| Halo | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | May 5, 2017 | |||
| Studio |
| |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 56:30 | |||
| Label | Crammed Discs | |||
| Producer |
| |||
| Juana Molina chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Singles from Halo | ||||
| ||||
Halo is the seventh studio album by Argentine singer-songwriter Juana Molina, released on May 5, 2017, by Crammed Discs. [1]
The title Halo is a reference to the Argentine folk legend for the will-o'-the-wisp, known as the "luz mala" (Spanish for "evil light"), which floats above the ground where bones are buried. [2] [3] [4]
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AnyDecentMusic? | 7.9/10 [5] |
| Metacritic | 84/100 [6] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [7] |
| Drowned in Sound | 10/10 [8] |
| Financial Times | [9] |
| The Guardian | [10] |
| Mixmag | 7/10 [11] |
| Mojo | [12] |
| Pitchfork | 8.0/10 [13] |
| PopMatters | 8/10 [14] |
| Record Collector | [15] |
| Uncut | 8/10 [16] |
Upon release, Halo received widespread acclaim from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 84, based on 13 reviews. [6] Robin Denselow from The Guardian gave the album a positive review, writing: "There are sturdy melodies on the quietly charming "Cosoco" or "Cálculos y oráculos", but even an apparently conventional song is soon transformed by her edgy and intriguing off-kilter soundscapes." [10] Drowned in Sound 's Lee Adcock gave the album the highest rating and felt that "even for Molina, who has trekked odysseys through drone and voice before, Halo marks an epiphany in the science of travel. How does one hour flow so swiftly? How do the echoes of former futures sound so fresh again, as if their waning promise of grandeur never faded?" [8]
In The Village Voice 's Pazz & Jop, an poll regarding the best albums of the year as voted by more than 400 American music critics, Halo ranked number 97 with 78 points. [17]
| Publication | Accolade | Rank | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| AllMusic | Best of 2017 | * | |
| Bandcamp Daily | The Best Albums of 2017 | 23 | |
| Drowned in Sound | Favourite Albums of 2017 | 10 | |
| The Guardian | The Best Albums of 2017 | 34 | |
| Les Inrockuptibles | Best of Musique 2017 | 51 | |
| Stereogum | 50 Best Albums of 2017 So Far | 35 | |
| Uncut | Best Releases of 2017 | 17 | |
| The Village Voice | Pazz & Jop | 97 | |
| The Vinyl Factory | 20 Best Albums of 2017 So Far | * | |
| The Wire | Best Releases of 2017 | 26 |
All tracks are written by Juana Molina
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Paraguaya" | 3:44 |
| 2. | "Sin dones" | 5:41 |
| 3. | "Lentísimo halo" | 5:24 |
| 4. | "In the Lassa" | 4:39 |
| 5. | "Cosoco" | 4:58 |
| 6. | "Cálculos y oráculos" | 4:47 |
| 7. | "Los pies helados" | 5:23 |
| 8. | "A00 B01" | 4:30 |
| 9. | "Cara de espejo" | 5:03 |
| 10. | "Andó" | 3:50 |
| 11. | "Estalacticas" | 4:53 |
| 12. | "Al oeste" | 3:38 |
| Total length: | 56:30 | |
| Chart (2017) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Latin Pop Albums (Billboard) [27] | 15 |
Lucinda Gayl Williams is an American singer-songwriter and a solo guitarist. She recorded her first two albums, Ramblin' on My Mind (1979) and Happy Woman Blues (1980), in a traditional country and blues style that received critical praise but little public or radio attention. In 1988, she released her third album, Lucinda Williams, to widespread critical acclaim. Regarded as "an Americana classic", the album also features "Passionate Kisses", a song later recorded by Mary Chapin Carpenter for her 1992 album Come On Come On, which garnered Williams her first Grammy Award for Best Country Song in 1994. Known for working slowly, Williams released her fourth album, Sweet Old World, four years later in 1992. Sweet Old World was met with further critical acclaim and was voted the 11th best album of 1992 in The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop, an annual poll of prominent music critics. Robert Christgau, the poll's creator, ranked it 6th on his own year-end list, later writing that the album as well as Lucinda Williams were "gorgeous, flawless, brilliant".
Boy is the debut studio album by Irish rock band U2. It was produced by Steve Lillywhite and was released on 20 October 1980 by Island Records. Boy contains songs from the band's 40-song repertoire at the time, including two tracks that were re-recorded from their original versions on the group's debut release, the EP Three.
Robert Thomas Christgau is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became an early proponent of musical movements such as hip hop, riot grrrl, and the import of African popular music in the West. He was the chief music critic and senior editor for The Village Voice for 37 years, during which time he created and oversaw the annual Pazz & Jop critics poll. He has also covered popular music for Esquire, Creem, Newsday, Playboy, Rolling Stone, Billboard, NPR, Blender, and MSN Music; he was a visiting arts teacher at New York University. CNN senior writer Jamie Allen has called Christgau "the E. F. Hutton of the music world–when he talks, people listen."
