Songs You Need To Hear Now #36
Aussies Donny Benét and Angie McMahon are some of this week's highlights.
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Here is some great new music I’ve been listening to this week - it’s dangerously close to year-end, so for the rest of 2023’s playlists, I’m also mixing in stuff I’m revisiting and enjoying. Thanks to everyone who has followed and “liked” for all of the latest updates 🙏
Listen on Apple Music 🎧
What have you been listening to this week? Let me know in the comments!
We’re big Donny Benét fans around here, so it’s great to hear that the Australian disco funker will be back in late February with Infinite Desires. Last year’s Le Piano made the EP “best of list,” as I noted:
Sydney’s reliable neo-disco dude Donny Benét released Le Piano in early spring, and this breezy four-track instrumental outing dominated my summer listening. Recorded entirely with vintage synths and drum machines, Benét nails the Japanese city pop influence and aesthetic on the title track and wobbly “Cappucino.” The true highlight here is “Forgotten Spring,” an atmospheric number that recalls Jan Hammer’s “Crockett’s Theme” from Miami Vice. Combined with the EP cover, forget Colin Farrell - I now want a reboot with a ponytailed Benét taking over for Don Johnson.
If Infinite Desires’ lead single “Multiply” is any indication, Benét will have no issue heating the coldest month.
Speaking of Aussies, Angie McMahon’s debut album, Salt, caught my attention in 2019. It was a lovely surprise when her sophomore follow-up, Light, Dark, Light Again, dropped a little over a week ago without being on my radar. McMahon takes a massive step up in her songwriting on this new record with warmer, more lush production. While the rest of the album isn’t always as grand as “Letting Go,” it’s the perfect song to pull you into the record.
Think of it as Florence Welch fronting The War on Drugs. Yeah, thought that would pull a lot of you in.
These songs are also included in the ever-popular Good Ass Songs 2023 playlist. At over four hundred songs and counting, it’s the best way to catch up on another excellent year of music!
Listen on Apple Music 🎧
Can’t pick something to listen to? Throw on Earwormz!
You had me at “City Pop-influenced.” Also pretty rad to see he’s going on a world tour.
Donny, what a legend!