2025 Disc Course Results - Tier 5, Week 5

Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson - Children of Nature VS. TU-Ner - TU-Ner for Lovers

Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson - Children of Nature

Another King Crimson-adjacent album gets knocked out.  What gives?  Well, both this album and The Repercussions of Angelic Behavior from last Spring are incredible listening experiences.  They are, however, very VERY improvisational.  Especially on TU-Ner for Lovers, the sense that the musicians involved really had no idea what they were about to do is particularly prominent.  In the context of a King Crimson improvisation, this means that you can’t count on any clear structure or melodic consistency to hold things together.  It is, instead, the collected experience, intuition, and chemistry of the musicians involved that give the music consistency, which provides the listener with many memorable moments, but also obscures the coherency of the overall experience.  Children of Nature is hauntingly consistent and emotionally moving, if in a different tone than TU-Ner for Lovers.

Parannnoul - Sky Hundred VS. Restorations - Restorations

Parannoul - Sky Hundred

Despite having a few questionable production choices, Sky Hundred clearly aligns itself with the shoegaze paradigm in all the right ways, making for performances that brim over with expressiveness.  Restorations, instead, goes for brute force when it comes to expression, which isn’t a deal-breader on its own, but the gravelly howling of the vocals hold me at arm’s length.

Lay Low - Brostinn Strengur VS. Noah Kahan - Stick Season

Noah Kahan - Stick Season

A closer match probably could not exist than between these two albums.  Both are fantastically imaginative folktronica releases with outstanding performances and satisfying melodies.  The biggest difference, in my opinion, is due to their respective cultural backgrounds.  Lay Low is Icelandic, and her choice to render Icelandic poetry as lyrics for this album is a feature of Brostinn Strengur that, relatively speaking, probably rivals Noah Kahan’s lyrical travelog.  As an American, however, I can more readily relate to Noah Kahan’s lyrics, not just because they are in my native language, but because they speak directly to familiar experiences.

Sobs - Air Guitar VS. Jhariah - Trust Ceremony

Sobs - Air Guitar

Jhariah is a challenging one.  He holds a true musical depth close to his chest, as evidenced by the complexity of his arrangements and the density of his details.  His flaw is in his pacing.  80% of Trust Ceremony sounds like it should be a musical climax.  Despite all of its impressive compositional strengths, to my ears it's distractingly loud and intense, perhaps even frantic.  Air Guitar is more measured and clever, as a lot of successful power pop-adjacent styles are.

Viewer’s Choice

Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson - Children of Nature VS. TU-Ner - TU-Ner for Lovers

TU-Ner - TU-Ner for Lovers

Parannnoul - Sky Hundred VS. Restorations - Restorations

Parannoul - Sky Hundred

Lay Low - Brostinn Strengur VS. Brendan Byrnes - Transfigured Earth pts. I & II

Brendan Byrnes - Transfigured Earth pts. I & II

Sobs - Air Guitar VS. SPELLLING - The Turning Wheel

Sobs - Air Guitar

Disc Course Results 2025: Tier 5, Week 4

Mac Millar - Balloonerism VS. Tyler, the Creator - Chromokopia

Tyler, the Creator - Chromokopia

While I might take exception to Tyler’s performance style, he is, as his name suggests, quite creative in terms of his production and instrumental choices.  Mac Millar is also pretty good in this regard, but his overall scope is a bit more narrow, which allows Tyler to edge him out.

Kiasmos - II VS. Nala Shapiro - Space 1.8

Kiasmos - II

Although they are stylistically different, both II and Space 1.8 achieve a very similar balance of instrumental structure and ambient freedom.  It is the consistently inviting nature of Kiasmos that gives them the win, as there are a few noisier moments on Space 1.8.that incongruously challenge the listener.

Julia Holter - Something In the Room She Moves VS. Colin Stetson - The Love It Took To Leave You

Colin Stetson - The Love It Took To Leave You

I will absolutely admit that Steton’s albums are generally overlong.  His unbelievable vision for the saxophone, however, will inevitably keep me coming back for more.  Holter has no lack of vision herself, but in this case, her florid, atmospheric approach to songwriting was not enough to win me over.

