Hazy Days, Clear Tunes

  Grief in Slow Motion Tracklist: Burn the Witch Daydreaming Decks Dark Desert Island Disk Ful Stop Glass Eyes Identikit The Numbers Present Tense Tinker Tailor Soldier Sailor Rich Man Poor Man Beggar Man Thief True Love Waits There are albums that hit you like a storm — chaotic, immediate, full of noise. Then there are albums like A Moon Shaped Pool , which slip into your life like a fading memory, lingering softly in the background until you suddenly realize you’ve been holding your breath the whole time. Released in May 2016, A Moon Shaped Pool is Radiohead’s ninth studio album — and perhaps their most quietly devastating. It trades their trademark digital paranoia for something more organic and emotionally exposed. Where earlier albums like Kid A and Hail to the Thief turned their gaze outward, this one turns inward — deep into the ache of loss and longing. The opener, “ Burn the Witch,” is a deceptive start — a taut, string- laden track full of veiled social commentary....

D’Angelo’s Brown Sugar hit like a warm thunderstorm in the middle of the 1990s. At a time when R&B was leaning into slick, polished production and hip-hop crossovers, Brown Sugar sounded like it came from another dimension—one steeped in vinyl, incense smoke, and vintage Fender Rhodes. Yet it was also fresh, unfiltered, and emotionally raw. Alongside Maxwell’s Urban Hang Suite and Erykah Badu’s Baduizm, this album helped form the holy trinity that introduced the world to neo-soul. But D’Angelo’s take on soul music was darker, smokier, more spiritual—and undeniably sexy. Tracklist: Brown Sugar Alright Jonz In My Bonz Me and Those Dreamin' Eyes of Mine Sht, Damn, Motherf**er Smooth Cruisin' When We Get By Lady Higher Brown Sugar opens with its title track—a head-nodding groove drenched in organ swells, crunchy snares, and that unmistakable voice. The production is raw but perfectly balanced, and D’Angelo’s falsetto weaves through the haze with...

  When Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite arrived in 1996, it didn’t just introduce a new voice in R&B—it announced a movement. This was one of the key records in the neo-soul wave of the late 90s, standing alongside D’Angelo’s Brown Sugar and Erykah Badu’s Baduizm. Maxwell, then a relatively unknown 23-year-old from Brooklyn, delivered an album that felt timeless and sensual, mature far beyond his years. It was as much a love letter to classic soul as it was a blueprint for where R&B could go: smoother, subtler, and more emotionally nuanced. Tracklist: The Urban Theme Welcome Sumthin' Sumthin' Ascension (Don't Ever Wonder) Dancewitme ...Til the Cops Come Knockin' Whenever Wherever Whatever Lonely's the Only Company (I & II) Reunion Suitelady (The Proposal Jam) The Suite Theme Rather than a collection of singles, Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite plays like a continuous narrative—a night of seduction told through jazz-infused gro...

  Released in 2001, Death's Design is the fourth and final album from Diabolical Masquerade, the avant-garde black metal project of Anders "Blakkheim" Nyström, best known for his work with Katatonia. With this record, Blakkheim didn’t just end the project—he obliterated it in a blaze of experimental chaos. Death’s Design is not a collection of songs, but a 61-part fever dream masquerading as the soundtrack to a horror film that never existed. And that was the point. The album's concept—that it was composed as a score for an unnamed, possibly fictional movie—was later revealed to be a deliberate fabrication. But the illusion holds. Listening to Death’s Design truly feels like watching a cursed film flicker to life in your imagination, one scene at a time. It is an album steeped in misdirection, dread, and broken forms. Tracklist (Condensed by Movements): The album is broken into 20 "movements," containing 61 short tracks—many under a minute long. Listing each...

Released in 1994, Asphyx is the band’s third full-length album and the first without Martin van Drunen on vocals. In his place is bassist Ron van Pol, whose guttural, lower-register growl gives the album a different flavor—less anguished wail, more subterranean bellow. With founding guitarist Eric Daniels still steering the riffs, the album retains Asphyx’s unmistakable identity: a grim, war-torn blend of death metal heaviness and doom-laden desolation. But this self-titled effort is often overlooked, perhaps because it sits between the iconic one-two punch of The Rack and Last One on Earth and the later resurgence albums. Yet, it’s a brutal and worthwhile listen, packed with slow-burning dread and percussive thunder. Tracklist: Prelude of the Unhonoured Funeral Depths of Eternity Emperors of Salvation 'Til Death Do Us Part Initiation into the Ossuary Incarcerated Chimaeras Abomination Echoes Back into Eternity Valleys in Oblivion Thoughtless Souls ...

Released in 1997, Rain Without End is the debut album from October Tide, a side project formed by Katatonia's Fred Norrman and Jonas Renkse. It came during a transitional time for Katatonia, when Renkse had stepped back from harsh vocals due to vocal strain. But here, he fully returned to the mic, delivering some of his most sorrow-drenched growls to date. Rain Without End feels like the emotional residue of early Katatonia, soaked in the same cold atmosphere but carried even deeper into melodic doom death territory. It’s an album that doesn’t just mourn—it wallows, dragging you into a fog of endless autumn. Tracklist: 12 Days of Rain Ephemeral All Painted Cold Sightless Losing Tomorrow Blue Gallery Infinite Submission From the moment 12 Days of Rain begins, the tone is unmistakable: slow, layered guitars spiral over sorrowful leads, as Renkse growls from beneath the weight of his own memories. The production is raw but not crude—it’s organic, and that only...

Released in 1992, Last One on Earth is Asphyx’s grim and relentless march into the heart of death doom metal. Following their debut The Rack, this album doesn’t just continue the formula—it deepens it, dragging everything into a heavier, darker place. It feels like the sound of a world collapsing, where the dead aren't buried—they rot on scorched soil. Martin van Drunen’s unmistakable vocals are at the center of this devastation, strained and harrowing, like the voice of a war-ravaged prophet screaming into a void. Tracklist: M.S. Bismarck The Krusher Serenade in Blood Last One on Earth The Incarnation of Lust Streams of Ancient Wisdom Food for the Ignorant Asphyx (Forgotten War) The record begins with M.S. Bismarck, a track that sets the tone with its themes of naval warfare and destruction. The opening samples and slow-building riff create a sense of dread that never lets up. As the track picks up, it becomes less about historical accuracy and more about ...