The Golden Boy_ will have fans of bands like Depeche Mode and The Cure recognizing familiar traces in MPTHY’s sound.
New York City-based experimental jazz trio, Premature Burial, deliver a mind bending debut that serves as a wormhole to the other side of the universe.
French experimentalist Delphine Dora teams up with Northern England’s Sophie Cooper for an album of dank, murky improvisations recorded in Todmorden Unitarian Church in West Yorkshire, UK.
She multitasks while decked out in impossibly cool street fashion and maintains an aura of self-possession rivaling Prince and Bowie at their most whacked out.
In the early ’90s, Swans released two albums that would provide the sonic blueprint for their 2010 reemergence.
Plum seamlessly bridges the gap between Cream and The Stooges, who are not as far apart from each other as one would immediately think
In early December 1994, Suicide’s Alan Vega, Big Star’s Alex Chilton and singer-songwriter Ben Vaughn crammed into a lower Manhattan studio for two nights to record with no boundaries, structured songs or preconceived notions of what they were supposed to do.
In a cybernetic bizarro universe, Baltimore’s Drew Owen, aka one-man garage punk band Sick Thoughts, teams up with NYC synth pop composer Don Seun for twenty minutes of teeth-gnarling lo-fi industrial punk as Cellulite.
“it’s a delightful trek through the musical histories of these two veteran performers. And while it’s undoubtedly stuffed full of hits, these songs are indelible. And believe me, this is the highest praise from someone who as a rule doesn’t care for live albums. If you buy one live recording, make it this one.”
Songs like “Killed4Profit,” and “The Game” are slick and stylized R&B, but synthetic and feel eerily sterile—like a choir of robotic computers composing soul music.
California noisemongers, +DOG+ end the year with forty-eight minutes of depressive industrial sludge.
For part time musicians, Chickenpox Party have created a wonderfully focused and conceptually solid release.
In the 1950s, renowned sculptor/furniture designer, Harry Bertoia, had an epiphany when he realized the possibilities of sonic resonance that lived within his creations.
In 1964, France’s Françoise Hardy fully hit her stride on her third album, having somehow convinced her label, Disques Vogues, to send her across the Channel to record with London-based Joe Meek protégé, Charles Blackwell.
As Antlered Aunt Lord, Tunabunny drummer, Jesse Stinnard, serves up his solo debut of odd, incongruent lo-fi recordings that somehow make sense as an album.
DC/Philly-based improvisers, Kohoutek, add to their legacy with two sides of mind-expanding psychedelia.
Kurt Stenzel’s heady electronic soundtrack for Frank Pavich’s 2013 film, Jodorowsky’s Dune, finally sees an official release that stands on its own as a classic of electronic music.
Los Angeles-based composer, Mark Van Hoen, has delved into electronic music for nearly thirty-five years with records running the spectrum from Berlin school pulses to throbbing EDM, all of which influence his latest ethereal synth-driven release.
Long Island’s Neorev finally returns to the physical format after six years with bona fide “best of” that collects collaborative highlights from his now out of print Bandcamp EPs with some stunning new material, proving, once and for all, that he is the best electronic artist you’ve never heard of.
Osaka, Japan’s genre bending jazz maestros, Out of Dust, team up with controversial saxophonist, Gilad Atzmon, once again, this time in the studio for another eclectic collection of music.
Second in a series of reissues following “Tous Les Garçons Et Les Filles”, Françoise Hardy’s sophomore French-language LP receives its first proper domestic release, restored to the original mono mixes.
Brooklyn-based heavy blues power trio, Courtesy Tier, showcase their talent for solid songwriting with an edge on their new three-song release.
Long before it was a US state, Hawaii was revered as an exotic, mysterious paradise of relaxation and cool in mainland popular culture.
Sydney, Australia’s The Necks return with their eighteenth album of jazz deconstruction, which finds their improvisation floating on an ominous note.
Hatton writes as if he were a storyteller or a traveling troubadour collecting tales, and his painterly lyricism offers glimpses into little vignettes of everyday life.
