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18 DAYS – Miracles
There’s so little information out there about 18 DAYS’ latest vaporwave album Miracles – it’s not even been added to their official Bandcamp page – that I’m not sure what to say about it, other than it is astonishing that music of this lofi beauty gets produced and released without anyone really paying attention.
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Jenny Hval – Lay Down
Jenny Hval opens her new album Iris Silver Mist with Lay Down, a track that floats in slowly, all soft synths and whispered intimacy. She sings about lying in the dark with a scythe in her hand, which sounds ominous, but lands more reflective than threatening. There’s a quiet jazziness to the arrangement, loungey and fluid, making it feel like something half-heard through a hotel wall.
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Xenia Reaper – Thruu
Xenia Reaper’s new album Gambling had me at “a requiem to noughties trance-euphoria”, scratching an itch that only 36’s Cold Ecstasy had previously been able to reach.
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Salami Rose Joe Louis – Upstairs
Multi-instrumentalist and producer Lindsay Olsen aka Salami Rose Joe Louis released her new album Lorings on Flying Lotus’s Brainfeeder label last week and it’s excellent. Produced almost entirely on her Roland MV8800 workstation, for a couple of songs, SRJL invited a handful of talented friends to collaborate: guitarist/producer Flanafi (with whom Olsen partnered for the collaborative album ‘Sarah’ in 2024); Omari Jazz (Black Decelerant); Luke Titus and Sergio Machado Plim. The result is satisfyingly dreamy bedroom pop and occasionally glitchy electronica that drifts and tugs in perfect harmony.
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Lion – You’ve Got A Woman
Just discovered this ludicrously good 50 year old psych-rock banger from Dutch duo Lion. You’ve Got A Woman was the b-side to their one and only single But I Do (which is nowhere near as good) and seems to have something of a cult following, thanks in part to a 2017 reissue by the Numero Group, as part of their Eccentric Soul series and covers from indie artists Whitney in and Natalie Bergman with Beck. It’s pure, sunshine gold.
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JakoJako – Hoa Ä‘Ã o
Ludicrous amounts of fun stuff out this week which I’ll be highlighting in the coming days, starting with Sibel Koçer’aka JakoJako’s new LP Tết 41, her debut for Mute. Recorded during a trip to Vietnam and bookended by field recordings from Tết Lunar New Year celebrations, the album is a sonic nod to Koçer’s heritage, with the melodic palette breaking away from traditional Western scales, drawing instead from the tonal intricacies of the Vietnamese language, inspired by overheard conversations. Produced with a minimalist setup consisting of a Eurorack and Waldorf Iridium Core, Tết 41 reflects on notions of rebirth, and the pursuit of a sonic core.
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Beirut – Garbo’s Face
I wasn’t really into Beirut until 2019’s Galipoli, which for me remains the high watermark of his career. But on the first few listens A Study Of Losses is going to give it a run for its money. Lots of wonderful, atmospheric highlights but Garbo’s Face is the standout so far. There’s something about a plaintive organ line that reduces me to a weepy mess.
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Walt McClements – Washed Up
Washed Up arrives midway through On a Painted Ocean, Walt McClements’ excellent second solo album. Like much of the record, it blends processed accordion with pipe organ and subtle electronics, creating a slow-moving, textural piece that leans into repetition and decay. Washed Up feels deliberately suspended – caught in a kind of emotional stasis. It’s not trying to build or resolve, just to hold a space. There’s something compelling about how stripped-back it is. No big gestures, just atmosphere and tension left to hang.
https://waltmcclements.bandcamp.com/album/on-a-painted-ocean
Penelope Trappes doesn’t so much write songs as she carves out little underwater worlds to sit and stare at your feelings in. Anchor us To The Seabed Floor from her new album A Requiem is synths that start soft and end up ragged, hushed vocals, and heavy emotional fog. It’s slow, it’s sad, it’s very beautiful. Let it wash over you and maybe cry a bit. Or don’t. It’ll still haunt you either way.
The Predatory Wasp 