#306

Noiserv - Uma Palavra Começada Por N
Really not sure which songs of his to pick, could easily pick half of the album. Portuguese singing one-man band. I don’t think there are any English language reviews of it, so I can’t even steal any words. Just such a warm sounding album, with (apparently) synths, metallophone, omnichord, melodica and other instruments, and a beautiful voice. The album is only half an hour long, so it zooms through. The vinyl and cd packaging are both great too.

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0 voters

#307

Nnamdi - Brat

I think I discovered Nnamdi at a similar time to Sault, although he doesn’t seem to have got the same attention as Sault did. I’m part posting this here just so I can remind myself to listen to it a lot more. Not even sure how to describe it, as it just has so many different sounds and tunes throughout.

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1 Like
#308

Car Seat Headrest - Making A Door Less Open

I assume most people know CSH already, although I’ve only recently listened to him/this album in the last month. Maybe folk are less keen on this album compared to his previous ones (?), so I’m curious about the score it will get. But I have just been loving it - it just makes me want to move my body in almost-dancing kind of moves. I even really like Hollywood. Hollywood makes me want to dance!

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2 Likes
#309

SAULT

  • Untitled (Black Is)
  • Untitled (Rise)

0 voters

#310

I’m with you on this one (apart from Hollywood), but based on the tone of any discussion of it in other threads prepare for it to (unfairly) get the lowest score here

#311

Untitled (& Pepper)

#312

Kali Uchis - Sin Miedo (del Amor y Otros Demonios) (R&B, Pop)

Listening Links

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kBGNJgDfASUCsU_DqzNagSzjhqjGjmJZ8

https://music.apple.com/gb/album/sin-miedo-del-amor-y-otros-demonios/1537594555?ls

https://open.spotify.com/album/0GaMO6MLhbmtAFnKmKrdXB&ved=2ahUKEwjnnf_0obTtAhUlQEEAHVEpAkcQFjAAegQIAxAC&usg=AOvVaw0qT_SRXERrc7F4Vq88Xs9V

Quite an eclectic mix of styles that are coherently pulled together under a general vibe of extremely chilled out R&B. Starting with a gorgeous, slowed-down cover/update of bolero la luna enamorada, it winds deftly between trap beats (¡aquí yo mando¡), Alexandra Saviour/Lana Del Ray-esque retro-pop (vaya con dios and que te pedí), reggaeton (de nadie or te pongo mal) and synth-pop (Telepatía or //aguardiante y limón %). Vocally Uchis is in excellent form throughout, demonstrating a great range and delivering hooks like nobody’s business. Well worth your time even if you speak little/no Spanish - great pop tunes are universal.

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1 Like
#313

Hamilton Leithauser - The Loves of Your Life

Yer man from The Walkmen’s 4th(?) solo album and the first I’ve really got into. Love everything about it; the characters / story telling, lush and varied instrumentation, warmth in it’s homely production and of course Hamilton’s ever present urgent rasp. I found it a very comforting listen on release, at the start of lockdown, and I can see it continuing to provide the same sort of comfort in times to come

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0 voters

#314

The alva noto album that came out this year sounds very much like the previous three in the series, and is therefore great

1 Like
#315

Thanks for sharing this - have bought it on the strength of those two tracks. Looking forward to it coming in the post!

1 Like
#316

Love this record. It’s a strange, unclassifiable, beast but one that deserves a bigger audience I think.

1 Like
#317

Such a great record, really giving me a headache in finalising my top 5!

1 Like
#318

This is so great. Wonderful melodies and chord progressions throughout. Mad that something as simple as the outro to Seeing Eye Dog can sound so affecting.

3 Likes
#319

Yeah, that outro is incredible, it might be my favorite bit of music all year. There’s something about repeating a phrase over a sad chord progression at the end of a song, it’s so simple but so effective.

1 Like
#320

Jesu - Terminus

The end of the year surprise. I’d only been familiar with the Silver EP and have repeatedly read that it’s all diminishing returns from there, but I love this and it’s been all I want to listen to lately. Definitely an album for when it’s getting dark out - slow, bleak, sad, and beautiful. It wouldn’t surprise me if people who like Midwife end up liking this too.

Keeps getting more miserable and pretty:

Tempted not to link this one because it feels like the climax / resolution of the album, but that twist outro is magical.

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2 Likes
#321

It’s only diminishing returns in that Silver is the perfect Jesu song. Nails the aesthetic so well there’s almost nowhere to go. All of the post-Silver records have good stuff on them though.

2 Likes
#322

I should finally get around to trying them this upcoming year, that EP was one of my first and favorite discoveries from this place.

1 Like
#323

Bit off topic but you should check out Iroha if you haven’t heard of them - Andy Swan, who was in Final with Justin Broadrick, ending up in a very Jesu place musically (also featuring Jesu bassist Diarmuid Dalton and occassional mixing from Broadrick). Very much in that Silver post-metal/shoegaze washed out ballpark and often hitting the same heights imo.

3 Likes
#324

Thanks, I’ve never heard them before, I will definitely check them out.

1 Like
#325

Was putting together a playlist today of songs from this year which I loved and even restricting it to 1 song per artist I couldn’t get it below 2 hours. In terms of actual albums, though

Spanish Love Songs - Brave Faces, Everyone
I have a lot tied up in this album emotionally. The last thing I did before lockdown was fly back to London to see the Forum show, which was my third date on that tour during which the band ended up staying with me in Amsterdam for a couple of nights, so this album evokes the last properly good weekends I had before the world ended.

It also happens to be fucking phenomenal, proving that “pop punk” doesn’t need to be a dirty word and that you can write insightful, heartbreaking commentary on the millennial experience while also writing catchy 4-chord bangers.

RTJ4
I am a white rock fan who does not listen to a lot of hip-hop. Next.

Four Year Strong - Brain Pain
Four Year Strong coming back with one of, if not the best album of their career certainly wasn’t on my 2020 bingo card but this album is wall-to-wall easycore joy.

Haim - Women In Music, Pt.3
I love everything Haim have done but this album is an undeniable step up and continues to get better with every listen. I love this band, can’t wait to be able to see them tour these songs.

Biffy Clyro - A Celebration of Endings/Vennart - In the Dead, Dead Wood
Cheating here. Firstly, Biffy released their best album since Puzzle and have proven you can have your cake and eat it in terms of being a weird little rock band AND a huge arena-bothering, number-one-album act (we’ll pretend that WAP cover didn’t happen if that’s OK with everyone).

Bolting on the lockdown solo album from Mike Vennart, erstwhile Oceansize frontman and Biffy’s live guitarist. Totally unexpected and absolutely fantastic.

Honorable mentions to Sault (x 2), Taylor Swift, Touché Amoré and Tired Lion (the latter of which may well become a favourite but it’s just too new to judge rn)

2 Likes