The stunning, psychedelic, freeform acoustic jazz effect. LA-based singer-keyboardist Eli Goss and NY-based drummer-bassist Harry Terrell are the Breathing Effect. Their song “Josephine,” which I played on my… Continue reading
Bleep-hop for the beach. Germany’s Max Graef steps up to remix one of Brazil’s finest drummers and one third of Azymuth, Ivan “Mamão” Conti. Graef’s rework of “Azul” is… Continue reading
Handclaps, finger snaps, meandering bass drones, plucked strings, and soothing vocals make up the entirety of Sudan Archives‘ very excellent new track, “Water.” Check out the video below, directed… Continue reading
Dusty vintage drums, my favorite kind. On “Hot Dinners,” New Jersey’s Lazy Salon, also known as Sean Byrne, throws said dusty vintage drums, reminiscent of early DJ Shadow, against… Continue reading
Those strutting drums, those dripping guitar chords, and those honeyed vocals that transport you from ’17 to ’71, “Birdie Bees” is my favorite Gavin Turek song to date. Track… Continue reading
That scraped-flute-meets-old-violin intro. On the instantly interesting “Sideways,” the 19-year-old Ghanian-Australian singer-songwriter Genesis Owusu takes inspiration from the music of William Onyeabor and enlists the production expertise of Simon Mavin and Perrin… Continue reading
When the LA-via-Berlin-via-Saskatchewan multi-instrumentalist isn’t co-writing songs for Kelela or producing Feist’s album Pleasure or working on his own sixth full-length album, expected in 2018, he’s unleashing the fourth installation of his excellent “Moxtape” series, How to Hit… Continue reading
Alien grunts, chairs squeaking across the spaceship floor, kaleidoscopic handclaps, cascading synths, piano chord blips, and more alien grunts all feature on my new favorite Photay song, “Screens.” Track… Continue reading
Future perfect. Three of Vienna’s best reunite for “Four-Eighteen,” a laid-back jazz excursion patrolled by sky-high firewalls of MicroKorg synth. (And if you haven’t heard it previously,… Continue reading
Inspired by the jazz-soul audio designs of Bonobo and Calibre, UK beat architect Marenn Sukie, otherwise known as Chris Roth, has drawn up “Cascades,” a full-time-half-time mellow beat meditation with calmly chaotic… Continue reading
While an “internet dance” is probably something you did in 1995 while you were waiting for AOL to load, here Pretorian music wonder Sibusile Xaba gently gathers a storm of finger-picked guitar… Continue reading
Vintage instrumentation blends with sun-stunned vocals on “Been So Long” by Los Angeles musician Mike Edge, the result of which is a grapefruit-cherry cocktail that’s part Mac DeMarco, part Ned Doheny, and all… Continue reading
“Antasma,” a brand new track from Dublin producer Sal Dulu, is a slinky beat collage that glues together soulful vocal phrasings, sax snippets, polished guitar licks, cloudy atmospherics, and quite possibly… Continue reading
UK producer ELWD (pronounced “Ellwood”) turns in “inbloom,” an all low-caps, lo-fi mellow groove that is as instantly relaxing as it is poignant. My only complaint is that it’s not… Continue reading
“Safe to Me” is a faded and fidgety, r&b house bounce sunsetter by London producer LOXE that features the ethereal vocals of singer Alyss. No stranger to collaborations, LOXE has… Continue reading
A deft and delicate Floating Points-meets-broken beat-meets-synth jazz wonderwork courtesy of London producer Kieron Ifill, one half of DanDigs.com favorites Profusion and better known as K15. Track of the day.… Continue reading
“Solar” gives you life. Turtle’s latest composition is a Jon Hopkins-esque beguiling blend of swirling piano keys and centrifugal drums. Track of the day. Turtle… Continue reading
South London songstress Tawiah returns with “Queens,” four minutes of tumbling percussion, sunset acoustic guitar plucking, piano key splashes, and vocals gleaming with UK soul. Track of the day. … Continue reading
Manchester, UK producer Sam Vicary, otherwise known as Hunrosa, is a member of perennial DanDigs.com faves The Cinematic Orchestra and Paper Tiger. On “All,” his debut single as Hunrosa,… Continue reading
On “Pick Six,” Denver producer Gila cooks up a weighty 808 beat that marches over Brothers Grimm harp breezes, clinical cowbell hits, and looped güiro scratches, the end result sounding not unlike the Nutcracker as reimagined… Continue reading
Flute wisps, persistent electronic piano chords, interwoven percussion textures, and a heavy, grooving kick drum make up Osage’s attention-grabbing new track, “Guanguan Riddim.” Osage (pronounced Oh-Sage), better known as Philly DJ/producer… Continue reading
“Temporary,” by Jaide finds the London singer’s heavenly tones ascending and descending over a highly original, delayed, stop-motion beat that sounds like it could’ve been crafted by recording different parts of an unfinished wicker chair… Continue reading
“Play,” the debut single from new collective Doctrine, helmed by composer Stephen Feigenbaum, he of the 2016 “Yeethoven” project that fused music by none other than Beethoven and Kanye West, is a tapestry of synth flashes and a… Continue reading
On “In the Lilacs,” LA-via-San Diego musician Julian Jasper melds soaring psyche-fuzz with pounding drums and a captivating guitar riff that speeds across an empty Californian freeway in the middle of the night.… Continue reading