The strength of The Nature Of Us is that it doesn’t try too hard to be something more than it is—a collection of pop songs—and in a counter-intuitive way of doing things, actually manages to elevate itself into the realm of true art.
Known primarily for his innovative work as a Hi-NRG disco producer who assembled hits for Sylvester and Paul Parker, Patrick Cowley also composed sprawling electronic Berlin school-ish instrumentals, which drew on influences like Tomita and Wendy Carlos.
The album is self-described as “a concept album where Pink Floyd meets Blue Oyster Cult and the Phantom of the Opera.”
Though the title boasts “Vol.1,” Ireland/UK-based United Bible Studies have existed for well over a decade with an ever-changing lineup.
“This album seems to be about sunshine and roses, but an unease creeps through this suite of songs. Kudos to the band for trying something different than their last album and succeeding on all levels.”
The Chapin Sisters, Abigail and Lily – daughters of folk singer Tom Chapin, return with their fourth full-length and third of original material since 2010’s Two.
While you never hear its members speak, it’s obvious Nio is a project of immense passion and drive, because you can just feel the blood and sweat in every single moment on this record.
Roberts is angrier than ever, sounding like the last man at the bar telling everyone what’s gone wrong with the world, and it makes Go By Myself one compelling listen.
Their first album since 2011’s Quarry, Big Man is a throwback to the classic, streetwise R&B of the dirtiest, grittiest, and most soulful variety from the 60’s.
Composer and Zs guitarist, Patrick Higgins, lovingly embraces the work of Johann Sebastian Bach with arrangements for classical guitar that also reflect his penchant for experimentalism.
Years before The Pentangle, even before his eponymous 1966 solo album, guitarist John Renbourn was a nineteen year old kid traveling the English countryside, meeting new friends and playing his guitar for anyone who would listen, all the while exploring and refining his finger-picking technique.
Wilco guitarist, Nels Cline, returns to his experimental roots on the sixth offering from New York psychedelic freakout duo White Out.
In late 1962, French singer-songwriter Françoise Hardy collected her first three EPs for the Disques Vogue label into an eponymous full-length, which was retitled The“Yeh-Yeh” Girl From Paris! when finally released domestically in 1965 by 4 Corners Of The World/Kapp.
The songs on Old Sea Brigade are more impressionistic and evocative than anything concrete, like traditional pop songs blowing gently by you on a passing breeze.
Parallelogram is a 5 LP set featuring never before released works by Hiss Golden Messenger, Michael Chapman, Six Organs of Admittance, William Tyler, Kurt Vile, Steve Gunn, Thurston Moore & John Moloney (Caught On Tape), Alan Bishop/Bill Orcutt/Chris Corsano (Bishop-Orcutt-Corsano Trio), Bardo Pond and Yo La Tengo.
Inky Ovine is as wonderfully inspired and individual as any other record this year is likely to produce.
Charleston, SC’s A Fragile Tomorrow return with a bang on their fifth album in twelve years.
Whether the band’s every step is calculated or they’re completely unaware of their country’s underground rock distinctions and there’s just something in the water of Lake Te Anau that creates monumental jangle pop, doesn’t matter at all. Metalmania totally rips.
Named after the street of ill repute where most of the cab-driving band members cruised to score their junk, Phoenix, AZ’s Van Buren Wheels took their town by storm, started an underground garage scene and promptly imploded due to rampant drug use.
Hailing from the Greek island of Crete, the mysterious duo known as Thee Koukouvaya deliver a solid electric pulse that is both compositional and danceable on their debut full-length.
Feelies guitarist/vocalist, Glenn Mercer, builds on ideas explored with bandmate Bill Million in their side-project, The Willies, on his first solely instrumental solo album.
Vile has managed to tap into something that transcends indie trends and peers on B’lieve I’m Goin Down….
“a lovely, atmospheric jazz album with classical and world music overtones.”
he album is a quirky and inspired take on blues and folk, and it’s the sense of individuality and personality Evans injects into it that makes it so distinctive from the herd.
