Here's our thoughts on albums that'll hit you this spring.

REBOTONI/ZANÉSI :  frontières : !K7

Joe: Deep, psychedelic & experimental, - playing Arnaud Rebotoni and Christian Zanési’s “Frontiers” for the first time feels like sinking into a dark dungeon of perfect noise, you cant escape, but you don’t want to. The two come from different musical backgrounds, one Techno, the other Electro-acoustic, but they shared a similar approach to creativity, and a mutual appreciation of each others sound. After collaborating on several performances they decided to record an album together. The record is a meeting of practices, within it you feel the deep electronic intensity that only an experienced club DJ can produce, with a masterful soundscape that typifies a trained composer. The result is one of those rare masterful albums we’ll play time and time again, discovering new layers. They clearly have a deep love of the creative process, and when they play live they’re accompanied by video artist Zita Cochet who composes images to illustrate their tracks and serve as a backdrop to their concerts. Not to be missed. 9/10

 

DAMIEN JURADO : visions of us on the land : Secretly Canadian

Seven: With this album, Jurado finishes his ambitious trilogy about the journey of the unnamed character he introduced on previous albums “Maraqopa“ and “Brothers & Sisters of the Eternal Sun“. What might seem overly intellectual on paper, actually is heading purely for your heart - and it does so successfully, as Jurado is perfecting his trademark blend of intimate singer/songwriter moments and psych-infused 70s epicness via an insane production on “Visions“. 8/10

 

MARK PRITCHARD : under the sun : WARP

Seven: The man with the million monikers is back with a new album under his very own name. “Under The Sun“ sees the Australian-by-choice taking a break from clubland in order to focus on drones, ambient and pitch-perfect electronic pop with a heavily melancholic twist. His collaborations with Bibio and Thom Yorke might leave you fairly breathless already, but it’s the unexpected partnership with re-activated psych-folk icon Linda Perhacs on “You Wash My Soul“ that’s (almost) too good to be true. What a triumphant return. 9/10

KING GIZZARD & THE WIZARD LIZARD : nonagon infinity : Heavenly Recordings

Joe: Surf rock drenched in psychedelic acid jazz. Sounds confusing, but then King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard (KGTLW) aren’t exactly easy to box, and they certainly don't follow the usual music industry structure - “Nonagon Infinity” is the Australian band’s fourth album in 18 months. They typically change their style album to album, and this time they travelled to Brooklyn, NY to record at Daptone Studios, a place largely responsible for the authentic soul revival in recent years, and we love the result of these minds meeting. Don’t file under easy listening though! 6/10

RY X : dawn : Infectious

Seven: Australian surfer turned exceptional vocalist Ry Cuming sure knows how to write haunting and intimate songs - he proved that with his two other projects The Acid and Howling already, even though the musical transformation for these bands obviously is a very different one compared to what he does when flying solo. “Dawn“ delivers twelve songs, pure, stripped down and heavily emotional, and as flawless as the album appears to be, it kinda feels as if it’s released two years too late since a few tracks are around for quite some time already. 7/10

 

SHIT ROBOT : what follows : DFA

Seven: Marcus Lambkin actually is one of the few dance music producers that knows how to keep the tension up and running over the length of an album. In the past he did so through shamelessly connecting disco, house, electro with a bit of rave. His new album “What Follows“ isn’t too interested in jumping from one style to the next though, but feels a lot more coherent and analog instead. What connects his third album for DFA with his previous ones is that Stuttgart-based Lambkin definitely is still favoring real songs over generic peaktime material. Lucky us. 8/10