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.