It’s a bumper round-up this month, what with October producing more great albums than I’ve (actually, probably) had hot meals in the last couple of weeks. So, pressing straight on.
Click the album covers to cycle through them all.
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Run The Jewels – ‘Run The Jewels 2’
(Mass Appeal, released October 27th)
“With nothing off limits, in terms of topics or compositional tangents, Run The Jewels has again pushed rap away from regular rhythms and rhymes and into territories that they’re still calculating the dimensions of. May they never reach the sum of such remarkable parts and continue to exclusively Run Them Jewels fast.”
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Grouper – ‘Ruins’
(Kranky, released October 31st)
“Of this album’s writing and recording, undertaken for the most part in Portugal in 2011, Harris has said it’s the “first time I’ve sat still for a few years”. For most of its running time, you won’t want to move anywhere, either. Maybe don’t stay that way forever, but frequent returns to ‘Ruins’ in the coming years are guaranteed.”
MADE OF AIR (2014) from Paul Clipson on Vimeo.
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Kiasmos – ‘Kiasmos’
(Erased Tapes, released October 27th)
“If ‘Kiasmos’ was a hitchhiker you’d probably reverse. Striking, graceful and completely naked, this cold album hovers at the neglected crossroads where dance music meets the overgrown trail of modern classical, begging for a ride back towards the warmth of your ears.”
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The Twilight Sad – ‘Nobody Wants To Be Here And Nobody Wants To Leave’
(FatCat, released October 27th)
“Each note feels intensely fought over, with ‘Last January’ and ‘In Nowheres’ quite exacting in their approach to winter’s chill. Lyrically honest to a fault, the way James Graham etches out his melancholia on ‘It Was Never The Same’ has a restrained violence, all the more affecting for its understated execution.”
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Huxley – ‘Blurred’
(Aus, released October 20th)
“Power drifting through the gears and with cutting-edge in hand, this is a shoe-in contender for house album of the year – clear and distinct, all the way through.”
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Scott Walker + Sunn O))) – ‘Soused’
(4AD, released October 20th)
“Latin lamentations and oscillating interferences spin sinful tales of transgression and violation, with a flagellating undercurrent of austerity, to create an uneasy, intuitive, idiosyncratic masterpiece.”
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Caribou – ‘Our Love’
(City Slang, released October 6th)
“In a way that’s come to define Snaith in his work so far, ‘Our Love’ is a record that feels distinctly his own, accessible yet containing minute touches that you’ll need to listen to many times to appreciate. This is something to be played over and over, around those you love, and those you may come to.”
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Flying Lotus – ‘You’re Dead!’
(Warp Records, released October 6th)
“Fans searching for club bangers should U-turn now. Once again LA’s most talented beat producer is using his vivid heritage to explore the album format… and certainly has brewed some seriously bitching beats with ‘You’re Dead!’.”
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A Winged Victory For The Sullen – ‘Atomos’
(Erased Tapes, released October 6th)
“Whether it’s the ambitious opener ‘Atomos I’, with its 10-minute trajectory divided into almost claustrophobically dense strings and then celestial synths, or the transcendent swell of ‘Atomos VIII’, this is a slow-burning, deeply resonant collection with a stirring potency and the capacity to truly wow.”
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Grouper photo: Alicia J Rose
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