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1 Jan, 327 tweets, 246 min read
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 1: The KLF - "Solid State Logik 1". OK, not REALLY "unheard" as it's a collection of singles from back in the day. I'm just so happy some KLF tunes are FINALLY available in the digital music world. Going into '21 like it's '91! open.spotify.com/album/1kJY7mRP… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 2: Actress - "Karma & Desire". Since the early weeks of Jan are pretty bereft of new releases, it's a good time to troll the Best Of lists from the just-ended year, check out stuff you missed, and regret not hearing it sooner. open.spotify.com/album/5tDW2Im2… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 3: R​.​A​.​P. Ferreira - "bob's son". Laid-back, jazzy & poetic hip-hop that pays tribute to early beat poet Bob Kaufman. I wasn't familiar with Kaufman before, but this record provides great incentive to check out his work. open.spotify.com/album/5lVgjLzg… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 4: Gang Starr - "One Of The Best Yet (Instrumentals)". Technically a DJ Premier solo release, since it's not really Gang Starr without Guru's posthumously-used vocals. But it's great even without the rhymes, so I'll forgive. open.spotify.com/album/2RM0ccLK… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 5: Emily A. Sprague - "Hill, Flower, Fog". A relaxing set of six instrumental ambient works that are as hazy & pastoral as the album title and cover image suggest. open.spotify.com/album/10EwNjCi… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 6: Odd Nosdam - "Home". 20 years after I first heard his woozy beats & spaced-out samples on the debut cLOUDDEAD album, Odd still lives up to his chosen name, even on this too-short set of 12 tracks in 17 minutes. open.spotify.com/album/7gsWwPGq… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 7: Various - "SOS Music Vol 1". Nicely curated collection of beat-oriented electronic sounds from a Los Angeles label/collective that focusses on work by female & non-binary producers from around the world. open.spotify.com/album/5ffE081D… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 8: Lost Horizons - "In Quiet Moments". Simon Raymonde (Cocteau Twins) & Richie Thomas (Dif Juz) with a project that feels akin to their ex-label's legendary This Mortal Coil, but with a wider range of styles & vocalists. open.spotify.com/album/7cTWmSPS… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 9: "Lazarus (Original Cast Recording)". More accurately, I watched a streamed film of the 2016-17 London run of the play. A unique production that didn't completely work for me, but I enjoyed a lot of the song arrangements. open.spotify.com/album/3wZFaAOJ… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 10: Casper Clausen - "Better Way". Efterklang vocalist, ably assisted by producer Sonic Boom, offers an instantly engaging solo LP combining elements of kraut/psych/space rock & various electronic genres. open.spotify.com/album/0AcT4Mp7… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 11: The Night Monitor - "Perception Report 1 & 2" EPs. A pair of "digital instalments chronicling borderland excursions into assorted strangeness", says the artist. That sums them up nicely, says me. open.spotify.com/album/2iLnRU55… open.spotify.com/album/4HRx2jXR… ImageImage
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 12: Kruder & Dorfmeister - “1995”. K&D’s “G-Stoned” EP & “DJ Kicks” compilation are downtempo classics, and while this lost album shows its age at times, it’s still a worthy & welcome addition to their all-too-short discography. open.spotify.com/album/4Quvgrx9… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 13: upsammy - "Zoom". Yesterday's pick was recorded in 1995 but released in 2020. Today's was recorded & released in 2020 but sounds like a lost album of bright & melodic IDM from 1995. open.spotify.com/album/6Fgw2NUH… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 14: Viagra Boys - "Welfare Jazz". There are a lot of things I like about this band, like the way they mix muscular post-punk, skronky sax, off-kilter country, sleazy vocals & satirical lyrics. But man, do I ever hate their name. open.spotify.com/album/6Kni5BJN… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 15: Shame - "Drunk Tank Pink". There've been so many advance singles that I was already familiar with a good chunk of this record, but it's still a powerful 2nd album of modern post-punk from a young but rapidly maturing group. open.spotify.com/album/7hl54HF6… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 16: Sleaford Mods - "Spare Ribs". Their last couple of releases never grabbed me, but the boys are back in prime form on this one. Guess it took a pandemic for them and/or me to come back around. open.spotify.com/album/1w857brU… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 17: Beautify Junkyards - "Cosmorama". Another stunner on Ghost Box, which builds on & beyond the hauntronica style the label is best known for with notes of psych, exotica, and space-age dream-pop. open.spotify.com/album/51huDw05… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 18: Insides - "Soft Bonds". Cult UK duo returns after 20 years with a self-released album that fits roughly into the dreampop/ethereal template, but is somewhat sparser & more intense than is typical of the genre. open.spotify.com/album/5ypUlCeN… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 19: Emma Ruth Rundle & Thou - "The Helm of Sorrow" EP. Their goth-folk meets doom-metal LP "May Our Chambers Be Full" was one of last year's most interesting releases, and this companion EP keeps that weird but great vibe alive. open.spotify.com/album/4EQDCy8u… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 20: Deftones - "White Pony (20th Anniversary)". I'd never listened to Deftones before, but I knew this was considered a genre-blurring classic. A bit too nu metal at times, but earns its great rep. Some good new remixes as well. open.spotify.com/album/57KFwKnC… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 21: Public Memory - "Ripped Apparition". The spirit of early trip-hop (Portishead, Massive Attack, Tricky, et al) looms large over this somewhat dark, often dub-leaning, and generally very good record. open.spotify.com/album/5GgRE5hz… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 22: Bicep - "Isles". Like yesterday's pick, today's also exhibits a lot of '90s influences - I hear bits of Underworld, Orbital, FSOL, Leftfield - but even so, it doesn't sound dated in the least. open.spotify.com/album/0EdtTRCl… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 23: Biosphere - "Angel's Flight". The latest from the master of icy Nordic ambient soundscapes seems like a good choice for today, as the temperature outside is finally dropping to wintery levels. open.spotify.com/album/26pafJyf… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 24: James Yorkston & The Second Hand Orchestra - "The Wide, Wide River". A Scottish folk singer & a Swedish music collective may not seem like a logical pairing, but the great result proves that sometimes logic doesn't matter. open.spotify.com/album/39QBw2Rv… Image
Coincidentally, I had another cross-cultural collaboration featuring Yorkston as my #DailyUnheardAlbum almost exactly a year ago, and just as I predicted, it ended up being one of my favourite records of 2020:
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 25: Marvin Gaye - "What's Going On: The Detroit Mix". Saw this in an article about the album's 50th. Strange to hear such different takes of songs I know so well! I prefer the version we all know & love, but this is still great. open.spotify.com/album/7qD9oSiS… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 26: Still Corners - "The Last Exit". The chilled-out synthpop leanings of this duo's last couple of releases has been overtaken by a dreampop-meets-Americana vibe reminiscent of Mazzy Star & Mojave 3. Works for me! open.spotify.com/album/4qQas6wH… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 27: Various - "Pay It All Back Vol. 1". Despite being quite familiar with later editions in this On-U Sound sampler series, I'd somehow never heard the first. Experimental dub excursions that still sound fantastic 35+ years on. open.spotify.com/album/49bDBogs… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 28: Babeheaven - "Home For Now". Between this and the Public Memory album I featured last week, I'm starting feel like there's a full-on trip-hop revival brewing... open.spotify.com/album/4PPsdoNg… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 29: Arlo Parks - "Collapsed in Sunbeams". Individually, I dug the many advance singles from this album. Heard together, the laid-back indie-soul vibe is a bit samey. But she's still a skilled young songwriter with a great voice. open.spotify.com/album/42joEEym… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 30: Madlib - "Sound Ancestors". My direct knowledge of Madlib's prodigious discography is admittedly small, but I'm glad that his reputation + the contribution of Four Tet was enough to bring my attention to this excellent LP. open.spotify.com/album/5ftKZ7X2… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 31: Martin Gore - "The Third Chimpanzee" EP. Five instrumental tracks that draw more from industrial & dark techno than Gore's work in Depeche Mode - which is good, given how boring DM has been in recent years. open.spotify.com/album/3oUkz7na… Image
And that wraps up the first month of #DailyUnheadAlbum for 2021. Here's a playlist with a track from each record - new thread & new playlist kicking off tomorrow... open.spotify.com/playlist/3oJ5o…
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 32: PA/ST - "Inmeo" EP. Full disclosure: PA/ST vocalist @paulbazinet is one of my best friends, but even if he weren't, my inner goth kid would dig their electro-industrial-meets-darkwave sound. open.spotify.com/album/4k8F6Imx… Image
New month = new #DailyUnheardAlbum playlist... open.spotify.com/playlist/2tnOt…
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 33: Motorama - "Before The Road". Excellent mini-album of new wave/post-punk influenced tunes from Russia (albeit with English vocals). If I didn't know better I'd easily believe it was a reissued rarity from 1983. open.spotify.com/album/1aSCvnFh… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 34: The Notwist - "Vertigo Days". While they may never repeat the brilliance of "Neon Golden", The Notwist are still masters of the musical space where indie & electronica collide, absorbing bits of other genres along the way. open.spotify.com/album/5Kba7Kai… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 35: The KLF - "Come Down Dawn". The high pranksters of rave-pop continue their sort-of-but-not-really-a-comeback with a reconstituted version (i.e. free of potentially lawsuit-inducing samples) of their classic "Chill Out" LP. open.spotify.com/album/4fBvkZkB… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 36: Black Country, New Road - "For the first time". Another LP that I'm half familiar with due to several advance singles, but there are still new things to discover in its mélange of post rock, avant jazz, klezmer(?!) & more. open.spotify.com/album/2PfgptDc… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 37: Celeste - "Not Your Muse". Her soulful voice is phenomenal - think Amy Winehouse meets Macy Gray - but it's let down on much of the album by tepid tunes and arrangements that play it safe. open.spotify.com/album/3xdG9ztD… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 38: Galcher Lustwerk - "Information (Redacted)". It's odd to hear the tracks from "Information" & follow-up "Proof" EP stripped of their vocals, but it also provides a chance to really fall into the chilled out house grooves. open.spotify.com/album/1aa9OKhg… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 39: John Carpenter - "Lost Themes III: Alive After Death". After nearly 50 years of making films & their soundtracks, there's no denying that JC's music has a trademark formula. But hell, it's still great, so why mess with it? open.spotify.com/album/5W1xfdrK… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 41: Cherrystones - "Aged in Bronze" & Cristian Vogel - "Rebirth of Wonky". I forgot to post something yesterday, so catching up today with two great releases of leftfield electronica. open.spotify.com/album/6PbLq9O8… open.spotify.com/album/6xRkZqaV… ImageImage
