15.09.2026-AMANDA SHIRES Nobody's Girl (ATO,2025)

 

AMERICANA

   The first word that comes to mind after so many of these songs is; emotional. There is so much emotion packed into these tracks, the vast majority of which are Shires sharing her emotional state post her divorce/break-up from Jason Isbell. It's permeates most of the songs here as Shires lets her vulnerability show in the lyrics but also in a voice that near trembles sometimes. There is a song clearly about the environment and condemning our actions, but the main focus is heartbreak and trying to heal afterwards.

 https://www.sendspace.com/file/h6vc3hej

11.09.2026-CRISTINA QUESADA Think I Heard A Rumour (Elephant,2019)

 

POP

   Madrid's Elefant Records has no less than six labels attached to its Spanish pop empire. I've found myself going down rabbit holes of rare twee-punk, stylish guitar-pop, dub-house, bubbly pop-punk and Spanish-sung J-pop (no really), digging them all. But Cristina Quesada is perhaps most emblematic of Elefant's aesthetic: multi-lingual, ultra-chic dance-pop with super-smart synth arrangements and songs written by Joe Moore (The Perfect Kiss, The Yearning). Like, say, Saint Etienne, Quesada and Moore embrace fantastical swirl of pop music history.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/qhza98bp

08.09.2026-JESSE RUINS Eve (Magniph,2016)

 

ELECTRONIC

   This release is praised for its abstract, futuristic vision that blends melodic piano tones with distorted electronic and organic textures. 

     Critics and listeners note that it features a sharper, more refined cut compared to earlier bedroom-pop recordings while maintaining an immersive atmosphere.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/40kng02h

05.09.2026-MARIA MINERVA Will Happiness Find Me? (Not Not Fun,2012)

 

ELECTRONIC / LO-FI

   Maria Minerva, the Estonian singer-songwriter whose bedroom electropop somehow seems to effortlessly attach itself to some pretty erudite philosophical discourse, had quite a busy 2011. With no fewer than four releases, including a much-heralded cassette full-length (Tallinn at Dawn) and the nu-nu-age drifts of “Cabaret Cixous,” Minerva has quickly established herself as one of “the underground’s” most promising and prolific young talent. (Note: I am referring to a very specific portion of “the underground” here, one which aligns itself with the retro-not-retro musings of the Not Not Fun label and views “lo-fi” not so much as a stylistic choice but rather a necessity, a tool that can adapt itself to any number of interpretations, working either against or in concert with the music itself.)

     So she’s understandably taken some time off from releasing new material in 2012. 

https://www.sendspace.com/file/gnag0zsv

01.09.2026-SKRILLEX Quest For Fire (Owsla/Atlantic,2023)

 

DUBSTEP

   While this is technically only his second album, Skrillex has hardly been away from the spotlight. Quest for Fire shows us that he continuously expanded his sonic palette through his productions, remixes, and other work, particularly when it comes to finding beats. He wrangles a constellation of guest stars (from Four Tet to Missy Elliott). The British grime MC and producer Flowdan offers the most satisfying match for Skrillex’s world-swallowing beats; his low-slung voice towers over the ricocheting rhythm of the Fred again..-assisted “Rumble.” Like the mosh pits and dance floors that have thrilled to his music, Skrillex knows that perpetual motion is crucial.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/s5f0td5r

30.08.2026-LAURA VEIRS Found Light (Bella Union,2022)

 

FOLK

   Found Light is Laura Veirs’ 12th studio album, and in many ways, it marks a creative departure. Shortly after her 2020 release My Echo, which famously explores her painful separation from her longtime husband and producer Tucker Martine, Veirs announced a new album was already in the works without his involvement. Instead, she chose to take on for herself a side of songmaking that Martine, who also produced Veirs’ collaboration with Neko Case and k.d. lang, previously handled for her. Marking Veirs’ first-ever release with a production credit, Found Light represents a new step in not only Veirs’ personal life, but also her career at large, a turn that has led her to consider it a kind of debut.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/5nfy0l8u

27.08.2010-GAYNGS Relayted (Jagjaguwar,2010)

 

INDIE ROCK

   Gayngs represent a somewhat unlikely confluence of any number of recent musical trends, foremost amongst them the resurgence in hipness of such über-processed AOR acts as 10cc, Hall & Oates and Steely Dan. Indeed, producer Ryan Olson’s stated purpose when founding Gayngs (alongside Solid Gold’s Zack Coulter and Adam Hurlburt) was to create “a collection of drugged-up keyboards and slick bedroom production almost exclusively inspired by 10cc’s I’m Not in Love.” Relayted, Gayngs’ groaningly-titled debut album, shies away from actually covering said song, though the fact it includes a creepy cover of Godley & Creme’s saccharine enormo-hit Cry does make you wonder why they bothered being so coy.

     That’s not the whole story, though. Relayted is not without a scent of fromage, but it is, on the whole, artier, sexier and stranger than the output of Olson’s bemulleted heroes. It owes plenty to modern RnB production, and is certainly more leftfield in tone and taste than anything 10cc ever made.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/fme06e98