The Predatory Wasp
Nilüfer Yanya returns with her new EP Dancing Shoes, out now on Ninja Tune. Dancing Shoes was written alongside a collection of tracks that Nilüfer re-approached with her creative partner Wilma Archer when she returned from touring her latest, insanely brilliant LP My Method Actor aka the best album of 2024. The project includes Nilüfer’s latest singles “Where To Look” and “Cold Heart”, as well as this previously unreleased beauty.
To celebrate the best Glastonbury lineup in years, here’s a recent track from one of the many acts I’m extremely excited to see. Mega Circuit presents a darker, guitar-driven sound, reflecting on contemporary masculinity and the search for identity in challenging times. The track features renowned drummer Jim Keltner, known for his work with artists like Jackson Browne and Dolly Parton. The accompanying music video, co-directed by Zauner and collaborator Adam Kolodny, complements the song’s introspective themes. Which, yes, isn’t exactly three pingers deep in a field vibes, but is still excellent.
https://michellezauner.bandcamp.com/album/for-melancholy-brunettes-sad-women
Since their 2019 debut, Glasgow duo Cloth have carved out a space between dream pop and post-rock, with 2023’s Secret Measure one of my favourite LPs of the year . Now the Swinton twins are back with Golden, the first taste of their upcoming album Pink Silence, due in April. Stripped-back yet emotionally loaded, the track leans into the quiet devastation of a breakup – hazy guitars, whispered vocals, and that signature Cloth restraint making every moment feel weightier.
Shura is back, and it feels like a long time coming. Her new album, the amazingly titled I Got Too Sad For My Friends, lands May 30 and she’s just dropped the first single, Recognise, which kicks off with dreamy, otherworldly synths and hushed, almost ghostly vocals before bursting into this messy, beautiful chaos of drums. Shura says it’s about coming out of a dark period and learning to find peace in the little things and quotes Arthur Russell as saying “being sad is not a crime”, which feels apt.
https://shura.bandcamp.com/album/i-got-too-sad-for-my-friends
Trying to get back into regular new music posts, but it’s very challenging with all these best of lists taking up my time. It’s exhausting! Sometimes I need to reminder myself that’s not actually a job and it’s supposed to be fun. Which it mostly is, but not always. Anyway – here’s a jaunty, heartwarming collab between Baba Stiltz and Okay Kaya – released on Christmas Day no less!
There’s a three track run in the middle of Nilüfer Yanya’s new album My Method Actor that is so good that after a few listens I’ve convinced this is the best album released this year so far. Time will tell if that remains to be the case, but for now it’s made me a) cry with happiness and b) want to listen to it multiple times every day. It feels that despite consistently excellent reviews of her music, Yanya hasn’t received quite the recognition she deserves as yet. Hopefully that will now start to change.
Following a limited two-track vinyl edition earlier this year, The Smile have now officially released Don’t Get Me Started alongside The Slip, now accompanied by a typically hard-to-watch-without-your-eyes-melting music video from audiovisual artist Weirdcore, who has previously created videos for Charli XCX, Radiohead and perhaps most strikingly Aphex Twin.
I run a little hot and cold on Big Thief – some of their work is incredible, some very meh – but I’m really enjoying Adrienne Lenker’s new solo album Bright Future, which is way more stripped down and even more contemplative, and even veers into Sufjan territory when she picks up the banjo. Track titles like Sadness As A Gift should give you an idea of the overall tone, but if you’re keen for some (arguably) self-indulgent introspection then it absolutely delivers. Already Lost is a highlight, including as it does some truly devastatingly poignant melodies.
Unsurprisingly, two of the guys from one of the world’s most acclaimed band of all time, plus another guy, make some pretty astonishingly good music that sounds enough like their other band to be comforting, but different enough to make middle aged men very, very excited and feel as if they’re at the cutting-edge of the scene once again, you know, the same way it felt when their first band made all that amazing stuff in the 90s.
Marika Hackman’s new album Big Sigh is described as the “hardest” record she’s ever made. It’s unclear whether that refers to the challenge or how it actually sounds; it’s definitely bolder and less hushed than some of her previous releases, but still contains plenty of sadness, reflection and catharsis, which is exactly what I’m interested in, and LP opener is a beautiful, haunting, (almost) instrumental starting point for what turns out to be the first great release of the year.
The Predatory Wasp 