14 Great New Albums of 2025 (May-June) + 15 honorable mentions

At PCC headquarters (meaning my apartment), the anticipation for summer break has rarely been stronger. This will be my last post before the summer break, but I’ll be back in August with an overview of this summer’s releases. It’s been a busy first half of 2025! We’ve released 7 albums/EPs (though two of them are archive releases). I’m currently working on a series of label nights in Copenhagen this autumn, Quiet Sonia is hard at work on a new release, and I’ve launched this blog (please share it with your friends). It’s been fun, and also a bit intense, but it’s such a joy to feel more people beginning to engage with the releases (especially on Bandcamp). Other ways of reaching fans are, to put it mildly, limited - especially when you’ve made the active decision for the label to stay away from META and X (I'm personally still on Facebook, simply because I have no idea how else to keep people minimally updated on what I'm doing music-wise, especially when it comes to organizing events). Still, it feels absolutely right and freeing to have taken that step. It’s a relief to stand by your own ideals, and no longer feed the despair or mourn the trap so many artists, labels (and pretty much everyone else) feel caught in. Why do we even make and release music in the first place? Are these acts only validated through outside approval from media or others? That’s a dangerous path, because then, when is enough ever enough? We’re also in the process of removing more of our releases from Spotify. And before long, Subvert.FM will truly launch. Wuhuu.

But otherwise it’s really a deeply disturbing time. The situation in Gaza, above all. When will the EU actually step up? This is going to leave a(nother) permanent stain on the West’s history - not least for Denmark, clinging to Germany and the US (despite Trump’s clear lack of interest in European cooperation), too timid to show any real moral backbone. It hurts so much to think about what’s happening, and to know that no one lacks the evidence, no one lacks the information. In the end, it’s just business. And the climate crisis continues to rage, we’re heading into another summer of extreme temperatures. Wanting to bury yourself under a blanket in a dark room is a totally understandable reaction right now. One place I continue to find comfort and headspace is in music. Here’s another selection of 2025 releases, mostly from May and June, that I’ve really appreciated lately.

Warmly, Nikolaj

Lucy Gooch - Desert Window (UK, Fire)

Fav Tracks: Like Clay, Keep Pulling Me In, Clouds, Our Relativity

Genre: Ambient / Ethereal Folk

Rating: ****½

Sometimes, on rare and lucky occasions, you come across music that instantly feels exceptional, even if the rest of the world hasn’t caught on yet. That’s how I feel about Lucy Gooch. And to be honest, it’s made clear from the very start with “Like Clay”: a kind of Clarissa Connelly-esque folk meets Cocteau Twins meets ambient... A fantastic voice, fantastic melodies, a beautiful sonic universe. Where do we go from here?

Next up is a track, “Night Window (Part One)”, that leans more into ambient territory. I’ve listened to a lot of ambient releases on Bandcamp lately - a lot - and also a lot of albums where there’s one singer-songwriter-ish track and the rest is pure ambient... So I got a little nervous. I really wanted more like “Like Clay.” But it doesn’t take long before you realise she’s not easily boxed in: we have chorus-heavy ambient synths, that reverb-drenched Julianna Barwick / Grouper-style vocal presence, but also a solid backbone of songwriting behind the textures. Soon enough, a kind of Celtic new age-y flute enters over an ambient techno pulse and subtle low-end throb...

The track flows straight into “Night Window (Part Two)”, a continuation of Part I, but this time with a piano leaning toward more avant-garde / modern classical gestures. More instruments appear - including strings and eventually drums - under a vocal performance that’s almost Mark Hollis-level spiritual. Together, Part I and II end up being a deeply impressive journey, the kind that leaves you a little awestruck. The following track, “Keep Pulling Me In”, returns to those pitch-shifting, chorus-y synths, which dissolve into vocal harmony arrangements that border on ambient RnB - insanely beautiful. A deep bass and a soft, heavy kick make their entrance again, and the sound gradually expands with organic drums and piano, before we finally get a proper beat. “Jack Hare” begins with semi-improvised strings, field recordings and sparse vocals, before more layers and a bassline settle in and a verse takes shape. Toward the end, a long stretch arrives where the heavy delay and reverb finally ease off, offering a pleasant contrast to an otherwise quite dense sonic palette, for better or worse.

