The2010s is music journalism at its deepest and most thoughtful. In an era of instant reactions, hot takes and public relations disguised as criticism, we’ve tried to craft a site that moves at its own deliberate pace. We’ve interviewed Grammy winners, collected and dissected the best music of the last decade and garnered tens of thousands of listens on our podcast. Now, we’re asking for your support. Before you check out our recommendations, please go to our Patreon page and consider chipping in a few bucks. We’ve got perks from custom made playlists to behind the scenes content and are honored to have your support.
This month we had a few interviews! We chatted with William Ryan Fritch, Damon Krukowski, Cicada and….
Somewhere, a wizard has a panic attack. It’s not an image that fantasy uses often. It feels too close to reality, the terror too mundane to grapple with. But mui zyu doesn’t just wrestle with it, she revels in it. On her solo debut Rotten Bun for an Eggless Century, the British-Hong Kong mastermind unwinds convoluted threads of electronica, warped pop and indie rock into an engrossing, disquieting journey through a fantasy world with all too real horrors. And we interviewed her about it!
On the excellent Selva Obscura, Aussie ambient master Lawrence English acted as the stoic counterbalance to William Basinski’s freewheeling jester. But by teaming up with Pacific Northwest staple loscil, English has found a kindred soul who wants to make music as misty, all encompassing and surprisingly warm, as he does. Played and manipulated from a century old pipe organ that has been English’s muse for a few years, loscil and English craft a spacious, bracing album that has plenty of tranquility, but equally likes to unfurl its climaxes with grand gestures. “Black,” the centerpiece of the album, is such a radiant, welcoming song that it feels like it could be bathed in for eternity. “Black” much like the album as a whole, stands, improbably, as one of the finest moments in both artists’ sterling careers.
Haunted can be playful or horrific. Australia’s Jonnine prances between both. With the spirit tea time of “Tea for Two (Boo)” and the jazzy slink that covers the entire album, the simple, bare production gives a slight sense of surreality. Occasionally that unravels into madness, disquieting and captivating.
Satisfying, but never self satisfied, Germany’s Conic Rose blend together a sumptuously smooth mix of nu jazz, electronica and lo-fi hip-hop that still never strays away from moments of startling virtuosity, or sudden left turns. The ever spiraling patterns of “Gleisdreieck” sigh into the cutesy bop “Heller Tag” while “Miranda” soars like suped up Arve Henriksen. Sexy, adventurous, comforting. Everything you want in a partner and a jazz album.
Brazilian black metal exporter Kaatayra made one of 2021’s most thrilling post-metal outings (which we interviewed him about). And he seems to have taken it upon himself to further reinvent and one up his previous work. Sem Propósito is essentially the same dexterous, raging music he made in the past but put through the filter of progressive electronic and prog rock, with a deep gratitude toward Italian legends Goblin.
We’re glad to see that Liars has never gone out of style. Imagining an era of New York dance-punk as fronted by the stiff madness of Xiu Xiu, Model/Actriz have delivered a bludgeoning, yet danceable, slab of industrial rock that sounds like a more vulnerable Ministry or Perfume Genius as backed by Nine Inch Nails. “You don’t have to submit, submit, submit” goes the chorus of “Crossing Guard.” But you’ll want to submit.
From the darkest, winter nights, Snow Ghosts usher in a whole host of spirits. It’s a shame this is coming out as spring has started, as this is the bleak, autumn decaying into snow music befitting a sacrifice to the sun god.
There are great country albums based on tunes and great country albums based on attitude. Thankfully, Canadian crooner Cat Clyde has both in spades. She pedals light flourishes of psychedelia, tromps through old traumas and still brings a heaping of barroom grace to each song.