Best of Post-Rock 2021


Plug all the effect pedals at your local music store into one another and record an album with that, you’ll end up on my list.


Number Five: Voids – Who Needs the Words When There Are Stars Above?


Let’s start with an underground act: Voids, from Russia! Who Needs the Words […] was late to the party, coming out in late December, but it truly deserves to be on this list; vast, expansive, atmospheric, and a little heavy side makes for a great experience!


Number Four: Maybe She Will – No Feeling Is Final


UK’s Maybe She Will released a … Read more

Best of Math Rock 2021


Math rock is usually characterized by odd-time signatures, but through the years it came to encompass a lot more than that. Now, you can find straight-up alt-rock bands under the math rock tag, and even though I used to be a valiant gatekeeper of the genre, these days are passed. I now fully embrace all kinds of math rock music, be they super rhythmically engaging, or only remotely belonging into math rock territory. I hope you’ll feel the same way as I do about these following albums.


Number Five: 水中スピカ – mEq


There always seems to be a new Japanese … Read more

Best of Indie Rock 2021


Time for some softer music. Is it still good if it’s not constant chaos? Yeah, yeah things are pretty damn good, actually!


Number Five: Zouz – Vertiges


Let me be chauvinistic a little, and start with a homegrown band. Zouz border on post-punk, noise rock, and math rock, but there’s a middle line in that whole mess that intersects with indie rock sensibilities. Vertiges is a fun, varied, and addictive album that you’re sure to put on repeat multiple times!


Number Four: Ventifacts – Ventifacts


Microtonal indie rock still counts, right? Damn right it does! Ventifacts is the project of … Read more

Kendall Burks – Waves

The Music

The Words

Kendall Burks is a musician and composer from Littleton, Colorado. Primarily using loops, he creates cinematic soundscapes, atmospheric compositions. That’s not to say that they don’t take centre stage. On Waves, this formula is put to work in a style that amalgamates progressive rock, math rock, indie folk, and world music in a whole that sounds minimalistic, rather than pompous, and that’s utterly delightful.

As the album goes on, you slowly get sucked into its quicksands. The guitar parts usually take the lead, but they are joined by many percussive and rhythmic ideas from other … Read more

The Black Heart Rebellion – دختری در شب تنها به خانه می رود / “A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night”, an Alternative Soundtrack to the Motion Picture

The Music

The Words

“دختری در شب تنها به خانه می رود” (Dokhtari dar shab tanha be khaneh miravad) is a 2014 horror movie from Ana Lily Amirpour. It is an American movie in Persian language, and it received moderately good reviews. It didn’t strike me as being especially good, but it seems that it struck a chord with Belgian group The Black Heart Rebellion, who decided to write and record their own music to the film. The band has a good track record, with their 2015 album People, When You See the Smoke, Do Not Think It Is Read more