A CLOSER LISTEN weekly #98

ACL 2025: Sound Propositions

Dear Listeners, Happy New Year! I forgot how many individual End of Year / Preview features we have. We’re finally getting back to normal over at the blog, where we usually review a new record every day.

If you’re new around here, welcome! I’m Joseph, and every two weeks I compile a newsletter with the best selections from A Closer Listen. In the off weeks, I send out additional features or selections from the archives. Later this year I’ll be doing some festival reports for paid subscribers, who also have access to extended transcripts from interviews and some other occasional extras. But generally I try not to keep much behind a paywall, and any support is much appreciated, allowing me to do more of this work.

I know we’ve had extensive 2025 coverage already, but this edition features my personal reflections on the past year. A lot of folks dragged Thurston’s list of 350, but as someone who has honestly listened to many more records than that in 2025—even wrote about, at least in passing, more than that in this very space—I understand the impulse. There’s so much creativity out there that gets overlooked, often due simply to the incredible amount of music that gets released every week.

These lists don’t quite reach 350. Too much gets lost in such a deluge. The records below are personal favorites, or otherwise records that were important to me that deserve more attention. I begin with my personal three favorite records of the year, followed by my three favorite pop records, then my top 20 records featured on ACL, my top 20 records NOT featured on ACL, and my top 20 hip hip records, with some miscellanea to follow. I think it comes to 75 records in total. Let’s look back at 2025:

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ACL 2025: Sound Propositions

There were three records in particular I found myself returning to throughout the year that I want to begin with: Damon Locks’ List of Demands, Jasmine Guffond’s Muzak for the Encouragement of Unproductivity, and billy woods’ GOLLIWOG.

Locks is well-known for his various collaborations and groups (Black Monument Ensemble, Exploding Star Orchestra, New Future City Radio, Trenchmouth) but remarkably this is his solo debut. List of Demands combines manipulated vocal samples with deep grooves and experimental sound collage techniques, informed by a profound social practice working as an arts educator within the carceral system. Just as his work with the Black Monument Ensemble was informed by the uprisings of 2020, List of Demands felt untimely in just the way this terrible year of 2025 required.

Muzak was historically developed to optimize labor, so Guffond’s tape is a conceptual inversion advocating for a radical deceleration. The reverb on this slow-tempo soundscape is modeled on that of an Amazon fulfillment center in Berlin near where the work was first installed, an act of symbolic trespass that remains charged even when played on loop in my living room.

woods’ GOLLIWOG deploys horror as social critique, centering the evil of a racist caricature-doll to weave visceral, heartbreaking vignettes of the Black experience. Much like the films of Jordan Peele or the unnerving magical realism of Atlanta, the album uses its unsettling production—from a wide array of collaborators old and new—to make its thematic and emotional discomfort inescapable. But woods references much older narrative traditions, from the horror(s) of his own childhood to surprisingly horrifying children’s folk tales. I can understand why some listeners may have avoided such emotionally heavy subjects this year, but woods’ humor is there for a reason, if only as a reminder that things can still get worse. But there’s also something hopeful and optimistic, something we can use to prepare. “History never repeats, it do rhyme though, tryna catch the loop.”

I began the year with a sound art residency in the south of Spain, where I produced the above meme when Bad Bunny’s DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS dropped. While I wasn’t alone in seeing an echo of our friend KMRU’s cover art for Peel (2020), in fact I was instantly drawn to DTMF in a way I haven’t been to Bad Bunny’s earlier records, and it has everything to do with the way he incorporates traditional Puerto Rican musical idioms with reggaeton, AND insists on the political implications of all of that. On the other hand, Rosalia’s Lux is successful precisely because she moved away from the explicit postmodern pastiche that made Motomami so great. Yes, the linguistic diversity can seem like a bit—it seems transparently designed to boost her in various markets—but it’s a successful one. Lastly, Oklou’s Choke Enough was a treat. The two tracks co-produced by AG Cook cement the post-brat influence, but the album would be just as great without them. I’ve found the Baroque influences to be overstated by the press—early naughties dance music is the clear north star—but those embellishments elevate the album and have kept me returning to Choke Enough.

Two very different sets of triplets that are worthy of special praise, from ShrapKnel and Kara-Los Coverdale.

