Helloooo everyone! Welcome to INAUDIBLE’s15th (almost) annual BEST OF list. Perhaps a bit more abbreviated than years gone by, but brevity is the soul of wit.
So please, grab your headphones, hit your vape, and have a lil listen…
TOP 25 ALBUMS of 2024 (in random order)
(click on artist and album title to sample some tunes)
Less late-night dancefloor, more rainy day introspection, Dark Portrait is Elina Shorokova aka Soela’s most accomplished album to date. After solid releases on Kompakt, Dial, and Shall Not Fade, she joins the Scissor & Thread family and pushes her sound into exciting new territory.
Featuring her own haunting vocals, beautiful production, and stalwart guests like Lawrence, Module One, and label head Francis Harris, this is definitely one to get lost in after dark and during the colder months.
I hadn’t listened to any of her earlier records, but My Method Actor by London-based musician, Nilüfer Yanya was an instant crush for me, with its Sade meets radio friendly 90’s light grunge feel.
I’ve returned to this one again and again, it continues to sound fresh after repeat listens, plays out super well as a full album, and I’m constantly impressed by her great songwriting and effortless guitar hooks.
Prolific rapper/producer, and darling of the DMV, Oddisee, just does not quit. He’s been hustling for twenty years now and keeps on getting better. Seeing his live Christmas show in D.C. with his band Good Compny was fantastic.
He called up local artists in the crowd to come on stage and do a track, and the concert played out like a history lesson of who’s who in the D.C. hip hop scene. Loved the live show and this breezy EP builds off of last year’s excellent album, To What End, with a focus on R&B tinged hip hop to great success.
She’s been in the game for way more than a minute, but thanks to TikTok, Tinashe landed the song of the year with “Nasty”, and saw her underrated star finally catapult into the major leagues. Quantum Baby is a victory lap, building off her equally great BB/ANG3L from last year. It features a tight 30 minutes of her signature evocative R&B smooth jam stylings, once again tapping Nosaj Thing among others to provide fantastic production with tons of low end bass.
I saw her in a Ray Ban commercial with James Blake and Anderson .Paak a few months ago, and then I saw her do her thang in Vegas on New Year’s Rockin’ Eve, so you know it’s only up and up up up from here on out for Nashy.
The Dublin boys shoot for the stars and go BIG and glossy with their fourth full-length, Romance. I really liked early single “Starburster”, with that crazy inhale moment during the chorus from Grian, but I resisted the whole album once it dropped and didn’t listen to it until the fall. On the first couple of spins, I couldn’t believe how “nice” it sounded, the edges were so soft, the vibe was super melodic, it had some Oasis feels, and I wasn’t sure what to make of it all – but then it became a sort of soundtrack to our move from Montreal to Washington, D.C. and I became obsessed with it, as with all their previous releases.
I saw them on their Skinty Fia tour and I have tickets for when they come back to D.C. this spring, so I am excited to see this further evolution of their sound live. Keep goin’, lads!
Vince Staples’ newest record, Dark Times, treads down the same low-key but super introspective path of his last two releases, but for one reason or another, this is the first album of his that’s caught my complete attention since 2017’s Big Fish Theory. It’s an immersive, personal listen that I have returned to again and again, and I feel like his flow is starting to sound more like Devin the Dude the older he gets, which is definitely not a bad thing.
Another one of my most jogged to and shout aloud hooks of the year comes from standout jam “Little Homies”, when Vince crows: “Life hard but I go harder!”
Nate Amos, one half of indie royalty, Water From Your Eyes, records solo stuff as This is Lorelei, and put out a grab bag of catchy lo-fi songs this year on Double Double Whammy, that are super fun and earwormy and at times remind me a lot of Alex G.
I bought tickets for his show in January but lamely skipped it because it was on a Monday and I was cold and tired and had to work early the next day. Oh well. He seems to be maximizing all that youthful energy because he tours a ton and records even more. I’ll go see him next time, and hopefully his creative streak doesn’t end anytime soon! Great stuff.
