Zanzo "Musk EP (Internet and Weed)"
L'Orange & Namir Blade "Imaginary Everything (Mello Music)"
From Mello Music:
Namir Blade controls the clouds and the concrete. With the blink of a synapse, his imagination conjures elaborate visions of valleys of death, bad Tijuana dreams, and shotgun raids. In the next breath, he’s blowing off texts, rolling out of bed around noon, and crooning falsetto pleas about his willingness to change. The Nashville’s latest, Imaginary Everything is a work of teleportation and twisted fantasy, a wig-flipping blast of surrealism and slang editorials. It is a journey and experience. A collaboration with the otherworldly producer, L’Orange.
Most artists favor either hyper-realism or wild futurism, but Blade artfully splits the difference. Blurring the lines between fact and fiction, he offers an artistic conceit and nocturnal panoramas. He reverently communes with the older gods, but also blasts listeners with the jarring experiences of modernity. Scope the seance for Hendrix jamming “Foxy Lady” at 4 a.m. on the last morning of Woodstock, the acid in the headband. Blade channels the boiling revenge funk of James Brown’s “The Big Payback.” But he simultaneously shares a kinship with the most lyrical and raw of the contemporary underground. You can hear it viscerally in Blade’s bars and from guest incantations from Quelle Chris and Fly Anakin. Imaginary Everything is a startling arsenal, a departure from convention, toggling between interior flights of mind and guillotine chops to the neck.
Kid Millions and Jan St. Werner "Imperium Droop (Thrill Jockey)"
From Thrill Jockey Records:
The duo of John Colpitts aka Kid Millions and Jan St. Werner brings together the minds of two mavericks committed to exploring new avenues of musical expression. Kid Millions is one of the most sought after drummers and improvisors in NYC, known for his expansive solo work as Man Forever, as well as collaborations and performances with the likes of Laurie Anderson, Philip Glass, Boredoms, and So Percussion. Millions’ acclaim is equally rooted in his work with rock bands such as his own Oneida, as well as working with bands like Royal Trux and Spiritualized. Jan St. Werner has consistently remained at the vanguard of electronic music with his work as one half of Mouse On Mars as well as with his solo work and collaborations with The Fall’s Mark E Smith, Oval’s Markus Popp, Stereolab and The National. On their debut collaboration Imperium Droop, Millions and Werner, along with special guests Mats Gustafsson, Andrew Barker, and Richard Hoffman, created a collection of beautiful pieces built on surprising sound combinations. Together, the works on Imperium Droop are a joyful listen and an exhilarating foray into the unknown.
Ellis "Nothing is Sacred Anymore (Fat Possum)"
From Fat Possum Records:
“I grew up Christian and was quite devoted to faith up through my late teens, but I started challenging that once I got to university,” says Hamilton, Ontario-based singer/songwriter Linnea Siggelkow, who began making music under the name Ellis in 2017. “Since then I’ve been trying to redefine who I am and where I stand and what I think about these things on my own, and that journey very much played into the songwriting on this record.”