ShrapKnel—the duo of PremRock and Curly Castro—executed a remarkable hat trick of solo-producer albums this summer. It began with Raphy’s Lincoln Continental Breakfast, a feast straight from the Bruiser Brigade’s kitchen in Detroit. The mission then headed overseas, beaming down Mike Ladd’s Saisir Le Feu, a fiery import of futurist sounds sharp enough to dance with the duo’s poetic swords. The trilogy was anchored back stateside in Virginia by Ohbliv’s Armature, a masterclass in SP-404 brilliance boom bap.

Kara-Lis Coverdale had a remarkably prolific 2025, gifting listeners with three distinct yet thematically linked releases that showcased her expansive compositional range. After an eight-year hiatus from recorded solo work, From Where You Came was a triumphant return—a dense, electroacoustic latticework of orchestral instruments and guest appearances that blurred the boundaries between acoustic tradition and digital revelation. The starkly beautiful A Series of Actions in a Sphere of Forever consists of nine piano nocturnes where the slow bloom and decay of melody induces a state of suspended consciousness. The triptych concluded with Changes in Air, a resonant, minimalist study adapted from a floating sauna installation, translating the environmental timbres of wood, water, and glass into a meditative work for organ, synth, and piano.

After all those trios, let’s pivot by ending with a series of five records.

ACL’s 2024 Label of the Year, forms of minutiae, had an ambitious plan for 2025: to call attention to the climate crisis, especially as it pertains to glaciers and melting ice, the label released their five record Ice Series, part of UNESCO & WMO’s Art for Glaciers Preservation. It began with Marc Namblard’s arctic summer, released on March 21 to coincide with the first UN-proclaimed World Day of Glaciers. His recordings from Iceland and Svalbard translate real-world ice melt into a soundscape that feels both epic and intimately fragile. This was followed in May by Ludwig Berger & Vadret da Morteratsch’s Crying Glacier, the OST to the short film of the same name, which received A Vimeo Staff Pick upon its release. The series continued in July with Yoichi Kamimura’s yūhyō, a poignant document of the endangered drift ice noises of the Sea of Okhotsk. Cheryl E. Leonard‘s near the bear arrived in September, weaving field recordings with percussive textures from glacial driftwood and bones. The series concluded with pablo diserens’ ebbing ice lines in November, released in conjunction with Dinzu Artefacts, an empathetic, amplified portrait of glacial voices and their avian companions, sealing the project as a profound act of acoustic preservation.

Now on to the lists. Our ACL end of year lists are always culled solely from records we reviewed on the blog that year, and voted upon by our entire staff. I wrote about many of my favorite records as part of our ACL 2025 lists, but I’ve also included my personal top 20 of those lists. As usual, my “Under the Radar” list doesn’t quite live up to its title, but there are 20 records that weren’t eligible for our 2024 ACL lists, as we didn’t cover them, but as with last year, I’ve written about most if not all of these releases here in this newsletter’s Mini-Review column. And, as I have done the last few years here, I have included a list of BEATS and/or RHYMES, as ACL has never covered hip hop regularly. I’ve included hour-long mixes for each category, with the hip hop mix dropping on 18 January (I’ll add it here once it is up). Lastly, I’ve included a few lists of notable Archival/Reissues, Books, Zines, Podcasts, and Comics released in 2025. Happy Listening!

ACL TOP 20
my picks from what was reviewed on the blog this year (alphabetical)

Anne-F Jacques ~ contre-montagne
Aho Ssan & Resina ~ Ego Death
emptyset ~ Dissever
éric la casa ~ Zones Portuaires 2
Gwenifer Raymond ~ Last Night I Heard the Dog Star Bark
Imperial Valley ~ American Memory
Jake Muir ~ Campana Sonans
Jessica Moss ~ Unfolding
Joshua Bonnetta ~ The Pines
Macie Stewart ~ When the Distance Is Blue
Machine Listening ~ Environments 12: new concepts in acoustic enrichment
Masimba Hwati & Paul Nataraj ~ Soil Leaf Root
Nobukazu Takemura ~ knot of meanings
Okkyung Lee ~ just like any other day (어느날): background music for your mundane activities
Patrick Shiroishi ~ Forgetting is Violent
Sara Persico ~ Sphaîra
Tortoise ~ Touch
V/A - Only Sounds That Tremble Through Us | فقط أصوات ترتعش في أجسادنا
Whatever the Weather ~ Whatever the Weather II
Yara Asmar ~ everyone I love is sleeping and I love them so so much