Founder of the great West Mineral Ltd. imprint, Brian Leeds aka Huerco S. aka Pendant aka Royal Crown of Sweden revives his Loidisalias for an early oughts throwback LP of patient, shimmering minimal and dub techno and it absolutely slays.
Leeds has shown us time and time again that he’s of the absolute best in the electronic scene, no matter what moniker he’s using. Soooo good.
Mr. Prolific, Bryan Müller aka Skee Mask puts out so much gosh darn new music it’s hard to keep up.
And holy cow, I don’t know how the heck he does it, because it’s pretty much all amazing, whether it’s random hard drive dumps, short EPs, or full-length propers. And with Resort, we get the full spread: blissed-out breakbeats, lucid-dream techno, ambient haze, and gauzy downtempo, all easy enough to put on as background or get completely immersed in. The choice is yours, it’ll be great either way.
IDLES’ track “Mother” from their debut, Brutalism, is one of my favourite songs to jog to. I like to put it on in the last kilometre or so of the run for that extra boost of bombastic fuck you fuck yeah energy to help keep me going. I also really like to scream out the lyrics to the chorus on the street lol.
With Tangk, their fifth studio album, we see the blokes following a pattern I have seen time and time again with UK bands that put out a heavy as fuck first record: slowly shift their sound to something more palatable and dare I say, radio friendly. Foals, Fontaines DC, and Shame (just to name a few), all veered more melodic with each release, and IDLES have followed suit.
But it doesn’t matter, because I love it. This is my fave album by them and my most listened to record of the year. It’s still got all the grit and grime even though the edges are a bit polished, and I’m fine with that.
Elevating, uplifting and beautifully arranged, alto-saxophonist, Jasmine Myra‘s sophomore album Rising, builds on the success of her breakthrough Horizons, but kicks it all up a subtle notch.
Produced by Gondwana label head Matthew Halsall, Rising strikes a similar chord to Halsall’s Journey-era Alice Coltrane aesthetic, and it’s an album I just keep going back to. Super smoooove.
Infused with hip hop, Afrobeat and polished amapiano drums, South African star Tyla’s debut record is pure pop novocaine. This album makes pop music sound exciting to me again – even the overplayed, Grammy winning, “Water”, a song so ubiquitous you’ll hear it at the pharmacy and then again playing in the car next to you at the red light. Definitely one of my most jogged to albums of the year.
My fave tracks are “Breathe Me” and “No.1” ft Tems and “PUSH 2 START”, but it’s all good vibes and I am all ears for it.
Diamond Jubilee plays out like a fever dream – disparate fragments of melodies and memories all mashing together to create one truly dazzled sensation. This whole album feels timeless. It could have easily been a lost classic discovered in the archives of some defunct studio from 1976.
At 32 tracks, and two hours long, it’s a lot, and I am still getting to know this record myself, but every damn time I put it on, I feel relaxed, and I feel nostalgic for things just outside of my grasp. It’s weird, but I feel like I’m a handsome teen again, listening to a CD I got in the mail from Columbia House in 1992 that wildly exceeds my expectations.
This is Pat Flegel aka Cindy Lee’s magnum opus and swan song, their mic drop record, which originally was only available to download on Geocities or via a junky YouTube stream. After the non-stop praise, it’s finally been pressed on vinyl and available on streaming services.
If I had to pick one absolute AOTY on my list, I think it’s this one. So much to get lost in over and over. Scroll through the comments on the YouTube link and see all the praise for your self. It’s wild.
Robert Carlos Lange’s Helado Negro project has been floating on a cloud since his slow-burn masterpiece This is How You Smile came out in 2019. 2021’s Far In saw him expanding his songwriting to ever groovier heights, and Phasor sees him somewhere in the middle of those two records, and the end result is an effortless listen of subtle yet addictive electronic pop.
