14.02.2026-SHIELD PATTERNS Contour Lines (Gizeh,2014)

 

TRIP HOP

     ‘Contour Lines’ is a work of unhinged beauty, which borders on the edge of celestial serenity, and on the polar opposite it leans towards the edge of the darkest unknown. Sexy, intricate, menacing, haunting, and quite frankly hypnotic – Shield Patterns have arguably released what could be the best electronic album of the year. Even more so, this is possibly one of the best debut albums that has been committed to record in a long, long time. A mini-masterpiece.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/838bza

11.02.2026-BOWERBIRDS Becalmyounglovers (Psychic Hotline,2021)

 

INDIE / FOLK ROCK

   One of the most pleasant indie folk bands of the early noughties, the couple at the heart of Bowerbirds seem to have had a picturesque life: Philip Moore and Beth Tacular made and released their simple but sweet records, living in an isolated cabin in the US that they built themselves. Life rarely cares for such sweet narratives, though. After a long absence of nine years, Bowerbirds returns but without Tacular, the couple having split just after their last album, 2012’s The Clearing. 

https://www.sendspace.com/file/s50i0a

09.02.2026-EMILY LOIZEAU Icare (PIAS, 2021)

 

INDIE FOLK

   Written during the travails of lockdown, the songs here took on a reflective, autumnal and peculiarly English character, leading to a collaboration with PJ Harvey collaborator John Parish behind the production desk for the recording process.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/7xwj7m

07.02.2026-PAPER DOLLHOUSE Aeonflower (Night School, 2015)

 

DARKWAVE / DARK AMBIENT

   Against a sober yet rich electronic soundscape, Paper Dollhouse’s vocals are not just cardboard cutouts. They stand out like young girls’ imaginations, the dollhouse being just a background. Aeonflower, the group’s second effort, focusses on dyanmic music, and finding the balance between ambient music and noise.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/2dxr90

   

03.02.2026-ANITTA Funk Generation (Floresta/Republic,2024)

 

BRAZILLIAN FUNK

   Funk Generation presents Brazilian funk to those unfamiliar with the genre. It does not promise anything other than that (or to “make you lose your breath”). Depending on who you ask, that may be a humble or a bold promise. Does Brazilian funk need a sommelier like Anitta? It may not have needed her to go viral countless times worldwide, but the music deserves someone who takes its global projection as seriously as Anitta does.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/ecgk52

01.02.2026-GABBY YOUNG & OTHER ANIMALS One Foot In Front Of The Other (Gift Of The Gab,2014)

 

POP / FOLK

   Gabby Young is an intriguing curiosity. Flamboyantly dressed, classically trained, and once the youngest member of the National Youth Choir, she has a distinctive, at times operatic voice, and a style that's increasingly hard to pin down. She has played at Womad, where she did well with her Balkan-influenced, brass-backed circus swing, but is still expanding her range, as shown by this thoughtful set, in which she constantly changes direction. The global influences now include French chanson – with the unworldly-sounding Sur la Lune – and Caribbean styles, with steel drums joining the brass on the exuberant Back Where We Started, and echoes of European gypsy brass on the stomping and witty I've Improved and the cheerful and then angry The Devil Has Moved On. Mixed in with all this are slower ballads; best is the exquisite and personal Fear of Flying.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/h4zsof

30.01.2026-OLOF ARNOLDS Palme (OneLittle Indian, 2014)

 

FOLK

   Palme is short, compact, stunning. It’s a record a little like a music box, with ballerina popping up and spinning intoxicatingly, especially to those who let themselves become one with it. It’s like a fragile and wonderful little universe.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/8ungx9