A Sedate, Soulful or Psychedelic Sunday - take your pick.
A gentle ambient delight, shapeshifting soul and a kaleidoscopic, downtempo psychedelic celebration.
Apparently it’s a day of rest, so let’s start with the sedatest of today’s recommendations. Runaway Horses is the ambient project of Pisa’s Andrea Morana, who first came to my attention in May with his Recollected In Tranquility LP which was released on the horizontally inclined Dronarivm label. It’s a great listen, and I recommend checking the label out whilst you’re at it.
I’m not sure if he’s got a day job as he’s actually managed to squeeze in two more releases of varying hues which I managed to miss since then, but I’m particularly enchanted by this brand new six track EP for Slow Echo which is ticking all my soothing, gentle, intricate electroacoustic boxes. It really is a lovely listen.
He’s even dragged in a couple of TSMM approved special guests - Be Still The Earth & Antarctic Wastelands on the last two tracks, who go all out to amplify rather than contrast the warm and deeply calming vibe set by the director of operations.
My only minor quibble is that the release is a bit too short, so loop it up before hitting play. If that still isn’t enough then sink into the Slow Ambient Playlist.
Various Artists - Alley of the Sun (Not Not Fun)
Not Not Fun have been one of my pet labels since the blog started. They’re based out of California and even spun off an influential house music label - 100% Silk, who I was actually aware of before discovering the downtempo, psychedelic outsider delights of the parental label.
Congratulations is also in order as this is a celebratory compilation marking their twentieth anniversary and 400th release! That’s quite the achievement in anyone’s books, especially mine as there is a label side to TSMM and I know how much hard work it is.
To celebrate this milestone the label has commissioned all the right label luminaries to provide some original material for this compilation. True to form it’s a hazy, kaleidoscopic snapshot that is perhaps best summed up in the release notes: “rainforest ceremony, skyway motorik, Tascam rapture, silhouette shoegaze, basement vapor, astral ascension, jazz shadows, 5th world tropics, lucid dream drone, desert quests, prophecy electronics, ritual wreckage“. Who wouldn’t want some of that?
Whether a label fan or just curious tune in and turn on. I don’t really have an ideal playlist companion for this release but The New Age of New Age Playlist should appeal to fans of the softer tracks on the release.
Zoe's Shanghai - Undergrowth (Naïve)
Zoe’s Shanghai dropped their first release in 2019, three years after I’d left Barcelona or else I’d have definitely seen them in concert a few times by now. So much modern soul is a producer driven affair, so it’s always nice to see a live outfit alongside the button pushers. I also know which one I’d prefer to see in concert.
The new EP is an expansive, genre fluid affair tied together by Zoé Renié Harris’s voice and excellent guitar work. Apart from her soul voice thread, the quartet keep you on your toes at all time; pretty much anything can and does happen.
Steady grooves suddenly morph into dub riddims, slow late night lover’s delights decide to double time & then explode into glowing soundscapes before twisting back into themselves like it’s the compositional norm, a ccapellas suddenly see the psychedelic soul light and then invite the rest of the band to the party, hints of drum bass pop their head in every now and then and just for good measure they end on a laid back, cosmic instrumental. Top marks.
For some reason this one doesn’t seem to be on Bandcamp, even though the group have a page there. Here’s the Apple Music link to help some of you out.
For more soul delights check out, you guessed it, the Slow Soul Playlist.