Ólafur Arnalds - For Now I Am Winter

For those unfamiliar with the Icelandic music fetish, experimental-classical music or that one song he did on The Hunger Games soundtrack, Ólafur Arnalds is a former hardcore drummer gone neo-classical producer who’s been quietly acquiring representation as one of the most talented and ethereal musicians from Iceland. His stylistic range is one thing, but his undeniably hypnotic and captivating instrumental work functions on a thematic level so high, it feels as if it couldn’t possibly have come from human hands. Past records such as …and they have escaped the weight of darkness and Eulogy for Evolution epitomize this sentiment, featuring Arnalds most emotive compositions and performances. After a slew of EPs spanning 4 years, he returns to a comfortable, spacious LP length for his 3rd record: For Now I Am Winter.

Read My Whole Review on Listen Before You Buy

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Aesop Rock - Skelethon

Coming to Aesop Rock’s “Skelethon” in hopes to find a traditional hip-hop album will quickly prove as a dire mistake leading to bouts of frustration. Instead, consume with the focus point of Aesop’s genre-challenging style in mind and embrace the mind-numbing wordiness; it might not be your cup of tea, but “Skelethon” offers a profuse level of detail and lyrical content for those looking for a challenging listen. (7/10)

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Sun Kil Moon - Among the Leaves

Those familiar with best kept secret singer/songwriter project Sun Kil Moon know that subtlety is not a game they play. In the past ten years over four albums, relentless emotion and heart-shattering poetry take precedent on their music, never leaving a moment to breathe with the project’s tremendous emotional impact. Therefore, its massively disappointing to hear SKM avert from these aspects that made their appeal and style so unforgettable. Unlike the project’s appreciated discography, their latest album, “Among the Leaves”, deals with new territory at an odd time in the band’s timeline: coming-of-age. While change comes advised to creative folk artists, disaster almost always strikes when artists aim to create material over undeveloped territory. Throughout the entire set of seventeen painfully forgettable tracks, “Among the Leaves” is a sullen bummer: like a dreadfully blotchy diary no one wants to decipher. (6/10) 

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Lower Dens - Nootropics

You don’t have to wait for the groove to settle in, Lower Dens will bring it to you on their triumphant and equally dreamy indie art-rock sophomore LP, “Lower Dens”: one of the most brooding and explorative albums of this year; well worth inviting into your abode to get to know better. (8/10)

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Two Door Cinema Club - Tourist History

“Tourist History” is a snappy pop record that throws a bit of pixie dust at your face to compensate for the fact it’s really simplistic. It’s not something you end up hating Two Door Cinema Club for, I mean, their choruses stick around your brainwaves like leeches and they wear their European presence on their sleeve; instant love for some, right? “Tourist History” falls next to the likes of Foals and Phoenix and make for great indie pop mix-tape material, but aside that notion, “Tourist History” is the ‘flavor of the week’ pop album that you’ll certainly forget about, not matter how infatuated you get. (7/10)

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Santigold - Master of My Make-Believe

Four years ago, Santi White, better known as Santigold, set the bar for pop music for the music industry, especially herself.

Her debut record, “Santogold”, featured not just several of its year’s greatest tracks (“L.E.S. Artistes”, “Shove It”) but shed light on the line between mainstream and indie pop. White fit both molds, using creative freedom associated with indie music and the resources of a mainstream release. Looking back, “Santogold” still holds a place in my heart for making some of the most irresistible pop tunes without having to get weird (i.e. M.I.A., Lady Gaga).

Despite previous efforts, there wasn’t specifically any tension for her latest album: “Master of My Make-Believe”. As far as anybody was concerned, listeners were well aware of her creative standards. Looking her track record, there couldn’t possibly be anything wrong with any of White’s future work. Yet, “Master of My Make-Believe” succumbs to the worst complaint pop music could get: it’s boring.

Astonishingly so, “Master of My Make-Believe” barely rises to the occasion of its agenda and, frankly, lacks any sincere artistic efforts. It’s not that this LP has anything sour or tracks that stick out like sore thumbs, “Master of My Make-Believe” barely throws any hooks or punches that calling it a ‘snore-fest’ wouldn’t be entirely inaccurate. Four years ago, Santigold would walk in your door and kick-start the party into one of the best nights of your summer. Here in 2012 and Santi’s in the corner of the party with a red cup at hand, not particularly interested in socializing.