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 42: Puma Blue - "In Praise Of Shadows". Lo-fi but mature bedroom pop that brings together elements of indie hip-hop/r&b, laidback jazz, acoustic blues, chillout-room downtempo & more. open.spotify.com/album/5ZFB59cZ… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 43: Mush - "Lines Redacted". Almost exactly a year from their debut, the nervy post-punk trio returns with another set of satisfyingly off-kilter tunes. Sad to see that guitarist Steven Tyson passed away a few weeks ago, though. open.spotify.com/album/5psdjpFe… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 44: Rone - "Views of a Room". IDM, downtempo, ambient & other electronic sub-genres are represented on this set of remixes from last year's great "Room With a View" album. open.spotify.com/album/6ANwCdQj… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 45: Huw Marc Bennett - "Tresilian Bay". A unique and satisfying fusion of South London jazz, afrobeat/highlife, modern psych, tropical grooves & chilled electronica. open.spotify.com/album/4tfbLwcG… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 46: June - "New Horizons". Mini-album of six retro-futuristic instrumentals that draw influence from the sounds of various classic electronic genres (EBM, New Beat, Italodisco) and artists (Moroder, Clarke, Kraftwerk). open.spotify.com/album/3oxXs09w… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 47: The Paradox - "Counter Active". Deep techno-jazz from Jean-Phi Dary on keys and Jeff Mills on beats. Just as groovy as the cover suggests. open.spotify.com/album/3Sgnq7lF… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 48: TV Priest - "Uppers". Yeah, the whole "shouty speak-singing over heavy post-punk" thing has become a cliché, hasn't it? But at least these guys do it really well. Think Idles-meets-Protomartyr and you'll get the idea. open.spotify.com/album/42tqnrA3… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 49: Gacha Bakradze - "Obscure Languages". Anyone who has fond memories of the "Artificial Intelligence" era of Warp Records and other mid-90s IDM classics should check this out for a great nostalgia trip. open.spotify.com/album/0pABXfkO… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 50: Mogwai - "As The Love Continues". To anyone who has paid any attention to Mogwai over the last 25 years, there won't be many surprises here. But when it comes to cinematic & spacey post-rock, they're hard to beat. open.spotify.com/album/0kxIBVwM… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 51: Luke Vibert & Posthuman - "Unitary Covert Sonic Procedures II". Split EP of four dancefloor bangers that flit between breakbeat, electro, house & acid. open.spotify.com/album/1lA1C2eH… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 53: Gunn-Truscinski Duo - "Soundkeeper". Improv instrumentals built primarily from guitar & drums that range from almost-ambient to nearly-noise, sometimes on the same track. open.spotify.com/album/5mbLZNPW… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 54: Pauline Anna Strom - "Angel Tears in Sunlight". What was supposed to be a comeback LP for this ambient/new age pioneer is sadly now an epitaph due to her death in December, but at least it's a beautiful parting gift. open.spotify.com/album/40tlrXYp… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 55: Aksak Maboul - "Figures". This Belgian group has apparently been around in various forms off & on since 1977, but this album from last year is my first exposure to them, and I dig its Stereolab meets Françoise Hardy vibe. open.spotify.com/album/1ByQdxnZ… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 56: Nick Cave & Warren Ellis - "CARNAGE". No matter what you've done during lockdown, it won't be as amazing as what Nick & Warren have done during lockdown. open.spotify.com/album/6xWNh0mU… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 57: Lost Horizons - "In Quiet Moments". Bit of deja vu as I had the "Part 1" version of this album as my daily pack back on Jan 8th, but now that the whole thing is available, it's more than worthy of another listen. open.spotify.com/album/1MBAMW4I… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 58: Stereolab - "Electrically Possessed (Switched On Vol. 4)". Another collection of singles, EPs, compilation tracks & other odds & sods from The Groop that is just as excellent & essential as their full-length albums. open.spotify.com/album/1U0PyUTv… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 59: Ohama - "My Electronic Country Album". Cult 80s artist returns with a unique record he accurately describes as "1 part synthpop, 1 part minimal wave, 1 part classic country, 1 part spoken word & a dash of ambient drone." open.spotify.com/album/6tNe7R0H… Image
And oh, right, it's the end of the month! Here's a playlist with tracks from all my #DailyUnheardAlbum picks for February, another tasty 2+ hour assortment of indie-post-punk-techno-house-jazz-ambient-etc... open.spotify.com/playlist/2tnOt…
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 60: Maximo Park - "Nature Always Wins". These guys were never my faves in that early-'00s new-new-wave scene, but I respect that they're still at it & have aged gracefully enough to not try and sound like they're still kids. open.spotify.com/album/0QW5e9dU… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 61: Brijean - "Feelings". Jazzy, tropical & all-round groovy house-pop that's got me longing for patio season. (Assuming/hoping we get one of those this year...) open.spotify.com/album/5I5YPvSh… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 62: Arovane - "Wirkung". Thanks to @theQuietus, I found out about this recent ambient release from one of my fave electronic producers of the late '90s/early '00s. And as the review says: "It is a gorgeous record, no doubt." open.spotify.com/album/6cZopP3H… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 63: Various - "Brabuhr Q-lh". No clue what that title means, but it's an excellent hour of old skool IDM/braindance/jungle sounds from four artists - Love Horses, The Jaffa Kid, Whylie & Bot1500 - who are all new to me. open.spotify.com/album/1G38L5Cj… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 64: The Black Dog - "Dubs: Vol. 1" EP & upsammy - "Bend" EP. Yeah, still on an IDM tip today. open.spotify.com/album/2niP4AM8… open.spotify.com/album/3bkKjxSs… ImageImage
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 65: Billy Nomates - "Emergency Telephone" EP. One of my fave new artists of last year comes back quickly with four tracks recorded in lockdown that are still DIY in spirit but show a maturing sound as well. open.spotify.com/album/5lbnFvJg… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 66: Cabaret Voltaire - "Shadow of Funk" EP. Excellent addendum to last year's "Shadow of Fear" album, both staying true to the old CV spirit despite now being a Richard Kirk solo project. open.spotify.com/album/2pPK4tWn… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 67: The Visionist - "A Call To Arms". Producer Louis Carnell adds his raw - i.e. not sampled & processed - vocals to his dark industrial-ambient sound palette for the first time & gets a positive result. open.spotify.com/album/5Q0v1RoH… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 68: Paradise Cinema - "Paradise Cinema". Waves of shimmering minimal ambience layered with Senegalese percussion & hints of avant-jazz. Perfect for fans of Jon Hassell and O Yuki Conjugate. open.spotify.com/album/0upbFTyM… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 69: Coil - "Love's Secret Domain (30th Anniversary Remaster)". Technically not "unheard" - it's one of my fave LPs ever - but the remaster by @joshbonati is so amazing that it kinda felt like I was hearing it for the first time. open.spotify.com/album/7MQvigPE… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 70: Luis Vasquez - "A Body of Errors". Soundtrack-influenced & (mostly) instrumental work that isn't TOO far removed from Vasquez's main project The Soft Moon, but different enough that the more personal moniker makes sense. open.spotify.com/album/45RT4nha… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 71: Do Nothing - "Glueland" EP. Their debut EP last year stood out a bit from the ever-growing neo-post-punk pack, and this follow-up continues to explore beyond the clichés of the genre. open.spotify.com/album/16n5eycx… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 72: Lushlife - "Redamancy" EP. Forward-thinking & genre-bending hip-hop that covers an amazing amount of stylistic ground in just six tracks over less than 30 minutes. open.spotify.com/album/2JwYBpU0… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 73: DJ Muggs - "Dies Occidendum". Pitch dark & glacially downtempo instrumental hip-hop from the producer & DJ best known for manning the decks in Cypress Hill. open.spotify.com/album/3YWMYpbG… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 74: IWDG - "In A Lonely Place" EP. 4 versions of the New Order classic by Ian Weatherall & Duncan Gray (+ remixers), released last month on the anniversary of the death of Ian's brother, legendary DJ/producer Andrew Weatherall. open.spotify.com/album/3b79QPtZ… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 75: Yung - "Ongoing Dispute". I listened to this album twice trying to figure out who these guys remind me of. There's a bit of fellow Danes, Iceage, in there. Some '80s indie as well - Bunnymen, maybe? Anyway, it's really good! open.spotify.com/album/1ygTSPHT… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 76: Jane Weaver - "Flock". Fantastic album that draws from many sources - electro-glam, off-kilter funk, the sunny side of psych & more - into a stunning set of leftfield art-pop. open.spotify.com/album/120nAPsu… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 77: Wau Wau Collectif - "Yaral Sa Doom". Musicians from Senegal & Sweden come together and create a sound they describe as being built upon "West African tradition, Sufi praise songs, spiritual jazz, and dub rhythms". open.spotify.com/album/5iL2kgGv… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 78: New Age Steppers - "Avant Gardening". Rarities, remixes and vault tracks from Adrian Sherwood's ahead-of-their-time dub meets post-punk collective. open.spotify.com/album/7LDFQPFS… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 79: Sofia Kourtesis - "Fresia Magdalena" EP. Five tracks of deep, warm and soulful house that connect the spirit of Kourtesis' birthplace in Peru and her current home in Berlin. open.spotify.com/album/4GyOH7hv… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 80: K÷93 - "K÷93" EP. In theory, a long-lost 1993 collab between Jaz & Geordie of Killing Joke and Peter Hook should be mind-blowing. In reality, it's... well, it's fine, but is nowhere close to what I was hoping for. open.spotify.com/album/4wVIYr7h… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 81: John Tejada - "Year of the Living Dead". Deep & dubby throwback to the minimal microhouse sounds of the early '00s from one of the originators of the style. open.spotify.com/album/0jwjHNhM… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 82: The KLF - "Solid State Logic 2". The digital revival of the Cauty/Drummond archives continues with a collection of classic 12" mixes and a few stray oddities. open.spotify.com/album/40sJMNAi… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 83: Arab Strap - "As Days Get Dark". The Scottish cult duo returns after 16 years to show the new crop of indie/post-punk influenced bands with speak-singing vocalists how its done. open.spotify.com/album/5TE0TunG… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 84: Jane Inc. - "Number One". Solo debut from Carlyn Bezic (U.S. Girls, Ice Cream) that sits nicely in the post-disco art-pop milieu that a lot great female artists have been working in lately. open.spotify.com/album/3eREZcqD… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 85: The Orielles - "La Vita Olistica". Surprise release (for me, at least) from my fave space-disco-indie-pop trio, featuring a megamix style set of reworked tracks from last year's excellent "Disco Volador" LP. open.spotify.com/album/1uftCHdN… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 86: Rone - "Rone & Friends". French electronica producer reworks past & unreleased tracks & welcomes a bunch of guests - some known, some not-so-much - to "infuse their vocal and textual energy", with generally positive results. open.spotify.com/album/7jvfKfpD… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 87: Damn, I didn't listen to a new album today. But I did watch the Tina Turner documentary on HBO/Crave, which was great. So here's a video of her rocking the shit out of "Proud Mary" on Ed Sullivan on my 1st birthday!
