Slaughter Beach, Dog - Crying, Laughing, Waving, Smiling
Charlie Kaplan - Country Life in America
Al Menne - Freak Accident
Mitski - The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We
Grails - Anches En Maat
6-10
Maija Sofia - True Love
Sally Anne Morgan - Carrying
Colin Miller - Haw Creek
Luluc - Diamonds
Grade School - How to Make Wooden Planes
The Rest (no order apart from the national being bottom)
Jeff Rosenstock - HELLMODE
Speedy Ortiz - Rabbit Rabbit
Almost Nothing - Almost Nothing
Pale Blue Eyes - This House
Tiny Skulls - Songs From Some Depressing Movie
Feverchild - Altering a Memory
Perennial - The Leaves of Autumn Symmetry (EP)
Be Afraid - The End Looks Like Prosperity
Rae Fitzgerald - Say I Look Happy
Angel Du$t - BRAND NEW SOUL
Spirit Fest - Bear in Town
Vagabon - Sorry I haven’t called
EITS - End
Beach Vacation - Coping Habits
Nation of Language - Strange Disciple
Worriers - Trust Your Gut
Margo Cilker - Valley of Heart’s Delight
Dolly Valentine - The In-Between
Lost Film - Keep It Together
Yussef Dayes - Black Classical Music
Sincere Engineer - Cheap Grills
Wicketkeeper - Zambroni
Black Market Brass - Hox
Emily Wittbrodt - Make You Stay
Equipment - Alt. Account
Wilco - Cousin
Squirrel Flower - Intheskatepark (EP)
The National - Laugh Track
For That Beautiful Feeling - The Chemical Brothers
Oneohtrix Point Never - Again
Some surprising entries for me in a very strong month (that also featured a cursed album that we will never speak of again). Was convinced that Slowdive were nailed on to be my album of the month - their fifth is another jewel in their crown and cements their career of only ever releasing great albums. However, 6Music started playlisting this and in a Obi-Wan-there’s-a-name-I’ve-not-thought-about moment piqued my interest:
Hadn’t thought about CBR since the mid/late 00s when she seemed to be on every festival line up I attended. Listening to the album, it’s an incredible mix of styles - punk, blues, pop, triphop, rock, jazz, shoegaze are all present here. Songwriting is top notch throughout and her voice is fantastic across everything. Highly recommended album.
Loved last year’s AnCo album and this one continues their rejuvenation for me. Centipede Hz and especially Painting With were hard albums to enjoy and coupled with some frustrating live shows had definitely pushed me away. That said, would appear that they are back with a bang - coupled with Panda Bear’s recent top top output, they seem to be fully into late career classics territory.
On the subject of later career classics, the Chems return with their most consistent album in…25 years? Sound of the (late) summer that. OPN does another album of deconstructed pop that worked so well on Magic - feels like the second chapter of that album, but fortunately I loved Magic so I am fully ok with that.
1: Laurel Halo - Atlas
2: Minor Science - Absent Friends Vol. III
3: Armand Hammer - We Buy Diabetic Test Strips
4: Tirzah - trip9love…???
5: Loraine James - Gentle Confrontation
All five are genuinely amazing, incredible records. Can’t stop listening to all of them. Laurel Halo & Minor Science are possibly the two best ‘ambient’ records I’ve heard in years. Armand Hammer and Tirzah are both wildly inventive and fantastically listenable, and Loriane James is probably the most aptly titled record of the year. While it’s possibly not her best, it’s a clever, gorgeous, really open record - doesn’t get enough love for the phenomenal run she’s on IMO.
Didn’t include another big record released this month as I’m struggling to know what to do with it tbh.
