternal Home (Hausu Mountain)
The Billows Burn Bright - Comprehensive List
The Home Current - Vodka Parade (Wormhole World)
]]>So how about this - we're giving you a list of 10-20 albums for review. Then, once most of the reviews are done, we're going to collect them and do a post on the front page.
You're free to do short/Twitter-style ones as well as longform. You're also free to add suggestions to the list (via add reply button at the end) - anything from the current year goes!
So without further ado....
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Uncle Fido - Tipentap Pleasantly Terrified
Sulk Rooms - Overheard Conversations // suggested by Rick Flynn
Forest Robots - Horst & Graben (Elm Records)
Nataliya Beylis - Pink Sky Dawn (Early Music) // suggested by Greg N.
Robert Halcrow - S/T (Sticky Frog Records)
]]>https://deafheavens.bandcamp.com/album/infinite-granite
I've been listening closely to all sorts of music for fifty years, and I realized you can usually take any new music apart to it's component influences. With Deathheaven I can hear a deep love of British 80s to 90s pop. Swervedriver, New Order, Lush, Curve, Boo Radleys, Radiohead come to mind. But also a hint of Coldplay - not the cringey part. Deafheaven use a similar smooth vocal tone, with long sustained syllables.
It's fair to talk about influences but does it come together as more than a collection of inherited mannerisms? "Infinite Granite" does. The outro on "Villain" sounds both like Muse in majestic high spirits and melodic stoner metal. The mood is dark, almost goth-sad in places - a judgement I formed without paying attention to the lyrics. It's melodically wistful, verging on mournful music even without the singing.
The production emphasizes those big buildups to full on walls of distorted guitar. The sound is so full at every frequency it melds into a single roaring sound with the drumming punching through like a boxer. Daniel Tracey's drumming is powerful and deeply detailed, informed as much by hip hop and rare groove jazz drumming, without forsaking his metal roots.
I gather they were more metal on previous records, so comparing them to Coldplay may make the band uncomfortable. But the essence of good pop songwriting is to take it right to the edge of being cheesy and sentimental. Where Coldplay sailed off that cliff like Thelma & Louise 2 decades ago, Deafheaven rides the edge with the joy of finding a sound and melody that feels physically & emotionally right.
NNNYz? - Reveries // suggested by Gribbles
Alicia Breton Ferrer - Headache Sorbet // suggested by We Are Joiners
CLAIR - Earth Mothers // suggested by odubhda
Cruel Diagonals - A Dormant Vigor // suggested by odubhda
Eimear Reidy & Natalia Beylis - Whose Woods These Are // suggested by odubhda
Damon and Naomi - A Sky Record // from the listen log of Ben
Rupert Lally - Beyond The Night (Subexotic) // suggested by Soulscorch
Repeated Viewing - The Family (Spun Out of Control) // suggested by Soulscorch
Ishmael Ensemble - Visions of Light (Severn Songs) // suggested by Soulscorch
The New Emphatic - Visa to the Stars (Wormhole World) // suggested by Soulscorch
Badge Epoque - Scroll // suggested by Lisa Coverdale
Reviews Around the Web
Liars - The Apple Drop (Mute) // via Nervous Curtains
Greg Nieuwsma - In C: Flea Market (Submarine Broadcasting Company) // via Narvvahls
]]>Piroshka - Love Drips & Gathers (Bella Union)
Reviews from around the web
Arushi Jain - Under the Lilac Sky
KARKHANA - Al Azraqayn (Karlrecords)
]]>T-Tops - Staring at a Static Screen (Magnetic Eye Records)
Expo 70 - Evolution (Sonic Meditations)
Dating - I Would Prefer Not To
Flaaryr - Warm Light and Entanglement (post-dreifing)
https://t.co/J6JYAv47ms
https://tqn-aut.bandcamp.com/album/mur
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Letters From Mouse - An gàrradh (Subexotic)
Beefus B - Experiments in Sound (Triplicate Records)
Andrew Tasselmyer - Piano Frameworks (Disintegration State)
GNOD - Easy to Build, Hard to Destroy (Rocket Recordings)
Burial - Chemz/Dolphinz (Hyperdub)
Cube Underlord - Terror TV (Welcome to Clydebank)
Dohnavur - The Flow Across the Borders (Castles in Space)
Incidental Crack - Municipal Music (Herhalen)
Colleen - The Tunnel and the Clearing (Thrill Jockey)
Sweet Trip - A Tiny House, In Secret Speeches, Polar Equals (Darla Records)
Compilations
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