AOTY 2025
Hello hello. This year I am doing something a little different. 2025 saw the release of no less than 3 bands who had a top album of the year for me at some point, plus a bunch of artists who I have featured before. A bunch of these albums I loved and would normally be on this list, however in the interest of keeping things interesting and also helping expose some lesser known acts, I have decided to focus on my favorite 10 albums from artists who haven’t been on a list before. I am pretty sure there will be at least one band in here that is new to you, and to me that’s what this list is really all about. So, while I could go on and on extolling the virtues of the new Deafheaven, Turnstile and Darkside records (all of which I loved), instead I invite you to explore something different. As always, I appreciate your time and support for the label and music in general. Thanks!
All these albums are also in a playlist with some other favorites from the year HERE
I have also made a playlist with my favorite single tracks of the year. You can check it out HERE
Pirouette by Model/Actriz
By far my most listened to album of the year is the sophomore effort from Brooklyn based Model/Actriz. The singles, Cinderella, Doves and Diva were on constant repeat for months and I had that feeling where nothing else sounded as good so I just kept listening to these same songs over and over. At the same time Paris (from Object As Subject) and I were working on the score to Chronology of Water so these songs became the soundtrack to that particularly crazy time in our lives. We would take breaks from working just to dance like fools to these songs.
And these songs, while on an initial listen sound more like noise rock tracks, propel themselves forward and it becomes impossible not to move to them. Nobody else is making dance music that sounds like this. Its herky jerky, its noisy and raw, the lyrics are incredibly personal and real. It eschews all the stereotypes of what dance music should be like and succeeds far better than whatever EDM or trance is considered more appropriate for people who want to move their bodies. And even more impressive is that this is a band that plays live and doesn’t rely on backing tracks or synthesizers, although its understandably confusing when the main guitar player plays his instrument like a noise machine rather than a melodic stringed device. It squeals and jitters and glitches out in unnatural ways and is completely captivating to me.
Singer Cole Haden keeps his lyrics squarely in the realm of his personal experience as a gay man on tour, living in America, dealing with his demons and getting into compromising situations. And while this approach seems highly specific, his imagery is applicable to so many people and situations. It transcends its narrator into something universal and important. By far my favorite record of the year.
Die In Love by Greet Death
Greet Death is a four piece shoegaze / alt rock band from Michigan who wear their influences on their sleeves but aren’t afraid to push forward with their own unique sound as well. They are the absolute best at making nice sounding music that is lyrically super dark shit. That dichotomy of light and ark suffuses the whole album with a sense of both hope and foreboding. The song Die In Love starts sounding like a My Bloody Valentine jam before switching gears to a major chord progression and a happy melody. Listen closer and the lyrics let you in on a little secret, all the pretty stuff is just a show. ‘Me and my love already have one foot in the grave, I just want to die in love and consummate my shame’. Oof.
The album also succeeds because it has two singers, each has their own distinctive voice both literally and lyrically. On the song ‘Country Girl’ Harper Boyhtari conjures a midwest scene that anyone from that area will relate to. Simple lyrics about family, fuck ups, smoking weed and watching horror movies because there’s nothing else to do. On the other side of the band is Logan Gaval who tends to be much more visual and metaphoric but no less impactful. Even on a basic acoustic song like ‘Small Town Cemetary’ he fills it with the angst and sadness of losing a partner effortlessly. His voice carries the kind of pathos that illicits emotion and makes me feel some of his pain, even if I will never match him.
Every song on here is great, I don’t skip anything. A fantastic album from a great up and coming band.
Dead Channel Sky by clipping.
The first time I heard about clipping. was on the podcast ‘60 Songs That Explain the 90s’ (an absolutely great podcast btw) on an episode about Nine Inch Nails. Two of the guys from the band were talking about how big an influence Trent was on their music and that got me interested. Dead Channel Sky came out shortly after I listened to that episode and instantly blew me away. Turns out there is a third guy in the band and that guy is Daveed Diggs, who was made famous by the musical ‘Hamilton’ where he played Thomas Jefferson. And holy shit, Diggs can rap his balls off. Is he the fastest rapper in the biz? Maybe? It would be hard to for me to believe that anyone can rap faster than he does on the track ‘Dodger’. Its the first thing you notice when you listen through this album. How the hell does that guy spit so fast. How does he not trip all over his own tongue as he moves through these incredibly complicated, intelligent tracks that range from guerilla warfare to drug dealing to mmorpg kids out of touch with reality. As he said in their recent Tiny Desk performance, ‘Real rap shit’.
