Here's our thoughts on a few albums that'll hit you this spring.

HIGHER AUTHORITIES : neptune : Domino

Seven: When two members of Liverpool’s Clinic sink their teeth into post punk and psychedelic dub and let the whole thing then mix by Adrian Sherwood, you’ll know you’re in for a real treat. “Neptune“ is what we’d call a “Kifferplatte“ extraordinaire - not necessarily the kind of record that immediately makes you want to dust your beloved lava lamp, but one you’ll just love to play on repeat after the weekend has gotten out of control once again because it then schmoozes your current state of otherworldliness. Brilliant album!  9/10

 

PHORIA : volition : Humming Records

Seven: Malicious tongues would state that they liked Brighton based project Phoria better when they were still calling themselves Moderat, but then again they’re only half-right. The comparison to electronic heavyweights such as James Blake or Moderat, even to genre backpackers like Joanna Newsom or Milosh, are certainly relevant, as they’re playing a similar clavier of yearning through epic sounds of delicateness. “Volition“ is an album of stunning beauty... in places it just feels a bit too designed and forced into a specific box where it should be free. 7/10 

 

DOOMSQUAD : total time : Bella Union

Joe: An exploration to time, meant to lead you on a journey, a transition into becoming timeless. The three siblings surprisingly arrive with an electronic indie record, what began as folk music swiftly transcended into a very different kind of beast, as they began to experiment with trance and beat making. Their first album was self recorded in the woods of their native Canada, but this time they travelled to New Mexico to record with Graham Walsh. The result actually isn’t too far away from all these artsy & electronic DIY outfits from Brooklyn, that knew how to enthuse us a few years ago. 6/10

 

HOLY WAVE : freaks of nurture : The Reverberation Appreciation Society

Seven: The Austin-based band definitely establishes itself on the gentler side of psych with their third album, which delivers ten songs of hazy pop-bliss that’s equally haunting and soothing at the same. Song titles such as “Sir Isaac Nukem“, “Our Pigs“ and “Air Wolf“ might suggest that they’re walking the cheeky path by now, but make no mistake: in terms of summery psychedelic grandeur, this hardly gets any better than this. 8/10

 

IMARHAN : s/t : City Slang

Seven: Forget about the magic of Joshua Tree, Algerian band du jour Imarhan is delivering a very different kind of desert rock influenced by traditional Tuareg music and studded with pop sensibilities and bone-dry guitar-licks. One of the biggest advantages of how we consume music nowadays is that the time where anything non-eurocentric is receiving an extra point for being exotic (or cute) are long gone. So, yeah, this one here is all substance regardless of language barriers and seemingly foreign rhythms. 8/10

 

SAMARIS : black lights : One Little Indian

Joe: The Icelandic trio’s first record sung fully in English, “Black Lights” is the result of traveling, expanding horizons and changing life circumstances for all the band members. To most Iceland is a far away shore that punches far far above its weight when it comes to musical export - having established during their teens Samaris are a direct result of this unique and creative music scene. However over the last year the three members have relocated to different parts of the world, and consequently “Black Lights” takes in more vast influences than ever before. The three once described their original aspiration as “just wearing funny costumes and thinking maybe we could get a gig in a bar in Reykjavik”, but we hope these three will tour the world again with this album, so we can catch them near us! 8/10