The 15 Best Experimental Albums of 2020
To overcome our collective dis-ease and ideological polarization, we must practice pluralism. We must continue to experiment, to oscillate between and beyond poles to find solutions.
A Noa Harrison
The 10 Best Experimental Albums of 2015
Music of all kinds are tending toward a consciously experimental direction. Maybe we’re finally getting through to them.
The 15 Best Experimental Albums of 2019
In an age when the personal is political feels as necessary as ever, we identify most with experimenters who transcend the throwing-shit-at-a-wall, banging-on-pots-and-cans approach. These artists occupy the earthly just as much as they occupy the mechanical and the celestial.
The 20 Best Avant-Garde and Experimental Albums of 2018
This is no scene or collective. These artists have reached their limit in all directions, back into traditions and forward into uncertain futures. 2018 presented challenges for all of us, and our artists presented challenges right back.
‘Listen All Around: The Golden Age of Central and East African Music’ Is a Worthy Primer for Any Adventurous Listener
During the musical explosion of the 1950s, ethnomusicologist Hugh Tracey traversed Sub-Saharan Africa to record a breadth of songs across many styles. This compilation contains some of the best he came up with.
Paul de Jong’s ‘You Fucken Sucker’ Is Angry, Obscene and All Over the Place
The Books' Paul de Jong speaks through the voices of others with his ambitious and eclectic second solo effort You Fucken Sucker.
‘The Thousand Incarnations of the Rose’ Summarizes the American Primitive Tradition with Style and Grace
Glenn Jones compiles some of the finest tunes to emerge from the divine and enigmatic tradition of American primitive guitar and banjo for a release via Craft Recordings.
The Best Avant-Garde and Experimental Music of 2017
The personal is political, the local is global, and privacy is passé. Our musical experimenters are mere soldiers, fighting the good fight in the name of a brighter and weirder tomorrow.
Craig Wedren – “I Am a Wolf, You Are the Moon” (audio) (premiere)
On his latest single, Craig Wedren draws from his experience in the music circuit to inhabit styles from within. Call it ambient pop with a post-dubstep bent.
Iglooghost: Neō Wax Bloom
Neō Wax Bloom is the product of insatiable and earnest curiosity about musical subcultures. It becomes a museum of contemporary digital sound, and Iglooghost its curator.
Technology Is the Servant of the Human Beings: The OMD Interview
At the turn of the postmodern era, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark were on top of the world. They were the cutting edge of pop music, whether they hate to admit it or not.
Terror Pigeon! – “OtherSong” (audio) (premiere)
Funcore troubadour Terror Pigeon! returns with single "OtherSong".