15 and 15, Summer in Review
A run through of the 15 albums and 15 songs I've been enjoying the most this past summer. Comprised mainly of new music, this list also includes older releases I've just discovered or returned to.
Thank you for your patience on this newsletter. It’s been a long summer, but I’ve found some incredible music in the midst of it :)
15 Albums
BRAT- Charli xcx (Atlantic Records)
June 7th, 2024; pop
What happens when the once niche and severely online crosses into the mainstream? When Tik Tok soundbites, Lana Del Rey worshippers, and playfully misandrist edgelords prove themselves to hold sincere artistic weight? When a record, so entrenched in the fringe, is not just embraced by but holds capitalistic power over the rest of society? Well, Charli xcx seems to answer all these questions and more on her seventh and perhaps most *charli voice* iconic record BRAT. It’s a sleek, uptempo severely self-referential pop album that embraces the early 2010s club sound while still, though subtly, letting the artist’s experimental genius she’s perfected and relied on for the last decade shine through. On BRAT Charli contemplates everything from drugs to childbirth to exes to womanhood, pulling from her queer inspirations and the internet landscape she’s helped form over the last 14 years, in a stunning moment of commercial and cultural breakthrough. “Brat Summer” became something larger than the music itself, a phenomenon that only comes once in a lifetime for a select few artists - and even so rarely achieves the heights and impact BRAT has.
Standout Songs: “360” “sympathy is a knife”, “von dutch”, “365”
Scattersun - Fax Gang & Parannoul (Topshelf)
June 12th, 2024; shoegaze/electronic/rock
No stranger to collaborative records, producer, songwriter, and all around shoegaze master Parannoul finds himself working with the collective of musicians known as Fax Gang, an online rap group based across the world who met on Discord years back. Their project Scattersun was recorded and worked on separately all over the globe, from South Korea to the Philippines to the United States to Australia, with the product being a fiercely modern and eclectic record that combines Fax Gang’s more intentionally amateur and endearing DIY sound with Parannoul’s knack for emotive and cathartic compositions. The result serves as a testament to an ultra-online world and its boundless potential for art creation, where genre, location, and timezones crumble in the faces of artists of all facets, who simply have an appreciation for each other and a desire to pursue it.
Standout Songs: “Lullaby for a Memory”, “Double Bind”, “Scattersun”
Sentir Que No Sabes- Mabe Fratti (Unheard of Hope)
June 28th, 2024; experimental/jazz
The incredible streak of cellist and vocalist Mabe Fratti continues with the release of Sentir Que No Sabes, her third full length project in the last two years and her second solo record to date. The album finds the Guatemala raised and Mexico City based artist once again honing in on her incredible jazz skills but this time with a bit more modern, industrial, and at times pop flair. The popular music influences are subtle and nuanced, layered between extraordinary compositions and soaring vocals, showcasing a prolific talent who continuously finds inspiration in the life around her.
Standout Songs: “Pantalla azul”, “Enfrente”, “Angel nuevo”
Untitled - Cynthia Dall (Drag City Inc.)
March 5th, 1996; rock/singer-songwriter
On her debut record Untitled, which intentionally had no mention of her name or appearance on the cover, Cynthia Dall shrouds herself in anonymity on this stunningly intimate and profound release. Never making any critical or commercial noise, the album begins on very solitary piano key, setting the tone for an eclectic lofi project, filled with piercingly mysterious lyrics, eerie compositions, and solitude front and center. It could be one of those lost forgotten records from the 90s had it not been boosted by her memorable work with the band Smog in the middle part of the decade.
Standout Songs: “Lion Becomes Dragon”, “Holland”, “Bright Night”
Because of a Flower - Ana Roxanne (kranky)
November 12th, 2020; ambient/chamber/electronic
On her first full length project Because of a Flower, Ana Roxanne’s stunning voice acts as another instrument, blending into the atmospheric and ethereal soundscapes she creates. Combining elements from the traditional Hindustani music she studied in Uttarakhand, India, the gothic choirs of northern early Europe, and bits of ambient and electronic influences, Ana creates a fluid listen that’s both comforting and moves with agency, while her intersex identity and relationship to gender, race, and sexuality continuously loom.
