The Predatory Wasp
Calling a record Cheese and then throwing in a guitar solo Chris Rea would be proud of is arguably a risky move, but US synthpop duo Young Ejecta completely get away with it. I’m a sucker for breathy, washed out vocals, and they’re there in abundance on Cheese alongside a Hold On, We’re Going Home-esque mid tempo beat and delicate, dreamy pads. Man it’s great, and if you’re not just even a little moved by it I really can’t help you.
Like many artists who have unexpectedly had their touring calendars erased by coronavirus, Daniel Avery has been keeping himself busy in the studio, and last week surprise released an entire album of new material, the 14 track Love + Light. “This record has been a real positive force of energy in my life, to the point where it almost formed itself in front of me,” Avery says of the LP. “In that same spirit, I wanted to share it with you now, as soon as it was finished.” Love + Light ranges from full on party techno bangers to hazy, washed out electronic ballads, with the wonderful Fuzzwar occupying a space very much towards the latter end of that spectrum.
The first minute or so of Agency Loop is nothing more than a gently undulating synth line set against the backdrop of some especially tuneful birdsong, and it’s entirely blissful. To be honest, I’m less into the final movement when the drums roll in and it all becomes a bit sub Boards Of Canada, but the tranquility of the that early section is really special. It’s taken from the official soundtrack of Defective Holiday, a trippy indie video game that’s available now on Steam.
Soothing ambient electronics from the New-Age drone duo TENGGER for you today, and I have to say this is the most relaxed I’ve felt listening to music for quite some time. TENGGER translates to ‘unlimited expanse of sky’ in Mongolian, which is incredibly appropriate for the sweeping harmonies and spacious atmospheres conjured by not only this record, but much of their catalogue. Eurasia is from their new album Nomad, which is out now on the brilliantly named Beyond Beyond Is Beyond Records.
Allsides is a joint project of Polish artists Z ^ L ^ X, Gap The Boy and Jakub Dudek, who also appears as a featured artist. I’m In Love… is wonderfully glitchy electronica with some lovely melodies floating behind the crushed drums and percussion, and a bleepy lead synth that holds everything together. It’s the lead track from their new LP Toy Division, which is varied, at times challenging, and definitely worth a listen.
I’ve spent about half an hour looking for any background information at all about whattodo, but as a search time it’s a tough one, and I keep getting reccomendations for “what to do in London on a shoestring budget”, etc. Their Bandcamp page simply states “producer, songwriter, dogwalker”, and at the time of writing Weekly has two views on YouTube, so it doesn’t look like self-promotion is high on the agenda here, which is a shame as it’s a beautiful, subdued, melancholic record that more people should hear.
Existential Celebration is taken from Waking Hours, the third album from New York musician Evan Shornstein aka Photay: an alias he established after a formative trip to Guinea in West Africa on which he discovered and embraced the distinctive and expressive styles of percussion that has characterised much of his musical output. This album opener is actually fairly sparing in its delivery of percussive elements, focussing instead on an epic intertwining of strings and synth lines.
I’m a big fan of Kaleida’s 2017 debut album Tear The Roots, especially Echo Saw You and their cover of 99 Luftballoons, which is completely inspired. Other Side is the first single from their forthcoming album Odyssey and seems to pick up where the previous LP left off: breathy vocals, ethereal atmospheres and hushed tones over a gently pulsing mid-tempo beat. Like much of their music it’s quietly beguiling, and a welcome glimpse into what I hope will be another excellent album.
The first track Nathan Micay ever finished was a jungle bootleg of Sufjan Stevens, so with credentials like that his place on this blog was pretty much assured before I’d heard even a bar of his new album The World I’m Going To Hell For. Happily, it’s absolutely brilliant, and A Razor’s Edge Requiem is an early highlight, blending Selected Ambient Works-era Aphex pads over thunderous broken beats and fizzing synth lines, before dissolving into a finale so moving it makes we want to spend the rest of the day listening to it on loop while gazing at little fluffy clouds.
Sudanese-American artist Dua Saleh started off their artistic career as a poet before releasing their debut single First Take back in 2017. smut is one of the tracks on their new EP, ROSETTA, which dropped last week. It’s an intoxicating pop-r&b-electronic hybrid: unpredictable and constantly shifting in tone and style over the course of its four-minute running time, and I absolutely love it.
The Predatory Wasp 