The Kort

<a href="http://treecoverrecords.bandcamp.com/track/silent-wave" data-mce-href="http://treecoverrecords.bandcamp.com/track/silent-wave">Silent Wave by Uwue</a>

 The earnest and well-to-do Tree Cover crew in Harrisburg, PA sent through this gorgeous 7" from Caleb Cossick, aka Uwue, and it's just ideal for springtime in the sunshine. His vocals are striking in their upfront, dry treatment...Mr. Cossick isn't afraid to show off that falsetto with a lot of emotion, and "Silent Wave" is all the better for it. Relaxing, contemplative, and soothingly optimistic: Uwue knows how to write a great pop song.

Alphabets Heaven - Birthday from diplodok493 on Vimeo.

  Damn, those crazy Canadian cats up at King Deluxe keep elevating their game. This new video by Renata Gąsiorowska for Alphabets Heaven's plaintive and eerily funky "Birthday" is a masterpiece of hand-drawn animated weirdness...it would be right at home on Adult Swim.

<a href="http://digitalisrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/crushed-interior" data-mce-href="http://digitalisrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/crushed-interior">Crushed Interior by Prostitutes</a>

  This new album from Cleveland's James Donadio, aka Prostitutes,  burrows deep under the soil and away from the hype of all these purveyors of brash, noise-laden techno with a new LP for Digitalis, Crushed Interior.

Haunting and very affecting for such a quiet, contemplative album, you can almost hear the music scurrying away when you turn on the lights. The sonic arms race to louder and "heavier" levels has created a pissing match in this strange corner of electronic music, and it's extremely refreshing and enticing to listen to a record produced by someone with their hearing still intact. The subtlety and nuance to each track's arrangement, with slowly evolving counter-rhythms and stark, meditative melodies creeping out of the gloom, makes for an insular experience that rewards repeated listening sessions. 

 Whenever anyone talks about acid when describing dance music these days, it tends to revolve around house music and a billionth revival of the "acid house" scene. Which I really don't know very much about, except that Lory D is a don.

For me, the acid sound and all those little Roland TR-303 burbles makes me think of IDM and Aphexian madness, with skittering drums and sharp left turns littered throughout the jam. DC-by-way-of-bonnie-Scotland madman Beatwife, also known briefly on Planet Mu as Burnkane, has been churning on some real speed demons in this acidic arena lately, but slows it down on "Dwistco" for some really gorgeous synth work and mind-f*cking dance structures.

 Probably the most menacing track Rustie has put out since that lecherous, scantily clad remix of Zomby's "Spliff Dub" waaaaaay back when. You can really see how far the guy's come though, with those opening chords, the melodic breakdown halfway through and a really triumphant finish to the jam. 

Classic and creeping jam from pac...

Close Kort and Styles Upon Styles confidant Devon Hansen, aka Lotide, crops up on a favorite label of ours with a hazy, lush long player called Moonless. Coming to cassette and digital on Astro:Dynamics on the first of April, the record sees jigsawing textures and atmospheres clasp together unsteadily into a variety of rhythms, often dropping out before you've quite got your head around them.

Soul is on its way back. JT's new LP looks to the Dean Martin days, Daptone Records surges forward with a new Charles Bradley record, and our own King Garbage prepares for their debut release in April. So then, where does Gabriel Garzón-Montano fall on this spectrum of slinky 2013 crooners?

 Creeping, off-kilter electronics from techno experimentalist and sound scientist Peter Van Hoesen, on this new track off of his recently released 2nd LP, Perceiver. The tune above sways uneasily through the fog, only gaining focus after the seemingly disparate melodic particles coalesce into a fluid, complex rhythm. This is modular music, constructed not on a screen but on two machines: the brain and the synth. Sit, eyes close, let your mind do the talking.