tinymusiccritic

[tinymusiccritic]

RWD<<MAR16

I have come to realise that this monthly series is really just a way for me to extend my favourite time of year, like someone celebrating Christmas 12 times a year, gorging on mince pies well past their sell by date and pickling their liver in eggnog.

What time of year am I talking about? Why, “List Season,” of course. That glorious stretch of time between mid-November (for those publications who are betting nothing decent could come out in the final 6-7 weeks of the year) and December 31st when music critics attempt the impossible task of ranking the year’s musical offerings. How to maintain a grasp on the thousands upon thousands of recorded tracks of worth that come out in a calendar year? It can’t be done. Breaking it down into chunks makes practical sense, preserves my sanity, and indulges one of the internet’s chief pleasures: perusing lists of things written by inconsequential people.

You can thank me in the comments:

Top 31 Tracks of March 2016

31. Deftones - Doomed User 

30. Car Seat Headrest - Drunk Drivers/Killer Whales

29. Big Thief - Real Love

28. Yeasayer - Silly Me

27. ANOHNI - Drone Bomb Me

26. A.K. Paul - Landcruisin’

25. White Lung - Kiss Me When I Bleed

24. Peter Bjorn and John - What You Talking About?

23. Hesitation Wounds - New Abuse

22. Big Ups - Hope For Someone

21. The Body - Starving Deserter

20. Susanna - Hole

19. LUH - Beneath the Concrete

18. Empress Of - Woman Is A Word

17. Frankie Cosmos - On the Lips

16. Jessy Lanza - Keep Moving

15. The Drones - Private Execution

14. Great Pagans - Call of the Void

13. Whitney - Golden Days

12. The Hotelier - Piano Player

11. Kendrick Lamar - Untitled 02

10. Esperanza Spalding - Earth to Heaven

9. Mark Pritchard (feat. Thom Yorke) - Beautiful People

8. Open Mike Eagle (prod. Paul White) - Admitting the Endorphin Addiction

7. Cobalt - Hunt the Buffalo

6. PJ Harvey - The Community of Hope

5. Rostam - Gravity Don’t Pull Me

4. Andy Shauf - The Magician

3. Bat for Lashes - In God’s House

2. Mitsky - Your Best American Girl

1. M83 - Solitude

Spotify playlist here.

Top 10 Albums of March 2016

10. White Denim - Stiff

9. dvsn - SEPT 5TH

8. Damien Jurado - Vision of Us on the Land

7. Koi Child - Koi Child

6. Esperanza Spalding - Emily’s D+Evolution

5. Open Mike Eagle & Paul White - Hella Personal Film Festival

4. Kendrick Lamar - untitled unmastered.

3. The Body - No One Deserves Happiness

2. The Drones - Feelin Kinda Free

1. Cobalt - Slow Forever

Spotify playlist here.

#best songs #best albums #new music #music list #list season #top songs #top tracks #top albums #music

[tinymusiccritic]

RWD<<FEB16

Another month in to the 2016th year of our Lord, and we have another month’s worth of music to try in vain to listen to and judge.

I’ve come to realise that it’s a kind of addiction, trying to keep up with new music. With the advent of streaming services and album leaks, my relationship to music has changed inexorably, and, possibly, unhealthily. Where I used to listen religiously to one album until my cassette walkman/cd player/minidisc player couldn’t hack it no more, now I flit around, listening to a bit of this and a bit of that. Getting the next fix of something new. But not only is it like an addiction; it’s also like another job. When a few days have gone by and I haven’t added the latest tracks of interest to my dedicated Spotify playlist, it’s like I’m falling behind at work.

It’s ridiculous.

But not as ridiculous as the media circus surrounding Kanye West and his new album/lightning-rod-for-fevered-discussion-praise-and-derision The Life of Pablo. How good was that transition? That’s good writing that is. Anyway, I was guilty of being drawn to comment on the biggest music news story of February 2016 too; you can read my rant/review of T.L.O.P. over here: http://www.albumoftheyear.org/user/tinymusiccritic/album/48146-the-life-of-pablo/

Some other stuff happened too (the Grammys, Beyonce apparently being black, Drake performing at a Bat Mitzvah), but I can’t be bothered to comment on it.

Oh please, don’t act put out. You know you only came here for the lists.