After the initial shock of the BPM of the vocals I started to hear what Jonathan Snipes and William Huston were doing in the background and I had my mind blown for a second time. I don’t think its a coincidence that the title of the album is a lightly veiled reference to the first line of the novel ‘Neuromancer’ by William Gibson; ‘The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.’ That’s exactly what this album sounds like to me. Like the soundtrack to a dark, depressed world full of runaway technology and disenfranchised people. Old dial up modems, bit crushed to oblivion find their way into the mix. Radio static, 80s synths, acid bass lines and momentary glimpses of light define the sound of this album. Its that last one that really sticks out to me. On ‘Keep Pushing’ the best moment is when the strings come in at the last minute. Its like seeing the sun through the clouds for the first time in weeks, and as quickly as you saw it, its gone. That hope was momentary and fleeting and you are forced back into the reality of today, because thats the magic trick of this album. Its not some far future that we are trying to avoid. Its now and its real and I think this is the only band in the world that gets it.
Blight by The Antlers
The Antlers are a band that has been around for a long time. Held together by Peter Silbermann for the better part of 20 years, the band is an outlet for the progression of his life and what he has gone through. Back in 2009 they released the incredible record ‘Hospice"‘ which was featured on many best of lists and considered a classic. They could have stayed the course and released follow up albums that did the same thing, but they didn’t. Life doesn’t stay the same from year to year, so why should Silbermann’s output? Every Antlers record is something new. Something unexpected. For Blight the focus is on the last five years. The pandemic, which we all want to be over and done with, is still here. On ‘Something In The Air’ its the main character. The collective trauma we have as people is ingrained in the song and forces us to deal with it. On the title song you can hear Silbermann wrestling with his guilt over the capitalistic society that destroys the environment around us while he orders things on Amazon. How can we live in such a fractured state? Why is nobody else freaking out?! That energy can be difficult to process and I think this album can help anyone struggling.
deathdotcom by deathdotgov
Probably the most obscure band in this list is the four piece deathdotgov from Phoenix, AZ. I discovered them through this most recent record and was immediately in touch with them to see if they wanted to make a follow up for Lost Future (maybe more on that later). This album has all the things I love in music. Wild switches in style and presentation, sometimes in the same song? Check. An amazing drummer who matches the intensity of the other musicians? Yep. A lead singer who is at times fragile and at times an absolute screaming demon? For sure. Deathdotcom reminds me of Refused for its musicianship and genre bending songs. It also sounds like what would happen if Black Country, New Road made a metal album because of its musical instrument choices and that ridiculously awesome saxophone that comes in and out of the album. And lastly it reminds me of my beloved Blood Brothers through its vocal performances and incredible energy. That’s a pretty amazing list of influences and call outs but this band totally deserves it.
The Beep Test by God Alone
The most recent add to my favorite albums of the year comes from this incredible Irish quintet. Ireland is absolutely on fire with great bands and artists right now. Ever since the Irish government started subsidizing working artists, the output of truly astonishing stuff has gone through the roof. Now that the pilot program has been made permanent I look forward to more and more Irish music coming across to the US.
The Beep Test is the evolution of the sound made (semi) famous by countrymen And So I Watch You From Afar, in that its mainly instrumental but when vocals come in they are always necessary and hit hard. God Alone also likes to party so in between noisy post-metal driven tracks they bust out some incredible dance grooves that remind me of Soulwax with a metal frontman. On the song ‘Sir Laplage’ the combo of heaviness and dance is just perfect. This back and forth on the album between metal and dance sounds disjointed but instead it gives the listener a chance to move their body, to do some headbanging before diving back into the heavier, mathier stuff. Its cathartic and necessary on such a dense record. Every time i listen through this album I am always disappointed when its over. A good sign to be sure.
Reliquary by Reid Willis
The biography for Reid Willis says he is a classically trained pianist but there is almost no piano on this album. Instead, this record focuses on cinematic textures and extremely intricate, percussive beats, made from a collection of analog sounds and found sounds. Each tracks bristles with energy from these hypnotic and surreal soundscapes. I find myself getting lost on these tracks when I listen on headphones, trying to figure out how he made each beat sound so unique and original.
