The Quietus Albums Of The Year So Far Chart 2020

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54.
by 
Album • Apr 24 / 2020
Neo-Soul
Noteable
55.
Album • Apr 03 / 2020
Stoner Metal Heavy Psych
Popular Highly Rated

“I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig” reasoned George Bernard Shaw. “You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it.” True to form, Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs have left the wiser of us aware that they are no band to be messed with. In the seven years since this band’s inception, the powerful primal charge at their heart has been amplified far beyond the realms of their original imagination. What’s more, no one has been more taken aback by this transformation than the band themselves. This culminated recently at a sold-out show at London’s renowned former fleapit Scala “That was the first gig where we were properly smacked with a feeling that something had shifted” reflects vocalist Matt Baty. “Something big and bold and positive. I felt quite overwhelmed with emotion at one point during that show. I’m not sure anyone paid to see me cry onstage, but I was close.” This upward trajectory has done nothing to make the Newcastle-based quintet complacent however, as they’ve used the cumulative force behind them as fuel for their most ambitious and hard-hitting record yet. ‘Viscerals’, their third proper is an enormous leap forward in confidence, adventure and sheer intensity even from their 2018 breakthrough ‘King Of Cowards’. Incisive in its riff-driven attack, infectiously catchy in its songcraft and more intrepid than ever in its experimental approach, ‘Viscerals’ is the sound of a leaner, more vicious Pigs, and one with their controls set way beyond the pulverising one-riff workouts of their early days. Whilst the fearsome opener ‘Reducer’s battle cry “ego kills everything” brings a philosophical bent to its Sabbathian abjection, elsewhere ‘Rubbernecker’ may be the most melodious ditty this band has yet attempted, redolent of the debauched swagger of Jane’s Addiction. Meanwhile the sinister sound-collage of ‘Blood And Butter’ delves into jarring abstraction anew, ‘New Body’ countenances a bracing Melvins-and-Sonic-Youth demolition derby and - perhaps most memorably of all - the perverse banger ‘Crazy In Blood’ marries MBV-ish guitar curlicues in its verses to a raise-your-fists chorus worthy of Twisted Sister or Turbonegro. Yet Pigsx7 have effortlessly broadened their horizons and dealt with all these new avenues without sacrificing one iota of their trademark eccentricity, and the personality of this band has never been stronger. “We’re a peculiar bunch of people - a precarious balance of passion, intensity and the absurd” notes Baty. Indeed, locked into a tight deadline in the studio, the band were forced to rally forces and to throw everything they had into created as concise and powerful a statement as could be summoned forth. “We booked dates in Sam’s studio before we’d written 80% of the album” reveals guitarist Adam Ian Sykes “We definitely thrive under pressure. It’s stressful but that stress seems to manifest itself in a positive way”. Yet for all that this record is the most far-reaching yet, its ability to get down to the nitty-gritty of the human condition is implicit from its title outwards. “Viscerals is reflection of many things I guess” says guitarist Sam Grant, whose Blank Studios was the venue in question for the band (whose rogues gallery is completed by bassist John-Michael Hedley and drummer Christopher Morley). “It’s the internal; it’s our health and physicality; it’s bodily and unseen; it’s essence that forgoes intellect; and it’s not a real word!” “At times it feels like we’re on a playground roundabout and there’s a fanatical group of people pushing it to turn faster” reckons Baty. “Then when it’s at peak speed they all jump on too and for just a few minutes we all feel liberated, together.” Such is the relentless momentum of this unique and ever-porcine outfit; hedonists of the grittiest and most life-affirming ride in the land, and still the hungriest animals at the rock trough. ---

56.
Album • Feb 21 / 2020
Psychedelic Folk Indie Folk
Noteable Highly Rated

"A primal soup of electrified sound...straight-down-the-middle Six Organs" - Dusted Magazine “Beautiful and Cinematic” - The Obelisk 8/10 “Complex and utterly gorgeous” - Clash Music @clash_music 8/10 “Melds analogue and digital in a sublime hymn to California” - Uncut @uncut_magazine "Marks some of Six Organs’ best work” - Raven Sings the Blues @ravensingstheblues 5/5 "A Magisterial performance" - Shindig @shindig_magazine

57.
by 
Album • Jun 19 / 2020
Art Punk

Claire Adams - Bass Bobby Glew - Guitar Kathy Grey - Drums Everyone sings Recorded & Mixed by Matt Benn in Bradford. October 2019 Mastered By Joe Osbourne.

58.
by 
Album • Mar 20 / 2020
Garage Punk Punk Rock

“Agh! A fresh chop from the large dusty burning murder island: Cold is the Meat to beat. Perth’s finest flesh purveyors have upped their naughty game here across ten tracks of gleefully haughty punk. Hot and Flustered is somehow at once extremely camp and deadly serious. Ashley’s vengeful, elastic rasp smears menses down the screwfaces of vacuous tastemakers, climate change deniers, perennial street perverts, and of course, ZZ top fans. There’s some surprisingly poignant forays into melody (Beach Photography) and a good grip of sudden tempo fuckery to keep us well and truly hooked. Their signature chubby and defiant riffs under snarky bouncing toms formula extends well to the album form, creating a timely reminder that hate and fear are more than reasonable responses to our hell predicament. Let’s take comfort in collective ridicule. When it’s too hot to pogo because the sky is on fire, Cold Meat will let us writhe around in the dirt like the little piggies we are.” Bryony Beynon Well, after a slew of 7” offerings, Perth’s Cold Meat have finally hit us with a full length record. Much like their last few releases they’ve taken an amped up approach to 70s PUNK but this time round they offer ever so slightly more diversity. Ten tracks clocking in at just over 23 minutes and cut at 45rpm for maximum volume. Get hot and flustered. Artwork by Jennifer Calandra Recorded and mixed by Al Smith Mastered by Daniel Husayn at North London Bomb Factory

