Stream of the Crop: 6 New Albums for Heavy Rotation 2/11

On this seventh album, the quietude of Tassili (their 2011 album that features guest appearances from TV On The Radio) is adroitly combined with the driving edge of 2013's Emmaar. Even their 2015 Live In Paris album is reflected with a rerecording of "Tiwayyen." Live, this is performed furiously, culminating in controlled chaos, but here the delivery is taut and restrained and no less potent for it[…] Altogether the album can be taken as a reaffirmation of belief, a statement of intent amplified even in the face of perhaps unassailable forces.

—Zachary Lipez, "There's No Borders for Art": Watch Tinariwen's Video for "Sastanàqqàm"

"On his first eponymous solo album, Uptown, de Brauw takes a marked detour from the triumphant "instru-metal" that has become Pelican's signature. Instead, the album revels in slow, atmospheric drones with titles like "They Keep Bowing," "You Were Sure" and "Turn Up For What." In fact, the music has hardly anything in common with Pelican's—beyond the fact that it's almost entirely instrumental and has a distinct cinematic quality"

—J Bennet, "Pelican Guitarist Trevor de Brauw Wants To Take You Uptown"

Lead image by Marie Planeille via Tinariwen on Facebook.

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