ACL Top 20 Mix
[this mix draws on ACL’s Top 20 Records of 2025]

UNDER THE RADAR
some of my favorite records that might have slipped under your radar or that we otherwise didn’t manage to cover (alphabetical)

Damon Locks ~ List of Demands (International Anthem)
Giuseppe Ielasi / Jack Sheen ~ The Vestige (Black Truffle)
Horse Lords & Arnold Dreyblatt ~ FRKWYS Vol. 18: Extended Field (RVNG)
HxH ~Stark Phenomena (OFNOT)
Jasmine Guffond ~ Muzak for the Encouragement of Unproductivity (LINE)
Los Thuthanaka (Chuquimamani-Condori & Joshua Chuquimia Crampton) ~ Los Thuthanaka (self-released)
Mark Ernestus’ Ndagga Rhythm Force ~ Khadim (Ndagga)
Mary Halvorson ~ About Ghosts (Nonesuch)
Nazar ~ Demilitiarize (Hyperdub)
The Necks ~ Disquiet (Northern Spy)
Pye Corner Audio ~ Lake Deep Memory (Quiet Details)
Saapato ~ Decomposition: Fox on a Highway (Constellation Tatsu)
SANAM ~ Sametou Sawtan (Constellation)
Sean McCann ~ The Leopard (Recital)
Slikback ~ Attrition (Planet Mu)
SML ~ How You Been (International Anthem)
Stephen Vitiello with Brendan Canty and Hahn Rowe ~ Second (Balmat)
Vanessa Rossetto ~ Pictures Of The Warm South (erstwhile)
Yaz Lancaster ~ AFTER (PTP)
Water Damage ~ Instruments (12XU)

Joseph’s 2025 Under the Radar
[this mix draws mostly on the above list plus my three pop records and some extra]

BEATS and/or RHYMES
we don’t cover vocal music at ACL but I’ve been covering more and more via this newsletter (alphabetical)

AKAI SOLO ~ No Control, No Glory (Break All Records!)
Asterisk ~ No School (Autumn)
Armand Hammer & The Alchemist ~ Mercy (Backwoodz)
billy woods ~ GOLLIWOG (Backwoodz)
Blu & August Fanon ~ Forty (Nature Sounds)
Child Actor / August Fanon ~ Here and Here (Fused Arrow)
Defcee & Parallel Thought ~ Other Blues (Parallel Thought LTD)
De La Soul ~ Cabin in the Sky (Mass Appeal)
DJ Haram ~ Beside Myself (Hyperdub)
Earl Sweatshirt ~ Live Laugh Love (Tan Cressida)
Fatboi Sharif & Roper Williams ~ Goth Girl On The Enterprise (POW/Fused Arrow)
Gabe Nandez & Preservation ~ Sortilège (Backwoodz)
Infinity Knives & Brian Ennals ~ A City Drowned in God’s Black Tears (Phantom Limb)
Mike Shabb ~ melted faces vol.1 (Near Mint)
Nakama. ~ EVERYTHING BURNS!
Open Mike Eagle ~ Neighborhood Gods Unlimited (Auto Reverse)
Shemar ~ emerge “n” see
Sunmundi x Sasco ~ Contacting
Teller Banks ~ Drug$$$
Quelle Chris ~ Beware Beware Beware (More Lullabies) (Death Fame)

ARCHIVAL / REISSUES

Bennie Maupin ~ The Jewel In The Lotus (ECM)
Cecil Taylor & Tony Oxley ~ Flashing Spirits (Burning Ambulance)
The Dream Syndicate ~ Medicine Show: I Know What You Like (Down There)
Gaetano Liguori, Giulio Stocchi, Demetrio Stratos ~ La Cantata Rossa per Tall el Zaatar (Black Sweat)
Jeff Mills ~ Live at Liquid Room (Axis)
MF DOOM ~ Metal Fingers Presents: Special Herbs, Vols. 1-0 (Rhymesayers)
Michael Ranta, Mike Lewis, Conny Plank ~ Mu (Metaphon)
Stars of the Lid ~ Music for Nitrous Oxide (Artificial Pine Arch Manufacturing)
Steve Reich ~ Collected Works (Nonesuch)
Steve Roden ~ six sound installations (LINE)
Ø (Mika Vainio) ~ Sysivalo (Sähkö)

