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Age of Transparency

The Top 30 Records of 2015

Music ListTransverso MediaComment
2015 year end photo.png

3. Beach House - Thank Your Lucky Stars

Thank Your Lucky Stars acts as both an extension of and pivot point for Beach House’s career as a whole. Many may want the band to actively change in a progressive way, but the band chooses to continually broaden their sound in the most familiar and microscopic ways possible instead. Perhaps one of the best integration of all five preceding albums, you hear the metronome, drums are crisper, individual instruments are audible, and Victoria Legrand’s lyrics are unexpectedly discernible at certain points. It's what works for them, and its afforded Beach House the ability to carve out a dream-pop legacy (and avoid becoming a caricature) on their own terms.

 

2. Majical Cloudz - Are You Alone?

Are You Alone? takes off where the Montreal duo’s preceding Impersonator left off; a paradox of bare-bones, minimalist soundscapes ebbing with lush depth that are somehow simultaneously tranquilizing and uplifting. Welsh’s immaculately vulnerable monologues and unflinching vocals are gently bold, and they drive their synth lullabies forward with severe care. It's Welsh at his most overbearing, and yet his tight grip is irresistible. Calculatedly organic, passionately controlled, it’s a journal reading in a dream.

 

 

1. Tame Impala - Currents

Currents is the most adventurous, interesting, and well-produced collection of songs Kevin Parker has created thus far, sitting atop Tame Impala's discography as the most mature and painstakingly crafted iteration in their twisted psych-pop world. From the lush synth tracks that bubble through the mix to his effortless, washed out vocals, every sound is rendered with the utmost care. Currents proves Parker is unable to stick with a certain sound, forever looking for new ways to evolve his ideas and push his project beyond what was expected when Innerspeaker first hit the shelves.

 

Autre Ne Veut Flies Under the Radar With 'Age of Transparency'

Music ReviewSean McHughComment

James Blake, SOHN, Rhye, How To Dress Well, and JMSN serve as the current stalwarts of the nouveau amalgamation genre best known by joke-portmanteau-turned-legitimate-label PBR&B. A relatively young genre in the mainstream, PBR&B’s rise to popularity has left some artists within its classification unjustly understated, and none more so than Arthur Ashin, AKA Autre Ne Veut.

The journey of Autre Ne Veut has not gone totally unrecognized – sophomore record Anxiety enjoyed its fair share of critical success as one of the best albums of 2013, but Autre Ne Veut still couldn’t quite breach the surface of the zeitgeist. Because of his atypical approach to the genre, Ashin’s foray into PBR&B has been a bit of an exercise in futility. With third album, Age of Transparency, the unabashed nature of Ashin’s vocal and musical deconstructions suggests that mainstream success within PBR&B was never his aim.

Opening track, “On and On,” showcases Ashin’s warbling vocals atop airy piano that never quite reaches a true coda, and hysteric percussion that writhes and jolts with the increasing fury his voice. 

Second track, “Panic Room,” corrals itself and sets the tone for what the rest of Age of Transparency will actually turn into. More akin to a light 80s power ballad than PBR&B pillow whispers, Ashin continues to utilize his clamorous vocals to plead “I don’t want to feel like you are not here with me;” setting a more vulnerable lyrical tone, more apparent than earlier Autre Ne Veut endeavors.

The musicality is much more involved in Age of Transparency, with tracks like “Cold Winds” mixing bedroom bass and industrial rock ala Nine Inch Nails, the title track adding a little bit of St. Elmo’s Fire style jazz, and the final two tracks – “Over Now” and “Get Out” – both feature tinges of folk and gospel within their depths.

Ultimately, where Autre Ne Veut’s unorthodox modus operandi has failed to meet mainstream standards of PBR&B, the “mainstays” of the melded genre have failed to develop and come into their own the way that Ashin has. Age of Transparency is a triumph of continued development and understanding of a personal representation that will serve its producer better than any conventional approach possibly could, and its culmination is one of the most underrated albums of 2015.

Age of Transparency available now via Downtown Records.