While I think the beats and drums are the standout thing here, the music surrounding them is equally as amazing. The moments of melody on ‘Mutual Fawn’ bring a technicolor spectrum to the music before a song like ‘The Gnawing’ drops us back into a post-industrial landscape. Willis was a child prodigy and was composing his own music at 8 years old. I think Reliquary really delivers on his promise and I would love to see him compose music for a film or some other media.
Tracked in Mud by Cassels
Cassels are two brothers riffing off each other and making some very gloomy rock music. They have a musical language that you can tell has been developed over many years of playing together, and the interplay between guitar and drums is the best thing about them. These songs bristle with anger and emotion and only explode at key moments. The band prefers the slow deadly burn, that makes the listener unsure of whats around the next corner or how the next section of a song will go. That mystery makes each song a fun trip and the album flows from the heaviest stuff to the most sparse tunes over its length. It feels like a descent into something harrowing and terrible. But you know, in an enjoyable way.
Dance Called Memory by Nation of Language
Probably the most well known band on this list is the Brooklyn trio Nation of Language. They have been making great records for a few years but I think Dance Called Memory is probably their strongest work to date with songs like ‘In Your Head’ and ‘Inept Apollo’ really anchoring the album and the sound of the band. They emulate 80s new-wave without copying it. They incorporate indie song writing and sounds without sounding like everyone else. This is probably in large part due to lead singer, Ian Devany, and his gorgeous singing voice. Seriously the dude could sing a shopping list and it would probably be beautiful. I love the restraint in this band and how they never do more than is absolutely necessary at any given time. It really sounds like 3 people playing music, instead of 3 people plus a hundred backing tracks.
A Thousand Years in Another Way by Activity
Another great find this year from the r/indieheads weekly playlist was this New York based experimental band and their album ‘A Thousand Years In Another Way’. What makes this album so special is the band’s dedication to taking the songs into weird and surreal places to see what they can uncover. A song like ‘Your Dream’ might start sounding like a normal indie song, but a couple minutes in and you’re on a voyage through some new sonic textures. ‘We Go Where We’re Not Wanted’ is my personal favorite. Its electronic textures and drums giving way to dreamlike chorale section and a spooky lead guitar. Each song is evocative lyrically too with themes of abuse, failure and a generalized sense of dread that permeates each tune. Katie pointed out that the lead singer also sounds a lot like Billy Corgan so that might have something to do with it for me as well…
There we go! Another year, another list. Honestly, what a great year for music. I never lacked for something interesting and new to listen to. As always, I appreciate you taking the time to peruse this list, and if you have suggestions or records I should have put on this list, don’t hesitate to let me know.
BMOTY 2024
Music remains as vital to me as it did when I started making these lists 10+ years ago. It remains my salve for hard times, my obsession, my job, my passion. No matter what happens in the outside world, I know for a fact that there will always be new music to discover, new bands to research and new albums to be on this list. As always, these are just what I listened to and enjoyed the most this year. Maybe you’ll find something you like in here and if not, that’s cool too. Let me know your favorites and I will give them a listen.
Sega Bodega was my introduction into a world of underground pop music that I was not familiar with prior to this year. To me, pop music is boring because, by necessity, it has to fit certain forms and guidelines. Like when a chorus hits, when verse 2 comes in, how many beats per minute are acceptable. Its boring, vapid music played in malls and on commercials.
Or so I thought.
Little did I realize that there are artists out there who take the concept of pop and twist it to fit new forms, who take those restrictions and toss them out the window in favor of originality and emotion. They don’t have millions of listeners on Spotify, they don’t play giant arena shows or show up on Disney soundtracks. Artists like Eartheater, Dorian Electra, Oklou and others are paving their own look and sound, uninterested in what the ‘mainstream’ is doing.
On his third record as Sega Bodega, producer Salvador Navarrete creates a near perfect album that epitomizes this new wave of pop music. Written while in the middle of a manic period, the record shifts in tone from the frenetic, chaos fueled energy that marks mania to a dark, brooding and somber tone during the depressive come down phase. Songs like ‘Kepko’ and ‘Elk Skin’ could almost be dance songs, but are more suited for headphones, while later on the album songs like ‘Humiliation Doesn’t Leave A Mark’ are best late at night when everything is dark inside and out.
