Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith

8 months ago

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.

<a href="http://caribouband.bandcamp.com/album/joli-mai" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer">Joli Mai by Daphni</a>

Listen on Bandcamp

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.

Listen on Spotify.

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.

Listen on Spotify

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.

Listen on Spotify

5. Jordan Rakei – Wallflower

New Zealand singer-songwriter turns in some Rhye-esque soul on a fine fine album on Ninja Tune.

Listen on Spotify

Posted on October 9th, 2017

Tags: new albums

Artists: Daphni, Four Tet, Jordan Rakei, Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, Kelela

10 months ago

This is only a selection of new music – dig into more or follow the Spotify playlists.

Nialler9 Weekly playlist

1. Purity Ring – Asido

Can you believe it’s been five years since the Canadian duo released their debut album? To mark the occasion, Purity Ring dropped this new song with Mike Oldfield bells and their trademark electro pop shades for a once-off single.

2. Susanne Sundfør & John Grant – Mountaineers

Norwegian Susanne Sundfør is a songwriter, producer and singer who has released five albums so far but who has recently taken a step up recently by signing to Bella Union for her sixth Music for People in Trouble in August 25th. Now, that label’s biggest name has contributed vocals to this song from the album and he contributes his deep baritone in reverb to a choral duet that builds into something much more forceful, swirling and unexpected. Sundfør plays The Sugar Club on Saturday October 7th.

3. Bullion – ‘Spin2Glory’

Uk producer Bullion dropped a new three-track EP recently but my highlight from it is the driving Lindstrom-esque electronic guitar and disco buzz of ‘Spin2Glory’.

4. Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith – ‘An Intention’

Smith’s EARS album is my de facto ambient album to turn to to get work done to but that’s not a slight, it’s an effective backdrop for passive listening but there’s a lot to pay attention to as well. ‘An Intention’ is the first track from her followup –The Kid and continues her beguiling ambient electronic explorations.