BOOKS

I missed Elena Biserna’s anthology Going Out: Walking, Listening, Soundmaking (Q-O2, Umland Editions) when it was released in 2022, but picked up a copy of the second edition earlier this year, and have been slowly meandering through it. Ariana Reines’s Wave of Blood (Divided) was my favorite work of poetry, helping me to process personal loss and grief alongside the wider horrors of the present moment. Hari Kunzru’s Blue Ruin (Penguin) may be the first COVID fiction I’ve read, but that’s only the frame; at heart this is a book looking back at the London and New York art worlds of the 1990s. Jean Grae’s memoir In My Remaining Years (Macmillan) also begins with reflections on pandemia. The book largely eschews her career as a rapper, so if that’s what you’re looking for you won’t find it here, but Jean is full of wit and wisdom, and In My Remaining Years was one of the most enjoyable reading experiences I had in 2025. In Dismantling The Masters Clock (AK Press), Rasheedah Phillips (half of Black Quantum Futurism, alongside Moor Mother) argues that “Western temporal norms” have flourished “at the expense of cyclical, relational, and pluralistic understandings,” advocating for a decolonization of time drawing on quantum physics. Phillips also looks to traditional African notions of time, citing John Mbiti’s work on the concepts zamani (macro-temporal retrocausality) and sasa (present-community). Informed by her work as a lawyer and artist, Phillips book is an important addition to a growing canon of works exploring nonlinear temporalities. And of course we must mention Liz Pelly’s Mood Machine (Atria/One Signal), probably the consensus pick for 2025 Music Book of the Year, as the public mood has finally seemed to turn against streaming services like Spotify. I assigned six chapters from Mood Machine in my class Culture in the Age of Machine Learning this semester, and welcomed Liz and Max to Purchase for a live taping of their podcast, Critical Listening, so it’s been an especially rich text for me.

ZINES

I’ve mentioned my deep appreciation for Caltrops Press here many times, which I’ve been collecting since issue #1, which accompanied my purchase of Sleep Sinatra and August Fanon’s tape ROUTES released on PTP. This year, Caltrops has continued the strong work with a deep dive into GOLLIWOG, a number of interviews and quotables, and multiple issues exploring the development of Defrag Rap.

I’ve also got to shout out Suchi Mane’s mini-zine IS THIS AI SLOP? a guide to consuming goods + information mindfully in the age of AI. Necessary conversations happening. Check out her photos as well.

PODCASTS

More than any other rap show, the Next Movement podcast continues to turn me on to new music. E. and Rob continue to impress with their thoughtful questions and unpretentious interviewing skills.

It was through an episode of TNM that I got turned on to Q No Rap Name, ordering his Color Sound Experiment beat tape with Philth Spector before I even finished listening. Both producers contributed to Teller Banks’ solid Drug$$$, but I also wanted to salute the service he’s doing with his new interview podcast. Q has casual hour long chats with a variety of beat makers about their creative process. He’s both ambitious in his aims (GRAMMY!) and absurdly stubborn with his distribution—q no rap name is already hard to google let alone with a show called NO PODCAST NAME, and the episodes have no meta-data or paratext whatsoever, asides from the episode being named in all caps after each guest. Guests so far have included DIBIA$E, August Fanon, Ohbliv, Child Actor, Sasco, Roper Williams, Wino Willy, Theravada, DJ Haram, Squadda B, and many more with many more to come. Check his Patreon. I feel a kind of kinship with my Sound Propositions series, in so far both Q and I seem to be motivated by personal curiosity and a desire to share that knowledge with the broader community.

I also really enjoyed (Radiolab’s) Jad Abumrad’s new show, Fela Kuti: Fear No Man, which has inspired me to revisit the Afrobeat pioneers deep catalogue. As expected, deeply researched and nuanced with a wide array of voices and interesting sound design.

COMICS / OGNs

I feel more behind than usual this year, so there are a lot of releases I’m not caught up on. The Power Fantasy (Image) has been my favorite ongoing title this year, no question there. And with the return of Die and the excellent Closer one-shot, Kieron Gillen is making a strong case for favorite writer of the year.

