Hiya 👋🏾
Well, what can I say? It’s been a heavy few months with the unexpected passing of my father and the cumulative effect of daily puppy trials. Everything feels like a chore. All I could manage was to blend a selection that made an impression in the dark fog of my mind. See what you think.
Float from ambient and experimental spaces to more upbeat and energising rhythms, before reaching for the stars as the finest house and techno kick in. Note to self: heal yourself and move.
I must also shout out a couple of people that I forgot to include in my mad rush. Djrum and Rainy Miller have made two of the finest albums of this year. Under Tangled Silence is a minimalist, compositional work of staggering beauty. Conceived during lockdown and remade after a hard drive meltdown. It’s like an intricate sculpture that catches the light in different ways.
Joseph, What Have You Done? is another brooding suite for the disaffected of the North (and beyond). Poignant, searing prose that meanders across amorphous, boundless frontiers of sound. For me, it’s an album about loss and perseverance, but that could be recent events framing my experience. Regardless, the weight of emotion on this record is undeniable 😮💨
Both might take a while to unravel, but that is often the hallmark of great art.
Until next time…
Stay close.
A
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HUGH HOPPER & ALAN GOWEN – Morning Order [Cuneiform]
KELELA – Enemy (unplugged) [Warp]
ES ISLAND – Track 9 [Forest Jams]
STANDING ON THE CORNER – Baby [XL]
QUR’AN SHAHEED – Dreams [Leaving]
RAISA K – Both Still [15 love]
MARGEEAH – Rise Black Spirit [Frederiksberg]
LARRY JUNE & THE ALCHEMIST – Summer Reign (featuring Ty Dollar $ign) [ALC]
MADLIB – The Plan Part 1 (featuring Georgia Ann Muldrow) [BBE]
STEVE SPACEK – PBR (featuring Q Tip)
SPACETIME CONTINUUM – Flurescence [Fundamental Frequencies]
FRANCIS BEBEY – Where Are You [Africa Seven]
HERBERT & MOMOKO GILL – Show Me [Strut]
GIDEÖN – Two Houses (Original mix) [Homo-Centric]
KAREEM ALI – This Life [Noire & Blanche]
YELFRIS VALDÉS – Ancestry (K15 remix) [Música Macondo]
DEREK RUSSO & THOMAS XU – Zodiac Travel [Broad Channel]
HIEROGLYPHIC BEING – Reality is Not What it May Seem [Smalltown Supersound]
RON TRENT – Street Wave (featuring Lars Bartkuhn) [Rush Hour]
PSYCHE/BFC – Galaxy [Planet E]
✌🏾
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