The Predatory Wasp
Slowly evolving techno from Bristol’s Hodge that for the first half of its running time is very much in the same vein as Barker’s Debiasing EP, which is one of my favourite electronic releases from the last few years. In all honesty it’s a little disappointing when Shadows In Blue actually resolves itself into a club track rather than holding that tension for the duration, but it’s still a very fine piece of work.
Wonderfully weird and unpredictable electronica from Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith. The Steady Heart encompasses elements of folk, jazz, choral and various strands of electronic music, and is completely beguiling from start to finish.
This is one of most accessible tracks I’ve heard from Shabazz Palaces, who seem to delight in being as weird as possible. I’m calling it cosmic rap, although that seems so fitting I’ve almost certainly heard it elsewhere and am taking undue credit for it myself. Fast Leaner is the lead single from their new album The Don Of Diamond Dreams which came out today. It’s great, you should listen to it.
I have a real soft spot for anything that sounds like it’s harkening back to an especially synthy period of the 80s, and Counting Stars fits very neatly into that particular little box. Vocally he also sounds quite a lot like Toro Y Moi, who released one of my favourite albums of the decade a couple of years back. Really very good indeed.
This is an extended version of one of the tracks from Floating Points’ recent album Crush. It’s now a 10+ minute beast and is epic and hugely impressive. Makes me want to be raving in a field with thousands of people so much. Sigh.
As Midwife, Madeline Johnston plays what she describes as “Heaven Metal,” or “emotive music about devastation”. In other words it’s very low-key and gloomy, but in beautifully uplifting way. This is taken from her new album Forever which is definitely worth checking out, especially if you want to gaze out of a window and Think A Lot About Sad Things for a while. Also has a touch of early Sufjan in the vocal delivery and atmospherics, which is never a bad thing.
I just found out that Chynna died last week. She had a long history of drug addition and some mental health issues, and made (mostly) brutally nihilistic rap. She was only 25: way too young and ultimately a really sad story. This was one of my favourites of hers.
An alias of former Woman frontman Patrick Flegel, this is taken from Cindy Lee’s fifth studio album What’s Tonight to Eternity?, which is partly inspired by the music and ultimately tragic story of Karen Carpenter. If these names mean nothing to you, worry not: you don’t need to know any of the backstory to enjoy it. The album’s a real gem packed full of spectral synths and icy vocals, and Plastic Raincoat is a superbly absorbing opening track.
https://www.thefader.com/2020/02/20/cindy-lee-whats-tonight-to-eternity-profile-interview
Rolling back to the heady days of winter 2019, when everything was simpler/better/precedented and Saint Mela were putting out absolute bangers like this. They’ve got a new EP out now which is what made me go back to this one. It’s good, but I reckon [Root]less is definitely still the one.
It’s pretty remarkable that someone as clearly talented as NNAMDÏ can release four albums before I’ve ever listened to a single piece of his music. Not that I’m by claiming to be an expert on Chicago rap by any means, but fairly surprising nonetheless. This is fantastic, as is the album it’s taken from, BRAT. And now I have an entire back-catalogue to explore as well.
The Predatory Wasp 