Los Angeles trio, Coto and the Plagues, initially united around a passion for lo-fi horror films. While the band’s eleven track debut rarely makes direct reference to any element of cinematic history, their music parallels the dark mood of horror culture’s massive timeline. Coto and the Plagues recalls the peak of goth rock and new-wave as though it were straight out of a 1980’s slasher film.
Jazz saxophonist, Patrick Shiroishi, has created a career exploring the history of Asian-American oppression. On his latest album, Hidemi, Shiroishi delivers one of his most personal albums to date, with a focus on his grandparents and their time spent in a Japanese internment camp circa World War II. Hidemi incorporates the healing power of spiritual jazz as Shiroishi travels through his family’s resilient history.
Los Angeles-based Sarah Davachi has an academic background in musicology. On her latest album, the minimalist composer applies different periods of classical to her recording technique, specifically mirroring the acoustics of large spaces ] to maximize the depth of her sound. Even at it’s most understated moments, Antiphonals is layered with wondrous emotion.
Hip-hop pioneers Madlib & Declaime have frequently collaborated throughout each of their impactful careers. On In the Beginning Vol. 1, the childhood friends compile thirteen previously unreleased recordings from their early years together in Oxnard. The album provides a strong foundation to two irreplaceable legacies that have continuously shifted hip-hop for three decades.
After years of one-off collaborations, vocalist Trenttruce & multi-instrumentalist Coto Loco team up for their darkwave debut as Black Magick Chocolate Tears. Black Magick Chocolate Tears showcases the intense vocal range of Truce & subtly complex production skills of Coto Loco. Across twelve tracks, the two artists balance out each other’s strengths to a forge a sound that crosses pop music with an ominous after hours disposition.
Los Angeles-based garage rocker Grady Strange has a sound that spans across 60 years of psychedelic rock. At a time in which there is a rise in melancholic music created throughout the pandemic, Strange counters the trend with his mesmerizing debut LP, Getting Stranger. The ten track fuzz driven album is an all encompassing trippy journey that recalls a time when lighthearted fun was welcomed as an everyday normalcy.
On her new record, Limitless Frame, experimental artist Ulla removes herself further from any drum-based song structure and embraces noises like a recurring tape hiss. Her compositions encompass various sides of ambient music, tying 50 years of niche music together around nine diverse tracks.
On his first record, Moses Sumney invited listeners to join him on an introspective journey towards self-care and confidence. The minimalist musical build of his debut is the perfect companion to his emotional lyrical themes that explore the beauty in being alone. Aromanticism is a stunning record layered with poetry and unique song structure, providing a thought-provoking foundation for an artist who has since redefined many age-old norms across pop music.
Toro Y Moi currently has a working catalog that encompasses as many genres as it does albums. In 2011, he released Underneath the Pine, a record that has since become a highlight to the short-lived sub genre, Chillwave. Even with the success of Underneath the Pine, he delivered Freaking Out before the end of that same year, an ambitious five track follow-up that completely rebranded his sound with unexpectedly positive results.
2007 was an opportune time for Mobb Deep’s Prodigy & The Alchemist to collaborate. While The Alchemist was just beginning to create the base for an exceptional legacy, Mobb Deep had already cemented their stature as a pillar in hip-hop culture. The Alchemist & Prodigy’s first full-length album together, Return of the Mac, remains an overlooked center point that bridges the gap between two decades of groundbreaking rap music.
