Killing Joke - Night Time (1985)

Download

For fans of: Public Image Limited, The Cure, Mission of Burma

This is sooo good. This band really knows how to make a song soar. They can build up some energy with their quick riffing and rolling drums, and then redirect that energy like a person on fire running around looking for something to extinguish themselves with. All the while, the intensity of the flames keeps increasing until the person eventually finds the fire extinguisher after much searching and the song ends. Then another song starts! There's a real sense of urgency here that keeps me hooked. I also loved their self titled debut album, and while this one is a lot more poppy and accessible, it hasn't really lost any of the former's darkness or abstractness. This album is a great synthesis of moody anguish with ecstasy. This kind of Gothic dance is my favorite, exactly what I look for and love in music. - Matthew Foster

Sam Cooke - Live at the Harlem Square Club (1963)

Summertime is upon us which means (at least for myself) that sweating in the sunshine with no plans on the calendar for weeks has become routine. Listening to soul music is a remedy often employed to relieve these blues, but this album does much more. The energy of Sam Cooke's vocals holds strong throughout the entirety of the set and the gushingly-romantic lyrics combine to make twisting away in the living room unavoidable whether it be with or without your baby. The momentum that Cooke manages to maintain with the crowd throughout the entire show makes this an album that can be played straight through without a single dull lapse. So if you're a fan of greats like Al Green, Bill Withers, and the lot, or if listening to drone and dubstep isn't helping you get down this Summer, this album is for you.

download

Konono N°1 - Assume Crash Position (2010)

Download

For fans of: Boredoms, Fela Kuti, Black Dice

A fast and non-stop percussion explosion! Though at the same time, it's very soothing in a way. Like good techno music, it'll make you dance and feel very "elevated." It also sounds a lot like the funky afro-jazz of Fela Kuti at times. I could just imagine standing in a circle of people stepping forward, back, and forward again while slapping our thighs and having the time of our lives. There are even some nice ethereal sounds to be found here, making it a relatively diverse album. With the popularity of extreme percussion artists like Boredoms and Dan Deacon, this album has a perfect place to sit in today's music. - Matthew Foster

City Center - City Center (2009)

Here's a great little album from last year that seemed to fly under the radar for the most part. Fans of Caribou, Grouper, Memory Tapes and other such bands should enjoy this a lot, although it's probably more chilled out than those artists. It's got a really cool dreamy ambient vibe to it but the melodies are all there, and occasionally it breaks from that drowsy swoopy feel and descends into some lovely noise and shoegaze movements. If you're into chillwave at all, get this.

Download

Hash Jar Tempo - Well Oiled (1997)

Hash Jar Tempo - Well Oiled (1997)

Download

Hash Jar Tempo is an experimental collaborative effort between psycho-delic quintet Bardo Pond and strings expert Roy Montgomery who produce hallucinogenic post-rock music and Well Oiled is their somewhat acclaimed drug-fueled improvisation sessions. These jams are driven by the extroverted and expansive sonic capabilities of a finely-tuned guitar (as curated by Roy Montgomery in his solo works) and glaze and weave in circles until the listener is lost and baffled in this revolution of strummed sounds, so much so that the music almost acts as a drug itself in terms of sitting perplexed and rapt in this labyrinth of foreign notes and noises. Well Oiled is collection of entrancing recordings that will leave you inspired and bemused.

Karl

Actress - Splazsh (2010)

Download

For fans of: Basic Channel, Autechre, Ricardo Villalobos

Wowzzers! This is the very tip of what I could imagine of music in 2010. I like that microhouse is the top genre on RYM, these beats are filled. I've always thought of microhouse as music that uses the space between beats to inject melodies, samples, or mini-beats to create what could be thought of as frames between each beat. Akufen and Moritz von Oswald Trio come to mind. Actress seems to be doing that do a certain extent, but what makes me love this album so much is the way the beats seem to bounce off each other and build, like each beat is trying to one up the last. I could be way off in trying to describe these sweet sounds, but that's an attempt. Like Scuba's Triangulation, this is really proving to me that electronic music has so much more to offer and has me on the edge of my seat to here the next. - Matthew Foster

Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O. - In C (2001)

Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O. - In C (2001) Download

Acid Mothers Temple’s In C is not what I’d call a cover or version per se of Terry Riley’s infamous original. Rather it is more of a tribute. Here, AMT has captured the essence of Riley’s work in one of their most tumultuous and raucous noise assaults yet. In homage to Riley, each of the compositions on In C open with repetitive and dense pulsations and melodies before a wall of hypnotic, whirling psychedelia hits and takes helm of the track. Be advised, this is not for the faint hearted but is rather for those looking to endure three invigorating injections of noisy euphoric mindfucking jams of great Japanese rock music.

Karl