Dua LipaFuture NostalgiaWarner Bros.
Where Dua Lipa’s 2017 debut album arrived eight months past its release date, no such misfortune befell its follow-up, Future Nostalgia, which arrived a week ahead of schedule earlier this year as many countries entered their coronavirus lockdowns. Drawing in all manner of ’80s and ’90s pop disco sheen (‘Future Nostalgia’, ‘Physical), without getting lost in the past, Future Nostalgia is chock full of hooks and stylish pop bangers.
DestroyerHave We MetMerge/Dead Oceans
A desolate narrative woven throughout Dan Bejar’s imagery often creates claustrophobic songs which, from the offset, are not for the faint-hearted. Bejar, our conduit in this realm, see-saws in his invitation to listeners to observe this place: “Just look at the world around, actually, no don’t look,” he intones on ‘The Raven’. This stark lament is continued when Bejar further implies that “the idea of the world is no good.” Despite this cautionary exclamation, it’s impossible to divert your attention away from the many atrocities that make-up Destroyer’s most dynamic record. Here, your chances of encountering the Boston Strangler are as good as coming across a gaggle of “chicken-shit singers paying their dues” or “another dead rich runaway.”
BlmFlower ViolenceBox
The more I try and brainstorm Newcastle trio Blóm’s position in rock’s hellish landscape, the less they sound like anyone else within it. Certainly they remind me of other groups, are analogous to others, can be talked of in the same breath as more again – all of which is different from sounding like them. On the face of it, there’s nothing especially unusual about how Blóm set up: Helen Walkinshaw, Liz McDade and Erika Leaman on vocals, drums and bass respectively, their guitarless status adding sharp focus to the bottom-end sludginess of songs which have precedence in punk, noiserock, no wave and psychedelia. Yet Flower Violence, their five-song debut album on local label Box, seems to harbour its own distinct tics of rhythm, arrangement and instrumental interplay.
JockstrapWicked CityWarp
Jockstrap are a group still in their relative infancy, but their musical ideas and artistic vision here is fully formed. They’re no longer an exciting prospect, but a divine force in their own experimental pop field; more than anything else, this EP whets the whistle for a full length. Wicked City is the latest glimpse into their fully realised sonic kingdom, and I can’t wait to spend more time there.
Keeley ForsythDebrisLeaf
Keeley Forsyth is able to create incredible depths with simple words and phrasing, combining them in a way that’s elusive and yet makes full emotional contact. By Debris‘ third track ‘It’s Raining’, her dramatic proficiency begins to reveal itself more fully; the rolling of the ‘r’s, the wet ‘p’s and the transition between head and chest voice that refuses to be discreet. This is a boldly honest and startling debut.
Katie GatelyLoomHoundstooth
Oranssi PazuzuMestarin KynsiNuclear Blast
Opener ‘Ilmestys’ welcomes the listener with waves of throbbing synths and stark, repetitive rhythms like Cluster’s evil twin. ‘Kuulen Ääniä Maan Alta’ hides a thoroughly malevolent riff behind sparkling John Carpenter-style melodies and a stuttering, techno-inspired drum beat before it finally erupts into a blizzard of filth, but ‘Uusi Teknokratia’ is even more bizarre, as it dashes madly through cascades of erratic bleeps and pulsating keys, what sounds like a skipping Neurosis CD played at an uncomfortably high frequency, galaxies of twisted Lustmord-ian ambience and sparse dubby basslines, and a crazy lead passage that sounds like Ron Asheton cracking open the Ark of the Covenant and peeling out one final ear-bleeding solo before he melts away.
AlgiersThere Is No YearMatador
Algiers’ previous record, 2017’s The Underside Of Power, was a doubling down on the dense wall of noise of its self-titled predecessor. There Is No Year isn’t exactly a retreat from that; the four-piece’s loosely post-punk template is still based around vocalist Franklin James Fisher raging against the dying light, as he fights to find space amongst the claustrophobia of his bandmates’ juddering industrial hisses and thuds. This time round, though, he’s starting to win the battle. His lyrics – taken entirely from a self-penned poem called ‘Misophonia’ – sound clearer than ever before.
