The compositions are largely stripped down to flute and harp. Melodically quite simple, most of the album comes across as unremarkable borderline elevator music to me. The BIG exception for me is "Body to Inhabit", a collab with rapper E L U C I D, a rewrite of a track that originally came out under the Armand Hammer moniker as "Switchboards" which E L U C I D uses for his collabs with billy woods. The original release was dark, psychedelic with a tongue-in-cheek sample ... read more

Musically I get why everyone's so into this, but I'm personally very sceptical of this very japanese tradition of soft lolita pop. I mean: What does it say about the sexual relationships of a culture, when most female singers to come out of it sound like their only goal in life is to be kawai? Or am I being too harsh?

"Nue" is a tasty ear worm, that's all I need.

Nice melodies, interesting voice, self-conscious lyrics... and a bit too much strings and other fluffy things.

A pretty decent pop album of the noughts. The internationalism, the travelling, the cheerful references to faraway places and love.... those were indeed very different times.

What a disappointment. The boys of the band have put too much faith in the hype, the result is as tasty as a days old sandwich. If you're like really hungry, you might eat it, but... why? Why would you?

A deeply meditative and unexpectedly successful recording by kraut legend Manuel Göttsching who sadly passed away last year at the tender age of 70 (all the good ones go young as they say). Recorded during a spontaneous continous one hour session in 1981it was only released three years later and only started gaining recognition once legendary NY DJ Larry Levan introduced the record to his set. Since then E2-E4s renown has only grown: I've heard it being seriously discussed as the world's ... read more

A pretty uneven record with a few bland pieces mixed in with some of the most lush and joyful brasilian jazz funk groove to ever bore itself into my head and refuse to leave.

Pretty nice instrumental techno which unfortunately doesn’t quite reach the immediacy of brandt brauer frick.

I do like the jazzy drums however it would have hit a lot harder had sw. gone all in on actually using drums and not drum loops. Pushing it more into Eli Keszler territory and less into the generic Ambient Techno territory it now wallows in.

very competent and poppy alt-rock-psych by the inimitable dwayne johnson. unfortunately i find myself getting bored after the first few songs.

The hyped prince of afrobeats asake makes a brilliant album which is unfortunately not my cup of tea: never been a big fan of gospelly hymns and spiritual messages.

There's something absolutely feral about Anna von Hauswolff's performance which makes the tiny white hairs on the nape of my neck go tingling.

A very refreshing take on the male dominated toureg blues. Self-consciously soulful, the record contains several ridiculously inventive variations of the sahara blues formula, proving that hey blues can also be full of peppy pop energy.

This must be at least in conversation for one of the worst album covers in history, not made better by the presence of Udo Lindenbergh on drums who has reserved a special place in hell for torturing me with his old uncle rock schlock (gubbrock it's called in swedish). But hey, whaddyaknow, this record surprises! Contrary to expectations it consists of two great krauty dance tracks full of latin american rhythms - recorded in Munich, 1970.

Maps has been growing steadily on me for the past month. An album about traveling and touring, it's a trip. Poetic rhymes about weed, fine cooking, traveling, love and racism. As disparate as the topics are, it never slows down and never feels forced. The music sounds a bit like some of MF Doom and Madlib's best work but still very clearly billy woods.

Hello, I am your new biggest fan. Please never stop.

First heard "Feu de Joie" on Steve Albini's NTS Podcast: a playful choir singing about a king (I think? My French sucks) interspersed with super energetic punk noise rock. Wow! The rest of the album is equally great: The post-punky En Solitaire has been blasting my speakers for over a month's time now. 5100, Les Sommets and Montreal are all absolutely delightful indie/noise/punk rock gems. Really surprised that this hasn't gotten a larger following.

Möbelhaus Ibiza Hell

It kind of wafts and swirls without much of a direction... Like looking at the play of light in the leaves above at a lake or lying in bed somewhere inbetween sleep and waking.