However, the real outstanding piece here is the central song of the album ‘Set Me Free I’m An Animal’ which the whole rest of it revolves around. Built around a simple guitar pattern and a vocal melody processed to oblivion, it manages to convey the raw emotion of being a human and not in control of anything in a short three and a half minutes. “Letting go of all that I could be” is the theme here, relinquishing control of the self and letting the animal run wild. A reclaiming of our very nature as dumb beasts. Its an absolutely stunning song and album and my favorite of the year.
A Swarm of the Sun - An Empire
Just when I think post-rock is dead and played out, I hear an album like this and it brings me right back. A Swarm of the Sun are a Swedish duo that are unafraid to take the time necessary to build their drama and their mood so that when the inevitable crescendo finally comes, it feels deserved. It feels necessary. Eschewing the generic arpeggiated guitars and fx pedals of most other post-rock bands, ASOTS instead focuses on pianos, organs and trombones, to craft their sonic landscape. When guitars do enter, they absolutely crush the listener in waves of distortion and heaviness.
Lyrically, the band uses simple haunting phrases to communicate their message. Which empire is the band talking about when they sing “It leaves me inside this / inside this silence / in this empty place / leaves me to suffocate”? Or when they say “Breathe in the light / breathe in the smoke”? This is about a world as an empire. A stifling place we are all being forced to fit into and we are running out of air. The catharsis delivered by the heavy parts of this record are a way to express that rage, paranoia and helplessness that is dominating every day life for many.
One of the big trends in the metal scene this year was the break out of the hardcore / metalcore genre into a bigger audience. Bands like Knocked Loose and Gel have penetrated into the mainstream more than any other act before them and it's a great thing because it's giving other totally underrated bands a chance at success. Bands like Heriot, Missouri Executive Order 44 and Lifecrusher all made awesome records this year that I may not have heard were it not for more metalcore bands being pushed on socials and represented by labels.
For me, the best of the bunch came from the Finnish group RATS WILL FEAST. All the important elements of the genre are here: crazy fast riffing and drumming, tasty breakdowns that have my head banging and a blistering vocal performance. What sets RWF apart is how they sneak in a quiet breakdown here and there, or on penultimate song ‘Tourmaline’ manage to write a whole post-rock song that kills. The album also has a melodic theme that plays out in several songs. It all feels more mature, more refined and more intentional than you’d expect from such a young band. I hope they get way more attention in the future.
The current landscape of indie rock is dominated by 90s revival acts embracing the distortion pedal and writing riff based alt rock songs. It's fine and good, but at the risk of sounding like a sad old man, it's all been done before. Maybe living through it once makes it a little less cool the second time around.
A bright spot in the indie rock landscape this year came from the Seattle based group Glass Beach. The album opens with a rumination on what makes art and how its created before diving into a set of songs so diverse that it really left me wondering if it was all the same band on my first listen. It actually reminds me of another 90s band, Tripping Daisy, not so much in sound but in the spirit of wild abandon in their song writing. Nothing is off limits and everything is worth trying. Drop in some black metal screaming before going into an orchestral James Bond-esque interlude? Sure, that's the song ‘Slip Under The Door’. Start like a normal indie rock song before bringing in a full horn section and creating an acid jazz freakout? No problem, that's the song ‘Motions’. How about a 9 minute progressive rock song to close the album? Yep, that’s ‘Commatose’. You get the idea. In a landscape where bands are content to rehash and paint with one color, Glass Beach are an explosion of light.
Anyone familiar with this list will recognize Jaar’s name. He has been one of my favorite artists in any medium for 10 years. His originality and creative spark are unmatched and whenever he releases a record, I take it very seriously, trying to unpack what he has going on, the themes he’s working with and where he might be going next. Piedras was an evolving project started in 2020 as a piece for an art installation. It morphed into a radio program and then a full play and this album is the soundtrack for all those. The play's central theme revolves around the idea that truths, memories and identities speak from the cracks, or the "in-between" spaces. That idea is played out in the music as transmissions from another place or time. These songs sound old, new, timeless, all at once. The highlight song for me is ‘Aqui’ which revolves around the phrase “Tell me what its like to be from here”, a line written about the brutal dictatorship that Chile experienced under Pinochet, but still very accurate to many currently in the US. Is identity where you are from or where you are?
