10 Albums You Probably Missed This Year
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I’m Jack, and I’ve been reviewing music for almost a decade - starting with a college radio show, then online radio as Bort on A2B2 Radio, and now short album reviews on TikTok as @mymusic80808. I usually cover new releases each month, but for today’s roundup: 10 albums I never got around to reviewing when they came out.
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La Vacanza - In Riva al Mare
[9.75]
Technically an EP, but it’s probably some of the strongest 21 minutes of music I’ve heard all year. The coolness of bossa nova paired with the washed out chillness of modern psych rock. All sung in Italian, which makes my feeble American brain feel smarter for enjoying.
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obli - Soft Speak
[7.75]
Sunrise set coded gentle techno, downtempo, Â and electro. Easy to love.
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Fcukers - Ă–
[8.5]
2000’s radio hit energy infused with modern club. Campy and fun as indie sleaze should be. The most in focus from this duo yet.
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Soltera, Sonido Sex - Soltera y Su Sonido Sexual
[7]
An unpolished indie electro pop album that I liked the majority of but was a little too DIY for me at times. It’s off of dottidot which is 1tbsp’s label that also releases artists like Mietze Conte. This album feels like the East LA brand of that shared sound within the label. A cartoony pop that embraces the post-ironic future of dance music.
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E.VAX - Just Like Fire
[9.75]
*Kid Cudi voice* “RATATAT”
I loved all of this so much and it made me feel like a 13 year old experiencing this kind of music for the first time again. “Caroline” is a song of the year contender for me.
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DupontPavilion - ASHEVILLE ADOO
[6.5]
Found this dude while scrolling IG and my interest was piqued by his aura. Most of this is throwaway cloud rap, but there are enough witticisms and left field beats that kept me interested throughout. Go watch one of his reels and you’ll get what I mean.
PS SoundCloud is an F-tier streaming platform. Garbage.
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sunn O))) - sunn O)))
[4.5]
I really tried to enjoy this to keep my style points up, but by the middle I had to tap out. This kind of music needs some kind of vocal element to balance the listening experience for me, like in their 2006 collab album with Boris, Altar. I think the only place I could tolerate this is actually at one of their live shows, dissociating in the fog.
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VICKY - SWAGLORD
[5.75]
“BUNTE SCHEINE” is a banger of a happy hardcore deutsch-rap single. The rest of the album is a rug pull of mid, trashy Euro dance pop.
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Broken Social Scene - Remember The Humans
[5]
You shouldn’t need this many people in a band to make music for car commercials.
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