1.) Deathspell Omega - The Synarchy of Molten Bones

This is the latest record from French black metal vets, Deathspell Omega. The band is returning from a six-year period of studio album silence, their last release being 2010’s Paracletus. However, the band did release a great EP in 2012, Drought, and the EP brought back many of DSO’s traditional sounds into the fold. The band are known for their dissonant guitar riffs, bizarre song structures, and the ever-disturbing vocals of frontman Mikko Aspa. However, this album departs from the usual DSO formula in that it stands just shy of 30 minutes, making The Synarchy of Molten Bones one of the band’s shortest official releases. But what the album lacks in brevity it makes up for in ferocity, this album being one of the most pummeling and unrelenting black metal albums I’ve heard this year. If you’re looking for something brutal, this should suit your needs nicely. Listen

2.) Kero Kero Bonito - Bonito Generation

This is the debut release from the British pop group known as Kero Kero Bonito. I first became aware of the group's music after I heard the group’s vocalist, Sarah Bonito, on a track with Mexican vaporwave producer MACROSS 82-99 on his 2014 album, A Million Miles Away. On this album, Bonito displayed what I now know to be her unique vocal style which sits somewhere between rapping and singing. But what is especially worth noting about Bonito’s vocals is she switches between singing or rapping in English to Japanese rather seamlessly, occasionally switching languages multiple times in one verse. Given this vocal style, it should be no surprise that the group take a lot of influence from j-pop, but they put their own unique twist on the genre. Lyrically, the tracks on Bonito Generation almost seem like children’s songs with subjects ranging from waking up in the morning, to goldfish, to bouncing on a trampoline, but of course with an ever-present sense of self-awareness. The pure innocence on display on this album will likely turn away some listeners, but for me, what Kero Kero Bonito do with pop music is so unique and inventive that I can’t help but love it. Sample

3.) Oren Ambarchi - Hubris

This is the latest album from Australian musical auteur Oren Ambarchi, an artist who has traditionally been very hard to classify. He’s worked with a very wide range of musicians and fellow avants like Jim O’Rourke, Keiji Haino, and Fire! Orchestra, among many others. The man is always working on something, and no matter what, it’s inevitably something weird. Though much of his back catalog is chock full of oddball drone and ambient records and obtuse noise rock records, Hubris takes a significant diversion into the strange world of krautrock, a style of rock music developed by the Germans throughout the 1970s that places a strong emphasis on repetition and subtlety, both of these qualities are on full display on this record. The album is composed of two long 20-minute monsters with one small interlude track to serve as a cool down between them. The tracks are without vocals, but are continuously evolving and changing their groove slightly, sometimes adding new layers to the composition. The album is incredibly meditative, but as someone who enjoys a lot of the stranger groups krautrock has to offer, Ambarchi certainly does the sound justice. Sample

4.) Saor - Guardians

This is the latest album from British metal project Saor, formerly known as Àrsaidh. Saor is a project masterminded by one Andy Marshall who often adopts many sounds associated with Celtic folk music and often invokes imagery of the same origin in his work. Guardians is no different, as it draws upon a similar instrumental palette as Marshall’s other work, with copious amounts of bagpipes, fiddle, and various other stringed instruments worked into these soaring black metal compositions that sound as vast as the lands Marshall draws inspiration from. Though sharing a lot of stylistic similarities to black metal, the black metal Saor creates is far different from the likes of Deathspell Omega, for example. Unlike DSO, Saor makes music that sounds vast and open, unlike the typical black metal mold. The extra instrumentation goes a long way to add to this effect, causing some to give this music the genre label of “folk metal,” though I think this record goes far beyond that label as well. Though some have charged this album with sounding far too similar to Saor’s other albums, I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing. Listen

5.) A Tribe Called Quest - We Got It From Here... Thank You 4 Your Service

We Got It From Here… Thank You 4 Your Service is the latest album from one of the greatest hip hop groups to ever come out of New York, A Tribe Called Quest. 2016 has seen many tragic losses across the board, but one that may have flown under the radar for many was the death of founding ATCQ member Phife Dawg, a loss that rocked the hip hop community to its core. Following his death, Tribe saw fit to release a new album, not only to commemorate their fallen friend, but to comment on the state of the world in their traditional humorous yet embittered style. Backed with Ali Shaheed Muhammad’s jazzy production style, Q-Tip and Jarobi bring back the sounds of the early 90s to be updated for the modern age in one of the best comeback albums released this year. While grabbing features from the likes of Andre 3000, Kanye West, Jack White, Kendrick Lamar, and frequent ATCQ collaborators Consequence and Busta Rhymes, the group manage to show us all exactly why jazz rap has been making a comeback in recent years. The group also pen some touching tributes to Phife Dawg, as well as some lamentations on the state of the world. Of all the albums released this month, this is the one that should not be missed. Sample