Eldberg - Þar Er Heimur Hugans VS. Soft Machine - Bundles

Soft Machine - Bundles

Eldberg is a fine retro-prog band.  Their writing is a little clunky at times and the album has some production shortcomings, but generally speaking, Þar Er Heimur Hugans sells.  There is no moment on the album, however, that can hold a candle to a young and enthusiastic Allan Holdsworth cutting his teeth in a style that he would come to define.  

 

Viewer’s Choice

Mac Millar - Balloonerism VS. Tyler, the Creator - Chromokopia

Tyler, the Creator - Chromokopia

Kiasmos - II VS. Nala Shapiro - Space 1.8

Kiasmos - II

Julia Holter - Something In the Room She Moves VS. Devin Townsend - Powernerd

Julia Holter - Something in the Room She Moves

Eldberg - Þar Er Heimur Hugans VS. Hotline TNT - Cartwheel

Eldberg - Þar Er Heimur Hugans

2025 Spin-Off Roundup Series - Tier 6: August Albums

Another six albums with differing levels of subversiveness, including: Jake Blount and Mali Obamsawin - Symbiont (2024) Dummy - Pure Energy (2024) HHY & the Kampala Unit - Turbo Meltdown (2025) The Knife - Silent Shout (2006) Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman (1981) Palm - Rock Island (2018)

And the thing....

Albums of Summer 2025 Part 2: Summer's Last Stand

Closing out summer with another double-sized episode of great albums! Including:

Cynic - Kindly Bent to Free Us (2014) Lawrence English - Even the Horizon Knows Its Bounds (2025) Julia Holter - Something In The Room She Moves (2024) David Longstreth, Dirty Projectors, and stargaze - Song of the Earth (2025) Madvillian - Madvilliany (2004) Magdalena Bay - Imaginal Disk (2024) Mac Millar - Balloonerism (2025) Parannoul - Sky Hundred (2025) Queen - Queen 1 (1973) Saga - Worlds Apart (1981) Sleep Token - Even in Arcadia (2025) Sobs - Air Guitar (2022)

Disc Course Results 2025: Tier 5, Week 2

This particular set of showdowns really brought into focus an often confusing distinction that arises when I am considering what album should proceed through the Disc Course: choosing an album I respect versus an album that I love. 

There are an awful lot of albums that I appreciate in terms of the way they “tickle my brain,” so to speak.  Perhaps they have concepts and constructions that make me think, for example, or maybe I appreciate the inherent virtuosity of their performances.  I like these albums – and they often do enjoy replays and get attached to experience. 

Conversely, there are others that just “speak” to me in an indescribably subjective way.  In these cases, they may not necessarily contain the same objective appeal, but they make my hairs stand on end, give me a knot in my gut, or a lump in my throat.  Ideally, the best albums fire on both cylinders, but this is relatively rare.

Virtually all the showdowns this week forced me to contemplate this balance.  Sometimes, depending on my overall state of being, I’ll lean one way or the other to help inform my choices.  This week just happened to be one in which I leaned towards the subjective, finding myself selecting albums that I “just liked” over ones that I find interesting or could talk about in an intellectual mode.

 

Teitur Magusson – Orna VS. Tinted Windows – Tinted Windows

Tinted Windows – Tinted Windows

Great example of this here.  I really, really like Orna and would gladly listen to it anytime.  He’s an interesting character and his music is breezy and beachy in the most carefree way.  I’m a sucker for well-crafted power pop, however, and I miss Adam Schlesinger something fierce.  Perhaps there are objectively better albums in the style than Tinted Windows, but it hits me where I live.  Can’t ignore that.