59.
Album • Jun 12 / 2020
Post-Bop
Noteable

Following up the dreamy mélange of string quartet, hip-hop, and abstract jazz that was 2018’s *Origami Harvest*, Oakland trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire returns with *on the tender spot of every calloused moment*, revisiting the hard-hitting acoustic sound of his working quartet with pianist Sam Harris, bassist Harish Raghavan, and drummer Justin Brown (the same lineup that recorded 2017’s *A Rift in Decorum: Live at the Village Vanguard*). In the confines of the studio, they’re not a bit less energized and audacious. There’s a certain loose and limber authority and turn-on-a-dime polish in such pieces as “Blues (We measure the heart with a fist),” “Tide of Hyacinth” (featuring percussionist/vocalist Jesus Diaz), and “An Interlude (that get’ more intense).” Akinmusire’s recent work with veteran Chicago avant-gardist Roscoe Mitchell inspired the busy and insistent “Mr. Roscoe (consider the simultaneous).” (It’s worth noting that Archie Shepp wrote the liner notes for this album, remarking of Akinmusire, “This is the cat!”) The guest vocal by Genevieve Artadi of KNOWER on “Cynical sideliners” finds Akinmusire playing gentle accompaniment on Rhodes, revealing new facets of his musicianship. “Roy” is a soulful ballad homage to the tragically departed Roy Hargrove, a dear friend and role model, while the closing “Hooded procession (read the names outloud),” with Akinmusire on solo Rhodes this time, alludes to the ongoing injustices that have catalyzed the Black Lives Matter movement. It’s a continuation of what has become a series, starting with “My Name Is Oscar,” “Rollcall for Those Absent,” and “Free, White and 21” from previous Akinmusire albums. The fact that he articulates no names, only a sequence of resonant sustaining Rhodes chords, lends a certain inscrutable mystery and gestural power to the track.

60.
by 
EP • Apr 23 / 2020
UK Bass

clemencyreferenc.es Clemency presents References - her debut EP for Finn’s 2 B REAL. Three deceptively simple percussive pieces, both awkward and elegant. Each track on the EP feels almost living and breathing; sparse, dissonant synths meet intricate drums and juddering basslines, effortlessly creating momentum and motion across the record. ‘References’ is Bethany Clements Patrick’s first EP under the Clemency alias. She’s a regular behind the decks at Partisan, Soup Kitchen & The White Hotel, and co-runs Manchester’s Mutualism club night, label & NTS show. Using causality and repetition as a conceptual framework, the release comes with a selection of Clemency’s own references for the record, which includes poetry, literature, geographic coordinates, music and cosmetics - presented at clemencyreferenc.es.

61.
Album • Apr 17 / 2020

This is the first stop on Sven Wunder’s musical journey. Wunder takes the listener somewhere around the easternmost part of the Mediterranean Sea, around the Levantine Sea, where he paints a colourful portrait and illustrates the regions flora through sound. The fruitage is a vivid bouquet where Wunder fuses colours and pigments by using traditional and modern instruments merged with arrangements and melodies that stretches from popular to folk music by portraying tulips, red roses, hibiscus, hyacinths, chamomile, magnolia, daisies etcetera. With both fine and thick brushes are these flowers being pictured in a both modern and classic idiom. The outcome is prismatic. It stands between Anatolian rock and European jazz-funk with ponderous drum patterns, groovy organs, far-out synthesizers, enchanting Saz and impetuous bass lines. Eastern Flowers sweeps through time and space and points towards the future. It could appeal both psych and prog listeners, folk or jazz aficionados and as well the gourmet hip hop connoisseurs. Eastern Flowers is the US issue of 2019’s Doğu Çiçekleri. This record is produced with financial support from the Swedish Arts Council. www.discogs.com/Sven-Wunder-Doğu-Çiçekleri/master/1704447

62.
by 
Album • May 22 / 2020
Industrial Techno
Noteable
63.
by 
Daniel Craig
Album • Feb 07 / 2020
Electronic Tape Music Ambient

"Before leaving Melbourne, I wrote an album." Music composed and produced by Daniel Craig in Melbourne 2013-2016 apastyettocome.econore.com ---- "[…] The low-end obsession, meticulous detail, and sheer scope of aesthetic put into A Past Yet To Come by the Aussie producer is, no bullshitting, breathtaking. […] Craig’s debut is a staggering work, intimate in its intensity, intensely careful in its construction, and constructed with an idiosyncratic logic of inspiring originality." – Tristan Bath (Spool's Out / The Quietus, thequietus.com/articles/27908-tape-review-daniel-craig-stara-rzeka-jachna-ziolek-buhl-atlantikwall)

64.
by 
Album • Feb 27 / 2020
French Hip Hop Trap
Noteable
65.
by 
Rising Damp
Album • Apr 13 / 2020

Petrol Factory is the quaking barrier between the end of the end of time and the end of the world. It is an oil repository in the harbour, watching the containers, navy and cruise ships arrive and depart. A median point where everything is twisted together. Oil poisons the bay. Factories chug out iron. Nothing points more to extinction than the monolith of the Petrol Factory on the horizon. Exploring surveillance, brutal policing, modernism and mechanophilia, Petrol Factory is a passage through EBM, post punk and goth. Often improvised and never quite the same, Petrol Factory attempts to solidify what a Rising Damp performance is like. The ghost of the theremin harking early electronics, as programmed drums create rhythmic hypnosis. Spitted lyrics respond to the archival film on the construction of a Brutalist bank, with samples that replicate the jackhammer. Songs were arranged for a live band release with drummer Sarah Grimes and guitarist/synth player, Ivan Pawle. Due to the Covid-19 shutdown in Ireland, the live band project is currently postponed. In the meantime, listen to the album as it was made; in the solitude of your own bedroom, with the curtains drawn.

