Album of the Week

My introduction to Norwegian composer and vocalist Maja Ratkje came in 2006 with her album Stalker, a picture disk, which is about as hardcore as you can get on one side, and softcore on the other.  I was hooked.

“OAKE is emerging Berlin duo Eric Goldstein and Bathseba Zippora, who together alchemize their own variant of dark, atmospheric techno inspired by British post-Industrial acts and the occult.” You had me at alchemize.

Sometimes songs irritate me—melody, hooks, lyrics, and heaven forbid, a guitar solo. Sometimes I want, need?, noise. The more industrial, the better. Enter My Disco’s new album Environment in the nick of time.

Nivhek is Liz Harris who is also Grouper. If your taste in music are anything like mine, that’s all you need to know to know you want her new album After its own death / Walking in a spiral towards the house.

Eva Moolchan sings and plays nearly everything on her new record Highway Hypnosis. While the music wanders through a number of styles, I find the ride completely enjoyable.

It was 1991. I was living in NYC and listening almost exclusively to contemporary classical music. Pierre Boulez and the Ensemble Intercontemporain were performing at Carnegie Hall with Maurizio Pollini, a favorite pianist who performed many a challenging new work. The conductor’s own music was […]

Cellist and composer Julia Kent has been on my mind and in my ears for years. Beginning in 2013 with Character, then 2015’s Asperities. I pre-ordered her latest, Temporal, on Bandcamp and was so excited for the full release I blindly hit “Buy” when I […]

Who? Robyn G Shiels is from Belfast and he’s one hell of a singer songwriter. That’s who.

Gothic drama with folk pluck: A haunting.

In time, out of time.

Witch. Prophet. Healer. So says Ayo Leilani’s Bandcamp page, otherwise known as Witch Prophet. The Golden Octave is her debut album but it bears no resemblance to one because The Golden Octave is mature beyond its years, slipping into some big shoes ever so comfortably.

“And you’ll never hear surf music again” Jimi Hendrix from “Third Stone From the Sun”. Every regular reader knows I adore Jimi but in this case I’ll have to disagree. La Luz is Shana Cleveland (guitar), Marian Li Pino (drums), Alice Sandahl (keyboard) and Lena […]

Beauty can be elusive, so says Captain Obvious. In music, our mood can swing and sway beauty so much so it becomes a pendulum-like target. At least for me.

I want to show you something

As the title says, these are the albums from 2018 that I enjoyed mostest. While I make no claims as to “best” outside of these Barn doors, you may enjoy some of them too, especially if there’s something new to you. Enjoy!