Last summer, I had the pleasure of joining about a dozen classmates in a roundtable discussion with the author and journalist Joan Acocella, perhaps most recognized as the dance critic for The New Yorker. Somewhere towards the end of the chat, I asked her whether she finds it necessary to immerse herself in the background of what she’s reviewing or if she feels comfortable evaluating something without really knowing its context.

More about: Martin Rev

A lot of techno searches for the hedonist in its fans. You know, the one who at six in the morning is still sweating it out on the dancefloor of a Berlin basement club and not bothered by the fact that they have work in three hours. But despite the heavy influence of techno on Hedrik Weber, a.k.a. Pantha Du Prince, Black Noise shows a different character. For starters, according to Wikipedia, black noise is “noise with a 1/fβ spectrum, where β > 2” — or, noise that is inaudible to humans. Why name a dance album after what amounts to silence?

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Like that hot guy who works in the wood shop around the corner, Local Natives’ debut LP Gorilla Manor is most attractive at its messiest. Replete with sweet piano, duetting guitars, and insistent drumming, the California quintet paints a mostly pretty picture. But it’s when they veer away from pretty that things get adorably hairy.

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Free of the pressure to create genre-bending music congruent with Test Icicles’ wild and lofty reputation, Devonte Hynes focused his first effort as Lightspeed Champion on simple heart-wrenching country-folk. Writing in a style seemingly nicked from Conor Oberst, Hynes turned in the pastoral and often quite beautiful Falling Off the Lavender Bridge, but those plaintive, whispery folk songs only hinted at the potential for his new vehicle. In fact, Life Is Sweet!

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It went without saying that ODDSAC, a “visual album” by Animal Collective and director Danny Perez, was gonna be good. In fact, it’s impossible to pair any visual idea with Animal Collective’s music at its core without inciting intrigue of some kind. This release was truly an event, and I’m lucky to have finally been held in its sick spell, one that I hope and pray more crazed sensibilities can feast their eternally frazzled senses on.

More about: Animal Collective (with Danny Perez)

Sorry Mr. President, but for a moment, let’s forget The Audacity of Hope. I want to talk about the audacity of longwindedness. It takes a lot for a band to stand up and say, “Hey guys. I know you’re used to an album usually lasting between 40 and 50 minutes, but we’ve got an hour and 12 minutes of material here, and we’re gonna make y’all listen to all of it.” To me, that’s pretty audacious, and I’ll tip my hat to it. That is, if it’s got something real to offer.

More about: Field Music