Office Culture’s Sprawling New LP “Finds Beauty in the Shrapnel”
On the occasion of Office Culture’s ambitious fourth album, Winston Cook-Wilson talks about collaboration, influences, and making dumb sounds on a synthesizer.
experimental pop
Chanel Beads’ Bedroom Pop Is Dynamic on Their Debut LP
Chanel Beads’ LP uncovers flashes of revelation—insights that carry bedroom pop to a new level of ambitiousness while staying faithful to its homemade appeal.
Claire Rousay Shifts from Field Recordings to Quasi-Pop Ballads
Sentiment is a deeply melancholic work suffused with a gentle beauty in the emotions Claire Rousay expresses in the lyrics and the ambient delights.
Julia Holter Goes Underwater to Find Room to Move
Julia Holter drips her semi-conscious thoughts on the musical canvas to access her artistic sensibility, but she seems a bit unsure of the process.
‘Fire Escape’ Is Alena Spanger’s Thorny, Soaring Solo Debut
Alena Spanger’s music is full of odd twists and unconventional choices, but that’s what makes Fire Escape so enjoyable and undeniably beautiful.
Helado Negro Enables Paths to Grow on ‘Phasor’
There is an openness to Helado Negro’s world. His new album Phasor is a dream(y) wake-up call you want to snooze your way back into.
Vanishing Twin Balance Grooves, Ambience, and Psychedelia
Vanishing Twin’s Afternoon X is a worthwhile musical journey through a wealth of different ambient, psychedelic, and groove-based sounds.
Animal Collective Do What They Do on ‘Isn’t It Now?’
Animal Collective’s Isn’t It Now? suggests both urgency and passivity, displaying some of their best attributes but also their self-circumscribed limits.
JOBS Return with the Tense and Multilayered ‘Soft Sounds’
With Soft Sounds, Brooklyn quartet JOBS continue to guide us out of predictability and into previously unknown musical avenues, lush with possibilities.
Colleen Delivers Micro-Focused Version of Her Sound Sculptures
Le Jour et la Nuit du Réel is a departure for Colleen and a natural progression. She delivers a micro-focused version of her sound sculptures.
Panda Bear and Sonic Boom Re-interpret ‘Reset’ with ‘Reset in Dub’
Reset in Dub marks another attempt by Panda Bear and Sonic Boom to arrive at a new alchemy between past and present musical traditions.
Ben Gunning Creates Gorgeous Electropop From Another Planet
Prolific, Toronto musician Ben Gunning makes weird but oddly pleasant experimental music on an album that’s a “solo” work in every sense of the word.