TranscendNoise

10. Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul – Topical Dancer Rarely do dance music centered albums come along with such political urgency. Topical Dancer follows in the line of Arular and Kala , the first two M.I.A outings that were aural and political lighter fuel. Charlotte Adigery and Bolis Pupul magically switch from tongue in cheek moments in “Esperanto” to sarcasm in “Blenda”. Lyrics like “Siri, can you tell me where I belong” or “You’re the Columbus to my America” on “Thank You” not only make you chuckle, they encapsulate the strange awareness of a POC living in a dominantly white culture. Topical Dancer handles these moments of alienation with comedy, but never uses laughter as a cheap thrill. Tracks like “Reappropiate” and “Ich Mwen” grapple with the intersections of race and sexuality in an honest manner. “Ich Mwen” prominently features Charlotte’s mother, the singer Christiane Adigery in a heart to heart of mother and child, touching upon self-care, motherhood, and the stra...

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...

30. Ragana – Inviolate (Let Our Names Be Forgotten) While Ragana appear on the same split with dark overlords Thou, "Inviolate" purposefully seems to delay and misdirect their crushing outbreaks in a post-punk cloak. What the band has been perfecting for a few albums now comes in full effect on the slow start, growing from a form of tedium and invocation into a bolt of focussed friction. As Thou drag these moments through sludge and dirt, Ragana´s guitar remains clear even in the black metal turnups. After a small silence the song transitions into a more direct assault, the harsh vocals sweeping in and exploding into a clean section of both voices congealing. The dynamic here is airtight, Ragana not only hold their own against two superb Thou tracks but with "Inviolate" alone carve a different wound of dread and draw blood by never standing still to let light or relief subside into a sense of beauty and comfort.  LET OUR NAMES BE FORGOTTEN (Split with THO...

30. Container – Remover ( LP ) Container´s short LP bore some of the best electronic tunes of this year. While the mind-shattering “Eject” is an unforgettable introduction to gutbumping noise, Remover blends these elements even better. The deep bass is carried by a wide array of percussion, remaining constant throughout with Container adding and subtracting looping elements and effects into little islands of noise. The great thing here is that Container never breaks away from something that is more danceable than experimental, more likely to get the crowd dancing and jumping around rather than distracted or confused about the evolution of the song. Slam dance and riot! 29. Years&Years – Take Shelter ( Communion ) Years&Years were a huge find for me this year and only after pestering all my friend I found out that they were having quite some sucess in the radio. Rightfully so, because with singles like Take Shelter, the bands delivers music that is so fi...