The Predatory Wasp
Just heard this on Huey Morgan’s 6 Music show – it’s so good. Sounds like it could have been made in the heyday of 60s soul but actually came out last year. Perfect ‘bbq and beer in the sun’ soundtrack… if only.
Frothy pop from the eternally effervescent Empress Of today to celebrate surviving another week of #lockdownlife. Really love this, and serves as a reminder that at some point we’ll all be able to drink ciders in the sun and watch actual live music again. Won’t that be something.
Michigan duo Windy Weber & Carl Hultgren have been making incredible, often very delicate, atmospheric ambient for close to thirty years, and this is one of the best things I’ve heard from them. Taken from their new album Allegiance and Conviction: it’s absolutely magnificent.
I never really got the hype behind Childish Gambino’s last album. Redbone was clearly incredible, but the rest of it just kinda washed over me. Conversely, his latest (surprise) LP 3.15.20 doesn’t seem to have gone down so well, but Time is without doubt a toweringly brilliant piece of work, and I will arm wrestle to the death anyone who says otherwise.
This is taken from the Jessie Reyes new album BEFORE LOVE CAME TO KILL US ALL, which I think is a really brilliant title. Not sure the album really lives up to it to be honest – it includes a couple of really forgettable features from Eminem and 6lack – but this is a total banger.
Ben Frost absolutely terrifies me. This is one of the more melodic records I’ve heard of his, and it’s still pretty brutal. Really amazing though, and exactly the kind of thing you want to play really loud first thing on a Monday to properly kick start your week: lovely, doomy industrial techno all over your quietly weeping face.
Groggy cloud rap meets downtempo breaks from Zak Arogundade aka Ecco2K. Includes the lyric “Crushing rocks with Oyster card, so nauseous, can’t sleep it off” which tells you everything you need to know about the tone. Does very little, but remains completely engaging throughout.
Pop meets trance in a hyperactive bubblegum echo chamber. About as positive a record as you’re likely to hear this year. Plus the entire EP Beauty is on YouTube, which is what I’ve posted below: You is the first song on there. Or there’s a pay what you like option to buy via the Bandcamp link. Florescent pink gold.
Godfather of ambient Brian Eno is back with his brother Roger on new album Mixing Colours, by turns a pleasantly soothingly and deeply unsettling listening experience. Quicksilver is definitely a highlight, but you really need to listen to the album to fully appreciate it.
This is a few years old now, but I stumbled across it the other day and had forgotten how much I love it. You may well have heard the Africa (playing in an empty shopping mall) edit he made as everyone went bonkers for it, but I think this is equally as good, if not better. Here, he’s made an already heartbreaking song almost unbearable poignant. Headphones required, and his YouTube channel really is worth checking out if you’re not familiar with it.
The Predatory Wasp 