Review Roundup #3
Ten more albums from this year that I thought were great and deserve your attention:
Bright Future
Adrianne Lenker
Contemporary Folk
Adrianne Lenker follows up her utterly mesmerizing and ingenious 2020 solo double-album, Songs/Instrumentals (and her band Big Thief’s 2022 album of the year contender, Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You), with another stunning collection of awe-inspiring folk tunes. Her unique voice and uncanny songwriting talent have created another career highlight, and another contender for all those year-end lists. One question: has this poor woman ever experienced happiness?
Highlights: “Real House”, “No Machine”, “Evol”
Something in the Room She Moves
Julia Holter
Art Pop
Yet another brilliantly shining entry in the Julia Holter catalog. Spacey, lush, avant-garde, and abstract, the woman never seems to miss. Something in the Room She Moves is so incredibly strange, yet so incredibly delightful to listen to, the cryptic, ritualistic, and fantastical compositions will transport you to whatever plane of existence Julia gets her ideas from. Love, love, love this.
Highlights: “Sun Girl”, “Spinning”, “Evening Mood”
Bite Down
Rosali
Folk Rock
This is the most terrifying album art ever produced in the history of the planet Earth. But, moving on (while averting our eyes), this is definitely one of the more interesting folk-ish albums of the year, with a set of songs that is very pretty and immediately gratifying. An incredible combination of Neil Young, Weyes Blood, and the slower ballads from the 90’s Seattle scene. Loving the folk, loving the rock, loving the folk rock. This one’s a winner.
Highlights: “My Kind”, “Slow Pain”, “Is It Too Late”
songdreaming
Sam Lee
Contemporary Folk
This is a collection of some of the most beautifully constructed “traditional” folk songs, backed by a stunningly gorgeous orchestra of hand-percussion, horns, and stings. This kind of warmth and depth is often absent from recordings of the type of folk Lee is offering lyrically, but it’s such a brilliant presentation, coupled with Lee’s splendid singing voice, the old-school folk songs he’s singing are given all the glorious magnificence their subject matter and deep history deserves.
Highlights: “Bushes and Briars”, “Leaves of Life”, “Aye Walking Oh”
Audio Vertigo
Elbow
Art Rock
I have been aware of Elbow as separate from my personal seat, but not as a band. Despite that, this is apparently their tenth album, and I promise to keep them in my mind from now on. Their bass lines are chunky and sexy, their synths are massive and doom-ridden, and their percussion is positively Stomp-worthy. It’s enormously inventive while still maintaining a certain rock catchiness, both tender and extreme—a potent combination.
Highlights: “Balu”, “Her to the Earth”, “Good Blood Mexico City”
The Carnegie Hall Concert
Alice Coltrane
Spiritual Jazz
Amongst the intense swirling of the piano or the lush vibrancy of the harp, lie some fine moments of technical brilliance on this release of the jazz magician’s landmark 1971 concert at Carnegie Hall. There’s a massive rendition of the previously released “Africa,” but the others are just as capable of demonstrating Coltrane’s incredibly talent on multiple instruments as well as bandleader. A prefect balance of abrasive and soothing, this is a highlight of the spiritual jazz movement.
Highlights: well…there’s only four songs so…
Only God Was Above Us
Vampire Weekend
Indie Rock
After a long time away, then an inoffensive and fairly bland return, then another long time away, Vampire Weekend are back with the kind of afrobeat-inspired quirk-rock that made them a household name in the early 2010’s. Even back in their original run heyday, I was only peripherally paying attention to them (yes, even with Modern Vampires, I just…didn’t get it then), but this is the kind of return to form that will make all of us music critics do a whole discography reevaluation over the course of the year. This new effort is playful, melodic, and warm, the very things that made Vampire Weekend such a draw all those years ago. Welcome back.
Highlights: “Ice Cream Piano”, “Capricorn”, “Prep-School Gangsters”
Revelations
Sarah Shook & the Disarmers
Alt-Country
I’ve said it many time before in various ways, but I’m extremely critical of country as a genre. So much of it is overdone, repetitive, cliched, or just plain uninspired. It’s worse when, as is more and more often the case these days, it’s all of the above. So when that rare country album comes along that not only avoids all those pitfalls, but also keeps my interest past song one, it’s worth celebrating. Sarah Shook (and the Disarmers, I suppose) created a very rocking, upbeat country album that sounds more like those early 90’s radio hits than anything from the snap-track hick-hop of today. The band is tight and makes some genuinely interesting musical choices while still staying in the confines of country rock, while Sarah herself has some great lines that make you wonder how this isn’t on every western-themed radio in the nation.
Highlights: “Revelations”, “Dogbane”, “Backsliders”
Hill Country Love
Cedric Burnside
Electric Blues
There’s not much to say about this other than:
If you ever wanted to hear what the music that influenced Led Zeppelin sounded like, it’s this. Listen to this album and all of the “British rockers are copying black American blues artists” history will make total sense. There’s less distortion and slower tempo than classic rock would have, hence blues, but once you hear it, it will become undeniably obvious. The only other note I have is that not one song made me want to skip, they’re all good.
Highlights: “I Know”, “Juke Joint”, “Funky”
angeltape
Drahla
Art Punk
Blurring the lines between punk and post-punk, Drahla return five years after their debut. Amidst the surge of disengaged apathetic youth bands trying to innovate within the post-punk scene, Drahla take a refreshingly traditional approach to their sound, creating a cacophonous, densely layerd art punk record that is distinguished by its prominent use of saxophone, dance-punk beats, and relentless pace. Their immaculate construction of horror-backed sonic landscapes sweep you up in an equally challenging and compelling musical world without pause.
Highlights: “Default Parody”, “Second Rhythm”, “Grief in Phantasia”
