Obscure Sports Quarterly

It’s May, and you assholes are well overdue for your dose of my opinion! LET ‘ER RIP.

Sufjan Steven’s Age of Adz - 8.25

Sounds like: Somebody needs to call the doctor because Stevens has lost his mind. An Age of Adz audience member will witness Sufjan dropping the banjos and Bibles and picking up an orchestra of synth-flutes and progressive rock-worthy song lengths. Look at this guy. Thinks he’s Robert Fripp with a pretty voice.

Listen to: Age of Adz, Now That I’m Older, Get Real Get Right

One word to describe this album: Volcanic

TV On The Radio’s Nine Types Of Light - 8.0

Sounds like: Kyp Malone’s up to his old tricks again. Nine Types of Light is Confounding, unclassifiable but undeniably danceable, as any TVOTR record should be.

Listen to: Keep Your Heart, No Future Shock, Repetition

One word to describe this album: Bearded

Iron & Wine’s Kiss Each Other Clean - 9.0

Sounds Like: Same Beam has been listening to a lot of Paul Simon records while walking farther from his acoustic home. The grizzled indie god channels the mid-70’s songwriting greats to produce the warm, enveloping Kiss Each Other Clean.

Listen to: Your Fake Name is Good Enough For Me, Rabbit Will Run, Tree By The River

One word to describe this album: Pandiferous

Beastie Boy’s Hot Sauce Committee Part II - 7.0

Sounds like: Samples featuring throbbing baselines and the best lyricism/production combination the Beasties have mustered in years. It’s about damn time Hot Sauce Committee came out and reinforced my eternal faith in my favorite trio of Brooklyn Jews. Well, one of my favorites, at least.

Listen to: Too Many Rappers, Long Burn The Fire, Lee Majors Come Again

One word to describe this album: Hebrew

Radiohead’s The King Of Limbs - 7.5

Sounds like: Obtuse rhythms and spacial inequalities. That’s the most abstract description I have. Radiohead, man, I’m telling you.

Listen to: Bloom, Morning Mister Magpie, Lotus Flower

One word to describe this album: I would be sorely disappointed if Radiohead wrote an album I could describe in one word.

Amon Amarth’s Satur Rising - 8.0

Sounds like: Vikings storming the gates of Valhalla. With Satur Rising, Amon Amarth returns to the pummeling, melodic ferocity exhibited on Once Sent From The Golden Hall.

Listen to: Wrath of Norseman, The Last Stand of Frej, A Beast Am I

One word to describe this album: Runic

Fleet Foxes’ Helplessness Blues - 9.0

Sounds like: Ornately orchestrated folk with feautring Peter, Paul & Mary vocal harmonies and a spoonful of psychedelia. Helplessness Blues is an intricately woven eighteenth-century tapestry in sonic form.

Listen to: Montezuma, The Cascades, The Shrine/An Argument

One word to describe this album: Harmonious

Painted Palms’ Canopy EP - 8.5

Sounds like: Animal Collective-influenced lucid dream pop.

Listen to: Great White, Falling Asleep, Canopy

One word to describe this album: I don’t know, but keep your eye on these guys. I predict greatness in the future.