Honest, calm, heartfelt, soothing, mysterious. Alternative guitar music. The spoken word bits are the extra gold nuggets that I didn’t expect to find.
King Hannah – Big Swimmer
Fontaines D.C. – Romance
Alternative rock and indie.
It’s funny, when the Starbuster single came out I was running to show it to my wife as a power song and she had already heard it, although neither of us listen to a lot of stuff like this and it was also extremely fresh still. At this point (well, almost a year later, but still) it’s so well known, used for trailers, tons of listens everywhere, etc. It was just one of those ones that was a clear-cut huge hit from the get-go. I’m happy for their success, it’s well deserved.
Big Special – Post Industrial Hometown Blues
Spoken word British punk.
Djrum – Meaning’s Edge
This is what IDM is: playful but experimental. Great little album.
IST IST – Light A Bigger Fire
Post-punk goth rock vibes.
MEUTE – EMPOR
Brass and percussions playing something that feels like electronic music. Let’s call it acoustic techno. Nod to Brandt Brauer Frick, but with stronger focus on the brass section. I’d love to hear this played live.
Eivør – Enn
Dream pop meets nordic folk.
Tribulation – Sub Rosa In Æternum
This band started from death metal and from album to album steered sideways to finally arrive to this absolute classic goth metal sound represented on this last record. The throaty, harsh vocals from their past add an interesting flavor while the clean, deep voiced goth singing arrived to accompany it. I wouldn’t have their previous record on replay, but this one hits home. It’s a set of beautiful dark songs overall.
Murcof – The Etna Sessions
It’s like the ambient soundtrack of a classic space opera. It’s majestic and grand.
Jamie xx – In Waves
This is a really amazing record, beautiful tracks from start to finish. I haven’t been a Jamie xx fan, but this converts me. It makes me realize he’s one of those guys, like Chemical Brothers, Crystal Method, Orbital, and so on. It’s electronic overground music of the best kind.