Thalia Zedek Band "Perfect Vision (Thrill Jockey)"
From Thrill Jockey:
Perfect Vision follows Thalia Zedek Band’s 2018 album Fighting Season, created in the midst of growing tensions across the U.S. On Fighting Season Zedek sought resistance, where on Perfect Vision Zedek searches for clarity during a time of exponential isolation and doubt. On “Binoculars,” she explores the difficulty of staying afloat, while overwhelmed by uncertainty of conflict and fear. Zedek’s simple and repetitive guitar line marches forward while longtime collaborator David Michael Curry’s viola swirls intensely around her. The pounding “Queasy” thunders and thrashes in the face of ignorance and intolerance while “Overblown” examines the strain of communicating across cavernous schisms. Every challenge and sadness Zedek forces us to see is met in equal measure by her defiant guitar and dissenting voice, a torch illuminating a path for the listener to navigate through the darkness.
Bruno Bavota "For Apartments: Songs & Loops (Temporary Residence Ltd.)"
From Temporary Residence:
In the early months of 2020, when the COVID-19 outbreak ravaged his home country of Italy, prolific composer Bruno Bavota did what we all would eventually do: isolated and waited. What followed was a year of fear, anxiety, and dread. Eventually, fear gave way to fatigue, and the anxiety metamorphosized into nervous energy. The compulsion to create became more powerful than the compression and weight. And so were born Apartment Songs and Apartment Loops. Representing two separate but intersecting paths of Bavota’s creative journey, Apartment Songs is a suite of sparse solo acoustic piano works, while Apartment Loops are expansive explorations for synthesizers and outboard effects processors. Though in theory the two sets should sound disconnected and unrelated – given their disparate creative approaches and instrumentation – it’s Bavota’s uncanny sense of melody and space that easily unites them as two halves of a singular vision.
Damon & Naomi "A Sky Record (202020)"
From 202020 Records:
Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang began playing music together as the rhythm section, co-songwriters, and sometime singers in Galaxie 500. Since the demise of Galaxie 500, Damon and Naomi have worked as a duo, exploring folk music, psychedelia, and collaborations with other like-minded musicians. After releasing a series of recordings with Shimmy Disc, Sub Pop, and Drag City, they established their own label 20/20/20, releasing the Damon & Naomi albums The Earth Is Blue, Within These Walls, False Beats and True Hearts, and Fortune. All their LPs and CDs are available from 20-20-20, or via high-quality download from the Damon & Naomi bandcamp page.
In addition to their work as musicians, Damon & Naomi are the publishers of Exact Change, a small press dedicated to avant-garde literature and artists’ writings. Damon is also a writer (books, blog, podcast, articles for Pitchfork, Art in America, Artforum and others), and Naomi is a visual artist (photography, video, and graphic design).
Deafhaven "Infinite Granite (Sargent House)"
From Sargent House Records:
“Everything works perfectly here. Like, perfectly. These are clearly the tightest and most deliberately constructed songs ever written by Deafheaven; the progressions and patterns rise, fall, and rise anew as steadily and naturally as the ocean tides. It’s a glowing, sad, beautiful album. But it’s so fucking powerful, too. It’s physically powerful. These dudes are a goddamn machine. They are a force.”