Day 12 of An Album A Day Challenge: Criteria 2 - An album that came out this year

Red Moon In Venus - Kali Uchis

This has a charming sound and is pleasant to listen to, but nothing really stands out to me

Day 11 of An Album A Day Challenge: Criteria 4 - An album you haven't heard yet from one of your favourite artists

Syro - Aphex Twin

This is just my bread and butter. Weird, slimy, bleepy-bloopy and goopy sounds and creepy distant chimes with cold synths? Yes please. However I feel like in comparison to DrukQs (incredibly high bar!!) this just lacks a bit of the individuality, whether that be the balls-to-the-wall insanity of Cock/ver10 and Mt Saint Michel + Saint Michaels Mount, or the ... read more

Day 10 of An Album A Day Challenge: Criteria 6 - An album recommended by a friend or family

93 'til Infinity - Souls of Mischief

Although I've listened to the title track dozens of times, I've never actually listened to this album until now. But since I'm seeing them at a show soon, I thought it was worth getting to know their debut. This is a great album with exceptional beats and sampling. I feel like this record should come with a massive sticker that says: "FUNKY BASSLINES GUARANTEED ... read more

Day 9 of An Album A Day Challenge: Criteria 1 - An album with a primarily female vocalist, or made by a woman

Vespertine - Björk

I love everything about this. The ambient glitchy instrumentals, the (icelandic children's?) choir, Björk just doing her thing - being an inbredible singer-songwriter and having the coolest eccentricities. The whole album just sounds like you're wrapped up in bed on a snowy winter night, it's cold and dark outside, but you've got a log fire burning and ... read more

Day 8 of An Album A Day Challenge: Criteria 3 - An album from a non-English speaking country

Scenery - Ryo Fukui

What a fantastic album. Beautiful and serene, but also triumphant. Honestly I can see this becoming one of my favourite albums ever with time.

Day 7 of An Album A Day Challenge: Criteria 7 - An albumfrom a genre you would not normally listen to

La Ragazza Dalla Pelle Di Luna - Piero Umiliani

Really nice soundtrack here. It's very brooding, and can sound desolate at times, but there's this intangible driving undercurrent throughout that keeps on steadily flowing. I especially enjoyed the percussion, which although understated for most of the album, comes to the fore on Stella Del Sud, a stark-sounding track with nothing but echoing ... read more

Day 6 of An Album A Day Challenge: Criteria 6 - An album recommended by a friend or family

Thanks Matt for the rec. I love horny music.

Day 5 of An Album A Day Challenge: Criteria 1 - An album with a primarily female vocalist, or made by a woman

Homogenic - Björk

When you're vibing tf out to Björk making beep beep noises you know this is a phenomenal album.

Day 4 of An Album A Day Challenge: Criteria 5 - An album with a fun cover

An Insatiable High - Masayoshi Takanaka

Okay this album has one of the best covers I think I've ever seen in my life. 11/10 cover.
Some good songs on here, great blend of jazz/samba/funk. Pretty damn solid.
MALIBU I'm not so keen on; it really just sounds like the waiting line for when a phone company puts you on hold. Ugh.

Day 3 of An Album A Day Challenge: Criteria 4 - An album you haven't heard from one of your favourite artists

Elliott Smith - Elliott Smith

Quiet, introspective, crushingly sad. Exceptional songwriting and expressive melodies. Deeply, deeply personal - I feel like I'm in Elliott's head as he's walking around the city. Moments of intensity are rare, but incredibly cathartic: "You're killing a Southern Belle!", and as a result, you pay so much more attention to every line.

I'm also a ... read more

Day 2 of An Album A Day Challenge: Criteria 2 - An album that came out this year

Dogsbody - Model/Actriz

Holy hell what a listen. The genius blend of danceable post-punk and crashing noise rock really creates an insidious and claustrophic atmosphere. Despite how LOUD this project is, I found that at its most cathartic moments it manages to sound very fragmented and brittle, which is a really novel experience personally.

Although the least frenzied moments on this album (Divers, Sleepless) ... read more

Day 1 of An Album A Day Challenge: Criteria 3 - An album from a non-English speaking country

Dead Men Don't Smoke Marijuana - S.E. Rogie

Really soothing and pleasant to listen to. Also has a very interesting blend of Western-sounding folk acoustic and calypso vocals! I love how personal this album sounded; 90% of the time you've only got three instruments playing (acoustic guitar, upright bass, vocals) so it's a very intimate experience.
Admittedly I listened to this while I was working, so ... read more

Sounds like water - make of that what you will - some songs are like rapids, some like soaring waterfalls, some like meandering rivers, some like still lakes with a peaceful surface but ripples are rising to the surface from the deep.

Favourite songs: Happy Ending, Let It Go/On the Run, Contact, Raven, Far Away

Amazing super swag and so tropical I love it. Can’t wait to see what the rest of his albums are like

i laughed, i cried, i cheered. i salute Lil Boat for this incredible achievement

Hackle's verse on Hallowed Be My Wrist melted my face

I really like this but (like a lot of Haunted Mound projects) after several tracks the songs start to feel kind of indistinguishable from the others. It doesn’t help that Sematary cycles through very similar flows. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy it - the pure abrasiveness and energy of it is awesome.

Hate And Gasoline and Smokin Out Da Grave are pretty bad. Sematary really doesn’t work for me when he’s ... read more

What a beautiful album that combines darkness and dance! I’m heavily biased here as a massive Cure fan - this (and Wish) are my go to “fun” Cure albums, and I think they definitely succeed in bringing joyful trappings to their textbook gloom.

Push is by far my favourite, definitely in my top 5 Cure songs of all time. Holyyyyy shitttt that guitar refrain, those explosive drums, which all build up to Robert going offff in the second half!

The Baby Screams is also one of my ... read more

Feels super personal and a lot of her emotions really connected with me. Couple tracks didn’t click with me but I still appreciate what she was trying to do with them. She has an incredible voice and I think she’s at her best when the vocals are jumping between frenzied electronic beats or lazily caressing a trip hop instrumental. ‘Like Someone In Love’ was my favourite and has a huge emotional payoff when the strings hit.

Great album, excited to go into the rest of her ... read more

angelic and super calming

A pleasant listen, mystical and mesmerising. Some of the songs feel like filler but they are still enjoyable!