Pretty sure this is the album most people will have at least heard of, but for good reason. Freeing Thom and Johnny from Radiohead has produced some of their most original work in years. You still get the Thom piano ballad and the Johnny Greenwood guitar freakouts but they feel like they come from a different artistic place. They aren’t beholden to an older project and a stadium of fans to worry about what’s acceptable (not that Radiohead ever really cared), but something like the end of ‘Under Our Pillows’ would be a hard sell in between Karma Police and Creep. For me the most noticeable aspect of their second, and best, record is how it can switch between feeling very loose in its structure and performance to sounding incredibly tight and arranged. No song embodies this more than the penultimate song ‘Bending Hectic’. The drums here sound like they are just playing at the edges of the beat during the verse. Thom’s voice floats over the top unconcerned with taking too long on any particular phrase or word. Johnny’s guitar bends in and out of tune throughout. But then the chorus hits and you realize, this isn’t some improvised group jamming it out, but a powerhouse of a writing team at the top of their game, and its all part of the act. They want you to believe they no longer give a shit, but that just makes it all the more powerful when you realize they still do.
Childish Gambino - Bando Stone and the New World
Of the two Childish Gambino records released this year, Bando Stone was the one that I kept coming back to. To me, Donald Glover is one of only a few true artists working today who has an uncompromising vision of who he is and what he wants to create. Between his genre defying videos, his award winning shows and his massive albums this guy has nothing left to prove. So when he says he is making a movie and doing the soundtrack himself, I have total confidence that it will be interesting and worth watching / listening.
People criticized this album for being too all over the place in terms of style. He’ll move through a total rock n roll anthem like ‘Lithonia’ straight into a progressive R&B jam like ‘Survive’ before taking a detour into jazz with a guest spot from Kamasi Washington and finishing it up with a real hip hop jam like ‘Talk My Shit’. It's totally all over the place, and that’s exactly why I like it so much. Production on all the songs is absolutely top tier and I never get the sense that Glover is doing something half assed, even when he is doing a duet with his son to a backing track of the alphabet. It works because I feel like I am getting the full picture of the artist and not just one facet. He lays it all out for the listener and says “This is who I am”. No approval required.
Blood Incantation - Absolute Elsewhere
Death metal doesn’t get much more cosmic than this new album by Blood Incantation. Not just because the guitar solos are surrounded by solar system sized reverbs and vocals that seem to emerge from the event horizon of a black hole, but because the band knows exactly when to open up the sonic landscape with clean guitar, synth leads and even a Tangerine Dream guest spot. It reminds me more of Pink Floyd than any other metal album I could name drop, particularly in ‘The Message [Tablet II]’ which sounds like a Wish You Were Here outtake for half the song. This album is a voyage worth taking in one sitting, something that I thought was really lacking from most metal albums this year.
I was never a huge Black Midi fan, but the strength of the first song on ‘The New Sound’, the solo album from that band’s singer, was an instant hook for me. The Steely Dan-esque jazz freakout style of opener ‘Blues’ is like taking a shot of adrenaline before strapping in to listen through the stories that Greep weaves on these 11 songs. His characters are all pure sleaze and bluster. The plots of the songs almost always involve sex or death (or both). His rhythm section feels like a drunken bordello band while his guitar picks out chords like a porno soundtrack. Its all so lurid and graphic that it sometimes gets dangerously close to parody, but the musicianship is impeccable and the arrangements so tight you walk away thinking, “Man, what the fuck is wrong with that guy?”. I love that. Greep might be a cool dude in real life but you really don’t want to hang out with the characters in his songs.
Because I spent so much time working on the NoNight album this year I found myself listening to more edm than I usually do, but I am thankful for that because there are so many rad artists out there right now doing cool stuff. One of my favorites is British artist Kelly Lee Owens whose minimal take on dance music combined with her angelic voice is like a salve for difficult times. From opener ‘Dark Angel’ which sets the mood with an incredibly positive and uplifting synth line to closer ‘Trust and Desire’, a bittersweet vocal ballad, the whole album flows like a meditation on love, loss and dreams. With headphones it becomes transporting and easy to get lost in.
CLARION void release ‘Failure in repetition’
We are super excited to release the new album by Clarion Void ‘Failure In Repetition’ available now on vinyl and digital. Check it out on the label’s bandcamp or wherever you listen to music.
Lost future’s music of the year
As 2023 draws to a close and we celebrate our one year anniversary, a bunch of the bands here on the label picked their favorite albums and songs, presented below.