Speaking of returns, it was good to be back in the world of Criminal with The Knives (Image).

And I mentioned in previous years, I enjoyed readings Spectators by BKV and Niko Henrichon every Monday in my mailbox as an interesting counterpoint to real world sex and violence. The entire graphic novel is now out in a collected physical edition, and I’m looking forward to reading the entire thing in one go.

My to read pile is high so I’ll leave it there.

RIP

David Lynch (1946-2025)

Jonathan Sterne (1970-2025)

Yasunao Tone (1935–2025)

UPCOMING RELEASES

(complete list with Bandcamp links here)

A new year brings new hopes, new dreams, and new music! We’re already super-excited about the winter slate, which will bring major collaborations, left field surprises and the return of some big names. Based on the tracks streaming below, the year is already off to a great start. We wish a happy new year to all of our readers ~ may you find your next favorite album right here!

J.A.M. String Collective ~ She Looks Up at the Trees (24 November)

Autometer ~ Format (27 November)

AVA TRIO ~ lunae (TORA, 28 November)

Anton Anishchanka ~ Krope (Shatkavalka, 28 November)

Chloe Luna ~ Ego Sun (Mord, 28 November)

Eulipion Corps ~ Offerings & The Wild (Wormhole World, 28 November)

Gabi Delgado & Marc Hurtado ~ Neue Weltumfassende Resistance (play loud! productions, 28 November)

Ludwig Berger ~ Ecotonalities: No Other Home Than the In-Between (~OUS, 28 November)

Mariusz Szypura ~ Chopin Residue (Black Element, 28 November)

Plants Heal ~ Forest Dwellers (Quindi, 28 November)

Raica ~ If Not Now, When (Silver Threads, 28 November)

Rie Nakajima + David Toop ~ Is Spring a Sculpture? (Room40, 28 November)

Rutger Zuydervelt ~ House of Strength (Dronarivm, 28 November)

Shoko Igarashi ~ Kokoro no Kibi (Totalism, 28 November)

S-Pazz ~ Birth of Light (Port Neuf, 28 November)

OdNu, Mi Cosa, deResistance and mRn ~ Southern Lands (Audiobulb, 29 November)

Tomáš Niesner ~ adventus mmxxv (30 November)

Cosimo Faische ~ unveil / unfold (INSUB., 1 December)

Modern Silent Cinema ~ Surveillance Film (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (1 December)

Shine Grooves ~ Free Waltz (Artificial Owl, 1 December)

Birds Drink My Blood ~ Born Erased (Cyclic Law,4 December)

O Saala Sakraal ~ Oastar (Cyclic Law, 4 December)

Wolfskin ~ Ring of Spheres (Cyclic Law, 4 December)

Black Rain ~ Obliteration Bliss (Room40, 5 December)

Connor D’Netto ~ Some Kinda Way (A Guide to Saints, 5 December)

Eamon Ivri & JQ ~ Lattice of Memory (Shadow World, 5 December)

Essvus ~ What Ails You (New Amsterdam, 5 December)

Géraldine Eguiluz and Michel F Côté ~ hORs TempS (Ambiances Magnétiques, 5 December)

Johannes Wallmann ~ Not Tired (Shifting Paradigm, 5 December)

Luz Gonzales ~ Bi Gezur (Everest, 5 December)

Observance ~ eviscerating abundance (spectral disc, 5 December)

Perlah ~ Places (Trome, 5 December)

Sestrica ~ A Way to Ananda (Distant Gaze, 5 December)

sleep state 9 ~ 9th Realm (5 December)

Various Artists ~ Late Shift Silk (100% Silk, 5 December)

Various Artists ~ 10Ans révolus (Astropolis, 5 December)

Wooden Tape ~ Wool (God Unknown, 5 December)

Yes Big, Jon Byler Dann, and Taysuya Nakatani ~ To Lower the Fever of Feeling (Black Flag Bonsai Club, 5 December)

zakè ~ Low Harmonics (Affin, 5 December)

aus ~ eau (Em, 6 December)

Francis Cofone featuring Markus Reuter ~ The Solina Record (iapetus, 6 December)

zeelie brown ~ the apocalypse is not the end but the unveiling (New Amsterdam, 6 December)

