July 2025 (Part 3)

We're back to talk about thirteen nice songs that I heard this month and added to the Horse Combinations July 2025 playlist. Here's part one and part two of July songs if you missed those, otherwise let's just get into it:

This House is Creaking - “Whisper”
I’ve already said it once on this website but I feel like there are big things ahead for Chicago’s This House is Creaking. Every song on their new record features some surprising and delightful production flourish, ad lib, or songwriting choice that comes out of left field. For now, the compact, fuzzed-out gem “Whisper” is my current favorite of the bunch but that’s subject to change at any time. I highly recommend sliding into the band’s DMs on Instagram to order a CD, those local to Chicago may be lucky enough to have one of the members deliver a copy direct to their house. 

  

Håvard Volden - “Small Lives”
Veteran of the Norwegian experimental music scene and frequent Jenny Hval collaborator Håvard Volden’s new album Small Lives is a compelling group of loose yet intentional instrumentals. The record is full of odd textures and laid back, organic guitar work, a series of contradictions probably best captured by the title track.

 

Scott Walker - “Windows Of The World” 
I spent an hour or so the other day cooking up some half thought out conceptual playlist that was at the intersection of hazy late summer sitting outside music and mannered Wes Anderson-core vintage singer songwriter stuff, trying and so far not totally succeeding to seize on a vibe that has yet to fully crystalize in my mind. I knew some Scott Walker song would be a perfect fit for what I was working on but “Windows Of The World” wasn’t it (I ended up going with “The Lady Came From Baltimore” for that playlist). Either way this song is too good to not put somewhere so it ended up on the July 2025 mix. 

GAS - “Narkopop 7”
Narkopo by GAS is the platonic ideal of one of the main kinds of ambient music I seek out, a sort of all-encompassing wall of sound that works to completely shut out the rest of the world, some real fuckin “riding the train with too many people” type of music. The constant swelling tension and endless pulsing of “Narkopop 7” was really doing it for me on this listen, sounding like someone made a whole song out of the climactic final moments of a Stars of the Lid song.

 

Anika - “Honey”
I was thinking about how good Anika’s cover of The Kinks’ “I Go To Sleep” is and then saw she actually just put out a new record a few months ago. Turns out it’s really cool!

Loscil - “Chinook”
There was a stretch of time where I saw Loscil 3-4 times in less than a year, he seemed like a slam dunk opener/tone setter for any ambient/experimental leaning show, sort of the Kranky Records version of Julien Baker (she was another perennial opener in my life a decade ago, I’ve inadvertently seen her live more times than most bands I love). I mostly end up going back to older Loscil works, like the legendary 2005 LP Plume, full of perfectly crafted pieces of tranquil ambience.

Groceries! - “Alegria”
I don’t really know what they mean when they describe themselves as “post-sleaze” but what I do know is this song from Groceries! is very good. I’m proud to announce I am awarding them the official Horse Combinations “Worth Keeping An Eye On” certification.

Paira - “Confissão”

Brazilian duo Paira has been on my radar for the last year or so, ever since I saw some guy on Twitter post about their excellent debut, EP01. The off kilter mix of twinkly guitars and wistful indie pop vocals with breakbeats is so charming and addictive. “Confissão,” their first new track since EP01, is an exciting evolution for the band, the most cohesive the disparate components of their sound have ever felt. This is another band you’ll probably be hearing about a lot from me in the coming months.

Bonnie “Prince” Billy & Marquis de Tren - “Solemn 10”
Since making the switch to Tidal a few weeks ago, I’ve been going deep on the stuff that was previously not available to me on Spotify, for example the majority of Will Oldham’s catalog. I loved Solemns, a three song collaborative EP recorded with Dirty Three’s Mick Turner, when it came out back in 2013 but it has fallen out of rotation in the intervening years. I am now reminded that “Solemn 10” may be my favorite song from of the stretch of Bonnie Billy records recorded with Angel Olsen, an underrated period in both artists’ careers.

Creative Writing - “Can’t Thank You Enough”
A cool song from a band I read about on Stereogum. Thanks for the tip Stereogum!

Westside Cowboy - “Shells”
There are three Westside Cowboy songs out so far and I am extremely into all three of them. Their first single “I’ve Never Met Anyone I Thought I Could Really Love (Until I Met You)” is an insane, impressive debut song that knocked me out when I first heard it months ago, with followups “Alright Alright Alright” and “Shells” keeping my interest piqued. Another mf “band to keep your eye on." 

Tacoma Radar - “Pilot House”
Numero Group recently announced a reissue of Tacoma Radar’s excellent No One Waved Goodbye, a killer mix of twee melodicism and sadsack slowcore, sort of Scotland’s answer to Bedhead. I’ve been listening to that record a ton lately and can’t wait to own it “on vinyl.”

DJ Sabrina The Teenage DJ - “Sunset Years”
DJ Sabrina The Teenage DJ is one of those artists who are so massively prolific that I’ve stopped even trying to keep up, but every so often I’ll take a sip from the firehose of blissed out sample-heavy house tracks and be glad I did. I was listening to “Sunset Years” on the way to work this morning and was having a great time doing it.

Embedded below is the full playlist for July, back soon with August's mix!