September
Has No Fate/Twin - Council on Foreign Relations
More of an EP than an album, but it has enough ideas (and notes) for a double release. This New York duo flummoxes with a mathy, yet catchy, version of rock that leans towards a more coherent Hella or the swing for the fences ambition of Trail of the Dead. There’s not a tremendous amount of info about these gents, and considering their first release was out in 2022, we might be witnessing the germs of something truly special.
Endlessness - Nala Sinephro
Even as much of a sucker as I am for chamber jazz, this is something else. Sinephro’s last album was a delightfully spacy piece of ambient music but there have been few clearer level ups than Endlessness. There are moments here touching on the grandeur of Floating Points and Pharoah Sander’s Promises, a revelation, an elation.
Lancé esto al otro lado del mar - Cristóbal Avendaño & Silvia Moreno
Astoundingly beautiful folk music from Chile with a deep swell of melancholy. Add poetry readings in Spanish and–well I was going to make a joke about walking straight into the sea–but I’m afraid someone might actually do that.
Nadir - GROZA
Brutal and beautiful black metal from Bavaria, one of the year’s finest beatdowns. GROZA fill a similar niche to Harakiri for the Sky or Woods of Desolation, mixing triumphant swells of guitar with an avalanche of drum fills that creates a wonderful ambivalence. Also a hell of an album to bike to.
Sunrise Over Rigor Mortis - BEATEN TO DEATH
Sometimes I say “hey this isn’t for everyone” and that’s such a cop out phrase. But uh holy hell is this not for everyone. Chaotic evil grindcore that’ll rip the spine out of ya with a smile.
Cloud Song - Peter Oren
Check out our interview with Peter! But also listen to this forlorn and pensive nugget of folky uncertainty. The first half of the EP dips into Oren’s abyssal bass-baritone, pairing it with restrained guitar work and a pit of anxiety. The last two songs are full on rockers, showing a different side of Oren’s work, still uneasy; but with a slab of muscle behind the weariness.
My Method Actor - Nilüfer Yanya
Yanya is deeply indebted to the ‘90s, but in a wonderful, grabbag way. The heavy glaze of Smashing Pumpkins shows up often, as she’s quick to turn a soft guitar riff into an unholy ripper on a dime (see “Like I Say”). But album centerpiece “Ready for the Sun (touch)” lands somewhere between wistful trip-hop and chamber pop.
Soft Tissue - Tindersticks
Tindersticks have been around for decades, but their reinvention as an R&B band fronted by the world’s most depressed baritone really works for saddos like me.
Черна мъст (Dark Retribution) - Мракобес
Who wants Bulgarian folk metal? You!