Here's a short metal in 2022 rewind if anyone's interested. Mostly nasty, heavy stuff, but there are several which might appeal to your common BEA-er (Thanks to Merc, Repo and others who have been recommending me some incredible music all year)
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Hostile Architecture by Ashenspire
Experimental avant prog metal(?) or something like that. Violins, violas, trumpets, spoken word, mantras, clean vocals etc. Plethora of interesting ideas, concepts and, the most important thing, the execution is on par with the inventiveness. Really looking forward to this band's future efforts, there's room for additional improvement, but this is already a hit with kids of all ages.
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Artificial Brain by Artificial Brain
Not sure if I've already written about this one, but it's the best metal record of the year so far, imo. Artificial Brain have mastered their chaotic death metal style, and this is a clear W if you're a fan of nasty death metal.
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Spirit Of Ecstasy by Imperial Triumphant
This one created a lot of buzz. I've only heard it once in full, but it's some of the most perplexing extreme metal out there. Their typical dystopian Metropolis jazz vibe has been perfected on Spirit of Ecstasy. I still don't like some of the production choices, but it's easily their best work. Heard them live recently, they're really tight.
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God's Country by Chat Pile
Borderline metal, a really fun noise rock/sludge affair. People all over the internet seem to like it, and it's a clear improvement over their EPs imo. Loving it.
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Páthos by Conjurer
Wicked, sometimes atmospheric sludge metal. Metalcore/hardcore style vocals (the good kind), much more complex and diverse than you'd expect. Sometimes goes into these fantastic quiet parts and then explodes.
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Monuments To Impermanence by Pyrithe
Picked this one based off of the album cover, and it didn't disappoint. Weird avantgarde post sludge stuff, far from your typical boring Cult of Luna/ISIS rip off. It's prog influenced but doesn't go too much into unnecessary polyrhythms and whatnot, it's also very ambient-ish at parts and has incredible female lead vocals. Heavy af, kinda fast for a post metal album. Much like Ashenspire, it's got plenty of original ideas and executes them to perfection. You never quite know where it goes or what to expect. Familiar but off-kilter, brutal when it needs to be, a great record.
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The Long Road North by Cult Of Luna
Speaking of CoL, they're doing the best CoL impersonation, obviously. And still manage to keep it fresh, interesting and extremely enjoyable with every new album. At this point they can definitely rival Neurosis, the (almost) undisputed kings of atmospheric sludge.
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Onryō II: Her Spirit Eternal by Saidan
Might've written about this one as well, it's an early year gem. The best pure black metal of this year, as far as I'm concerned. It goes into Japanese horror stuff and stays slightly melodic, while being pure brutal black metal in its essence. There's a constant feeling of being smashed with a club lol.
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Hiss by Wormrot
Wormrot turns it down just a notch, but delivers some of the most varied grindcore you can find out there, while still being sheer speed.
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Interstice by Knoll
Knoll turn it up just a notch, delivering an incredibly complex, lightning fast and nausea-inducing record.
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Circles by Days Of Desolation
Grindcore volume #3. I don't usually listen to this much grindcore and its siblings, but cmon, this is actually an undercover death metal album. Unique atmosphere, stellar songwriting, can get a bit samey at times, but it's so likable it doesn't matter.
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Close by Messa
I'm 100% certain that I've already written about these great Italians. Female vocals, traditional modern oxymoron doom with more than a few surprising twists. A big favourite. Possibly the easiest one to get into for a not-really-into-metal-but-wouldn't-turn-it-off person.
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Return To The Void by Shape Of Despair
Sloooooow funeral doom stuff, creates incredible atmosphere and manages to be unbelievably heavy despite its snail-paced riffs. Not a great year for funeral doom imo, but this is a staple. Synths aren't cheesy or over the top, they serve the purpose, just like every drum kick or bass note. And the purpose is to be obscenely slow. Although not one of the heaviest things in this (sub)genre, it has its incredibly brutal moments.
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Flourishing Extremities On Unspoiled Me...Pharmacist
Deathgrind (so, grindcore volume #4 I guess) leaning much more on death metal than is usual for the genre. It even goes into the uncharted territory of 7+ minute grindcore songs. Enjoyable to the max.