Ben Kaplan - Sleep Maps / Lost Future founder
Mario Infantes
Michael Stipe - Babel Map
Brian Horn - Ghosts of Searchlight
Marcus Storch - Flourish
Bryan Webb - Clarion Void
lost future discord
Lost Future Records now has a Discord channel where you can chat with bands, watch live streams, submit for consideration and just hang out with a bunch of cool musicians. Come say hi.
https://discord.gg/JkFpRSuDYj
babel map joins lost future
We are super thrilled to announce that Harrisburg, PA based Babel Map have joined Lost Future for an upcoming 2024 release. Their 2023 album CANCEL THIS! was one of our favorites of the year and we can’t wait to bring you more music from the band.
Flourish joins lost future
We are very happy to announce that Ohio based shoegazers Flourish have joined the Lost Future label for an upcoming 2024 release.
oak, ash & thorn release new 7 inch ep ‘eternal’
Colorado paganists Oak, Ash & Thorn have released their newest single on a 7 inch disc available on all streaming services and at the Lost Future bandcamp.
Object as subject release new album heretic
The new album by Philadelphia based singer, musician and composer Paris Hurley is now available on all streaming services and at the Lost Future bandcamp page.
Object As subject share new song “Monsoon”
Philadelphia based electro industrial collective Object As Subject release new video for first single MONSOON off their forthcoming album HERETIC, due out May 12
Harboured share video for impermanent cell
Denver black metal band Harboured have shared the first video for their song ‘Impermanent Cell’ from their forthcoming self titled debut album on Lost Future Records, out March 17. The video was directed by Kyle Lamar.
Sleep Maps finishes recording new album ‘Reclaim Chaos’
After a year of writing post-metal outfit Sleep Maps has finished recording their 5th LP. Expected to release in late 2023.
After a year of writing post-metal outfit Sleep Maps has finished recording their 5th LP. Expected to release in late 2023.
Oak, Ash & Thorn join Lost Future
Colorado black metal stalwarts join the Lost Future roster with a new 7 inch single ‘Eternal’ out this spring with an EP to follow in late 2023.
Colorado black metal stalwarts join the Lost Future roster with a new 7 inch single ‘Eternal’ out this spring with an EP to follow in late 2023.
Harboured releases first single ‘Atlas to Fall’
Denver progressive Black Metal quartet Harboured share the first single today via Metal Insider from their forthcoming debut album.
Denver progressive Black Metal quartet Harboured share the first single today via Metal Insider from their forthcoming debut album. Hear and share "Atlas To Fall" HERE and via Bandcamp HERE and Spotify HERE.
The self-titled debut from Harboured is the opening statement of a band that already sounds like they are in their prime. Manic breakbeats paired with progressive metal riffs and melody are the band’s bread and butter, but they are not afraid of slipping into a more experimental sound on these 6 tracks. Opener “Anterior" uses synths and chanted vocals to set the stage for the next 35 minutes of absolutely brutal music. Guitarists Michael Stancel (Allegaeon) and Nick Hennig (Vimana) use a dual guitar approach to create walls of sound and intricate harmonies, while drummer Cierra White (Oak, Ash & Thorn) plays some of the most technically challenging material in modern metal. Bassist Brandon Michael (Allegaeon) completes the sound with his signature low end shredding. The result is a confident album that sounds well beyond the first outing for a band.
Formed in the bowels of the pandemic lockdown, Michael Stancel was looking to collaborate with friends in the Denver area on a new black metal project, one that could take the intricate guitar work he refined in Allegaeon and move into a less technical but no less powerful sound. He recruited White (Oak, Ash & Thorn) on drums, and Hennig (Vimana) on guitar to help develop the crushing sounds he had been creating on his own. Finally, he enlisted long-time Allegaeon bandmate Brandon Michael on bass and completed the quartet. The band recorded their debut self-titled LP with producer/engineer Scott Evans (Kowloon Walled City) at his Oakland based studio, Anti-Sleep.
Harboured will be available on LP, CD and digital on March 17th, 2023 via Lost Future Records. Preorders are available HERE.
LF Favorite Albums 2022
Its the time of year when I get to rant on and on about the music I really loved in the hope of bringing a little bit of exposure to some bands that I felt deserved it. All these albums were on repeat for me at various points in 2022 and
Its the time of year when I get to rant on and on about the music I really loved in the hope of bringing a little bit of exposure to some bands that I felt deserved it. All these albums were on repeat for me at various points in 2022 and helped shape the year that was. Hope you find something you like!
