May 2025 (Part 3)

Checking in with one final collection of thoughts on the last eight tracks of the mix I put together last month, May 2025. Freaks of all different shades featured here! Something for everyone, in my opinion. Here's Part 1 and Part 2 of the May rundown, for those who may have missed those. 

Disiniblud - “Give-upping (ft. Juliana Barwick)”
I can’t tell you how excited I am for this Disiniblud record, a collaboration between Rachika Nayar and Nina Keith that reminds me of both of the twitchier side of my beloved The Books, and the hypermelodic post rock of Sigur Ros’ early work. “Give-upping,” the album opener, arranges Juliana Barwick’s wordless (or at least mostly unintelligible) vocalizations across a glossy, densely layered backdrop of glitchy samples. I can’t stop listening to all three available tracks from this band but this is the one I’ve been sending people to get them into it.

Phi-Psonics - “Healing Time”
Look, if your jazz band prominently features a harp I’m probably going be into it, which is great news for the members of Phi-Psonics. Expanding to One, the new album from acoustic bassist Seth Ford-Young’s LA-based spiritual jazz group has been getting a lot of play around these parts, a frequent accompaniment when reading, working, or just sort of pacing around the house doing my chores.

HiTech - “NEW JAZZ SCHMELL”
Detorit Ghettotech masters HiTech have returned! HONEYPAQQ Vol. 1 isn’t as transcendent or consistent as their first two LPs, but there are some all time bangers tucked between the less essential stuff. The propulsive, bizarre tonal mismatch of vocals and production of “NEW JAZZ SCHMELL” and the sublimely filthy single “SPANK!” are among my faves.

Artificial Go - “Lasso”
Listening to Artificial Go’s jittery, self-described “existential post-punk chamber pop” makes me think about outsidery DIY pioneers like The Feelies and Lizzy Mercier Descloux and the more melodic, less antagonistic side of the Midwestern egg punk scene. Whatever’s going on with it I like it! The lead singer wears a drum major costume when playing live!

Fuubutsushi - “Loop Trail”
One of the only good things to happen because of the coronavirus is Fuubutsushi, an ambient jazz supergroup that has collaborated virtually on a string of meditative, expansive albums since the bleak lockdown days of 2020. Their latest album, Columbia Deluxe, is a documentation of their one and only public performance to date, recorded back in 2021 at the Columbia Experimental Music Festival. “Loop Trail,” which originally appeared on their EP Birthingbodies, appears in a dramatically different form here, featuring an extended spoken word sample and a much sparser arrangement than the studio version.

Kevin Ayers - “Puis Je?”
Memorial Day weekend weekend we were getting our balcony set up for the summer, planting some herbs and grasses in the plant boxes that line our railing, listening to a playlist the folks at Aquarium Drunkard made for the men’s fashion designer Sid Mashburn. It was a mix of stuff I was already familiar with and loved (Jaques Dutronc, John Cale, Nancy Sinatra) and a good amount of things I wasn’t. All of it was vaguely Royal Tenenbaums soundtrack coded, mannered and cosmopolitan, which is like catnip for my 36 year old ass. This Kevin Ayers track caught my attention within seconds and I quickly grabbed my phone with dirt-caked hands to see what was playing.

Blue Lake - “Oceans”
Blue Lake's Weft has been a fairly constant companion these last few months, another go-to soundtrack to when I’m reading on the train or whatever. It's a collection of pastoral instrumental tracks, with “Oceans” likely the simplest and most elegant of the bunch, it’s a nice taste of the record that really shines on the pair of ten minute long epics, “The Forest” and “Tatara.”

Water Damage - “Reel 27 India (Slight Return)”
12 piece Austin-based “Sister Ray”core maximalist minimalists Water Damage have been one of my favorite discoveries of the last few years. Their 20 minute long mega-repetitive psychedelic stomps are exactly the type of bullshit that gets me going. “Reel 27 India (Slight Return),” the closing track to their latest collection of trance rock opuses, Instruments, is as good of a intro to the band as any: swirling, far-off drones anchored by heroically locked-in drumming from the band’s sprawling rhythm section.

The full May 2025 playlist is embedded below, which gets us caught up to the current month and means that in the coming weeks I will be writing about the cool songs I like within a week or so of discovery rather than on a month plus delay. A new era of "Horse Combinations" is nearly upon us!!!!