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Music

Joshua Idehen – Mum Does The Washing

Joshua Idehen is a British-born Nigerian based in Sweden. A spoken word artist and musician, he has contributed poems to Mercury-nominated albums Channel The Spirits by The Comet Is Coming, Your Queen Is A Reptile and the Mobo winning Black Is The Future, both by Sons of Kemet. His latest single, Mum Does The Washing, takes a simple household chore and turns it into a commentary on society and the way we structure it, his dry, spoken-word delivery floating over stripped-back production, making the whole thing feel introspective yet still sharply pointed.

https://joshuaidehen.bandcamp.com/

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Oliver Coates – 90

The blog has gone pretty ambient-heavy this week, but the heart wants what it wants. Today’s offering is taken fromThrob, shiver, arrow of time, the new album from Oliver Coates who created the incredibly moving soundtracks for the 2022 film Aftersun (highly recommended) amongst many other things. 90 is glassy, sparse, delicate and beautiful.

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CS + Kreme – Corey

Naarm’s CS + Kreme return with a dreamy, psych-folk-infused third album that drifts through bittersweet electronics and dubby, heady grooves. Known for their shape-shifting sound since their 2017 debut, their latest album The Butterfly Drinks the Tears of the Tortoise, from which Corey is taken, is their most poetic and ethereal yet. Blending early industrial influences with Pacific rim sounds, it features everything from flamenco and Javanese strings to South African rhythms and chamber classical moments. A captivating, mind-bending journey, perfect for a reflective escape.

https://thetrilogytapes.bandcamp.com/album/the-butterfly-drinks-the-tears-of-the-tortoise

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Not Waving, Romance – From The Weary Earth To The Sapphire Walls

Last seen joining forces on their transcendent new album Infinite Light, Not Waving and Romance are back with a fantastically named new single, about which I can find absolutely nothing online save for a YouTube upload with a mere 77 plays. If more people liked this kind of celestial ambient droning, the world would be a significantly better place.

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Klara Lewis – Thankful

Extraordinary stuff from Klara Lewis on the opening and title track of her new album for Editions Mego, starting life as simple, mournful strings before becoming increasingly deranged, distorted and overwhelming over the course of its 20 minute runtime.

https://klaralewis.bandcamp.com/album/thankful

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Midland – Vogue In Slow Motion

Midland’s debut album Fragments Of Us examines the queer experience, from the early days of the 80’s AIDs crisis up to the present day, and features the voices of some Midland’s artistic heroes including Arthur Russell, Marlon Riggs, David Wojnarowicz alongside the contemporary voices of Stereogamus’ Jonny Seymour and Horse Meat Disco’s Luke Howard. The subject matter is often dark, and includes news snippets following the introduction of Section 28 in the UK – which prohibited the “promotion of homosexuality” in public life – to an excerpt from an audio diary of Wojnarowicz that concludes simply with “basically I don’t want to die”. But there’s hope and possibly catharsis in Midland’s production, which is warm and accessible without ever becoming bland or homogenised.

https://midlandsound.bandcamp.com/album/fragments-of-us

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Leon Bridges – That’s What I Love

Leon Bridges’ voice is indescribably lush, and seems to belong to a completely different time. When he sings the hook on That’s What I Love, the stand-out track from his new album, Leon, everything else just melts away and you can ignore the trite, saccharine lyrics and even forgive him the ill-advised spoken word section about “the way the street smells after the rain”. In most other people’s hands this would be unbearable, but he makes it sublime.

https://www.leonbridges.com

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Efterklang – Plant feat. Mabe Fratti

Loads of interesting albums out today – from Thee Sacred Souls, Dawn Richard, Alessandro Cortini and others – but this is the song that’s made me happiest this week, and even though it officially came out months ago the album it was released on landed last week, so it still counts as new music. Ok? Good. Efterklang was a new name to me and it was Mabe Fratti’s involvement that initially piqued my interest, but after multiple daily listens I think I can now call myself a fan.

https://efterklang.bandcamp.com

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Quazar554 – Pulsar (Jupiter-6)

Quasar 554 is the project of producer Paolo Alberto Lodde, also known as Dusty Kid: someone I was pretty obsessed with close to two decades ago, especially his track Luna, which I think opened a mix or compilation I used to hammer and still holds up as an absolute banger. Anyway! As Quasar 554 he was invited by the One Instrument label to create an EP exclusively using the Roland Jupiter-6. Often overshadowed by its pricier predecessor, the Jupiter-8, and sometimes criticised for its cold and thin sound, Lodde has eked out some genuinely emotional moments from the Jupiter-6, the results of which are worth checking out even if you’re not a massive synth nerd.

https://oneinstrument.bandcamp.com/album/quasar-554-jp6book

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Alan Sparkhawk – Brother

The first solo project from Alan Sparkhawk, formerly of Low, was always going to be difficult. Following the death of his wife and bandmate Mimi Parker in 2022, Sparkhawk hasn’t been absent as such, still recording with his son and playing the occasional live show, but his new album, White Roses, My God is certainly his fullest musical statement since Parker’s death. And a surprising one it is, with Sparkhawk going full Kayne, albeit thankfully only in musical rather than political direction, with heavily autotuned vocals stretched over stripped-back, electro-ish arrangements. Brother is the only track that features any guitar at all – which will probably upset Low purists – and benefits from the additional texture that brings. But at this stage I think he’s earned the right to do whatever he wants.

https://alansparhawk.bandcamp.com/album/white-roses-my-god