Well, I sure listened to this one a lot. Dom and Kai go shoegaze post-rock with The Sunset Violent, and it ticks off a ton of aural boxes in both of my clogged ears. Adding two new members to the group, they have now effectively become a band, and left behind the “post dubstep” sound they helped carve out 100 years ago.
Some fans are still asking for the Mount Kimbie of old, but I think this album has some fantastic songwriting, gritty guitar hooks, and great vocals, including two hot takes from King Krule.
The ever consistent Kieran Hebden, releases his 12th album under the lauded Four Tet moniker, and quietly reminds us he’s a GOAT with his quirky knack for melody, texture, and intricate rhythms on a record that plays to all of his strengths, which by now, are many and multi. Album opener, “Loved” should be enough to hook you with its classic electronic BOC drum pads and lush synth lines.
Whether he’s putting his ear to the dancefloor or way up into the blue sky, Four Tet is always pure class and always worth a listen…
This is actually a 2023 release, but I didn’t start listening to it until January 2024. Doesn’t matter because Swells went on ultra-heavy rotation on my morning commutes basically until the spring thaw. So many bangers on here, as well as, really wonderful songwriting. “Love Me A Little” may be the kitchen dancefloor jam of the year.
What makes this album sing, is that K-LONEdoesn’t just focus on loops to build his tracks, so they feel a bit more complex – a song can completely shift mood halfway through, but it only makes his music stronger overall.
Bottom line: Swells is an expansive record that looks to deep house, synthpop, and leftfield R&B for a winning collection of melodic electronica.
Wow, what an effortless flex from two hip-hop legends that already had nothing left to prove. Reminds me of the post-Phife Tribe record, We Got It from Here, and how surprised and impressed I was at how goddamn good of an album it is.
Common and Pete Rock give us hip hop in its absolute purest form. Check it toute de suite.
Saccahrine and groovy post-rock jazz from the Danish duo courtesy of Gondwana.
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All right then, friends! We made it to the end! Yesssss! Miss you and love you all. Happy 2025. Be good. Be honest. Be vulnerable. Keep sifting through all the muck, and keep your ears wide open.
Hello no one! Hello everyone! It’s time to try this again for the sake of posterity. I mean, how else will I ever remember what the heck I listened to in 2022? Let’s crack on then….
Welcome to the 13th edition of INAUDIBLE’s end of year list!
Are you surprised to see a William Basinski album on my list? Somewhere on the internet, someone wrote: “Basinski’s been making music for 30 years now, but somehow managed to put out the best album of his career with this quiet alliance with Janek Schaefer.”
Spanning eight years of long-distance collaboration, Schaefer and Basinski assemble twinkling piano, waking birds, tape hiss and warm drones that play out peacefully for three quarters of an hour, leaving this listener at ease even in dark times.
Three tracks, 20 minutes of near perfect IDM/deep reggaeton, or to put it simply, good ol’ fashioned electronica. Brian Piñeyro aka DJ Python aka Luis aka DJ Xanax seems to only get better and better with each release. He’s had a prolific year putting out collabs with Ela Minus, releasing EPs under both Luis and Python monikers, and dropping some killer remixes, mastering the ability to mine emotion out of machines.
Every track on this EP is something to get lost in, but my personal fave is “Club Sentimiental Vol. 3” for those gorgeous synth lines that make you feel like you’re floating above it all for four minutes, above the stress, anxiety, exhaustion, tedium, above the storm, way up above the clouds where there’s only sunshine.
DJ Python is playing in Montreal in February with Anthony Naples and heck yeah I’m excited for the show, it is sure to be a good’n.