MxLxSerpentSelf-Released
MXLX, AKA Matt Loveridge, has mellowed, slightly. This is evident on ‘Fuckin’ Had it With You Lot’. A monotone synth drones on in the background as Loveridge rambles on about losing his confidence in people and being sick of it. The final third of the song grows to a distorted crescendo before abruptly stopping. Then the album’s standout moment kicks in. On ‘Being A Bomb’, MXLX just lets rips. It’s sheer noise from the beginning. Throughout Serpent, you could feel the tension bubbling under the surface, but Loveridge showed restraint to keep the songs from descending into chaos. On ‘Being A Bomb’ though, he just unleashes six minutes of pent up aggression and perfectly measured turmoil.
NazarGuerrillaHyperdub
Yes, one can identify a few constituent parts, trace the shadows of various influences here and there, but when consumed as a whole, Guerrilla is a singular experience. Through the feverish blur that lingers around most of the LP, snatches of the familiar are occasionally audible: footwork and breakbeat clearly inform much of the percussion, for example; tracks like ‘Fim-92 Stinger’ nod towards early house and techno, though their danceability is constantly disrupted by bursts of noise and dissonance; vocal samples and field recordings provide the record’s underlying humanity even as they’re warped and inverted beyond recognition.
Perfume GeniusSet My Heart on Fire ImmediatelyMatador
Mike Hadreas is proficient in retaining Set My Heart On Fire Immediately‘s allure as he exudes an unwavering assurance in his artistic dexterity, seamlessly slipping between almost industrial-like rhythms and carefree pop songs. One such irresistible moment is the fun-loving 1980s-tinged, ‘On The Floor’. Even after repeated listens – you could easily lose track of time enjoying it on an infinite loop – the layered textures of Wurlitzer and whomping bass are persistently rewarding. Similarly, the tonal shift of ‘Moonbend’s spacious arrangement, dominated by Spanish-tinged guitar and mellotron, is utterly spell-binding.
Lyra PramukFountainBedroom Community
Fountain, Lyra Pramuk’s captivating debut, is composed completely of sounds fashioned from her own voice. There are songs, some with words, but primarily there are extralinguistic utterances that are processed, augmented, deformed, and re-organised technologically to create timbres and textures that bear little resemblance to anything human-made. The result is a conceptual and smart album that also refreshingly succeeds as an aesthetic object.
Nadine ShahKitchen SinkInfectious
On her fourth full length release, Nadine Shah engages with the gendered politics of interpersonal arrangements, keeping her gaze fixed on the time pressures of maturing womanhood. Kitchen Sink is an album imbued with the outsider experience, filling the great pop cultural songbook with the missing stories of various othered perspectives, characters whose lives haven’t unfolded as imagined, expected, or socially prescribed. “Predominantly the album is about choice,” Shah says, “to respect everyone’s choice of how they live their lives.”
Sex SwingType IIRocket
Psychedelic rock is supposed to be transcendent, but what makes Sex Swing so powerful is that they transcend the limitations of psychedelic rock. Their sound is so full of possibilities: violence, sexuality, sacrifice, even religion. If there was a future to look forward to for heavy guitar music, this is it. Sex Swing: the lost futures of rock & roll have been realised. Even the worst, the most terrifying, psychedelic experiences can have transformative potential.
Jeff ParkerSuite For Max BrownInternational Anthem
Jeff Parker’s last album, The New Breed, was a tribute to his father who passed away while the album was being made. This time, Parker dedicated new album, Suite For Max Brown, to his mother, Maxine. Tender riffs interplay with gentle tones to create an album that oozes with admiration. Given the subject matter, his mum, this makes perfect sense. But what sets Suite For Max Brown apart from similar releases is how honest and raw it feels. There are times when the project could have drifted into a schmaltzy affair, but Parker sticks to his avant-garde roots and delivers his strongest album to date.