“Clouds” is up next - one of the album’s poppiest tracks, and definitely a highlight. A stunningly beautiful ambient pop composition, drawing on modern classical ideas. Toward the end, a Bark Psychosis / Talk Talk-style trumpet enters and complements Gooch’s vocal beautifully. There’s always enough interesting harmonic movement to keep things from ever becoming static. The song is followed by a track driven by organ and guitar, also one of the more direct, singer-songwriter-type moments on the album. It’s a lovely contrast. The track is filled with delicate dreampop / post-rock guitars and another remarkable vocal performance. The album finishes strong with the title track, “Desert Window” - another ambient / modern classical folk piece with incredibly beautiful strings and vocal arrangements.

Sometimes, I feel like the album is just a little too “under the blanket” - and that it could benefit from easing off the reverb and delay more often, especially because it’s such an effective contrast when it does happen. And also because the songwriting beneath the lush ambient soundscape is so strong. That’s the only reason I can’t quite give it the final half-star. But overall, this is a fantastic release, NOT to be missed, and since this is just Gooch’s debut full-length, I truly can’t wait to hear what she brings us in the years to come.

100%WET - 100%WET (DK, Crunchy Frog)

Fav Tracks: Ether, Over Me, Leave It

Genre: Shoegaze / Dream Pop / Alternative Dance / Avant-Pop

Rating: ****

An incredibly powerful blend of shoegaze, dreampop, and a contemporary form of alternative dance, or drum n’ gaze, if you will. For me, ‘Ether’ stands out as one of the strongest tracks of the year (easily top 10). A fluid, driving, irresistibly danceable bassline (immediately bringing Curve’s phenomenal track “Horror Head” to mind), a distinct and captivating vocal performance (sung by Sanna Heinstedt), a remarkably dynamic and detailed production, and, most importantly for me, stunning melodies. Stylistically, the track also represents the album beautifully: an incredible fusion of shoegaze, drum’n’bass, art pop, and contemporary so-called “internet music” (I guess only older people use this term, haha) - characterized in part by its fearless embrace of pop-cultural elements, pushed to almost kitschy extremes, like the autotuned, nearly Cher-esque hyperpop vocal in the chorus. There’s a wonderfully mysterious, Madonna-Ray of Light-era vibe in the verses.

But there are plenty of other exceptional tracks on the album as well, including ‘Over Me’ and ‘Leave It’. The duo consists of Casper Munns (Himmelrum) and Jacob Birch (The Lost Weekend), with vocals primarily handled by Casper alongside two wonderful guest vocalists, Amalie Hannibal Petri (also of the highly recommendable project Polly) and Sanna Heinstedt (I unfortunately only listened once to an old EP of hers). Here in Denmark, 100%Wet are really gaining momentum - playing several key industry showcases - and they’re releasing through Crunchy Frog, one of Denmark’s largest indie labels, who will no doubt help push their music far and wide. If you’re looking for a genuinely potent and contemporary (like right here, right now) take on alternative pop music - that also carries a sense of history - you really don’t have to look much further…

Only in 10 collections on Bandcamp at the time of writing. If you like the album, please consider supporting the artist+label.

Molly Nillson - Certe Notti 7” (DE/SCT, D.S.A. / Night School)

Fav Tracks: Both of them!

Genre: Synth-Pop / Minimal Synth / Italo Disco

Rating: ****½

These two tracks give me an almost uncontrollable urge to pack a suitcase immediately and go wandering through warm, foreign streets with a drink in late evening hours... There’s an incredible warmth, escapism, joy, and soft melancholy in these two monster-atmospheric italo pop bangers. Truly high quality pop. What a little gem.