66.
by 
Album • Mar 20 / 2020
Experimental Hip Hop UK Bass
Popular

Multidisciplinary artist, rapper, producer, and performer Ojay Morgan who performs as ​Zebra Katz​ is a first-generation Jamaican-American who burst onto the scene with the likes of Azealia Banks, Angel Haze and The House of Ladosha, when his runaway hit single “Ima Read” paved the way for his distinctive genre-defiant sound. ​LESS IS MOOR​, the debut album due out March 20​, announces a deeper look into his sonic universe. Sexually charged and abrasive, the collection is a bold, sonic experiment that meshes industrial hip-hop with drum ‘n’ bass and unidentifiable sonic territory. “All I wanna do is keep the dance floor jumping,” sings Zebra Katz on “​ISH​,” the latest single from ​LESS IS MOOR​. Written and produced with Tony Quattro, the track will have listeners on their heels, whilst lyrically declaring Zebra Katz’ uncompromising position as a master of the dance floor. Recent singles “​IN IN IN​” and “​LOUSY​” are examples of Zebra Katz’ desire to repossess his narrative, exploring issues like the Black experience and sexuality, all the while mixing in devastating ruminations on the life of a star: “they all love when you dead / and you six underground.” Used as early as the Middle Ages, the word “moor” refers to the black Muslims of Northern Africa. Today it simply means black and is synonymous with “negro.” When Zebra Katz says “I’m that sick sadistic fucking twisted bitch” on “ZAD DRUMZ,” he’s wearing his darkness for all to see. If you listen hard enough, you can almost hear James Baldwin saying, “To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time.” ​LESS IS MOOR​ lets you into this rage so you can dance with it. Remaining true to his off-the-cuff way creative style, ​LESS IS MOOR​ finds the musician newly empowered and unafraid of being noise-driven, biting & caustic. The album draws inspiration from diverse sources like Little Richard, Nina Simone, James Baldwin, and Grace Jones and it features guest appearances by ​Shygirl​ and ​S. Ruston​, with a myriad of star co-producers such as Sega Bodega, Tony Quattro ​and​ Torus​. Amidst all this talent, listeners will rarely find a down moment on the album.

67.
by 
Album • May 29 / 2020
Indie Rock Art Pop Neo-Psychedelia Experimental Rock
Popular Highly Rated
68.
Album • Apr 24 / 2020
Indie Rock

Out via Art For Blind Records, distributed via Cargo. artforblindrecords.com

69.
EP • Feb 07 / 2020
Contemporary R&B Alternative R&B
Popular

*F\*\*k the World* is a curious title for a half-hour-long project that not only features a voice so inviting that it sounds like it was meant to sell dreams, but also revels in earthly pleasures like expensive clothing, casual sex, and the luxury of unencumbered travel. But it’s likely just the phrase that happened to be on Brent Faiyaz’s mind the day he decided to name it; at least, that’s how the verses on *F\*\*k the World* come off. Across the project, the 24-year-old Maryland native seems beholden only to a sort of Socratic whimsy, with songs like the title track and “Clouded” playing out like audits of his personal life, while “Skyline” and “Let Me Know” allow him to question the world at large. Then there is the after-party-perfect “Lost Kids Get Money,” which sounds in the very best way like a freestyle off the top of the dome. His voice—accompanied in most instances by very minimal production—sounds particularly naked here, and as such hard to reconcile with the nihilistic title.

70.
by 
Katatonic Silentio
Album • Jun 18 / 2020
IDM

Soundsmith and technology rebel Katatonic Silentio back now on a solo LP one year after her first personal release. Bass missiles, encompassing atmospheres & killer fast focused drums shouts, everything is intently encased in an emancipation act, an insurgent statute against our own oppressions. Seven tracks pathway leading to a final act of awareness and deliverance from ourselves, without any aversion to go far away, beyond all flags, all frontiers, all countries, all barriers, all beliefs. Title : Prisoner of the Self LP Artist : Katatonic Silentio Genre : IDM, Breakcore, Experimental, Electronic Catalogue : BNC005 Format : 12" Handcrafted cage sleeve and insert, 150 copies color numbered Produced and mixed by Katatonic Silentio Mastered by Land studio recording Artwork by VESPER Sleeve Design and set by AnchorEl

71.
Album • Jun 19 / 2020
Chamber Music Free Improvisation

Laura Cannell - Violins (Octave & Overbow) / Double Recorders / Voice with special guests: 
 Jennifer Lucy Allan - Horn / Mini Accordion / Voice André Bosman - Suspended Stairs / Fiddle The Earth with Her Crowns is a set of ten tracks which were improvised and recorded in single takes inside Wapping Hydraulic Power Station, London, over two days in February & March 2019. In late 2018 composer, performer and improviser Laura Cannell was commissioned by The Wapping Project to capture the resonance of their former building through her improvised music, it would be the final project in response to the iconic space that defined their commissioning for over two decades. Entering the cavernous building armed with violins and recorders, Cannell had no preconceived ideas and The Earth With Her Crowns emerged from the conversations with the space itself. The recording came at a time of personal grief after the sudden loss of a loved one. Overwhelming feelings of loss and anxiety were charged into sound inside the resonant power station. "Standing on thresholds in the archways between spaces and under the suspended stairs with low notes and high notes flying I played in the moment, allowing the sound to branch off like ancient waterways, I was led by the acoustics of the space to sounds that were self-sustaining, free flowing and changeable. Clear glass panes reflected and returned my offerings of string and air, uttered from fingers and lungs."

72.
Album • Jun 05 / 2020
Ambient
73.
by 
Album • Jun 26 / 2020
Technical Death Metal Dissonant Death Metal
Popular

New York's shape shifting, extreme metal quartet, PYRRHON announce their landmark full length album titled, Abscess Time to be released on June 26, 2020 via Willowtip Records. The 12 song album - running nearly 60 minutes - follows the bands 2017, critically acclaimed release of What Passes For Survival, and shows the band at their most sophisticated, alluring, and inventive. Poised with perpetual evolution, PYRRHON reveal how fearless, sonically explosive, and triumphant experimental death metal can be.

