Kurupi "No Esperes"
No Esperes acts as an accumulation of Josh’s recent output as Kurupi. It pulls together the tracks found on Mano and ties these with the AA-side singles, “Mutt” / “BounceWitMe” and standalone, “Stove”. Kurupi’s output is very collaborative so while being helmed by Sanchez, he frequently taps into the tight-knit friendship group that he surrounds himself with for features and production work.
Inspired by the DIY punk/rap shows that he attended as a teen, there’s a feeling of community imbued in the album tracks with regular appearances from FourHEAD, v_nus m_jia, J Promptu and Specifix, as well as one offs from Diani and Tony Ramirez with Cudimitsu mixing and mastering the full project and montie producing the track, “Mano”. It’s a lively, eccentric release that dips in between genres and influences carrying a freedom with it that was previously embodied by the likes of Odd Future and BROCKHAMPTON, cut with the slacker-rock aesthetic of Beach Goons, FIDLAR and Wavves. There’s something about No Esperes’ ability to flaunt genre stipulations – and utter lack of care for them – that plays into the community and reckless spirt at the heart of the record. It’s an equal bouts cathartic and introverted, peering inwards to find what it needs to let go of the most. Kurupi finds himself at the center of an exciting time in the LA punk/rap scene, emerging at the same time as the likes of Belaganas.
Gastr Del Sol "We Have Dozens of Titles"
Nearly twenty-five years after disbanding, Gastr del Sol have unpacked their archive, stringing together an alternative view to their genre-melting 1993-1998 run. This assembly of previously uncollected studio recordings and beautifully captured unreleased live performances forms a spacious ode to the flux that was their métier; a further set of reinventions that continue to alter the manner in which we hear music, and literally everything else!
Hot Wheels "Sun Blonde"
Hot Wheels is a project conceived by Los Angeles based painter and musician, Dan Bruinooge. His debut album, Sun Blonde, jumps from meditative drone pieces to radio-friendly hits. It plays like a soundtrack for an outsider’s experience in LA. It could perhaps best be paired with driving in a convertible in deadlock traffic with the sun blaring in your face; dwelling and blissing out in its beauty, complexity and melancholy.
How To Dress Well "I Am Toward You"
In his 15 years recording as How To Dress Well, LA-based musician Tom Krell has played with the concept of what we hear and how we communicate in order to create music that exists somewhere between celestial transcendence and an outsider approach to what pop music can be. In Krell’s musical world, the weight of a sample comes from his history with it, the meaning of a lyric fragment is stretched and distorted, its core skirting universal interpretation in favor of specificity. I Am Toward You is the first new How To Dress Well album in six years: with some of his noisiest, most free, and most poetic music to date, Krell opens the second decade of his career with an album that delivers on the hallmarks of his best work. I Am Toward You is a beautiful experience.