Baaba Maal Makes a Refreshing Electropop Return with ‘Being’
Worldbeat master Baaba Maal’s musical homecoming on Being is not myopic or static but embraces motion through space, time, and sound.
electronic
Once Upon a Time in the Northeast with Kid Koala
The beloved Canadian turntablist Kid Koala knows the secret to success: always push for the new and unexpected. No wonder his new album comes with a board game.
Cybergrind Bibles & Messages to Ourselves: A Fire-Toolz Interview
Pivoting from cybergrind to New Age jazz within a song is nothing new for Fire-Toolz’s Angel Marcloid. What’s new is the fanbase she’s cultivating for her wild genre experiments.
A Certain Ratio Move the Past Into the Future with ‘1982’
A Certain Ratio have always been willing to fiddle with their sound. That they do so in 1982 doesn’t surprise and fits with their rejuvenation in the 2020s.
Haunted By the Sky: The Secret History of Tor Lundvall’s Ambient Pop
With a decades-long career of crafting ambient material as flexible in tone as it is in scope, a new box set reveals secrets to Tor Lundvall’s unknown catalog.
YoshimiOizumikiYoshiduO Apply Synthesized Alterations to Piano and Voice
As one-half of the experimental YoshimiOizumikiYoshiduO, Yoshimi permits her music to seemingly pop up from under the ground like a rare and fragile fungus.
Scheuber’s ‘Autarcique’ Is Full of Dark Synthwave Delights
Scheuber’s Autarcique is a superb synthwave album infused with equal parts dark dance beats and fine song crafting. The result is beautiful.
Nuovo Testamento’s ‘Love Lines’ Is an ’80s New Wave Italo Extravaganza
Who knew the music of mullets, wrap-around shades, and bodysuits could be so compelling? Nuovo Testamento’s Love Lines succeeds and transports the listener.
Re-Considering the First Five Muslimgauze Releases in Memory of Bryn Jones
Muslimgauze’s first five releases are some of the most interesting, fully-realized artifacts to crawl out of the early 1980s industrial, experimental drainpipe.
Weval Quantum Leap Down Memory Lane in the Cerebral Dance of ‘Remember’
Weval pore beats and static all over the melodies on their dense textural new album, Remember, which only highlights how melodic it really is.
Röyksopp in Berlin: The Party Must Go On
Nearly a decade after breaking up with the idea of traditional releases, the famed Norwegian duo Röyksopp are touring with a trilogy of LPs.
John Bence Turns to His ‘Archangels’ for Detoxification
John Bence’s Archangels has got to be one of the quietest new albums. He’s conjured a storm’s eye, making it a fascinating aesthetic contradiction.