ILM 2023 Listening Club

Updated.

Added two 2023 tracks that have been hitting the spot:

Freak heat waves feat. Cindy Lee - in a moment divine
Jack J - foolish man

I'd never heard of neo-Irish folk band Lankum before perusing AOTY So Far lists, but their 2023 release False Lankum caught my ear. My track pick below, along with a quality write-up from Nabozo from the thread:

Listening now, first time with the band. They do hypnotic real well. Their songs have the monotony that comes from comfort and are built with the economy that comes from confidence. Soundscape and sustained atmospheres are a good alternative to C93 or R. Dawson. Their style is not easy to place though, there's neo-folk, trad, some lullaby-singing, songwriter stuff, the guy has a voice not unlike R. Thompson, and yet the whole thing is one of a kind so kudos to them for carving that space. Imago should listen to The New York Trader. Master's Crowley also stood out, the opener of course, On a Monday Morning, and more. Every song holds together. I've heard few albums this year, but I'm confident saying this is higher tier.

― Nabozo, Monday, June 19, 2023 2:26 PM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p1p2sb6Duc

xp yes Moka, the FHW/Cindy Lee track is beautiful, really looking forward to the album:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAoSD9S7dpY
Freak Heat Waves with Cindy Lee - In A Moment Divine

It's not on Spotify, but I saw Tobias Rahim at Roskilde live yesterday, and I need to post this older live-video. It's hard to overstate how crazy it is in a country like Denmark, the first country in Europe where the far-right became kingmakers in parliament, and where anti-immigrant policies has become normalized perhaps more than anywhere else, that 100.000s of people join in in this celebration of Kurds in Copenhagen, a celebration of the positive potential in immigration both for the immigrant and the countries they arrive at. In a more than 7 minute trip through kurdish folk, melancholy hiphop and technorave with circle dancing everywhere.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6f_SBAkvgk

updated my discover weekly playlist with some new finds,

some highlights (but they are all highlights!)

the late ethiopean nun pianist Emahoy Tsegue-Maryam Guebrou
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srX8W7Z30gQ

new bright and findlay album with a slow cooking nu disco cabriolet drive!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UPzwaiY_7M

new album by japanese world fusion band teke::teke

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnM29JXOmtg

this new compilation of old private presses, and this amazing psychedelic pop/folk piece by Luellen Reese

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmDz8ivnAKM

-

got 30 songs on this last playlist can't go thru them all, but they are all nice! look for it on spotify with my name.. xx

Not heard mention of the Joanne Robertson album - her album from March this year is some lo-fi folk goodness. Think Grouper, Florist, someone in the next room playing with lots of reverb.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3Xu6XhTp4k

Updated

Adding too:

Alex Kassian - strings of Eden
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZy0Ns4qGgk

X-post -

the late ethiopean nun pianist Emahoy Tsegue-Maryam Guebrou

There’s more discussion of her on Ethiopiques thread

New Ben Howard album is produced by Bullion and this track in particular is great

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjYvS26-xe0

love this thread

New Julie Byrne album is gorgeous.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLdyptr8HKQ

Feel like a big dummy for not knowing about this sooner but DJ Python and Ana Roxanne (!!!) are collaborating under the name Natural Wonder Beauty Concept and have an album coming out this Friday. This is the lovely lead track off it...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18QOYwkA-cs
Natural Wonder Beauty Concept - Sword

https://djpythonnyc.bandcamp.com/album/natural-wonder-beauty-concept

thanks for the reminder on the julie byrne record chinaski! interesting hearing that one song, i know that tune already cos she sang it on an amazing collab she did with jefre cantu ledesma a couple of years back - check this if you missed it, so fucking amazing

oops, i obviously need a new superlative

Thanks for the Byrne/Ledesma link, Nick - holy shit! That could easily have been twice as long.

And the Ana Roxanne/DJ Python is surely too good to be true?! Three available tracks are great.

Prolly a clueless comparison but first thought was Billie Eilish (especially on 'Driving').

no, i hear that!

Updated!

Thanks for the heads up on the python/ana roxanne album!

Bullion nails it again with the Ben Howard album. “Spirit” probably my fave because it sounds heavily influenced by Arthur Russell

The Parade - Dreamer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkP6UGYujBI

Heard it on the weekend at a friend’s party and loved it. Saint Etienne / Air France balearic house pop vibe.

