This week’s episode of The AM (also streaming at CJSW.com): I didn’t notice that the 400th episode of the AM had come and gone, but celebrating number 402 works just as well. I shared the first song ever played on The AM, and there’ll be a Spotify playlist of the first episode’s tracklist available sometime shortly—visit theam.ca for that one. But, we’re always looking forward, and this week’s mix of cosmic synthesizers, melodic art-rock, and psychedelic surf is your recommended way to ease into the last week of January.
Ben Lukas Boysen – Clarion (Kiasmos Remix) (Erased Tapes)
The first single from Boysen’s upcoming Clarion EP, this reworking of a track from 2020’s Mirage condenses the sprawling original, adding a propulsive kick while preserving the elliptical melody. That pulse becomes the gravity holding the intellectual and emotional halves of Boysen’s composition together, keeping the body rooted to the dancefloor while the spirit soars into the cosmos.
The Slow Music Movement’s first release of 2022 is a collection of spacious folk music from Nottingham’s Ben McElroy. Droning bass provides the soil from which McElroy’s songs grow and flower, fragments of melodies from flute, strings, and voice coalescing like breath in winter air. It’s ideal January music, sounds that would evaporate in the summer sun, but that linger and shimmer in the cold.
The second single from Hval’s upcoming Classic Objects, and her first for 4AD, is a much more straightforward tune than her last few offerings. But even Hval’s most straightforward songs tend to feel more like questions than statements, and “Year of Love” is no exception. Her vocals here are as inquisitive as ever, tracing outlines of ambiguity even in a conventional structure.
ELECTRONIC KUMOKO cloudchild is an eclectic compilation that’ll take a few more listens to digest in full, but the chance to hear new music from Barbee is already enough to justify a spin. The skateboarder and musician is in full-on kosmiche mode here, gently drifting along with twinkling electronics and melodic bass. My only complaint is that three minutes isn’t nearly enough; Barbee wakes us up before the dream’s even really begun.
This week’s episode of The AM (also streaming at CJSW.com): Picking up from last week’s show, an episode anchored by Krautrock and kosmische, with new music from Roedelius and a controversial classic from Neu!. Plus psychedelic jams from Mt. Mountain and Kikagaku Moyo, atmospheric electronics from Bonobo and Sun Rain, and other sounds to warm you up, wake you up, and get you ready for a new week.
Hour One:
Crisscrossing Roedelius, Tim Story • Four Hands
Ever New – Reworked by Joseph Shabason & Thom Gill Beverly Glenn-Copeland • Keyboard Fantasies Reimagined
Dust and Light Tape • Revelationes
Capacitor Kindly Spoken Thieves • Resistor
Man from Gdynia Proxima Psychoacoustics • Ataroth
Willow Tree Testing (Animal Party Remix) Sun Rain • Single
Counterpart Bonobo • Fragments
AndWillContinueToGrow lokey • an eternal bloom
Reports In Die Scum Inc. • The Epoch Code (a Notion Picture Soundtrack)
Tintoretto, It’s For You Destroyer • Labyrinthitis
Hour Two:
Keep Yourself Together Contagious Yawns • Dream of Consciousness
C.F.D. Makaya McCraven • Deciphering the Message
Flare Intropin Tawni Bias • SEL Fellow
Faith in Strangers Andy Stott • Faith in Strangers
No Refuge in the Past Botany • Portal Orphanage
Drive (Grundfunken) Neu! • Neu! ’86
Euphoria Neu! • Neu! ’86
Cold Dice Garcia Peoples • Dodging Dues
Hotline Lael Neale • Single
Always Lovers Cindy Lee • Malenkost
Watersnake Scott Hardware • Ballad of a Tryhard
Hour Three:
Freezee Pops Sam Evian • Time To Melt
Headspace Cedric Noel • Hang Time
Crazy Spiritualized • Everything Was Beautiful
Swim in Eyes (Rerecorded) Pia Fraus • Now You Know, It Still Feels the Same
Ghost Parker Sprout • Milk In the Sun
We’re Gonna Run Away Beach Towels • Single
Tassels Mt. Mountain • Centre
Green Sugar Kikagaku Moyo • House in the Tall Grass
Wander Lines 