The Predatory Wasp
I wanted to start 2022 with something uplifting and positive and was sure this was a suitable choice. However after a few listens I’ve decided that actually Nosaj Things’s latest single might instead be crushingly sad and melancholy. I just can’t decide. So here it is so you can make your own mind up. Happy/Sad New Year all!
A theme of: Very Chilled Music Indeed seems to be emerging on the blog this week, which perhaps reflects my mindset of trying to wind down to such an extend that by Christmas I may need assistance simply getting out a chair. And it doesn’t come much more relaxed that this gorgeously atmospheric slice of ambient from Belfast-based composer, multi-instrumentalist and producer Neil Foster. Created using analog arpeggiators, live vocals, delayed, layered pianos and his own field recordings, it is, in a word, lush.
Well isn’t this a jaunty little slice of future junglism?
Those Kisses is Wildhart’s fourth single of 2021, continuing the recent rejuvenation of the Gothenburg-based duo that will culminate with their sophomore album due out this Autumn. Tender, ethereal and – like most of their output – drenched in nostalgia, it’s yet another welcome addition to their canon.
Ilian Tape so rarely put a foot wrong it’s almost not worth highlighting their releases any more: just subscribe to them on Bandcamp or wherever you get your fix and revel in the consistency of their schedule. This is taken from an oblique album by MPU101 (no artist bio, tracks named after various bits of Roland hardware), and is at the more relaxed end of their techno spectrum, with kick drums almost completely expunged in favour of meandering acid lines and warm, hazy synths, and is, in a word, gorgeous.
I remember a time when the mere mention of PC Music could illicit conflicting moans – of either rapturous pleasure or abject despair – from people I had previously thought were fairly aligned on what they considered Good Music. What feels like decades later but what in reality is probably only a few years, a quite brilliant album from caro♡ (the lead singer of Planet 1999 which was PC Music’s first full band signee), has flown relatively under the radar, which is a shame as it’s a really joyful thing, with enough glossy cartoonish bounce to satisfy the PC purists, and enough genuinely thoughtful and subtle moments to stop anyone getting too angry about it. drop in the ocean is definitely one of the calmer moments, evoking Selected Ambient Works Volume II-era Aphex, albeit backed up with some dappled, shoegazey beats.
Find You is the latest track from Maymind – the moniker of LA based producer and DJ Leo Maymind – and is taken from his forthcoming album June due for release in November. Fusing elements of left-field electronics late night grooves and washed out, reverb-heavy vocals, it juxtaposes subdued beats with startlingly bright synths that give the impression of sunbeams puncturing the early morning haze.
Galcher… Lustwerk! Every time I see this guy’s name written down I suffer from an uncontrollable compulsion to say it out loud, mimicking that robotic French tag from his breakthrough Blowing Up The Workshop mix. Try it! It’s fun! Anyway, this is taken from a new Explorations in Analog Synthesis collection (Volume II, funnily enough) where Moog have asked a load of Very Good Producers to demonstrate the “powerful analog sound and sonic possibilities Moog Sound Studio offers”. Each track was built around the Moog Mother-32, DFAM, and Subharmonicon included in each artist’s Moog Sound Studio, and the full seven track EP includes music from Boy Harsher, Hannah Peel and others and is well worth checking out.
Electronic folk innovator, recent Paul Hamlyn Foundation award winner and TPW favourite, Me Lost Me’s latest single is taken from her forthcoming EP The Circle Dance and comes accompanied by a kaleidoscopic music video filmed on location at Sunderland’s Penshaw Monument. Gently haunting and instantly compelling, like much of her work Acrobat On The Roof seamlessly blends the old with the new, creating something unique, timeless and understatedly beautiful.
Eternally Recurring is the lead single from New York City-based Colombian guitarist and composer Jan Esbra’s forthcoming debut album Temporary Objects: a collection of 10 improvisations and spontaneous compositions that draws influence from a variety of artists including Steve Reich, Pauline Oliveros, Blank For.ms and Lightbath. Created using guitars, samplers and various effects pedals, it’s incredibly minimalistic and initially stark – clinical even – but over time starts to exude a real warmth and depth of character that completely draws you in.
The Predatory Wasp 