TOP 29 TRACKS OF FEBRUARY 2016

Click on the links for YouTube vids/Soundcloud posts...

29. Tombs - Deceiver

28. Open Mike Eagle - Check to Check

27. Bat for Lashes - I Do

26. Kal Marks - Loneliness Only Lasts Forever

25. Har Mar Superstar - Youth Without Love

24. Eagulls - Lemontrees

23. Pantha Du Prince - The Winter Hymn

22. Carseat Headrest - Vincent

21. Marissa Nadler - Janie In Love

20. FKA Twigs - Good to Love

19. Death Grips - Hot Head

18. Black Milk - For 4Ever

17. Animal Collective - Lying in the Grass

16. Porches - Car

15. JC Flowers - Ym Mhorthcawl

14. Woods - Can’t See At All

13. Parquet Courts - Dust

12. Ulrika Spacek - Strawberry Glue

11. Greys - No Star

10. White Denim - Ha Ha Ha Ha (Yeah)

9.  Beyonce - Formation

8.  Niki & The Dove - So Much It Hurts

7. Gun Outfit - Expansion Pact

6. The Body - Hallow/Hollow

5. Mothers - It Hurts Until It Doesn’t

4. Kevin Morby - I Have Been to the Mountain

3. Tim Hecker - Castrati Stack

2. Whitney - No Woman

1. Kanye West - Ultralight Beams

Honourable mentions for Susanna’s ‘Burning Sea’, Little Scream’s ‘Love As A Weapon’, Iggy Pop’s ‘Sunday’ and Prince Rama’s ‘Your Life in the End’.

Dishonourable mention for the truly atrocious ‘Pep Rally’ by Missy “Shoulda Stayed on Indefinite Hiatus” Elliot.

And...

TOP 10 ALBUMS OF FEBRUARY 2016

10. Junior Boys - Big Black Coat

9. Animal Collective - Painting With

8. Kal Marks - Life is Alright, Everybody Dies

7. Wild Nothing - Life of Pause

6.  Christine and the Queens - Chaleur Humaine

5. Ulrika Spacek - The Album Paranoia

4. Porches - Pool

3. Field Music - Commontime

2. Kanye West - The Life of Pablo

1. Mothers - When You Walk A Long Distance You Are Tired

#best new music #music #songs #albums #mothers #kanye west #field music #porches #ulrika spacek #christine and the queens #wild nothing #kal marks #animal collective #junior boys

[tinymusiccritic]

RWD<<JAN16

Welcome to Tiny Music Critic’s inaugural RWD<<, a monthly feature in which I dissect the previous month’s music news and releases, and point you, my desperate, devoted readers to the best that the music world has to offer (at least, according to my limited Anglo-American-centric worldview).

Before we get on to the heart of the matter (i.e. the lists, because - Lord knows - t’internet loves lists), let’s take a look at some of the biggest music news stories of January... well, one of them, anyway.

The music world suffered a great loss last month. 

No, I’m not talking about the last shred of respect anyone had for Kanye West before his ill-advised, toddler-denigrating, woman-hating twitter tirade against Wiz “kk hitter” Khalifa; no, I’m obviously referring to the late, inimitably great David Bowie. 

My relationship to Bowie’s music has always been a bit of a tangential one. My father introduced me to his music, but he also introduced me to Talking Heads, and I always leaned more towards that David B. than the artist formerly known as The Goblin King, fka The Thin White Duke, fka Aladdin Sane, fka Ziggy Stardust, fka Major Tom, fka Arnold Corns. 

My wife was a huge fan during her teenage years, and whilst I have listened to and hugely enjoyed the hits, as well as Hunky Dory and Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars, I am now looking forward to exploring his ample discography of classic records on a more in-depth basis. 

It helps that Black Star was absolutely phenomenal. What an amazing parting gift; heroically off-kilter, unapologetically dark, and, in the context of what happened just 2 days after its release and what we now know about Bowie’s health during the albums’ making, impossibly moving. 

R.I.P. D.B.

Without further ado, here are my Top 31 Tracks of January 2016:

At 31, we have the most un-Tortoisey song Tortoise have released: it’s Yonder Blue, featuring the velvety voiced lady from Yo La Tengo. Discerning listeners may, erm, discern a kinship with the work of Timber Timbre.

