Black Heart Procession – “Drugs (Eluvium and Jamuel Saxon remixes)”
Blood Bunny/Black Rabbit

This 14-minute remix forms the last third of this collaboration album, and actually has a lead-in from the previous track. It takes more than four minutes for the first piano chord to hit, so enjoy the Eluvium atmospherics, which strongly remind me of track three from Palmless Prayer/Mass Murder Refrain. The chopped-up Jamuel Saxon portion is kind of incongruous with the long build-up, but it’s an interesting payoff and worth listening to. (insound)

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Junior Boys – “Under the Sun”
Last Exit

I’ve never been able to handle a lot of the indie/dance stuff at a time — a few tracks of Ratatat, !!!, Chromeo, and so on is usually enough. So I rarely get to the second half of this Junior Boys album, and forgot about this excellent song. It reminds me of Spoon’s similarly spare and minor-funky “They Never Got You,” though really they sound almost nothing alike. It’s really a lot more like Studio than anything.

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Los Halos – “Reasons To Smile”
Leaving VA

Loud, ebullient, and confident, this is the sound of a band at its best. An anthem for good days and triumphant returns.

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Autolux – “Headless Sky”
Transit Transit

While this album doesn’t really live up to the dynamic and creative Future Perfect, it does have some great songs, and this is one of them.

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Maserati – “Pyramid Of The Sun”
Pyramid Of The Sun

While it’s not actually the opening track (there’s a sort of atmospheric synth intro, “Who Can Find The Beast?”), it has all the characteristics of an opening track — and a damned good one, too. In fact, for the first minute and a half, it’s one of the strongest opening tracks I’ve heard in a long time (the alternate take, “Pyramid Of The Moon,” is more raw but missing that fantastic call-and-response). Their form of spacey instrumental rock is shown off to good effect, but then they kind of lost track of it and twiddle when they should have whaled. Still a great album, though, especially the last two tracks. (temporary residence)

Growing – “Fancy Period”
Color Wheel

A departure from Growing’s usual deafening soundscapes, “Fancy Period” contains more movements than some of their entire albums… which isn’t saying much, but still. It’s a beautiful and hypnotic 12 minutes.

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Matmos – “Regicide”
The Civil War

Sonically disorientating and endlessly varied, The opening track of The Civil War is the whole album in miniature. Baffling instrumentation, punchy beats, and unforgiving noise crossed with delicate harmony, and that playful weirdness that seems to permeate every track Matmos has ever made. Must-listen.

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Tarentel – “Bump Past, Cut Through Windows”
We Move Through Weather

When this album came out, I couldn’t bear to listen to it because it was so different from their previous work. Noise collage, tape loops, all kinds of weird stuff — a stark contrast to the lean, extended post-rock fantasies of From Bone To Satellite. But years later, after giving it a few more listens, it started to come together, particularly the last four tracks. They never arrive at the tension levels of even the opening notes of, say, “Ursa Major, Ursa Minor,” but they have a mysterious power entirely new and entirely different from Tarentel original flavor. (insound)

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Denali – “Nullaby”
The Instinct

This whole album plays like a tribute to the lead singer’s incredible pipes. She has a voice like a clarion, clear without being shrill, and with a really lovely control over vibrato that gives every high note an excellent wavering coda. The songwriting isn’t stellar, but the arrangements are quite good, the playing is solid, and of course this chick’s voice is something else. (insound)

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Cat Power – “Good Woman”
You Are Free

I originally thought “Free” was the best track off this classic album, but I’ve since changed my mind to the much more beautiful and traditional “Good Woman.” This is the kind of song that lives forever – it feels as if it might have been written at any time in the last hundred years. (insound)