Angel Bat Dawid - The Oracle

7.2

The Chicago composer and jazz musician delivers a troublesome but heavily-spiritual musical journey through rage, peace, weird rhythms and a constant sense of tenderness. The tracks breathe life and passion, though some lessen their energy as time passes by.

Highlights

- Angel's fantastic arrangements, as unusual as undeniably jazzy.

- The themes of race, pride and communion all throughout.

Lowlights

- Sometimes less is more; here, the more at times becomes the less.

Standouts

- Black Family

- Impepho

- What Shall I Tell My Children Who Are Black (Dr. Margaret Burroughs)

Country: USA

Released: February 8, 2019

Length: 43:50

Avey Tare - Cows On Hourglass Pond

7.1

On Cows On Hourglass Pond, Animal Collective's co-founder Avey Tare seems barely inspired and in a constant mood for repetition of his already-known formula while creating psychedelic pop-soul. And the record suffers not because of what it is, but because of what it could have been.

Highlights

- Avey Tare's great take onto eerie, moody and heavily delirious micro-sounds.

- The album's motifs and cinematic sketches all throughout.

Lowlights

- It turns out to be more of the same after the first half.

- Avey's voice seems dull and unimaginative; as if lacking distinction and energy.

Standouts

- What's The Goodside?

- Nostalgia In Lemonade

- Saturdays (Again)

Weyes Blood - Titanic Rising

8.8

Natalie Mering's latest album as Weyes Blood is her most cinematic and gorgeously arranged by a mile. The turbid lyrics contrast fantastically with the lush instrumentation to create material that can easily compete with the best pop-rock of the late 60s and early 70s. Titanic Rising is immaculate; an overall triumph for form and music.

Highlights

- Natalie's voice gives character, drama and passion to all the tracks where it's involved.

- The instrumentals feel opressed but thinly orchestrated, and the mixture of them swells you into a gigantic hole of sound and pace.

- The lyricism is cryptic and at-the-point, fulled with queasy anecdotes and sharp metaphors.

Lowlights

- At times, it feels like some songs could have used a bit more of diversity in lyrics and harmonies.

Standouts

- Everyday

- Andromeda

- Movies

Country: USA

Released: April 5, 2019

Length: 42:28

Spellling - Mazy Fly

8.4

The sophomore release from the American outcast Tia Cabral is a thick impersonation of lovely disdain and exhuberant melodrama in the form of pseudo-industrial hypnagogic pop and a melange of styles, moods and textures that serve for an experience as invigorating as entertainingly engrossing.

Highlights

- Spellling's vocal range and delivery are fantastic.

- The instrumentals are rotten and suffocated at the edge of delicate saturation.

- The cinematic narrative of the album.

Lowlights

- Some songs might be excessively long.

- The instrumental tracks, while good, do not live up to the rest of the record's potential.

Standouts

- Under The Sun

- Haunted Water

- Afterlife

Country: USA

Released: February 22, 2019

Length: 42:37

Billie Eilish - When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?

8.6

With just her brother Finneas on production, 17-year-old sensation Billie Eilish manages to surpass common critics and stereotypes to come up with a debut album which is a fantastic exploration and depiction of how it feel to be young, depressed and fulled with existential angst against the world and its people. The bassy, magnetic beats melt with the singer's whispery, heavily-manipulated, demonic vocals in pretty original and diverse ways, making the record both an entertaining experience and a constant, ever-growing adventure. Moreover, it feels the perfect artistic statement for a star on the rise.

Highlights

- The production is otherworldly, thick and thoroughly crafted.

- Billie's voice is a gravitational force on its own, going up and down with every emotion.

- There's an amazing sense of cohesion connecting the songs and topics altogether.

Lowlights

- Some tracks overuse space and melancholy a bit (especially on the second half).