Coming in at the big 30, it’s Swedish Sacred Bones-signees, Lust for Youth, with Stardom. Gotta love that peculiarly Scandinavian enunciation. It’s for all you lovers out there, apparently...

29. Cullen Omori has made his feelings about Smith Westerns pretty clear; setting a poster of the band on fire in your debut solo music video leaves little room for ambiguity. Anyway, Cinammon, from his forthcoming album, is a twinkly, 80s pop confection with strong shades of The Tough Alliance.

It’s no Kerou’s Lament, but it’s still worthy of the 28 spot on this list; it’s Ellery James Roberts’ latest track with his LUH project, I&I. Produced (albeit barely noticeably) by The Haxan Cloak, it’s a gorgeous song that’s all triumphant build with call and response vocals and just the right level of melodrama.

27. I can only imagine that Big Ups put their heads together to write the most Slint-esque song they possibly could. Well, homage is flattery. Luckily, National Parks is an absolute belter of a track; all spindly atmosphere in the spoken word verses, and bursts of violence in the “chorus” before the post-rock gives way to snotty Idlewild-esque punk-rock.

Oh, Eleanor Friedberger, so unassuming but so effortlessly charming. Sweetest Girl is sitting pretty at number 26.

For some reason this isn’t what I expected Shearwater to sound like. Quiet Americans features a scenery-chewing vocal performance that claims the 25 spot on this list with gusto. For fans of San Fermin.

24. RJD2 has struggled to gain foothold in the realm of relevance pretty much since his excellent debut, Deadringer, dropped 65 years ago. But Peace of What is an energising slice of soulful electronic funk. Good job, R2-D2!

Four drunk Spanish girls walked into a recording studio, armed with nothing but a terrible name (Hinds), awful note-bending vocals, and a redeeming sense of charming melody. The result is Warts, a song that will stick in your head similar to the manner in which it has gotten itself stuck in the 23 position.

22. Fresh off providing the emotional hook on Kanye West’s stand-alone single, All Day Tigger, Allan Kingdom corals Chronixx into featuring on the liar-hating anthem, Fables.

Are you missing How To Dress Well? Luckily, dvsn is here to scratch that post-RnB itch with Hallucinations. In at 21 FYI.

This list was missing some muscular volume. Thank goodness for Lycus, whose huge and brutally punishing Solar Chamber claims the no.20 spot.

Yeasayer are back! And it’s with their best song since ONE off Odd Blood; I Am Chemistry is as wonderfully bizarre as we should have expected. It’s probably the first time I’ve enjoyed the addition of a children’s choir. And for that, the song takes 19th position.

Rapping in French! That’s all you need to know about Christine and the Queens’ Tilted for it to justify getting in at 18. Choice lyric: “I’m doing my face with magic marker”. 

17. Holy crap, that drum sound. Explosions in the Sky may not have marked their return to form with a Your Hand in Mine-esque life-changing epic, but Disintegration Anxiety is taut, controlled and pushes all the right buttons.

Natalie Prass teams up with the producer of her Album of the Year 2015 winning album, Matthew E White, for Cool Out, an easy-going number that makes a strong case for the merits of the male-female duet. That one’s the 16th best song of the last month.

At 15, we have Mothers with their instant-classic indie rock tune, Copper Mines. When it picks up speed during the chorus, it’s like the band’s possessed by the spirit of David Byrne.

Imagine The Dap Kings playing with The Black Keys, and then add a level of songwriting sophistication that Dan Auerbach could only dream of, and you’ve got the 14th best song of January 2016: Sun City Creeps by Woods.

Wild Nothings have never piqued my curiosity enough to warrant a dedicated listen before. But Reichpop demands attention and gets to sit at no. 13, baby! It does wonderful things in magical ways. The marimbas! The Robert Fripp Remain-In-Light guitar solo! 

Chairlift are a different beast to the entity that made the Eurythmics-indebted Something. Moth to the Flame is a legitimate floor-filler that brings unabashed glee to anyone who hears it. “He’s that kind of man, mama!” Indeed. That was 12.

This is 11: the beguilingly weird paean to bitter breakups, To Think That I Once Loved You by The Drones. There’s so much going on in this song, and in it’s own peculiar way, it’s heartbreaking.