74.
by 
Album • Apr 03 / 2020
Experimental Rock
Noteable
76.
by 
anna högberg attack
Album • Apr 25 / 2020

anna högberg attack lena anna högberg - alto saxophone elin forkelid - tenor saxophone niklas barnö - trumpet lisa ullén - piano elsa bergman - bass anna lund - drums all songs composed by anna högberg recorded at atlantis studio, stockholm 16-17 december 2019 mixed by göran stegborn, mastered by henrik alsér partly financed by the swedish arts council coverphotography and layout by lisa grip

77.
Album • Mar 12 / 2020
Deconstructed Club

“I see we’re letting thugs into the concert hall…” Eleven tracks about the reconstruction of club music, Nag Nag Nag, masculinity, Finland and Vatican Shadow memes.

78.
by 
EP • Mar 27 / 2020
Gqom

Video for Impazamo: youtu.be/LcbzkruKtEk Menzi turns out the darkest Gqom on road with this ridiculously strong debut solo release by Infamous Boiz’ Menzi brimming with cyperpunk-cinematic sound design via hard-synched taxi techno drums, now pressed on limited edition vinyl for the first time. Getting deeper than anyone into the mechanics and mindset of South Africa’s viral township techno sound, 28 year old Menzi Shabane makes seismic moves on the ‘Impazamo’ EP with six tracks of gobsmacking Gqom pressure advanced by shocking levels of sound design detail and searing synth dynamics. Menzi hails from the Umlazi township of Durban, where he rose to prominence as one half of Gqom pioneers, Infamous Boiz, whose influence is now felt shuddering from speakers in clubs across the world. Aside from producing, Menzi also runs the annual Gqom Bloq party, Festive Road Block Umlazi, and recently has supplied beats for some of South Africa’s biggest acts (Moonchild Sanelly, Mahotella Queens, Zolani Mahola and Zakes Bantwini), but it’s this EP released last year on limited edition cassette that has put his name on the global dancefloor map. Daring to mess with the machinery of Gqom’s sharply defined style, Menzi opens it up like Hellraiser’s puzzlebox to truly invoke and unleash the sound’s darkside spirits. The title tune’s cinematic intro ratchets new levels of industrial drama to the sound that follow thru in the pained hollers and BM-style screeches of ‘Minimal Surge’ and the sheets of acid rain drone that soak ‘Underground Abaphansi’, while the percussive ballistics of ‘QGM’ and the jaw-dropping ‘Zulu Warrior’ recall the deep fwd sound design of Nazar’s experimental kuduro style, and Uganda’s Ecko Bazz plays the role of shaman or spirit guide in the pitch black midnight tone of ‘GQOM Tera’. A staggering set packing the strongest Gqom tracks on road right now, ‘Impazamo’ is unmissable for lovers of dark, heavy and futuristic dance music from all corners of the club.

79.
by 
Album • Apr 03 / 2020
Progressive Electronic

World Serpent is the fourth album from London producer and composer Misha Hering, under the Memnon Sa banner, and the debut release on Hering’s own Holy Mountain imprint, a new label dedicated to very special productions from Misha’s now reputable studio of the same name in East London. It is released in partnership with specialist Metal record shop and label Crypt Of The Wizard. World Serpent is an album in the classic sense of the word, a 40 minute, psychedelic document of deep exploration, high drama and gleaming production. Misha Hering has used the last decade forming Memnon Sa into a psychomagical Black Metal and Prog studio project trawling forgotten lore and legend, using his Holy Mountain HQ to slowly grow his ritualistic membership to form an otherworldly orchestra, which this time features members of experimental art-pop group Virginia Wing, sludge veterans Ghold and Wren, with appropriately cosmic cover art designed by another Holy Mountain alumni: Alexander Tucker. Mythology “The myth of Apophis is what inspired the record. Apophis, or Apep in ancient Egypt, is a snake deity made out of stone. It is the god/goddess (its gender is fluid, changes depending on the myth) of chaos and destruction but also rebirth. It lives in a parallel dimension to earth, in an endless ocean of black water, the sole inhabitant. If we had the ability to peel back the veil between our dimensions, wherever we are on earth, we would peer into a world of perpetual darkness and solitude. A truly terrifying myth, and yet, Apophis was venerated. This made me think of the juxtaposition between ecstasy and horror. I thought it was very fascinating, the idea of making music that on the surface sounded triumphant and uplifting, but had a very sinister subtext, almost like cheering for the bad guy. I enjoyed this tension so much that I tried to write an album around the concept. That is how world serpent was born.” - Misha Hering Methodology Recalling the acid and occult-soaked aesthetic glory days of Aphrodite’s Child, David Axelrod, The Vertigo label and Popol Vuh, World Serpent seemingly consolidates a creative journey that has seen at points, collaboration with musicians as, broad and esoteric as Alexander Tucker, Spiritualized, Virginia Wing, Puppy, and Ghold, Hering has been able to assemble a group of performers to assist him invoke this most grandiose vision within World Serpent, The album was entirely recorded by Misha at Holy Mountain in London. All synthesisers are analogue, and it was recorded and mixed without any plugins, using the acclaimed API1604 desk. Guest performers include most notably Merida Richards (Virginia Wing) on vocals (“she plays the role of a grecian choir almost”), Chris Duffin (James Holden, Xam Duo, Virginia Wing) on saxophone (“summoning pure Pharaoh Sanders witchcraft on golden Ram Of The Sun”), Seb J Tull (Wren) playing drums and Oliver Martin from Ghold returns to conjure other-worldly throat singing and terrifying Minoan chants. Hering has placed himself at the centre of a handpicked coven of artists, and with World Serpent has produced the ultimate sonic mythical evocation for the 21st century

