360 Staff Pick: The Badger Game

Matt Schickeleis a tragically underrated songwriter who has put out a handful of solo records of piercing strangeness and beauty. Delicate and jagged, Schickele’s harmonies constantly edge toward the dissonant while staying just this side of earworm. OnThe Badger Game, he sings over perfectly realized small chamber arrangements, but there’s nothing trendy about it. Son of the composer and educatorPeter Schickele, Matt comes to his classical eclecticism by birthright, and he has composed an opera (in progress), a large number of published bagpipe tunes, and music inmany other genres. Fans of Sufjan Stevens and Andrew Bird should all take note: this record bears repeated — obsessively repeated — listening.