Slowdive – Everything Is Alive: If I’m chained to a cloud, you can throw away the key.

Artist: Slowdive
Album: Everything Is Alive
Year: 2023
Grade: B+

In Brief: I went from never having heard of Slowdive to falling in love with the sound of their latest record in almost no time. Even knowing that they were one of a few pioneers of the shoegaze/dream pop sound back in the 90s and that they had a pretty successful revival going on in more recent years, I was still intimidated by how their music was described to me. Turns out I had nothing to fear – it’s just the right blend of diffuse, hazy, nostalgic abstraction and pop-adjacent electronic wizardry. The result is a record that, while I’m not sure I could ever fully understand it, is an absolute delight to listen to over and over again.

Fold Zandura – Ultraforever: You’ve stepped into the future! (OK, actually it’s 25 years into the past.)

Artist: Fold Zandura
Album: Ultraforever
Year: 1997
Grade: B+

In Brief: Most will probably only ever know Fold Zandura (or their precursor, Mortal) as “that band that the one dude from Switchfoot used to be in”, but this little-known band that only (technically) ever cut one album certainly managed to stick with me despite their short run. Their influences pulled together some of the best space rock, industrial, shoegaze, and dream pop influences that the 90s had to offer, and blend it all into an expansive nebula of sound that still inspires a sense of wonder in me a quarter century later.

Beach House – Bloom: It’s a Strange Paradise

Artist: Beach House
Album: Bloom
Year: 2012
Grade: C+

In Brief: A disappontingly average record that could benefit from more variation. Yet it’s one I keep coming back to, because Beach House has a unique and compelling sound overall.