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ALELA DIANE Cusp

Becoming a mother is a life-changing event. Even for those who haven’t experienced that (myself included). It’s obvious that giving birth to a human being must be something quite magnificent and unique. At her sixth full-length, Alela Diane was inspired by motherhood and she wrote it when alone for the first time since becoming a mother.

Cusp is a beautiful and sublime album and is Alela’s most piano driven album of her career. Her delicacy and contagious strength to write these songs is inspiring, she puts everything in perspective as a mother and a woman. Cusp also marks her near-death experience while giving birth to her second daughter, and that’s why she named the album that way, “Life and death meet in a cusp.”

Cusp is undoubtedly Alela’s best work to date, an album that takes you into her journey of joy, growth and living life to the fullest.

AMERICAN NIGHTMARE American Nightmare

From changing members, breaking up to even changing name (remember a band called Give Up The Ghost?), it’s fair to say that this new album is the perfect way to expand their legacy, but most importantly, to establish themselves in a genre that so far lacks American Nightmare’s enigmatic and fresh approach.

American Nightmare is the band’s third installment, featuring vocalist Wes Eishold, bassist Josh Holden, guitarist Brian Masek and Garcia-Rivera who were all part of the original lineup of the band that disbanded in 2004. There’s something poetic and dark in American Nightmare’s trademark sound, in a little less than thirty minutes they easily show us the hard hitting intensity of their in-your-face attitude. Eishold’s brutal vocal delivery perfectly portrays the emotional heaviness of their sound, it still sounds bleak and fucking raw, but it also has a new sense of depth that truly transcends most hardcore outfits.

ANNA BURCH

Quit The Curse

Quit The Curse marks a top notch debut by Detroit singer/ songwriter Anna Burch. It’s a cathartic and empowering personal effort which clearly marks the end of an era of uncertainty and emotional struggle for her.

Quit The Curse takes us on a journey of self-discovery and forces us to confront past or current emotional issues and makes us wonder if our approach in life has been the best or we simply keep avoiding tackling the issues that really haunt us. Burch’s expression of emotions is not defined by any kind of structure, it almost feels improvised. Her crystal clear vocal and the catchy and upbeat tunes are the perfect match for her forward and dark lyrical approach, creating a strange sense of harmony and peace.

Anna Burch’s Quit The Curse is effortlessly one of 2018’s gems and one hell of an impressive debut, a perfect statement of liberation, gracefully crafted.

BAPTISTS Beacon Of Faith

Vancouver, BC… Nardwuar told us multiple times of how good it can get. On their third full-length, Baptists keep delivering their metallic hardcore - now more infused with an extremely enhancing noise rock punch to it – in the same old high standards and quality fashion that has now been established as a given. It starts off fast and unforgiving, as you could more or less expect, but Baptists really shining moment is when they slow down. On tracks like “Indigo Child” and “Eulogy Template,” for example, we are denied the chance to look away and instead we feel obliged to stare as their tremendous guitar work keeps building up with density, rage, and a rhythmically imposing pulse. Beacon of Faith is another urgent statement of a band that can’t miss apparently.

TIAGO MOREIRA

BEACH HOUSE 7

7 represents a rejuvenation on Beach House’s sound, but is also the duo’s richest and most organic effort ever. Inspired by the social insanity from the past two years, from the political non-sense, discussion surrounding women’s issues and to the overall tension that still brings gloom and chaos to our days, 7 is also a smart stand on that dichotomy between hope and despair, love and hate, beauty and darkness and a dream pop pleasure with foggy electronic emotions. They’ve refined their trademark harmonies and raucous energy and there’s a clear feeling of social and cultural disenchantment. The way they rise to those challenging times is impressive and very inspiring. They are not pushing any kind of boundaries anymore, but overall 7 is a nice and fresh rebirth of BeachHouse as a band.

FAUSTO CASAIS

STAFF PICK

BEN CHISHOLM & FELIX SKINNER Burgeoning Verse

After five years in the making, waiting to be released, Burgeoning Verse finally comes out. Ben Chisholm and Felix Skinner have concocted a beautiful whirl of lush soundscapes (which you’ll be hard-pressed to figure how they pulled off) that wouldn’t be misplaced if it were playing amidst the peace of undisturbed nature, all the while marrying its ambient post-rock with near classical inclinations. Contrasting moments of sorrowful grace with uplifting energy, the build-ups are at times so gradual that they force us to instead appreciate the sonic palette of the moment, saving us from cheap pay-off. It’s the kind of music that justifiably takes five years to make. Somebody please give these guys a chance at soundtracking a high profile motion picture.

BRUNO COSTA

AÏSHA DEVI DNA Feelings

Aïsha Devi’s sonic endeavors can be extremely overwhelming for the listener. On her sophomore album, the artist who was born in the Swiss alps with Nepalese-Tibetan heritage, delivers one of the most enthralling and packed sensorial attacks of recent times. Heritage seems a pivotal element to the entire sort of maze that is DNA Feelings, where Devi admittedly makes heavy usage of meditation, spiritual guidance, ritualistic practice, and metaphysical research to ultimately enable a transcendent experience not only for her but also for anyone interested in partaking the voyage.

The press release states that no one on this planet sounds like Aïsha Devi, which could well be just another erratic statement by a label or PR, but fortunately they’ve measured their words and the statement comes off extremely accurate. It’s a non-conformist take on electronic music, vocal performance, and artistic identity. There are very few people being this unique. Thank you, Miss Devi.

BIRD IN THE BELLY The Crowing

For their debut album British collaborative folk project Bird in the Belly have collected ten songs and stories that have rarely or never been recorded before, setting them to contemporary arrangements and melodies.Throughout the past decades, folk music has gained a sense of prudery and, certainly in the mainstream, it has become something of an affair of the innocent blonde lass with the bright red guitar. Many people forget that many of these songs are very tongue-in-cheek, like the excellent Welsh Ploughboy aptly demonstrates. As an effort of documentation, The Crowing is an interesting piece of work, but it is the curation of these songs in a modern framework that makes it a record of importance and that is recommended for folk enthusiasts and casual listeners alike. ROBERT WESTERVELD

BLACK MOTH Anatomical Venus

Like the clinical visage of its cover subject, Anatomical Venus is an album that hides little but still retains an air of mystery. It’s a muscular, sinewy collection of Kyuss-worshipping stoner riffage, lightly lysergic doom and radio-friendly rock that makes full use of the considerable range of Harriet Hyde, letting her smoky lustre linger over “Tourmaline” sludgy body yet seeing her simply trample over “Sisters of the Stone” like a one-woman army heading to war. Jim Swainston and new addition Federica Gialanze likewise nail the album’s seesawing balance of weight and melody, and of hard-rocking fury and morose introspection, with admirable skill, but despite an intriguing concept and solid performances all round, it never quite reachesthe genre-defying heights that Black Moth are capable of reaching.

BOYS Rest In Peace

Rest In Peace is the debut album by 22 year-old Stockholm artist Nora Karlsson that goes by the moniker Boys. Even though she has worked on her own songs since she was 17, Nora just released a few home recordings in late 2015 with the Kind of Hurt EP, followed by the Love On Tour EP in the spring of 2016. It was a slow process to get the full-length done, but the final result is an honest and intimate effort with dreamy and garage pop songs that totally justify the wait. Nora brings a refreshing and captivating approach to the already saturated indie pop scene. From lo-fi home-recordings to a much more matured songwriting, Rest In Peace shows that Nora is definitely one of Scandinavia’s most exciting new artists at the moment. ANDREIA ALVES