To paraphrase Mercury Rev, today is all about yer Self Esteem. But there’s also a ton of other music I’m checking out today:
Aksak Maboul - Redrawn Figures 1 / Redrawn Figures 2
A pair of remix/rework albums of the Belgian avant-rock group’s 2020 electronic chamber pop record. The Notwist, Cate le Bon, Kate NV, Vanishing Twin amongst the contributors.
Aya - im hole
Debut album on Hyperdub, mix of glitchy garage, grime, jungle, rap and mutant IDM. FFO Arca maybe.
Bedouine – Waysides
“Sixties folk meets seventies country-funk with a glimmer of bossa nova cool. Lithe guitar picking and precise lyrical excursions.”
Call Super – Cherry Drops II
Companion EP to last month’s part I. Inventive atmospheric techno.
Circuit des Yeux - -io
“An imposing concept album that’s part Western epic and part psych odyssey. It takes place on a land where “everything is ending all the time”. With its timeless, off-world approach to baroque pop, it’s a surprisingly hi-fidelity offering, at the centre of these lofty songs is Fohr’s distinctive low, warbling vibrato. "
Deerhoof - Actually, You Can
It’s one of those bands with deer in the title.
Grouper – Shade
Liz Harris returns, sparse and cavernous folk-pop with touches of ambient, slowcore, folk and drone.
Guided By Voices – It’s Not Them. It Couldn’t Be Them. It Is Them!
Don’t call it a comeback. Robert Pollard returns with his first album since April 2021.
Helado Negro – Far In
Warm, daydreamy electronic Latin pop crooning, his first LP for 4AD.
Herbert – Musca
Literal house music, featuring sounds wrought from Matthew Herbert’s own home and animais.
John Coltrane - A Love Supreme: Live in Seattle
Recently uncovered live performance of one of the very best jazz albums, or just music in general really.
JPEGMAFIA – LP!
Dark and surreal experimental hip-hop. Tkay Maidza and Denzel Curry feature.
La Luz – La Luz
Naturalistic, psychedelic harmonised garage-surf-rock-pop, produced by Adrian Younge.
Lana Del Ray – Blue Banisters
Second LDR of 2021, kind of forgotten the earlier one already though.
Lomond Campbell - LŪP
Scottish soundsmith who makes his own instruments, experimental electronic tunes.
Lonely Guest – Lonely Guest
New project from Tricky featuring Lee “Scratch” Perry, Martina Topley-Bird, Joe Talbot and more.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – B-Sides and rarities Part II
27 more odds and ends from NC & The BS.
Olafur Arnalds – Invisible EP
Some typically glacial beauty that was written for a film but then buried on a hard drive for a decade.
Omar Sosa & Seckou Keita – Suba
Cuban keyboardist Omar Sosa and Senegalese kora maestro Seckou Keita collaborate on delicate and tender songs of hope.
Orquesta Akokán – 16 Rayos
Vibrant mambo from a Cuban band more who are more about the dance floor than the social club.
Ouri – Frame of a Fauna
Montreal-based French singer/producer /composer fusing orchestral compositions with industrial fuzz and trip-hop.
Parquet Courts – Sympathy For Life
7th album of spiky art-punk from the Courts.
Ross From Friends – Tread
Lo-fi bittersweet house music on Brainfeeder; first album since 2018 from a producer who you could say was… on a break.
Self Esteem – Prioritise Pleasure
More emphatic, emotional, exceptional pop bangers. If it’s as good as her debut it will be a great album, and the early reviews seem to say it’s better.
Jarvis Cocker - Chansons d’ennui Tip-Top
J-Cock turns his hand to French classics to tie in with a new Wes Anderson movie.
Tonstartssbandht – Petunia
Unpronounceable folk-psych fusion filled with guitar grooves and HARMONIES.