Friends, it's time to talk about nine songs I listened to this month and added to the Horse Combinations September 2025 playlist on Tidal. New songs, old songs, long form instrumentals, and miniature pop songs, this blog post has it all!
Rob Mohan - “Flowering Iris”
A Sign of Things to Come, the new album from Cincinnati-based guitarist Rob Mohan is really nice, a collection of American primitive fingerstyle guitar compositions that’s deeply indebted to Glenn Jones (source: track three is called “Glenn’s Tune”). A lot of the time all I want to listen to is some pensive ass twelve string guitar instrumentals.
Julie Doiron - “The Cryin’ Kind”
The first song recorded in the sessions for the forthcoming Julie Doiron album, “The Cryin’ Kind” is classic Julie D, plainspoken, raw, and awesome.
Ghosted III, the latest in an incredible run of records from the Ambarchi/Berthling/Werliin trio is maybe the best one yet. The tracks are shorter and punchier, sometimes veering into an almost Tortoise-like post-rock zone. The liquid bass and slow build atmospherics of "Seh" reminds me of something off Millions Now Living Will Never Die or something, it rules.
Steve Gunn - “Nearly There”
Guitarman Steve Gunn has
operated in two lanes concurrently throughout his career, releasing a
steady stream of instrumental and collaborative records and then a
proper singer-songwriter LP every few years. August’s instrumental Music
for Writers is very nice and pleasant to listen to but I was excited
when “Nearly There” dropped earlier this month alongside news of
Daylight Daylight, his first LP with vocals since 2021’s Other You. I'm loving the tense, cinematic strings added by Chicago cosmic Americana scene
icon James Elkington and can't wait to hear more.
Car Culture - “Rest Here”
We’re big Car Culture fans here at Horse Combinations. This is not the first nor the
last time you’ll be hearing about them from us. “Rest Here,” the title track from their new album out next month on NAFF Recordings, follows
“Nothingburger” and “Coping Mechanism,” features the chopped up vocals
of UK pop weirdo Ms Ray over downtempo drums and a guitar line that is classic Car
Culture.
Sam Prekop - “So Shy”
Man I don’t listen to the self
titled Sam Prekop solo record enough, it’s incredible. The shuffling,
breathy final track, “So Shy,” encapsulates everything good and cool
about the record, an understated capstone on one of the better albums to come out of the legendary Chicago indie rock scene of the 1990s.
Ivy - “Lucy Doesn’t Love You”
I
hate to admit it but the algorithm got me with this one. I was looking
at Instagram a few weeks ago and was served one of Pitchfork’s My Perfect 10 videos featuring
Dominique from Ivy talking about her love of Prefab Sprout’s Steve McQueen. I wasn’t
familiar with Ivy’s work but anyone who recognizes that album for the masterpiece it is deserves a closer look. Since then I’ve listened to
their 2000 record Long Distance every day or two, luxuriating in the space between indie rock and trip hop.
Anysia Kym & Tony Seltzer - “Long4”
The
Anysia Kym/Tony Seltzer collab album is here and it’s great, all 17
minutes of it! A dozen bite sized avant-R&B bangers full of chilly,
weird production and hints at earworm hooks. I like that “Long4” almost
sounds like if Loscil made beats.
ear - “The Most Dear and The Future”
Speaking
of seventeen minute long albums that I’m obsessed with, ear’s The Most
Dear and The Future is the convergence of two subgenres I’ve noticed Gen
Z musicians embracing lately: twee and folktronica. Both have been
extremely unfashionable for the last ten or fifteen years and are both
extremely dear to me personally. “The Most Dear and The Future” sounds
like a DNTEL remix of an Architecture in Helsinki song and
it fucking rocks.
We'll leave it there for now, I will return next week with more blurbs and more cool songs. For now September's work in progress mix is embedded below!
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