80.
Album • Apr 17 / 2020
Musique concrète
Noteable
81.
by 
EP • May 15 / 2020
Oi! UK82

Explosive new music from The Chisel bringing the edifying and restorative powers of the great British folk tradition back to the table for a staggering next pint. Just when you thought you were fucking full, your mouths been winched open and gallons of shards of broken glass guitar, thick bass, and burning howling bilious guts gets poured down your maw. The speed of UK82, the terror of punk, the solid mass of Oi!. Like a bar stool breaking through a bus stop, there'll always be THE CHISEL. (Jonah Falco)

82.
by 
EP • Apr 03 / 2020
Tarraxinha Batida
Noteable

The pace of this EP from the familiar hand of DJ Lycox on the impeccable Príncipe label has a melancholy and sloth to it that is very welcome. It has been my most listened to record of the month. THE QUIETUS There are many things going on at once, but the music is as laid-back as a stroll through the park. Lycox's melodies tell stories without words, like a kind of folk music rooted in the electronic and dance traditions around him. Kizas do Ly is downright pretty. RESIDENT ADVISOR + You know and we know, what time is Now. Or picking up on classic KLF: "What Time Is Love?". It was Springtime when we decided to anticipate the release of the digital version of "Kizas Do Ly" and a reinforcement of love was much needed. Since then, insanity did not revert back to sanity as we hoped, but the full hand-painted vinyl version is now ready, featuring brand new "split-personality" artwork. In the popular style of Kizomba, these four tunes float above us, seeing the Beyond and celebrating the style's core concern, which is romance and the attachment of bodies to one another. So if actual proximity seems to be ill-advised this year, let's temporarily move to another realm and see what happens when mind does away with body. A sort of afterlife.

83.
by 
Album • May 01 / 2020
84.
by 
Album • Mar 20 / 2020
Folk Rock Psychedelic Rock
Noteable

Arbouretum’s mystic folk-rock collapses a continuum of 20th century music into decidedly classic song structures. English folk, country blues, Americana and 70s psychedelia all serve as touchpoints in their singular and distinctive sound. The Baltimore-based band have perfected the craft of storytelling using the delicate interplay of melodies and prosaic lyrics to tell vivid stories that engage the listener and transport them the way an immersive novel would. Let It All In stands as their most accomplished and evocative album to date. Guitarist and vocalist Dave Heumann’s melodies and solos still remain a central focus bolstered by the hypnotic rhythms of bassist Corey Allender and drummer Brian Carey and enhanced by Matthew Pierce’s substantial yet understated keyboard figures. Each song is a vivid scene or tale; meticulously detailed and crafted, transporting the listener to another world and time. Recorded at Wrightway Studios with Steve Wright, the record’s elaborate, delicate and interlocking melodies expand with improvisation as in the relentless forward-motion of title track “Let In All In”, or the slow cosmic churn of “No Sanctuary Blues”. Let It All In features two drummers on nearly every track. David Bergander worked with long-time core member Carey to develop complementary parts, blended together as if they were a single player rather than two separate instrumentalists. New sounds are nowhere more evident than on “High Water Song”. With its raucous honky-tonk piano laid down by Hans Chew and walls of layered saxophone, trumpet and flugelhorn played by Dave Ballou and Matthew Pierce, it is a striking new addition to their catalog of songs. Heumann’s deep sense of spirituality and command of storytelling through myth and metaphor resonates through Arbouretum’s music. Let It All In invokes nature as a backdrop for exploring humanity's relationship to time, history, and the present socio-political climate, often highlighting water as a ubiquitous if often unconscious presence in our lives. It acts as a subtle connecting thread through each piece’s imagined landscapes, as well as taking on a symbol for change and spirit. The “black and deepest crimson” of sunrise over the Atlantic ocean on “How Deep It Goes” reflects on current political turmoil and the obfuscation of truth. "High Water Song" follows a narrator whose home is washed away by the effects of climate change and struggles to integrate into a new homeland. Title track "Let It All In" acts as a thematic thesis to the album, musing on both the pitfalls and benefits of letting the outside world into one's inner life. Let It All In is as instantly arresting as it is deeply reflective, with layers of sound and metaphor for the listener to unravel and interpret in their own way. It is a beautiful album that lives in and reflects the present moment while sounding as if it were forged in another era. The group has always centered around Heumann’s remarkable voice and songwriting. His skill as a vocalist and guitar player have led to playing with artists such as Cass McCombs, Will Oldham, and many others. Heumann’s songs are transportive and decidedly album-oriented, and Let It All In is an invitation to jump into an album rich with timeless elegance. The rarity of their live shows and the otherworldliness of their music have made Arbouretum a cultish band, a treasure for those that discover their albums. Their profound music endures and rewards fans both old and new. Arbouretum has added to their catalog another exceptional work that will weather changing fashions and reward those who explore their entirely unique world.

85.
by 
Album • Jan 24 / 2020
UK Hip Hop
Popular Highly Rated

“I was fresh from a war but it was internal/Every day I encounter another hurdle,” J Hus spits as he closes *Big Conspiracy* on the piano-led “Deeper Than Rap”. That war, and the highs and lows of Momodou Jallow’s life, make for a mesmerising second album. Lyrics address his incarceration, street life, God, violence, his African roots and colonialism. From others those themes would feel heavy, but delivered in J Hus’ effortless voice, with a flow that switches frequently, they stun. The references are playful, too—Mick Jagger and Woody Woodpecker are mentioned on “Fortune Teller” and Destiny’s Child get a recurrent role in the standout “Fight for Your Right”. Hus is backed by inventive instrumentation encompassing delicate strings, Afrobeats, reggae and hip-hop and nods to garage and Dr. Dre’s work with 50 Cent, while Koffee and Burna Boy contribute to the celebratory feel on “Repeat” and “Play Play”. This is a record as diverse, smart and vibrant as anything coming from the UK right now.

