5 albums to listen to this week: Daphni, Kelela, Four Tet, Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, Jordan Rakei
With so many releases flying at you, here are recommended vetted listens from Nialler9 for you this week, as collated in the Nialler9 New Releases Spotify playlist, updated weekly.
1.
Daphni – Joli Mai
Any new music from Dan Snaith is always welcome around here and a new Daphni album largely culled from his recent Fabriclive mix also serves that notion. Why? Because you get some grade A dancefloor bangers in their unedited form. So we get songs we have heard like ‘Face To Face’, ‘Hey Drum’, ‘Tin’, ‘Medellen’ and ‘Vikram’ (first heard in 2015) among others but given their own chance to shine away from a mix format.
2.
Kelela – Take Me Apart
LA singer Kelela took her time in constructing her debut album because she didn’t want to repeat the club-mix sounds of her EPs and mixtape. So her debut full-length is not as immediate for listeners but there’s much more to explore in these deftly-constructed modern R&B tracks. Kelela’s sultry honey voice and preoccupations around relationships, both sexual and sensual, are the big draw here while producers like Jam City, Arca, Al Shux, Kingdom and Bok Bok set out a celestial electronic backdrop that points the way forward for the future of the genre.
3.
Four Tet – New Energy
Kieran Hebden moves away from the dancefloor and limited releases for his ninth album which pares things back to a low-tempo and a comforting series of contemplative almost new-age sounding tracks that call back to his earlier work as opposed to his club-orientated output of recent years. Four Tet’s music has tightened up its arrangements largely due to those recent explorations but on New Energy , there is lots of room for melodic mellowness. The focus is on the mind and spirit as opposed to the feet.
![Four Tet - New Energy (2017) [FULL ALBUM]](https://nialler9.com/wp-content/cache/flying-press/lWInZ4N6C2g-hqdefault.jpg)
4.
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith – The Kid
Walking the line between playful electronic and avant garde, Aurelia Smith’s new album is less ambient than before which may turn off those looking for a suitable background release. While it’s also built on a narrative that follows the human lifespan in four stages, there’s enough here on its own to stand apart and grab your attention on its own and fans of modular synths will love the Buchla tones combined with the almost pop melodies at play here.
5.
Jordan Rakei – Wallflower
New Zealand singer-songwriter turns in some Rhye-esque soul on a fine fine album on Ninja Tune.