Nilsson’s own description aligns pretty perfectly:

“A whole moon spent between local festivities, sagras and late nights in the best of worst bars, making new friends forever and life-long memories (including an unforgettable Inti-Illimani concert), all infused with sweet drinks and ancient lore of local witches (…) With all these distractions it’s really a wonder any music was made at all. But thanks in large part to endless espressi and ginseng, two new songs came to be.”

Dennis Harte - Summer’s Over (AU/US, Efficient Space - Archival)

Fav Tracks: Summer’s Over, Running Thru My Mind

Genre: Psychedelic Folk / Dream Pop / Garage Rock

Rating: ****

Oh wow, what is this. A wonderfully mysterious lo-fi sound and a strangely melancholic, dreamy tone that doesn’t seem to match the fact that it sounds like it must be from the 1960s - is this from now or the ’60s...? And is that a boy’s voice? He can’t be very old...
Then you read the Bandcamp description:

Okay, this is insane. Go read the full story on Bandcamp! 
But really, this is genuinely a unique release… The first two tracks drift out of the speakers like some kind of dream-popped psychedelic folk, while the last two are more garage rock territory (a genre I’ve never fully gone down the rabbit hole with - I’ve already got plenty of rabbit holes as is). But this is really good - like, Big Star good.

Only in 10 collections on Bandcamp at the time of writing. If you like the album, please consider supporting the artist+label.

Boxset - Idle Rock (US/UK, Devil Town Tapes)

Fav Tracks: Role, Memories, Monuments, King of New York

Genre: Slacker Rock / Jangle Pop

Rating: ****

Devil Town Tapes - a cassette label from Leeds releasing bedroom pop, lo-fi and alternative music - is one of the indie rock labels I’m keeping a close eye on these days. They’ve been putting out a lot of interesting releases, they’ve got a distinctive aesthetic, and seem to carry a cool DIY ethos. There’s a real sense that exciting things are happening in Leeds right now - perhaps in part because it's become more or less impossible for most ordinary people (and even worse - musicians) to afford living in London.

I know almost nothing about Boxset, other than that they’re apparently based in New Jersey, and I would never have discovered them if it weren’t for Devil Town Tapes. That’s the beauty of small indie labels. This is an incredibly, incredibly charming record, with some truly great gems. I’ve gotten chills multiple times listening to this. I guess it’s a kind of jangle / bedroom / indie pop… Full of presence, intimacy, vulnerability and honesty. Just wonderful.

Only in 4 collections on Bandcamp at the time of writing. If you like the album, please consider supporting the artist+label.

Caroline - Caroline 2 (UK, Rough Trade)

Fav Tracks: Total Euphoria, Tell Me I Never Knew That, When I Get Home

Genre: Post-Rock / Avant-Folk / Midwest Emo

Rating: ****

Much has already been said about this album, so I won’t add too much more. It should come as no secret that I’m a big fan. Their debut album was uneven, but more than enough to catch my attention (very few bands today that label themselves post-rock generate much hype - Caroline is a rare exception). I later had the pleasure of seeing them at Roskilde Festival, where everything made even more sense to me - they have an incredible live synergy and a wonderfully collective way of performing.

I’ve been just as hyped and excited about their second release as the media, especially after the first single, “Total Euphoria”, which is a pretty spot-on title, because that track is genuinely, well, total euphoria... “outstanding” doesn’t even begin to cover it, it’s the kind of track that makes you go, “ah yes, this is exactly what experimental rock should sound like in 2025.” To my ears, it’s also the strongest track on the album.

There are many highlights, and moments of real beauty. There still seems to be a bit of wavering here and there, and that midwest-emo-sounding shouting vocal - especially when it leans somewhat into that “Neutral Milk Hotel-indie-captain-calling-from-the-deck” kind of vibe - is something I personally struggle with a bit. But Caroline is truly something special and I have no doubt the album will continue to grow on me.

