ACL 2024 ~ The Top 20 Albums of the Year

This year, A Closer Listen received thousands of submissions and reviewed hundreds; today our international staff chooses twenty.  Three former chart-toppers appear on this year’s list, while one artist appears for the fifth time, but half are new, while our

ACL 2024 ~ Top Ten Experimental

Perhaps the greatest joy found in a year-end list of experimental music is that it rewards not only the experimentalism, but the overall appeal.  This is the landing spot for albums that stand out for being different, yet are embraced

Li Yilei ~ NONAGE

It’s hard to resist an album with track titles such as “Pond, Grief and Glee” and “Sand, Fable and Tiger Balm.”  Such titles hearken back to childhood while honoring the power of three.  Li Yilei uses childhood instruments ~ some irrevocably

Meitei ~ Komachi

We last reviewed Hiroshima’s Meitei in our 2018 article, Music for Haunted Houses.  The new album preserves the nostalgia while replacing ghosts with memories.  Komachi is a work of unique beauty, a time-spanning mix of influences old and new, a celebration of the