Standout Songs: “A Study in Vastness”, “~~~”, “Camille”
Passage du Desir - Sturgill Simpson/Johnny Blue Skies (High Top Mountain)
July 12th, 2024; country/rock
On his eighth album, Sturgill Simpson sheds his past and takes up the moniker Johnny Blue Skies to release the emotionally complex, rock oriented, and at times poignant Passage du Desir. With outlaw country undertones, comforting guitar riffs, and rich vocals, Sturgill evokes a nostalgia and sentimentality amidst despair, trauma, and mundanity - while still maintaining a sense of sincere faith in himself and this life. The record acts as a testament to the continuous loneliness once present in old Western, and now current, America, where tragedy, grief, and struggle could be viewed as another promised part of existence yet nonetheless hold the power to move us towards something more meaningful and raw.
Standout Songs: “Jupiter’s Faerie”, “Right Kind of Dream”, “One For The Road”
pack your bags, the sun is growing - bedbug (Disposable America)
March 15th, 2024; indie rock
Three years after their last full length release, bedbug, the project driven by Dylan Gamez Citron, returns with a lush and at times wistful indie rock album that, despite recorded in a “nice big studio,” intentionally maintains the band’s previous charming lofi and aspirant sound. With classic indie rock compositions, intimate lyrics, and impressive melancholic guitar work, pack your bags, the sun is growing dives into the familiar themes of youth, relationships, and existentialism, as the pressures that come with creating and building a life as a young adult loom ever-presently in the background.
Standout Songs: “halo on the interstate”, “leave your things, the stars are returning”, “sunset (finale)”
My Light, My Destroyer - Cassandra Jenkins (Dead Oceans)
July 12th, 2024; alternative/pop/folk
Three years have passed since the poignant and remarkable A Phenomenal Overview of Nature was released, and Cassandra Jenkins returns once again to immerse herself in the mystical and look to the universe for answers - though this time with a bit more hard won insight and lived experience. With lush production and intimate lyrics that tackle love in the modern world, living with grief, and much more, My Light, My Destroyer is as warm as a summer’s night, where her poetry and bits of wisdom sparkle throughout it like the stars in the sky she’s so intent on gazing up at.
Standout Songs: “Delphinium Blue”, “Omakase”, “Petco”, “Only One”
(Find her substack @
)Home Constellation Study - Asher White (Ba Da Bing)
June 28th, 2024; diy/noise/punk/rock/pop
On her 15th record Home Constellation Study, Asher White eases between genres, rhythms, and emotions. Recorded in her basement in Providence late last year, this captivatingly eclectic album is a standout DIY record that’s upbeat, sincere, and at times affecting. Throughout the project, Asher dissects transience, moving cities, youth, her own trans experience, politics, and of course how it all intersects through the lens of young adulthood. It’s a powerful moment of release and storytelling that adds another gem to Asher’s already expansive catalogue.
Standout Songs: “Dream Design House”, “Capital Cowboy”, “Symposium (Goodnight Tonight)”
When I’m Called - Jake Xerxes Fussell (Fat Possum)
July 12th, 2024; folk
A decade into his career, the North Carolina based Jake Xerxes Fussell returns on a stunning and captivating folk record. Filled with intimate lyrics, comforting stories, and a transience that seeps into all the corners of the project, When I’m Called finds Jake at another crossroads in his life, at times wistful, others nostalgic. Steeped in folk tradition with intense respect for the genre coming through, Jake makes a compelling case as one of America’s most gifted folk writers, as his songs touch on the smaller, more intimate moments that make up - and sometimes define - this life.
Standout Songs: “Andy”, “Gone to Hilo”, “When I’m Called”
open this wall - berlioz (berlioz)
July 12th, 2024; house/jazz/pop
On his debut full length record open this wall, Jasper Edward Attlee, better known by his DJ name berlioz, creates a familiar, soothing, and undeniably fun world of his own. Combining bits of house, jazz, and pop together into subtle and rhythmic ways, the result is a lush and comforting record, featuring interviews and bits of wisdom on maneuvering life in a world that demands so much of us that it’s sometimes hard to remember who we are. The history of jazz music is strung throughout the record, with voice breaks bubbling to the surface, reminding the listener of a more nostalgic time and offering a nuanced hope in the familiar.
