TranscendNoise

40. David Granström – A Distant Color, Secluded The synth rises, the never-ending grandeur evoking sounds of A distant color, secluded create a cosmic event of sorts. The first tracks, while holding their own, live to end in the closing, 20-minute opus "Waning Moon". Granström is a sound artist obsessed with the inner-workings of sound-synthesis, fine-tuning tones to achieve overarching timbre and using algorithmic processes to structure his patterns and build these tracks as perfectly shaped pieces. Going with harmonics that enable the sonic intricacies of what the universe must feel like, the push and pull of symmetries and asymmetrical listening as human beings find its greatest expression in this LP. Intriguingly enough, Granström never feels like he´s simply letting a computer do his thing or is reliant on the perfection of numbers and patterns, there is warmth in his production, the sonic life, dwelling within your senses and slowing unraveling into motionless, b...

10. Trouble & Mike Will Made It – Edgewood The best rap album came in the form of Edgewood and newcomer Trouble. If there is something like a ghetto symphony or a Bildungsroman in rap, Edgewood would be both. The immersion Mike Will Made It creates through his nocturnal beats is impeccable. After the introduction “Real Is Rare / Edgewood” we are thrown into the action with “The Woods” interlude, helicopter swirling, a man running and cursing. Following, the collage “It's In Your Hands” might be the best Raime track without the UK duo laying down a bass that bursts your skull. The prayer, calling upon God to reaffirm your standing as a gangster and wishing for the safe journey of a young one open up a world without even giving slight narrative pointers. It is just in the sound and feeling that the scene is set and the following tracks are to unfold. Mike Will and Trouble did not weigh down their tracks with skits or interludes, the changes happen by Mike Will´s beats an...

Labour by Clawing Finney´s poems exist as the sound of his voice. Forming the band Clawing with Austin Gaines and Jeff McLeod the artist released the album Spectral Estate (Dullest Records) in early March and shortly thereafter a very different album,  Gospel with the composer Sivash Amini on Opal Tapes. Now Clawing have blessed us with yet another release, the 30-minute epic Labour tackling the pandemic of addiction in a personal and yet surrealist way. Moving to dark music aficionado label Grey Matter Productions for this and fittingly releasing on Halloween, Clawing as a band also sees the addition of new members T. Platt, J. James and K. Miller to the mix.  In between the terrifying soundscapes of his fellow artists Finney´s voice surfaces like speech beyond language. In Spectral Estate Finney, blurs the lines between reality and dream, visions and fears constitute a perception impregnated by sexual abuse and depression. On Gospel, these terrors step into the...

Continuing their run of EPs and widening their scope, Raime´s return with "We Can´t Be That Far From The Beginning" isn´t just another turn in this progression, but sees the UK duo starting their own label RR and opening up anticipation for more to come and maybe even other artists to rise. While Am I Using Content or Is Content Using   Me? saw Raime opening their style up for the unimaginable flood of information, snippets, and samples in an unusually reggeaton colored palette, We Can´t Be That Far builds on these experiences while folding back on elements of their studio albums. From the start "In Media Res" is the seamless connection to Am I Using Content : The chromatic stutter winds up before being underlined with a bouncy synth line. However, a departure is imminent after only a minute. The vocal sample "I am tired" peaks in repetition and a call and response like scheme, underlined by strings and a complete dissolution of any repetition, bea...

Since the dread dub exploration of their 2016 sophomore album, Raime have been steadily shifting their sound in every EP. First offering Notion 2 Notion  gave insight into more club-oriented attacks in the same sonic universe of previous album Tooth . The tunnel these two tracks dugs, the bass, sparse drums and compressed feeling of dread and loss moved slightly faster than the previous year. Despite this, they didn´t stray too far, blended nicely into the known universe Raime build.  A bigger venture indicative of what would happen with their main project came under the Yally moniker and their Dread Risk / U-Eff-O 7-inch for Diagonal. Here the duo sped up the comatose drums and bass into frantic hammering, incorporated vocal snippets and delivered a direct connection into the jungle and footwork roots of the abstract main project. What came to the fore in this release was a clear understanding of sonic storytelling. While Raime and Tooth certainly don´t lack in t...

Clawing – Spectral Estate As listeners, we turn to music for a vast range of reasons. For one, we try to integrate and emulate our experiences and surroundings in sound, try to find an emotional connection with sounds in search of a different or enhanced reality. Clawing offer something unique here: Insight into very real horrors of this world.  Clawing is a band consisting of Austin Gaines (Calques), multi-instrumentalist Jeff McLeod and poet Matt Finney, a trio able to evoke the darkest and most disturbing feelings and sceneries imaginable. Finney´s words gently lull you into the scene, a faux awakening and encounter with a surreal father figure that gives way to murky soundscapes. A scorched mess gauging your sense of direction. Cyclical. in an almost prayer like atmosphere, Gaines, and McLeod lead you deeper into a percussive attack of noise and guitar drones copulating. Everything crashes, Finney re-emerges buried and the dream-state becomes a hollow vessel of black. ...

00. Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp A Butterfly Before entering the last part of the top albums of 2015, I have to name my one and only honorable mention. My zero of this list, To Pimp A Butterfly could have taken any spot of the following, but I want to make different point with this mention. You can read about the complexity, the huge message and meanings of To Pimp A Butterfly on a bunch of articles and reviews. To cut it short: You´ll have to listen to this record, read and study the lyrics. It´s no coincidence that “Alright” has become a common chant of black protestors and got panned by white media for inciting violence. What Kendrick has crafted, demands attention and breaches the boundaries of music.  Surely, music has political charge, if implicit or explicit, it can incite thoughts and action, just as art is meant to do. But, and this is my point, To Pimp A Butterfly is more art, than music meant for consumption. This record should be included into history less...