TranscendNoise

20. Rolo Tomassi – Time Will Die And Love Will Bury It This is the definite album grappling with the dynamics of hard/soft this year. Rolo Tomassi have been growing and subtly shifting a sound that was close to prog-rock to another beast altogether. It is in the ambient moments, the uncertainty of the drifting glaciers bursting into flame that Time Will Die shines, as a vocal pair and a sonic outfit, Rolo Tomassi are able to live in both worlds an be completely centered when doing so. Songs like “Risen” or “Aftermath” live by Eva Spence and her ability to toe the line of electropop and performances by Björk or Imogen Heap. Here the band converts their huge amount of energy into delicate bursts of hope and reconciliation, well knowing they could plunge into chaos by moments notice. For when they go metal, harshly shouting by way of James Spence, they sound like nu-metal kids that never learned anything but shredding. While this dynamic might sound as dated as the idea of nu-metal, ...

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 ...