Katja Mater ~ Two Intersecting Loops of Silence (Futura Resistenza, 9 December)

CZIGO ~ Techno Feudal (Machine Records, 12 December)

David Cordero ~ Numen (Noray, 12 December)

David Lord ~ Way Over the Rainbow (Cloud Ear, 12 December)

EIVIBLEIVI ~ Self Service (12 December)

Paolo Tortora ~ Waves of Fading Memories (Torto Editions, 12 December)

V/A ~ 10 Waltzes, Vol. 2 (Bigo & Twigetti, 12 December)

Modern Silent Cinema ~ The Man Who Stopped and Stared at Clouds (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Redux) (Bad Channels, 15 December)

Storyteller ~ Blood on the Fairway (Adaadat, 15 December)

Dan Trueman and the Bergamot Quartet ~ Memory Field (Many Arrows Music, 19 December)

Richard Francis ~ Combinations 4 (Room40, 19 December)

STÄRKER ~ Spectral (Aesthetical, 19 December)

xor ~ Present Tense (20 December)

CoH & Wladimir Schall ~ Covers (Hallow Ground, 21 December)

Dalriver ~ Wind Hammer (24 December)

Profet ~ Revelations (25 December)

Modern Silent Cinema ~ Flesh Mother (Redux) (Bad Channels, 29 December)

Asher Gamedze ~ A Semblance of Return (Northern Spy, 1 January)

Mai Mai Mai ~ Karakoz (Maple Death, 6 January)

David Shea ~ Meditations (Room40, 7 January)

Filippo Ansaldi & Simone Sims Longo ~ Solo Suono (Umor Rex, 9 January)

400 Lonely Things ~ Creature Comforts (Cold Spring, 9 January)

400 Lonely Things ~ Why I Went to the Woods (Cold Spring, 9 January)

Ken Ueno ~ Wavelengths (New Focus, 9 January)

Kris Davis and the Lutosławski Quartet ~ The Solastalgia Suite (Pyroclastic, 9 January)

Leo Genovese ~ Solo Brooklyn (577 Records, 9 January)

Many Hands ~ There are Moss Balls in Paradise (Variable Recordings, 9 January)

Pullman ~ III (Western Vinyl, 9 January)

Tim Handels ~ Liminal Spaces (9 January)

Conan the Accountant ~ Hail Satan (11 January)

Slow Dancing Society ~ The Disappearing Collective Vol. II (Past Inside the Present, 14 January)

Haeun Joo ~ Just Gravity (577 Records, 15 January)

Christopher Hoffman ~ REX (Out of Your Head, 16 January)

Cindytalk ~ That We Must Pass Through This Life (LINE, 16 January)

Haeun Joo ~ Just Gravity (577 Records, 16 January)

Julianna Barwick & Mary Lattimore ~ Tragic Magic (InFiné Éditions, 16 January)

Kenny Reichert ~ Live in Chicago (Shifting Paradigm, 16 January)

Luis Fernandes & Pierce Warncke ~ Culatra (Room40, 16 January)

Strangebird-Sounds ~ Minerals from the Crust (Audiobulb, 16 January)

William Tanner Smith ~ Perpetual Guest (Sawyer Editions, 16 January)

Yamila ~ Noor (Umor Rex, 16 January)

V/A ~ Isla’s Calm Cloud (whitelabrecs, 17 January)

V/A ~ Sleeplaboratory6.0 (whitelabrecs, 17 January)

Troy ~ Echoes of Ancient Life (Infrastructure New York, 19 January)

Machinefabriek ~ SPELONK (Crónica, 20 January)

rat ~ Home (Futura Resistenza, 20 January)

microplastique ~ Many Roads (Irritable Mystic, 22 January)

Clare Cooper & Jean-Philippe Gross ~ Nevers (EICH, 23 January)

Craven Faults ~ Sidings (Leaf, 23 January)

Emily Manzo ~ Time in Water (Gold Bolus, 23 January)

Erik Hall ~ Solo Three (Western Vinyl, 23 January)

Ian Wellman ~ Particularly Dangerous Situation (Elevator Bath, 23 January)

Jannis Anastasakis ~ Solaris (Room40, 23 January)

