#37: A giant whirlpool full of junk

This week’s new music:
Spotify
Apple Music

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been toying with the format of this newsletter and finally landed on what I think is a really good mix of talking about new albums alongside standalone tracks, and I’m also bringing back the weekly playlists. If you have any feedback, just hit reply—thanks!

Albums

HxH, STARK PHENOMENA

Album of the week: This nearly snuck past me, and I’m so glad it didn’t. I’d listened to the lead-off single “Pyrex Vision”—which tells the story of a profound experience at a sensory depravation tank—over the past couple of weeks, and I liked it quite a lot. But it was only after I heard how it fit inside the full song cycle here, nestled between the spacious, deceptive calm of “Beach” and the meandering throb of “Erta Ale” did I realize what I’d been hearing was really a contextless slice from an ambient symphony, the second act with the rest of the work gone missing. With all the pieces now in place, I could hear the layers of every moment interweave, moods change (almost!) imperceptibly, motifs unearth, dissipate, and emerge once more. An extraordinary experience from beginning to end. / Bandcamp, Bleep, Boomkat, Apple Music, Spotify

rest symbol, rest symbol

I hesitate to call this trip-hop, mainly because that seems to specify such a specific time, and this album—originally released on AN1MA in 2023 and now seeing a vinyl release on Peak Oil’s new FO sublabel—is everything but vintage. Then again, the world never got enough Portishead or Massive Attack, which leaves an entire galaxy still unexplored. / Bandcamp, Boomkat, Apple Music, Spotify

Carrier, Tender Spirits EP

I hate to get all NINETIES here, but I was already a convert to this when I saw Photek cited as a strong reference point for this one, but then—surprisingly—this EP delivers on that in an entirely non-drum-and-bass way. Still: While reference points matter, originality matters more, and even as I can hear what inspired these three tracks, where they wind up, wrapped in cut-up, bass-rumbling mystery, is a very new and unfamiliar—and therefore exciting—place. / Bandcamp, Bleep, Boomkat, Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal

Tracks

Daniella Ljungsberg, “Against the Tide”

The first new music from Daniella Ljungsberg since 2024’s wonderful I Do Care and its companion reimagining Do I Care, released earlier this year, is this piece of chilling, guitar-led dirge-gaze that had me hanging on every note.

Kara-Lis Coverdale, “Daze”

What a wonderfully constructed piece, with everything building to an initial swell and then, as the end comes into view, a second, yet subdued aftershock. Something else I love here is how proximate the production feels—especially on headphones—as if all the unnecessary atmosphere has been sucked entirely out of the room, leaving only the listener and the song. Pure ’80s Vangelis beauty.

Purelink, “Rookie” feat. Loraine James

That’s all you need to know.

Ellen Arkbro, “Nightclouds”

Ellen Arkbro’s organ compositions—known for their immutable, seemingly interminable chords—truly are sensoriums, overwhelming in their singular tonality to the point of revealing microtonal compositions within. Now take that depth of immersion, make it resemble something more (but not entirely) like a chord sequence, and your atoms split open.

BIG|BRAVE, “innominate No vi”

Few bands—OK yes, Low—do desolation as convincingly as Big Brave, and even fewer do it so consistently and in so many of its various forms—from tender to heavy to blisteringly heavy. Lately I’ve been eyeing a stack of Big Brave CDs at the record store, and I’m honestly unsure what they’ll do to my psyche, and also my speakers.

Milkweed, “The Pangs of Ulster”

Absolutely haunted music. If anyone needs a soundtrack for “The Lottery,” here it is.

Cole Pulice, “After the Rain”

I think “uplifting” gets thrown around a lot—probably by me—as a way to describe a song that’s upbeat, a thing that made you feel good, but this was one of those songs where, as I listened to it, I could feel my neck straighten, my throat relax. There’s a lot going on right now for all of us, but for me at least, this was uplifting.