86.
by 
Album • Jun 05 / 2020
Neo-Psychedelia
Noteable Highly Rated

It’s auspicious that Sonic Boom—the solo project and nom-de-producer of Peter Kember (Spectrum, Spacemen 3)—returns in 2020 with its first new LP in three decades. Kember’s drawn to the year’s numerological potency, and this intentionality shines into every corner of All Things Being Equal. It’s a meditative, mathematical record concerned with the interconnectedness of memory, space, consumerism, consciousness—everything. Through regenerative stories told backwards and forwards, Kember explores dichotomies zen and fearsome, reverential of his analog toolkit and protective of the plants and trees that support our lives. Sonic Boom’s second album and first for Carpark began in 2015 as electronic jams. The original sketches of electronic patterns, sequenced out of modular synths, were so appealing that Stereolab’s Tim Gane encouraged Kember to release them instrumentally. “I nearly did,” confesses Kember, “but the vibe in them was so strong that I couldn't resist trying to ice the cake.” Three years later, a move to Portugal saw him dusting off the backing tracks, adding vocals inspired by Sam Cooke, The Sandpipers, and the Everly Brothers (which he admits “don’t go far from the turntable pile”), as well as speculative, ominous spoken word segments. His new home Sintra’s parks and gardens provided a different visual context for Kember’s thoughtful observations, and he thematically incorporated sunshine and nature as well as global protests into the ten resulting tracks. “Music made in sterility sounds sterile,” he says, “And that is my idea of hell.” Over the vivid, calculating arps of opener “Just Imagine,” Kember nudges listeners to do as the title suggests. It’s based on a story he read about a boy who healed his cancer by picturing himself as a storm cloud, raining out his illness. “The Way That You Live,” a rollicking drone powered by drum machine rattles and bright chord beds, morphs political distrust into a revolutionary mantra about ethical living. “I try and live my life by voting every day with what I do and how I do it, who I do it with and the love that I can give them along the way,” offers Kember. An unusually curated gear list accompanies each song, unexpected layers reinforcing the monophonic skeletons. Mystery soundscapes and grinding sweeps were teased from EMS synths, synonymous with and evocative of ‘60s BBC scoring and ‘70s Eno. Pacing basslines oscillating into warbling heartbeats came from a cheap ‘80s Yamaha. A modern OP-1 generated subtle kicks and eerie theremins, while his toy Music Modem—an unused holdover from sessions Kember produced for Beach House and MGMT—finally found its recorded home. It’s rare to see liner notes where synthesizers rather than humans are credited (other than guest vocal stints from “co-conspirators” Panda Bear and Britta Phillips), but Kember is masterful at finding the unique personality in his machines. “I tried to find the deepest essence of the instruments & let them play,” he offers. What emerges from these considerations on technology and humanity is a honed collection both philosophical and grooving, spacious even as it fills to its brim. It’s distinctly Kember—more than that, it’s distinctly Sonic Boom.

87.
by 
Morusque
Album • Apr 30 / 2020
Plunderphonics Sound Collage

"This album was made using the last note of many existing tracks as the only audio material. Original tracks were picked at random on a hard drive and include a variety of styles, authors and ages. It's not always easy to determine what "last note" means, most of the time I considered it to be the last sound intentionally produced by a musician. In some cases extracts were slightly extended to the last chord, pattern, and anything behind that point (applause, cracks, etc). For a fade-out, I would amplify the gain until I could isolate the last audible note. All the samples selected that way were used at some point, there were no leftovers. I was allowed to crop, pitch, reverse those samples and run them through basic effects (eq, delai, etc). The final pieces were composed between 2015 and 2018. Thanks to all the artists involved and sorry for not asking anyone's permission ; thanks to Linge Records for their feedback." Morusque -- In Ken Liu's novel Nova verba, mundus novus, a ship reaches the edge of the Earth and as it begins its fall across the world, the crew, seeing their language skills vanish into thin air, sets a new standard of communication. the end of music can be experienced as this adventure towards a reconstruction of the signifier. It shares with the early compositions of Amon Tobin a deep sense of letting the samples breath and drive them in a totally different horizon at the same time. Reflecting the huge mess of our contemporary hard drives, the project takes us on a journey through church organ, glitch music, chiptune, dada songs and more. In the manner of an “ouvroir de musique potentielle” (workshop of potential music), Morusque defines a system that reverses the latent entropy of a last note. Our odyssey begins then with the end and ends with the void. In between, the listener is free to invent a narrative based on these acoustic images that reveal an illusory but strangely palpable second nature. Morusque's work seeks imaginary solutions in compliance with a scientific method. Digging in his website nurykabe.com is like to visit a museum of everyday objects. Through music, graphic arts and video games, he brings the technological taboo of banality to light without trying to sublimate it at all costs.

88.
by 
Concentration
EP • Jan 03 / 2020
Electro-Industrial

Global Terror Corps gets minted with Aussie/Deutsch swamp beat trio Concentration. ‘I’m Not What I Was’ is 4x eccentric offerings of hi-NRG electro-riot / trash-smut: full spat in yer face lyrical obtuseness taking a hatchet to the male ego via Jewish body-dysmorphia and basically the best riot grrrl cover of the modern age. 2020 vision Agit-technot-pop... I’m Not What I Was EP delves further into the fever dreams and grim paradoxes of Concentration’s debut album (Premature). For added bonanza, all USBs come packaged with the exclusive live concert vid/wav for their one-off sprawl of ambient dank ‘Masterclass of Wellbeing: The Boardroom Retreat’ performed at the Tote in Melbourne. As a live spectacle: Concentration are a tight hot mess of punk-vaudeville couple’s therapy and crushing acid machine electronica (now with added egodeath and rousing choruses), harking back to a time when industrial and synth-pop were on the same page. Concentration are Zachariah Kupferminc, Matt Sativa and Thrush - a combined cultural initiative between Melbourne and Cottbus, East Germany, now based in Berlin. Global Terror Corps is a new subsidiary of Avon Terror Corps, set up to release relevant music from outside the Avon area.