I can’t even get excited for the lead tracks: “Go!” and “Disparate Youth”. Despite their positive reception, all I’m left doing for three to four minutes is looking for something to impress me with. The weight of this album gets worse as songs begin clumping together; nothing prominent grabbing my attention or inspiring repeated listens. I wouldn’t be as indifferent or saddened had “Master of My Make-Believe” came from a newcomer artist, but this was freaking Santigold. All we’ve received is a lousy excuse of the same ingredients in “Santogold”, minus any trace of inventiveness. Here is an album destined to be bullied into the dusty corners of record stores and ignored during its week of shelf-time at Best Buy.

This album was not my dad. (3/10)

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Norah Jones - Little Broken Hearts

It kind of sucks that Norah Jones consistently remains overshadowed by the success of her 2002 Grammy-winning debut jazz masterpiece: “Come Away With Me.” Hard to think but a whole decade has past and Norah has come out four albums, each of which successfully collected dust on the shelves of every Starbucks and Barnes & Noble nationwide. This is not to say Norah, post-2002, took a nosedive and started making atrocious music; it’s just that she seemed to be the only person who thought moving away from jazz was remotely a good idea. Since then, she’s quietly transcended into a more down-tempo pop style that lacked any repeat value and served as a textbook example of sub-par art.

Alas, let bygones be bygones, it’s 2012 and she’s here with her 5th album: “Little Broken Hearts,” a full-fledged singer-songwriter based pop album that makes no apologies about it’s identity. Produced by the marvelous Danger Mouse and heavily echoing the style of their previous collaboration on the album “Rome,” it’s clear Norah’s given her blandish efforts a much needed kick in the head. “Little Broken Hearts” is not “Come Away From Me” however; far from it really. This is a mild, dark and bitter record that requires your attention for it’s charm to come near. Each track comes packed with a catchy, honey-sweet hook, retro-pop sounds and a new element or texture to Norah’s voice; features that win you over, shooing away clouds of past negative proclivities about Norah. ”Little Broken Hearts” might not leave much of a heavy impression like Norah’s previous three albums, but it’s nice to see her fully realized in her new directions; call it a glimmer of hope in a former legend. (7/10)

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Tycho - Dive

It’s an often under-appreciated challenge, but the hardest thing ambient artists have going for them comes in producing detailed, interesting and thematic music. Producer Scott Hansen is always playing with this notion under his project: Tycho. His latest album, “Dive,” follows suit as a successful work of ambient music loaded with bright, hypnotic sonic textures. Like on Shlohmo’s “Bad Vibes,” Tycho pairs subtle interplay between a mix of detailed layers and trance-like melodies. “Dive” is a warm, intimate and often serene work of ambience. (9/10)

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Alabama Shakes - Boys & Girls

As an audiophile, it shames me to think a band like Alabama Shakes will never receive the credit they truly deserve.

The current state of mainstream culture pays attention exclusively to artists who fetishize the past only to the extent where the masses can appreciate them. Primary example: Mumford & Sons are a band who get lauded for bringing back an Americana sound to a digital generation; when, in fact, their sound is merely a superficial interpretation. Artists influenced from nostalgia are adored due to current generation’s notion of what the yesteryear sounded like. Only a snapshot memory or a stereotype come to their minds. I bet in many youngsters’ narrow field of vision, blues music was just some African-American on a Les Paul crooning about a failed romance or the Mississippi River or some crazy shit like such.

This is what makes Alabama Shakes shine brighter. Like Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, Alabama Shakes comes off more spiritually invested in their genre; unlike the run-of-the-mill indie groups who receive attention merely because they sound like the ’60s or something. With a spirit and vigor thats hard to find, Alabama Shakes’ blues-garage-rock-gone-soul debut LP, “Boys & Girls,” is unquestionably the most soulful, gutsiest album of 2012.

For “Boys & Girls”, boldness comes from its simplicity. Alabama Shakes doesn’t pack their punches with dynamic instruments, compositions or musicianship. All these components serve as a canvas for the Mona Lisa to be painted. Brittany Howard is that Mona Lisa. Two parts Ella Fitz and one part James Brown, lead singer Brittany Howard is the Mona Lisa that everyone pays their tickets for. “Boys & Girls,” in its entirety, serves as a showcase for Howard’s powerhouse ability as a singer. With every track, you’re helplessly captivated by Howard’s immediate emotional delivery. Whether its the minimalist gospel-esque gem, “Hold On,” or the vindictive ‘get down on your knees and beg the lord for mercy’ post break-up song “Heartbreaker,” Alabama Shakes feel so simple on paper, but they’re far from it.

