#beyondless

1:45 AM EDT September 22, 2022:

Iceage - "Take It All" From the album Beyondless (May 4, 2018)

Last song scrobbled from iTunes at Last.fm

File under: Noir Punk

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Honorable Mentions: Aviary- Julia Holter, Eden and Ephorize- cupcakKe, Mudboy- Sheck Wes, Suspiria- Thom Yorke, Whack World- Tierra Whack

20. Astroworld, Travis Scott

Astroworld sounds like it was generated by an algorithm that aggregates popular rap trends into an unruly mass that really shouldn’t work, but does. I’ve never heard something that felt so in tune with and representative of the zeitgeist, so Hollywood, yet so unabashedly strange, so simultaneously crazed and collected, and so very much its own thing. 

19. Devotion, Tirzah

Tirzah and longtime collaborator Mica Levi make pop sound jagged and almost alien, and on Devotion, they craft sparse, looped melodies that are inviting, yet coarse, familiar, but foreign. She’s so skilled at making the intimate feel expansive and textured, weaving together disparate ideas into a rich tapestry of remarkable love songs. 

18. Beyondless, iceage

For iceage’s Elias Rønnenfelt, “beyondless” signifies “something that doesn’t have a beyond, something that doesn’t go any further.” It’s fitting, then, that there’s such a palpable sense of dread throughout Beyondless, an album that marries rattling guitars with lush orchestral arrangements, charting bloodthirsty soldiers, unavailable lovers, suicidal celebrities and the downfall of civilization to paint a frenetic portrait of the end of days.

17. I’m All Ears, Let’s Eat Grandma

A true pop odyssey where avant garde production and complex song structure meet top 40 hooks and bubbly vocals to deliver familiar ideas in a distinctly new package, stuffing delightful oddities into an entrancing, easily digestible whole, where each left turn and each delectable, unapologetically POP! moment feels fresh and earned.

16. Lush, Snail Mail

A remarkably assured slice of transporting indie rock that evokes the sense of riding in the backseat, looking wistfully out the window, or laying on your bed and staring up at the ceiling, feeling melancholy for no particular reason. At 19, Lindsey Jordan is already a master conjurer of big, uncontainable emotion, letting her crisp guitar and soothingly blunt vocals do the thinking for you.

15. Nasty, Rico Nasty

Nasty is a relentlessly intense listen, whether Rico is snarling over harsh, guitar- heavy sounds or embodying her daintier persona Tacobella on songs like “Why Oh Why,” chiefly because her presence as a rapper is gargantuan, and it’s clear she pours her whole self into every bar. She’s in your face, perhaps even a bit intimidating, but her grasp of a truly impressive array of styles and beats, and her witty lyricism consistently delight in this varied, confident major label debut.

14. Negro Swan, Blood Orange

Dev Hynes’s work as Blood Orange has never felt so laser-focused, so pared down to the bare essentials, or so refreshingly crisp and clear. It may not feel quite as grandiose as Freetown Sound, but there are fewer distractions and a clearer sense that Hynes has come into his own as an artist with a distinct voice and a palpable trust in his own process, and thus feels like an unfiltered transmission from deep within the soul.

13. Some Rap Songs, Earl Sweatshirt

It’s remarkable that Earl Sweatshirt could craft something so staggeringly personal, bewitchingly odd, and thematically dense in just 25 minutes, never letting a track hit the three minute mark. Pouring over the lyric sheet, researching references and samples could take hours, and each time you come back to it you might find some new sonic idiosyncrasy you hadn’t noticed before, making for a disorienting, powerful listening experience that lingers and haunts.

12. El Mal Querer, Rosalía

For an album that’s drawing from so many influences, simultaneously looking back to 13th century literature and borrowing from artists like Justin Timberlake and Arthur Russell, El Mal Querer is remarkably clear-headed and accessible, and somehow, with all its left turns, still reads as flamenco. It’s as assured an arrival on the global stage as I can recall in recent memory, announcing Rosalía as a fearsome pop auteur for the ages.

11. 7, Beach House