The Predatory Wasp
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.
Want to feel even more paranoid and stressed than you already are? Dive into this whirling 808 fest from king of lo-fi house Joey Anderson – it’s great! And actually not that stressful if you can get past the incessant alarm-synth into the lush pads beyond. It’s Friday, so let’s party like it’s three weeks ago and we were allowed to mingle. Also Bandcamp are waiving their royalty fees for today only, so there’s never been a better time to add this to your collection.
Ultraísta is a trio of Atoms For Peace members Nigel Godrich and Joey Waronke, and singer/songwriter and producer Laura Bettinson. Save It ’til Later is taken from their second album Sister, and has more than a touch of Warpaint about it, like a less grimy, slicker, more electronic-obsessed cousin.
Today Glastonbury was cancelled, making 2020 officially the worst year on record. Clearly in the grand scheme of things that everyone around the world is having to deal with at the moment it’s minor, but I am still pretty fucking sad about the entire situation. So here’s some icy, piano-led ambient that I intend to have a good old cry to. Roll on 2021.
Woozy hip-hop taken from Jay Universal’s new album A Written Testimony which features Jay-Z on pretty much every track, this one included. Universal Soldier manages to be lo-fi and epic at the same time, and the entire album is a real delight.
JFDR is the solo project of Icelandic artist Jófríður Ákadóttir. I was a big fan of her 2017 album Brazil and Drifter is a clear standout from her new LP New Dreams. Her voice is incredible – taut and fragile – and the production is pretty much exclusively stripped-down and skeletal. Tense music for tense times.
Today I wanted to take a moment to highlight one of my favourite electronic records ever produced. Traumprinz’s remix sounds nothing like the original, but is for me absolutely perfect. I can’t even being to estimate how many times I’ve listened to this, and if you’re never listened to DJ Metatron’s (one of his many, many pseudonyms) This Is Not… mix in which this features, then you’re in for a treat. Utterly sublime.
The Predatory Wasp 