Juana Rosario Molina Villafañe is an Argentine singer, songwriter and actress, based in Buenos Aires. She is known for her distinctive sound, considered an exponent of folktronica, although it has also been described as ambient, experimental, neofolk, chill-out, indietronica, psychedelic, indie pop, and progressive folk.
The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl is a live album by the Beatles, released in May 1977, featuring songs compiled from three performances recorded at the Hollywood Bowl in August 1964 and August 1965. The album was released by Capitol Records in the United States and Canada and on the Parlophone label in the United Kingdom. It was the band's first official live recording. A remixed, remastered, and expanded version of the album, retitled Live at the Hollywood Bowl, was released on 9 September 2016, on CD for the first time, to coincide with the release of the documentary film The Beatles: Eight Days a Week, directed by Ron Howard.
Bricks Are Heavy is the third studio album by American rock band L7, released on April 14, 1992, by Slash Records. The album peaked at number 160 on the US Billboard 200 and number one on the Heatseekers Albums chart. As of June 2000, Bricks Are Heavy has sold 327,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen Soundscan.
Pazz & Jop was an annual poll of top musical releases, compiled by American newspaper The Village Voice and created by music critic Robert Christgau. It published lists of the year's top releases for 1971 and, after Christgau's two-year absence from the Voice, each year from 1974 onward. The polls are tabulated from the submitted year-end top 10 lists of hundreds of music critics. It was named in acknowledgement of the defunct magazine Jazz & Pop, and adopted the ratings system used in that publication's annual critics poll.
Buhloone Mindstate is the third studio album by American hip hop group De La Soul. It was released on September 21, 1993, through Tommy Boy Records, and was the group's last record to be produced with Prince Paul.
Lucinda Williams is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams, released in 1988, by Rough Trade Records.
Neon Golden is the fifth studio album by German indie rock band The Notwist. It was released on 14 January 2002 by City Slang.
Trace is the debut studio album by American rock band Son Volt, released on September 19, 1995, through Warner Bros. Records. The band was formed the previous year by Jay Farrar after the breakup of the influential alt-country band Uncle Tupelo. Prior to its release, there was debate about whether Son Volt or Wilco, Uncle Tupelo's other offshoot, would produce a better album.
Konono Nº1 is a musical group from Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. They are known for their DIY aesthetic, combining electric likembé with vocals, dancers, and percussion instruments that are made out of items salvaged from a junkyard. The group's amplification equipment is equally rudimentary, including a microphone carved out of wood fitted with a magnet from an automobile alternator and a gigantic horn-shaped amplifier. The genre of the band's music has been characterized as difficult to classify; the group themselves have classified their music under the labels of "tradi-modern" and "Congotronics".
Let's Get Out of This Country is the third studio record by the Scottish indie pop band Camera Obscura, released by Elefant Records on 6 June 2006. It was recorded in Sweden with the producer Jari Haapalainen, and arranged by Björn Yttling of Peter Bjorn and John.
Come Away with ESG is the 1983 debut album by American rock band ESG. Released by 99 Records, the album incorporates songs from ESG's first EPs, ESG and ESG Says Dance to the Beat of Moody.
Volume One is the first album by She & Him, a collaboration between M. Ward and singer/songwriter and actress Zooey Deschanel. It was released by Merge Records on March 18, 2008.
Santogold is the debut studio album by musician and singer Santigold. It was released on April 29, 2008 in the United States through Downtown Records and on May 12 in the United Kingdom through Lizard King and Atlantic Records. The album was recorded within eight weeks in New York City at Schoolhouse and Pitch Black Studios. It was written and produced primarily by Santigold and former Stiffed bandmate John Hill, alongside contributions from other producers, including Diplo, Switch and Disco D, and vocal appearances from Spank Rock and Trouble Andrew.
This Is Happening is the third studio album by American rock band LCD Soundsystem. It was released first on May 17, 2010, jointly through DFA and Virgin Records in the United States and Parlophone elsewhere. It was recorded over the course of 2009 and early 2010 in the Mansion recording studio in Los Angeles. The first single, "Pow Pow", was released in April 2010, with a music video directed by Spike Jonze. The album is dedicated to Jerry Fuchs (1974–2009), who performed drums live with the band on occasion, as well as having a big part in associated DFA acts.
Kill for Love is the fourth studio album by American electronic music band Chromatics. It was released on March 26, 2012, by Italians Do It Better. On May 7, 2012, a drumless version of the album, containing 11 songs with no percussion, was made available by the band for free download.
Wed 21 is the sixth studio album by Argentine singer and songwriter Juana Molina. It was released on 28 October 2013 by Crammed Discs. From 2009 to 2012, Molina worked on the album independently, recording at her house in Buenos Aires. Musically, Wed 21 is a folktronica album with a sound similar to her previous releases, but with innovations like the use of bass, drums, many electric guitars, noise, a horn and more detailed electronics, which led the Argentine edition of Rolling Stone to describe it as her most "rocker" album. The album received rave reviews from music critics, who noted it was not a departure from her distinctive sound but still a progression.
Semper Femina is the sixth studio album by British singer-songwriter, Laura Marling, and was released on 10 March 2017, on More Alarming Records. The album was produced by Blake Mills. The album's title is taken from the song "Nouel".