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 88: Nils Frahm - "Graz". Apparently the 88th day of the year is #PianoDay (88... geddit?), and to celebrate it this year, the day's founder surprise dropped this lovely unreleased album from 2009. open.spotify.com/album/6zg9Xz3X… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 89: Bleach Lab - "A Calm Sense of Surrounding" EP. Laidback/ethereal dream-pop from London with a nice Mazzy Star meets Beach House vibe. open.spotify.com/album/0UxwXItT… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 90: Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra - "Promises". This seemingly unlikely collab has gotten a multitude of rave reviews, and they're all well-deserved. Remarkable work, especially from Sanders. open.spotify.com/album/3ShtO5VC… Image
Currently listening to my #DailyUnheardAlbum for the day & will post it a bit later, but in the meantime, here's a playlist with tracks from all my March picks. Some good stuff on there! open.spotify.com/playlist/1AXi1…
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 91: Joe Strummer - "Assembly". Strummer's post-Clash work was a bit of a mixed bag, with some great tunes scattered across a slew of mostly so-so albums. This compilation does a good job gathering the highlights & hidden gems. open.spotify.com/album/5fmJ1t5A… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 92: Godspeed You! Black Emperor - "G_d’s Pee AT STATE’S END!". It's a bit of a cliche to say any new album is "their best since <iconic album in artist's catalog>!", but this really might be the best GY!BE since "Skinny Fists". open.spotify.com/album/1RDLG5wi… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 93: La Femme - "Paradigmes". Genre-fluid sounds from a French group who seem to be influenced by cool jazz, new wave, 60s & 70s psych-pop, yéyé, spaghetti westerns, David Lynch, synth-rock, and much more. open.spotify.com/album/1u2Q5MFW… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 94: Dry Cleaning - "New Long Leg". Sonic elements from 40+ years of UK post-punk/indie are distilled into this fantastic album that is made even better by the sardonic & deadpan spoken-word vocals of frontwoman Florence Shaw. open.spotify.com/album/4oNy189u… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 95: Genghis Tron - "Dream Weapon". Post rock meets prog metal meets shoegaze meets psych-tronica meets ????? Whatever it is, it's good! And that band name? *chef's kiss* open.spotify.com/album/3ngwSRok… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 96: Clark - "Playground In A Lake". There are some really great moments throughout this set of neoclassical-meets-electronica from the former Warp artist, but with its 16 tracks & 1 hour length, it does drag on a bit too long. open.spotify.com/album/6r3sWdrX… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 97: Various Artists - "Bills & Aches & Blues". The legendary 4AD label marks its 40th anniversary with its current artists covering tracks from its past, the results ranging from brilliant to barely listenable but never boring. open.spotify.com/album/47bNDcjM… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 98: Sufjan Stevens - "Meditations". First in the 5 part "Convocations" series paying tribute to his late father, with Morton Subotnick, Maryanne Amacher, Christian Fennesz, Brian Eno & Wolfgang Voigt cited as musical influences. open.spotify.com/album/0C3MNwZs… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 99: The Orb - "Abolition Of The Royal Familia (Guillotine Mixes)". The timing of releasing an album with this title on the day of Prince Phillip's death may seem unfortunate to some, but my dark sense of humour finds it perfect. open.spotify.com/album/750aWElj… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 100: Thomas Fehlmann - "Böser Herbst". Soundtrack to a documentary about 1929 Berlin that seamlessly melds fractured samples from recordings of the time into modern minimal soundscapes. open.spotify.com/album/72Ww8eWT… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 101: Andy Bell - "The Indica Gallery EP". Five tracks from Bell's "The View From Halfway Down" LP get the remix treatment from Pye Corner Audio, plus one goes back to Bell for a re-edit under his GLOK guise. open.spotify.com/album/38W1wd77… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 102: Saccades - "Flowing Fades". Nicholas Wood comes out of the dark psychedelic post-punk shadow of his main gig in The KVB with a sunnier, poppier, but still psych-influenced solo work. open.spotify.com/album/2uMqYswZ… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 103: Soft Cell - "Cruelty Without Beauty". Today's news of an upcoming new album inspired me to check out their previous "comeback" LP which I ignored in 2002. Not up to the level of their original run, but still respectable. open.spotify.com/album/25KJqSKp… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 104: Emeka Ogboh - "Beyond The Yellow Haze". Hypnotic & looping downtempo/ambient works built around field recordings of traffic, sidewalk salesmen, and other sounds of life in the streets of Lagos. open.spotify.com/album/4EjBca2a… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 105: Sufjan Stevens - "Lamentations". 2nd in the 5 volume "Convocations" series of ambient releases paying homage to his late father, continuing the deep immersive vibe of last week's "Meditations". open.spotify.com/album/1u88Pnsl… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 106: Andy Stott - "Never The Right Time". Gorgeous album that jumps from skittering tech-house to ethereal ambience to Chromatics-style dream-pop and beyond without ever losing its way. Thanks to @davidsunlee for the tip! open.spotify.com/album/3DuVru3Y… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 107: Saint Jude - "Bodies of Water" EP. Thoroughly modern avant-pop that draws elements from all over the musical map including leftfield club sounds, laidback jazz, electronica & indie pop. open.spotify.com/album/7vd6lDP5… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 108: Vladislav Delay - "Rakka II". The artist describes it as an album of "fast-moving drones, dense clouds of noise, and tectonic bass rumbles with hints of harmony birthed by harsh tonal contrasts" & I can't top that summary. open.spotify.com/album/5y0y4Utp… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 109: Kyle Bobby Dunn - "Bring Me The Head Of Kyle Bobby Dunn". Another great tip from @davidsunlee! 2 hours of beautiful, deep & immersive ambience that really helped me get through the Monday afternoon work slog. open.spotify.com/album/5MVCxmm8… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 110: Tindersticks - "Distractions". I don't listen to Tindersticks often, but every time I do, I'm reminded how odd and wonderful and strange and beautiful and totally unlike any other band they are. open.spotify.com/album/2oF6uLmV… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 111: Various - "YERAZ (Past, Present and Future Armenian Sounds From Los Angeles to Yerevan)". Yes, it really is as cool & diverse & interesting is that title - and groovy cover - suggests. open.spotify.com/album/2uafyN5M… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 112: Sufjan Stevens - "Revelations". The 5-part series of instrumental works reflecting the stages of grief Stevens went through following his father's death takes a slightly darker turn on this 3rd volume. open.spotify.com/album/1Pd27iMh… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 113: The KLF - "The White Room (Director's Cut)". Cauty & Drummond continue their trawl through the vaults with another reconstructed & reconfigured variant edition of a long-deleted classic. open.spotify.com/album/7n7NzplH… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 114: Dinosaur Jr. - "Sweep It Into Space". Almost 40 years from their debut and Dinosaur Jr. still sounds exactly like Dinosaur Jr. and I couldn't be happier to hear it. open.spotify.com/album/3SWZkBuA… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 115: Sonic Boom - "Almost Nothing Is Nearly Enough". I'm not sure what inspired SB's Pete Kember to do a full set of remixes of last year's excellent "All Things Being Equal" album, but the results are equally excellent. open.spotify.com/album/4XNqzFxi… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 116: Alan Vega - "Mutator". Posthumous archival/"lost" albums can often be a crap shoot when it comes to quality, but this one is as musically & lyrically relevant now as when it was recorded - and then shelved - 25 years ago. open.spotify.com/album/6Gql4g0m… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 117: Tom Jones - "Surrounded By Time". A late-career highlight from the legend that could serve well to close off his six decades of work - but even at age 80, I wouldn't be surprised if he keeps at it for a few more years yet. open.spotify.com/album/06iDUt5q… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 118: Placid Angles - "Touch The Earth". I listened to this thinking it sounded like classic IDM/electronica from the '90s & then checked & found out it's by John Beltran, one of my fave IDM/electronica producers from the '90s. open.spotify.com/album/59E38btj… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 119: Sufjan Stevens - "Celebrations". Another Thursday, another beautiful & moving installment in the 5-volume "Convocations" series which will be wrapping up next week. open.spotify.com/album/36IYyYOc… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 120: Telex - "This Is Telex". Belgium's answer to Kraftwerk (with a bit of Yello) gets a nice & concise singles collection in advance of a long overdue reissue campaign from @MuteUK. open.spotify.com/album/034ZmmCY… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 121: Yello - "40 Years". Fantastic anthology of hits, deep cuts, remixes & more from the Swiss legends. If all you know is "Oh Yeah", dig into this. open.spotify.com/album/69eBdc9B… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 122: Marianne Faithfull with Warren Ellis - "She Walks in Beauty". Ellis & friends (incl. Nick Cave & Brian Eno) provide an atmospheric sonic backdrop for Faithfull's beautiful readings of poems by Byron, Keats, Shelley, etc. open.spotify.com/album/7C36v40p… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 123: Róisín Murphy - "Crooked Machine". Murphy & collaborator Richard Barratt (working here as Crooked Man) give last year's excellent "Róisín Machine" album a darker, dirtier & dubbier rework that rivals the original. open.spotify.com/album/6LbsrGVI… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 124: O Yuki Conjugate - "A Tension of Opposites Vol. 1" & "Sunchemical" EP. After a long overdue revisit to OYC's classic "Peyote" I checked if they were still around & found this pair of recent releases. open.spotify.com/album/7COJ2Pst… open.spotify.com/album/0yIyGuId… ImageImage
On further inspection, it looks like "Sunchemical" isn't ENTIRELY new - it's a "reconfigured reissue" of an EP from 1995 (I thought the name was familiar...). Still great stuff, though!
