/Ｏ/＾☆☆♪ ☆ ♪

May 2025

Mixes & Albums

• Logic1000 - DJ-Kicks:Logic1000

  A mixed set with a minimal soundstage that sounds very clean & ethereal. Appropriate for both waking up in the morning and walking around at night.
• Maria Somerville - Luster

  A nice dream pop release from 4AD. I'm not sure it's doing anything exactly new, but this is still a soothing & ethereal masterpiece that I have welcomed into my life.
• Erika de Casier - Lifetime

  This might be my favorite release of 2025 thus far & there's a chance I write a more in-depth review. Super catchy, lush, vulnerable downtempo. She wrote, produced, and released this by herself.
• Lucy Bedroque - Unmusique

  I've decided I'm not too old to like digicore (see my entry for 2door). This is the second work of a 19 year-old listed for this month.
• yuele - Serotonin II

  Ambient-leaning pop that wouldn't be out of place on a club floor. yuele does an incredible job at mixing genres here and made something quite unique.
• tokenainamae - タイムマシンが壊れる前に [Waiting at Time Machine]

  I first heard this album years ago, forgot what it's called, and couldn't find it again to save my life. I'd like to thank a Twitter user I saw who got the vinyl and posted its name. Noise pop EP with some infectious synths laid over.
• Jeff Mills - Set at Wire 03

  If you're confused why techno guys called Jeff 'The Wizard' your answer lies here. There's a video of this set; watch it and you'll notice he's mixing 3 tables and a 909 at the same damn time.

Songs

• Sally Shapiro - I Know

  Earworm. Disco / electropop from a mid-2000s Swedish disco revival scene.
• Fully Body 2 - sprite ocarina

  I am such a sucker for a re-release. This song rips and nobody does it like FB2. Can't even classify it.
• Smerz - A thousand lies

  This is the most invested I've been in an album rollout in quite some time. This is a very nice song.
• ecco2k, fakemink - hesitate (released as MAKKA, I was just so early and so cool)

  The scholars in the Soundcloud comment section don't seem too crazy about this one but I think they're wrong. Mechatok production suits fakemink well. The beat gets devoured by these two.
• kuru - 2door

  Digicore is what They are calling the genre. I fear I might be pushing the upper age limit to listen to this. This songs really catchy - glitched, choppy, fast with kuru flowing over it all. I read somewhere that he's 19 years old.
• Spivak - The One in Front of the Sun

  Dreamy & ethereal with sound effects of swords unsheathing. Writing that out it sounds #epic (re: cringe) but I swear it works so well.
• Everything But The Girl - Lullaby at Clubland

  It's Closing Time but in a cool & hot way. Bright lights. Big buildings. You are in the taxi scene in Lost in Translation. That's right.
• The Streets - Has It Come to This?
• DJ Q - All That I Could

  I had a bit of a UK Garage moment, if you can't tell.
• They Are Gutting a Body of Water - AMERICAN FOOD

  I've loved watching TAGABOW's sound develop over time. The record scratches lend a really unique texture to this song. I hope there is more to come.
• Addison Rae - Fame is a Gun

  This is the best song ever.

April 2025

Stressful month & not a lot of music was clicking for me. Nonetheless, we perservere.

Mixes & Albums

• Basic Channel - Q1.1
• Studio - West Coast

  The vocals aren't my favorite but this oozes summer in a way I haven't heard before.
• Michele Mercure - Beside Herself

  A collection of synthesizer loosies from the 80s. They are all very ahead of their time & it's great that these were able to see the light of day.
• Barker - Stochastic Drift

  It's dub techno but if the techno was a forest and there's a refreshing breeze blowing through.
• YHWH Nailgun - 45 Pounds

  Genre-wise I don't know what to call this. It's tight, I'll say that. I liked the back-half of the album a lot more than the front.
• Skee Mask - Pool

  The runtime on this is a little excessive, but it's all good, so I can't fault Mr. Skee.
• SHERELLE - WITH A VENGEANCE

  This is jungle & it's really good, but the real reason this album is on here is because of how cool the cover is.
• Weiss - Rephlex

  I bought the the CD because I love how it's packaged. It helps that the music's good. Minimal techno with some glitches tossed in. Good stuff.
• LTJ Bukem - Logical Progression CD-B Mixed Set

  Guy's a legend. This is perfect. My consolation prize for not being able to make his Philadelphia show was listening to this on repeat.
• Planning for Burial - Below the House

  Definitely *not* a spring album (the cover is accurate), but sometimes the soul just needs to be crushed for 43 minutes.
• disctr4k - progression breaks

  Young kid from Buffalo making really good jungle. Worth a listen. I love this scene.

Songs

• Yung Lean, Thaiboy Digital, Bladee - Buildings

  I should've put this on last month, but I'm still listening to it. Cloud rap classic. Takes me back.
• Air France - No Way Down
• Fakemink - Music and Me
• Autechre - Rotar
• deer park - Fess Up
• Tirzah - Inside Out

  Really scratched an itch for a few days.
• POiSON GiRL FRiEND - THE FUTURE IS NOW

  Anytime I revisit MELTING MOMENT I get a new favorite song off it.
• jonatan leandoer96 - Machines

  Everything drones in a way that's very true to the song's name. Great pre-sleep song.
• Black Kray - ALL WHITE RAIN (honorable mention to YUNG 6 SPEED)

  More cloud rap. This song bangs. Blast it in the car.
• Faye Wong - 分裂

  I watched Chungking Express for the first time which means that, naturally, I'm exploring Faye Wong's music. This one's great; I would love to know how she got the Cocteau Twins to produce an album for her.
• Sleep - Dopesmoker

  It's simply the best song ever. Please look up the story of this album's recording if you're uninitiated.
• Unwound - Treachery

  Continuing on my Unwound revelations from last month. This is a very good band. I wish I knew earlier.
• PinkPantheress - Stateside

  This is very good. Good job PinkPantheress. I would be lost without you.

