If 2021's "Delta" is the avant-garde watershed moment for electronic music that Lyra Pramuk and her team of collaborators gifted to the music world, then 2020's "Fountain" is the equivalent of that for folk.
The vocal layerings found here, and the range displayed, are mind-boggling. Every element here is voice. No other instruments required. The ambient droning in the background, the "string section," the "woodwinds," everything. And it's pure ear ... read more
Somewhere between waking and dreaming, residing in that part of your brain that every once in a while makes you remember a sensation, a scent, a sound that you'll never be able to fully place. In the liminal spaces between fully formed states of being. In the depths of the abstract that scratch the underside of your subconscious. In all things uncanny and just beyond reach, you will find the music of Lyra Pramuk.
This is technically a remix record, but only on paper is this the case. None of ... read more
After a string of ambitious experimental records that despite their admirability just haven't quite fully landed, Sufjan Stevens is back in form. With a lot of help from Angelo De Augustine.
The sheer beauty of the music on "A Beginner's Mind" has the same effect of stupefying the listener as the best acoustic rock acts that have ever played in the genre. And yes, that includes Crosby Stills and Nash and Simon and Garfunkel. It isn't as groundbreaking as the works of those past ... read more
Let's address the elephant in the room for me. I am not a fan of the "Poppy" persona that shot Moriah Rose Pereira to recognition on YouTube. Nor am I a fan of Pereira's ex-partner and creative director Titanic Sinclair, who by this point has been pretty undeniably exposed as having stolen the online "Mars Argo" persona of his former partner Brittany Sheets to create Poppy. I also don't much care for how Sinclair claimed early on in the dispute that Sheets's claims ... read more
The actual record is absolutely fantastic. But these "deluxe" version additions are far inferior and simply bog down the original release. This version is to be avoided.
The Celtic cult from deep in the woods has finally come out to play. Enjoy the music and festivities... While you can.
More impressive in concept than execution, The Body and Big Brave's country-meets-avant-garde metal collaboration is still a fun enough listening experience if one puts it on in the background.
One of the best heavy records of the year. Not for the easily disturbed.
By stripping back the ensemble to primarily acoustic and classical guitars, Pat Methany has brought contemporary jazz composition into the sonic arena of the popular new age albums of the '80s. And yes, that's a good thing.
Rivaling some of the best guitar records ever produced such as Michael Hedges's "Breakfast in the Field" and William Ackerman's "Imaginary Roads," Pat Metheny's "Road to the Sun" is even better than last year's "From This Place" and ... read more
While I love Black Dresses, this one just didn't click with me. To be honest, I found it a bit of a snore. I'm so glad it ended up not being their final release like initially stated, because "Forever in Your Heart" is mountains above this one in pretty much every conceivable way.
Fantastic boom rap, but not nearly as explosive or as watershed as Boldy's other main 2020 release, "Manger on McNichols." Sorry to make comparisons like that, but it's kind of inevitable.
Yet another tremendous post-punk release this year that hasn't quite made my year-end list despite it being very much an album to take notice of. Squid is a band to watch with great interest moving forward.
The instrospection and understated beauty of "... And Again Into the Light" makes it perhaps Panopticon's best release since 2014's "Roads to the North."
The father of techno is back with one of his most abstract and dense projects yet in "The Clairvoyant." This epic 3-LP release deals with themes of horror, the occult, and dread over the course of its massive runtime without ever getting repetitive or overstaying its welcome. Some of the most gnarly, avant-garde electronic music you're likely to hear all year.
There are moments of just pure magic on this record, with tracks like "Can't Fake It!" and "Front Seat Prelude" being very high among the highlights. But where the beats succeed, the features often fall flat or lessen the impact of the instrumentals when left on their own.
K, Le Maestro is a wizard of a producer and DJ, and his abilities as a musician cannot be denied, but I shy from giving this record all the accolades I could have because I cannot help but feel that it ... read more
Yikes. If you want to hear what a juvenile's idea of "totally epic" music sounds like, power metal is the place to venture into. But be warned: this is not for the faint of heart. For you see, once one is exposed to the bland power chord structures, the aimless lead guitar noodling, and the atrocious, atrocious vocals with the forced vibrato and faux-operatic range, one cannot unhear any of it. It may become the sound of one's nightmares for weeks, months, or even years after.
I know ... read more
Shoegaze and dream pop pulled off better by a black metal band than most modern shoegaze and dream pop bands. Still perhaps a "weaker" record for Deafheaven considering how varied and full of interesting work their catalogue is, but nevertheless an entrancing and focused release that brings the same emotional self-awareness to the fold that the band always does. It just didn't blow me away musically. But not every record has to for me to still enjoy it. And enjoy it I did.
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