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 125: Jah Wobble & Family - "Guanyin". China meets the Caribbean via East London on this great album by the bass/dub legend, with his wife Zi Lan Liao on guzheng & flute, and their sons on various instruments. open.spotify.com/album/5KVEJ8LA… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 126: Sufjan Stevens - "Incantations". The 5th & final volume in the "Convocations" ambient series, which is now grouped as a single 2.5 hour release on Spotify. It'll be a bit weird not having another new volume next Thursday... open.spotify.com/album/7y8FRE43… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 127: Beachy Head - "Beachy Head". A shoegaze/psych/indie supergroup of sorts featuring members of Slowdive, Flaming Lips & others offers an album that's good but feels like it should/could be better. open.spotify.com/album/07DZCEUC… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 128: Squid - "Bright Green Field". One of the most hyped in the seemingly endless wave of new UK groups influenced by the arty & experimental side of post-punk manages to live up to the buzz on this generally excellent debut LP. open.spotify.com/album/4z44Wir0… Image
Just occurred to me that I didn't get around to sharing the playlist of tracks from all of my #DailyUnheardAlbum picks in April. So here it is for the 1 or 2 of y'all who might be interested... open.spotify.com/playlist/2eIkL…
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 129: A Certain Ratio - "ACR:EPA". Four top notch post-punk-funk jams from the Manchester legends, recorded with vocalist Denise Johnson in March 2020, just a few months before her sad and unexpected death. open.spotify.com/album/77ZofFK1… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 130: GoGo Penguin - "GGP/RMX". Manchester jazz trio gives last year's cracking self-titled album a full makeover with remixes by 808 State, Squarepusher, Cornelius, Rone & lots more. open.spotify.com/album/6SM77Wde… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 131: New Order - "Education Entertainment Recreation (Live)". Barney & Gillian & Stephen &, uh, new guys - I love ya, I really do. But three live albums in four years is a bit much, don't you think? Get back in the damn studio! open.spotify.com/album/6xGvx6VL… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 132: clipping. - "Wriggle (Expanded)". An updated version of the industrial hip-hop trio's still killer 2016 EP with a few bonus remixes, including a dancefloor-ready classic EBM style mix of the title track by Cardopusher. open.spotify.com/album/2yy8sfdM… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 133: UNKLE - "Rōnin I". I totally missed this when it dropped at the end of March. Some classic UNKLE sounds & vibes here with the usual array of great guest vocalists. Nothing new or groundbreaking, but that's OK. open.spotify.com/album/5t29UgDz… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 134: David Bowie - "At The Kit Kat Klub (Live New York 99)". Yup, it's another live Bowie album. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ open.spotify.com/album/05uqcnOR… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 135: Paul Weller - "Fat Pop (Volume 1)". Warming up for The Modfather's livestream later today with a listen to his fantastic new album. Hopefully the Volume 2 that the title suggests is forthcoming will be just as great. open.spotify.com/album/2k16u3is… Image
Here are the details for the Paul Weller livestream for anyone who might be interested. Premieres at 3:00 PM Eastern today, and available to stream anytime for 48 hours afterwards. barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2021/…
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 136: Matt Berry - "The Blue Elephant". Just 8 months after the beautiful "Phantom Birds", the multi-talented artist returns with a perfect pastiche of late 60s/early 70s psych-pop on which he plays everything except drums. open.spotify.com/album/2NUVfgqQ… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 137: Seefeel - "Succour (Redux)". Spent the afternoon listening to this and the other two expanded reissues of their mid-90s Warp/Rephlex releases. I know & love the original releases, and the extra tracks make 'em even better. open.spotify.com/album/3Nrbrk8r… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 138: Morcheeba - "Blackest Blue". I've been on a bit of a '90s coffee-house trip-hop kick lately - Air, Zero 7, Sneaker Pimps, etc. - so it was neat to see a new album pop up from one of those groups I'd almost forgotten about. open.spotify.com/album/6WSkGx7r… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 139: Marcus Hamblett & The Missing Metatarsal - "Stasis: Analogue Synth Textures". English artist I know best for his great avant-jazz & post-rock work impresses me again with this love letter to classic 70s ambient synth music. open.spotify.com/album/6jwcQxZj… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 140: Various Artists - "Impulse Records: Music, Message and the Moment". Forgot to post this one yesterday - it's an all killer no filler collection of highlights from the legendary jazz label's 60s & 70s golden years. open.spotify.com/album/7BLYn4rN… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 141: Sunroof - "Electronic Music Improvisations Vol. 1". Mute Records founder Daniel Miller and veteran producer Gareth Jones come together for a collaboration that is much more engaging than its dry title might suggest. open.spotify.com/album/68TOvhIz… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 142: Mdou Moctar - "Afrique Victime". Electrifying African desert rock from the virtuoso Tuareg guitarist and his killer band. Will sound even better live, I'll bet. open.spotify.com/album/3ZZMK1Hd… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 143 [yeah, I'm a day late with this one...]: FACS - "Present Tense". Fourth album in as many years from this Chicago post-punk trio, and it's just as dark, intense & addictive as its predecessors. open.spotify.com/album/3ESHyesh… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 144: Pet Shop Boys - "My Beautiful Laundrette". A mini-album of tracks recorded for a play based on the 1985 film hits streaming after a limited edition fan club release. Mostly instrumental, but still some vintage PSB vibes. open.spotify.com/album/7FPikKXF… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 145: Louisahhh - "The Practice of Freedom". Confrontational and hard hitting techno-industrial with lyrics that explore the darker sides of love and sexuality. This would've packed the dancefloor at Sanctuary back in the day... open.spotify.com/album/1GO4R0f8… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 146: Fly Pan Am - "Frontera". How did I miss that these guys got back together? While they kinda played second fiddle to GYBE in the Montreal post-rock scene, I still dug 'em back in the day, and this is a great new record. open.spotify.com/album/18URE6xm… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 147: Not Waving - "How to Leave Your Body". One of the best producers of modern IDM gives into his pop tendencies a bit on this excellent LP, with some great guest vocal appearances including Marie Davidson & Mark Lanegan. open.spotify.com/album/5UMgiePS… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 148: David Bowie - "The Width of a Circle". Nerdy collection of radio sessions, single versions & other rarities from the months between "Space Oddity" & "The Man Who Sold The World". (Oddly, only a sampler EP is up on Spotify.) open.spotify.com/album/3PWE4dZL… Image
Following up on yesterday's #DailyUnheardAlbum - not sure if I just missed it or if it was added since I first checked, but the whole album is up on Spotify now. (It will mostly be of interest to hardcore Bowie heads, honestly....) open.spotify.com/album/70XmHr1r… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 149: Various - "Modern Love". Sticking with Bowie, this tribute album offers some really unique takes on tunes from throughout his career - from his debut LP right up to "Blackstar" - as performed by primarily Black artists. open.spotify.com/album/5oYObkUo… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 150: Sedibus - "The Heavens". Alex Paterson & Andy Falconer reunite for the first time since the early days of The Orb, resulting in an album that sounds a lot like... well, the early days of The Orb. (That's a good thing.) open.spotify.com/album/2bTeiXCB… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 151: Portico Quartet - "Terrain". 3 long movements across 40ish minutes that bring together elements of abstract jazz, modern classical, and ambient minimalism to great effect. open.spotify.com/album/4UeTj6ZD… Image
And with another month of #DailyUnheardAlbum done, here's a playlist with a track from each of May's picks. Lotsa good stuff! Give it a listen and find a new favourite... open.spotify.com/playlist/1zfBG…
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 152: µ-Ziq - "Scurlage". The first LP of all-new µ-Ziq material in nearly a decade, and it brings me right back to the classic '90s releases on Rephlex and Virgin. Stunner! open.spotify.com/album/4z4gTYO7… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 153: N0V3L - "NON-FICTION". There are a whole lot of post-punk revivalists in the indie scene right now, but this crew from B.C. channel the sound & feel of the late 70s/early 80s underground so well it's almost frightening. open.spotify.com/album/024W6tqX… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 154: Loscil - "Clara". This latest release from Scott Morgan's long running Loiscil project doesn't break new sonic ground, but is still a top rate (if slightly overlong) set of ambient movements. open.spotify.com/album/1QU235rC… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 155: Various - "The Problem of Leisure: A Celebration of Andy Gill & Gang of Four". Eclectic & generally strong tribute to the late guitarist & his pioneering post-punk band, bogged down a bit by multiple versions of the "hits". open.spotify.com/album/0gTTKfo3… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 156: Gary Numan - "Intruder". While my personal taste leans toward Numan's 70s/80s synthpop sounds vs. his more recent NIN-influenced work, I still recognize that he's hit a late career peak, and it continues with this album. open.spotify.com/album/19yUEGYF… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 157: The Avalanches - "Since I Left You (20th Anniversary Ed.)". The original LP is still as brilliant as it was 2 decades ago & the many artists contributing new remixes shows just how wide its influence has spread since then. open.spotify.com/album/0YtYaaO0… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 158: Penelope Trappes - "Penelope Three". Moody & dramatic ambient tracks with hints of hazy dreampop provide perfect backing for Trappes' beautiful vocals. Last in a trilogy - I'll definitely be checking out the previous two. open.spotify.com/album/00RN1CEg… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 159: UV-TV - "Always Something". Catchy as hell indie-meets-shoegaze that takes lotsa influences - the C86 scene, The Primitives, The Pastels, early Jesus & Mary Chain - and distills them into 30 minutes of shimmering power pop. open.spotify.com/album/4CqkH847… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 160: Greentea Peng - "Man Made". The artist's name reportedly comes from her love of the beverage, but I strongly suspect a different green leaf played a role in the creation of this set of smoky, hazy & super-chill neo-soul. open.spotify.com/album/55UAEClz… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 161: Poté - "A Tenuous Tale Of Her". The slightly pretentious title & description of it being "written as a theatrical play" may turn some off, but too bad for them as they'll miss out on an excellent, genre-fluid electronic LP. open.spotify.com/album/7IjCb421… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 162: Cold Cave - "Fate In Seven Lessons". If you look at the cover of this record and think "What if New Order circa 1983, but more goth?", then you you'll know just what to expect when you start listening to it. open.spotify.com/album/3mj2V65P… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 163: Populous - "Stasi". Great set of chilled-out electronica with downtempo hip-hop beats woven throughout for all your head-nodding needs. open.spotify.com/album/4d6jmHbX… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 164: Sven Wunder - "Natura Morta". A spot-on homage to European library music of the '70s that comes perilously close to cheesy EZ-listening at times, but never quite crosses the line. open.spotify.com/album/2id7gpZf… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 165: Ducks Ltd. - "Get Bleak". Half of these tracks were released a couple of years ago under this Toronto jangle-pop band's original Ducks Unlimited name, but I'm happy to revisit them, and the new tunes are great as well. open.spotify.com/album/6WVJW0XQ… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 166: Stubborn Heart - "Made of Static". Getting serious Junior Boys vibes from this catchy-as-hell set of soulful electronic pop. I'll be hitting this one up a lot over the summer, I reckon. open.spotify.com/album/1u7MzYNN… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 167: The Ümlauts - "Ü EP". Fun synth-pop/post-punk/new-wave/whatever-you-wanna-call-it that's kinda like a more Euro-leaning version of International Teachers of Pop (who are also fun, look 'em up!). open.spotify.com/album/5zXjrZfD… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 168: Spirit of the Beehive - "Entertainment, Death" & Sweet Trip - "A Tiny House...". Complementary pair of LPs that both draw from dream-pop, shoegaze, neo-psychedelia, and other musical oddities. open.spotify.com/album/7fQtF6nu… open.spotify.com/album/2BmN3iAD… ImageImage
