Author: The Predatory Wasp

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Music

OHYUNG – dancing on the soft knife

OHYUNG made my favourite album of 2022, the ludicrously under-appreciated ambient masterpiece imagine naked!, and on the basis of my first few listens their latest LP is going to be right up there in 2025. You Are Always On My Mind marks a shift—away from the rawness of their earlier experimental work and towards something more pop-adjacent, but no less nuanced. Built from processed string loops and glistening synths, You Are Always On My Mind is “a declaration of love for raves and the dark hazy rooms that helped me to be free and true with myself – seeing other people who are so free and beautiful and thinking that one day that can be me – that’s me in the future.”

https://ohyung.bandcamp.com/album/you-are-always-on-my-mind

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Music

Sandwell District – The Silent Servant

The second LP from revered techno collective Sandwell District, End Beginnings, serves as a poignant tribute to the late Juan Mendez, known as Silent Servant, who died halfway through the album’s production. The closing track The Silent Servant is as a heartfelt requiem, weaving distant mechanical murmurs with orchestral synths, while white noise sweeps through like wind rustling barren branches.

https://boomkat.com/products/end-beginnings

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Music

Jefre Cantu-Ledesma – The Milky Sea

Jefre Cantu-Ledesma’s latest LP Gift Songs is a sparse, meditative collection shaped by his life as a Zen priest, hospice worker, and Hudson Valley resident. Blending piano, modular synth, guitar, and acoustic textures with a small group of collaborators, the album evokes shifting landscapes and quiet inner states. Inspired by the idea of music as a “gift,” its five pieces – including the stand-out 20 minute opener The Milky Sea, unfold slowly; a distinctly human take on ambient minimalism.

https://jefrecantu-ledesma.bandcamp.com/album/gift-songs

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Music

Moomin – Joni

I really like it when artists I haven’t thought about for years pop back up with something brilliant. I was mildly obsessed with Moomin in The Story Of You era, which terrifyingly was 15 years ago. Lots has changed for me in that time, but it’s reassuring to know he’s been making pretty much the same music; namely dusty, lofi house with plaintive piano lines and samples of waves gently rolling onto the shore. Joni is actually a bit of a outlier as he ventures into more expansive breaks, but that lead synth line really is pretty special.

Moomin – Into The Distance
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Music

Lotame – keep the joy inside

Taken from the debut EP from Lotame. Three understated cuts drift through breaks, acid and slow techno — worn, emotional, quietly unresolved. Somewhere between DJ Healer and Tren: soft-edged, half-lit, and heavy with feeling.

https://lotame.bandcamp.com/album/keep-the-joy-inside

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Music

Saba, No ID – Reciprocity (feat. Ibeyi)

From The Private Collection Of Saba and No ID is a collaborative album between Chicago artists Saba and producer No ID. The project blends hip-hop, soul, and experimental production across a series of tracks and features various guest appearances while leaning in to No ID’s sample-driven, textured production and Saba’s lyrical focus and vocal versatility. There’s a lot to enjoy here, but the 90 second Reciprocity with vocals from Ibeyi is a definite highlight.

https://sabanoid.bandcamp.com/

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Music

Martinou – The Last Hour

Swedish producer Martinou is the latest addition to my very short list of electronic artists making properly emotional stuff; melancholy, reflective, heartbreaking. Basically the kind of stuff I want to be able to make myself. This is taken from his excellent new EP The Glow That Lingers for Fauxpax Musik, and if you like what you hear I’d recommend going back to his 2021 album Rift for more of the same.

https://fauxpasmusik.bandcamp.com/album/the-glow-that-lingers

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Music

Katy J Pearson – Save Me

Not new, but good. Taken from her 2024 album Someday, Now and on my radar as she’s on the Glastonbury line-up. Strong Fleetwood Mac vibes in the melodies.

https://katyjpearson.bandcamp.com/album/someday-now

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Music

Mount Kimbie – The Trail (Astrid Sonne Remix)

Astrid Sonne’s remix of Mount Kimbie’s The Trail sounds absolutely nothing like the original, and is all the better for it: chopped, stuttering and deeply atmospheric, her own ghostly vocals providing significant chills.

https://boomkat.com/products/the-trail-astrid-sonne-remix

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Music

Jalen Ngonda – Just As Long As We’re Together

Penned at his hometown of Wheaton, Maryland, soul boy Jalen Ngonda returns with Just As Long As We’re Together – a smooth, soulful nod to classic Motown, with effortless falsetto, warmth, and lush instrumentation. Channeling the spirit of Marvin Gaye and Curtis Mayfield, Ngonda delivers a heartfelt ode to love, wrapped in rich melodies and timeless charm.

https://jalenngonda.bandcamp.com/track/just-as-long-as-were-together