March 2025

I've been listening to a lot of mixes & albums that really only work as a cohesive body, so I've broken these out into a separate list.

Mixes & Albums

• 454 - Elevator Music (Mix)
• Big Bud - Infinity + Infinity

  This feels like the 90s DnB version of SAW1. Some remarakbly detailed and layered tracks that will blend into the background if you let it.
• Manuel Göttsching - E2-E4 (Mixed)

  This is an all-timer of mine. Very early example of electronic music; it has this very slow & subtle build that just fills me with energy and a desire to move.
• Jeff Mills - Live at The Liquid Room, Tokyo (Mix)

  10/10 but I shouldn't need to tell you that.
• gum.mp3 - Black Life, Red Planet

  This ones from a NYC jungle scene that includes another favorite of mine, Dazegxd. Super refreshing, modern take on some classic rave styles.
• Hiroshi Yoshimura - Flora 1987

  A fabled ambient rarity that got a re-release. This album holds a very special place in my heart; finding a YouTube rip years ago changed the way I view music. Everything about this album is very natural and organic. Whatever sunlight does to a plant, this will do to your soul. How fortunate am I to own a physical copy of a work like this.
• Chuquimamani-Condori - DJ E

  Another month, another Elysia Crampton appearance. I can safely say I have never heard anything like this, ever.
• Huerco S. - Railroad Blues

  A nice dub techno EP that goes great with Being Busy. Clean & industrious.
• ML Buch - Suntub

  Quicky approaching most-listened-to-album-of-all-time status for me. She is the best.
• Basic Channel - Q 1.1

  A dub techno classic, revisited since Hard Wax got some represses in stock (I bought one). GOAT shit.

Songs

• 454, Pig the Gemini - Extraordinaire
• Bladee - Apple
• EQ - Boytoy

  Really cool. Takes a lot of that indie-sleaze-revivial sound (bad) and injects it with feedback & droning vocals (good).
• PJ Harvey - A Perfect Day Elise

  How did she come up with this?
• Tujiko Noriko - Empty

  Minimalist, repetitive pop with gallons of texture.
• Unwound - Feeling$ Real

  Big news - I finally get this band. Great companion for making a chicken pie.
• This Is Lorelei, MJ Lenderman - Dancing in the Club - MJ Lenderman Version

  I'm not too crazy about This Is Lorelei (Nate's work under Water From Your Eyes rocks, though), but get Jake on there and all of a sudden my ears are O P E N. Good tune.
• Smerz - You got time and I got money

  #RealLovers on top. Fun, bubbly, smooth.
• SOPHIE, Autechre - BIPP - Autechre Mix
• Merely, Malbu - idle citi

  I was put onto this from a Pitchfork article about Malibu's NTS show (good read). Super slow & ethereal. To me, conjures up the image of the sun rising over foggy valleys.

February 2025

Yeah, my swag is back.

• Chicane - Lost You Somewhere (honorable mention to Opus III - Evolution Rush)

  Don't get me wrong, trance should definitely be kept in the past, but man if it doesn't rip sometimes.
• blotter - win again
• fakemink - Easter Pink

  This is an earworm. I unapologetically love how ringtone-y this sounds. The video is pretty cool, too.
• Oklou - plague dogs

  Really refreshing new release. Give the whole album a listen - I'm a huge fan of how low-key everything manages to be while remaining poppy & engaging.
• Electric Wizard - I, The Witchfinder

  There's so much sound here & it's all so syrupy and thick. Love.
• Autechre - Slip
• E+E - El Sueño Del Forastero

  This is a perfect mix & all I listened to for two days straight. If you're not familar with Elysia, you should check out her project EDITED/REMIXED. I find her sound so unique; it's very maximal but has this natural and lightweight texture (think a drunk walk home in the rain) that I can't get enough of.
• Total Blue - Chaparral

  Kinda what I imagine the soundtrack to my life would be if I were a fish in an aquarium.
• SpaceGhostPurrp - Underground
• Joni Mitchell - Edith and the Kingpin

  This one gets a little carried away with the made-up characters but I think that's just a part of the charm. I hope that one day I can ramble with a quarter of the grace of Joni in her prime.
• Mabe Fratti - No Se Ve Desde Acá

January 2025

I started this month in a bit of a rut with respect to music discovery. I mainly revisted some old favorites, and listened to a lot of looping, repetitive music.

• Bladee - Noblest Strive

  First listen of 333. I'm putting it at #3 on my Bladee album power rankings (in the best way).
• My Bloody Valentine - Only Tomorrow

  The way the riff cuts through the noise towards the end is next-level.
• Patch+ - Us2
• Joanna Newsom - Only Skin

  I think this is my fourth time falling in love with this song. Unbelivable songwriting. Listen on CD if you're able; Soundcloud rips don't do it justice.
• Sade - Fear (inspired by Requisit - Blue is the Color)
• Ulla - foam angel
• Sadesper Record - Whitesheep Walks - Groove Tape Mix
• 808 State - Ancodia

  Absolute time capsule. I wish I could've gone clubbing in the 90s.
• Björk, Dom T. - Alarm Call - Snooze Button Mix

  There's a whole catalog of these officially-released Björk remixes and they're all so good. Who knew?