The Predatory Wasp
Taken is from Hayley ‘Paramore’ Williams’s debut solo album Petals For Amor, which on first listen is a little hit and miss but with a few real highlights. This is one of them, as is the opening track Simmer, which was released as a single earlier this year. Taken has a fantastic swagger about it and a Haim-ish quality that makes me like it straight away.
DJ Healer (aka Traumprinz, DJ Metatron and various others) just posted three new mixes comprised of 100% new and unreleased material, and I am really very excited about this. I haven’t even started on the other two, but Ins Herz der Dine Lauschen [Listen to the heart of things] is delicate, melancholy, sun-bleached ambient and electronica, and jesus christ it’s fucking amazing. Check his Soundcloud page for the other two. What a time to be alive.
EDIT: I literally just cried listening to this. Actual tears.
“You already know I got bitches in Baguio. But, my family is from Olongapo in Zambales province. I also got family in Manila. So, like, I be out there. I really tap in with it. I literally know how to cook the tightest lumpia from scratch, chicken adobo, pancit, I even fucking eat balut!” (via Hip Hop DX)
Guapdad 4000 aka Bitcoin Batman aka Shia Labustdown aka Jean Fraud Van Scam aka Prada Prettiest aka Stone Cold Steve Flossin aka Valentino Viper aka Ferragamo Falcon.
Beautifully simple and delicate folky americana from Johanna Warren, taken from her new album Chaotic God, which I’ve found incredibly soothing this morning. And if you like this, I’d highly recommend checking out Tomberlin’s album At Weddings from a couple of years ago, which is absolutely brilliant and has similar vibes, both vocally and in the instrumentation.
The Soft Pink Truth is an experimental electronic alias of Drew Daniel, who apparently started the project after Matthew Herbert bet him he couldn’t produce a proper house record. This is the first time I’ve come across his music, but I think it’s fair to say he won that particular bet. We is glorious deep house music that sounds like something from Laurent Garnier’s seminal Unreasonably Behaviour LP. Definitely check out his new album as well, Shall We All Go On Sinning… which is an absolute delight from start to finish.
All I Wanted is taken from Katie Stelmanis’s fourth album as Austra, HiRUDiN, which is about as positive, uplifting a way to start the week as you could hope for. Her voice is absolutely incredible, and shines especially bright on this and the next track on the album How Did You Know?, both of which are utterly brilliant.
Rasite is the final track on Vladislav Delay’s album Rakka which came out in February this year. A few brief digressions into fairly gentle ambient aside, it’s a incredibly intense LP packed full of white noise, industrial screeches and thunderous low-end. Rasite is probably the most full-on track on here: a punishing and cathartic end to a visceral listening experience. Happy Friday!
I’ve always liked serpentwithfeet a lot more in theory than in practice, and have found a lot of his previous stuff a little impenetrable, even after multiple listens. A Comma is the first record of his I’ve liked immediately: it’s definitely way more accessible than anything on his last album, and his voice really shines when accompanied by this more stripped-back, less hectic production.
altopalo are an experimental quartet who met in New York and have been putting out strange, sometimes unsettling and often very beautiful music for the last few years. This is taken from their second album farawayfromeveryoneyouknow, and is delicate, sparse and very lovely indeed.
This is taken from Zeroh’s new album BLQLYTE, which is one of the most extraordinary things I’ve heard this year. I guess ‘experimental hip hop’ would be a vaguely appropriate description, but it doesn’t really come close to doing it justice. It’s an almost overwhelming experience, and you really need to listen to the album in full to properly appreciate its depth.
The Predatory Wasp 