Songs You Need To Hear Now #22

Let's get into some stunning new electronic music from Sky Civilian and Tycho - plus all of the latest and greatest from Blondshell, Drab Majesty, ANOHNI, Mikaela Davis, Slaughter Beach, Dog & more!

Jul 12, 2023

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Here are all the highlights from the great new music I’ve been listening to this week. Thanks to everyone who is saving the playlist! Please be sure to follow and save the playlist for all of the latest updates:

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This week is another stacked playlist with all kinda tasty things going on, like songs from The Pink Stones and Julie Byrne records (I’ve heard from many of you who are also fans of The Greater Wings, thanks) that I shared yesterday. We also have a fuzzy new single from Blondshell, great stuff from records I haven’t covered but am listening to a ton (Cory Hanson, ANOHNI), and rad singles off upcoming records from Drab Majesty, Mikaela Davis, and Slaughter Beach, Dog.

For all the ambient electronica readers, I want to make sure you have Sky Civilian on your radar, based here out of Santa Fe. Maggie Thornton, who performs as Sky Civilian, has released a few EPs and many excellent singles over the past four years. Her latest EP, If I Could Swim I’d Bring You the Ocean is out at the end of the month, and advance singles “Beautiful People” and “The Year of the Saxophone” point to this being another outstanding outing. “The Year of the Saxophone” is perfect for those hot summer nights, mixing jazzy piano, field recordings, and a shaker that mimics a sunset sprinkler. I can’t choose between the two, so they’re the bookends to this week’s playlist.

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Speaking of ambient electronic/chillwave/downtempo, it’s nice to have Tycho back, with his new single, “Time To Run,” full of refreshing new tricks for the San Francisco producer. It’s wild to think that it’s already been twelve years since his breakthrough record, Dive, and three since his last, Simulcast, released right before things got really gnarly in 2020 - I remember watching Scott Hanson (Tycho) and his band run through a mindblowing set in the days right before lockdown and thought of it often while not attending shows for almost a year and a half. “Time To Run” still retains all of the solar-drenched textures Tycho is known for, but the crunchy fingerpicked guitar and funky fuzzy bass sound like a refreshing revitalization to the formula. Let’s hope an album with more of this is on the “Horizon.”

What are you listening to this week? Let me know in the comments!