水中スピカ – mEq (Friend of Mine)

水中スピカ is a Japanese math rock band with next to no information online, but the important thing is that they absolutely rock! I could say they sound a bit like Toe and Jyocho, but since they plug these bands in the music video above, that would be very unoriginal. mEq is a very enjoyable listen for all who like this kind of music, but unfortunately there’s no stream of the album online that I know.

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⊙ – Anabasis

How did I miss this? Seriously! How was I not aware that ⊙, my favourite post-rock band out there, released a new album? Regardless of how Anabasis managed to slip through the cracks, here it is! Making a follow-up to an album such as Les Flavescences is a daunting task, to say the least. It’s probably the post-rock album that marked me the most, and to this day it has no equals. Yes, that means Anabasis didn’t manage to captivate me as its predecessor did, but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth your time. Indeed, Anabasis features all the hallmarks of ⊙ and that makes them great, but it’s perhaps only less ambitious in scope than Les Flavescences. Nevertheless, it’s a brilliant post-rock album that has plenty of atmosphere and a certain cinematic touch to it.

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Red Side Visible – A Break from Normality

Red Side Visible came from a desire to play a bit with heavy progressive metal and jazz. Since their inception in 2008, they released only one album—and it’s great! Now, they’ve come back with their sophomore album, ten years in the making, and it’s a more than suitable successor! On A Break from Normality, you’ll find groovy rhythms, often playing with odd timings, complex song progressions, and even room for improvisation in the solo sections. So, the result is something that’s really fun to go through. Even if it lost some of the novelty it had ten years ago, jazzy prog-groove metal is always fun!

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Anna Webber – Idiom (π)

Anna Webber is a renowned avant-garde jazz composer and flutist. Her previous album, Clockwise, was an absolute masterpiece, and Idiom also strives for these same heights. With almost two hours of material, Idiom is a huge undertaking. The physical release is split into two discs, each consisting of pieces for a particular group. On disc 1, you have five compositions for trio (with Matt Mitchell and John Hollenbeck, wow!), while disc 2 has one big piece for large ensemble. So, you can expect a lot of contemporary music going in, and it’s all amazing!