We’re in the top 10. This is Anderson .Paak‘s year: the seeming result of a mind-meld between D’Angelo and Kendrick Lamar, .Paak does it all. And on The Waters, Paak nearly out-D’Angelos D’Angelo and out-Lamars Lamar, whilst BJ The Chicago Kid does his usual soulful stuff.

Wait, this is Panda Bear right? No, it’s Rostam (now former Vampire Weekender) with EOS. The 9th best song of the year so far is an uncategorisable thing of beauty.

In case you were thinking, “Hold up, this list needs some more of that black metal goodness”, we’ve got Krallice crashing in at 8 with Assuming Memory; the highlight from their Hyperion EP. Shame this isn’t on Spotify. Boo!

7. One day, Ka will get his due. For now, those in the know will bask in his brilliance. 30 Keys is one of his barest ever instrumentals but it’s never less than utterly compelling. Like The Wire in miniature, it’s a supremely detailed and unflinchingly human take on life in the drug trade.

That voice. Taking 6th spot is Were We Once Lovers? by Tindersticks; a song that builds at an absolutely perfect pace.

Pj Harvey’s The Wheel is one of those songs that feels like it could go on forever and you wouldn’t even mind. You can tell it’s a strong month for new music when a song of this caliber is only at no. 5.

4. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the synth sound that Porches got to carry Be Apart is simply perfect.

He’s been discussed at length already above; at 3, it’s the one and only David Bowie with the stunning penultimate track from his ultimate album. Dollar Days is a tour de force of songwriting, lyricism and arrangement. Fool them all again and again - yes you will, David.

Ok, so the album ended up being a bit of a disappointment, but, to be honest, Savages shot themselves in the foot by releasing Adore as a single. They should have kept it as a deep cut, discovered and cherished by fans as the un-telegraphed zenith of the band’s career so far. It was almost too close to call, but the song was just beaten into 2nd position by...

... possibly the most perfect pop song I can remember hearing in the past few years: Disappointed by Field Music. This song deserves the No.1 spot. Don’t believe me? Just listen will you? And prove yourself to be a person of good taste.

Listen to the Spotify playlist of 30 of these 31 songs here.

Listen to Krallice’s track here.

And finally, my Top 10 Albums/EPs of January 2016 are listed below:

10. ‘Paradise’ by Pop. 1280

9. ‘Suicide Songs’ by MONEY

8. ‘Ritual Spirit’ by Massive Attack

7. ‘Leave Me Alone’ by Hinds

6. ‘Chasms’ by Lycus

5. ‘Moth’ by Chairlift

4. ‘New View’ by Eleanor Friedberger

3. ‘The Waiting Room’ by Tindersticks

2. ‘Malibu’ by Anderson .Paak

1. ‘Blackstar’ by David Bowie

Listen to the Spotify playlist of these albums here.

#new music #rwd #rewind #best new albums #best new songs #best new tracks #david bowie #anderson paak #tindersticks #eleanor friedberger #chairlift #lycus #hinds #massive attack #money #pop 1280 #field music #savages #pj harvey #porches #ka #krallice #rostam #the drones #wild nothings #woods #natalie prass #matthew e white #explosions in the sky #christine and the queens

[tinymusiccritic]

Tiny Music Critic’s Tracks Of The Year 2015 (A-Z order)

#tracks of the year 2015 #songs of the year 2015 #music #SOTY2015

[tinymusiccritic]

HINDS - Leave Me Alone (2016/Mom + Pop)

70

Charming in the way only an album of ramshackle garage pop-rock performed by clearly inebriated young women can be. This is about as simple as rock music songwriting gets, and despite being seemingly focus-grouped into existence for optimum playability in an Urban Outfitters store, there are enough hooks and the performances are so loose and playful that it's kind of irresistible. What with Mourn hitting it big last year, Spain is enjoying a fair bit of international exposure for its guitar-rock scene. Standout tracks: Warts, Garden, Bamboo Listen if you like: Courtney Barnett, Mourn, and singing along to the radio in the car with friends. Not whilst drunk though. Drink driving is bad, kids. Don't do it. Unless you absolutely have to. Hey, it's called peer pressure for a reason. You've got to fit in, right?

