Sound Fix | Music

Music

1. 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
2. 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
3. M.I.A.: Maya
Being the Western world's go-to future-pop artist must be stressful. M.I.A. responds to both that pressure as well as a world in perpetual crisis with Maya, a typically untamed collection of post-e...read more
4. Stereolab: Not Music
Despite the fact that Not Music is purportedly the leftover stuff from their last album sessions, the baker's-dozen tracks here range from that classic 'Lab sound -- creamy, groovy stuff like "Lele...read more
5. 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
6. Bibio: Mind Bokeh
Bibio released three albums during 2009, so the fact that he'd been quiet from then till now -- well, it felt like a long time, at least. One listen to Stephen Wilkinson's sixth Bibio album, t...read more
7. Cold Cave: Cherish the Light Years
Cold Cave's sophomore release explodes with wow-factor: The synths, the melodies, the forcefulness -- on Cherish the Light Years, all are advanced tenfold over the semi-solo group's 2009 debut. Mai...read more
8. John Maus: We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves
John Maus is surely the only philosophy professor to have ever served time in Ariel Pink's band. How's that for an opening? It's not just loose trivia talk either, these things will help give you a...read more
9. Washed Out: Within and Without
This stuff is smooth as fitted sheets. Which is good enough reason to also commend the sexy cover art, in which bedsheets are, shall we say, quite actively rumpled. Chillwave vanguardist Washed Out...read more
10. 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
11. 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
12. The Big Pink: Future This
Album number two for British duo the Big Pink is a big-synths-and-hooks affair, the kind of thing that M83 fans need to wrap their ears around immediately. While upbeat tunes with cloud-scraping me...read more
13. The Twilight Sad: No One Can Ever Know
Restless as ever, the Twilight Sad break out into new stylistic ground on No One Can Ever Know, their third album. Enlisting the aid of producer and techno-wizard Andrew Weatherall, the band has cr...read more
14. Grimes: Visions
Welcome to witch house, kids…whatever that means. Commonly used to describe the spooky, ethereal technopop of bands like Salem and Pictureplane, the term could apply just as well to Visions, the ne...read more
15. The Magnetic Fields: Love at the Bottom of the Sea
Life moves in cycles, so Magnetic Fields fans can't be too surprised to find Stephin Merritt & Co. right back where they started, on Merge Records, for their tenth album, Love at the Bottom of ...read more
16. Tanlines: Mixed Emotions
Most bands' Twitter feeds are self-serving and banal, yet Tanlines' (@tanlines) is awesome and witty -- and hardly ever even mentions band stuff. In much the same way, synth-pop as practiced in 201...read more