Best Songs 2022 Spotify Playlist
Combine shoegaze, post rock, alt rock and metal with some black metal vocal touches and you get Holy Fawn. This is an epic album crossing genres and classifications that moves from beautiful instrumental passages to meditative ambient sections to all out head banging, sometimes in one song. If this is the future of post - whatever, I am all in for it. Sit back and let it absorb you.
This is a one-man band from San Diego who builds all his own bespoke midi controllers. They are designed like machines to contstrict his limbs, wrap around his throat, and generally challenge him physically to convey a sense of the difficulty of the artist and the machine oriented world we have built for ourselves. This is the most listenable album from the Author and Punisher project, partially because of the inclusion of collaborators like Danny Carey and Perturbator, but also because the album is full of 90s era hooks and harmonies run through the Punisher machine but you can actually sing along.
Amos Roddy - Citizen Sleeper OST
Citizen Sleeper is a game about being stranded on a space station with a limited time to live. You make connections with others on the station and help them solve their problems, but ultimately your goal is to go back to the stars. The soundtrack evokes this feeling of loneliness in every note and in every beat while somehow also projecting the fantastic dream of space and its myriad possibilities. Alternately melancholy and hopeful, ambient and beat driven. Best soundtrack of the year for sure.
Jean Jean was top of the list a few years ago, and their follow up album is also an amazing, and too short, collection of Soulwax inspired dance music using a minimal palette of guitar, synths and live drums. The energy is undeniable and the high points of these songs genuinely make me feel ‘the lift’ that so many artists try to find. Best driving around at night music.
This Swiss band has been combining soul vocals with black metal for a couple records, but I think this year’s offering was the ultimate realization of their sound. Haunting and brutal both in instrumentation and vocal delivery. Real headbanging stuff.
Deserta - Every Moment, Everything You Need
This is a shoegaze band from LA who I initially wrote off as good, not great, but this album stayed in my head and I kept listening over and over. Before I knew it I was hooked and I realized it was the definition of a ‘grower’ of a record. One that makes you remember various parts of it while brushing your teeth or putting on pants. And when I would remember some riff or melody that I really liked, I would spin it one more time.
The Allegorist - Blind Emperor
The project of Anna Jordan, a Berlin based electronic artist, The Allegorist makes dark ambient dance music about the collapse of civilization. Without vocals she is free to explore the soundtrack to this dystopian reality and let the listener supply the narrative. I know I wrote one in my head over the many listens I gave this record and I bet you would too.
Hands down the best album by an ex punk drummer turned gay cowboy crooner you will hear all year.
A beautiful jazz album with electronic elements that features Heidel’s saxophone playing in new and unique ways. The production here is on point and every song has a warm sound that invites you in for multiple listens. Best album to play with your morning coffee.
Jockstrap - I Love You Jennifer B
These guys were one of the main hype bands of the year, showing up at #1 on many lists from respectable publications, and for good reason. This is the weirdest ‘indie pop’ album i’ve heard. Anchored by an amazing vocalist and a fantastic producer, there is nothing off limits for this group. They want to drop a beat into a ballad? No prob. They want to end the album with a straight up dubstep dance song? Ok sure. This album also has the song of the year for me in ‘Concrete Over Water’, an astonishing piece that moves easily from ballad to glitch hop over 6 minutes.
LF Favorite albums of 2021
Check out my new fancy website! Now I have a real place to talk about all the awesome music you should have listened to during the year (in addition to all the great releases on our little label here).
Check out my new fancy website! Now I have a real place to talk about all the awesome music you should have listened to during the year (in addition to all the great releases on our little label here). Without further ado!
GLOW ON by TURNSTILE
This is an unabshedly fun album full of amazing hooks, great guitar riffs, banging drums and a enough surprise moments to keep me interested every listen. From the absolute best rock song of the year in HOLIDAY to the weird 80s Duran Duran inspired NEW HEART DESIGN the album rocks from front to back and makes you move at the same time. There were a ton of really serious albums this year about how terrible everything is, but it was this uplifting and inspiring album which kept me going through some tough periods.
2. The Apple Drop by Liars
Liars are a band I have listened to for many years and stayed interested in, mainly because every album is a different aspect of frontman Angus Andrews strange musical sensibilities. This year’s Apple Drop combines elements of previous releases but also weaves in a level of listenability that has previously not been a concern. The result is the most cohesive and enjoyable album from the band.