#hinds #leave me alone #album review #new music #2016 #mom + pop #garage rock

[tinymusiccritic]

David Bowie - Blackstar 

87

From it's spellbinding statement-of-purpose title track (and listener patience litmus test!) to the closer, 'I Can't Give Everything Away', Blackstar is an almost entirely unmitigated success. Save for the lyrical abstraction of 'Girl Loves Me' with its Clockwork Orange slang, Nadsat, the album makes an overwhelming case for Bowie's continuing relevance to the contemporary music landscape. This is art-rock performed by a versatile jazz-band, with inspired studio flourishes, all held together by Bowie's inimitable (but now considerably weathered) voice.

The opening 10-minute epic (and lead single!) manages to feel like half its length, so enthralling are its myriad, distinct parts. 'Tis a Pity She Was A Whore' is carried on an insistent beat and alternately skronking and screeching horns, and calls to mind the Bowie of 'Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)'. 'Lazarus' starts like a Wild Beasts song, before introducing coruscating slabs of guitar noise that fall like anvils on the slender rhythm. The horn playing here strongly recalls UK jazz rock quartet, Get The Blessing. It's another enthralling song that subtly and artfully builds in intensity. The rock-ante is considerably upped on 'Sue (Or In a Season of Crime)', whose hurky jerky bass riff and drum pattern initially unsettles the listener, before pummeling them at the track's climax. 'Girl Loves Me' is an intriguing experiment, but sounds like a curious b-side rather than a strong album track, like the rest of Blackstar's tracklisting. The album ends strongly on two wonderful Bowie quasi-ballads, the latter of which sounds like it could have been written in collaboration with Angelo "Twin Peaks" Badalamenti.

"I Can't Give Everything" Bowie repeats as the closing track's refrain. Maybe so, but he's given us more than enough to chew on with Blackstar.

Standout tracks: Blackstar, I Can't Give Everything Away, Lazarus

Listen if you like: Scott Walker, Get The Blessing, and digging eagerly for meaning amongst abstraction.

#david bowie #blackstar #album review #new music #art rock #experimental rock #jazz rock #scott walker #get the blessing #i can't give everything away #lazarus

[tinymusiccritic]

Tiny Music Critic’s Top 50 Albums of 2015

Once again, I’ve managed to miss the entirety of End of Year List season, due to my pathological inability to get organised, or decide on a Top 50 Albums List order. 2015 was a funny year: there were a heap of great albums, but, unlike 2014, where picking a Top 10 was a no-brainer, because there were such clear stand-outs, this year has been a bit different. Even the top position (which wasn’t even up for debate the past 3 years: take a bow Owen Pallett (2014), The Knife (2013) and Fiona Apple (2012)) could feasibly be taken by any one of the top 5 albums, if not the top 10! Weird, right? I’ll refrain from making them all joint 1st though.

So biggest trend of the year? For me, this was the year of Metal. A genre I’d previously only tentatively come into contact with (Deafheaven, Russian Circles, etc.), this year I was enjoying the likes of Fuck The Facts, Horrendous, Panopticon, Tribulation, Torche, Thou & The Body, An Autumn for Crippled Children, Liturgy, Zu, Monolord, High on Fire, Baroness, Locrian, Krallice, Black Fast, False, Beaten to Death, Shining, and Dead to a Dying World. Hell, 20% of my Top 50 Albums of the Year are metal albums! Wouldn’t have predicted that back in January.

Other notable thing this year: women seriously rocked! In a specifically 90s-indie-rock way. Dilly Dally, Torres, Speedy Ortiz, Bully,  Courtney Barnett, Hop Along, Screaming Females: all of them, tearing up the place. There were incredible comebacks from the artistic wilderness (Bjork’s stunningly emotionally exposed ‘Vulnicura’), long-wished-for returns (Sleater-Kinney, Baroness, Sufjan Stevens), artists seizing the moment and delivering on their promise (Father John Misty, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Everything Everything, Grimes), albums that surpassed impossible hype (Death Grips, Deafheaven), incredible debuts (Natalie Prass, Viet Cong, Vince Staples) and think-piece generating opuses (Kendrick Lamar, Oneohtrix Point Never, Liturgy). All in all, 2015 was a pretty fascinating year for new music. Biggest disappointment? No new album from The Wrens... Apparently we’ll be waiting til September for that one. 

Enough dilly-dallying...

