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No World Studios is hardly a “studio.” It’s a non-descript, vacuous shell.

Part of a suite of multi-purpose spaces tucked into a sleepy east LA suburb. Months earlier, the Aged brothers holed up in that void to fill it with the sounds of their debut album, No World.

And On January 16, the day of Yours Truly’s session with the two brothers, their two drummers, their cactus, and their incense, No World studios earned its stripes once more, morphing to become a vessel for the brothers brand of subtle, purposeful, soul.

Trent Reznor often seems more robot than man, like he plugs in and charges up each night instead of sleeping. Luckily, his musical output has proven reliably alive. Following Nine Inch Nails’ consistent excellence and stellar work scoring David Fincher’s The Social Network and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo comes the debut HTDA album, an impressively powerful affair.

Despite boasting such a dominant frontman, his wife and co-vocalist Mariqueen Maandig’s harmonious vocals rule here, adding something softer to the digitised beats of ‘On The Wing’ and ‘Keep It Together’. Only the overlong ‘Ice Age’ disappoints on a solid, often stunning record.

(Source: vimeo.com)

If you ask the Canadian producer and DJ Edward Currelly aka Eddie C to name you some things he hasn’t done yet but always wanted to, he answers: “Visit Greenland. Sell 45s off the back of my motorcycle in Jamaica.“ 

Those who know his music know that the answer is not only a dream, it is also a dreamy picture of the essence of his music: laid-back, deep, and heartfelt dedication - thats what his sound is about. Like chilling out on the seat of your Yamaha CB 200 while selling stress-free sevens of old reggae anthems under the clear blue Caribbean sky. 

His second album “Country City Country“ is full of such a laidback vibes, albeit less reggae-infused (apart from opener “Got I Own Thing”), and more funky. Disco-sample slo-mo groovers rub up against hip hop lopers and simple house movers. As a passionate record collector who had his own radio show, Eddie C lets his eclectic musical influences run free on “Country City Country”: West-Coast-rock, Balearic, funk, cosmic, boogie, house, string-laden disco deepness. It’s why the album can jump confidently from jazz to house, from dry jacking rhythms to cool rolling bass grooves, from wild clapping drum beats to playful uplifting Brazilian piano house madness. 

On “Country City Country” Eddie C turns his musical loves into one cohesive whole.

(Source: youtube.com)

Hierophant’s sophomore full-length, Great Mother : Holy Monster is an eight-song beast of blackened metallic hardcore fraught with D-beat and crust punk influence, with unexpected moments of speedy intensity and sludgy aggression lurking around every corner.

(Source: youtube.com)

A Pennsylvanian by birth, Keith Kenniff is an honors graduate of Boston’s esteemed Berklee College Of Music, best known as the brains behind dulcet ambient/electronic practitioners Helios and the fingers on the ivories of post-classical piano minimalists Goldmund (the latter’s music once described by no less an authority than Ryuichi Sakamoto as “so, so, so beautiful…”).

A succession of albums under those aliases has made Kenniff the darling of discerning critics and his music has also been widely used in film, television and advertising, not least on the soundtrack to Harmony Korine’s 2007 comedy-drama Mister Lonely and the trailer for the 2009 Academy Award-nominated Revolutionary Road, directed by Sam Mendes.

In 2007, Keith formed the band Mint Julep with his wife Hollie. Mint Julep was designed as a conscious departure from Keith’s previous projects.

Keith’s project Branches sees him return to his twinkling piano keys and the intensely atmospheric strings of his earlier solo work. Branches sounds like a journey that ebbs and flows through a wondrous forest, accelerating and slowing up to reveal beauty in all its little nooks and crannies.

The album is a haunting and beautiful work that will appeal to fans of Max Richter, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Nils Frahm and Hauschka.

Young Dreams exist in their own world; one influenced by the past but always looking forward. A sovereign nation of 12 like-minded souls, restless, eager and always dreaming.

Reggae is the foundation for Wild Belle, but psych-pop, Afrobeat, and blues-rock are the unlikely building blocks that make the band’sIsles a compelling debut.

Siblings Natalie and Elliot Bergman gained indie cred thanks to their opening spots on tours with Of Montreal and Toro Y Moi, but Elliot’s prior work in renowned Chicago jazz group NOMO is a hint that Wild Belle might not be just another fleeting buzz band.

Isles is a curiously diverse record, but because of all the genre crossover throughout, it’s easier to hear what Isles isn’t rather than pin down what it is.