In a year turned entirely upside-down by the global pandemic, music still found a way to be awesome and provide respite for our weary souls. For some reason, even-numbered years recently have not had any all-time pantheon-level releases, while odd years have always had one or two albums that tower above the rest; that trend persists here, as this year’s best material—while excellent—doesn’t hit my threshold for glory. If we did numerical ratings here, I would say that 95% and up is that standard, and I don’t think anything from 2020 exceeded about a 92%. But don’t misunderstand; while there’s … Read more
Weekly Release Dump
Hover over foreign scripts for pronunciation and romanization.
Friday, 8 January
B L A C K I E… All Caps, with Spaces – Face the Darkness Ⅱ
35:47
experimental hip-hop
Houston
Independent
The 8-Bit Big Band – Backwards Compatible
60:33
jazz fusion, VGM
New York, New York
Independent
Escaping Aghartha – White-Nose Syndrome
30:03
blackened drone metal
North Carolina
Independent
Kari Ikonen – Impressions, Improvisations and Compositions
38:21
free improvisation
Finland
Ozella
Łukasz Ojdana – Kurpian Songs & Meditations
49:05
folk, classical
Poland
Audio Cave
Weekly Release Dump
Hover over foreign scripts for pronunciation and romanization.
Friday, 1 January
Æonus – Hymn to Frost Cold as Death
17:59
atmospheric black metal
Yoshkar Ola, Russia
Independent
Anna Pest – Dark Arms Reach skyward with Bone White Fingers
44:07
death metal
Montréal, Québec
Independent
Ben Haskins – Out in the Cold
38:10
post-rock
Cambridge, Ontario
Independent
Déraciné – Sympathetic Nerves
11:48
post-hardcore
Indiana
Middle-Man
Future Machines – Glowing Flying Object
11:09
math rock
Toronto, Ontario
Independent
XX XX
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
Void, Yaeth, Svirfneblin, and Nautilus
Void – The Hollow Man (Duplicate)
Remember Ashenspire and/or Vulture Industries and/or A Forest of Stars? Well, Void is a new name to add to this rather short list of theatrical progressive metal purveyors. The Hollow Man is the British band’s third full-length album, and it’s based on the poem of the same name from Thomas Stearns Eliot. The entire album comes out on January 29, and it’s a great opportunity for anyone who misses the lyrical character and exuberance of acts like those I mentioned before, to which I’d add later Slice the Cake as well, although the … Read more