Reviews
A new voice, a soulful transformation. Amen Dunes, once seen as an outsider, is more likeable and transparent than ever on Freedom.
A thought piece on how we consume music, how streaming destroys our quality of listening, and how spending a week with only one record, Amen Dunes' Love, was an attempt to break free.
Chairlift frontwoman, Caroline Polacheck, frequents an alternate universe known as Arcadia, inspired by European landscapes and the intricate beauty of insects...
Mac DeMarco's fifth album for Captured Tracks features his most dynamic work to date – and it might even make you cry. This Old Dog is pure gold.
Timber Timbre's third album was produced in the hot belly of Laurel Canyon. Take a listen and you'll see how the desert temps have blistered the band's storytelling to create an inescapable, and often pleasurable, western nightmare.
Sports' second EP, People Can't Stop Chillin, finds the band smoother than ever, essentially nailing their late night aesthetic. PCSC keeps your head in the stars and your foot on the gas.
Drugdealer's debut could soundtrack a mystery film from the 70s that never actually happened.
"Shy Layers doesn't mind if you call his music easy-listening." In fact, it's the most accessible, experimental music I can remember ever hearing.
*Insert cliche catch phrase here* Ex. "Mild High Club is back and better than ever." But it's true - Skiptracing is one of the most intriguing albums you'll hear in 2016.
Consistently innovative while staying true to the manic, and sometimes calming, energy of psychedelic rock, Thee Oh See have done it again on their eight album, Drop.
Jack Name's second solo offering, Weird Moons, is an incredible concept album based on his experience with cancer.
Solo artist and founder of River Girls tapes, Coleman Guyon a.k.a. Harry Talin, releases The Exciter — a lonesome journey of self-discovery built on disparate compositions of horns and synths.
White Fence releases a side project under the name of W-X, exposing his love for a good rap beat as well as his truly experimental side.
James Ferraro's Skid Row drops on November 13th and is inspired by the brutal reality of LA's ruthless culture. Skid Row provides a foray into black metal ballads built on the foundations of rap music.
Neon Indian's LP3 is a risky ride through the nightlife that will keep you dancing without any hesitation. VEGA Intl. Night School is a place where late-night parties, socializing and finding yourself in decadent places (“Smut”) can teach you how to survive not just the nightlife but life in general.
Homeshake steps into cyber-pop territory with his synth-heavy album for lovers, Midnight Snack. It's as soothing as can be and just as weird as you might expect.
The latest album from man of mystery, Willis Earl Beal, can only be listened to at night. Beal calls the album, "a perfect, and intentionally minimal, collection of lullabies that (he) often self-medicates with."
Shannon and the Clams are vintage-rock greats and Gone By The Dawn is their best produced album to date, managing to sound like an underwater symphony inspired by heartache.
Dam-Funk is funk's modern-day ambassador, reminding people that the genre's progenitors were visionaries who wanted to make the world a better place, and Invite The Light is his magnum opus.
There's so much joy in listening to music that at once sounds familiar and like nothing you've heard before. Zs challenge every perception of music as they put jazz through a blender to create Xe. It sounds harsh, but the organized confusion of it all turns to bliss with careful listening.
One of this year's best albums finds a freewheeling Australian psych band tightening up their sound to make us fall in love with jazz again.
Gardens & Villa's third album, Music For Dogs, finds the band more comfortable with creating experimental songs as they embrace the art-pop influence of Brian Eno.
The psych-maverick known as White Fence has teamed up with Cate Le Bon to form DRINKS, and their debut album, Hermits on Holiday, is the most unique thing we've heard all year.
Another One is timeless, and its songs will slowly, but surely, become classics from our generation.
“Let It Happen” could be Parker’s words to himself as he sorts through a break up, but to us they’re Parker’s way of advising that we open our minds to enjoy something new.
Kari Jørgensen’s debut as Bobo, paints her as a pop-mistress with an appeal and mystique that’s immediately present.
“My Jamey” is taken from a 7” split with Gap Dream released last year, and marks the kitschy synth pop Loca has nearly perfected. The rest of the album reveals Loca’s musical journey as he defines the middle ground between breezy yacht rock and sleazy, 80s nightclub ballads.
A third of the way through “Too Late”, just before the guitar solo, there’s a Phil Spector “Wall of Sound” moment that combines layers of reverberated vocals and guitar to the effect of hysteria – the kind of hysteria that has fans balling their eyes out, reaching desperately for the stage.
Two hermits on holiday, one beautiful recording that blurs elements of classical, pop, and experimental. Check out Drinks' new album, Hippo Lite.