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22/30 electronic experimental

doon kanda – galatea

I don’t know if Doon Kanda’s music sounds more like a crude, AI-generated amalgam of all the clubs in Berlin, or a rave for deep sea creatures. His artwork is certainly a grotesque mix of the two. *snaps fingers* You know what Doon’s art is like? It’s like if a 12th century sacrilegious nightmare was […]

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22/30 indie/alternative punk

personal trainer – big love blanket

Despite its loving title, ‘Big Love Blanket’ will be unlikeable to some: it’s a cocky, liberty-taking piece of indie-rock that covers a little too much ground. It’s also very enjoyable for those same reasons. Personal Trainer sail across the busy seas of post-punk and art pop, with Travis Morrison forming part of the cabin crew […]

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22/30 funk carioca

deize tigrona – foi eu que fiz

Coke. Guns. Booty. Beats. No, that’s not Michael Gove’s shopping list. It’s how Alex Bellos once distilled funk carioca. Deize Tigrona takes the last two , hurls them into direct lyrics, and lets them wobble above floor-shaking energy. Her drive is the most intensely arresting aspect of Foi Eu Que Fiz. Tigrona straps to her […]

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22/30 folk singer-songwriter

susie merrie – body in time

Body in Time has a quiet faith in itself, so that it glides beyond the stripped back production without a single step too soon, or too far. The successes of each track hinge on how well Susie Merry can inhabit a mood. Her tendency to be direct clarifies each tonal element, leaving the song free […]

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22/30 folk

the a’s – fruit

Is a cover album limited by nature? Many of these classics weren’t sung and penned by the same person. Then again, The A’s have plenty of great songwriting parallels—Adrienne Lenker, par exemple. Truthfully, it doesn’t matter: the performances on ‘Fruit’ are beautifully contained, inventive, and glowing with folky fandom. The penultimate track is the only […]

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22/30 electronic experimental idm

wordcolour – the trees were buzzing, and the grass.

Wordcolour holds an uncanny artistic ability to suspend order and blur familiar sounds. 2020’s ‘Juno Way’ EP was a carefully produced record about people in structural liminality, uncertain of relationships or situations. ‘TTWBATG’ transfers this superficial tumult onto a more natural canvas, where both human nature and non-human life forms are heard as fundamentally wandering, […]

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22/30 indie/alternative

soccer mommy – sometimes, forever

Sophie Allison’s position in indie rock is a neat bedroom on the upper west wing. She is a delightful guest and the indie serving staff get along with her well, despite her reclusive inclinations. ‘Sometimes, Forever’ is her first LP since February 2020. There is a complete modernity to the production packaging that flatters the […]

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22/30 punk rock

petrol girls – baby

Petrol Girls is an interesting name: their energy on this record asks whether they are fuel poured onto a fire, or the heart of the flame. But this isn’t an album of questions. For all the fuzzy distortion and vocal crackling, ‘Baby’ is about clarity and force. The group is equipped with points to be […]

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22/30 experimental folk

auntie flo, sarathy korwar – shruti dances (ep)

The sounds at play on this EP are exceptional in their variation. Taken from the now-famous London jazz scene, ‘Shruti Dances’ is buoyed by the work of DJ and producer Auntie Flo, who props up the trance with narrow melodic changes. On Korwar’s side, the deeply personal influences form a straight line from the US […]