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 169: Various - "The Trojan Story". Slightly altered (due to licensing issues) but still fantastic anniversary reissue of the 1971 3xLP collection of early ska, rock steady & reggae classics. open.spotify.com/album/1bDMzgca… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 170: Andrew Hung - "Devastations". Continuing a shift away from his noise/drone work as half of Fuck Buttons, this new solo album instead shows a strong influence from dark synthpop and art-rock. open.spotify.com/album/31ZR4Bex… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 171: Otzeki - "Now Is A Long Time". A modernist take on synth-pop with elements of tech-house & 2-step garage, and vocals that often sound like a more soulful Thom Yorke. Reminds me a bit of Fujiya & Miyagi as well. open.spotify.com/album/2g1asgSS… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 172: Third Son - "Retrograde". Genre-fluid electronic producer pays tribute to his influences with a lockdown album of covers including Radiohead, Philip Glass, Boards of Canada, Aphex Twin, Plaid, Moby, Daft Punk & more. open.spotify.com/album/0tllI5pQ… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 173: Whispering Sons - "Several Others". While the distinctive vocals of singer Fenne Kuppens may take some getting used to, it's worth the effort to hear the excellent goth-tinged post-punk sound this Belgian band has mastered. open.spotify.com/album/7r1JeWnM… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 174: Coil - "Love's Secret Domain (30th Ann. Deluxe)". While some say the upcoming Wax Trax reissue is more "legit", the bonus disc of demos & rarities make this edition on Infinite Fog essential for Coil obsessives like myself. infinitefog.bandcamp.com/album/loves-se… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 175: Daniel Avery - "Together In Static". Another staggeringly excellent album from Avery who evokes the spirit of IDM/electronica greats such as Boards of Canada, Seefeel & Aphex Twin without ever sounding like a clone. open.spotify.com/album/68LCMt9a… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 176: Sault - "Nine". The largely anonymous and highly acclaimed R&B/neo-soul/jazz/funk group returns with another fantastic album that will only be online for 99 days, so don't sleep! open.spotify.com/album/7Kpv6XWZ… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 177: Lonelady - "Former Things". The influence of the moodier side of 80s synth-pop is undeniable - a bit of early New Order here, a hint of Virgin-era Cabaret Voltaire there - but it thankfully avoids becoming a total pastiche. open.spotify.com/album/38OCyRZG… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 178: John Beltran - "Aesthete". Just 3 months after an album from his Placid Angles alias, Beltran is back with another set of lush, gorgeous & classic-sounding electronica. open.spotify.com/album/6XQhMt30… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 179: Scorn - "The Only Place". If you know Scorn, you know what to expect - low & slow hip-hop beats, deeeeep dub bass, dark atmospheres - and you get all that here, plus Kool Keith popping up for a guest rap on one track. open.spotify.com/album/3bD93juV… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 180: The Grid & Robert Fripp - "Leviathan". Not sure if this is brand new, unearthed material from their '90s collaboration, or some combo, but it's got that classic chillout room vibe with some prime Frippertronics action. open.spotify.com/album/0mpRmEpr… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 181: Throwing Snow - "Dragons". Feeling too lazy tonight to write up a mini-review for this one, so here's a real review someone else wrote: musicomh.com/reviews/albums… open.spotify.com/album/3Q2AmMJm… Image
And the end of another month of #DailyUnheardAlbum posts means a wrap-up playlist of tracks from all of June's selections: open.spotify.com/playlist/0sEWr…
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 182: Backxwash - "I LIE HERE BURIED WITH MY RINGS AND DRESSES". A maelstrom of sound & fury from a Canadian trans woman of colour filled with justified rage at the world & her country. (Heard on #CanadaDay but forgot to post.) open.spotify.com/album/4gaxRsSk… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 183: A Certain Ratio - "ACR:EPC". 2nd in a series of 3 EPs from the kings of post-punk-electro-funk, this one focused on collaborations & dedicated to the late Andy Weatherall. open.spotify.com/album/7FphWCGd… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 184: Snapped Ankles - "Forest Of Your Problems". The masked woodland pranksters of the UK's arty post-punk scene bring their "The Fall goes Krautrock" sound a bit closer to the dancefloor this time around. open.spotify.com/album/21EXj33n… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 185: SPELLLING - "The Turning Wheel". Tia Cabral goes well beyond the dark bedroom synthpop of her earlier albums & layers her stunning Kate Bush-esque vocals over backings of chamber pop, art rock, Lynchian lounge & lots more. open.spotify.com/album/0vzzI81S… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 186: Stone Giants - "West Coast Live Stories". Amon Tobin continues his ongoing exploration of various genres and sounds with a new alias & album the melds woozy & ethereal electronica with psychedelic avant-pop. open.spotify.com/album/3Cbt36aq… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 187: Desperate Journalist - "Maximum Sorrow!". This band hits tons of indie sweet spots for me - I hear the influence & intelligence of The Smiths & Pulp, some gothic post-punk rumble in the bottom end & lots more - all great! open.spotify.com/album/3rj40fZ0… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 189: Sun Ra - "Lanquidity (Definitive Edition)" & Rebecca Vasmant - "With Love, From Glasgow". Missed posting yesterday, so here's a pair of jazz picks for today - a reissued classic & a modern gem. open.spotify.com/album/6hwD6Zjt… open.spotify.com/album/2FneWMAX… ImageImage
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 190: Buscemi - "Mistral Du Sud". Just what I expect from Buscemi - jazzy house & downtempo breaks with lots of guest vocalists - perfect stuff for a Friday afternoon wind-down after a busy week. open.spotify.com/album/1NqUtcm7… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 191: The Lounge Society - "Silk For The Starving" EP. Another great young UK band mining the long history of politically-minded punk/post-punk and coming up with their own take that is familiar but not a facsimile. open.spotify.com/album/5MB2nJOZ… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 192: Glass Beams - "Mirage" EP. Totally forgot to post this yesterday - groovy neo-psych from Australia that draws from krautrock, jazz fusion, Morricone, Indian classical, space funk & more. open.spotify.com/album/45yGFEPm… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 193: The KVB - "The Early Tapes". And sticking with the neo-psychedelic vibe - a great collection of early demos from the Manchester duo who bring a gothy post-punk edge to the sound. open.spotify.com/album/2ESiCMmi… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 194: Drug Store Romeos - "The world within our bedrooms". Aptly named album of spacey indie/dream-pop that gets a bit samey sounding towards the end of its 15 tracks, but is still a pretty fantastic & accomplished debut. open.spotify.com/album/1b9X8S1g… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 195[*]: The Goon Sax - "Mirror II". Moody & enveloping tunes that balance influences of 70s/80s post-punk & 90s/00s lo-fi indie. Feels longer than its 40 minutes, but in a good way. open.spotify.com/album/06swqSES…
[* yeah, I forgot to post this yesterday...] Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 196: Yves Tumor - "The Asymptotical World" EP. Surprise drop from the always morphing Y.T., featuring some of their most accessible - but still exciting - work to date, with nods to post-punk, psych-pop, Prince & more. open.spotify.com/album/2julo3Z5… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 197: A Place to Bury Strangers - "Hologram" EP. If you know APTBS, you'll know what to expect - i.e. Jesus & Mary Chain meets My Bloody Valentine at CBGB's in 1978 - & if you're like me (or @IhateBenRayner), that's what ya want. open.spotify.com/album/5nFbIVUh… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 198: Blondie - "Vivir en la Habana". Live mini-album from Havana in 2019 with a few of the expected hits and a couple of more recent tracks. 45 years in and they're still a great live band. open.spotify.com/album/2dpaGZ6v… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 199: JOON - "Dream Again". Moog-driven electro-pop with Italo-disco leanings, breathy vocals, and production by Johnny Jewel - yup, it's the latest Italians Do It Better joint! open.spotify.com/album/6dPScfhs… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 200: Richard Norris - "Hypnotic Response". Aptly-titled set of six cinematic tracks that owe a knowing debt to German kosmische music of the '70s and other early electronic/ambient sounds. open.spotify.com/album/46LwVrw0… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 201: K.D.A.P. - "Influences". Broken Social Scene's Kevin Drew pays tribute to the electronic & ambient music that inspired him in his pre-BSS days. open.spotify.com/album/42f1guaK… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 202: Rey Sapienz and the Congo Techno Ensemble - "Na Zala Zala". Hard-hitting hybrid of dark hip-hop, industrial techno, dancehall, and various African genres. open.spotify.com/album/280oN623… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 203: Rắn Cạp Đuôi - "Ngủ Ngày Ngay Ngày Tận Thế". Experimental collective from Vietnam that defy easy categorization, but if forced to compare, I think fans of Oneohtrix Point Never will find a lot to like here. open.spotify.com/album/3sT2lNw6… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 204: Ora The Molecule - "Human Safari". Infectious indie-pop from Oslo that's arty enough to be interesting, but never to the point of being pretentious or twee. open.spotify.com/album/1XvJINGj… Image
Took a brief Twitter break over the weekend, but still listened to some new music, so here's a trio of tweets to catch-up on the #DailyUnheardAlbum thing...