Beatrice DillonWorkaroundPAN
SquarepusherBe Up A HelloWarp
Be Up A Hello is Tom Jenkinson’s strongest album for a decade and is easily up there with his best work. After the initial euphoric bounce of ‘Oberlove’ and ‘Hitsonu’, the album delves into classic territories. Wonky jazz and acid breakdowns all feature, making Be Up A Hello feel like a greatest hits album. And in a sense it is. In a perverse way, by using the same equipment he started out with, Be Up A Hello feels like his debut 2.0. He’s taking everything he’s learned over his 24-year career and putting it to use with his original gear, making for an album that has hints of nostalgia, but none of the awkwardness.
Einstrzende NeubautenAlles In AllemPotomak
Alles In Allem, translated as ‘All In All’, is Einstürzende Neubauten’s most compulsively lisenable album to date. The group’s first full-length of new material since 2007’s Alles Wieder Offen, Alles In Allem finds Neubauten at their most melodic, lush and textured. The apocalyptic industrial of early masterpieces like Kollaps or Halber Mensch has been subbed out in favour of lush string arrangements, majestic synth melodies, and Blixa Bargeld’s refined singing. The elevation in the sophistication of its musicality has been a persistent theme for Neubauten since the late ’90s, and those that still fetishise the band for the pulverisations of its early albums are robbing themselves of the joys associated with Neubauten’s more compositionally inclined later career phase.
The Soft Pink TruthShall We Go On Sinning So That Grace May Increase?Thrill Jockey
And so it goes with Shall We Go On Sinning, an album designed to both inspire calm as well as disrupt it. One continuous piece of music split into tracks to appease the streaming gods. The LP begins with ‘Shall’, a lovely, layered accumulation of voices singing the record’s title over and over again, before giving way to the crackling of fire (or is it the rippling of water?) and the soothing, almost devotional house music of ‘We’. (Has any genre of "secular" music ever been more filled with church, with community?) Throughout its first half, the album flirts with ambient tropes, its reliably reoccurring, looping piano figures maintaining a spiritual connection to house music, giving the listener the impression that a 4/4 kick could return at any moment, though it never does.
Instead, just after the album’s halfway point, Daniel shatters the listener’s reverie with a slew of bells, free jazz horns and walloping kicks. This segment of the record, ‘Sinning’, for those following along at home, heralds the beginning of the album’s more chaotic, rambunctious half, while also acting as a kind of wake-up call, maybe even something like "a swift, spiritual kick to the head," as Minnie Driver’s character puts it in Grosse Pointe Blank (a recent shelter-in-place rewatch). The horns stick around. Something like an organ pops up later. Everything is ecstatic. Fully illuminated. ‘Grace’ fakes an afterglow comedown before blowing wide open with depth-charge subs and a wild vocal loop. ‘May Increase’ allows the energy to fully dissipate. The feeling, having gone through it all, is utterly refreshing, akin to renewal.
The Quietus Albums Of The Year So Far 2020
- 1: The Soft Pink Truth – Shall We Go On Sinning So That Grace May Increase?