Philippos Rountas with Lagos Harisiadis, L. Batzis & Ensemble - Songs and Dances from Free and Enslaved Epirus: Epirotika ca. Early 1960s (GR / US, Canary)

Genre: Dimotika


Rating: ****

Praise Canary Records. This label has become one of my dearest companions. So many incredibly interesting releases all the time - such a fantastic piece of cultural, musicological, and anthropological work - and with a focus on all the forgotten, lost, and overlooked music that isn’t in English! This time, their attention is turned toward Greek folk music, and more specifically, the clarinet player Philippos Rountas. Here’s what the label writes:

The label has released a string of old Greek folk music compilations lately, and this one is my favorite. I simply can’t resist Rountas’ clarinet playing: it feels so radically emotional it almost has a punk quality to it - especially those glissandi, I can barely take it…. This is truly grand, expressive music with its heart on its sleeve, and if you’re into your minor keys, you really can’t go wrong here!

Stereolab: Instant Holograms On Metal Film (UK, Warp)

Fav Tracks: Electrified Teenybop!, Esemplastic Creeping Eruption

Genre: Neo-Psychedelia / Space Age Pop


Rating: ***

Stereolab are back - and that’s just fantastic. One of my all-time favorite bands. And what a long break it’s been… There’s not a whole lot of new ground being broken here, and perhaps the energy, presence, or intensity doesn’t feel quite at its peak - but the baseline quality is so high, and just hearing a band this tight, armed with so many amazing vintage machines (a Stereolab release really is a feast for gear and sound enthusiasts), is a pleasure in itself. A handful of tracks may pass by somewhat unnoticed, but there are definite standouts - and overall it’s a respectable, worthy comeback. I sincerely hope I’ll get the chance to see them live for the first time sometime soon.

Cootie Catcher - Shy at First (CA, Cooked Raw)

Fav Tracks: Words Mean Less, Friend of a Friend, Dumb lit

Genre: Indie Pop / Indietronica

Rating: ***½

Cuteness in its purest form - the band name, the album title, and the music itself…
This is interesting, innovative indie pop - or perhaps more precisely, a highly indie pop-infused take on what used to be called indietronica: indie rock/pop with strong electronic elements. Not a genre you see mentioned all that often anymore, but one that’s often associated with the 2000s. Bands like The Notwist, Hood, and similar artists released albums in this vein that - to my ears - still feel fresh and relevant enough to serve as inspiration for new acts today.

Cootie Catcher, however, doesn’t have much in common with those bands. The electronic elements here don’t feel very “intellectual” - rather, the whole thing has a naive, spontaneous and joy-filled quality (twee, if you will), with a distinct North American indie tone. There are some really strong tracks on this album, though also a few fillers. I’m curious to hear what they come up with next.

Alan Sparhawk / Trampled by Turtles - Alan Sparhawk With Trampled by Turtles (US, Sub Pop)

Fav Tracks: Stranger, Not Broken, Get Still, Princess Road Surgery, Don’t Take Your Light

Genre: Americana / Alt-Country / Slowcore


Rating: ****

I’m one of those people who, from a musical perspective, didn’t quite understand what Alan Sparhawk was trying to do with his previous album, his debut solo record. But considering the tragedy he had been through, I didn’t necessarily feel a strong need to understand, either. I thought: maybe I’ll get it one day - if not, that’s fine. It was clearly a record Sparhawk needed to make.

This new release feels very different, though. To me, it stands as one of the strongest things I’ve ever heard from Sparhawk (and I’m a massive Low fan). After the last few heavily processed, experimental records, this one almost reminds me of those ’60s bands that, after the Sgt. Pepper craze of overdubs and studio play, returned to a more ‘natural’, organic sound - often with a more honest and present expression as a result (not that I’m taking sides - I love both realism and anti-realism, philosophically as well as artistically).

There are so many strong songs on this album. In fact, it’s basically made up of nothing but enduring, deeply resonant tracks. And they’re performed with such a striking emotional presence. Painfully so. I’m convinced this is the kind of record that could truly help people who are struggling with grief, loss, or pain. A genuine musical gift.

