Best of July

Drifts and Surfaces - Elori Saxl

2010s interview alum and northern space wizard Elori Saxl has finally followed up her stunning 2021 album The Blue of Distance with a tasty EP. It’s dominated by “Drifts I” a texturally focused piece that lasts nearly a quarter of an hour and is built on a moving melody that seems to be a processed recording of marbles falling down violin strings. Closing track “Surfaces” is also a delight with a jazzy touch from a warm, comforting sax.

Phthalo Blue - Andrew Marlin

Alongside Nathan Salsburg and James Elkington’s All Gist, this is straightforwardly some of the best folk music I’ve heard in years. A full album of homespun jams focused on dexterous mandolin playing. Phthalo Blue radiates welcome.

Violence - Truck Violence

Unnerving, both in excellence and vibe, Violence is a deeply fucked up, haunted album. The Canadian boys deliver something between the unhinged rants of Chat Pile and the punkish attitude of Show Me the Body–but with more banjo. It’s not a gimmick though. The inflections of folk music make the album feel ever more eerie, ghosts hanging on the edges of the hardcore punk and outright metallic moments.

NOW I SEE THE LIGHT - toe

Japanese math-rock titans toe have returned with an electronic-infused and more mellow than usual album. Does it completely work? Nope! But the highlights are firmly entrenched in toe’s best moments, especially the spiraling folk odyssey “LONELINESS WILL SHINE” and the jaunty closing track.

Samurai - Lupe Fiasco

Lupe has been rap’s most inconsistent auteur for his entire career, wildly bouncing back and forth between stunning and squandering. Samurai doesn’t hit the same absurd ambition as Tetsuo & Youth, and instead finds Lupe in something of a comfort zone; where he can repeatedly remind us there’s few better on this planet when it comes to bugnuts narratives fused with jazzy meditations.

Music for Sauna Walk - Kengo Tokusashi

This completely knocked me on my whimsical ass. A full album of lively, jaunty ambient-ish tunes, split into three sections that sweep and sprawl like a classical suite. But the impish mischief etched into every note is what kept me coming back. This is the sort of music that those soot sprites from Spirited Away would be jamming as they went to work.

SAUCO - Qoa

The true masters of folktronic make sure that there’s no way to differentiate the analog from the computers and QOA does it with mystic aplomb. A sensory bath that noodles its way to chamber, ambient and the whole kitchen sink of wondrous instrumental genres. 

Ink & Oil - Storefront Church

After interviewing Storefront Church, I’m even more impressed by Ink & Oil. Coming from a truly manic period of recording and writing (frontman Lukas Frank believed he was being followed by the ghost of his prison escaped Uncle) this album acts as a score to an unseen film, and has all the cinematic grandeur that concept deserves.

New Regency Orchestra - New Regency Orchestra

Afro-Cuban jazz fresh out of the mean streets of London. These are classics of the genre, re-cut with a shine and fire I haven’t heard in years. An instant late night classic.