ys, joanna newsom (2006)

progressive folk

most beautiful album ever made? her entire discography is permanently at the top of my recommendation list. ys is uncompromising and weird but probably easier to get into than the 2-hour-long have one on me. not on spotify but easy to find on youtube!

0, ichiko aoba (2013)

chamber folk

i have so much ichiko merch, haha. if you want a lush, accessible folk record then go check out windswept adan too, but 0 is my personal fav from her. this is cozy songwriting, a perfect night-time record for when you want something quiet and minimal

so(u)n(d)beams, salyu x salyu (2011)

art pop

salyu is so amazing on the lily chou chou OST, which makes it all the more surprising this record is still relatively obscure! it's an album of vocal acrobatics and really interesting, engaging pop songwriting. 心 is beautiful and haunting, a masterpiece

fushigi, akina nakamori (1986)

ethereal wave, art pop

there's a rumour that when this released in japan, people started returning it after a few plays because they thought their record was defective. i've never heard anything else like it. play this loud and get lost in all the layers of reverb

irony, ACO (2003)

glitch pop, ambient pop, microsound

another intensely intimate album, like a glitchier, colder vespertine. a self-produced triumph. these tracks shimmer with a kind of icy digital beauty, contrasted with soaring strings and breathy falsetto vocals. one of the best album covers ever!

yùyán, faye wong (2000)

chamber pop, trip hop

dramatic, sweeping pop ballads with so much life and depth, there are whole worlds in the first five tracks on this record. fúzào is probably faye's most consistent body of work but the highs on yùyán are so immense and impossible to ignore

kalk samen (...), sheena ringo (2003)

progressive pop, art rock

an unbelievably dense record. stuffed with wild genre shifts, wildly experimental instrumentation and deranged vocal performances. someone is credited for playing the vacuum cleaner on here!! music to get a voluntary headache from

beautiful, MEG (2009)

electropop

peak electropop from yasutaka nakata's golden age. another loud album, infectiously fun one minute and angry the next, a more decadent perfume record that replaces their optimism and positivity with insane abrasive hard house