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For Andy Stott’s music to hit hardest, close your eyes, take a deep breath, and envision the world in slow motion. The electronic producer moves carefully through every song, as if reducing listeners’ heartbeats is the trick to making them see everything around them. On his first album in five years, Late Loop, Stott transformed experimental drone into downtempo trance songs by enlisting vocalists Alison Skidmore and Elaine Howley to articulate a few observations—how pressure leads to escape, or mirrors can extend forever—that turn into mantras.
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Heathers: Awesome [Warner]
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Do you miss when rock bands were mostly teenagers pissing off their parents by practicing too loud in the basement? If the answer is yes, you’re primed to love the debut album of 23-year-old Heath Michael Thomas, who performs under the name Heathers. Thomas has been making music since he was 11, and recorded the bulk of his 14-track debut at home in Missouri. Driving and dextrous garage rock riffs get their hooks in quick and deep, and that’s before Thomas even graces the mic, whether he’s screaming, snarling, or whispering. He channels the distinct euphoria-meets-malaise of school being out for summer.