BEST OF ’22:
ALBUMS_of_the_YEAR…
‘GOD GET ME THE FUCK OUT OF HERE’ was the latest LP from COLD GAWD & it found the Rancho Cucamonga-based project carving out their own niche w/in the nascent NeoGaze scene by bringing all kinds of melancholic haze across 8 tracks that seamlessly blended decades worth of guitar-driven & pedal_gazing genres under one dreamy AltRawk umbrella.
The stoic NYC-based institution known as INTERPOL used their time in the clampdown to get mad productive & did so in a “counterbalancing” way as their latest LP titled ‘THE OTHER SIDE OF MAKE BELIEVE’ found them homing in on the details, earnestness & embracing their sense of minimalist space courtesy of Flood/Molder’s on point production.
There was a palpable melancholy running throughout KNIFEPLAY’s latest LP titled ‘ANIMAL DROWNING’ & it’s a continuously deep feeling that persisted throughout a 10-track spread that reveled in their acute ability to marry many-a-guitar-driven genre, ranging from ShoeGaze, SlowCore & SoftGrunge under one wearily grandiose DreamPop umbrella.
KURT VILE is a fucking vibe… Call it timing, mood or perspective but no KV album has ever hit me THIS hard, whilst I’ve always been a fan ‘(watch my moves)’ had a profound effect on your boy & found the Philly-based artist deploying that acute ability to package those charmingly slackerish AltRocking odes that combined Classic/College/Psych ROCK under one universally lauded umbrella.
‘UNDERNEATH, BESIDE ME’ was the debut album from LESSER CARE & it found the West Texan trio homing in on a vibe/sound, one which nodded to the past w/out fixating on the revivalist rearview as they set their sights beyond “post-punk” when it came to their sonic spaces & business practice as the former seen them apply their own stamp in the gothic sounds of yore across 9 moody & bodied-up offerings.
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