October was a good month for music.
The twerk queen, Miley Cyrus, kicked off the month by storming through the charts and placing her musically matured album Bangerz at the No. 1 spot. Our ears were treated to the sounds of HAIM, who kept the summer festival spirit alive just a little bit longer. And Pusha T broke new limits in the hip-hop scene with My Name Is My Name.
Those are all worthy contenders for this list, but none made the cut. There are three other albums from October that you need to check out. It would be a musical crime not to.
Arcade Fire, Reflektor
This is the top album of the month. Arcade Fire has killed it with their fourth album release, Reflektor. But prepare to be confused.
There's an odd balance between celebration and confined desperation, but somehow it works. The 75-minute-long, double-sided album keeps itself on point. There aren't tangential tracks or experimental melodies - the album knows what it is and it's tuned to near perfection.
The outside influences that inspire Reflektor make it something beautifully different. Most notable is the Haitian influence that Arcade Fire has intelligently entwined into the tracks. "Here Comes The Night Time" is the epitomizing track of the whole album - an eclectic, exciting juxtaposition of Haitian-celebration and dreary-disco that melts together seamlessly.
The album does have flaws, though. It's unarguable that Volume one (Disc one) is considerably better than Volume two. Though epic in its entirety, Volume two is left to go a bit limp in comparison to the outstanding clarity and energy of Volume one.
Nevertheless, Reflektor is sharp, creative and quite frankly the best album out of a competitive bunch. Don't just listen to this album through your headphones. Listen to it in a big room where it can be turned up loud and fill all the space around you - it is the art rock epic of our generation, after all.
Los Campesinos!, No Blues
Los Campesinos! have officially grown up. And at this point, everyone holds their breath - is grown up a good thing? Are they one of those bands to comfortably slip into musical bleakness? Are they bad now? Well, the answer is officially no.
In fact, growing up might have just been the best thing that this indie-pop group could have ever done. No longer are they a worried, self-conscious teenager who peers round a corner before turning it, but a suave, confident man in the peak of his life.
The tracks are much more lyric heavy. And as is always the case with indie-pop, a little bit of darkness and emotional deterioration never hurt - "What Death Leaves Behind" is an ever-shining emblem of this.
Unlike so many bands before, Los Campesinos! have matured while not neglecting their musical integrity and excitement. There's still a sense of vulnerability that indie-pop strives for and flourishes with. Overall, No Blues is refreshingly true and inescapably musically developed.
Tim Hecker, Virgins
Virgins is an album more confrontational, more savage and more brilliant than anything that Hecker has produced before.
Don't let the abrasive and dark sounds put you off, though. They are beautifully contrasted with delicate woodwind instrumentals that are given their own space to flourish in. Pile on top of that the rawness of live performance that features so heavily throughout the album and Hecker has produced his very own monster of beauty and space.
The space of the album coincides with a more rhythmic impact. "Virginal I" and "Virginal II" offer rhythm through the piano and clarinet that dominate the tracks. It's a fairly new expression for Hecker. The idea of space and rhythm take you far, far away from the claustrophobic sounds of Ravedeath, 1972 (which is a very good thing).
In the spirit of October, Virgins could easily be cast as the soundtrack to an eerily brutal horror movie - a movie that wholly captures every sense in your body whilst simultaneously terrifying you with its brilliant intricate details.
Like any great horror movie, the importance is in the timing and the contrast. For, nothing's as scary if it's constant - horror is aroused by suspense and impact.
Virgins is an album that demands concentration in order for the thrills to be reaped. It is serious and complex, but utterly and indescribably excellent.
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