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 205: Ann Margaret Hogan - "Without The Moon". Mini-album of rare & unreleased tracks by the cult composer & pianist in collaboration with Nick Cave, Marc Almond, JG Thirlwell, Kid Congo Powers, Jarboe & other post-punk greats. open.spotify.com/album/16pbge3m… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 206: Anika - "Change". There are some easy/lazy comparisons I could make - Nico, Cate Le Bon, St. Vincent (before she went all NYC '73) - but it's simply a great electronic avant-pop LP with a powerful lyrical & vocal aspect. open.spotify.com/album/7oPelygn… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 207: Piroshka - "Love Drips And Gathers". 2nd album from the UK indie supergroup w/ members of Lush, Elastica, Moose & Modern English, and like their 1st, it didn't grab me right away - but it also feels like it'll be a grower. open.spotify.com/album/5tusxNUO… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 208: Bobby Gillespie & Jehnny Beth - "Utopian Ashes". Bobby & Jehnny channel their inner Lee & Nancy on a country-soul concept album about a couple of the verge of divorce. Not really my bag, but objectively, it's very good. open.spotify.com/album/5CvNQUxi… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 209: Midwife - "Luminol". I'm not sure how music can sound so fragile and so heavy at the same time, but once you hear it, you'll understand by creator Madeline Johnston calls her work "heaven metal". open.spotify.com/album/4bga9m78… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 210: Akasha System - "Ancient Path" EP. Four gorgeous tracks of what we used to call "ambient house" back in the day. I think this is 4th or 5h Akasha System release I've featured in this series. Always top quality! open.spotify.com/album/2DvxGYBF… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 211: Neutron 9000 - "Lady Burning Sky". Reissue of a fairly obscure ambient trance album from '94 that shows its age in places, but the addition of some new remixes by Daniel Avery helps haul it into the present. open.spotify.com/album/0lfspMUe… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 212: Billie Eilish - "Happier Than Ever". While far from being a "sophomore slump", some of the spark of her debut is missing, and the 16 tracks & hour length could use a bit of trimming. Still a few stunners on there, though. open.spotify.com/album/0JGOiO34… Image
Here's my July 2021 #DailyUnheardAlbum playlist, with a track from every pick for the month. Starts with Backxwash, ends with Billie Eilish, goes lots of cool places in between... open.spotify.com/playlist/7u0Qi…
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 213: Erasure - "The Neon Remixed". Confession: I haven't made it through the whole thing yet, since even as a fan of Vince & Andy, almost 2 hours of remixes is a lot to take all at once. Enjoyed a lot of what I heard, though. open.spotify.com/album/6JTa478h… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 214: Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp - "We're OK. But We're Lost Anyway." Post-punk, Krautrock, avant-jazz, Afrobeat & more come together on an album that I wish was twice as long as its tight 36 minutes. open.spotify.com/album/7qCs3H3h… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 215: Horsey - "Debonair". Self-described "surreal, noodling, apocalyptic jazz" band from South London that veer towards the noisy art-rock of Black Country New Road & Squid at times. Oh, and there's a King Krule cameo. open.spotify.com/album/1z6VwFw4… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 216: K-Hand - "Sounds" EP & Paul Johnson - "I Can Make You A Big Freak" EP. RIP to these legends of Detroit techno & Chicago house respectively who have both left us much too soon. open.spotify.com/album/6639iZ8o… open.spotify.com/album/6oh8Eh0p… ImageImage
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 217: Godflesh - "New Flesh In Dub Vol. 1". Nice set of woofer-blowing dubs, remixes & alt. versions of tracks from Godflesh's post-reunion era. open.spotify.com/album/76c3W39e… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 218: Abstract Mindstate - "Dreams Still Inspire". Y'all can keep waiting for "Donda", the only Kanye project I care about right now is this amazing comeback album he produced for the obscure but influential Chicago hip-hop duo. open.spotify.com/album/6DaJVC24… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 219: Krust - "The Edge of Everything Remixed". Last year's excellent comeback album from the drum'n'bass legend gets reimagined with 10 eclectic remixes. open.spotify.com/album/0EW91IGk… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 220: The Art of Noise - "Noise in the City: Live in Tokyo 1986". A more live-sounding set than I expected from such a studio-oriented group, catching them right on the cusp between their early arty ZTT era & the later pop hits. open.spotify.com/album/1wZ3p2qF… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 221: Ty Segall - "Harmonizer". While I know his name, I pretty sure I haven't listened to a Ty Segall album before, but I'm glad some good reviews tipped me off on this one, as I really dig the psych-meets-synth sounds. open.spotify.com/album/2UuUDTEW… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 222: Liars - "The Apple Drop". I'm always amazed how every Liars album sounds different from every other Liars album, yet somehow they all still sound like Liars albums. Plus they're all - including this one - pretty darn good! open.spotify.com/album/50WuzTuc… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 223: Magic Castles - "Sun Reign". Forgot to post this yesterday - excellent neo-psychedelia with a hint of early shoegaze. open.spotify.com/album/0NUZovvh… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 224: Alan Vega - "After Dark". 2nd posthumous LP of the year from the late Suicide frontman, this one featuring a "a late night rock 'n' roll session" with a heavy blues-meets-krautrock vibe. open.spotify.com/album/6tlA53lG… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 225: Stuck - "Content That Makes You Feel Good" EP. Another new post-punk band mining that Gang of Four/Fall/Wire vibe, although these guys are from Chicago, not the UK. Maybe one day I'll get tired of this stuff, but not today. open.spotify.com/album/5TeQdJcE… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 226 (yeah, posting it a day late...): A Certain Ratio - "ACR​:​EPR". Third solid EP this year from the post-punk-indie-funk legends. Not bad for a band about to enter their 45th(!!) year. open.spotify.com/album/56VJUB2t… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 227: Naked Raygun - "Over The Overlords". 30+ years after their last proper LP, the Chicago punk icons come back with a killer album that picks up right where they left off. open.spotify.com/album/55Arkzo4… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 228: Charles Spearin - "My City of Starlings". 13 mostly instrumental tracks from the Broken Social Scene/Do Make Say Think member that float through various flavours of rock (indie/post/art/etc.) & a bit of avant-jazz as well. open.spotify.com/album/0OGuFqGs… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 229: Various Artists - "Italians Do It Better". A fun (if a bit overlong) tribute to Madonna from Johnny Jewel & co. featuring covers of hits & deeper cuts that range from faithful to... not so much. open.spotify.com/album/5DEBLjxq… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 230: The Bernhardts - "Moonglow" EP. Four tracks of primo mid-80s sophisti-pop from an obscure Factory-affiliated Manchester group. If you dig Orange Juice, Prefab Sprout & The Style Council, get on this! open.spotify.com/album/66NAl8JZ… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 231: Museum of Love - "Life of Mammals". Wildly eclectic album that ranges from Scott Walker-ish art pop to dubby Krautrock to glammy new wave and lots more besides. Definitely needs a few more listens to really absorb it. open.spotify.com/album/7GxzhhPr… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 232: Martin Gore - "The Third Chimpanzee Remixed" open.spotify.com/album/0ArLliV9… / Saccades - "Flowing Fades Remixes" open.spotify.com/album/5fsoN4YL… / Mia Doi Todd - "Ten Views of Music Life" open.spotify.com/album/3lD7AUYO… - It's a big week for remix albums, apparently! ImageImageImage
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 235: Deafheaven - "Infinite Granite". There's been some fuss about Deafheaven abandoning their black metal roots, but as someone drawn to them by their shoegaze/post-rock leanings, I dig the Ride-meets-GYBE vibe of this album. open.spotify.com/album/0kCdT4gj… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 236: The Rolling Stones - "Live 1965: Music From Charlie Is My Darling". RIP & thanks, Charlie Watts. 🥁🙏 open.spotify.com/album/2Jps53V1… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 237: Lorde - "Solar Power". Loved her first album, liked her second, but this one doesn't do much for me, at least on first listen. Probably doesn't help that it feels like half the songs use the same 90s-style breakbeat. open.spotify.com/album/1lDMJQcB… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 238: Vivien Goldman - "Next Is Now". 40 years from her first single, the post-punk legend finally releases a full album! (A tweet's too short to explain why she deserves the "legend" tag, look her up if ya don't know...) open.spotify.com/album/09nEsHz4… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 239: Halsey - "If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power". While not quite the masterpiece some reviews suggest, the NIN-style production from Reznor/Ross sits alongside Hasley's pop vocals much more harmoniously than I expected. open.spotify.com/album/3sq0hRtl… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 240: Chvrches - "Screen Violence". After a tedious attempt at a more chart-friendly direction on their last album, it's great to hear Chvrches shift back to the darker but still soaring & anthemic synthpop they're best at. open.spotify.com/album/0KuAi49H… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 241: Lee "Scratch" Perry & The Spacewave - "Dubz Of The Root". The final album from the legend before his death today, although I'm sure we'll see a slew of posthumous & archival releases in coming months & years... open.spotify.com/album/0TmqtUu1… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 242: The Bug - "Fire". If you want an album that'll make you wish you had better - or at least more bass-heavy - speakers, this is the one. open.spotify.com/album/4deCZBfX… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 243: quickly, quickly - "The Long and Short of It". Just read that Graham Jonson, the guy behind this brilliant combo of downtempo hip-hop, lo-fi soul, psych-pop & more is only 21, and that's my mind blown for tonight. open.spotify.com/album/6pUiy5Z2… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 244: Goat - "Headsoup". Chaotic but satisfying odds-n-sods collection of singles, b-sides, rarities & a couple of new tracks from the Swedish psychedelic-weirdbeat collective. open.spotify.com/album/6n58WUi9… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 245: Leslie Winer - "When I Hit You - You'll Feel It". I checked this one out after reading a fascinating New York Times piece about it - nytimes.com/2021/08/30/art… - and I highly recommend both the article and the album. open.spotify.com/album/1oUU0K5T… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 246: Dntel - "Away". After a couple of more ambient-leaning albums, it's great to hear Jimmy T. back in that sweet Postal Service-ish indietronica/electropop mode. (Or as @davidsunlee perfectly put it, "so sparkly :D".) open.spotify.com/album/61hbdzsf… Image
Took a Twitter break over the weekend, but still listened to a #DailyUnheardAlbum each day, so here's some posts to catch up...