89.
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Bulbils
Album • May 22 / 2020
Tribal Ambient

Recorded at home on the 21st May 2020 All music is free to download. Please consider donating to the following charities if you can spare anything: WOMEN'S AID www.womensaid.org.uk/donate/ CRISIS www.crisis.org.uk/get-involved/donate/ RNIB www.rnib.org.uk/donations-and-fundraising/donate-now We started Bulbils as a way to deal with coronavirus / lockdown. We aim to record most days and upload it all here. It's a big help for us just to play, we hope it can be of comfort/company to you too.

90.
Album • Mar 20 / 2020
Noise Rock Post-Hardcore Sludge Metal

Bruxa Maria's second album, released on Hominid Sounds in 2019. From Hominid: "The return of Bruxa Maria is what we all need as we plunge further headlong into the heady depths of yet another year of the same old same old. In their second full length LP, Bruxa Maria are thought-provoking, challenging, energising and mind expanding, mixing pure rage with melody in their totally unique way." 10% of the proceeds from each sale will be donated to the amazing charity The Windrush Justice Fund. Find out more about the work they are doing here: www.jcwi.org.uk/windrushjusticefund

91.
Album • Feb 02 / 2020
Ambient

LASTGLACIALMAXIMUM is an album of recordings for the landscape of the British and Irish peninsula as it lay most recently under ice. The general consensus among glaciologists is that the British and Irish Ice Sheet attained its greatest extent — the so-called 'Last Glacial Maximum' — between 27 and 21 thousand years ago. The shifts in timbre and texture between succeeding recordings on this album is imitative of what are known as ‘Dansgaard–Oeschger events’ — rapid cycles between cold and warmer climatic conditions during the last glaciation.

92.
Album • Jun 05 / 2020
Drone

“Like La Monte Young and The Incredible String Band stuck in an elevator." In the process of relocating to Den Bosch's Willem Twee Studios, The Transcendence Orchestra let love slip deftly out of its gate and reverberate around the walls of the studio's main hall, a high ceilinged former synagogue in the city's old town. Working intensively to capture its echoes, they coaxed it to appear in pipes and strings, directed it through resonant circuits and shepherded it round the room with beaters, horns and rattles. Having returned home with the recordings, a purpose began to emerge. Through a process of extensive reconfiguration and testing it became clear that the love contained within could transform perception. Under the right circumstances, and accompanied by appropriate technology, it could serve as a map for navigating beginnings and endings. Like some distant mesmerising chant or a psychedelic folk song, it could connect us and reassure us that we can pass through the boundaries and survive. Perhaps not intact but at least whole. Here is that map, love soaked diligently into its lines, ready to guide those at a loss or reassure those willing to explore.

93.
Album • Mar 27 / 2020
Ambient
Popular Highly Rated
94.
by 
Album • Apr 24 / 2020
West African Music Dagomba Music

Raw and celebratory funeral music from northern Ghana. Hypnotic kologo excursions. Pulsing percussion. Enraptured voices. Recorded 100% live and outdoors by Ian Brennan (Tinariwen, Ustad Saami). Sixth release from Glitterbeat's acclaimed Hidden Musics series. Still buzzed at 9am on Pito (millet beer) from the night before, the fra fra quartet proclaimed that they play better when they are drunk. This was telling as they seemed plenty inebriated already. On the dusty-road outskirts of Tamale (Ghana) near the School of Hygiene, the group says they prefer to use the name given to their tribe by colonialists (Fra Fra) rather than being commanded what to correct after the fact; a retraction made on their behalf. The group is led by Small, a man who celebrates his diminutive size rather than seeing it as a lack. He picked the two-string Kologo ‘guitar' with dog-tags fastened at the head as rattles. As funeral songs are often done in procession, I took the mics to the group since they seemed reluctant to enter the compound. Instead they gyrated in circles on the gravel outside. In recording, coverage is more important than precision. Every microphone tells a slightly different version of the truth, so I quickly threw up as many as possible. I’ve often wondered: What is the tensile limit of cohesion culturally? How far can geography stretch – scaled for cities and nations – before a culture fractures? Ghana struggles with its own north/south divide. This northern zone was a wellspring of the Blues, a land where they emanated and never left. Rather than resembling deathly dirges, these funeral songs were largely celebrations. As so often is the case, literacy in no way interfered with creativity. Small was able to riff almost endlessly. In fact, his performances grew freer and stronger past the ten-minute mark, so much so that songs would become nearly different tunes entirely. Following his flow, I simply let tape roll until things fell apart, but even then I feared that still greater things may've lay beyond if only the musicians had kept going. A hallmark of Fra Fra culture is the tiny, bone mouth-flutes that they actually call ‘horns,’ since that is what they are made from. When we were through, Small asserted that he could see that music was “in my blood.” But I protested. Music is in all of us. Rhythm must run through our very veins to carry life. --- Ian Brennan Ian Brennan is a Grammy award winning producer (Tinariwen, Ustad Saami, Zomba Prison Project, Ramblin’ Jack Elliot) and the author of several books, the most recent being: “Silenced by Sound: The Music Meritocracy Myth.” Hidden Musics explores lesser known sonic traditions from around the world. Focusing on highly localized sounds as opposed to globalized musical hybrids, the artists presented by Hidden Musics make music that is raw, time-honored and bound to a specific place. The platform began as a series of albums – released by Glitterbeat Records – which have featured field recordings from Asia and Africa. In 2019, the acclaimed Le Guess Who? Festival (Utrecht, Netherlands) introduced a Hidden Musics curation program in participation with producer Ian Brennan and Chris Eckman from Glitterbeat.