50.Dead to a Dying World-Litany 49.Beach House-Depression Cherry & Thank Your Lucky Stars 48.Miguel-Wildheart 47.Tobias Jesso Jr-Goon 46.Chelsea Wolfe-Abyss 45.Kurt Vile-b'lieve i'm goin down 44.An Autumn For Crippled Children-The Long Goodbye 43.Joanna Newsom-Divers 42.Kamasi Washington-The Epic 41.Jenny Hval-Apocalypse, Girl

40.Clarence Clarity-No Now 39.Enablers-The Rightful Pivot 38.Sannhet-Revisionist 37.Dr Yen Lo-Days With Dr Yen Lo 36.Holly Herndon-Platform 35.Panoptican-Autumn Eternal 34.Jim O'Rourke-Simple Songs 33.Tame Impala-Currents 32.Autre Ne Veut-Age of Transparency 31.Destroyer-Poison Season

30.Locrian-Infinite Dissolution 29.Zs -Xe 28.Arca-Mutant & Sheep 27.Jamie XX-In Colour 26.Screaming Females-Rose Mountain 25.Fluisteraars-Luwte 24.Ought-Sun Coming Down 23.Julia Holter-Have You In My Wilderness 22.Hop Along-Painted Shut 21.Kendrick Lamar-To Pimp A Butterfly

20.Pile-You're Better Than This 19.Ezra Furman-Perpetual Motion People 18.Prurient-Frozen Niagara Falls 17.Sleater-Kinney-No Cities To Love 16.Liturgy-The Ark Work 15.Deerhunter-Fading Frontier 14.Protomartyr-The Agent Intellect 13.Sufjan Stevens-Carrie & Lowell 12.Vince Staples-Summertime '06 11.Father John Misty-I Love You, Honeybear

10.Death Grips-Jenny Death 9.Viet Cong-S/T 8.Baroness-Purple 7.Oneohtrix Point Never-Garden of Delete 6.Bjork-Vulnicura 5.Grimes-Art Angels 4.Everything Everything-Get To Heaven 3.Deafheaven-New Bermuda 2.Unknown Mortal Orchestra-Multi-Love 1.Natalie Prass-S/T

Spotify playlist of all albums (excluding the Spotify-eschewing Joanna Newsom and Jim O’Rourke) available here.

#top 50 albums #aoty #aoty 2015

[tinymusiccritic]

The Smashing Pumpkins – Monuments To An Elegy (2014/Martha's Music, BMG)

58

"Too brief&lyrically trite,Smashing Pumpkins' latest recalls previous highs,but mostly sails by unnoticed."

Standout tracks: Drum + Fife, One and All, Tiberius

Listen if you like: Billy Corgan, cats, and tea.

If that seems too dismissive, for an idea of how much I love(d) this band go here.

#smashing pumpkins #monuments to an elegy #martha's music #bmg #billy corgan #cats #tea #siamese dream #new music #album review #new release #alt-rock #alternative #alt-pop #cheap trick #tiny music critic

[tinymusiccritic]

Azealia Banks – Broke with Expensive Taste (2014/Prospect Park)

79

"Surprisingly fresh&entertaining,@AZEALIABANKS's long-delayed debut is a blast of free-flowing club-ready rap."

Standout tracks: Chasing Time, Ice Princess, Soda

Listen if you like: Angel Haze (forget the twitter beef, Azealia butchered Angel when it comes down to music released in 2014), Cakes Da Killa, and the word, "bitch".

#azealia banks #broke with expensive taste #prospect park #2014 #angel haze #cakes da killa #twitter beef #bitch #chasing time #ice princess #soda #212 #new music #house-rap #rap #hip-hop #album review #tiny music critic

[tinymusiccritic]

Pharmakon – Bestial Burden (2014/Sacred Bones)

83

"A singularly disturbing work of bodyshock noiseart,Pharmakon's 2nd LP 4 @SacredBones is a PHYSICAL experience."

Standout tracks: Bestial Burden, Body Betrays Itself, Intent or Instinct

Listen if you like: The Haxan Cloak, Swans, and your eardrums to bleed a little once in a while.

#2014 #bestial burden #sacred bones #new music #experimental #noise #body horror #album review #tiny music critic #the haxan cloak #swans #pharmakon

[tinymusiccritic]

Jenny Lewis – The Voyager (2014/Warner Bros.)

