Song For Alpha once again shows Avery deconstructing his various influences and welding them together to achieve something remarkable. The result is a sweeping, majestic album that sends the listener soaring above mountainous peaks or gently brushing the canyon floor, often during the space of a single track. This is the album that will deservedly see Avery achieve the kind of acclaim and reverence that he has for those that have influenced him.
Highs and lows aside, Rausch is a marvel, and one of the most engrossing listens in 2018 so far.
RP Boo's status in footwork is more or less unimpeachable. The only way he could really mess things up is to make a bad album of new material. Luckily, I'll Tell You What! is a fantastic record.
While carrying over many of the practices of his previous record, Tim Hecker shifts his perspective away from the dreamscapes of Love Streams and explores a darker spiritual realm on Konoyo.
Ultraviolet sees Moran attempting to find the place where opposing forces converge. Starting from a minimal perspective, with a solitary piano as the main guide through this journey, she can awaken a pronounced ethereal and light characteristic, but further infuse it with a darker element.
Hopkins weaves a thematic consciousness throughout each song on Singularity and, rather astonishingly, manages to intensify the listening experience to evoke the euphoria and vivid awareness of a psychedelic experience.
If Flatlands was the initial state of the project's existence, the time that passed in between the two records saw Hertz construct this evolutionary shell and undergo an intriguing metamorphosis. Now he is ready to expose the new form of Objekt, and it results in one of the most impressive records of this year.
Maribou State have created a beautifully heterogeneous album with Kingdoms of Colour that illustrates what can be achieved by focusing one's gaze outwards and embracing diversity.
Albums from Lotic have always been ambitious, and that has verged into an almost mechanical demeanor when it comes to the music. Not to say that the works were devoid of emotion, but there was something inherently cold-blooded about the corpus of this work. At least so far, because Power makes a turn towards something more organic and compassionate.
What pushes Safe in the Hands of Love beyond the producer's previous works is the emotion that the record transmits. No matter if the synths are harsh, or the rhythm section arrives with the perfect groove, this is a work filled with an emotive purpose, and it is that core that makes it such a wonderful listen.
All That Must Be is that rare electronic album that matches musical accomplishment with an emotional pull. There are real depth and soul to the record with the head and heart working in perfect harmony.