Playground magazine

Like every month, we have organised the material reviewed over the last few weeks to create a countdown of the best albums in our opinion. June is over, and it’s time to take stock. These are the ten LPs (including reissues and compilations) that stand out from the rest.

10. Fiona Apple: “The Idler Wheel…” (Epic)

The typical waiting for years that Fiona Apple subjects her fans to has finished (for now) with “The Idler Wheel”, which shows the composer continuing on in the same vein as always, firm in a way of writing songs that should raise her up to the status of a classic.

Review

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9. Peaking Lights: “Lucifer” (Weird World)

Songs still led by the weight of dub bass, but with more clarity, transparency and an air of easy listening: that’s what the evolution of Peaking Lights sounds like, one of 2011’s outstanding bands, continuing their popular progress with the notable “Lucifer”.

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8. Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs: “Trouble” (Polydor)

His name is that of an extinct animal and he makes an unorthodox take on house music bathed in warm melodies. The project might have been too strange for the clubbing and pop circuit, but that is his strength: occupying a memorable space between those two worlds.

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7. Big K.R.I.T.: “Live From The Underground” (Def Jam)

After two very high-quality mixtapes, expectations about Big K.R.I.T.’s official debut were sky-high. The album is excellent, although it lacks the surprise factor of his street albums; this is the most important major-label rap album of 2012.

Review

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6. DIIV: “Oshin” (Captured Tracks)

Zachary Cole Smith, Beach Fossils’ tour guitarist, does his own thing in DIIV, a project that shares the same jangle pop urges, with a major –and mind-blowing– starring role for the guitars. Captured Tracks is back.

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