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

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)

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

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

Xiu Xiu - Girl With Basket Of Fruit

8.6

Eleven albums in, Xiu Xiu once again gives proof that's one of the (if not the) most consistently inventive and stretching pop bands in the world. The songs here are as eerily weird as mumblingly touching, razor-blading Jamie Stewart's one-of-a-kind voice with Angela Seo's perplexing production.

Highlights

- All tracks contain schizophrenic instrumentation that nonetheless make perfect sense.

- As previously said: Jamie's voice is cryptic, hauntingly beautiful and disgusting, and Angela's mixing is phenomenal in shape and in space.

- There's violence, nonsensical reverie and debauchery and profound messages in every corner here.

Lowlights

- It would have been great if some tracks contained a bit more of four-on-the-floor rhythms.

- As engrossing as they are, the lyrics are frustratingly difficult to understand.

Standouts

- Pumpkin Attack On Mommy And Daddy

- Normal Love

- Scisssssssors

Country: USA

Released: February 8, 2019

Length: 36:36

Jay Mitta - Tatizo Pesa

7.4

This debut studio album from a Tanzanian DJ and producer redefines what Singeli music means and should be perceived as, morphing into hyper-kinetic takes that feel bassy, menacing and utterly uplifting in equal ways.

Highlights

- The relentless energy that the album possesses.

- MC guest Dogo Janja plays an interesting, refreshing role.

- The attention to detail, repetition and hypnosis.

Lowlights

- Some cuts don't deliver enough great tunes before they abruptly finish.

- I would have prefered more vocals in some tracks instead of pure looped rhythms.

Standouts

- Don Bet

- Sapienz

- Tatizo Pesa

Country: Tanzania

Released: January 11, 2019

Length: 40:50

Panda Bear - Buoys

7.7

Indietronica legend Panda Bear lays back and dives fully into bassy atmospherics on Buoys, an album that's as inoffensive and unseen as heavily textured (aquatic, nautical, porous and airy, but also lethargic, remorseful, sly and gloomy).

Highlights

- Once again: textures.

- The cocky attention to detail in the most serene parts of the record.

- Unmistakably Panda Bear-ish in layers, tones, themes and breathy executions.

Lowlights

- Some tracks fall excessively numb and strolled around.

- Lyrics get too cryptic at times to understand them and/or enjoy them.

Standouts

- Dolphin

- Token

- Cranked

Country: USA/Portugal

Released: February 8, 2019

Length: 31:02

Aesop Rock & TOBACCO Are Malibu Ken - Malibu Ken

7.7

The unsurprising duo fuses what we all were expecting: abstract, cathartic pieces of poetry made rap verses, all hung out into psychedelic, trippy synths and modulations. And besides that, Malibu Ken manages to sound both compact and full of charisma.

Highlights

- Aes' verses kill it once again, razor-blading with edgy alliteration and deadpan humour.

- Tobacco shines throughout most of the tracks, elevating the verses and giving enough space for them to grow.

- The record hardly ever loses momentum and sense of purpose.

Lowlights

- Distorted vocals at the end of each track is kind of an overused weapon after the first half.

- It seems like a couple of songs lack force or intuitive gut on and within them.

Standouts

- Corn Maze

- Sword Box

- Dog Years

Country: USA

Released: January 18, 2019

Length: 34:34

James Blake - Assume Form

7.4

Though more often than not too numb in love to vary subject matters, and besides the quite unnecessary traptronica beats here and there, James Blake continues to deliver beautiful, sumptuously introspective and shyly experimental pop-soul like few others can.

Highlights

- James' voice seems crackling, playful and addictively emotional all throughout.

- As on any of his productions, the instrumental and vocal layers are glorious.

- He managed to canalise his newly-found happiness and still maintain his usual somber, almost ghostly-like perspective on life.

Lowlights

- There are some tracks that don't reach up to the rest of the record's proficiency.

- Repetition has always functioned on his favour, but on several tracks here it does not.

- The collaborations (the one with Rosalía, specifically) could have been better exploited.

Standouts

- Don't Miss It

- Tell Them

- I'll Come Too

Country: UK

Released: January 18, 2019

Length: 48:12