Every time we do one of these, we discover new future-favorite musicians. More than anything else, it’s the thing that keeps us doing these mixtapes year after year, pushing us past complacency and into creative experiences we likely wouldn’t otherwise have, both in terms of recorded music and live performances of artists we first discover and then share on these pages.
Last month, the big impact new artists for us were Your Smith and Sorcha Richardson; this month, New Orleans duo People Museum is our musical obsession, and we’re hoping to bring you an interview with them in the coming weeks. In the meantime, you an enjoy one of our favorite tracks form their new album on our mixtape and, if you like what you hear, give their entire debut a much-deserved full listen (not to be confused with these guys’ new album, which is also likely awesome).
Also in the exciting new-to-us realm, Tokyo/Berkley’s Curling, who self-describes as “Crosby, Stills, & Nash meets Cap’n Jazz” which is fucking amazing, like their track “Still Green”; Belgium’s Pale Grey, who plays some pretty catchy shit; Brooklyn trio Big Bliss, whose debut full-length both reaches back into new wave’s best and forward into new new wave’s best; new experimental cold wave (if you like waves and over-categorization of music) from Athens, Georgia’s Mothers; and English electronic duo Maribou State.
In the welcome return category, South African artist Petit Noir (AKA Yannick Ilunga) is back with a wonderful new EP; Gabrielle Smith (who we interviewed back in 2015) is back with the newly minted Gabby’s World; SoCal’s own Trevor and Tim from Tall Tales and the Silver Lining are back with an album as Parting Lines (Trevor’s another past interview subject); friends of the studio Moon Honey have a just-released album full of crazy-insane-prog-psych-rock-your-face-off-ness (video from the single we feature below); Bristol’s Elder Island are back with a very much smoothed-out, slick sound; Los Angeles’s own Viaa gives us some trademark hook-filled pop; more LA love—Kito teams up with New Zealand’s Broods for a lovely nuanced single; studio favorite Amber Bain out of Buckinghamshire, AKA The Japanese House, has a just-released single that’s kicking the mix off; and conversely, Toronto’s Lowell closes things out for us with a beautifully epic, danceable, anthemic track that we should all bounce around to and sing at the top of our lungs at least a few times this fall.
Enjoy, friends. And remember—love wins.
