Album Reviews Michael Scharf Album Reviews Michael Scharf

Heaven Is a Place I Can’t Stay by Holy Taker

For fans of Ethel Cain, Giles Corey, Jane Remover, the current wave of spiritual dark folk, and chance meetings which spur lifelong relationships, Heaven Is a Place I Can’t Stay by Holy Taker meditates upon the low-probability events which brought us into being through a dark, minimal, abstract approach to folk songwriting.

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Album Reviews Michael Scharf Album Reviews Michael Scharf

Vesper Sparrow by JJJJJerome Ellis

For fans of late career John Coltrane, Joy Guidry, Zelienople, dark ambient, and the embrace of the entire self, including those aspects which we’ve been instructed to minimize, Vesper Sparrow by JJJJJerome Ellis leans into the artist’s stutter to create mostly instrumental music structured around this speech pattern.

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Album Reviews Michael Scharf Album Reviews Michael Scharf

Chamber Music by Esse Pi Enne

For fans of Duster, Daniel Johnston, Red House Painters, depressive singer-songwriter, and the horror of hearing an unexpected sound in an abandoned building, Chamber Music by Esse Pi Enne situates minimal compositions in an eerie liminal space, forming a touchingly personal atmosphere as we eavesdrop on this outsider creativity.

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Album Reviews Michael Scharf Album Reviews Michael Scharf

A Body Like a Home by Alejandra Cardenas

For fans of Tim Hecker, Talk Talk, Old Saw, spoken word post rock, and the mundane horror of Adam Curtis documentaries, A Body Like a Home by Alejandra Cardenas uses an experimental ambient musical approach to reveal a life permanently altered by the inhumanity of authoritarianism.

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Album Reviews Michael Scharf Album Reviews Michael Scharf

Yenbett by Noura Mint Seymali

Yenbett by Noura Mint Seymali makes modern advancements on the traditional music of Mauritania, a country which participated in both the Maghreb culture which once controlled Spain and the West African culture which would enter America through enslavement and forced migration.

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Album Reviews Michael Scharf Album Reviews Michael Scharf

Oh! by P.E.

For fans of LCD Soundsystem, TV on the Radio, fusion era Miles Davis, dance punk, and our old dance roundup videos, Oh! by P.E. waves a heartfelt yet upbeat goodbye through a party record with surprises at every turn.

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Album Reviews Michael Scharf Album Reviews Michael Scharf

Carne by Todos Mis Amigos Estan Tristes

For fans of Car Seat Headrest, The Dismemberment Plan, Radiohead, noise rock, and that confused anger that follows a breakup where you can’t decide who’s at fault, Carne by Todos Mis Amigos Estan Tristes uses the dynamic contrast of alternative rock to reflect a bipolar attitude towards guilt, blame, and resentment.

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Album Reviews Michael Scharf Album Reviews Michael Scharf

Fen Creatures by Fuzzy Lights

For fans of Comus, The New Eves, Laura Jurd, dark, understated post rock, and the usage of local folklore traditions to advocate for a sustainable future, Fen Creatures by Fuzzy Lights tells the buried ancient history of East Anglia through a unique blend of blues rock, traditional folk, and kraut rock, offering up a prayer for hope in the face of the apocalypse.

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Album Reviews Michael Scharf Album Reviews Michael Scharf

Adorn by Adorn

For fans of Sigur Ros, Agriculture, Mogwai, romantic-era symphonies, and the counterintuitive connection between black metal and classical music, Adorn by Adorn relishes in the pomp and circumstance of Victorian age courtship through a style which overtly combines neoclassical sounds with extreme metal.

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Album Reviews Michael Scharf Album Reviews Michael Scharf

Study of a Dead End by The Mad Laboratory of Anti-Matter

For fans of Caroline, Throbbing Gristle, Lolina, experimental jazz, and the transformation of our deepest desires into an imposing colossus, Study of a Dead End by The Mad Laboratory of Anti-Matter mixes free improvisation with the most extreme sound of prefabricated electronica to create a towering industrial display of human creativity.

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Album Reviews Michael Scharf Album Reviews Michael Scharf

The Emptiness of All Things by Massa Nera

For fans of Frail Body, Orchid, Truck Violence, skramz, and being the one person who looks out at the world and dares to ask “why,” The Emptiness of All Things by Massa Nera dashes all our hollow, manufactured optimism with a dynamic, intense post hardcore sound.

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Album Reviews Michael Scharf Album Reviews Michael Scharf

DOT by Anastasia Coope

For fans of Bjork, Nico, Animal Collective, indietronica, and the dissection of a fragmented self facing digital alienation, DOT by Anastasia Coope slings the current wave of singer-songwriter melancholia into a new experimental dimension.

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Album Reviews Michael Scharf Album Reviews Michael Scharf

The Leopard by Sean McCann

For fans of Matmos, Nicolas Jaar, David Lynch’s dialogue, and David Cronenberg’s aesthetics, The Leopard by Sean McCann tells the grotesque tale of five characters cannibalizing themselves in the style of an experimental, musique concrete opera.

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Album Reviews Michael Scharf Album Reviews Michael Scharf

Daughters by Jennifer Walton

For fans of Caroline, Roxy Radclyffe, Ethel Cain, contemporary post rock, and pure simulacra of an American shopping mall, Daughters by Jennifer Walton exposes the absurdity of our mundane surroundings in the face of distant, gnawing tragedy.

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Album Reviews Michael Scharf Album Reviews Michael Scharf

Of the Near and Far by Patricia Brennan

For fans of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Rob Mazurek, Cisnienie, experimental neoclassical music, and the seemingly random harmony of our natural universe, Of the Near and Far by Patricia Brennan builds a new musical language based on the positions of stars in the night sky.

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Album Reviews Michael Scharf Album Reviews Michael Scharf

Cut by Nadja

For fans of Boris, Sunn O))), Yoo Doo Right, doom metal, and the overwhelming weight of our darkest accumulated experiences, Cut by Nadja treks with us as our legs buckle under a lifetime of trauma.

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Album Reviews Michael Scharf Album Reviews Michael Scharf

A Dream Unearthly by Vexations

For fans of Idles, Sonic Youth, Fugazi, college rock, and the bleak doom of an ancient civilizational collapse, A Dream Unearthly by Vexations tells unsettling stories of an archaic world in decline with the help of a deeply unnerving noise rock sound.

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