More electronic alt-pop whimsy from Discovery Zone’s forthcoming album Quantum Web, with the hypnotically lo-fi music video directed by Jennifer Juniper Stratford. https://discoveryzone1.bandcamp.com/album/quantum-web ..read more

Due for release 08 March, Quantum Web is the new album from Discovery Zone, the experimental pop project of musician and multimedia artist JJ Weihl. She made one of my favourite tracks of all time in Dance II, so I’m very hyped for this. https://discoveryzone1.bandcamp.com/album/quantum-web ..read more

Jenny Hval and Håvard Volden’s Lost Girls’ collaboration dates back more than a decade, with Volden playing regularly in Hval’s live band and two previous albums. In 2022, the duo were booked to perform a concert at Les Subsistances in Lyon, and decided to use the opportunity to create all new material, with Volden creating beats and guitar chord progressions and Hval restructuring the parts, creating melodies and adding lyrics. The resulting album, Selvutsletter, explores different territory than their previous work; shorter, more concise and melodic songs that border on alternative pop (kind ..read more

The Canadian duo’s Steve Lind on the inspirational merits of an r&b icon The premise of One Track Mind is pretty simple: I ask artists to pick one track that means a lot to them – either something they’ve discovered recently, something that’s been with them for years, or one that reminds them of a specific time in their life or career – and tell me what makes it so special to them. I get to talk to the artists I love, and they get to talk about the artists they love. Love all round! For more than a decade, Freak Heat Waves have been steadily amassing a cult following and earning acclaim fr ..read more

Madeline Kenney isn’t Swedish, or Danish (she is, in fact, “a musician, baker, artist, sucker” who lives in Oakland), but she does very much remind me of some of my favourite bands from those particular countries, namely Wildhart and Lowly, respectively. And yes, I know they’re not the same place, but there is a shared atmosphere when it comes to alt-rock/pop from the region: a glassiness to the vocals; a particularly sharp thread of yearning evoked by the melodies – all of which is very much apparent in much of Kenney’s new album, A New Reality Mind from which HFAM is taken. https://madeline ..read more

Lowly are back! The wonderful Danish quintet have announced a new album Keep Up The Good Work will be landing 17 February, with the title track out today. Their last album Hifalutin was massively under appreciated so hopefully this new one will see them finally getting their dues. https://ffm.to/keepupthegoodwork ..read more

ROF is taken from Hyaline, the debut album from Ohio-born, Oakland, CA based artist and songwriter, Maria BC. Described in the accompanying promo copy as “ghost stories, but not as we know them”, the world building throughout the album is really extraordinary, and the uncanny atmosphere is rarely more dense and intimate than on ROF, where a hushed, Grouper-esque guitar and a glacial vocal takes centre stage as eerie field recordings twist and scuttle in the distance. https://mariabc.bandcamp.com/album/hyaline ..read more

Rhye’s debut album Woman seemed to come out of nowhere in 2013, with a sound so distinctive and fully-formed it was hard to believe the group – led by Mike Milosh – hadn’t been around for years, if not decades. That album was produced by Robin Hannibal, who was notably absent from the next two albums, both of which were fine, but lacked the delicacy and intimacy he brought to the table. Released today, Rhye’s new album Home feels like the spiritual successor to Woman, returning to themes and textures Milosh hasn’t quite managed to nail until now. Nowhere is this more in evidence than the incre ..read more