Standout Songs: “open this wall”, “ode to rahsaan”, “something will happen”
(Find his substack @
)summer of ‘24 - Vacant Wave (Vacant Wave)
August 10th, 2024; diy rock
Vacant Wave, the solo project by Ayumi Aragaki, vocalist and bassist in the Tokyo based band paddy isle, releases his own short but sweet EP summer of ‘24. Over the course of four songs, Ayumi weaves together a collection of tracks that references the DIY and psychedelic rock of the second half of the 20th century. Remnants of the softer electric psychedelia of the 60s and 70s, various punk and post-punk bands of the 80s, and so much more come through on this brief but memorable EP.
Standout Songs: “SUMMERTIME - ver.02”, “Sing Like You”
Hex - DJ Sabrina The Teenage DJ (Spells On The Telly)
August 10th, 2024; deep house/synthwave/pop
The ever mercurial and extraordinarily prolific DJ Sabrina The Teenage DJ releases another multi-hour project to dance, relax, or just vibe out to. Over the course of the record, Sabrina (as we’ll call her), known for her knack for plunderphonics, finds herself leaning back towards familiar territory in rejuvenated ways, incorporating synthwave, pop, and various house subgenres. While her incredible previous record Destiny combined a bit of the more fragile, intimate moments along with her usual playfulness, Hex never lets her humor and lightheartedness fade too far out of sight. The album is a joyful and euphoric testament to an artist with a keen musical and cultural ear, as she inadvertently defines what’s cool and what’s not, by simply having fun.
Standout Songs: “Come In, Carmen”, “Couldn’t Say That”, “Anything Lost (Can Be Found Again)”, “Hold On”
Natur - KMRU (Touch)
July 26th, 2024; experimental/ambient
Berlin based Kenyan experimental artist Jospeh Kamaru, known by his stage name KMRU, leans into the quieter, colder sounds of the Northern European city he now calls home. On this outstanding and intriguing ambient record, he uses electromagnetic microphones to create a satisfying, boundary pushing 53 minute piece of art that tackles the intersection of nature, culture, humanity, and technology.
Standout Songs: “Nature 1”, “Nature 2”, “Natur 4”
Viral Shedding - Nocturnal Emissions (1983 Illuminated Records, 2023 Earthly Delights)
November 5th, 1983; industrial/rhythm/funk
Released on the sound artist Nigel Ayers’ own label and in partnership with Keith Bagley’s Illuminated Records, Nocturnal Emissions’ Viral Shedding is a powerful and magnetic record easing between the synthwave, punk, and industrial genres in odd, inventive, and ultimately engaging ways. Throughout the album, nuanced anti-capitalist and leftist themes stand out in this memorable output from a band that would go on to release over 40 more records and influence many others in the genres.
Standout Songs: “Too Many Wounded”, “No Magic”, “Going Under”
15 Songs
Eternal - Vitesse X, Carless (Vitesse X)
Dafodil- Jamie xx, Kelsey Lu, John Glacier, Panda Bear, In Waves (Young, out September 20th, 2024)
something complicated - Google Earth, James Riotto, John Vanderslice, Street View (Tiny Telephone)
Breaking- ANOHNI, single (Rough Trade)
MANTO - Heems, Sid Vashi, Vijay Iyer, VEENA (VEENA COMPNAY/Mass Appeal India)
Flower - Mayor Grey, single (Mayor Grey Records)
Disposable Vape - Tiny Tomboy, single (Mean World Records)
park - Manny <3, single (Pirata Records)
HIGHJACK - A$AP Rocky, Jessica Pratt, Don’t Be Dumb (ASAP Worldwide, Polo Grounds Music, and RCA Records)
Masc - Chat Pile, Cool World (The Flenser, out October 11th)
She’s Leaving You - MJ Lenderman, Manning Fireworks (Anti-, out September 6th)
Three Big Moons -Why Bonnie, Wish On The Bone (Fire Talk)
Easy Company - Futurebirds (feat. Waxahatchee), Easy Company (Dalton Music Group)
Jade Green - Kacey Musgraves, Deeper Well (Interscope)
A Country Dance- Joanna Sternberg, single (Fat Possum)
This is remarkable and impressive and extraordinary! I give it 15 stars and put on Sabrina immediately ✨💕✨