Aesop Rock - Spirit World Field Guide (2020)
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Out of his entire expansive discography, Aesop Rock's production, flow, and relentless lyricism are on display better here than anywhere else.
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Meditative, ambient, improvised pipe-organ pieces played in an old English church. Áine O'Dwyer was given access to the organ for a few days under the caveat that she only play and record while the church was being cleaned. All the ambient noise from the activity around the organ is included. My favorite part is when an employee asks O'Dwyer to play something a little lighter because she was starting to freak people out.
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Devotional Sanskrit songs coupled with otherworldy lo-fi strings and synthesizers. Originally distributed to Coltrane's Vedanta students but eventually made its way to the public.
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Lush modal/post-bop jazz with some of my favorite musicianship. Andrew Hill's piano playing is incredible as ever but is matched or even outdone by Elvin Jones's absurd drumming and Bobby Hutcherson's magical vibraphone.
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Bluesy hard-bop jazz with Art Blakey's super unique drumming style.
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Early staple of the thrashy melodic death metal coming out of Sweden and still one of the best examples of the genre. Worst font of any metal album cover ever but the riffs make up for it.
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Extremely fun and energetic funk/soul with gorgeous horns and Baby Huey's awesome vocals. Posthumously released after Huey died at only 26.
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Sweet chamber/twee pop songs with beautiful instrumentation and melodies.
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Fun, catchy, addictive power pop/indie rock. The songwriting is incredibly tight and clean and the performances are fantastic.
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Dark, dense, heavy, anxious, claustrophic lyricism with equally atmospheric production. Billy Woods doesn't miss but this is probably his best.
