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Music

1. Tim Hecker: An Imaginary Country
Montreal electronicist Tim Hecker returns with another set of lush, leaned-into and full-bodied ambient pieces. And when an artist like this titles an album An Imaginary Country, you’ve almos...read more
2. Fever Ray: s/t
Artistically perhaps the biggest record of the year, Fever Ray‘s self-titled debut is the sound of one Knife cutting. Of course, this isn’t your standard debut – Fever Ray is Kari...read more
3. Bibio: Vignetting the Compost
The means might be electronic but the ends are pure folkie escapism. On his fourth Mush album, Stephen James Wilkinson—the English producer better known as Bibio—reveals himself to be a...read more
4. Junior Boys: Begone Dull Care
This Canadian duo’s ongoing fame and acclaim are due to the fact that, deep within their Internationalist techno-pop, you can still hear their early-period bedroom-beat sensibilities. Put Jun...read more
5. Fuck Buttons: Tarot Sport
Andrew Hung and Benjamin John Power of Bristol-based electro duo Fuck Buttons are noisy experimentalists, but they are devoted to rhythm. On this gorgeously assaultive second LP, a typical track wi...read more
6. v/a: The Minimal Wave Tapes Volume One
Splanking drum-machine beats, straight-out-of-the-box synthesizer timbres, the occasional disco move, minimal structures and production – the Minimal Wave genre is early-’80s DIY electronica ...read more
7. v/a: Pop Ambient 2010
In a long-running, much-lauded series like Pop Ambient, there’s really only one thing you can do to keep things fresh on a new installment: Line up your best ambient travelers and stamp their...read more
8. Gorillaz: Plastic Beach
Kinda rubbed my eyes upon reading that Plastic Beach is only the third album from Gorillaz, who’ve been around for more than a decade and sort of always seem to be a topic of conversation, wh...read more
9. Autechre: Oversteps
Album No. 10 from this slippery, idiosyncratic UK duo might be their best — and not coincidentally, least glitchy — since 1994’s classic Amber. Actually, let’s clarify that:...read more
10. Caribou: Swim
Me: longtime Caribou naysayer. Caribou: delivers Swim, the latest attempt by Dan Snaith to meld laptop means with pop ways. And you know what? I’m won over, to the point where I’m gonna...read more
11. LCD Soundsystem: This Is Happening
It's 2010 and more than any other New York artist, LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy is held as the barometer of the city's musical health. If that seems like a high-pressure situation, Murphy sounds ...read more
12. v/a: Deutsche Elektronische Musik: Experimental German Rock and Electronic Musik 1972-83
Stop thinking Krautrock: This two-CD compilation picks up four years after the birth of Krautrock and mostly stays true to its title across 24 tracks. The concentration on electronic music provi...read more
13. HEALTH: Disco2
Hot on the heels of last year's Get Color, the L.A. weird-dance outfit HEALTH repeats its move subsequent to the release of its self-titled debut with a remix album. Disco2 adds one new track, the ...read more
14. Blonde Redhead: Penny Sparkle
Fifteen years and eight albums in, Blonde Redhead continues to evolve and expand its range, and -- most important -- write great songs. Building on the lush dream-pop of 2007's excellent 23, Penny ...read more
15. Suuns: Zeroes QC
These Suuns shine brightly but darkly. This Montreal quartet does that thing where they kinda sound like a different band on each track -- but, a different GOOD band. There is a signature sound on ...read more
16. Brian Eno with Jon Hopkins & Leo Abrahams: Small Craft on a Milk Sea
It's been years since Brian Eno should've retired to a cozy life of well-paid lecturing on his enormously important career. Well, he kind of has done that, but he also continues to make new music a...read more
17. Seefeel: s/t
This is a most welcome return. Seefeel were one of the stars of the Too Pure label in the '90s -- and since the roster also boasted Th' Faith Healers, PJ Harvey, Stereolab and Pram, that's saying s...read more
18. Demdike Stare: Tryptych
The spooky Manchester, UK, duo known as Demdike Stare (one of them is a prime mover at Andy Votel's Finders Keepers label) drop a staggering three-disc set of thoroughly modern, explosively evocati...read more
19. Cut Copy: Zonoscope
Why so serious? Melbourne synth-pop act Cut Copy are back with their first album in more than two years, and Zonoscope is bound to be the first indie dance-floor hit of 2011 -- a good thing, since ...read more
20. Gang Gang Dance: Eye Contact
To tell the truth, I've never been much of a Gang Gang fan—I've always liked the idea of them, but found the lack of cohesion in their tracks to be a problem, rather than a source of their charm. T...read more
21. EMA: Past Life Martyred Saints
EMA is Erika M. Anderson, and she is already the most talked-about (sigh, okay -- blogged-about) new artist of 2011. Her old band Gowns released one darkly perfect album, Red State, in 2008, and th...read more
22. Junior Boys: It's All True
Canadian duo Junior Boys return strong on their fourth album, It's All True, which sets itself apart and above the pack of like-minded electronicians by splitting the difference between playfully u...read more
23. Brian Eno: Drums Between the Bells
Brian Eno is the sort of artist who can do anything he wants, and one of the very few who should be allowed to do anything he wants. His latest project has been years in the making, or at least in ...read more
24. Prurient: Bermuda Drain
One of New York's signature artists is reborn, severely. The noise/power-electronics magus (and Hospital Recordings capo) Dominick Fernow, a.k.a. Prurient, has spent the past couple of years in a d...read more
25. Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto: Summvs
They've done it before but not at this level of sophistication: two veterans, post-techno technician Alva Noto and pianist-composer (and Yellow Magic Orchestra cofounder) Ryuichi Sakamoto, explorin...read more
26. Hercules & Love Affair: Blue Songs
The debut from Hercules & Love Affair drew immediate attention within the dance community for being good, and outside the dance community for having Antony "and the Johnsons" Hegarty on vocals,...read more
27. Cant: Dreams Come True
While everyone waits to find out the whens and whats of the next Grizzly Bear album, we have the debut Cant album to tide you over. The solo project of Bear bassist-producer Chris Taylor, Dreams Co...read more
28. Twin Sister: In Heaven
Electro-pop buzz band Twin Sister finally comes through with their full-length! What's really twinned in this band that's important, though, are the feathery vocals of Andrea Estella and guitarist ...read more
29. Tim Hecker: Dropped Pianos
Wait a minute...a new Tim Hecker album? Isn't Ravedeath, 1972 still on steady rotation in the store? Far be it for us to complain when there's a new Tim Hecker release, but the news of this alb...read more
30. Fennesz: Seven Stars
Unlike Tim Hecker's latest, Fennesz's Seven Stars is a more traditional EP-length release—only 18 minutes of music. That leaves us craving for more from the remarkable Viennese guitarist, but let...read more
31. M83: Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
We adore this album for many reasons, but we give it Album of the Year honors because it’s not only a collection of really wonderful songs, but because it’s an ...read more
32. Four Tet: FabricLive 59
This is the second time Kieren Hebden, a.k.a. Four Tet, has contributed to a mixtape series, and unlike his spectacular DJ Kicks, which was an eclectic mix of pop and soul, FabricLive 59 is more ...read more
33. Holy Ghost!: s/t
New York electronic duo Holy Ghost (exclamation mark) finally dropped their debut full-length this year, after a number of 12-inches, comp tracks, remixes and collaborations, and it rightly thrust ...read more
34. Chairlift: Something
More than three years after Does You Inspire You (and the iPod) vaulted Brooklyn emigrants Chairlift into the upper echelons of indiedom, the band -- now a duo after the departure of founding membe...read more