86

"A virtually flawless collection of pop-rock songs carried by @jennylewis's ability to sell a telling detail."

Standout tracks: She's Not Me, Head Underwater, The Voyager

Listen if you like: Haim, Eleanor Friedberger, and tales of small town American existential crises.

#jenny lewis #warner bros #she's not me #the voyager #head underwater #haim #eleanor friedberger #singer-songwriter #pop-rock #indie-pop #new music #album review #tiny music critic #2014

[tinymusiccritic]

Cult of Youth – Final Days (2014/Sacred Bones)

82

"God bless @SacredBones!There cld be worse soundtracks 2 the apocalypse than Cult of Youth's impassioned new LP."

Standout tracks: Dragon Rouge, Empty Faction, Roses

Listen if you like: Swans, Husker Du, and standing on a busy street corner yelling at people & cars about the impending destruction of the world as a result of our collective sins.

#cult of youth #final days #2014 #sacred bones #dragon rouge #empty faction #roses #swans #husker du #new music #music #folk-punk #post-punk #indie-folk #weird-folk #tiny music critic

[tinymusiccritic]

TV On The Radio – Seeds (2014/Harvest Records)

69

"@TVonTheRadio's latest lacks self-assurance of best work&features lyrical clangers,but still catchy in parts."

Standout tracks: Quartz, Seeds, Could You

Listen if you like: The Killers, Phoenix, and platitudinous peptalks.

#TV on the Radio #seeds #harvest records #quartz #could you #the killers #phoenix #platitudes #peptalks #new music #music #album review #art pop #synth-pop #indie-rock #electronic pop #tiny music critic

[tinymusiccritic]

Julian Casablancas+The Voidz – Tyranny (2014/Cult Records)

79

"Willfully alienating @JCandTheVoidz #Tyranny is detractor-baiting but don't dismiss it;JC's best since RoF."

Standout tracks: Human Sadness, Xerox, Take Me In Your Army

Listen if you like: The Strokes (obviously), of Montreal, and the distorted sound & visuals of a warped, too-often-recorded-over VHS tape.

#julian casblancas + the voidz #tyranny #2014 #cult records #human sadness #xerox #take me in your army #the strokes #of montreal #vhs #art-rock #indie-rock #art-pop #new music #album review #music #new release #tiny music critic

[tinymusiccritic]

Ex Hex – Rips (2014/Merge Records)

84

"The wheel remains un-reinvented,but @exhexband's Rips is an utterly infectious collection of power punk pop."

Standout tracks: Waterfall, How You Got That Girl, Don't Wanna Lose

Listen if you like: Jenny Lewis, Sleater-Kinney, and dorky 80s new wave visuals.

#ex hex #rips #merge records #waterfall #how you got that girl #don't wanna lose #jenny lewis #sleater-kinney #power pop #glam rock #punk rock #power trio #new music #album review #tiny music critic #80s

[tinymusiccritic]

Clark – Clark (2014/Warp Records)

84

"Cerebral but neva @ the expense of visceral,rhythmic pleasure,@throttleclark S/T LP=electronica 2 admire&enjoy"

Standout tracks: Unfurla, Winter Linn, The Grit in the Pearl

Listen if you like: Aphex Twin, Oneohtrix Point Never, and the first thumping half of the latest Liars record.

#clark #2014 #warp records #unfurla #winter linn #the grit in the pearl #aphex twin #oneohtrix point never #liars #mess #idm #electronic music #apocalyptic-house #new music #new release #album review #tiny music critic

[tinymusiccritic]

Big K.R.I.T. – Cadillactica (2014/Def Jam Recordings)

59

"@BIGKRIT sets controls 4 <3 of the galaxy,but ends up taking 2 long 2 get anywhere. Best in fierier moments."

Standout tracks: Mt. Olympus, Lac Lac, King of the South

Listen if you like: Outkast, Kanye West, and being constantly reminded of the name of the album you are listening to, the way Jurassic Park obsessively reminded you of what movie you were watching.

#big k.r.i.t. #cadillactica #2014 #def jam recordings #mt olympus #lac lac #king of the south #outkast #kanye west #jurassic park #rap #hip-hop #hiphop #southern rap #new music #album review #new release #tiny music critic