Various Artists ~ 10 (Aquaregia, 23 January)

WAAN ~ We Want WAAN (Sonar Kollektiv, 23 January)

YĪN YĪN ~ Yatta! (Glitterbeat, 23 January)

Regan Bowering ~ A Technology of Feeling (Infant Tree, 25 January)

Barry Walker Jr. ~ Paleo Sol (Thrill Jockey, 30 January)

Concrete Husband ~ Where the Ashes Glow (NNA Tapes, 30 January)

Daniel Decker ~ Deep Red Taupe (30 January)

David Moore ~ Gaze the Bell (RVNG Intl., 30 January)

Ishmael Ali Catalan Zghoul ~ Burn the Plastic, Sell the Copper (Amalgam, 30 January)

Markus Guentner ~ On Brutal Soil, We Grow (Affin, 30 January)

Max Ridley, Eleanor Elektra and Nat Mugavero ~ Playing, Praying (577 Records, 30 January)

Sam Wenc ~ Language At An Angle (Lobby Art Editions, 30 January)

Six Missing & Patrick Berg Almkvisth ~ Developments (Nettwerk, 30 January)

The Soft Pink Truth ~ Can Such Delightful Times Go On Forever? (Thrill Jockey, 30 January)

Toni Geltani ~ Wahj (30 January)

Greg Stasiw ~ Guesswork (Hidden Harmony Recordings, 2 February)

Brad Rose ~ The Sound Leaves (Room40, 6 February)

Carlos Giffoni ~ Pendulum (Room40, 6 February)

Chicago Gunfire Survivors ~ The Forgotten Parts (6 February)

Nick Schofield ~ Blue Hour (Backward Music, 6 February)

Rafael Anton Irisarri ~ Points of Inaccessibility (Black Knoll, 6 February)

Roudi Vagou and Läuten der Seele ~ Taghelle Nacht (Quindi, 6 February)

Sam Slater ~ Lunng (Mt Brings Death, 6 February)

Stray Theories ~ Falter (n5MD, 6 February)

Ragger ~ Euphonic Sounds (Hausu Mountain, 10 February)

Asher Levitas & Margaret Fielder McGinnis ~ Through These Red Windows (13 February)

Elizabeth Davis ~ Flowers (South of North, 13 February)

Harry Christelis ~ Preserving Fictions (Clonmell Jazz Social, 13 February)

Magda Drozd ~ Divided by Dusk (Präsens Editionen, 13 February)

Tomeka Reid ~ dance! skip! hop! (Out of Your Head, 13 February)

Trem 77 ~ Aepochs (13 February)

VierNulVier ~ Bezinksel (Award Winning Records, 16 February)

Western Grey ~ After Hours (Room40, 16 February)

Ebauche ~ Nine Times (Supple 9, 19 February)

Andreas Voelk & Scott Monteith ~ And All the Clocks Ran Dry (Room40, 20 February)

Brandon Seabrook ~ Hellbent Daydream (Pyroclastic, 20 February)

David / David ~ Blame Hero (577 Records, 20 February)

Marielle V Jakobsons ~ The Patterns Lost to Air (Thrill Jockey, 20 February)

Midori Hirano ~ OTONOMA (Thrill Jockey, 20 February)

Nathan Fake ~ Evaporator (InFine, 20 February)

Phew and Danielle de Picciotto ~ Paper Masks (Mute, 20 February)

Stephen Parisi Jr. ~ Buddy! (Shifting Paradigm, 20 February)

Werner Durand & John Krausbauer ~ Black Seraphim (Moving Furniture, 20 February)

Julia Govor ~ Riders on the Roof (JUJUKA, 26 February)

Asher Gamedze ~ A Semblance of Return (Northern Spy, 27 February)

Noémi Büchi ~ Exuvie (~OUS, 27 February)

Shane Parish ~ Autechre Guitar (Palilalia, 27 February)

Triple Blind ~ Cold Walk (27 February)

Cleared ~ Lustres (Room40, 1 March)

Joachim Spieth ~ Vestige (Affin, 6 March)

Bradford Reed ~ PETAL TONES (9 March)

Colleen ~ Libres antes del final (Thrill Jockey, 20 March)

more eaze ~ sentence structure in the country (Thrill Jockey, 20 March)