This week’s best albums
– With a propulsive blitz that features compelling dynamic shifts, epic vocals, and hazy atmospherics, prog-core three-piece Wild Throne makes what should be one of the best debuts of 2014.
– Experimental super-group The Unsemble — including Duane Denison, Alexander Hacke, and Brian Kotzur — makes a debut that subverts expectations in myriad ways.
– Nick Waterhouse’s sophomore LP is more old-school rock ‘n’ roll that’s comfortable with genre jumps.
– Atlanta sextet Spirits and the Melchizedek Children incorporates psychedelia, folk, rock, post-rock, drone, and soundtrack-worthy instrumental passages in a uniqueness that burns through every note of singer/songwriter Jason Elliott’s vision.
– Tapping French composer Alexandre Desplat to add French flair to Eastern European flavor, idiosyncratic filmmaker Wes Anderson proves that his soundtracks remain as important as his A-list talent.
Honorable mentions
Each Other: Being Elastic (Lefse)
Earth Crisis: Salvation of Innocents (Candlelight)
Laibach: Spectre (Mute)
Nothing: Guilty of Everything (Relapse)
Psalm Zero: The Drain (Profound Lore)