Music Visions: December 2024
Todd Elliott - Newer Maps (2017)
Native to San Jose, CA, Todd Elliott's projects are fascinating and also perplexing for those unfamiliar. If you're tuned to 90s electronics with the analog bleeps and bloops and buzzing atmospherics, you'll be in for a treat. Newer Maps is a digestible and fuzzy EP with lots of robotic warmth for you ears.
Favorites: Last Voices, Seemless, A Sober Angel
BARCHboi - Feral Space II :: Wolf Dragon .Midi (2024)
"Influences range from Furcadia, Enya, to Igor Stavinsky." An extravagant list from the album description. It reads very much like a peaceful walk through the forest of a niche RPG. Sometimes you step into the echoes of an abandoned ruin. Other times you turn your head to the quiet scuttles and murmurs. This adventure from BARCHboi is one that I've come back to often.
Favorites: Party of Butterflies, Nymphs and Other Beastly Friends, Silent Night of Sleet Snow, Slow Fog Raising Above the Field, Nymphs Peering Down, Swamp Walker
Nicolás Jaar - Archivos de Radio Piedras (2024)
While it is much to ask someone to take their time with a 3 hour radio story entirely spoken in Spanish, I think it's definitely worth the read (there's also an English translated text file). There's some great commentary between music, spirituality, war, and disinformation. It's really no different from a long-form YouTube video, and if you're familiar with radio show stories like "The Shadow", then this will be up your alley. The soundtrack included is also great and stands on its own.
Favorites: aquÃ, salinas hasbún - agua pa fantasmas, song of hope, rio radio correspondencia anfibia, f collect, sin conexion
Dj Fucci & Jensen Interceptor - El Infierno (2024)
The artwork is admittedly freaky but behind all the horror lies sickeningly rhythmic club bangers. The drums on this are seriously infectious with fantastic progressions. It's the perfect amount of energy to have your feet hollering.
Favorites: Manita de Gato, Macario, Pistolón