I’ve always had a soft spot for Brit rock. Bands like Bloc Party and Foals blew me away when I first heard them. Silent Alarm by Bloc Party and Antidotes by Foals still kick ass fifteen (or more!) years later…
Even Oasis. I will never forget the first time I heard “Wonderwall”. I was 16, very stoned, and in the back of Dave Tedesco’s car driving around on a Friday night. The song came on 89X (local radio station) and when that drum kick came in, oh boy, my heart expanded three times its size. Still love that song, and I do not care what anyone says or how overplayed it is or how ridiculous those brothers are or how many open mic night hacks have sullied it’s wonder even further into shit.
I was late to the Fontaines party, not listening to Dogrel when it came out, despite or perhaps in spite of the hyperbolic reviews. But once A Hero’s Death dropped, I was immediately swept into their sound from the opening bass line and that album was a constant in 2021 during jogs and stroller walks with my son, Simon.
The Dublin lads third full-length, Skinty Fia, shows them opening up their sound palette a bit, adding more melody and harmony but still being total punk rock. Some listeners may not like the shift, but it totally works for me, and seeing their live show at Corona in Montreal this spring was just awesome. Their energy was infectious and seemingly limitless. Must be nice to be in your early twenties lol.
Fave track: “I Love You” – it reminds me of high school and a “they almost made it” local band called Soyl.
Yep, another list, another Freddie Gibbs album. The Space Rabbit dropped his major label debut and switched up his one producer format, working with an eclectic mix of musicians and achieved excellent results.
We’ve got Alchemist, Raekwon, Rick Ross, Offset, Kaytranada, Anderson .Paak, and the hugely underrated Scarface. Not to mention Pusha T, James Blake, Musiq Soulchild, DJ Paul, and more still. Yet even though it’s super varied, it flows really well, all tied together with voice messages from (some questionable?) guests. I’ve found myself getting happily lost in its vibe on many occasions, surprised even at how often I wanted to listen to it again and again.
I like Gibbs best when he gets personal (check “Grandma’s Stove”), and with each record he’s showing more and more vulnerability, talking about his actual life rather than just his thug lyfe — but don’t worry, there’s still plenty of that flex on $$$ for all y’all too.
One of Traumprinz’s many aliases, this album was released in 2018, but I didn’t get into it until this year. High off the quarantine albums under his The Phantasy and DJ Metatron monikers, I decided to go back and give this record a listen, and I’m glad I did, because it is now one of my favourite electronic albums of all time.
No joke. Like up there with SAW2 and Music Has the Right. Nothing 2 Loose is that darn good. Beautifully melancholic, transformative, and able to transport its listener to places they never knew.
“We Are Going Nowhere” is my personal fave, an endlessly hypnotic pulsing heart of a song, goddamn it’s so visceral.
It’s incredible that Traumprinz’s identity is still unknown and that his music is sold only on vinyl and in very limited runs. There’s plenty of myth-making involved and maybe that’s part of the allure, but at the end of the day, he is an artist that has always allowed the music to speak for itself, and I love him for that.
Montreal based artist Phoebé Guillemot aka RAMZi has been quietly building buzz for half a decade now releasing records on Mood Hut, 1080P, and Rvng Intl. With hyphae, RAMZi pushes her sonic boundaries even further, creating an album full of gentle beats and melodies to get absorbed in.
It is definitely an album I can put on and decide to listen to or not. It can comfortably fade into the background as mood music or open up as so much more for the careful listener. It reminds me ofan album by The Irresistible Force on Ninja Tune that I loved from like 25 years ago (dang we getting old now, sheeeeit). It has a similar low-key vibe throughout.
hyphae was recorded between November 2021 and May 2022, and began as an attempt to transcend boredom and frustrations imposed by severe restrictions in Quebec during the pandemic (remember 8 pm lockdown for 6 months anyone?), and is based around sketches she originally made as a score for a documentary about mushrooms called Fun Fungi. I should probably watch it tonight.
I missed her free show at MUTEK this year, but I’m sure I will see her play somewhere in Montreal in 2023.
