Category Archives: Check this out!

Dan’s Top 31 Albums of 2020

by Daniel Kuburoglu

A bit late to the party, but here we are, nonetheless.

Let’s get the obvious out the way first. 2020 was a bad year, and this did have a knock-on effect with the amount of music that was released as well. While I personally would not say we had any absolute gamechangers this year, that doesn’t mean the year was an absolute waste. (At least, not in this one regard…) It was enough to bring me back from the dead, after all.

I may not have the same mettle for metal as Matt, nor the same dedication to deathlessly digging … Read more

XX XX

by Dæv Tremblay


Well, twenty-twenty has been a year. I’m not here to cover what’s happened outside of music so don’t worry, but one thing COVID-19 couldn’t stop is the relentless tides of music. It did, however, slow them down somewhat, but people cope, adapt, create nonetheless, and, in the end, borne art into the world.

I reviewed, or rather recommended, 175 albums released in 2020; all formats included, I’ve tracked 2,853 releases! Compare this to 2019’s 2,589 and you can see how this is one domain almost untouched by the pandemic. Last year, I had the brilliant idea of putting together a … Read more

November in 207 Albums

by Dæv Tremblay


Hover over foreign scripts for pronunciation and romanization.

Sunday, 1 November

The Guts – Death

21:55
mathcore
Brighton, UK
Independent

Kense – Mistakes Were Made

21:34
math rock
Chandler, Arizona
Independent

Microwave 64 – Daybreak

30:18
synthwave
England, UK
Independent

Space Echo – 11月

26:10
darkwave
UK
Independent

Spichard Rencer – Political Violence

10:34
grindcore
Tampa, Florida
Independent

… Read more

Monthly Recommendations: November 2020

by Dæv Tremblay

Red Fiction – Visions of the Void (צ (Tzadik))

Label page

One of the latest releases on the mythical Tzadik records is the mysterious band Red Fiction‘s Visions of the Void. This album is an otherworldly blend of different folkloric musics and also many modern genres like progressive metal and jazz, and it’s a masterclass in seamlessly fusing all of that in an unbelievably tasty pot. Unfortunately, however, most of you will probably be unable to listen to this album because of Tzadik’s outdated protectionism. Nevertheless, if you come across this release, get your hands on it; you … Read more

Monthly Recommendations: October 2020

by Dæv Tremblay

Polymorphie – Claire Vénus (Compagnie 4000)

“A musical and allegorical digression of a romantic relationship.” That’s how the French experimental jazz quintet Polymorphie describe their most recent project, Claire Vénus. The album follows a series of poems and serves as a living soundtrack to it, which exacerbates the force of each medium exponentially. The kind of music Polymorphie plays is jazz, first and foremost, but it’s the hard-hitting, distortion-tangled, polyrhythm-loving kind. You know what kind. You know you love this. With the various poems, the album goes through a wide array of emotions, and it conveys them superbly. When … Read more