The Predatory Wasp
Tim Hecker saves the best until last on his new album Shards with this extraordinary, amorphous ambient/electronic closing track. Released last week on krany, Shards is a collection of pieces originally written for various film and TV soundtracks Hecker has scored over the last half decade, with compositions originally written for scoring projects including Infinity Pool, The North Water, Luzifer, and La Tour.
Lots of good music out today but this is the bleakest aka the best. Taken from the new album antichamber which sees him stepping away from the full-band setup, focusing instead on stripped-back electronics and acoustic textures. Ideal listening for the bleak midwinter.
In 2018 Sam Barker released his Debiasing EP and pretty much changed the techno game. He wasn’t the first to do away with kick drums, but with Look How Hard I’ve Tried especially he demonstrated just how powerful restraint could be. His recently announced second album Stochastic Drift now sees Barker creating tracks with a fresh deftness and by “letting go of expectations”, and the first single Reframing is fucking magnificent, although if I was being super critical I reckon it could be at least twice as long. Roll on April.
I can’t quite get over how great this is; without doubt one of his best songs to date. Completely ridiculous. For the full experience listen to the segue from the previous album track. Just astonishingly good.
Maribou State’s upcoming album Hallucinating Love – out this Friday – represents a journey through adversity and renewal. Since their rise with Portraits and Kingdom in Colour, Chris Davids and Liam Ivory faced personal and creative struggles while navigating the fallout of relentless touring and the global lockdown. Health challenges—including Chris’s ADHD diagnosis, chronic headaches, and surgery for a rare brain condition, as well as Liam’s severe anxiety—forced the duo to scrap their first attempt at the album and rethink their approach. From what I’ve heard of it so far, it’s going to be worth the wait.
For reasons too long to go into I have a massive emotional connection to Maribou State’s music, and Holly Walker’s voice especially makes me cry pretty much every time I hear it. So yes, I’m very much looking forward to this one.
Stroom favorites Voice Actor team up with Squu for their second album, Lust (1), blending ambient dance, electro-dub, and trip-hop into 14 hypnotic tracks. Following previous LPs Fake Sleep and the mammoth Sent From My Telephone which spanned a frankly ridiculous 3+ hours, this release feels somehow sharper yet simultaneously dreamy, with soft textures, shimmering vocals, and hazy lyrics that float effortlessly, with the ambient dancehall vibe of dYn an early highlight.
I wish that people would stop releasing really great albums this late in the year, as it’s making compiling my top 50 list an increasingly tough. The latest guilty party is Djrum, whose new LP Meaning’s Edge – his first full length since 2018 is amazing, with the eight minute Crawl coming in like a cross between Aphex Twin and Shed, but with a deftness of touch that makes the frenetic rhythms glide silkily by.
Becky and the Birds is the project of Swedish artist Thea Gustafsson. Her sound blends neo-soul, electronic, and R&B influences, drawing inspiration from artists such as Bon Iver and Frank Ocean and her new album Only music makes me cry now landed today. Opener Star hints at a slightly more abrasive, glitchier style than some of her previous releases which have leaned more into atmospheric dream pop, but her voice remains as beguiling and fragile as ever.
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Skee Mask just released the latest album in a series that pulls together batches of previously unreleased tracks, these made between 2016 and 2022. As with its predecessors, D is more coherent and accomplished than 99% of electronic albums released this year; an impressive feat given that this is essentially a sweep of the cutting room floor.
College Music Presents: PhonoSynthesis is the label’s fourth VA compilation, and explores the intimate relationship between music and nature, spanning solo, acoustic sounds through to modular synthesis masterpieces, and everything in between. Includes contributions from Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, Shopan and this beauty from Dylan Henner.