Forty Winks - Love Is a Dog From Hell (US, Crafted Sounds)

Fav Tracks: commie bf, noise

Genre: Noise Pop / Indie Pop / Slacker Rock

Rating: ****

Another scoop from Crafted Sounds. According to the label’s website, Forty Winks formed in 2024, rising from the ashes of the members’ earlier bands in Pittsburgh’s DIY music scene (which I sadly don’t know all that much about - feel free to email me if you’ve got recommendations!). This is a fantastic EP. Heavily processed, electronically manipulated, complex shoegaze/noise pop with elements from a wide range of genres, including metal and pop punk (they clearly have a solid grasp of the 2025 aesthetic, visually as well). The creative energy is overflowing - there's an almost electric sense of euphoria, and it all sounds so effortlessly playful, even when it's often quite complex…. Extremely recommended!

César y su Jardín - CORRE Y SUELTA A LOS PERROS (MX, Self-Released)

Fav Tracks: Mordor El Fuego, Todos Los Fuegos Al Fuego

Genre: Hispanic American Progressive Chamber Folk / Son Jarocho / Samba-Jazz


Rating: ****½

An incredibly fascinating, heartwarming, and poetic release from a Mexico-based group. It’s quite difficult to find much information about them - but it’s nearly impossible not to draw a reference to Brazilian Caetano Veloso, both in the vocal delivery and the samba-jazz elements… But really, this is something entirely of its own: With the help of Rate Your Music, we might label the music something like “progressive Hispanic American chamber-folk” – with inspiration from the traditional folk music of Veracruz (where the artist/group is from), namely "son jarocho".

On the one hand, the music initially comes across as relatively accessible - through its pleasant, straightforward production, its soft voices, and beautiful harmonies - and on the other hand, the compositions and arrangements are quite complex. It takes time for the songs to truly settle; there is extensive use of improvisation, silence, and delicate dynamics. This is a sprawling record, a demanding record - or better yet, a living record - one that expects you to engage with it. But the reward, if you accept the invitation, is immense.

Not only is the compositional level alarmingly high - the level of performance is also absolutely top-tier. Some of the most jaw-dropping musical performances I’ve heard in a long time are scattered across this album, especially vocally (though never in a way that feels ‘virtuosic’ for its own sake).

Alive, sensitive, essential music. I can honestly be moved to tears by a record like this, one that seems to strike right at the pulse, the very nerve, of music itself. It deserves to become a future classic.

Not on Bandcamp. Listen on Youtube, Tidal, Qobuz or Apple Music.

Sun Ra - Nuits de la Foundation Maeght (US, Strut - Archival)

Fav Tracks: Why Go to the Moon, Somewhere Else, Spontaneous Simplicity, Pleasant Twilight

Genre: Free Jazz / Spiritual Jazz

Rating: ****

This is one of the strongest Arkestra lineups ever assembled, and these recordings document Sun Ra’s very first concerts in Europe (recorded in France). At this point in time, a Sun Ra concert would include not only music, but also theater, film projections, dancers, and elaborate costumes. The album was originally released in 1971 as two separate LP's, but in connection with Record Store Day 2025, it has been remastered and reissued by Strut Records in an expanded six-LP/four-CD edition. I’ve listened to a lot of Sun Ra releases, and this may be the most definitive one I’ve ever heard (though not necessarily the most accessible) - in part because it showcases so many different aspects of Sun Ra’s musical vision.

We move, for instance, from ultra-radical Moog synth avant-garde works like “Cosmic Explorer” and “Tone Science Interlude” (Aug 3), to groovy, jazz-inflected cosmic experiments like “Love in Outer Space”- which at times sounds strikingly similar to what Can were experimenting with in Germany around the same period - to free jazz improvisations such as “Suń Interlude”, “Shadow World”, and “Piano Solo”. We also encounter gospel-inspired pieces like “Why Go to the Moon”, percussive energy blasts like “Watusi”, standard vocal jazz–inspired numbers like “They’ll Come Back”, and much more. It’s often a demanding, challenging listening experience. But there’s also plenty of humor and a wonderfully disarming Dadaist spirit throughout.

