The Predatory Wasp
Rainy Miller’s Joseph, What Have You Done? is a stark, atmospheric dive into fractured memories and Northern Gothic landscapes. Rooted in Lancashire’s grit, Miller blurs grime, ambient, and spoken word with raw, confessional storytelling while voice notes and field recordings trace threads of trauma, estrangement, and resilience. It’s by turns sad, bleak, furious and nihilistic, but never less than completely engaging.
https://rainymiller.bandcamp.com/album/joseph-what-have-you-done
I’m really enjoying Kara-Lis Coverdale’s new album From Where You Came, although starting your bio with the line “Kara-Lis Coverdale creates music that transcends reality” is a bit much tbh. It’s a minor gripe when the music is this engaging though, especially Offload Flip which has just the right amount of low end wallop to perfectly offset all the dreamy, spectral synths.
https://kara-liscoverdale.bandcamp.com/album/from-where-you-came-2
There’s so little information out there about 18 DAYS’ latest vaporwave album Miracles – it’s not even been added to their official Bandcamp page – that I’m not sure what to say about it, other than it is astonishing that music of this lofi beauty gets produced and released without anyone really paying attention.
Jenny Hval opens her new album Iris Silver Mist with Lay Down, a track that floats in slowly, all soft synths and whispered intimacy. She sings about lying in the dark with a scythe in her hand, which sounds ominous, but lands more reflective than threatening. There’s a quiet jazziness to the arrangement, loungey and fluid, making it feel like something half-heard through a hotel wall.
Xenia Reaper’s new album Gambling had me at “a requiem to noughties trance-euphoria”, scratching an itch that only 36’s Cold Ecstasy had previously been able to reach.
Multi-instrumentalist and producer Lindsay Olsen aka Salami Rose Joe Louis released her new album Lorings on Flying Lotus’s Brainfeeder label last week and it’s excellent. Produced almost entirely on her Roland MV8800 workstation, for a couple of songs, SRJL invited a handful of talented friends to collaborate: guitarist/producer Flanafi (with whom Olsen partnered for the collaborative album ‘Sarah’ in 2024); Omari Jazz (Black Decelerant); Luke Titus and Sergio Machado Plim. The result is satisfyingly dreamy bedroom pop and occasionally glitchy electronica that drifts and tugs in perfect harmony.
Ludicrous amounts of fun stuff out this week which I’ll be highlighting in the coming days, starting with Sibel Koçer’aka JakoJako’s new LP Tết 41, her debut for Mute. Recorded during a trip to Vietnam and bookended by field recordings from Tết Lunar New Year celebrations, the album is a sonic nod to Koçer’s heritage, with the melodic palette breaking away from traditional Western scales, drawing instead from the tonal intricacies of the Vietnamese language, inspired by overheard conversations. Produced with a minimalist setup consisting of a Eurorack and Waldorf Iridium Core, Tết 41 reflects on notions of rebirth, and the pursuit of a sonic core.
I wasn’t really into Beirut until 2019’s Galipoli, which for me remains the high watermark of his career. But on the first few listens A Study Of Losses is going to give it a run for its money. Lots of wonderful, atmospheric highlights but Garbo’s Face is the standout so far. There’s something about a plaintive organ line that reduces me to a weepy mess.
Penelope Trappes doesn’t so much write songs as she carves out little underwater worlds to sit and stare at your feelings in. Anchor us To The Seabed Floor from her new album A Requiem is synths that start soft and end up ragged, hushed vocals, and heavy emotional fog. It’s slow, it’s sad, it’s very beautiful. Let it wash over you and maybe cry a bit. Or don’t. It’ll still haunt you either way.
The Predatory Wasp 