Squirrel Flower "I Was Born Swimming (Polyvinyl)"
Oval "Scis (Thrill Jockey)"
From Thrill Jockey:
Oval began in the early 90’s and rapidly gained acclaim for its innovations in electronic music. Composer Markus Popp championed software intuition over his own role in music making for many years, anticipating the AI trend in composition by nearly 30 years. Early albums found a critique of the entire system of recorded music built into every gesture. Popp toured with a desktop computer and projected his screen, constructing remarkably evocative and emotional performances from file manipulation. Each new Oval release saw Popp radically redefine his practice, introducing new elements and embracing new creative challenges, integrating cutting-edge technology and processes into his practice to ensure that each record sounded as contemporary and exhilarating as the last.
New album Scis and its companion EP Eksploio see the producer focus on composition, working with a fresh palette of sounds to create his most emotive work to date. Popp injects a newfound playfulness into his complex loop architectures, with both album and EP exploring and subverting elements of club music. The intricate, organic drum sounds Popp introduced on the Oh! EP and O album have here been replaced with driving electronic rhythms, albeit still approached by Popp as an instrumentalist rather than a beat-maker.
Check out the quirky build of “Impecco.”
Criteria "Years (15 Passenger)"
from 15 Passenger:
Criteria’s Years has been in the making for quite some time. No joke, like a really long time. But the album’s delay seems to be a badge of pride for the group, one that underscores the relentlessness of their collective vision to see it happen some fifteen years after the release of their sophomore LP When We Break (Saddle Creek). The drums were tracked at Omaha’s ARC studios in 2014 and eventually the guitars and vocals were finished in Pedersen’s basement studio. Criteria’s own A.J. Mogis wore the hats of both bass player and producer/recording/mixing engineer. His production credits include Monsters of Folk, Fake Problems, Small Brown Bike, The Get Up Kids, Planes Mistaken for Stars, and Cursive. On Years, Mogis and Pedersen — along with guitarist Aaron Druery and drummer Mike Sweeney — have once again set the bar very high for self-produced rock albums. It has a sound that conjures the likes of both Quicksand and Built to Spill, with its high energy riffs/grooves under the catchy, melody-forward vocal lines.
Check out the instantly sing-a-long-able first single “Agitate Resuscitate.”
of Montreal "UR FUN (Polyvinyl)"
Though its always been a great time to be a fan of of Montreal, the last few years have been especially varied and prolific. UR Fun (Polyvinyl) is the culmination of the last stretch of records. This is as bouncy, poppy, and as fun as his music has ever been. Forgoing recording with a band and instead locking himself at his home studio for 12 hours a day recording and sequencing himself, UR Fun is as true a representation of the inside of Kevin Barnes’ mind as we’ve ever been gifted with (unless you also happen to be a doctor with access to an x-ray he had taken after wearing a very tight hat for too long*). Every song on this album could, and should, be a chart-topping single. Like a David Bowie album from the 80s, or Cyndi Lauper’s She’s So Unusual, this is stacked from top to bottom with artistically leaning pop mastery. I hate to recommend a song here since really, every song on here is a focus track. But check out the driving “Polyaneurism.”