23 year old, North Carolina rapper, MAVI released his second album this year, and it finds him bringing a poetic, intellectual vibe to hip hop, different but not unlike Earl and MIKE, yet perhaps more easily digestible than Earl thanks to a less fractured delivery and smoother beats. Still, the whole album feels covered in a haze of weed smoke, and provides a perfect soundtrack for stoned head-nodding on the couch.
MAVI is a real Renaissance Man, because when he’s not writing rhymes he’s studying Neuroscience at Howard University in DC. I expect his star to only shoot higher in the next few years, and I was bummed to see he’s skipping Montreal on his upcoming tour. Oh well, maybe next time, svp Mav?
Some of the best musical landscapes to get lost in this year, and all thanks to who? The Queen: Céline Dion.
Elusive UK group, Romance, use Céline as their muse, and take her music, slow it down, flip it upside down, pull it apart, grieve its loss, and then painstakingly put it back together again. And in the process, they somehow take the syrupy 90’s ballad format and transform it into a surprisingly emotional modern classical ambient album. Like OPN or Malibu, Romance can eke out all them sad-boy feelings.
Take the first track for example, a patient drone, an occasional reverb heavy piano loop, and Dion’s voice pushed into slightly irregular registers – either just too low or just too high – singing “Have You Ever Been in Love?” Sounds like a recipe for a cheesy disaster, but instead plays out like a Harold Budd slo-mo dream sequence.
The closing track, fittingly titled, “Crying is the Only Thing That Gets Me Through” is the clear show-stopper, working a Stars of the Lid vibe, but the whole album is worth checking out. And apparently, there’s a follow-up album now too.
There is virtually zero info aboutsrwnonline, except that they are a duo from Paris, France. I was tipped to this EP on a music site I frequent, and I liked it from the first track. It has that smooth lo-fi deep house vibe pulsing throughout that I am an eternal fanboy for.
Brooklyn musician, Yaya Bey, released my fave album of Badu-style RnB jams of 2022. I was a big fan of Jazmine Sullivan’s Heaux Tales last year, and North Star has a similar smooth neo-soul vibe, not to mention, a candid sexuality.
Effortlessly listenable, and perfect for the start of a party or the end of one. I am looking forward to seeing what Bey does next…
Atlanta’s JID releases his third proper album, and it plays out like a history lesson of hip hop music. Coming from the ATL, one of rap’s meccas (Outkast, Killer Mike, Migos, Young Thug, Playboi Carti, Future, 21 Savage, just to name a few), JID was my students most rec’d rapper of the year, and it was for that reason that I decided to check him out.
And I’m glad I did, because he’s got bars for days, slick production, and a smooth cadence to his delivery that I enjoy. He’s only going to blow up from here.
Stephen Wilkinson released his tenth album as Bibio, and offers up a sort of retrospective of the varied styles and genre flips he’s done in his career. The Bibio project has been shape-shifting for almost fifteen years now – from folktronica to glitch hop to yacht rock to ambient drone with many other deviations in between, and with BIB10, we get a smattering of it all.
That isn’t necessary a great thing, as there’s more than a few tracks I have to skip (bad jazz and cheese rock in middle of album) but there’s enough music on this album that I really enjoy. For example, the outro of “Rain and Shine” may be some the prettiest and wistful music of the year, and “Lost Somewhere” was ear-wormed in my head for weeks.
I really enjoyed his last two more pastoral folk leaning albums and so I find those type of tracks the strongest on BIB10. Still he’s one of the most consistent artists on Warp’s roster and never afraid to take chances — thank goodness he’s good enough to pull most of them off.
In-demand producer, Kenny Beats, has been on the upward trend for five years now, working with Denzel Curry, Vince Staples, Rico Nasty, and more.
This year he dropped his solo debut, Louie, and it’s bursting with smooth soul samples, warm emotions, and fire guests like JPEGMAFIA, Foushée, Dijon, and Benny Sings.
