TranscendNoise

20. The Body & Full of Hell – Ascending a Mountain of Heavy Light The Body are one of the most interesting acts in heavy music by far and them teaming up (again) with Full of Hell, another band that stretches the perception of what heavy or abrasive music can be, provides one of the finest moments of 2017. Full of Hell´s Trumpeting Ecstasy saw the band experiment with different textures and feeling themselves, ranging from noise-ridden escapes to featuring Nicole Dollangangers in a toned down ballad of sorts. With The Body, the band gained a counterpart that is equally into noise and atmosphere over aggression, handing a sense of naiveté and wonder to their refinement. In return, The Body found a group of people that revel in immediacy and help develop their own affection for grinding sounds into beat-driven joints and forward-thinking musical ideas. Apart from these comparisons and additions, the project does sound like one entity playing music. Ascending A Mountain esp...

30. ANOHNI – Hopelessness A drone attack leaving behind a girl wishing for death. The world burning as a cause of climate change, leaving the animals suffering and dead. The state of surveillance, being a happy reality of watching the watchers. Claiming to be a progressive western state, while still killing in the name of justice. Losing your love for it was something that only brought you pain. The leader everybody placed his hopes in, who couldn´t, for the life of him, change the unchangeable. The undercurrent of a world dominated by men being in turn dominated by bloodshed and Darwinist ideals. Losing your connection to the world you live in, mourning the death of your life-world. The effects of fighting alleged terrorism by acts of terrorism yourself, violence leading to acts against the violators. You yourself are the problem, the virus. Hello Americanism, disease without cure. If you´re dealing with music most of the time, you might run low on reading the news and ge...

30. Ólafur Arnalds – Particles ( Island Songs ) Ólafur Arnalds isn´t one for vocal collaboration, at least these instances don´t make any entry on his album and remain mostly in the range of working with choirs. For his Islands Songs compilation, he got together with Of Monsters And Men singer Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir and this track is one of the most goose-bump inducing moments of this year. Arnalds arrangements of tiny melodies and little hints over a solid framework of piano, the rising strings for emotional impact over the chorus of the song, create the perfect synergy with Nanna´s voice. Her lyrics provide a mythical openness for interpretation and her few words create evocative imaginary, especially when she sets for the peak of the song, her exhaustion expressed in the words can be felt. 29. Jace – Midas Feat. Robb Banks ( Jace Tape ) Why this track was the bonus track of the Jace Tape is beyond me. This one caught me off-guard after a good listen, solid l...