Several other good ones are Falls of Rauros, Ultha, Saor, Amorphis, Altars, Hath, Eliminator, Blind Girls, Mizmor & Thou, Wake, Immolation, Wilderun... Also, I still haven't heard the new Scarcity, Boris, Norma Jean, Candy, Critical Defiance, Molder, The Chasm, Esoctrilihum, Cosmic Putrefaction, Blut Aus Nord, Watain, Greyhaven, Negative Plane, Rotten Tomb, Final Light. I'm a bit behind on 2022, especially in the last 3 months. _________________ Finally updated the overall chart
Friday was a good day for hip-hop. I can recommend the new albums from JID, Roc Marciano & The Alchemist, Meechy Darko, and Meyhem Lauren & Daringer. _________________ Griselda, by Fashion Rebels 2020's Hip-Hop 2020's Country
Friday was a good day for hip-hop. I can recommend the new albums from JID, Roc Marciano & The Alchemist
The Marciano/Alchemist collab is fantastic— that smooth grit/nightalley sound Roc's been building for the last decade is peak here. Alchemist has also been raking in the cheques the past few years— always looking forward to what he's working on, he's produced some of this decade's best hip-hop records without question. Might turn into this generation's Madlib. Hoping to listen to the new JID (and Kenny Beats) this weekend— I've found 2022 in general has been strong for hip-hop (certainly far more than the last two years at least).
I've been a little lucky as of late with spur-of-the-moment 2022 picks. Last two weeks or so, I've enjoyed all of these—
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4 Against The Odds by Ukandanz
(I've kept an eye on Ukandanz for the last few years, and this is without a doubt the record I anticipated them to make. They figured their sound out and went full blast. Self-described as "Ethiopian Crunch".)
Touch The Lock by UTO
(Got some reinvented 90s vibes from this— somewhere between recent synthpop and old school trip-hop)
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Shafts Of Sunlight by Lamin Fofana
(This is more a textural experience / somewhere between KMRU and Caretaker / listened to it in the middle of the night yesterday and it hit the spot)
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Temporary Stored by KMRU
(Speaking of KMRU, this may just be his best/most important work yet. Fantastic project. I'm not going to copy/paste the description, but here's the Bandcamp link. Definitely brings out the absurdity of the Royal Museum of Central Africa being in... Belgium)
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No Liquor Before Twelve by Mickey Diamond
(Lo-fi-ish/indie rap that's a little drunk and trying to become sober— beats are great, but unfortunately the vocal mix is a bit shoddy— had it been a little tighter, would probably be one of the year's best)
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Afar Ways by Yanna Momina
(Djibouti-hut-core— some different vibes on this. Unfortunately, one of the better tracks on the record isn't even Yanna at all, but that opening track is worth giving a shot even if you don't want to dive into the whole thing— haven't heard anything quite like it)
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9m88 Radio by 9m88
(And this is too-cool-for-you jazz-molded neo-soul— wish it had another track or two— might not be for everyone, but there's some great stuff going on here)
my review (attribution):
Cristián Alvear and Diego Castro perform the titular Alvin Lucier composition on the 14’ Criss-Cross for Two Electric Guitars.
Passersby on a semitone. A demonstration of beating pattern behavior as two approach and leave unison, hastening with distance. But though the structure would suggest a symmetry, a point equidistant from unison after is not quite like the one before, conveying the construction of harmonic interaction, or that such things do not just occur but are cultivated. The realization from Oren Ambarchi and Stephen O’Malley, for whom the piece was originally composed, featured a comparatively uniform tone that accentuated a spinning stereo sensation, or the feeling that the depth of the wave had become recognized and was closer to a spiral, springing with distance to unison. The realization from Alvear and Castro is more texturally heterogenous and I hear at least three dominant bands of ringing, humming, and jangling. Aesthetically this addresses a common criticism of sterility in some Lucier compositions by offering some diversity in tactility. But it also illuminates other harmonic behaviors by allowing changes to ripple through its different textural surfaces, sparking imaginations of where and how wave action happens when a low band barely responds to what excites a high band, and by sounding with clarity the progression towards unison as the character and number of bands combine and collapse towards the center in the manner of a gravitational singularity.
quaking harmonic music for contrabass clarinet, engineered by Randall Dunn of Sunn O))) fame (interesting in relation to the above too) - probably my favorite thing of the year so far
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(Thanks to Merc, Repo and others who have been recommending me some incredible music all year)
