It’s Friday, and it’s not snowing, and all is well in the world. Also, it’s time to cast a critical eye back over the finest songs of the past week, of which there were plenty to choose from. Our favorite is a brain-bending new track from Flavorwire favorite Holly Herndon, and there’s also a welcome return to music for Marissa Nadler, new work from Evan Ønly, and a couple of pleasantly spacey instrumentals from Ghostly Records stalwarts Com Truise and Tycho. They’re all streaming for free, so get listening!
Holly Herndon — “Chorus”
This is what would have once been called IDM and now probably falls under the rubric of grown-up electronic music. It’s a fractured, oblique approach to composition, built up from a jarring mass of samples, finding expression in dissonance and conflict. It’s pretty great, in other words. It comes with a very #netart video, too.
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Marissa Nadler — “Dead City Emily”
According to the fascinating interview at Noisey, where this video premiered, Marissa Nadler had entirely quit music before Sacred Bones founder Caleb Braaten talked her into returning. Thank god he did, because this is as good as anything else I’ve ever heard from her — sparse, atmospheric and beautiful. It’s off her new album July, which is due out (yes, through Sacred Bones) on February 4.
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Evan Ønly — “Shadows”
This is taken from the upcoming debut EP by Underwater Peoples co-founder Evan Brody, aka Evan Ønly. It’s a piece of gloriously melodic straight-outta-the-’80s rock. Among other things, it’s rather reminiscent of the work of Darren Sylvester, whose single “Dream or Something Like That” we premiered here last year.
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Com Truise — “Subsonic”
The intrepid New Jersey producer intergalactic pioneer Com Truise is back, and venturing further into the Cosmos with this new track. Hurrah. It’s not called “Subsonic” for nothing, either — feel that bass!
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Tycho — “Montana”
Also on Ghostly, this is a pleasantly widescreen instrumental to soundtrack your transition into the weekend — and it features Tycho’s new extended line-up. Sit back, crack a beer — and yes, I’ll have one too. Cheers.