Carpenter just keeps going, I am in awe. I love these records.
John Carpenter – Lost Themes IV: Noir
Four Tet – Three +
It’s mellow, soulful, cute, cozy—all those Four Tet words in my mind. Full of those tracks that I’d put on a mixtape I make for someone I love.
Brutus – Unison Life
It’s a new find, the kind where it’s obvious from the first track I hear that it’s a match. Great metal sound with a grunge feel to it and strong female vocals. What makes it stick is how honest and human it is. It’s like friends from the neighbouring rehearsal room throwing a concert.
Zeal & Ardor – Zeal & Ardor
They do this soul-blues-metal whatever the third time, and it still works. I postponed playing this record for a long time because I thought two albums of this was probably enough, but here I am, finally listening to the third one, and it’s still great. It’s rawer and more metal-like than the previous ones perhaps, but I cannot even imagine repeating that smash-in-the-face-feeling of their first arrival when this whole style just blasted into the music scene.
Btw, it’s still hard to believe how ahead of the curve I was being on a Zeal & Ardor concert in a club in 2017, at the very moment when the first album dropped. And now, I cannot get a ticket to their stadium tour in town. But, they deserve all the fame and success, I just wish that they keep going.
I also feel like I don’t want to put them in a box and want them to stay there for ever. I can easily imagine this style to evolve and grow beyond what it is now. There’s already a process there that I see in their three-record span, and this is a band I wish won’t be afraid to reach further and innovate more.
My Dying Bride – The Ghost Of Orion
However much time passes, eventually that mood comes when I get back to thinking about My Dying Bride and the need to listen to their music as the soft and soothing pillow my soul needs. And I still haven’t heard all their records, so I always give a shot to something new. This one didn’t disappoint either; gives what I expect, serves what I need, does what they do.
Fontaines D.C. – Skinty Fia
That rare indie record that I get hooked on.
Kylie Minogue – Tension
It doesn’t get any more late adopter than stumbling upon a pop record a year later, and getting hooked on a hit song months after earning a Grammy-award. Anyways, it is what it is. This is a fine classic pop album.
Gojira – Fortitude
This record is such an amazing balance of being full of zest, groove, great tunes and moods, while also being technical and musically complex. And the latter is by no means detrimental to the prior. It’s just extremely smart and also extremely enjoyable metal.
Tosca – Osam
Last time I actively followed Tosca was at the time of No Hassle in 2009, feels like another life. (Indeed, it was another life.) In 2021, when Kruder & Dorfmeister released 1995 and dZihan & Kamien put out IV I noted that it feels like there’s a bit of nu jazz downtempo lounge comeback in the air. This record came with that same bunch but flew under the radar for me then. In hindsight, I don’t feel that comeback in a trending way after all, but these new records take me back and it’s a nice kind of reminiscing. Smooth as silk.
DJ Krush – Saisei
Triphop but with a surprising amount of glitch and IDM compared to a regular DJ Krush record. I recently saw him play live, which was a huge demo of his technical skills, and that shows on this album, too. It’s a diverse ride from smooth hiphop flows to strong industrial bangers.