Sunn O))) - Life Metal

7.6

Undoubtedly their best release of the decade, the already-legendary drone doom metal band from Seattle finally team up with Steve Albini on production and mixing to create what's by far their loudest and most quality-edged record, albeit not their most adventurous nor diverse.

Highlights

- Steve Albini's masterful production/mixing/engineering techniques.

- The amazing collaborations with cellist Hilda Guðnadóttir and moog synthesiser player T.O.S. Nieuwenhuizen.

- The extreme tension and coherence between tracks.

Lowlights

- The songs seem excessively long, even for the band's standards.

- One could wish for more variability and diversity here and there.

Standouts

- Between Sleipnir's Breaths

- Troubled Air

Country: USA

Released: April 26, 2019

Length: 68:56

Laurel Halo - Sweetie (DJ-Kicks)

8.1

Experimental techno artist Laurel Halo comes back after proving she's capable of morphing and concocting sturdy melodies as well as sedated landscapes with a DJ-Kicks edition that sees her returning to her stark, menacing and cleverly danceable dance roots. The 29 tracks are greatly intertwined, bearing strong ressemblances and acute rhythms to maintain power and interest for its hour-running time.

Highlights

- There's tension and release in the songs; they breathe and push constantly.

- Laurel has found a way to also include percussion and worldly sounds to traditional techno structures.

- Halo's knack for the movement and the experimentation are somewhat introverted yet intact.

Lowlights

- Some tracks go around the same pattern a bit too much.

- I'd probably cut the record 10 minutes shorter.

Standouts

- Always Hate (Mixed)

- Canto (Mixed)

- Temptation (Mixed)

Country: USA/Germany

Released: February 12, 2019

Length: 60:37

Westkust - Westkust

6.7

Swedish twee-gaze band Westkust releases their sophomore record in the form of a tight, seemingly coherent package. It's difficult to tear the tracks individually, as the members are truly busy playing it straightforward, without paying much attention to diversity nor nuance.

Highlights

- The instrumentals' thickness and their sense of engrossing atmospheres.

- Julia's warm, lush and distorted vocals and lyricism.

- The strong commitment and cohesiveness across the record.

Lowlights

- All the tracks seem like a single piece played and sub-divided into small chunks, without much variance and interesting details to bear in mind.

- At times it feels as if the potency the band displays lacked emotion and distinctiveness.

Standouts

- Rush

- Cotton Skies

- Drive

Country: Sweden

Released: March 1, 2019

Length: 31:02

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