Echo Chinaski on the Julie Byrne album.

Finally out and easily going to be one of my favourites of 2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3QqjAyhXME

wonderful

reminded me of this classic meme

https://i.imgur.com/AL8gTYj.png

finally got around to checking out freak heat waves. album is great, loving the louche, balearic vibe

Adding Amaarae : co-star

I know she’s already sort of popular around here, it sounded a bit annoying when I first heard it but it has won me over and turned into one of my favorite singles this summer.

https://djprotein.bandcamp.com/album/be-yourself

yes “owner of a lonely heart” goes to the warehouse party

Dane Law - Castle in the Marsh (slice of sampled guitar beauty)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g79Rc_iWlb8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wg4PoSOTKg

Crooked Man - Nemesis - dark sleazy disco made of thick throbbing bass and dubbed-out vocals that make me think of Curve

also that The Parade track is so up my street it's unreal

Glad you enjoyed it! Loved that one at first listen.

Adding “ untitled halo - limewire “ doesn’t do anything spectacular but its sound triggers a very specific nostalgia of my teenage years.

I mentioned the comp this is from on a couple of threads (the whole thing is so good), but seriously ilm listen to this, it's so delightful:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wq0lZcl-yzM

Richie - I Was Born in Africa

Adekunle Gold takes afrofusion to the next level. Combining the naija sound with amapiano rhythm as so many others do, but then getting Habib Koité from Mali to put some desert guitar on top of it. Nigeria is just one of the most creative places on earth right now, musically.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDqaVLUvrvs

Really cool pair of songs! Added to the playlist

A friend had been recommending me this artist called “Nourished by time” and loved the album. A weird mix between bedroom r&b and hypnagogic pop. Several cuts are interesting but choosing “the fields” which is the highlight imho

nourished by time is definitely one of my favorites of the year. it took me a moment to get used to his voice, but the melodies were really sticky and the vibe incredibly inviting, so i paid a bit more attention and found that his lyrics, while a bit "woo woo" for my usual tastes, had some real wisdom in them. "the fields" is great but my personal favorite might be "rain water promise"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3eMTnsLXm8

Yes that one is also excellent! And yeah his voice is an acquired taste but once you get past that it has a very unique thing going on.

ooh glad to see Nourished by Time mentioned, pretty easily my album of the year at this point

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S49TpPcB-_Y

Got introduced to Zoon's Bekka Ma'iingan via this most perfect sounding shoegaze tune, but the rest of the album, also extraordinary, has a sort of serenity/severity that reminds me of hearing Julianna Barwick for the first time.

I’m gonna break my self imposed rule of not saturating the list but it has been fairly passive in the past weeks and we’re leaving behind many artists that are popular enough to deserve a spot in 2023’s musical panorama so adding:

Newjeans - asap
Jessy Lanza - marathon
George Clanton - ooh rap i ya
Slowdive - shanty
Tinashe - talk to me nice

I'll add one more in that case. First track from the upcoming Mint Field album.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EF0O3VkX9vQ

Oh good one!

The new Allison Russell album is really nice. I've seen her twice this year, she's great live and has a fantastic band, highly recommend.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQu1CzAwDmQ

Adding the Daniel Avery remix of Nation of Language - weak in your light. Sweet song.

Not sure I've seen it mentioned on ilx but I'm still really enjoying the Obey Robots album from earlier in the year, an unlikely collaboration between Laura Kidd (Penfriend/She Makes War) and Rat (Ned's Atomic Dustbin).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cb734Q9HuK4

have been enjoying the latest nathan micay album a lot. it's widescreen electronic dance stuff, and when i say widescreen, he has actually been doing soundtracks for the last few years (including 'industry' and 'reality' for HBO) and i believe that some of this record uses some of the leftover scraps from that work. but it ain't just moody numbers, there's some glorious upbeat stuff and it's those that really elevate it. riyl bicep, orbital, martyn... one of the year's best imo, check this joyous banjo banger:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYFIUD54POo
Nathan Micay - It's Recess Everywhere

oh here's the album btw, it's called 'To The God Named Dream':

https://luckyme.bandcamp.com/album/to-the-god-named-dream