- 2: Einstürzende Neubauten – Alles In Allem
- 3: Squarepusher – Be Up A Hello
- 4: Beatrice Dillon – Workaround
- 5: Jeff Parker – Suite for Max Brown
- 6: Sex Swing – Type II
- 7: Nadine Shah – Kitchen Sink
- 8: Lyra Pramuk – Fountain
- 9: Perfume Genius – Set My Heart On Fire Immediately
- 10: Nazar – Guerrilla
- 11: MXLX – Serpent
- 12: Algiers – There Is No Year
- 13: Oranssi Pazuzu – Mestarin Kynsi
- 14: Katie Gately – Loom
- 15: Keeley Forsyth – Debris
- 16: Jockstrap – Wicked City
- 17: Blóm – Flower Violence
- 18: Destroyer – Have We Met
- 19: Dua Lipa – Future Nostalgia
- 20: Land Trance – First Seance
- 21: Villaelvin – Headroof
- 22: Run The Jewels – Run The Jewels 4
- 23: Lorenzo Senni – Scacco Matto
- 24: upsammy – Zoom
- 25: DJ Python – Mas Amable
- 26: Luminous Bodies – Nah Nah Nah Yeh Yeh Yeh
- 27: Cavern Of Anti-Matter – In Fabric OST
- 28: Phantom Posse – Forever Underground
- 29: Arca – KiCK i
- 30: Nyx Nótt – Aux Pieds De La Nuit
- 31: Pink Siifu – NEGRO
- 32: Shabazz Palaces – The Don Of Diamond Dreams
- 33: Yves Tumor – Heaven To A Tortured Mind
- 34: Jennifer Walshe – A Late Anthology Of Early Music Vol. 1: Ancient To Renaissance
- 35: DJ Diaki – Balani Fou
- 36: Jerskin Fendrix – Winterreise
- 37: Nídia – Não Fales Nela Que A Mentas
- 38: Charli XCX – how i’m feeling now
- 39: Nihiloxica – Kaloli
- 40: Jason Crumer – Jason Crumer
- 41: Sarah Davachi – Gathers
- 42: Minor Science – Second Language
- 43: Blind Eye – Blind Eye
- 44: Black Curse – Endless Wound
- 45: Quelle Chris & Chris Keys – Innocent Country 2
- 46: Torbjörn Zetterberg & Den Stora Frågan – Are You Happy?
- 47: Sun Araw – Rock Sutra
- 48: Aoife Nessa Frances – Land Of No Junction
- 49: YlangYlang – Interplay
- 50: Georgia – Seeking Thrills
- 51: Delphine Dora – L’Inattingible
- 52: Aksak Maboul – Figures
- 53: The Homesick – The Big Exercise
- 54: Cassowary – Cassowary
- 55: Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs – Viscerals
- 56: Six Organs Of Admittance – Companion Rises
- 57: Nape Neck – Nape Neck
- 58: Cold Meat – Hot And Flustered
- 59: Ambrose Akinmusire – on the tender spot of every calloused moment
- 60: Clemency – References
- 61: Sven Wunder – Eastern Flowers
- 62: Regis – Hidden In This Is The Light That You Miss
- 63: Daniel Craig – A Past Yet To Come
- 64: Laylow – Trinity
- 65: Rising Damp – Petrol Factory
- 66: Zebra Katz – LESS IS MOOR
- 67: Deerhoof – Future Teenage Cave Artists
- 68: Junk Drawer – Ready For The House
- 69: Brent Faiyaz – Fuck The World
- 70: Katatonic Silentio – Prisoner Of The Self
- 71: Laura Cannell – The Earth With Her Crowns
- 72: Teleplasmiste – To Kiss Earth Goodbye
- 73: Pyrrhon – Abcess Time
- 74: tētēma – Necroscape
- 75: Haq123 – Evil Spirits Who Prowl About The World Seeking The Ruin Of Spirits
- 76: Anna Högberg Attack! – Lena
- 77: Dale Cornish – Thug Ambient
- 78: Menzi – Impazamo
- 79: Memnon Sa – World Serpent
- 80: Claire Rousay – a heavenly touch
- 81: The Chisel – Deconstructive Surgery
- 82: DJ Lycox – Kizas Do Ly
- 83: Trrmà – The Earth’s Relief
- 84: Arbouretum – Let It All In
- 85: J Hus – Big Conspiracy
- 86: Sonic Boom – All Things Being Equal
- 87: Morusque – the end of music
- 88: Concentration – I’m Not What I Was
- 89: Bulbils – Invader
- 90: Bruxa Maria – The Maddening
- 91: Richard Skelton – LASTGLACIALMAXIMUM
- 92: The Transcendence Orchestra – Feeling The Spirit
- 93: Nine Inch Nails – Ghosts V: Together
- 94: Fra Fra – Funeral Songs
- 95: Lee Ranaldo & Raül Refree – Names Of North East Women
- 96: Wrangler – A Situation
- 97: dvsn – A Muse In Her Feelings
- 98: AHRKH – Beams From A Spiritual Panorama
- 99: AYA – are eye pea ell oh eff tea
- 100: Satan – Toutes Ces Horreurs
