Welcome to The Roux! Every Friday, new music is released. Though the internet and streaming make it easier than ever to discover something new, the main channels usually rep the same established big names. This leaves equally great records on the sidelines. Each of these artists is talented and accomplished in their own right. With this weekly feature, I do the searching, so you don’t have to, selecting five releases that were discovered while exploring beyond the algorithm.
All releases are linked to the artists’ respective Bandcamp pages.
01. Libera Me Domine
by UNIDENTIFIED BODIES
[Floral Boys]
A slow burner of a noise release, Libera Me Domine is left on simmer which makes for complex concoctions of sound. It’s all relatively easy on the ears except for the twenty-five-minute “Ireul” which closes the release out in epic proportions.
02. Два Момента
by Alexei Orechin
[Federal Prisoner]
Not so much a full album, but these two Bandcamp exclusive tracks are still a choice offering. A comforting mixture of ambient construction, electronics, and experimental folk. “Ruby Swim” reminds me of Boards of Canada, whereas “Вечер, осень” is a more straightforward guitar folk arrangement.
03. slow burner / death classic
by Mona Lisa Overdrive!
[Gardenware Garage]
Mona Lisa Overdrive! to my ears lies somewhere between a post-punk late 90s garage band and Yoko Kanno’s The Seatbelts. At least the opener, “our lonesome town” gives me Bebop vibes. The remainder of the album is a murky combination of country twang, post-punk guitar, and detached vocals buried deep in the mix. A late-year favorite for sure!
04. DIRAC SEASCAPES
by Candace Newmaker
[Phantom Zone Productions]
This release is almost a callback to those late 90s french DJ mixes, think Hotel Costes, fortunately, it doesn’t contain the cheese that often times bogged down those seemingly endless mixes. Instead, Candace Newmaker pushes Dirac Seascapes in the more abstract territory, so while a track like “Cyberia Fires” contains that chill atmosphere stacked behind a danceable groove, “Seeing Patterns” redirects the record in an artier more nuanced minimalistic direction.
05. last transmission (snow blindness)
by paperclip crown
[Self-Released]
There is spastic enthusiasm beneath paperclip crown’s dense layers of noise. At points, it plays like a harsher more abrasive version of Animal Collective as on “so i want you to know.” at other times, the deep strata of noise and ambient texture become the main component or weapon, truly obscuring the senses.
Lagniappe Exposure 