100 words music reviews
Like a King of the Dot championship rap battle, IDGAFATRSIJDUIDFLIA has a flurry of words, loaded references, and a meaty flow. $ilkMoney sounds rattled, but stays on top of his ailments and points of anger. It is a unique quality of abrasive, creatively sharp performers that they can claw us to their side with magnetism […]
I don’t know if Doon Kanda’s music sounds more like a crude, AI-generated amalgam of all the clubs in Berlin, or a rave for deep sea creatures. His artwork is certainly a grotesque mix of the two. *snaps fingers* You know what Doon’s art is like? It’s like if a 12th century sacrilegious nightmare was […]
Tom Greenhouse sounds like the coworker you never know beyond the timesheet; or the man who takes your details while setting up a council tax account; or the guy who accidentally drops his satchel on your feet on a crowded bus. This is an account of a soul-sucked eyeline and it’s hope for spiritual revival. […]
I’m able to remember back to simpler, more innocent times, when the tithing was strong, the jerkins were well-fitted, and an Ox only cost a small drawstring bag of silver coins. Alio Die remembers this bygone era well, and he made a beautiful album about it. Aura Seminalis is a compositional translation of Renaissance life—dramatic, […]
“Landing bolts” is a skating term that means executing a trick perfectly with both feet on the bolts of the board. Hagop Tchaparian uses the skate aesthetic, but his debut album is frayed, not clean. He is concerned with the gravity of thought before pumping blood; Bolts sets up its bold techno ambushes with considerable […]
Quinton Barnes’ beats have been through a lot. They are responsible for the emotional navigation on For the Love of Drugs—splitting, melding with something new, peppering the vocals. Barnes’ writing, while energized, makes rare use of the abstract. It’s a rational choice to offer central authority to the beats and production, but this record would […]
It’s hard to escape the imperious darkness of this album. The opener could soundtrack dead souls squeezing past each other to order some mead in a purgatorial nightclub. Mabe Fratti, through carefully layered textures, creates an atmosphere of medieval tension that is constantly in touch with both chaos and reflection. The Guatemala-born, Mexico City-based cellist […]
Among her remarkable qualities, Loraine James has added prolificacy. Her first full-length project of the year, Whatever the Weather, emphasised a profound respect for tone and sensation. This follow-up, arriving as the beauty of WTW has been digested, is a work of parallel depth, but the focus has shifted from the process of an album, […]
The cover of No Age’s latest album shows the aftermath of a minor accident: one or two bulbs swept up well, if not neatly. Together with the title, it paints an endearing scene of a helping hand. When the music arrives, it is uplifting and unpredictable—the sound of flowing creative expansion. The vivacious joy with […]
100 words music reviews 