3. Spiral by DARKSIDE
My love of Nicholas Jaar is well documented over the last ten years of writing these lists. He is consistently the most inspiring DJ and producer for me, whether he is working with FKA Twigs, making remixes for Florence and the Machine or writing his own experimental sound collages. Darkside is his collaboration with the guitarist David Harrington and together they made my fave album of 2013, Psychic. This follow up is many many years in the making (and we probably have to thank COVID that it happened at all) and it does not disappoint. Songs like Lawmaker and Spiral are classic Darkside while other songs like Liberty Bell and Inside is Out There take a more dancey and relaxed approached to their sound, maybe inspired by Jaar’s more recent work under the moniker Against All Logic. The end result is another trip through Jaar’s mind into the darker corners of electronic music.
4. HEY WHAT by Low
Hey What sounds like the direct sequel to 2018’s Double Negative which is a good thing. That was an incredible album full of out of this world production from BJ Burton and this album follows nicely in its footsteps. BJ is once again the producer, Low once again sings about the inherent dread in every day life events and they create soundscapes somewhere between ambient haze and noise addled anxiety. The final song, The Price You Pay, is an absolute stunner that wraps up the whole album and 2021 in general.
5. Fire by The Bug
Absolute bangers from British producer and musician Kevin Martin. He employs some well known and lesser known names from the UK grime and drill scene and gets them all to turn in amazing performances. This album hooked me more than any rap album I can think of mainly because of the frightening post-apocalyptic vision of the world of the future that it conjures up. Sirens wail, bombs drop, people are screaming and running in the streets and we are all witnessing the beginning of it through Martin’s lens of synths and drums.
6. Vanities by W.H. Lung
The last album that this 5 piece from the UK made was overlooked when they released it a few years back. Their follow up is an even more confident and assured album of dream pop and krautrock that hits all the right feelings. Lead singer Tom Sharkett’s voice is on point and the band backing him up moves through all these songs with a professional demeanor that belies their young age and minimal output so far. The songs Showstopper and Somebody Like have both been on repeat for me since the album released months ago.
7. For the first time by Black Country, New Road
When I first heard this album it sounded like it came from some long lost 80s minimal wave compilation of lost gems. The band truly conjures the post-everything songwriting and production of those old releases in new and interesting ways. They are already releasing a follow up in the same year so they are proving to be a prolific voice in the UK post-punk scene.
8. G_d’s Pee AT STATES END! by GY!BE
Way back in 2001 when I was first introduced to Lift Yer Skinny Fists by Godspeed You! Black Emperor it was one of the most life changing albums of my entire life. I had never heard of post-rock, the genre that I mainly write in now, and had never seen something as ambitious and epic in scope as what this band had done on that album. As the progenitors of the genre they have now been copied many times by many bands all looking for that same mojo. I actually include the band themselves in that group because since that album GYBE has sounded like a band trying to recapture the magic of that time, but never quite succeeding, however this year’s album feels like they finally got it back. The songs are more composed than previous releases and the band feels cohesive again. The inclusion of radio messages and found sounds only helps add to the same feeling I got all those years ago.
9. Luminol by Midwife
This is a pretty strange choice for me, since it doesn’t fit in nicely with what I am usually drawn to, but when this album released I was working hard on a TBA album and it was the perfect counterpoint to what I was writing. Quiet and minimal in all the best ways, with moments of energy that release all that pent up energy is what this one woman band focuses on. Songs like God is a Cop take their time to evolve and develop, anchored by the telephone like vocals of frontwoman Madeline Johnston. This was another album made during quarantine and one of the only ones that manages to encapsulate that terrible feeling from early 2020.
10. Agor by Koreless
A late addition to my list this year, but when I saw it listed on Bleep’s list at #1 I had to give it a listen and I am very glad I did. This is as psychedelic as an electronic album can get. Subverting all my expectations and making me rethink what experimental electronic music can do. The precision and production of this record is impeccable and without equal this year. It sounds like someone took about 15 years to put this together and its painstaking in every drum hit, every synth beep and every cut up vocal. Madness.
Welcome to the label
We are officially getting this website online and it will be the portal for all future Lost Future artists. Currently accepting submissions lostfuturemusic at gmail dot com
We are officially getting this website online and it will be the portal for all future Lost Future artists. Currently accepting submissions lostfuturemusic at gmail dot com