Into the future! With helium-bossa, dronepunk and the blues.
1 ALDOUS HARDING LAWN
The queen of international auxiliary language lyricism makes her glorious return, singing something about B-sides in the style of a woman trapped in a helium balloon, in bossa nova. From new LP Warm Chris.
Find it: streaming services
2 SISTER COOKIE AIN’T NO GOOD (BUT IT’S GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME)
The Lagos-London jazz/
blues blaster states love’s imperfections with purifying candour. Find it: streaming services
3 DESTROYER TINTORETTO, IT’S FOR YOU
Dan Bejar’s more than usually deranged on this teaser from 13th LP Labyrinthitis (due in March). Electro beats, pop synths and jazz piano duel as he hallucinates “palm trees stooping to kiss the bishop’s ring”. Painterly. Find it: streaming services
4 75 DOLLAR BILL BLACK TO COMM/9 TO 5
Gnarly dronepunk cut’n’shut of the MC5 and Dolly Parton. A crate-rattling, sax-honking, rabble-rousing skronk insurrection.
Find it: Bandcamp
5 KHRUANGBIN & LEON BRIDGES B-SIDE
From Feb’s Texas Moon EP, this hazy bong-load of Afro-Latin mystery funk sounds like it’s been plucked from a gold dust-sprinkled box of vintage 45s, in a dream.
Find it: YouTube
6 LIA ICES HYMN
The fertile earth of Moon Mountain, CA, where Lia Ices and family live on a winery, yields wistful, end-of-summery Americana. Find it: streaming services
7 SYLPH ANCIENT HOLE
The title track from an industrial-electro solo EP by Thomas Cohen (S.C.U.M). Mellow, anxious, and well goth.
Find it: streaming services
8 SON HOUSE PREACHIN’ BLUES
The Lazarus of the Delta blues, raw in ’64. From the unheard live recordings released in
March as Forever On My Mind on Dan Auerbach’s Easy Eye label. Find it: YouTube
9 DOWDELIN MAMA WÉ
Creole Afro-futurist ecological lament featuring a taut, metallic voodoo groove from Togolese funkster Vaudou Game (AKA Peter Solo). From new album Lanmou Lanmou.
Find it: streaming platforms
10 ZOLTAN FECSO BUTTERFLY HANDS
Melbourne composer puts bells inside his piano, makes delicate, jazz-adjacent hay. Spiritual balm for Necks fans, especially. Find it: Bandcamp