- Ashley Bathgate & Kate Moore: “Stories for Ocean Shells” (Cantaloupe)
- Genova & Dimitrov Piano Duo: “Amy Beach: Complete Works for Piano Duo” (CPO)
- Anna von Hausswolff: “All Thoughts Fly” (Southern Lord)
- Kali Malone: “Pipe Inversions (for Kimberger III)” (Important Records)
There’s a building near the Tiergarten in Berlin, just behind a section of the Zoological Garden where kangaroos and emus are visible from the sidewalk, that I pass by most afternoons. It has always struck me as otherworldly—to the point where, if someone told me I was hallucinating and there was no building there, I’d probably believe it. If you approach it from the zoo, you first encounter the side of the building, which seems caught between eras. The facade is all brutalist angles, steel window shades slatted shut, and crumbling concrete. But then you notice that there’s a parapet that looks more like something out of fin-de-siècle Vienna, a set piece foraged from a production of “The Merry Widow.”