The album is a tribute to Kenny’s father, who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer at the time Kenny was working on the project during the lockdown in 2020. It harkens back to the glory days of instrumental hip-hop albums by legends like Madlib and Dilla, and you can effortlessly listen to it from start to finish, and find yourself dancing in the kitchen while making dinner, and showing the kids how to do the two-step or the cabbage patch or some shit.
Bottom line: soul-heavy jams that are easy fun, and also hit that nostalgia nod for good measure.
I got into Australian musician Alex Albrecht’s album Campfire Stories last year, and enjoyed its classic jazz meets ambient music filtered through the rainforest aesthetic very much, but with A Clearing, Albrecht finds himself directly in my aural wheelhouse.
To quote the label: A Clearing is “Home listening elegant slow House Music”.
To quote some guy on Discogs: “I agree this is some serious magic on here. For context I’m hanging out here at 8:30am on a saturday morning, in my jam-jams and every track is hitting my ear perfectly. Coffee and an enchanted summer morning :)”
Some tracks remind me of long-ago Glasgow legend Pub’s music on the ampoule records imprint.
To quote me: “Immersive ambient jams with a steady pulse and infectious low-register bass swirls. So lovely.”
Norwegian-Mexican artistCarmen Villain makes atmospheric music made up of tapestries of field-recordings, acoustic instruments such as flute, clarinet, piano, and electronics, all culminating into her own distinctive style that combines elements of fourth world, dub and ambient.
I discovered her last year and listened to Both Lines Will Be Blue and Sketches For Winter IX: Perlita EP constantly. They are both unique ambient albums that seem to still get better with each listen. With Only Love From Now On, Villain has mastered her mélange of styles, and put out the best record of her career thus far. With the help of trumpeter Arve Henriksen, and flutist Johanna Scheie Orellana, this album plays out like a slow, soft, daydream.
Villain showcased the album this year at MUTEK, and there’s only one word to describe the set: sensual. Cloaked in darkness and smoke with minimal visuals behind her and flutist Orellana by her side, Villain created a sumptuous mood that I immediately was swept up in. It was an excellent live show that exceeded my expectations and the highlight of the festival for me. She is definitely on an upward trajectory and an essential electronic artist to check out.
Indie darling Alex Gis another artist on the big fat pile of musicians that I never really got into despite all le hype. But as I’ve said before somewhere on this blog, the way I see it, if a good band or artist puts out a good album, I will eventually get into it, and I really don’t care if I’m riding the crest of the hype-wave or not.
I’ve had a rule for the last few years that if an album makes me cry then it is good enough to own on vinyl, and God Save The Animals is on that list. This record caught me instantly to the point where I was listening to it pretty much exclusively for three weeks. I don’t listen to music like that anymore these days. When I was a teenager, and would buy CD’s and only have what I had, I’d listen to the same shit over and over and over, however, with virtually all music available somewhere on the internet, my listening habits have inherently changed. But with GSTA, I was back to my late 90’s on repeat ad infinitum.
The songwriting is so good, and I love how he’s not afraid to weird a song out with pitched or screeched vocals or a wall of distortion or change up a groove right in the middle and start something else.
And the lyrics are also fantastic. “Mission” was the first track to turn on the early morning waterworks on the subway one morning. “Aint gonna right you’re wrong with a stupid love song” followed by an absolutely lovely little guitar solo, oh yeah, that’s the stuff right there.
And then later, “my teacher is a child, with a big smile, no bitterness”, that line is powerful, as 97% of my life is consumed with my two children. And sometimes it’s really fucking hard to be the best Dad I can be without any bitterness, ya know? I love them so much, I am literally tearing up as I type this lol (hey, I’m an emotional sap, aight?), but man alive, it’s been one heck of a hard ass year raising two young kids without any family around to lighten the goddamn load every once in a while. So that line hits me.
And if that wasn’t enough, he does it again in penultimate track “Miracles”, when he sings “You say one day we should have a baby, well, God help me, I love you, I agree…” There’s something so joyful and innocent in his tone about the possibility of starting a family. A future as more than just a couple, but also as parents.
