While I am currently still building out monthly playlists on Spotify, that will be changing in the coming weeks. Maybe you'll join me?
Anyways that's enough of that for now, here's part two of an overview of June's collection of songs I liked. Part one is here. Part three will be coming soon!
Peace Flag Ensemble - “Ann Hodges Asleep On The Sofa”
So I looked it up and Ann Hodges is the first documented person to survive being hit by a meteorite. In 1954 one crashed into her house in Alabama while she was sleeping on the couch, it left her with a big bruise on her leg and a bunch of legal problems. Those interested in reading more should check out this article in Smithsonian Magazine while listening to a beautiful bit of ambient jazz from Regina, Saskatchewan’s Peace Flag Ensemble, who I know very little about. If anyone from the band gets a Google alert I'm sorry this blurb is mostly about the lady from the name of the song.
Doug Newman - “Save All My Pennies”
I was reading a post on New Commute about the prolific off-the-grid singer songwriter Doug Newman, whose charming, odd discography is surveyed in a new compilation curated by the Indianapolis-based record label ULYSSA. This got me reading more about ULYSSA’s noble/insane practice of exploring the incomprehensible deluge of self-released music uploaded to Spotify daily in search of bits of outsider genius that would otherwise go unnoticed. Nothing but respect for our brave crate diggers grinding it out in the CD Baby/DistroKid trenches🫡
Anyways that's enough of that for now, here's part two of an overview of June's collection of songs I liked. Part one is here. Part three will be coming soon!
Peace Flag Ensemble - “Ann Hodges Asleep On The Sofa”
So I looked it up and Ann Hodges is the first documented person to survive being hit by a meteorite. In 1954 one crashed into her house in Alabama while she was sleeping on the couch, it left her with a big bruise on her leg and a bunch of legal problems. Those interested in reading more should check out this article in Smithsonian Magazine while listening to a beautiful bit of ambient jazz from Regina, Saskatchewan’s Peace Flag Ensemble, who I know very little about. If anyone from the band gets a Google alert I'm sorry this blurb is mostly about the lady from the name of the song.
Doug Newman - “Save All My Pennies”
I was reading a post on New Commute about the prolific off-the-grid singer songwriter Doug Newman, whose charming, odd discography is surveyed in a new compilation curated by the Indianapolis-based record label ULYSSA. This got me reading more about ULYSSA’s noble/insane practice of exploring the incomprehensible deluge of self-released music uploaded to Spotify daily in search of bits of outsider genius that would otherwise go unnoticed. Nothing but respect for our brave crate diggers grinding it out in the CD Baby/DistroKid trenches🫡
RIP Swirl & Ydegirl - “Spirals On My Tongue”
A blissed out highlight from the great collaborative EP RIP Swirl and Ydegirl released in May. May we all have a “perfect day by the lake” or two this summer.
Jonny Nash - “Dusk Can Dance”
Jonny Nash’s take on new agey ambient Americana by way of Amsterdam is very much my kind of shit. Dusky, slow motion soundscapes perfectly complemented by some silky saxophone and Denise Gons' gorgeous minimalist landscape album art.
Hell Trash - “Violence”
More than once I’ve heard members of longtime Horse Combinations allies Hell Trash complement a cool new song by saying it sounds “like no music anybody’s ever made before,” a distinction that absolutely applies to their recent single “Violence” that premiered on Ugly Hug last week. Chilly, vaguely menacing vocals punctuated by stabs of marimbas and horns backed by an anxious drum beat that all eventually gives way to an extended noise guitar solo; it’s exciting, thoughtfully made stuff borne from the belief that the best new music sounds actually new.
Coral Grief - “Rockhounds”
I’m really rocking with this song from the new Coral Grief album. Everybody wants to do the Broadcast/Stereolab type enigmatic dream pop thing but these guys are one of the few who remembered to write good songs.
A blissed out highlight from the great collaborative EP RIP Swirl and Ydegirl released in May. May we all have a “perfect day by the lake” or two this summer.
haloplus+ - “Musicality”
A deeply strange song full of plainly stated affirmations addressed directly to the listener that’s halfway between trip hop and an ASMR video, this haloplus+ track and the aforementioned RIP Swirl/Ydegirl EP were a few of my favorite discoveries when checking out some new releases from the endlessly fertile Copenhagen scene. Horse Combinations: the only blog on the computer where you can read 50 or 60 words from a 36 year old man about the exciting music being made by young Danish artists infinitely cooler than he ever was.
Car Culture - “Coping Mechanism”
Car Culture is back after 4 years with the Nothingburger EP, the followup to their incredible 2021 collection Dead Rock. Opening track “Coping Mechanism” reminds me of the downtempo, sample-heavy production work of early Clams Casino, crafting something atmospheric and thrilling out of chintzy keys and fretless smooth jazz basslines.
A deeply strange song full of plainly stated affirmations addressed directly to the listener that’s halfway between trip hop and an ASMR video, this haloplus+ track and the aforementioned RIP Swirl/Ydegirl EP were a few of my favorite discoveries when checking out some new releases from the endlessly fertile Copenhagen scene. Horse Combinations: the only blog on the computer where you can read 50 or 60 words from a 36 year old man about the exciting music being made by young Danish artists infinitely cooler than he ever was.
Car Culture - “Coping Mechanism”
Car Culture is back after 4 years with the Nothingburger EP, the followup to their incredible 2021 collection Dead Rock. Opening track “Coping Mechanism” reminds me of the downtempo, sample-heavy production work of early Clams Casino, crafting something atmospheric and thrilling out of chintzy keys and fretless smooth jazz basslines.
Jonny Nash - “Dusk Can Dance”
Jonny Nash’s take on new agey ambient Americana by way of Amsterdam is very much my kind of shit. Dusky, slow motion soundscapes perfectly complemented by some silky saxophone and Denise Gons' gorgeous minimalist landscape album art.
Hell Trash - “Violence”
More than once I’ve heard members of longtime Horse Combinations allies Hell Trash complement a cool new song by saying it sounds “like no music anybody’s ever made before,” a distinction that absolutely applies to their recent single “Violence” that premiered on Ugly Hug last week. Chilly, vaguely menacing vocals punctuated by stabs of marimbas and horns backed by an anxious drum beat that all eventually gives way to an extended noise guitar solo; it’s exciting, thoughtfully made stuff borne from the belief that the best new music sounds actually new.
Coral Grief - “Rockhounds”
I’m really rocking with this song from the new Coral Grief album. Everybody wants to do the Broadcast/Stereolab type enigmatic dream pop thing but these guys are one of the few who remembered to write good songs.
See below for the full playlist featured (for now) on the dreaded Spotify platform. Will be back in a few days to wrap up June's thoughts!
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