‘Eclectic’ is a word that’s thrown around when it comes to music, or, more accurately, collections of music. But this month’s mixtape strikes us as especially eclectic in earnest. Maybe it’s this unrelenting heat that’s effectively vaporized our brains and pushed our aesthetics to the outer boundaries or maybe independent music itself is changing, getting more diverse. Regardless, we have a pleasingly erratic, explosive-feeling mix for you this month, bookended by new music from midwestern brethren—Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s Collections of Colonies of Bees + Minneapolis, Minnesota’s Poliça in collaboration with Berlin-based orchestral collective s t a r g a z e.
The remainder of the mix is largely new-to-us artists (which may owe something to the aforementioned diversity) with some beautifully hyper-melodic pop from Portland, Oregon’s Wild Ones; woozy, glitched-out electronics from multi-instrumentalist + multi-disciplinary artist Schaus (also out of PDX); catchy, earworm-y pop from South Australia’s MANE (née Paige Court); subtly swooning experimental dancehall from Canadian musician Lou Canon; Swedish indie pop from Malmö newcomers Hater; another earworm from KC’s Hembree; Boston teen sensation (just wrote those words) Clairo Cottrill with Reading producer SG Lewis; and Kalbells, the solo project of Rubblebucket singer and saxophonist Kalmia Traver.
Finally, we’ve got some welcome returns from Los Angeles’ own (by way of Chicago) Sudan Archives; Oxford electronic artist Chad Valley (née Hugo Manuel, frontman of Jonquil); the return of Lund, Sweden’s The Radio Dept.; and Melbourne’s golden boys, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever. And, while it’s not a return, we’re featuring a track from Lindsey Jordan’s Snail Mail, out of Baltimore, who’s new to the scene but sounds anything but, with addictive songs and a voice that’s beyond her 19 years—this is one of our favorite tracks amounts many on the band’s debut full-length, Lush.
Enjoy and stay cool.
