Best Jazz of 2018

by Dæv Tremblay

If you want a more detailed review of jazz from 2018, please go to Heavy Blog Is Heavy’s Jazz Club post, of which I’m part, where I’ve listed different categories and their winners and honourable mentions. In total, I’ve devised eleven categories, each with up to five nominees, adding up to a total of over sixty albums! On top of that, the other editors inside our Jazz Club also contributed their own picks and selections. If you want more jazz, please hop there and bask in the beautiful glory of this year-end post! Since I’ve already exposed myself at length … Read more

Monthly Recommendations: December 2018

by Dæv Tremblay

Jacob Collier – Djesse, Volume 1

Jacob crafted a set of nine enjoyable songs that cover a wide range of genres and styles, branching out of the world fusion hub. Funk, soul, dance, folk, electro, and classical are only a short list of the styles you might encounter on this record. If you’re into it, you should definitely hop in this wonderful album!

Read our review.

Lady Fitness – Charlotte

At forty minutes in length, Charlotte is complex and insanely fast. Riff after riff and theme after theme, often hopping between genres on a whim, Lady Fitness have what sounds

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December in 155 Albums

by Dæv Tremblay

Saturday, 1 December

Anna Sage – Downward Motion [EP] (hardcore, post-hardcore)

France

Down I Go – Gods [Rerelease] (post-hardcore, mathcore)

London, UK

Glass Skies – Exponential Existential (nu-prog)

England, UK

i.o – Anything but Rust (free jazz, experimental rock)

Victoria, British Columbia

Lady Fitness – Charlotte (avant-prog)

Lyon, France
On L’Étourneur

Read our review.

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Cryptic Ruse, Banda Municipal de Barcelona, Ad Shave, Metro 3, Volcano, Mode Dodeca, Zia, Patrick Shiroishi & Arturo Ibarra, and Kinzie Steele

by Dæv Tremblay

Cryptic Ruse – Dual Spaces: Exercises & Diagrams

Cryptic Ruse‘s latest release is an impressive split with itself, dividing the album in twain down the middle, progressive metal during the former half and doom-drone during the latter. The album is very interesting, as always, by the multiple microtonal temperaments being used and the metal environment in which they’re played. With the recent addition of “Igliashon” Jones to The Mercury Tree, I fear that Cryptic Ruse will take a back seat, but we can still enjoy it while it’s there.

Banda Municipal de Barcelona, Salvador Brotons, and Spanish Brass

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Weekly Release Dump

by Dæv Tremblay

Saturday, 22 December

Déhà – Blackness in May [EP] (atmospheric doom metal)

Brussels, Belgium
On Musical Excrements

A Morbid Masquerade – A Morbid Masquerade [EP] (technical death metal)

New York, New York

Svadara – Орнамент (Ornament) (progressive metal, folk)

Kharkiv, Ukraine

Sunday, 23

Jazz Robots – Jazz Robots Write Down Their Dreams (jazz fusion, progressive jazz)

Chicago, Illinois

Panzerpappa – A Trip to France (progressive rock)

Oslo, Norway

… Read more