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 247: F.S. Blumm & Nils Frahm - "2X1=4". Based on the past solo & collab releases I'm familiar with from these guys, I was not expecting this set of spaced-out dub - but I also have no complaints about it. open.spotify.com/album/1t6aWXi0… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 248: Stigma - "Too Long". Fusion of dark dub and trip-hop from Bristol producer Kristian Jabs that I'd favourably compare to a slightly less threatening sounding Scorn. open.spotify.com/album/5BvcAtZU… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 249: DJ Seinfeld - "Mirrors". Even with the kinda lame artist name, I'll give anything on Ninja Tune a crack, and I'm glad I did as this is a pretty great album of leftfield and (mostly) laid-back house grooves. open.spotify.com/album/7FvnTARv… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 250: Immersion - "Nanocluster Vol. 1". Colin Newman (Wire) & Malka Spigel (Minimal Compact) team up with Tarwater, Laetitia Sadler, Ulrich Schnauss & Scanner on an LP that will appeal to anyone who knows any/all of those names. open.spotify.com/album/4i59rvDL… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 251: Nala Sinephro - "Space 1.8". Another stunner from the flourishing UK experimental jazz scene, with eight enveloping tracks built around harp and synth, like a space-age take on Dorothy Ashby. open.spotify.com/album/5Svfamp6… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 252: Mansur Brown = "Heiwa". Another ridiculously talented young multi-instrumentalist from the UK who is taking jazz into infinite directions. open.spotify.com/album/6yxxttrP… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 253: Saint Etienne - "I've Been Trying To Tell You". Almost exactly 30 years from their debut album, S.E. drops this wonderful work that uses samples from songs of the late '90s to build something both nostalgic and futuristic. open.spotify.com/album/4lAlJDRo… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 254: We Were Promised Jetpacks - "Enjoy the View". While there are a few shifts in sound, likely due to the departure of guitarist Michael Palmer, it's still rooted in the moody & anthemic indie/post-punk WWPJ are known for. open.spotify.com/album/27y6DEcX… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 255: Sneaker Pimps - "Squaring the Circle". The reunited Pimps can't seem to decide between doing a rehash of their '90s sound vs. the dark synthpop of Chris Corner's IAMX project. Result: An aimless & overlong mess of an album. open.spotify.com/album/0npeEzm8… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 256: Tim Hecker - "The North Water (Original Score)". I think this first ever film (well, TV) score from Hecker, and it's hard to believe it's taken this long. And given how great it is, I fully expect it won't be his last. open.spotify.com/album/75T8gbTU… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 257: Space Afrika - "Honest Labour". Thanks to @davidsunlee for the tip on this one. Beautiful stuff that seamlessly flows between deep ambience, ethereal dream pop, downtempo beats & more. Perfect late night headphone music. open.spotify.com/album/7Cr6BDi4… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 258: Chris Carter - "Electronic Ambient Remixes One/Three". Long overdue reissues of 2 deep ambient LPs from 2000 featuring tracks built around elements of Carter's earlier solo & Throbbing Gristle work. open.spotify.com/album/2TU0QThC… open.spotify.com/album/7Gg6GflJ… ImageImage
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 259: Low - "HEY WHAT" & Injury Reserve - "By The Time I Get To Phoenix". Two impossible-to-describe-in-a-tweet albums that come from very different places, but end up being surprisingly complementary. open.spotify.com/album/6S6jg2Lu… open.spotify.com/album/7L7oMPbo… ImageImage
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 260: Alex Paterson - "Connecting The Dots". A proper old school chillout DJ mix from the master. open.spotify.com/album/46L9tNr4… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 262: MONO - "Pilgrimage Of The Soul". If you know MONO, you won't be disappointed. If you don't know MONO, this is as good a place as any to start. open.spotify.com/album/6HiKIQqk… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 263: Soccer96 - "Dopamine". Spin-off project of The Comet is Coming that retains the psych-jazz DNA of its parent band, but with more trippy electronics in the mix. Great stuff! open.spotify.com/album/2a2f1Dd7… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 264: Richard H. Kirk - "Daesin". RHK RIP. 🖤 open.spotify.com/album/2SiXdS6Y… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 265: Annie - "Neon Nights" EP & Angel Olsen - "Aisles" EP. Two very different but equally enjoyable takes on '80s nostalgia. open.spotify.com/album/1nxRfDOz… open.spotify.com/album/6yp8LzFM… ImageImage
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 266: Low Hummer - "Modern Tricks for Living". One of the members describes this band as "excited skint northerners rambling on about modern life over repetitive synth bass lines and distorted guitars", and I can't top that. open.spotify.com/album/3S2rceWo… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 267: Pop. 1280 - "Museum on the Horizon". Moody electro/industrial/post-punk from a Brooklyn band that has an authenticity a lot of other revivalists of the genre lack. open.spotify.com/album/41ECqHKM… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 268: Cold Beat - "War Garden". The '80s influence that has always been an aspect of this San Francisco band's work comes through even stronger on this synth-heavy album that was written & recorded remotely during the pandemic. open.spotify.com/album/0zHfnwBh… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 269: Blancmange - "Commercial Break". It might seem like a comeback for the '80s synth duo (now original member Neil Arthur + collaborator Benge), but it's their 11th album since they returned in 2011, and is one of their best. open.spotify.com/album/1OiTzXmE… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 270: MPU101 - "MPU101". Great throwback in sound & style to the early days of IDM, when some of the best music came on obscure limited edition records from anonymous artists featuring seemingly machine generated track titles. open.spotify.com/album/4jBuDEeD… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 271: Various - "Kompakt TOTAL 21". Another fantastic annual sampler the legendary Kompakt label, offering 13 cuts of top-drawer techno & adjacent styles. open.spotify.com/album/4UuB4rIx… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 272: Dr. Lonnie Smith - "Breathe". Have has this LP from the legendary jazz organist in the queue for ages & it sadly took his death to remind me to check it out. Great collection of 6 live tracks + 2 in the studio w/ Iggy Pop. open.spotify.com/album/1VmQzWa2… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 273: Various - "I'll Be Your Mirror: A Tribute to The Velvet Underground & Nico". A rare example of a tribute album where I really enjoyed almost every track. (But it's still not a patch on the peerless original, of course...) open.spotify.com/album/3aR5uoIi… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 274: Ducks Ltd. - "Modern Fiction". A half-hour of near-perfect jangle pop that could've been released anytime in the last 40 years without sounding out of place. open.spotify.com/album/5AHdikbr… Image
An oh, hey, the start of a new month means last month's #DailyUnheardAlbum playlist is complete, with a track from each featured album... open.spotify.com/playlist/6pmWw…
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 275: Erasure - "Ne:EP". Surprise 5-track release from the synthpop legends, serving as a nice addendum to last year's rather good album "The Neon". open.spotify.com/album/616WoqMn… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 276: Marcus Hamblett - "Retritus". Sequel to "Detritus" - a jazz-meets-electronica record that's one of my fave albums of the last couple of years - featuring remixes, reworkings & live versions of tracks from the original. open.spotify.com/album/0Qq07zSK… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 277: Couplet - "LP1". On the new Netflix show "Maid", the main character refers to a dollar store knock-off Ariel doll she buys for her daughter as Schmariel. In that spirit, I'd say this Schmostal Schmervice album is OK. open.spotify.com/album/1bDfZzIz… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 278: Jane Weaver - "Sunset Dreams" EP. Technically a single from the phenomenal "Flock" LP that came out back in March, but this half-hour of remixes & outtakes is an excellent release on its own. open.spotify.com/album/5kzGkGtj… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 279: Wednesday - "Twin Plagues". If Dinosaur Jr. went slightly shoegaze-y and had a female singer, they'd kinda sound like this. open.spotify.com/album/2VSj2CXq… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 280: Cindy - "1:2". Slow and quiet (well, except for the jangly title track) indie rock from San Francisco that I think fans of Mazzy Star, early Low, and Galaxie 500 will dig. open.spotify.com/album/0Za52Px0… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 281: W.H. Lung - "Vanities". Another young UK band mining the dancier side of neo-post-punk (see also: Working Men's Club & PVA) and doing a bang-up job of it. open.spotify.com/album/3ibpHV6i… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 282: James Blake - "Friends That Break Your Heart". Beautiful production as always, and a couple of songs stand out - mostly the advance singles - but an hour after listening, I can barely remember most of it. open.spotify.com/album/1zNtJFMC… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 283: BadBadNotGood - "Talk Memory". There's no way I can sum up this record in a single tweet after a single listen, so I'm not even gonna try. open.spotify.com/album/594yqwr1… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 284: Lou Reed - "Live At Alice Tully Hall - January 27, 1973". Lowkey digital drop of a vinyl Record Store Day release from last year, featuring an excellent sounding set from the "Transformer" tour. open.spotify.com/album/1L0vbhvQ… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 285: Explosions In The Sky - "Big Bend". While not as dynamic & bombastic as much of their work, this soundtrack for a PBS documentary is by no means a lazy throwaway, it's just a bit more reined in. open.spotify.com/album/7w3BcToS… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 286: Pachyman - "The Return of Pachyman". He may come from a different Caribbean island - Puerto Rico, not Jamaica - but that doesn't stop Pachy Garcia aka Pachyman from producing from fantastic laidback dub grooves. open.spotify.com/album/0fOyMeFj… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 287: Tim Story/Dieter Moebius - "Moebius Strips". Composer Story & many collaborators (Mark Mothersbaugh, Michael Rother, Rodelius & more) build great new works using pieces left behind by the late & legendary Moebius. open.spotify.com/album/7epq5lrO… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 288: Odonis Odonis - "Spectrums". Sorta more heard than unheard due to the many advance singles, but this homage to classic 80s EBM & dark synthpop was still one of my most anticipated albums of 2021, and it doesn't disappoint. open.spotify.com/album/6IsXBYxn… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 289: Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark - "Architecture & Morality: The Singles". One of my favourite albums of all time gets a 40th anniversary follow-up compilation of singles, b-sides, demos & live tracks. open.spotify.com/album/2E2ATbfI… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 290: Starflyer 59 - "Vanity". I lost track of S59 after 2006's "My Island" & was pleasantly surprised to find out about this one. Still dig their melancholy indie vibe. Looks like I've got a few from in-between to catch up on. open.spotify.com/album/1xbVVRnC… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 291: Vanishing Twin - "Ookii Gekkou". The influence of Stereolab & Broadcast heard on their previous albums is still there, along with splashes of tropicália, krautrock, free jazz, exotica, psych-pop & more. open.spotify.com/album/7Gsi59BA… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 292: Glok - "Pattern Recognition". Latest release from the recently prolific Andy Bell (the one from Ride, not Erasure), this one under the alias used for his (mostly) electronic productions. open.spotify.com/album/0fONcV8U… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 293: Arooj Aftab - "Vulture Prince". A gorgeous and moving album that melds traditional Pakistani music with mellow jazz, subtle electronics, and even hints of folk and reggae. open.spotify.com/album/21OZptKA… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 294: Dos Santos - "City of Mirrors". @treblezine describes this as "an ever-shifting fusion of cumbia, salsa, Afrobeat, surf, psychedelia, soul and other influences", which is better than any description I could come up with. open.spotify.com/album/3W9U1PYH… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 295: Duran Duran - "Future Past". DD were one of my gateways to new wave & related genres, so I've got a soft spot for them even now. They'll never top those early records, but as late career albums go, this is pretty good! open.spotify.com/album/7GyGHJ1j… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 296: Tip-Top (aka Jarvis Cocker) - "Chansons d'Ennui". It's Jarvis Cocker doing covers of '60s & '70s French pop tunes as a companion piece to a Wes Anderson movie. You'll either love it or hate it. I'm in the first group. open.spotify.com/album/2bySOj6Z… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 298: Xeno & Oaklander - "Vi/deo" & Black Marble - "Fast Idol". I missed posting a pick yesterday, so here's two different takes on '80s synthpop revivalism for today. open.spotify.com/album/4qB5k2Qi… open.spotify.com/album/3DHzWu5j… ImageImage
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 299: Herbert - "Musca". Deep house music for home listening, featuring eight different vocalists yet holding together beautifully as a cohesive album from start to finish. open.spotify.com/album/6t89Bzbz… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 300: Ross From Friends - "Tread". I still find it hard to get past the artist name, but the tunes are top-notch, linking soulful house with 90s/00s electronica & other chill-out room faves. open.spotify.com/album/5wKXfInn… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 301: Slow Crush - "Hush". Shoegaze from Belgium that hits that sweet spot between My Bloody Valentine and Cocteau Twins, with a few diversions into heavier territory. open.spotify.com/album/73jk9mp6… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 302: Lone - "Always Inside Your Head". In an odd link to yesterday's pick, Lone's Matt Cutler cites MBV & Cocteau Twins as an influence on this new LP, although various strains of 90's/00's electronica play a big role as well. open.spotify.com/album/36BhQCIG… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 303: Jónsi - "Obsidian". Surprise album released today in conjunction with an art installation opening in NYC. Deep & enveloping & more in the spirit of Sigur Ros & Riceboy Sleeps vs. his previous solo work. open.spotify.com/album/1z8Ljm0S… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 304: Dinosaur Jr. - "Emptiness at The Sinclair". Second surprise drop of the weekend, this one the audio of a livestream show back in the spring, featuring tracks from new-at-the-time "Sweep It Into Space" & lotsa old faves. open.spotify.com/album/52jhlrdp… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 305: John Coltrane - "A Love Supreme: Live in Seattle". Having listened to the original LP too many times to count, the longer & at times radically reconstructed takes on this album are both disconcerting and fascinating. open.spotify.com/album/6X4w3Xif… Image
And here's a playlist of tracks from all my #DailyUnheardAlbum picks in October. A pretty good way to spend 2 hours & 20 minutes, I think. open.spotify.com/playlist/75BwJ…
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 306: Geese - "Projector". Brooklyn band barely out of high school with a killer debut album that nods to many NYC indie/alt forbearers (Talking Heads, Television, Strokes, Interpol) without ever sounding like a lazy pastiche. open.spotify.com/album/1E094hHD… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 307: Dummy - "Mandatory Enjoyment". If Stereolab came from California and had a bit of that state's laid-back psychedelia and jangle-pop in their sound, they'd basically sound like this. In other words - it's really good! open.spotify.com/album/29qUZKyY… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 308: Nightmares on Wax - "Shout Out! To Freedom...". The always eclectic & exploratory George Evelyn brings together elements of jazz, soul, dub, downtempo hip hop & more on this excellent & uplifting LP. open.spotify.com/album/58jh2fv0… Image
PS: While searching for a cover image of the Nightmares on Wax record, I found this livestream set which looks fun based on a quick peek - bookmarked for later viewing:
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 309: ABBA - "Voyage". I've loved ABBA since I was 12 years old & bought "Greatest Hits Vol. 2" on cassette with my paper route money. Their return isn't quite as wonderous as I'd hoped, but nowhere near as bad as I'd feared. open.spotify.com/album/0uUtGVj0… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 days 310 & 311: Nation of Language - "A Way Forward" & Spectres - "Hindsight". Stunning 2nd album of anthemic synthpop from NoL & a collection of singles & rarities from post-punk revivalists Spectres. open.spotify.com/album/2hPnsq6H… open.spotify.com/album/1EHLEKvL… ImageImage
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 days 312: Campbell/Mallinder/Benge - "Clinker". Julie Campbell (LoneLady) & Stephen Mallinder (Cabaret Voltaire) team up with producer Benge for a mini-LP with a strong "Red Mecca" meets "The Crackdown" vibe. open.spotify.com/album/0XYMp2nM… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 days 313: Radiohead - "Kid A Mnesia". Good excuse to listen to "Kid A" and "Amnesiac" again - it's been a while and yeah, they're still brilliant. The bonus material is interesting enough, albeit a bit unfinished sounding in places. open.spotify.com/album/6ofEQuba… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 314: Low Life - "From Squats To Lots: The Agony And XTC Of Low Life". Dark & dense post-punk from Australia that has some obvious reference points (Joy Division, MBV, early Christian Death) but builds something new out of them. open.spotify.com/album/2rdOumgS… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 315: Kraus - "View No Country". It wasn't until after I listened to this fantastic neo-shoegaze album that I looked up the group Kraus and found out it's actually just one guy named Will Kraus, and now I'm even more impressed. open.spotify.com/album/3BNTd1ct… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 316: Robin Guthrie - "Pearldiving". Deep down I know that we'll never get a Cocteau Twins reunion, but man, there are points on this album where I was really waiting for Liz's voice to come in and break my heart. open.spotify.com/album/3qeHLQq8… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 317: The Black Dog - "Music for Photographers". Ambient works inspired by the Brutalist architecture of Sheffield, with group member Martin Dust providing the cover images and a companion photo book "Brutal Sheffield". open.spotify.com/album/6XeL6PIn… Image
#DailyUnheardAlbum 2021 day 319: Portico Quartet - "Monument". Less than 6 months on from their excellent ambient-leaning "Terrain", the jazz-meets-electronica group returns with this more melodic but equally excellent follow-up. open.spotify.com/album/5Q45lNUh… Image

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