Howard’s rollicking vocal performance speaks out against the modern image of the perfect voice. Brittany Howard is not Adele, nor could she be your next American Idol; she’s better. Howard carries her scars as trophies, vocally and emotionally speaking. Her voice is the equivalent to a vintage, decades-old guitar with a gorgeously aged tone; her vocal idiosyncrasies are embraced and used to carve out her own renditions. And because of this, anything Howard will ever put out like this will be more detailed and exciting than any other vocalist who aims for the industry standard. Both on and off the mic, Howard’s individualist spirit is a inspirational force that cannot be argued against; regardless of your thoughts about their sound.

Like the cultural service Aretha Franklin provided her generation, “Boys & Girls” is the type of album that fills your soul up with goodness. She will overwhelm you, ignite waves of goosebumps and rise eyebrows all around. One can’t say it more assuredly: Alabama Shakes is a true winner.

This album was my dad. (10/10)

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Lambchop - Mr. M

Good tension in music comes from a calculated set-up. St. Vincent’s 2011 LP “Strange Mercy” was a bipolar masterpiece; it understood how to take ugly and beautiful and sync it up for dramatic results. Through all the madness, it found something very poetic. Lambchop’s “Mr. M” falls right through the potholes in the creating process of musical tension. The album offers mouth-watering, angelic productions but pairs it up with startlingly out of place vocals by Kurt Wagner. The opening track “If Not I’ll Die,” in itself, begins masterfully with a picaresque string and mild-mannered drum accompaniment and then you hear a 54-year-old alt-country singer oddly deliver the lyric “Don’t know what the fuck they talk about.” Listening to this album brings the same uncomfortable feeling of walking in shoes several sizes smaller than yours. Despite its passive-aggressive deliberations, “Mr. M” results as an unorthodox experience that baffles the mind trying to find the beauty in this confusion. (5/10)

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THEESatisfaction - awE naturalE

Like Shabazz Palaces was to hip-hop, THEESatisfaction is an experimental R&B group that offers the same verve and innovation to their genre. Hell, the two groups have more ties together than you’d think. THEESatisfaction featured on Shabazz’s 2011 LP “Black Up” and Shabazz is found on this album too. So think of “awE naturalE” as a sequel to “Black Up” in a slightly different genre, a different set of tools and respective intentions.  a restrained, undeniably peppy and devious serving of neo-soul. From the killer jam, “Queens,” to the brooding “Enchantruss,” if there isn’t a moment on “awE naturalE” that makes you ache for more progressive to happen with R&B, you probably skipped over it. (8/10)

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Tindersticks - The Something Rain

Progressive, minimalist jazz compositions are a galore on Tindersticks’ “The Something Rain,” a strong body of unique qualities. Opening with one of the greatest spoken-word/minimalist jazz tracks spanning nine minutes, “Chocolate,” the album takes a dive into the next eight tracks with an oft-kilter mix of maudlin and a barrage of instruments to follow suit. It’s not the finest piece of music of its kind, aside from the opener, but Tindersticks certainly deserve acclaim for their sheer level of musicianship; one of complicated proportions. (6/10) 

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Perfume Genius - Put Your Back N 2 It

The atmosphere is empty, almost non-existent and every single emotion you experience is dauntingly indecipherable, swallowing your helpless body whole. You’ve been in a room, pitch dark, for five years and you haven’t spoken a word in all those days. You dream of sexually and emotionally tortuous situations where the only way out is death. So you stay awake. It helps avoid the psychological pain, you’d rather have the numbness of sound and sight taken away from you. How did I get myself here? Why am I doing this to myself?

This is a world that exists in Perfume Genius’s 2nd album, Put Your Back N 2 It: a gorgeously melancholy and emotionally destructive work of music that even the most depressed will have a challenge listening to. While it recalls the vocal styles of artists like The Low Anthem, James Blake and Andy Hull of Manchester Orchestra and Right Away, Great Captain, there are enormous elements of Perfume Genius that set this project from those by a long-shot. Perfume Genius build their sound off simplistic, classically-styled music compositions and disturbingly complex emotions clashing together that ends up producing a terrifying and brooding sadness. “Put Your Back N 2 It” is a resonating piece of storytelling that challenges and sobbingly questions the human condition, suitable for those emotionally devastated or intellectually brave. (9/10)

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Sharon Van Etten - Tramp

It may not necessarily dazzle or impress, but Sharon Van Etten’s Tramp is a redeeming and sorrowful singer-songwriter LP that feels like a more urgent, bolder Ani DiFranco record, circa early 90’s. (7/10)

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