On her second album for Hyperdub, the electronic artist Loraine James pours cold water on the pandemic-fuelled flames of anxiety, dousing grimy atmospherics and scattershot drill percussion in synth washes and vocalised waves of R&B. Kajsa Lindgren leans into the lapping tide as the composer mixes strings and keys on her first for Recital. And Maria Spivak reduces the golden hour to a passing reflection, on a record of gauzy dream pop which gazes out wistfully over the Mediterranean Sea.
From Borneo Island by way of the nightclubs of Bangkok, the queer activist and underground staple Wanton Witch shatters the shackles of genre. The Los Angeles harpist Nailah Hunter covers a trio of cult classics, finishing with a harrowing rendition of the Radiohead B-side ‘Talk Show Host’. ‘Glass Peach’ by Joviale goes down fuzzily, Mykki Blanco and Kari Faux get together for a summer fling, Kele Okereke seeks the centre amid foaming and gushing, and the pianist Hania Rani finds momentary solace on ‘The Beach’.
Throwing Snow goes the extra mile as he rolls out his audiovisually-augmented album Dragons. Nick Cave shares a personal testament which grapples with the vastness of grief. Raheem DeVaughn and Apollo Brown get ready to commit alongside Westside Boogie, DMX and Griselda shrug off the blues, and Armand Hammer, The Alchemist, and Earl Sweatshirt eye the black clouds and blue skies of youth. Tracks by Moor Mother, Brockhampton, BXB Love, Das Beat, and Desire round out the best of the week.
Playlists: Spotify · Apple Music · YouTube
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Kele – ‘The Heart of the Wave’
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Joviale – ‘Glass Peach’
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Mykki Blanco – ‘Summer Fling’ (feat. Kari Faux)
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BROCKHAMPTON – ‘DON’T SHOOT UP THE PARTY’
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DMX – ‘Hood Blues’ (feat. Westside Gunn, Benny the Butcher, and Conway the Machine)
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Loraine James – ‘Running Like That’ (feat. Eden Samara)
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Nailah Hunter – ‘Talk Show Host’
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Nick Cave & Warren Ellis – ‘Letter to Cynthia’
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Desire – ‘Ghosts’
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Raheem DeVaughn & Apollo Brown – ‘Just Fall In Love’ (feat. Westside Boogie)
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BXB LOVE – ‘matrix’
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Armand Hammer & The Alchemist – ‘Falling Out the Sky’ (feat. Earl Sweatshirt)
