Jac's 1st Quarter 2016
Haven't had the time to splurge on music like I have the last few years (joys of being an adult I guess) but nevertheless here is just about every album I've heard from this year, ranked ~loosely~ from best to worst. Lots and lots of really good stuff so far this year but I've yet to come across a true standout. |
| 41 |  | Cassio Figueiredo
Presenca
Field Recordings | 2.0 |
| 40 |  | Skaphe
Skáphe²
Black Metal | 2.0 - Dreadful production and no songwriting to be found. The quieter breaks are good if only for the fact they don't assault my feeble lobes. |
| 39 |  | The Body and Full Of Hell
One Day You Will Ache Like I Ache
"Powerviolence" / Noise | 2.0 |
| 38 |  | Chippendale, Gustafsson and Pupillo
Melt
Free Jazz / Free Improvisation | 2.5 - Really interesting drumming, otherwise really boring/grating. |
| 37 |  | Brutality
Sea of Ignorance
Death Metal | 2.5 |
| 36 |  | Genocide Organ
Obituary of The Americas
Power Electronics | 2.5 - Pretty pacified by Genocide Organ's standards. |
| 35 |  | Kanye West
The Life of Pablo
Hip-hop | 2.5 - Sucks like pretty much everything he's done since 2011/12 but "No More Parties in LA" is a jam. |
| 34 |  | Grischa Lichtenberger
Spielraum
IDM | 3.0 |
| 33 |  | Ecferus
Pangaea
Black Metal | 3.0 - Another product in the long line of trendy, dissonant BM that doesn't quite reach the heights of its influences. |
| 32 |  | Obscura
Akróasis
Tech Death | 3.0 |
| 31 |  | Ondness
Quase Driven
Sound Collage | 3.0 |
| 30 |  | Nucleus (USA-IL)
Sentient
Death Metal | 3.0 - Blend of Atheist and Demilich traits. A little mechanical but still enjoyable. |
| 29 |  | Pyrrhon
Running Out Of Skin
Death Metal / Mathcore | 3.0 - Borders on free improv at times. Death cover is pretty cool. |
| 28 |  | The Wakedead Gathering
Fuscus: Strings of the Black Lyre
Death Metal | 3.0 - Eclectic mix of styles with so-so execution but the riffs are good. |
| 27 |  | Irezumi
Thirty
Ambient | 3.0 - Beautifully produced but a little melodramatic at times. |
| 26 |  | Ninos Du Brasil
Para Araras
Techno | 3.5 |
| 25 |  | Throwers
Loss
Crust | 3.5 - Pissed off jams. |
| 24 |  | Ches Smith / Craig Taborn / Mat Maneri
The Bell
Avant-Garde Jazz / Chamber Music | 3.5 - Really interesting mix of jazz and classical but occasionally loses direction but always pulls me back in. Maybe I'm not listening hard enough? |
| 23 |  | Lycus
Chasms
Funeral Doom | 3.5 - Improvement on previous output that bodes well for future releases. |
| 22 |  | Nadra
Allir vegir til glötunar
Black Metal | 3.5 - Melodious but not fruity; engaging and affecting. Recommended. |
| 21 |  | Cian
Strain Studies
Electronic | 3.5 - Hard to classify, experimental electronic tunes. Sometimes hard on the ears but rewarding. |
| 20 |  | Ritual Chamber
Obscurations (To Feast On The Seraphim)
Death Metal | 3.5 - DM legend at work. |
| 19 |  | Kendrick Lamar
untitled unmastered.
Hip-hop | 3.5 - Great collection of TPAB b-sides. |
| 18 |  | Akio Suzuki
a i sha
Musique Concete / Field Recordings | 3.5 - Wasn't thrilled with this at first but I really enjoyed the delicacy and ended up returning more than I expected. |
| 17 |  | Massive Attack
Ritual Spirit
Trip-hop | 3.5 - Not a lot to say, just a great album from genre stalwarts. |
| 16 |  | Clouds (CAN)
Timeslip Roadmender
Techno | 3.5 - Never been huge on techno but I dig this so.. |
| 15 |  | Kassel Jaeger, Stephan Mathieu, and Arika Rabelais
Zauberberg
Ambient | 3.5 - This has all the hallmarks of a grower, so I'll be continuing to listen to this as the year goes on. |
| 14 |  | France Jobin
Singulum
Ambient / Lowercase | 3.5 - Aesthetically lovely, although the super low volume combined with occasional spikes that (intentionally or not) take you out of zone work against it a little. |
| 13 |  | David Bowie
Blackstar
Art Rock | 4 - RIP |
| 12 |  | Chthe'ilist
Le Dernier Crépuscule
Death Metal | 4 - Slightly-flat production aside this is about as enthralling as I expected it to be, although I anticipate it to be trounced by the new Zealotry in a few weeks time. |
| 11 |  | Zeitkratzer / Keiji Haino
Stockhausen: Aus den sieben Tagen
Modern Classical | 4 - To my knowledge (as I've yet to hear the 1973 interpretation) this isn't the full composition, but more of an incomplete scrap-booking of certain movements. Regardless, it makes for good, albeit cacophonous listening. |
| 10 |  | Matmos
Ultimate Care II
IDM / Musqiue Concrete | 4 - A dense and disorienting exercise in sound design. Requires a very specific listening setting as it's easy to get lost and feel disconnected but ~ |
| 9 |  | Venetian Snares
Traditional Synthesizer Music
IDM | 4 - The most palatable VS record is also one of his best. Brings to mind early-Autechre and Aphex but has that distinguished VS sound to it, still. |
| 8 |  | Sarah Neufeld
The Ridge
Minimalism | 4 - A brilliant example of how to extract maximum poignancy from a limited set of motifs. Way better than her collab with Stetson from last year. |
| 7 |  | Destroyer 666
Wildfire
Black / Thrash / Speed Metal | 4 - Didn't expect to like this anywhere near as much as I did but those riffs and leads are undeniable. The slightly campy vocals just add to the charm. |
| 6 |  | Howls of Ebb
Cursus Impasse: The Pendlomic Vows
Blackened Death Metal | 4 - Says a lot about a band when even their least captivating release still towers over 95% of the genre's exponents today. |
| 5 |  | Immune (UK-LON)
Breathless
Outsider House | 4 - Seems wrong to just label this "outsider house" because it's more than that. "Murmur of a Heart" is a solid contender for song of the year so far. |
| 4 |  | Fire!
She Sleeps, She Sleeps
Avant-Garde Jazz | 4 - Three-quarter hour of often meditative but sometimes scorching jazz tunes, really tied together by the drumming. |
| 3 |  | Clara Iannotta
A Failed Entertainment: Works 2009-2014
Modern Classical | 4 - A compilation of dynamic, textured and suspenseful pieces consisting of sparse soundscapes in which the instruments almost seem to chatter with each other, occasionally erupting but only for the most brief of moments. |
| 2 |  | Inverloch
Distance | Collapsed
Death / doom | 4 - Compositionally and instrumentally, this album is very good but what sets it apart from most modern death-doom is absolutely incredible production. I've written a review to further explain myself. |
| 1 |  | Tim Hecker
Love Streams
Ambient | 4 - A change of direction for Hecker after what was already a shake-up of his sound with Virgins. Just about everyone has noticed and commented on how this sounds like Oneohtrix and while I agree there is a lot of influence there, this is more enjoyable than anything Lopatin has done, in my opinion. |
|
