The Fragmented Quality of Boards of Canada’s ‘Music Has the Right to Children’
Boards of Canada’s Music Has the Right to Children is murky, burned, and melted. It sounds like 1980s synth, disco, new age, and new wave heard through a wall.
downtempo
Thievery Corporation Mix It Up at the Midway in San Francisco
Support from influential trip-hop duo Kruder& Dorfmeister brings rare air to Saturday night house party for Thievery Corporation in the City by the Bay.
Air’s JB Dunckel and the Melancholy Vibrations of Carbon
JB Dunckel, half of the electronic duo Air, battles self-doubt and scientific equations to craft a new electro record that is as evocative as it is immediate.
Röyksopp’s ‘Profound Mysteries’ Is Transcendent
The vast creativity and breadth of Röyksopp’s Profound Mysteries are impressive. A suite of short films operates as a gorgeous visual interpretation.
Bonobo Lapses Into Watered-Down Chillout Music on ‘Fragments’
Bonobo’s Fragments represents a rare step back from one of the 21st century’s leading electronic luminaries. It doesn’t bring enough new ideas.
Hayden Thorpe Is Experiencing All of the Metafeelings
Former Wild Beasts vocalist Hayden Thorpe explores new headspaces, psychedelics, and sonic territory on solo album number two, Moondust For My Diamond.
Hayden Thorpe Melds Electropop, R&B, and Ambient on ‘Moondust for My Diamond’
Former Wild Beasts frontman Hayden Thorpe combines electropop with R&B-influenced vocals and ambient into an effective, coherent sound on his second solo LP.
Amon Tobin Conjures Up Unsettling Soundscapes on ‘How Do You Live’
Brazilian electronic producer Amon Tobin offers up a collection of songs that’s eclectic even by his own genre-hopping standards on How Do You Live.
Sneaker Pimps (Sort Of) Nod to the Past With ‘Squaring the Circle’
Sneaker Pimps producers Chris Corner and Liam Howe return with the slow-paced Squaring the Circle that plays it safer than their talents warrant.
Chet Faker Chills Out at ‘Hotel Surrender’
After a five-year hiatus, Aussie indie-popper Nick Murphy reactivates the alias of Chet Faker that made him famous. The results on Hotel Surrender are chill.
Darkside Are Torn Between Convention and the Avant-garde on ‘Spiral’
While Darkside’s Spiral includes moments of virtuosic integration there are other moments where the album seems to lack a unifying aesthetic.
Penelope Trappes’ ‘Penelope Three’ Is a Meditative LP of Sultry Vocals and Glossy Electronics
Penelope Three is not a pop record, but it is Penelope Trappes’ boldest, most straightforward work to date. On Three, Trappes holds nothing back.