Field Designer - Aesthetic Limitations (US/LT, Amulet of Tears)

Fav Tracks: The Days Get Shorter, Our Mausoleum

Genre: Ambient/Drone/Tape


Rating: ***½

Amulet of Tears (Vilnius, Lithuania) is a new favourite label around here. They're working in that Janushoved-esque ambient tape aesthetic, and by now there are many of these kinds of labels, where the music is sometimes of varying quality. It has to look and sound "authentic", but it’s become such a clearly defined style - with its own set of pretty tight aesthetic signifiers and criteria - that some of the original aura tends to get lost. Amulet of Tears is one of the labels doing it right. There's a lot of substance hiding behind the dusty tape sound and the blurred, collage-like black-and-white covers. It hasn’t become just a style, the music still points to something real; it hasn’t collapsed entirely into self-reference.

The music here is fragile, distorted, fluid, trembling, delicate, and all-encompassing - incredibly beautiful. There’s a focus on decaying, faltering, haunted beauty (from a more music-theoretical perspective, you could probably draw a lot on hauntology, still immensely popular, to describe the music and the label’s overall outlook.) This is aestheticised music, with a capital A - and if you removed the surrounding surface aesthetic elements, the music would definitely lose something significant. But this is one of those cases where it actually feels legitimate to ask: what’s form and what’s content, what’s surface and what’s depth? Don’t they merge to the point where it almost becomes impossible to tell them apart? And besides, a lot of ambient music is meant to be a space you step into, rather than something you'd expect to retain musical value on a sheet of score paper (to put it a bit harshly).

Notable Mentions:

Tarwater - Nuts of Ay (DE, Morr Music)

Fav Tracks: Trapdoor Spider, Everybody Had a Hard Year

Genre: Indietronica / Post-Rock


Rating: ***

Tarwater may no longer be quite at the height of their powers, but they've always been underrated, and still are. If this album had been made by a completely new act, I would have instantly bought it too. And tracks like “Trapdoor Spider” and “Everybody Had a Hard Year” are incredibly beautiful and melancholic in that cool, deadpan way that only Tarwater can deliver, on par with some of their very best work.

Heinali & Andriana-Yaroslava Saienko - Гільдеґарда (Hildergard) (UA/PL, Unsound)

Genre: Drone / Ambient / Christian Liturgical Music

Rating: ***

A meeting of Hildegard’s compositions, modular synthesis, and Ukrainian trad. folk singing. Beauty is the only inevitable outcome.

Quelza - Pensa Poetico (DE/NL, Dekmantel)

Fav Tracks: Pensa Poetico, Orange Du Ciel

Genre: Minimal Techno / Glitch / IDM

Rating: ***½

I had no idea that the legendary techno label Dekmantel also released this kind of atmospheric, abstract, IDM-infused electronic music. I haven’t listened to Quelza’s earlier releases, but from what I’ve read, they’re apparently quite different. I hear a wealth of history and context in this - traces of Vladislav Delay, Autechre (especially their Amber era), early 2000s German clicks & cuts, and more recent artists like Skee Mask - but also something that feels completely new and deeply personal. Highly recommended.

Nathan Salsburg - Ipsa Corpora (US, No Quarter)

Genre: Folk / American Primitivism

Rating: ***

Two really beautiful longform compositions from the American primitivist guitarist. There's a calm, hopeful, spring-like quality to these pieces. Nourishment for the soul.

Marianne Faithful - Burning Moonlight EP (UK, Decca)

Fav Tracks: Burning Moonlight

Genre: Chamber-Folk / Singer-Songwriter / Alt-Pop

Rating: ***

RIP Marianne. This was the last music she recorded before passing away earlier this year. A lovely collection of songs from a fantastic, legendary artist the world will truly miss.

Nyahh Records - A Collection of Slow Airs by Some Very Fine Fiddlers (IR, Nyahh)

Genre: Trad. Irish Folk Music


Rating: ***

A beautiful and interesting collection of Irish fiddle music from a label I've been following closely in recent years.

