Categories
Music

Ekin Fil – Being Held

There’s something uniquely joyful about hearing an artist’s work for the first time, loving it, and then discovering they have an extensive back catalogue in which you’re destined to completely lose yourself for some time to come. Before this morning I had never heard of Turkish musician Ekin Fil, and now I am completely obsessed. Variously described as “drone-folk” (amazing) and “Grouper-adjacent” (reductive, but fairly accurate), her latest album Feelings is absolutely stunning, and Being Held is just sublime, ominous throughout until the merest fragment of distant vocal lets you know that everything’s going to be ok.

https://ekinfil.bandcamp.com

Categories
Music

Mitski – Stay Soft

I tried pretty hard to like Mitski’s 2018 album Be The Cowboy, returning to it several times especially after Pitchfork lost their shit about it so spectacularly. It always felt like hard work though and ultimately never clicked, but given how everyone else loved it it’s probably my problem, all of which makes me especially pleased to report that I absolutely love her latest Laurel Hell which came out last week. An effortless joy from start to finish, Stay Soft is an early highlight with bright, brisk drums and soaring, sun-drenched chords.

https://mitski.com

Categories
Music

Nilüfer Yanya – midnight sun

Just listen to those drums! They are truly incredible: so much energy and raw angst, and when paired with the restrained huskiness of Yanya’s vocal and the late addition of distorted guitars – with melodies reminiscent of The Smashing Pumpkins – it’s hard to tell whether it’s 2022 or 1992, but it really doesn’t matter as this is SO FUCKING GOOD.

https://niluferyanya.com/

Categories
Music

Neil Foster – Trawalua

Neil Foster continues to establish himself as one of my favourite new musical discoveries: at least, new to me, as the ambient-focussed Irish composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist has been putting music out for a few years now. Trawalua – named after, I’m assuming, the dramatic shores of Trawalua Strand – is warm and expansive, and does that thing of sitting somewhere between hope and deep melancholy that I’m especially drawn to.

https://neilfoster.bandcamp.com

Categories
Music

Vegyn – Beat step Twoards Nothing [120 BPM]

Nope that’s not a typo: it’s really spelt ‘twoards’, which gives some indication of the approach Vegyn has taken on his new mixtape, Don’t Follow Me Because I’m Lost Too!! – as if he banged out the titles in 10 seconds and just thought ‘fuck it that’ll do’. Of course there are Aphex comparisons – not least in the inclusion of the track BPMs – but the entire project has an unpolished, ramshackle vibe that I’m really into and sets it in its own distinct space.

https://www.instagram.com/vegynvegyn/

Categories
Music

Lady Wray – I Do

Lady Wray released her long-awaited album Piece Of Me last week, and thankfully it’s a banger, the only drawback being that if you’ve kept up with the run of singles over the last couple of years, you’ve already heard half of it, including a lot of the best tracks. There’s still some previously unreleased gold in there though like opener I Do, and if you’re completely new to her music you’re in for an intensely soulful treat.

https://ladywray.bandcamp.com/album/piece-of-me

Categories
Music

The Weather Station – Endless Time

Fairly fresh from releasing one of 2021’s best albums Ignorance, The Weather Station have just announced a new album, the enigmatically titled How Is It That I Should Look At The Stars alongside lead single Endless Time. Comprising songs written at the same time as Ignorance, it’s safe to expect more heartfelt, contemplative brilliance, “songs that [are] simple, pure; almost naive… that spoke to many of the same questions and realities as Ignorance, but in a more internal, thoughtful way” according to The Weather Station’s Tamara Lindeman. Sign me up.

https://theweatherstation.lnk.to/EndlessTimeID

Categories
Music

Innovations – Seabird

Delving back more than 40 years into the past today on this new music blog and celebrating Innovations’ majestic Seabird: a yacht rock staple so I’m reliably informed, but one that had completely escaped my attention until this week. First released back in 1977 and a cover of an Alessi Brothers song from the year before, it’s one of only two singles Innovations released but easily holds its own against similarly sun-drenched offerings from the likes of Steely Dan et al.

https://www.discogs.com/release/16055124-Innovations-Seabird-Put-A-Little-Away

Categories
Music

Ehiorobo – Maker

I’ve listened to Ehiorobo’s album Joltjacket a few times since it came out in December, and it’s really a very impressive and incredibly creative body of work. At times it cane be a big jarring: like he’s trying to cram just a few too many disparate ideas, rhythms and textures into too narrow a space, but you can’t argue with the level of artistry on show. He’s managed to carve a pretty peerless space for himself: his music reminds me a little of Choker – but even more freewheeling. Maker is the final track, and a clear highlight from an album that definitely deserves more attention than it’s received so far.

https://daily.bandcamp.com/album-of-the-day/ehiorobo-joltjacket-review

Categories
Music

Ripsime – Tell me the lie

Tell me the lie is the debut single from British Armenian Ripsime and was written a week before war broke out in Armenia back in 2020. Parts of the video was filmed in the Artsakh region, most of which was subsequently destroyed in the war, adding an extra level of poignance to what is already a disarmingly affecting slice of dreamy indie pop, and a remarkably assured, fully-formed first single.

https://www.instagram.com/ripsime.xyz