August saw some exciting new releases and compelling returns to forgotten classics. We moved between brand-new releases from old favourites such as Lost Animal, songs that were new to our memories but from decades ago, such as Enter Sylvia Plath, which was rediscovered over morning coffee Wikipedia dives on ‘lost techno’. There were intoxicating dispatches from effortlessly cool Rockie Rode, and Clutter alongside new work from powerful and passionate local artists like Julia Jacklin and Miss Kaninna. We welcomed returns from Fontaines D.C. and Tex Crick, both with new albums to be revealed in the coming months.
No genre unified August, just our compelling curiosity and the need for a song for every feeling.
I’m So Wasted by Rockie Rode
A dizzy heartbreak song full of drunken confessions and things best left unsent. Rockie Rode makes emotional disarray sound remarkably appealing.
Without You by June McDoom
June McDoom’s voice seems to drift in from another room. Without You is soft, strange and quietly devastating, longing without the melodrama.
Robot by Clutter
Robot is wired, restless and pleasingly unstable. Clutter has little interest in smoothing out the edges, which is exactly why we like it.
All By Myself by Spike Fuck
Nobody makes loneliness feel quite as glamorous as Spike Fuck. All By Myself is bruised, tender and romantic in a slightly ruined way.
Rassberry by Ela Stiles
Rassberry is spare, sensuous and difficult to pin down.
Marianne by Fontaines D.C.
Fontaines D.C. have returned with Marianne, the dark and atmospheric first taste of their forthcoming fifth album, Dopamine Chamber. If this is the entrance, we are quite happy to step inside their space.
Materia 2 by Julia Holter
Julia Holter combines drum machine, fretless bass, clarinet and spiralling voices into something suitably otherworldly. Materia 2 sounds less like a conventional song than a beautiful system briefly malfunctioning.
Mr. Postman, Wait! by Standing on the Corner
Fragments of soul, memory and experimentation collide on Mr. Postman, Wait!. Standing on the Corner makes music like an archive being rearranged while you are still inside it.
Sugar In My Cup by Tex Crick
Written over coffee in New York, Sugar In My Cup marks the very welcome return of Tex Crick. Warm, loose and quietly eccentric, it goes down remarkably easily.
STOLEN WAGES by Miss Kaninna
Miss Kaninna confronts the wages stolen from Aboriginal workers and families with absolute clarity. Anchoring her debut mixtape BLACKPRINT, the track is furious, bass-heavy and not remotely interested in making anyone comfortable.
Alyse by Shygirl
Alyse is sleek, intimate and slightly dangerous. It belongs to the point in the evening when the party has become strange, but leaving would be unthinkable.
Lovers in a Dangerous Time by Bruce Cockburn
Released in 1984, Lovers in a Dangerous Time feels inconveniently relevant once again. Bruce Cockburn’s answer to a frightening world is love, alertness and kicking at the darkness: still sound advice.
Snake by SelfDivision
Snake moves with quiet menace, taking its time before tightening its grip. Dark, magnetic and just painful enough to feel the fangs.
Watch Me Go by Odette
Odette makes departure sound less like defeat than an act of self-possession. Hurt and resolve coexist beautifully on Watch Me Go.
The Hardest Thing by Julia Jacklin
Julia Jacklin continues to examine the awkward distance between wanting love and wanting freedom. The Hardest Thing is precise, unsentimental and painfully good. The video is not for one with vertigo as we soar through the skyscrapers to find her on a roof.
Mothers Bells by Murex
Inspired by bells hanging in her mother’s hallway, Mothers Bells circles home, family and forgiveness. Murex wisely resists offering any easy answers.
Never Is Forever by Lost Animal
Lost Animal makes impermanence sound both seductive and faintly threatening. Never Is Forever is nocturnal, elegantly worn and seemingly in possession of information we are not.
Enter Sylvia Plath by Belle and Sebastian
Literary despair meets gleaming synth-pop on this 2015 Belle and Sebastian favourite. Sometimes the most sensible response to existential misery is apparently dancing.
How Does It Feel To Be In Love? by The Lazy Eyes
The Lazy Eyes ask a question pop music has spent decades failing to answer conclusively. Their version is bright, expansive and pleasantly dizzy.
Listen to our full August playlist here, with music from Slow Pulp, Blondshell and bebadoobee.
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