Coen - Moshpit (BE, Maloca)

Fav Tracks: Headbanger

Genre: Hard Drum / UK Bass

Rating: ***

Taking elements from metal and bringing them into contemporary club music - stripping it down to just the percussive skeletons - is undeniably a unique, fun and interesting approach. I’ve smiled, laughed, and felt like dancing… At some point, the tricks feel somewhat spent, though…. But a track like “Headbanger” single-handedly justifies the entire project. Amazing.

Eli Winter - A Trick of the Light (US, Three Lobed)

Fav Tracks: Arabien Nightingale, Black Iris on a Burning Quilt

Genre:


Rating: ****

This is a really interesting record. Folk meets free jazz meets psych meets alt-country (and other stuff). Arabian Nightingale is fucking amazing, and so is the guitar solo in "Black Iris on a Burning Quilt" (one of the best and most touching I've ever heard, actually the whole track, wow). At first I didn't really feel the intermediate tracks, but I guess this is actually really a grower... Should have been listed above. My mistake.

Baan - Neumann (KR, Your Adorable Dog)

Genre: Shoegaze / Screamo / Noise-Rock


Rating: ***

There’s been quite a bit of Deftones-inspired heavy shoegaze and post-metal in recent years, and much of it sounds rather generic. I’m really into the sound and aesthetic, but I’m still waiting to discover a record that holds up from start to finish. This isn’t quite it. But there’s a freshness to this South Korean band’s sound (I’m guessing “Your Adorable Dog” is their own label), and to the chaos that frequently erupts throughout the record - it sounds like they actually enjoy playing. There are moments of sheer euphoria and ecstatic release.

Cosmic Ear - Traces (SE/FI, We Jazz)

Fav Tracks: Father and Son, Love Train

Genre: Free Jazz / Spiritual Jazz


Rating: ***½

Incredibly fresh, high-quality, semi-spiritual Don Cherry-inspired jazz from a group of well-known names on the Swedish jazz scene – including, of course, the legendary Mats Gustafsson and Goran Kajfeš, the latter of whom has released a number of outstanding records in recent years.

Nadal El Shazly - Laini Tani (EG/CA/UK, One Little Independent)

Fav Tracks: Elnadaha, Kaaba Ali, Ghorzetein

Genre: Arabic Music / Art Pop / Experimental Electronic


Rating: ***

The first few tracks are absolutely outstanding, and the closing track is also worth highlighting. Elsewhere, the release unfortunately seems to lose a bit of direction and identity, at least to my ears - but I’m genuinely excited to hear what Shazly has in store going forward.

36 & Zakè - Stasis Sounds for Long-Distance Space Travel III (US, Past Inside the Present)

Genre: Ambient / Space Ambient


Rating: ***½

Third album in an ambient series that already holds classic status. Highly recommended.

Wishy - Planet Popstar (US, Winspear)

Fav Tracks: Chaser

Genre: Indie Rock / Baggy / Shoegaze

Rating: ***

Wishy have a really cool sound and are clearly very talented. I’ve mainly included their EP here because of the track “Chaser,” which is absolutely wonderful. Overall, they’re aesthetically innovative and interesting, but I think their songwriting still lacks really memorable melodies.

Tu M’ - Monochromes Vol.3 (IT/US, LINE)

Fav Tracks: Monochrome # 31, Monochrome # 35

Genre: Ambient / Drone


Rating: ***½

Wow, this is seriously high quality ambient. Knew nothing of this duo! Got to check out their discography. Archival release.

Sally Shapiro - Ready To Live a Lie (SE/NY, Italians Do It Better)

If you have any plans to drink rosé wine on a boat this summer, this would make a great soundtrack. I remember Shapiro all the way back from the early blog days, at a time when that sun-drenched Swedish electro-indie sound was the coolest thing around… Shapiro stuck with it, and I respect that — because this Italo-pop-inspired synthpop really has a strong aesthetic identity and tons of charm. Sure, some of the songs still feel a bit skeletal, and not all the melodies are equally memorable, but there are a few genuinely strong tracks on this album.