Summer 2024

This is the sonic version of dense white mists quietly obscuring the landscape and unifying multiple views into a moody whole. The view pulls us outward in an invitation to wander and re-explore places we thought we already knew. Recommended Track: Lazuli

This album is a breath of fresh air. The Beths have crawled their way out of the boring balladry in their sophomore album and recentered themselves into the energy that made their original so compelling. They're not regressing either as these tracks mature their sound into more complex arrangements. More like this please! Recommended Track: Silence Is Golden

Ballads may be popular but they suck the uniqueness from many bands and weigh them down. I miss the raw, youthful punch of The Beths first album. Their sophomore effort includes just enough energetic tracks to save it but the energy drain is palpable. I'm rooting for their third album to be a rediscovery. Recommended Track: Dying to Believe

Less wandering than their previous albums, this is where Yello truly found their focus and created a masterpiece. Entirely separate bands can trace their sounds to individual tracks from this album. (For example: KMFDM and the track Si Señor The Hairy Grill) Recommended Track: Hawaiian Chance

When the former members of Joy Division were becoming New Order, they spent significant time taking in the new sounds coming out of New York City's club scene to transform their sound. It makes sense that, at the end of that decade, they would choose to evolve again by soaking in the Ibiza club scene to find their sound of the next decade. The result was a blend of fresh house beats and alternative rock that I repeatedly come back to. Recommended Track: Fine Time

This posthumous album wouldn't exist without the courage of Alejandra Deheza diving back into her lost partner's laptop to find the musical pieces he left behind and resolve them into a finished album. The process must have been healing because, even though the pain of her loss is evident, an intimate hope permeates throughout. Recommended Track: Ablaze

In a similar way to contemporaries like Orbital and Underworld, Fluke made albums that were designed to be listened to in full. Sure, some tracks were pulled out for singles but the melodic flow of the entire album is where the real joy in listening can be found. Recommended Track: Groovy Feeling

Easily one of the most influential albums to me ever. This has been in my yearly rotation ever since I bought it on tape back in 1992. Before this album, British meant The Beatles but after my ears were opened to the then-new electronic dance sounds coming out of the country, my tastes were forever changed. Recommended Track: Papua New Guinea - 7" original

When I bought this album in the middle of my sophomore year of high school, I had no idea that I was about to listen to a piece of art. It's a crime that so few people know about it. This is the album that birthed Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill and helped her brother, Mark Danielewski, write the novel House of Leaves. Listen past the 90's grunge tracks and you'll find artistic fusions of electronic, jazz, and hip-hop. Recommended Track: Dolphin

I enjoyed Halo Maude's 2024 album, Celebrate, so I figured I needed to give her 2018 one a try and found there's lots to like. The less "driven" rhythms of this album gives it the pacing of summer; the tracks encouraging you to slow down and bask in them without demanding you pay close attention. As the kids say, "It's a vibe." Recommended track: Du pouvoir/power