Best of April
Under Tangled Silence – Djrum
Djrum isn’t on R&S records anymore, but Under Tangled Silence is the most R&S-ass album in years. I mean that as a massive compliment. R&S’ long history of frenetic, jittery electronic that tip-toes between club bangers and introspective hyperactivity is my shit, and Oxford’s own Djrum has taken that mantle up with the dizzying, ever twisting Under Tangled Silence. Moments of serene piano are suddenly met by shuddering layers of sampled drums, bass hits pulse like a stone breaking the surface of a pond, dueling percussion parts collide like a scrapyard during an earthquake. Under Tangled Silence lands somewhere between the anxious beauty of Clark and Four Tet’s most exuberant moments. In other words, Djrum’s already amongst the best.
Stochastic Drift – Barker
I need a Barker jazz album. Might sound odd, considering the German electronic guru always seemed closer to classical or chamber music with his thoughtful, restrained version of ambient dub. But Stochastic Drift shows a wonderfully funky (if understated) backbone to Barker’s work. Yes there’s plenty of pulsating Berlin School epics (the delectable “Reframing”) but there’s some real fun and giddiness to be found here. Especially on song of the year contender “Fluid Mechanics” which rumbles before rising like gravity got set to “suggestion” rather than “law.”
It Could / If I - Alex Zethson & Johan Jutterström
The song in your mind is always going to be more perfect than the music in your hands. This is a core frustration of nearly every artist, no matter the medium. Swedish duo Alexander Zethson & Johan Jutterström dive headfirst into the fear and ambivalence of creating something that can never live up to the ideal set up in your soul. The recording catches the individual strings of Jutterström’s piano humming and the clack of Zethson’s saxophone valves. It Could / If I is intimate, almost terrifyingly so, as, even in the most placid moments, the duo will not let you forget there are flawed, imperfect beings behind the music. And there’s sorrow in an acceptance of failure and blemishes. “It Could Have Been Very Very Beautiful” takes John Lurie’s noir-pisstake and plays it completely straight, stripping away any sense of cool detachment, and replacing it with an all enveloping, wonderous, melancholy.
Fragile Wings - Cave Sermon
The names in Fragile Wings suggest softness, tenuous and brittle. “Hopeless Magic,” “Three-Headed Moth” and, of course, the album title. But the album is anything but fragile. A deft mixture of progressive, death, and post-metal, Australia’s Cave Sermon delivers a rousing manifesto, in the same echelon as Deafheaven or Baroness, able to match impenetrable sludge with roaring beauty.
Ego Dissolution - Ancient Death
And on the opposite end of metal, I just need music that makes me feel like “hell yeah brother.” Ancient Death have admirably increased the quota of scorching guitar solos for the year, and for that, they should be saluted.
Body - Finnish Postcard
Yes, this is some sad, surreal, slacker-folk. But also they got a weird-ass video game up on their website.
Comedia – Racine
There’s a genre called “Mallsoft,” an extremely American niche of electronic and vaporwave, meant to conjure images of late ‘90s nostalgia with a hint of dread. Racine said, “what if we just did the dread, no nostalgia?” Comedia is a jagged beast that layers thorns and brambles on top of smooth undercurrents of instrumental jams, and house music.
Gaiaphilia - Yumiko Morioka & Takashi Kokubo
Why yes, I would like to hang out with the dryads and nymphs in a symphony of soothing streams and slowly growing moss, I’m so glad you asked.
Alex - Daughter of Swords
Kinda obnoxious, deeply horny, Daughter of Swords swaggers and dances like one of my favorite underrated albums ever, Olga Bell’s Tempo. E-girl raves for lovers of M.I.A. pre her going insane.