TranscendNoise

40. Gas – Rausch  Like many albums of this year´s list, Rausch represents a way to channel the recent Zeitgeist in sound. Gas build Rausch to grapple with the ideas of home, nationalism and right-wing sentiments, hijacking them for their absurd politics for a visceral thump that overrides any sense of comfort and meaningful discourse. The best description there is, is placing yourself, sonically, on the fringes of a Volksfest and experiencing the same sounds and affects as Rausch in its 60-minute runtime. The instinctive stomp, the musicality of feet marching lurking in the back all the time, surfacing for acute minutes of semblance, horror, even warmth to die out again and get lost in the miasma of sound that Wolfgang Voigt creates. Rausch evokes two distinct feelings and collapses them for a political and social statement: The feeling of ecstasy and the feeling of stark discomfort that can only exist in traditionalism and the untraceable affect of your environment going sour...

50. Kadhja Bonet – Childqueen Childqueen might be the closest expression of an “Alice In Wonderland” like fairy-tale done by a black woman. By way of her vocals, her musical influences and lastly her virtuosity of never being bogged down by making “funk”, “RnB” or “experimental” music, Bonet transgresses realism in favor of surrealist sound-collages and expressions befitting a magical drink that shrinks and enlarges your view of the world – to push you to explore and understand your own viewpoint being a mere slice of a whole world. Playing every instrument herself, producing the whole thing and doing her own artwork, there is no gap, no place where the vision ends, even a slight flute detail, synth rise or string section are born from the same mind that hits us with psychedelic heart piece “Delphine”. Throwback might be a part of the message, or a modus Bonet is familiar with, but for my part, these sonics and compositions stem from a time where I wasn´t alive or conscious enough...

10. Sumac – The Task (Love In Shadow) After becoming a holistic entity on their previous album and laying the groundwork of a threshold to be passed in Love In Shadow , Sumac learned to evolve into a breathing body, a dynamic entity that not only allows for each part of the trio to work meticulously in unison with each other and play more complex forms of hide and seek, but to push even further, allow space and substance beyond rational musicianship. Surely, The Deal was far from being a melodious or even easy to digest album, but the sense of a band finding grooves to carry was still audible enough, the abstraction and deconstruction the cream between the cake of song structure. In accordance with Sumac linking up with experimental overlord Keiji Haino, “The Task” is the continuation of the collaboration, even if it may have preceded the recording of American Dollar Bill by a few months. Turner and his mates go from a razor-sharp onslaught in the first six minutes to silence ...

20. Playboi Carti – Shoota (feat. Lil Uzi Vert) (Die Lit)  Lil Uzi and Playboi Carti really come off as brothers in spirit, in their solo work and especially in their collaborations. “Shoota” shines in a power that is life-affirming and strongly addictive. In under three minutes Uzi sings a verse that embodies his wild dances on Instagram and his stage show alike and while Carti´s hook slightly fails in topping off the energy, the sketch-like nature of the song, it appearing and closing in the blink of an eye is the singular representation of  youthfulness the two rappers combine on their tracks. Their music never has to be deep and meaningful, but energetic and affective in their simple disregard for structure and hip-hop tropes, a small symphony of improvisation and style and swagger. 19. Nothing – Hail At Palace Pier (Dance On The Blacktop)  Nothing implement a metal or even black metal mindset of songwriting and mood to the most delicate sounds of...