Category: Music

Music

Avi C. Engel – Where Does a Moth Go?

Post author By The Predatory Wasp
Post date December 9, 2024

Avi C. Engel’s new album Nocturne (Soundtrack for an Invisible Film) was created during a period of sleeplessness and depression and completed as the artist emerged from it. Initially conceived as a personal attempt to find solace, the album – which lands 03 January – is released in the hope of providing others with a sense of calm or, at the very least, an engaging diversion. Ahead of the full LP, Where Does A Moth Go beautifully captures both the strength and fragility of the artist, with Engel’s vocal coming across as harrowing and hopeful in the same breath.

https://aviengel.bandcamp.com/album/nocturne-soundtrack-for-an-invisible-film

Tags avi c. engel, experimental

Features Music

Feature: The 50 Best Albums of 2024

Post author By The Predatory Wasp
Post date December 8, 2024
No Comments on Feature: The 50 Best Albums of 2024

It’s that time of year again when we pretend that ranking music matters much more than is really does, and that our own taste is the best. And mine really is! Read on for proof of this.

Included in this list are ambient abstraction that sounds like 90s trance, indie rock albums in the midst of an existential crisis, and electronic records that feel like they might just collapse under their own weight, or are so spectral they’re barely even there. And despite everyone telling me how wrong I am, no Charli XCX at all. For other gaping holes or obvious omissions, I make no apologies whatsoever.

Here are the 50 best albums of 2024. They might change your life.

TPW xx

Tags best albums, BEST ALBUMS 2024, best albums of the year

Music

Pefkin – Gossip In The Leaves

Post author By The Predatory Wasp
Post date December 4, 2024

I alluded to this release last week, but it’s so good it deserves a bit more love. This is taken from the new album from Pefkin, aka Gayle Brogan, witten in autumn 2023, during a big life shift—including her move from Glasgow to Sheffield—this three-track album reflects the emotional journey of change. Using a stripped-back setup of viola (an instrument she’d never played before), synth, and voice, Gayle recorded each track in a single take. It’s deeply affecting and a late contender for ambient/drone album of the year.

https://pefkin.bandcamp.com/album/the-rescoring

Tags ambient, drone, pefkin

Music

Qendresa – Whatever You Like

Post author By The Predatory Wasp
Post date November 29, 2024

I was going to post a 17 minute drone piece from Pefkin (which is really excellent and you should definitely listen to it) but decided this, from Qendresa’s new album Londra, was more “Friday vibes”.

https://qendresa.bandcamp.com/album/londra

Tags qendresa, soul

Music

Djrum – Crawl

Post author By The Predatory Wasp
Post date November 28, 2024

I wish that people would stop releasing really great albums this late in the year, as it’s making compiling my top 50 list an increasingly tough. The latest guilty party is Djrum, whose new LP Meaning’s Edge – his first full length since 2018 is amazing, with the eight minute Crawl coming in like a cross between Aphex Twin and Shed, but with a deftness of touch that makes the frenetic rhythms glide silkily by.

https://djrum.bandcamp.com/music

Tags breaks, djrum, electronic

Music

Earthen Sea – Present Day

Post author By The Predatory Wasp
Post date November 27, 2024

Jacob Long aka Earthen Sea is an American electronic musician and producer. Formerly the bassist for post-hardcore bands Black Eyes and Mi Ami, Long transitioned to solo work, exploring ambient and dub techno landscapes. His previous album, 2022’s excellent Ghost Poems moved away from the dub techno that characterised his first two solo LPs and new release Recollections delves further into jazz and downtempo, albeit through a heavily muted, soft-focus lens.

https://earthensea.bandcamp.com/

Tags dub, earthen sea, jazz

Music

Not Waving, Romance – Love Pervade The Sinless Breast

Post author By The Predatory Wasp
Post date November 25, 2024

Possibly my favourite ambient pairing, Not Waving and Romance, return with their latest LP Wings of Desire, inspired by Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus. And if that sounds catastrophically pretentious – correct! But ambient pretentiousness really does result in some of the best track names in music (honourable mention to Dylan Henner on this front). Love Pervade The Sinless Breast (!) is gorgeous, sweeping, mournful: everything you need to start your week with a bang.

https://notwavingromance.bandcamp.com/album/wings-of-desire

Tags ambient, drone, not waving, romance

Music

Mary Lattimore, MIZU, Jamal Shakeri, Laraaji – Midnight Moon Pool (Womb of the Soul)

Post author By The Predatory Wasp
Post date November 22, 2024

If you think that’s a long artist / title combo… you’re right! And it comes from a VA compilation the scope of which is genuinely staggering. With production beginning in 2021, and over 100 artists contributing, TRAИƧA is a new compilation across 8 chapters and 46 songs, spotlighting the gifts of many of the most daring, imaginative trans and non-binary artists working today. Artists include (deep breath) Mary Lattimore, Devendra Banhart, claire rousay, Ana Roxanne, Julien Baker, Grouper, Moses Sumney, Andre 3000, Gia Margaret plus, plus, plus. Ridiculous.