Standouts

- bad guy

- xanny

- my strange addiction

Country: USA

Released: March 29, 2019

Length: 42:56

Flume - Hi This Is Flume

8.7

After two years of silence, the Australian producer returns with a mixtape that's his most realized and authentic release to date. Fully inhabiting experimental wonky fields, Flume excells at disjointed story-telling and marvellous bassness with focus, charisma and angst.

Highlights

- The tracks that contain vocals make the singers/rappers shine amazingly.

- All moments feel urgent and desperately hyperkinetic in form and shape.

- There's cohesion and diversity throughout, and a sense of constant self-discovery.

Lowlights

- Some experiments are fantastically executed, but fall too short in comparison to others.

Standouts

- High Beams

- How To Build A Relationship

- Voices

Country: Australia

Released: 20 March, 2019

Length: 38:20

Helado Negro - This Is How You Smile

6.6

The latest release from the Ecuadorian-American singer-songwriter melts into tropical lullabies and spacious poetry in an album that's at times too busy being taciturn and sleepy to leave a moving impression on the listener.

Highlights

- The production, though shy, is packed with beautiful details.

- The transition between songs is smooth and effortless.

Lowlights

- Roberto Carlos' voice cannot sustain the album's momentum for long.

- Some songs are so quiet and numb that they lose the feeling.

- Though relatively short, the record seems too long and dense at times.

Standouts

- Please Won't Please

- Seen My Aura

- Fantasma Vaga

Country: USA

Released: March 8, 2019

Length: 40:54

Nihiloxica - Biiri

8.2

The second EP from the Ugandan ensemble once again defies what "traditional music" actually means by blending Bugandan rhythms with industrial techno, schizophrenic ambient and a perpetuating feeling of danger and disdain.

Highlights

- The music is absorbing and heavy-loaded.

- The musicians are at the peak of their revolutions and moods.

- The record is dark, menacing and relentlessly savage.

Lowlights

- The technique of speeding up the pace in the last minute gets repetitive after the first half.

Standouts

- Baksimba

- Ding Ding

- Digga Dagga

Country: Uganda

Released: February 13, 2019

Length: 19:17

Yak - Pursuit of Momentary Happiness

8.0

The sophomore release from garage revivalists Yak astounds with its imperfect debauchery and innocent anger at and from the world, providing a trenching, exhilarating feeling that transcends comparisons and competence for its vibrance and ugly delicacy.

Highlights

- Oli's voice feels aggressive and tender, giving space for variability and layered sentiments.

- The instrumentals play a decisive role in communicating mood and energy.

- The tracks are catchy, well-executed and well-distributed all throughout.

Lowlights

- Some songs have an excessive pace and energy that might turn into saturated noise.

- There's a lot of Cage The Elephant influences here, as well as Lou Reed and Iggy Pop; maybe too much sometimes.

Standouts

- Pay Off vs. The Struggle

- Bellyache

- Pursuit Of Momentary Happiness

Country: UK

Released: February 8, 2019

Length: 41:35

Solange - When I Get Home

8.8

With When I Get Home, Solange reaffirms her unbeatable ability to concoct effortlessly sequenced tracks that seem like a whole long song while still sharing varied layers and moods altogether. Not only that, but she cements herself as an unstoppable force redefining soul and crafting galactic production that plays with ambient and stoic repetition. More of a complement of than a contraposition to her previous magnum opus, the album lulls with the universal and the sensual in a work of art that transcends and awes from beginning to end relentlessly.

Highlights

- The stellar production team, in love with tiny details, delirious moods and constant magic.

- Solange's voice, as deadpan as savvy, offering just as much as it wants to and no more.

- The sequence the songs hold is a feature few other artists can show off.

Lowlights

- The use of repetition does have a purpose, but it gets excessive at certain parts.

- The majority of the tracks seem like interludes or mini-songs. While they find ways to grab power and substance, one is left wanting for even more.

Standouts

- Almeda

- Down With The Clique

- Binz

Country: USA

Released: March 1, 2019

Length: 39:02