Having children has been without a doubt the greatest most challenging wondrous experiment of my life. I am shocked to realize how much I have learnt about myself in the process, many good things, but also many not so good things. All I know is I am still growing up and evolving myself, and slowly chipping off all the petrified shit that’s been there for way too damn long, and trying to let my children be my teachers, and to look at life wearing their “pure wonder” sunglasses as much as humanly possible.
And somehow, some 29 year-old bedroom producer dude from Philly has given me so much to think about, all thanks to his wonderful songs on God Save The Animals.
For ten years now, Sam Prekop has been releasing solo records where he noodles around with synths and tries to make electronic music. And for ten years, I’d give those albums quick skims, feel like he wasn’t quite hitting the mark, wish he’d put out a new Sea and Cake record, and then go listen to a quote-unquote “real electronic musician”. I’m such a hack critic lol.
He got close with Comma from 2020, which had some pretty solid songs on it, but it took until this year (in my humble hack critic opinion) for Prekop to finally release an excellent electronic record. Maybe he needed the help of Johnny Mac to get that percussion tight? Who knows? All I know is that Sons Of fires off on all cylinders, and even though it’s still full of some serious synth noodling, it totally works this time.
One night during the summer, I was staying at my in-laws and was lying outside of the room my son was sleeping in, waiting for him to fall asleep. To bide my time, I popped in my headphones and put this album on. After the first track or so, I dozed off, and woke up 15-20 minutes later and had no idea what on earth I was listening to. I would have never guessed Sam Prekop in a zillion years. In short, Sons Of sounds like nothing either of them have released up to now, and shows two artists who have continued to evolve and innovate for more than 30 years now.
Prekop also released the equally intriguing The Sparrow on German label TAL this year, further showing this listener that he’s found his electronic stride and is on a hot streak.
Also quick side note: I saw John McEntire play with Tortoise as part of POP Montreal this year and man, what a great show. Took me back twenty years but still sounded as fresh as ever.
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Conway The Machine – God Don’t Make Mistakes (Shady Records)
As I’ve said earlier, I like my thug lyfe with a dose of vulnerability, and shit, if Conway The Machine doesn’t deliver exactly that.
Conway uses this album as catharsis, a platform to grieve, confess, and count his blessings. Take this quick verse from “Stressed” as an example:
And not too long after my cousin hung his self I never told nobody, but I lost a son myself Imagine bein’ in the hospital, holdin’ your dead baby And he look just like you, you tryna keep from goin’ crazy That’s why I drink a bottle daily For all the shit I keep bottled in lately
As someone who has personally lived through more than one miscarriage with his partner, that shit hits hard, and is most welcome flanked by heavy boom bap beats. Guests like Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, Westside Gunn, Benny the Butcher add flow to the album, but Conway can handle the record all on his own.
Great track: “God Don’t Make Mistakes” — the whole “what if?” idea is done so well here, gives me chills, and Alchemist beat killing it as usual
This album came out in 2020 and I’ve been listening to it steadily ever since. Leafar Legov aka Rafael Vogel is a young producer from Germany, and he is skilled at creating mood using synthy ambience and 4/4 beats.
Mirror was one of my quarantine albums, and it helped me get through those early pandemic days at home with a newborn, and having to teach classes on Zoom during that seemingly endless winter. I remember thinking it was a perfect winter album, because it was dark but also had those moments of warmth and light that made you dream that the spring thaw and a return to some sort of normalcy couldn’t be too far away…
Definite hints of Boards of Canada at times and Kompakt-esque pop ambient and deep house, as well as, 90’s minimal techno. Legov is adept at sustaining a cohesive flow throughout as the album blisses out to a gentle climax.
Mirror is an underrated and understated soon to be classic and highly recommended by yours truly.