Misþyrming - Með hamri VS. Clutch – Blast Tyrant

Clutch – Blast Tyrant

This one was surprisingly close.  Anyone who has followed me know that I have a cautious acceptance of non-pitched vocals, and I really thought that Blast Tyrant’s gutbucket groovyness would totally shut Með hamri out.  While Clutch’s clever use of vernacular wordplay did win in the end, focused listens of Með hamri revealed compelling orchestrations and melodic depth hiding under the hood that ended up giving Blast Tyrant’s inarguable accessibility a startling run for its money.

Vök – In the Dark VS. Alan Sparhawk – White Roses, My God

Vök – In the Dark

Here’s a great example, because the context of White Roses, My God really provides the album with some gravity.  Its his first post-Low album since the death of Mimi Parker, and its robotic nature seems to be everything his previous band was not, seemingly intended as a place to hide from the stylistic affectations with which Alan Sparhawk would normally be associated.  In the end, however, I continued coming back to the consistently engaging funk-pop of In the Dark.  Ask me next week, and I might change my mind.

 

Hjatalin – Enter 4 VS. Sheena Ringo - Karuki Zahman Kuri No Hana

Hjatalin – Enter 4

Sheena Ringo is undeniably ingenious.  She packs a HUGE amount of thought into her music, with the sense that the full scope of Karuki Zahman Kuri No Hana will never unfold, but be subsumed within its endless detail.  The intimate, bleak melodicism of Enter 4 emerged to profoundly haunt me, however, inviting nearly endless repeats over the course of the week. 

 

Viewer’s Choice

Teitur Magusson – Orna VS. Tinted Windows – Tinted Windows

Teitur Magusson – Orna

Misþyrming - Með hamri VS. Clutch – Blast Tyrant

Clutch – Blast Tyrant

 

Vök – In the Dark VS. Alan Sparhawk – White Roses, My God

Vök – In the Dark

 

Hjatalin – Enter 4 VS. Sheena Ringo - Karuki Zahman Kuri No Hana

Sheena Ringo - Karuki Zahman Kuri No Hana

2025 Spin-Off Results: Tier 5, Week 1

And so it begins! We kick off Tier 5!

Tier 5 consists of Spin-Off challenges between eliminated Tier 1 albums and new music from this Summer.  In my opinion, the Summer albums have a disadvantage here due to general familiarity and momentum from this earlier exposure.  These new albums, however do have the benefit of novelty and immediacy. 

Samaris – Samaris VS. London Grammar – The Greatest Love

London Grammar – The Greatest Love

In terms of mood, this Spin-Off is a dead heat.  Certainly, fans of London Grammar’s twilight urban landscapes will find a lot of common ground with Samaris’ glacial somnambulism.  London Grammar only wins out due to their expanded dynamic and sonic palate.

 

Lucy in Blue – Lucy in Blue VS. Amythyst Kiah – Still + Bright

Amythyst Kiah – Still + Bright

My initial impression of Lucy in Blue was that it was a very solid tribute project to Pink Floyd and that Amythyst Kiah’s kinetic crossbreeding of blues, folk, and indie rock would easily shut it down.  Lucy in Blue, however, revealed itself to be much more than a mere Floyd clone and almost caused a major upset out of the gate.  It was only a couple of minor production quibbles that ended up giving Still + Bright the edge.

 

Heilung – Lifa VS. Magma – Udu Wudu

Magma – Udu Wudu

Magma is inarguably an acquired taste, and there are certainly justifications for critique of their material despite the obvious musicianship and craft that they invested in their work.  Lifa definitely had a path to advance.  I have, however, acquired the taste and find their work fascinating.  Add to that the fact that Heilung is best conceived of as an interdisciplinary project that includes drama and stagecraft and that Lifa doesn’t express these aspects of the overall concept in full, and I think a picture forms that puts Udu Wudu in the lead.

 

Taugadeildin - Þegar dauðir rísa upp VS. Clarence Clarity – Vanishing Act II

Taugadeildin - Þegar dauðir rísa upp

Vanishing Act II starts out incredibly strong.  Its melodic, funky, disorienting, and fun, and superficially it would seem to easily unseat Þegar dauðir rísa upp.  The issue is that the album’s intensity holds at an incredibly high level throughout, to the point where songs begin to blend into one another and become interchangeable, rather like propping one’s eyelids open and staring into a strobe light for 45 minutes.  Taugadeildein instead relies on straightforward, stripped-down, energetic songwriting that seems to transcend the inevitable language barrier.

