Athena, Holding Your Hair, Whispering In Your Ear

For me a few are enough, one is enough, none is enough. This is not for the many, but for you. We are audience enough for each other.

A mostly trad rock album with high quality songwriting and some interesting turns. I had the pleasure of seeing her live at a house show this year, and it was interesting to hear her talk about the songs and her craft. One surprise I took away from the show is that a lot of her lyrics sound coded or metaphorical, but are in fact quite literal: she writes songs about her experiences with an unusual directness. It's tremendously refreshing to hear a series of carefully crafted, emotionally honest, and minimally ironic songs that still rock.

An indie singer/songwriter with electro-pop leanings. The real standout feature of this EP is her songwriting and vocal performance. She creates a kind of pop alchemy--electrifying, emotional, and occasionally exhilarating. The title track gave me the shivers the first time I really listened to it. My only criticism is that, while the lyrics are sometimes good, they can also dip into the generic or shallow. But you'll be happily singing along with them and feeling feelings anyway because her delivery is so compelling.

A concept album about (mostly extinct) plants recorded by a weird British singer/songwriter in collaboration with a Finnish progressive rock/metal band. If you're still reading this review after that setup, buy this album, it's just that good. Richard Dawkins's voice is unique and melodic, but evokes both David Tibet and Geddy Lee by turns. His lyrics are also both incredible and incredibly weird: where else are you going to find polar expeditions, the violent origins of Dionysus, the boiled brains of sheep, and an elegy for classical Cyrene? Circle is, as one would expect from a prog band, capable of executing some incredibly tight arrangements, but isn't afraid to get wooly or jazzy when they need to. Absolutely gonzo, and well worth your time if you enjoy prog or weird material generally.

I got to this album late in the year so I haven't fully organized my impressions, but it's some of the best electronic music I've heard in years. I think the hallmark of the album is how genuinely surprising it is. Every time I thought I had a sense of where a track was going, she'd bring the breaks out of left field, shift tempo, and suddenly you're in an entirely new sonic space. Lots of diverse electro strands drawn together: there are breakbeats for sure, but also house, garage, and some R&B too. Hard to describe, but if you enjoy electronic music (old or new) this is well worth a listen.

High energy EDM with dreamy vocals and strong synth pop and rave influences. The music is at times reminiscent of the dreamier end of 90's techno or trance (think early career Orbital, Opus 3, or Delerium), but also occasionally dipping into synth pop (club crossover acts like Cause and Effect or Iris). Some critics describe a vaporwave influence, but I don't hear it myself. Highly recommended if you enjoy "fast" electronic music with ethereal vocals.

Indie Pop with some rock and R&B flavors, but just packed with hooks. Complex rhythms and vocal lines that tangle and resolve effortlessly. Just beautiful.

High quality shoegaze/dream pop blended with cavernous trip hop. If I had listened to this album blind, I could have been persuaded that this was a lost Cranes album carrying their sound forward into exciting new places. Dark but driving, well worth a listen.

Not a revolution in her art, but a bracing return to form. This is a career highlight, easily her best work since Conatus, maybe even since Stridulum. For the unfamiliar: she's a classically-trained singer who makes gorgeous, gothy, vocal-forward electronic music. At times emotional, and at times a little frightening. If you decide to listen, I'd recommend spending some extra time with the album; some of the arrangements are intricate and it took me a few listens to "get" just how great some of the songs were.

Jenny Hval keeps making beautiful and exceedingly weird art pop and I'm here for it. I've been following her work for ten years or so, and she's really developed a distinct authorial voice that's hard to capture. Shades of Bjork or Fever Ray, but there's really nothing quite like her. I'm not sure that this her best album, but it's definitely in the top three. If you've never listened to her before, Blood Bitch or The Practice of Love might be a better starting point, but you won't go far wrong with this one either.

Poppy indie rock with whipsmart lyrics and singable songs. Ear worms for days--I woke up singing songs from this album several times over the course of the year. The songs are light and move fast, but the lyrics tend to have a sardonic flair that undercuts the lightness (ala Steely Dan). Exceptionally high-quality songwriting on song after song made this album like a gift I could keep unwrapping.

This track is an absolute banger; it got me right up out of my chair!

Weird jazz with a vibe like an old video game soundtrack, just the right mix of charming and eerie.

Peculiar and alienating, skittering with menace. Another great entry from these Raime alums.

Hybrid trip hop with a slinky industrial beat, an alternate reality Sneaker Pimps that somehow sounds fresh in 2022.

An odd moment on an equally odd album. Amusingly weird but tuneful and charming.

Highly danceable electro-pop, and much loved by the under ten set in my neck of the woods.

Haunting and crystalline, listen at night.

Smoky, wild, and throbbing with regret. As good as anything she's done.

A return to form for Kuedo after a slightly disappointing few years, this could have been a B-side on Severant.

A solid entry in their catalog that only suffers by comparison to their previous two even more excellent albums. If you're already a fan, well worth a listen, if not, start with Antisocialites.