Son of Incognito’s Jean-Paul “Bluey” Maunick, Daniel Maunick aka Dokta Venom is the in-house producer for the venerable Far Out Recordings. Having worked on music for Azymuth, Sabrina Malheiros, and… Continue reading
UK duo HONNE have transformed Will Joseph Cook‘s “Beach (I Wanna Make You Mine)” into an explosive star shower of housed-up future-funk. I’ve also got large amounts of appreciation for that screaming and gleaming… Continue reading
Barcelona-born duo Thalab wrote and recorded the casually excellent “Good Swim” in a room in London. The swimmingly good song features blurred synths, a textured and trebled electric bass, an… Continue reading
Malcolm Catto’s outfit return with “Made of the Sun,” an ascendant, cinematic soul builder that features the impassioned vocals of Barbara Patkova. Track of the day. The Heliocentrics – “Made of… Continue reading
Not unlike the cosmic soul output of Hiatus Kaiyote, Relaén takes you on a buoyant experimental jazz odyssey. The German band’s latest song, “Mediantenpetting,” features perkily popped bass guitar, crisp… Continue reading
Stones Throw producer and one half of NxWorries, Knxledge‘s latest remix is this dusty donut rework of Bibio‘s “Feeling,” a warm and woozy affair that sounds like it was found as part of a… Continue reading
Phil da Funk‘s latest project, PDF and the Acrobats (zzzzzinggggg!) sees the Austrian producer teaming up with one of my favorite vocalists, The Unused Word, to create the floating, mellow, electronic-tinged future soul… Continue reading
Manchester, UK’s Konny Kon and Tyler Daley are Children Of Zeus. Featuring cascading electric guitar runs and an irresistible vocal hook that sits ever so neatly over the kicks and snares, the… Continue reading
A relentless, crusty and serrated hi-hat oversees Stockholm’s Kornél Kovács‘ remix of “Exostack,” which transforms the Space Dimension Controller original into a thumping yet subtle future jazz house journey. Track of… Continue reading
Enigmatic Entroducing-esque keys chime and glow amidst crisp and cymbal-heavy jazz drums on “Let’s Stay,” the opening track of South London producer and designer Hector Plimmer‘s brand new album, Sunshine. Track… Continue reading
Ronald Bruner Jr, Josef Leimberg, Miles Mosley, and now Jonah Levine; the world-class releases from LA jazz label World Galaxy only keep getting better. “False Alarm” is over five minutes… Continue reading
Brooklyn-via-Oslo chanteuse Charlotte Dos Santos interpolates the jazz standard “Red Clay,” fusing the Freddie Hubbard classic with laidback drums, gentle keys, and an effortless vocal delivery. Track of the… Continue reading
Recloose returns a soulful and sunshine-fueled robust house cut. An airy, outdoor, nature-near vibe permeates “Spirit Knows” throughout, thanks to that brilliant, shimmering and shivering vocal sample pinned in place by… Continue reading
“I wanted to create a different sound, songs that build up like dance tunes but don’t feel like club music at all.” So says Daniel Brandt, and he’s entirely… Continue reading
Corbo, otherwise known as Bür Gür‘s Corbin Clarke, has teamed up with Diamond Bar songstress Remy Kay for “I’m Good,” a blissful and reassuring gossamer leftfield soul gemstone. Track of… Continue reading
Serrated snares, turbulent drum pattterns, bass boulders, and the disembodied vox of James Massiah, “Façade” by London’s Moiré is dystopian yet secretly hopeful, lo-fi, slo-techno grit-house machinery. Track of… Continue reading
A thoroughly experimental, fragmental, glitched and stitched percussive tapestry from Seattle’s Sango. Track of the day. Sango – “Dance for Blessings” “Dance… Continue reading
On “Alone Together,” Hamburg-residing, Portugal-originating producer Oma Nata turns in four and a half minutes of low-lit jazz piano chords and a meditative flute underpinned by a reliable kick, hovering shakers, and… Continue reading
The reversed beat, time-traveling synths, and sampled croon snippets of “4Es’J” and the strict drums and carousel keys of “Oddness,” here combined for Karriem Riggins‘ first single from his second solo… Continue reading
A fitting soundtrack to the wall-to-wall rain we’ve been having recently here in Los Angeles. On “Wandering,” Washington, D.C. producer D-Rocksteady weaves textured percussive elements and fluid low-end bass… Continue reading
Lazy horns parps, slap-bass pops, a chilled chorus of soulful vox, and those all-important hand-claps, Bastien Keb‘s “Pick Up” is both instantly likable and repeat-listenable. Track of the day.… Continue reading
Feeling this heartfelt yet airy, breeze-blown and stripped-down acoustic rendition of Ken Boothe’s 1968 rocksteady original by Jamaican collective Inna de Yard. Track of the day. Inna… Continue reading
“Lau’s Lament” is probably in my top 5 favorite laments, among Bird’s, Eugene’s, and Busta’s. Track of the day. Eric Lau – “Lau’s Lament” … Continue reading
Thirty of the best remixes, reworks, reshuffles, and reimaginations all from the year 2016. 30. Jodie Abacus – “I’ll Be That Friend” (Jono Jagwar Ma Remix) 29. James Blake… Continue reading
Of all of the many, many, many fantastic, great, and wonderful albums released this year, here’s a list of the 30 I enjoyed the most. (Click on the images below to… Continue reading
“Break Apart,” the latest single from Bonobo, threads together rainy ukulele strings, sombre pianos, stop-start snare rolls, stainless steel percussion, and the cherubic vocals of Michael Milosh aka Rhye. Track… Continue reading