 

Viewer’s Choice

Samaris – Samaris VS. London Grammar – The Greatest Love

London Grammar – The Greatest Love

Lucy in Blue – Lucy in Blue VS. Amythyst Kiah – Still + Bright

Lucy in Blue – Lucy in Blue

 

Heiling – Lifa VS. Magma – Udu Wudu

Magma – Udu Wudu

 

Taugadeildin - Þegar dauðir rísa upp VS. Clarence Clarity – Vanishing Act II

Clarence Clarity – Vanishing Act II

Albums of Summer 2025: Part 1 - Return to "Icelandicness"

 A hearty, double-sized post that examines a wide variety of current Icelandic artists, including work from:

Hjaltalín - Enter 4 (2012) Eldberg - Þar Er Heimur Hugans (2018) Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson - Börn Náttúrunnar - Children of Nature (2011) Kiasmos - II (2024) Lay Low - Brostinn Strengur (2011) Lucy in Blue - Lucy in Blue (2016) Teitur Magnússon - Orna (2018) Misþyrming - Með hamri (2022) Samaris - Samaris (2013) Taugadeildin - Þegar dauðir rísa upp (2024) Vök - In The Dark (2019) Heilung - Lifa (2017)

Plus, new music to expand that ever-expanding playlist...

2025 Mid-Year Favorites: Roundtable Album Review

Welcome to our mid-year Top 12 Roundtable, an extended length podcast-type video where we dive into discussion about the Viewer’s Choice curated list:

Fleetwood Mac – Fleetwood Mac Count Basie and Quincy Jones – Basie One More Time Lisa Bella Donna – Electronic Voyages The Cure – Songs of a Lost World Dream Theater – Parasomnia Noah Kahan – Stick Season Meer -Wheels Within Wheels Missing Persons – Spring Session M Prince – Controversy Soft Machine – Bundles Timecop1983 – Night Drive XTC – Black Sea

Grab some coffee and give it a listen.

The Disc Course 2025: 12 Favorite Albums - Viewer's Choice

 The viewer-curated list for 2025!

And a representative playlist.

The Disc Course 2025: 12 Mid-Year Favorites

Recorded on location on vacation in San Antonio! The results of my Spring spin-off! 12 meticulously curated albums from as far back as 1978 to add to your playlists.

This playlist has representative tracks from all these albums, with the exception of 88Kasyo Junrei. Check them out below.

2025 Album Showdown Results: Tier 4, Part 1

Many other music critics pride themselves on the sheer amount of music that they go through.  As a voracious, possibly pathological consumer of music, I can see the appeal.  I also, however, am a person who uses music as a soundtrack to life.  This requires “living with” an album for a period of time to allow it to attach to experience.  If you look back through this blog, you can see that for a long time, I struggled with balancing my hunger for new music with the potential for creating future nostalgia, a situation which led to this convoluted showdown bracket structure that you’ve chosen to follow along with.

It's my goal to provide every album I listen to with the opportunity to become my favorite, but the system is imperfect.  For example, in the Summer, I have to acquaint myself with a whole lot of new music very quickly in order to set up the brackets for the Fall.  If these albums get eliminated, they really don’t have much of a chance to speak.  Similarly, I like to continue to listen to new albums in December, but realistically, this music doesn’t really have the chance to take root  within its given calendar year.  Putting them into consideration for Album of the Year seems unreasonable.

This is the reason for Tier 4.  By this point, it's pretty much a given that any album from this year that makes it this far is quality, but pulling albums from these two resources as a final check before finalizing the mid-year Top 12 inevitably results in some upsets - as you will see below.