95.
Album • Feb 21 / 2020
Experimental Rock
Noteable
96.
by 
Album • Feb 28 / 2020
Minimal Synth Electronic
97.
by 
Album • Apr 17 / 2020
Alternative R&B
Popular
98.
by 
AHRKH
Album • Mar 06 / 2020
Ambient Drone

"Slow burning vocal loops and drone manipulations, scoping internal panoramas of brooding raincloud tones, coruscating half-lit amplifier worship and midnight devotionals, recalling traces of everyone from Loren Conners to Barn Owl”. Boomkat "...There's more than enough here for even the most irony-poisoned, "woo woo" averse, experimental music enthusiast to latch onto, but open yourself up to it, and who knows? Personally, I've found it a deeply centering addition to my music library." The Quietus As Golden Ratio Frequencies slips into 2020, we are pleased to announce our first release of the year with AHRKH ‘Beams From a Spiritual Panorama’. AHRKH is the solo project of A P Macarte, multi-instrumentalist member of Salford's critically acclaimed noise experimentalists GNOD. Using Modular synthesiser, field recordings and voice, often performing live with video, light manipulation and visual collaborators, AHRKH explores the relationship between sound and consciousness , and it's ability to invoke altered states that touch the intangible within us, offering an opportunity to transcend our present reality. In his own words, Macarte defines that the goal of his music is to “traverse the infinite expansive internal panorama within ourselves and discover ultra-dimensional transportation methods via sound". Primarily a live performance project performing in the UK, Europe and USA, alongside luminaries, and peers alike, in recent times AHRKH/Macarte has been expanding his sonic scope into the Therapeutic realms of sound, studying and graduating as a fully trained and qualified Sound Therapist Practitioner at the British Academy of Sound Therapy (BAST), one of the most highly regarding and prestigious institutions in the field. Combing his contemporary electronic tools alongside traditional intuitive instruments such as Gongs and Singing Bowls, AHRKH has lent his sounds to installation works, Yoga classes, live film soundtracks, sleep concerts, meditation sessions and other such immersive sound experiences. ‘Beams From a Spiritual Panorama’ is the inaugural release from Macarte’s vast private archive, the first solo material to be released since 2015 and is also the first of his music be issued on Golden Ratio Frequencies, the label he founded in 2017 growing naturally from his monthly NTS radio show as a label/holistic sound facilitator, providing a platform for music, art and aural ephemera of a “Vibratory” quality. Highly informed by his own personal spiritual practice (having been a long time Vedic Meditator), Vedic philosophy and explorations in sound as a healing tool, Beams From A Spiritual Panorama presents two long form exercises in psychic entrainment. Recorded in 2015 and named in reference to Meher Baba, an Indian spiritual master who for 44 years until his death in 1969 maintained a devout silence, communicating only by means of gestures or on an alphabet board, the 60 minutes of ‘Beams From a Spiritual Panorama’, aims to both chronicle this devout inner world via an immersive journey into Vangelian synth euphoria, third eye opening throat singing and miasmic drone mantras which swell within touching distance of full blown noise, whilst also serving to begin a series of archival documentation of evolution in sound ; having at the time of recording been newly ushered into the universe of Modular synthesis under the guidance of contemporary, friend and inspiration, Robert AA Lowe. Captured live at Melisa Auf Der Maur's Basilica Hudson art space in upstate New York, the 30 minute unfurling opener, ‘Pralaya’, a sanskrit term for “complete merging and dissolution of the world”, mirrors Meher Baba’s ascent into devotional silence with Macarte transitioning from overtone vocal loops to Modular Synthesiser in the latter half of the performance. Beginning with layered voices, reminiscent of David Hyke’s Harmonic Choir, that spread like heavy incense, the mantra develops into a charged state of attainment as pulsing, luminous synths hum with a blurring vitality. On ‘Paramita”, again a sanskrit term, meaning “Crossing to the further shore, entering Nirvana”, Macarte takes a more experimental approach to rhythm and sonic texture, bathing in a heavily raga influenced melody which gradually climbs into a mind clearing finish, scorched synths soaring in a blistering finale. Far from naïve early wonderings, this time capsule of Macarte’s first forays into the world of vibratory synthesiser sonics shows a patience and intuitiveness informed by his daily Vedic Meditation Practice. Not just a window into the early creative processes, ‘Beams From a Spiritual Panorama’ is, like all deep listening music, a functional record that offers the listener a space of cleansing and wonderment. Physical Copies come on professionally dubbed C60 Cassette tape with on body print, double sided full colour two-page inlay and silk screen Golden Spiral acetate. Pre Order Feb / Releases 6th March 2020 credits released March 6, 2020

99.
by 
LOFT
Album • Jan 13 / 2020
UK Bass Deconstructed Club

LOFT IS DEAD LONG LIVE AYA a collection of tracks made between 2009 and 2019 there's tunes in here that didn't make it onto the Tri Angle Record; that would've fit onto the Wisdom Teeth record if i'd have realised i still had them; from the GABRIELDOOMSHOWER and bae side projects; that were meant to be on my first physical release; that were from my first ever public zip as loftmind. waayy back when it's been a nice decade on the whole, bigger better brighter aya out xxxx

100.
by 
Album • Mar 13 / 2020
Black Metal Hardcore Punk

Ten years and a couple hundred shows after their beginnings, Grenoble's SATAN remains one of the most elusive acts of the french underground. With a primitive yet idiosyncratic approach of extreme music, the band is no stranger to varied bills, playing everywhere from punk squats to noisier, artier crowds. Following 2017's "Un Deuil Indien", the band returns with "Toutes Ces Horreurs", their third full-length. On these twelve tracks, SATAN continues to pursue their path on the fringes of punk and metal, departing more and more from their grindcore roots in favor of their trance-inducing, black metal obsessions. All of this with their now trademark surrealist lyrical style, and played with no other concerns than urgency.