Patrick Hajduch
Emeralds: Just to Feel Anything (Editions Mego, 11/6/12)
Cleveland trio Emeralds made queasy, sprawling, psychedelic drone music prior to 2010, when it released Does It Look Like I’m Here? That album condensed the music into concise, direct, and absolutely stunning takes on the formula.
Just to Feel Anything is a new mutation in the Emeralds pattern.
Squarepusher: Ufabulum (Warp, 5/15/12)
“Dark Steering”
[audio:http://alarm-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Squarepusher_Dark_Steering.mp3|titles=Squarepusher: “Dark Steering”]Previously a ceaseless innovator, recent Squarepusher albums have followed a holding pattern: a strange departure that feints at a new direction (the strangely light-fusion-inflected pop of Just a Souvenir; the truly weird, limp lounge on the conceptual not-actually-a-full-band Shobaleader One: d’Demonstrator) is followed by an “okay, just kidding” return-to-form release (Numbers Lucent and Ufabulum, respectively).