This also results in some very divergent showdowns in the viewer’s bracket, as both last year’s Tier 5 and surviving finals titles may not be the same as the prime.  Also, style matching is a ballpark estimation, and is sometimes impossible given the surviving titles.  

88Kasyo Junrei - Genma Taisai VS. Black Country, New Road - Ants From Up Here

88Kasyo Junrei - Genma Taisai

I’ve been trying for a while with Black Country, New Road, and although I like (perhaps, at times, even love) them, the melodrama sometimes takes a toll.  88Kasyo Junrei leaps over the language barrier with catchy tunes and a quirky identity.

clipping. - Dead Channel Sky VS. Master Boot Record - Personal Computer

clipping. - Dead Channel Sky

Do not, under any circumstances, sleep on Master Boot Record.  Personal Computer is an impossibly great and consistent album, but one in which the focus is so narrow as to squash variety.  The songs are pretty interchangeable, but they are all great.  Dead Channel Sky is a full-album experience, and while I have made a lot of fuss about Dahveed Diggs’ incomparable vocal talents, the more experimental and avant-garde moments on the album keep its overall narrative fresh.

Opeth -  The Last Will and Testament VS. Blood Incantation - Elsewhere

Blood Incantation - Absolute Elsewhere

This is a huge, huge upset that I did not expect.  I’ve been a staunch advocate of The Last Will and Testament all season, and I absolutely maintain that it is a brilliantly conceived and executed album.  If not one of Opeth’s finest, certainly a big step forward in their progression.  Absolute Elsewhere, however, made a similar impression on me last December, and I have been sleeping on it ever since.  In many ways, it is at the very least the technical and conceptual equal to The Last Will and Testament.  Absolute Elsewhere gets the edge with me personally, however, from its cosmic space-rock tone and unhinged performances.

Monika Roscher Bigband - Witchy Activities and the Maple Death VS. Cate le Bon - Pompeii

Monika Roscher Bigband - Witchy Activities and the Maple Death

I know that a lot of critics love this Cate le Bon album, but its pervasive mid-tempo pacing challenges my interest.  Conversely, Witchy Activities and the Maple Death is a serious contender for my Album of the Year.  Shutout.

Meer - Wheels Within Wheels VS. All Traps on Earth - A Drop of Light

Meer - Wheels Within Wheels

This showdown rests largely on how experimental and challenging you like your progressive rock.  While technical, avant-garde prog certainly resonates with me, I have always leaned towards projects that employ the progressive rock paradigm to expand on accessible song structures.  A Drop of Light is electrifying and complex - certainly worthy of respect! Its pervasive twists and turns, however, require significant attention from the listener.  There is inarguably a payoff from that investment, but Meer’s reimagined neo-prog approach puts singability, and therefore this showdown’s win, within reach.

Basie and Quincy Jones - Basie One More Time VS. Glass Beams - Mahal

Count Basie and Quincy Jones - Basie One More Time

The temptation here is to say “well, its Basie” and give One More Time the win on its own recognizance.  It would be a mistake, however, to dismiss Mahal.  It’s “Wallpaper funk goes to Persia” tone and androgynous anonymity carry a lot of weight that shouldn’t be ignored.  It is, however, clearly an EP, and it finishes way before it feels like it is done saying what it needs to say.   Besides - its Basie!

Viewer’s Choice Results

Soft Machine - Bundles VS. Black Country, New Road - Ants From Up Here

Soft Machine - Bundles

Missing Persons - Spring Session M VS. Master Boot Record - Personal Computer

Missing Persons - Spring Session M

Dream Theater - Parasomnia VS. Blood Incantation - Absolute Elsewhere

Dream Theater - Parasomnia

Fleetwood Mac - Fleetwood Mac VS. Cate le Bon - Pompeii

Fleetwood Mac - Fleetwood Mac

Meer - Wheels Within Wheels VS. All Traps on Earth - A Drop of Light

Meer - Wheels Within Wheels

Count Basie and Quincy Jones - Basie One More Time VS. Kofi Flexxx - Flowers in the Dark

Count Basie and Quincy Jones - Basie One More Time