Yes, it’s true, dream pop heroes Beach House did put out an album in 2022, but for meCate Le Bon’s Pompeii checks the same feels and does so more effectively.
She first popped up on my radar in 2019 with her production work on Deerhunter’s last album Why Hasn’t Everything Already Disappeared? and the first four songs on Pompeii are so ear-wormy, I had to take listening breaks because I could not get the songs out of my head. A testament to her powerful songwriting no doubt.
Lord of the Isles aka Neil McDonald lives in Scotland, and this EP came out in 2020. My friend Mike sent me a link to the closing track “Inheritance” while I was at the in-laws for an extended stay during the second wave of the pandemic. I remember he wrote something like: “Play it as loud as you can handle”.
I decided to listen while out for a jog, and it definitely is not good exercise music, because it stopped me in my tracks. Ellen Renton’s poetry and wondrous Scottish accent gave me pause. I slowly walked down the sidewalk, looked to the left of me and saw two deer grazing in the sunny afternoon grass (not an uncommon site in their neighborhood but still felt like some kind of omen).
When Renton says, “maybe the sun is knackered too…” I don’t know why, but it gets me every time, and the song’s beat-heavy climax is stunning. Definitely on my need to buy on vinyl list. “Waiting in Arisaig” is also fantastic. On the end of that trip to the in-laws, we were waiting at Dulles airport for our very delayed flight, and I was pushing Simon around in his stroller up and down the anonymous halls, and it was pretty much the perfect soundtrack for the moment.
Whities 029 has been on consistent rotation here for two years now. A unique vibe and an exceptional release that will be heavily sought after and imitated, for its peculiar results and new exploration of the intersection between electronic music and literature.
It’s been waaaay more than a minute since Kendrick Lamar’s Pulitzer Prize winning album DAMN. And damn indeed, if every second of it hasn’t weighed down on Kendrick’s shoulders like the weight of all worlds.
Things have changed since DAMN. Pandemic, Artificial Intelligence, war, global political nightmares, conservatism, fake news, idiocracy, hell, even Kanye was still relevant back then (thank goodness Ye’s finally cancelled), and it’s all imploded and exploded in the span of five years.
The world is fucked, no doubt, and even though it may seem on the surface that Kendrick has some sort of Saviour complex, the only person he’s interested in saving with his fifth studio album, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers is his damn self.
Morale is no easy listen, and I’ll admit to letting myself be swayed by early underwhelming reviews, but this record is an ambitious and anxious beast of a double album. It definitely has some missteps (“Auntie Diaries” anyone?), but its highs are so much stronger than the lows.
Take “We Cry Together” for example. The first time I listened to it, I made it about 30 seconds in before rushing to turn the volume down as I was with my daughter, Sylvia. Definitely not a song to jam out to with a 5 year old, but when I finally had a chance to listen to it in its entirety I was wowed. Yin to Kendrick’s yang, actress Taylour Paige, gives an incredible performance throughout this song, as the duo play out an argument between a dysfunctional couple in a toxic relationship.
Another high, “Mother I Sober” featuring Beth Gibbons, has Kendrick in full Vulnerable Mode, rapping out traumatic moments and mistakes of his life — the whole song playing out like a confession about generational trauma and K’s own addictions and regrets.
As the song builds to its climax, Kendrick’s voice grows louder in the mix, above the swirling strings, and Gibbons’ haunted harmonies, and ends with him shouting: “This is transformation!” Gives me shivers every damn time, and as the song fades out, Whitney (his wife), says she’s proud of him, and then their daughter says: “Thank you Daddy”, and I usually have a few solid seconds of private ugly crying before I can move on.
Flawed but powerful as f, Kendrick shows us he is still the GOAT. And heck yeah, I’ll shed off my Osheaga retirement to see him at the festival in Montreal this summer.
OK then, holy shit, I finished the list! Happy belated 2023 to all of you. Only good tidings to you and yours. Be vulnerable. Be honest. And keep on listening to good music.
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