The Predatory Wasp
If you’d like to know the specific meaning behind Tinashe’s recent low-key r&b banger Talk To Me Nice, Genius has a video just for you. If, like me, you’re just here for the breezy vibes, she has you covered. Also: is that a Roni Size sample at the start?? I’m calling it. Taken from her new EP BB/ANG3L which landed last week.
Synthpop royalty Vince Clarke recently announced his debut solo album, Songs of Silence alongside the lead single The Lamentations of Jeremiah. The album is described as “10-track lyric-less album of uncategorisable ambient beauty” and yes this is definitely true of the lead single, but “uncompromisingly bleak and foreboding” is another way of describing it. Situation it certainly ain’t.
https://mutebank.co.uk/products/vince-clarke-songs-of-silence-cd
The new single from his forthcoming LP Javelin which lands next month, on which Stevens plays every instrument with additional vocals from adrienne maree brown, Hannah Cohen, and Megan Lui. I haven’t been this excited about an album for quite some time.
Green Roads is taken from a charity compilation REBUILD, which was released to help raise funds to support victims of the earthquakes in Syria and Turkey earlier this year. I came across this specific track from French producer Quelza in Clarissa Kimskii’s recent RA podcast, and it’s really excellent: a trippy, dubby, hypnotic low-key banger.
Anjimile’s 2020 debut album Giver Taker came out of nowhere and was one of the year’s best, blending low-key folk with introspective, beautifully delivered lyrics. Three years on his latest LP The King just arrived, and although the introspection is still there, production-wise it’s a much bigger, brasher, more confident proposition. Time will tell if this lives up to the promise of its predecessor, but on the first couple of listens Anybody is a clear highlight.
Australian trio Hydroplane formed back in the mid-90s, initially to record a single seven-inch. They ended up releasing three albums, including a self-titled debut recently reissued by Efficient Space and garnering a cult fanbase that continues to grow to this day. Out last week, a new retrospective Selected Songs 1997-2003 compiles some of their finest recorded moments, including International Exiles which has all the hallmarks of their instantly recognisable sound; hushed, lazy drums, dreamy, deeply melancholic chords and Kerrie Bolton’s ethereally indifferent vocal.
https://hydroplaneband.bandcamp.com/album/selected-songs-1997-2003
Grant Chapman’s new album Revisions starts with an anguished scream and ends with a breathy vocal repeating “it’s so sad” for a couple of minutes, but despite this it’s actually a joyful listen, and really not depressing at all (honestly). Calm and serenity permeates through the entire album, which makes that jarring start all the more surprising. It’s hard to pick out a highlight as all the tracks flow pretty seamlessly, but sometimes it really is “so sad”, so Comedown gets TPW seal of approval. Also, at the time of writing this currently has zero views on YouTube, so it makes me feel good to know that might increase to a dozen or so following this post.
I’m glad I hadn’t listened to any of the singles from Slowdive’s new album everything is alive ahead of its release last week, as although it does mean I’m a little behind the curve, these tracks are undoubtedly more impactful as part of the whole than separated out. prayer remembered is the one that really got me on the first listen; a dreamy, melodic, instrumental slice of shoegaze perfection.
Brian Eno may have ‘invented’ ambient, but it was Stars of the Lid who refined it to perfection, creating some of the most beautiful, transcendent music ever to grace this world. With the death of one half of the group’s Brian McBride earlier this week we have lost a true visionary, and while surviving member Adam Wiltzie says there is unreleased music that may yet see the light of day, McBride’s passing in an opportunity to look back rather than forward, and to appreciate the work of a phenomenal artist and true original. Somewhat poignantly, there’s no music better suited to morn McBride than that which he himself created, and Another Ballad for Heavy Lids remains, for me, the highpoint of their extensive catalogue.
Sam Barker returns with his first solo EP since 2020’s BARKER002, this time on Oslo’s Smalltown Supersound. His 2018 EP Debiasing changed the game and remains one of my favourite electronic releases of all time, and while his latest Unfixed sees him reintroducing kick drums back into the equation there’s still an unpredictability to how the tracks are structured and progress. There are arguably more inventive, and certainly harder-hitting moment on the four-track release, but Wick & Wax get my nod for being 9 minutes of melodic loveliness.
The Predatory Wasp 