By Sam Tornow, General Manager [NON Worldwide; 2018] Rating: 8/10 Key Tracks: “Blackface”, “Ban Men”, “Broken Macbook”, “Petit Seige”, “Real Clothes” NON deserves your undivided attention. The collective, headed by Angel-Ho, Nkisi and Chino Amobi is challenging societal binaries through avant-club music, radical messaging and militant aesthetics. Comprised of 42 NON “citizens” (including artists like…
Tag: Sam Tornow
Album Review: Alva Noto & Ryuichi Sakamoto – Glass
By Sam Tornow, General Manager [Notion; 2018] Rating: 7.5/10 The longtime duo of Ryuichi Sakamoto and Alva Noto created the otherworldly sounds of Glass with one day of preparation. Performed during an art installation by Yayoi Kusama entitled Dots Obsession – Alive, to celebrate Phillip Johnson’s 110th birthday, the album aims to explore the concepts which…
Group Feature: ACRN’s Most Anticipated Albums of 2018
Will 2018 be as bright as 2017 for music? Here are our most anticipated albums of 2018! Jon Fuchs, Music Director: Current Joys – A Different Age Nick Rattigan has never made a bad record before. Whether it’s with guitarist Jacob Rubeck as Surf Curse or by himself as Current Joys, every record he’s been a…
ACRN’s Top 25 Albums of 2017
Tremendous year. 25 albums. The votes are in–here we go! 1. Kendrick Lamar – DAMN., [Interscope / TDE; 2017] By Jon Fuchs, Music Director DAMN. is only further proof that Kendrick Lamar is one of the greatest rappers of our generation. Instead of creating another concept record like good kid, m.A.Ad. city or To Pimp a Butterfly,…
ACRN’s Top 10 Most Disappointing Albums of 2017
2017 was great and all, but let’s not forget that we also had some high hopes and let-downs. Here’s our verdict: 1. Arcade Fire – Everything Now, [Columbia; 2017] By Adomas Fabin, Contributor Arcade Fire unexpectedly stepped back onto the stage last summer with their newest album Everything Now, produced by Thomas Bangalter of Daft Punk (the…
ACRN’s Favorite Tracks of 2017
From monumental releases to rockstar controversies, 2017 was a huge year for music. As the year comes to an end, here are ACRN’s favorite tracks from 2017. Give these tracks a good listen; they deserve it. Sam Tornow, General Manager: Yves Tumor – “Limerence” In passing, “Limerence” can sound like an interlude. The light, ethereal…
Album Review: Chief Keef – Dedication
By Sam Tornow, General Manager [Glo Gang; 2017] Rating: 5/10 Key Tracks: “Mailbox”, “Negro” Finishing up his release year, Chief Keef has thrown one last batch of tracks into the mix with the appropriately named, Dedication. Siso’s 2017 releases, like most of his career, have been hit or miss, peaking with his most dynamic release…
Album Review: Fever Ray – Plunge
By Sam Tornow, General Manager [Mute; 2017] Rating: 8/10 Key Tracks: “To The Moon and Back”, “This Country”, “IDK About You” Nearly a decade after the release of her legendary, critically-acclaimed, self-titled album, Fever Ray, aka Karin Dreiger, emerged from the embers with a single concluding with the line, “I want to ram my fingers…
Album Review: St. Vincent – MASSEDUCTION
By Sam Tornow, General Manager [Concord Music Group; 2017] Rating: 6/10 Key Tracks: “Hang on Me,” “Pills,” “Happy Birthday, Johnny” Nearly every artist has at least one just-getting-by album, a record lacking the expected depth of the rest of the musician’s discography. These albums garner hype post-release because of the brand of the artist and…
Album Review: Kelela – Take Me Apart
By Sam Tornow, General Manager [Warp; 2017] Rating: 8/10 Key Tracks: “Take Me Apart”, “Enough”, “Better” Kelela is an artist who bides her time, waits for the perfect moment and moves with stratagem. Despite lengthy gaps in projects, Kelela’s reverberations after releases have always solidified her position in relevancy. Both of her past projects, Cut…
Album Review: Ben Frost – The Centre Cannot Hold
By Sam Tornow, General Manager [Mute; 2017] Rating: 8/10 Key Tracks: “Threshold of Faith”, “Trauma Theory”, “Entropy in Blue” “Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony…
Album Review: Zola Jesus – Okovi
By Sam Tornow, General Manager [Sacred Bones; 2017] Rating: 7.5/10 Key Tracks: “Exhumed”, “Ash to Bone”, “Wiseblood” Zola Jesus’ latest release, Okovi, is equally as gigantic as it is fragile; as clear as it is reflective; as dark as it is light; as straightforward as it is abstract. Okovi, when translated from several Slavic languages,…
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