Selected for you by Marco and Gabs.
Jiem - Laying Down a Path in Walking
(Earshift Music, 2024)
Co-led by horn players Tessie Overmyer and Miles Rooney and supported by Mathew Harris on piano, Harry Birch on double bass, and Ryu Kodama on drums, the quintet crafts a sound that moves from the delicate to the virtuosic, expressing their deep musical synergy. The album title reflects on life's improvisational nature, illustrating how our paths are not predetermined but enacted through our own activity as we navigate the world.
Elori Saxl - Drifts and Surfaces
(Western Vinyl, 2024)
The three-piece set originates from three different commissions unified by shared themes that explore how technology has come to define our daily life: the blurring of physical and digital worlds, the compression and datafication of human experience, and the paradox of everyday stasis and constant change.
Lilacs & Champagne - Fantasy World
(Temporary Residence, 2024)
Fantasy World is built on the freedom that no rules afford. It can go where it needs to go, and there’s no better example than the collaged mutiny of Evil Has No Boundaries and Leprotic Phantasies. Moments like this capture the liberalism of the Lilacs & Champagne experience. A landscape littered with the history of music and Fantasy World is a celebration of it.
Orquesta Akokán - Caracoles
(Armada Music & slash, 2024)
Grammy-nominated Orquesta Akokán continues to usher the mambo into the 21st century vibrantly. The album’s fierce, effervescent grooves are designed to transmit feelings and emotions. This music inspires the body to move and the mind to uplift.
FC Music - Soft Hands Long Gone
(wherethetimegoes, 2024)
"Soft Hands Long Gone" offers aqueous grooves, lilting melodies, disjointed rhythms, bass-heavy undertones, and exotic textures. It blends spacious sound design with global south grooves and textural finesse, evoking Dub Techno interplays and '90s Warp electronica with hints of smooth R&B.
Pufuleti - GOTICO ROMANZO
(Funclab Records, 2024)
Giuseppe Licata, class '89, is a crucial figure in (weird) Italian rap. Raised in Germany, he initially rapped in German before gaining attention in Italy with his 2019 debut "Tumbulata." His style blends multiple languages over abstract hip-hop beats. "GOTICO ROMANZO", made with producer Fed Nance, shifts from hip-hop to dark, cryptic lyrics about romantic disappointments with a guitar-focused, emo-rap aesthetic. It is a diverse and introspective project.
Harvestman - Triptych: Part Two
(Neurot Recordings, 2024)
A multi-sensory experience that connects past and present, Steve Von Till’s "Triptych" series (released on 2024’s full moons) continues with "Part Two," exploring deep, ancestral sounds. This album blends tribal grooves, primal drones, and folklore influences into a cohesive, meditative journey, guiding listeners to a deeper, sacred resonance.
Laskfar Vortok - Erbsat Esrhosc
(Evar Records, 2024)
"Disturbing glimpse into a technoid utopia": Laskfar Vortok debuts in the EVAR catalogue with "Erbsat Esrhosc," a five-track EP featuring erratic patterns, anarchic atmospheres, and glitchy soundscapes. Inspired by a planetwide city and L.A.'s energy, it was created in memory of his friend Michael Gregory Harrison, aka Bad Timing. Using Bitwig Studio, orcλ, TidalCycles, and Renoise.
https://evar-records.com/album/erbsat-esrhosc