june 2025
#78: annie and the caldwells | barry can't swim | yaya bey | sampology | emma-jean thackray | corto.alto | isák | marcianeke | addison rae | ekathé | will smith | liquid liquid + optimo (espacio)
i made it - annie and the caldwells
absolutely stunning disco soul from a full family band from mississippi, their album (out on luaka bop) ‘40 years in the making’. about four seconds in to hearing this for the first time, i downed tools and turned my head to the side with my jaw AGAPE towards no one in particular for about the next minute. i hope you do too xo
the person you’d like to be - barry can’t swim
this is creepy as hell. a kind of dour aidan moffat sensibility to it, weird bolis pupil-style laughter, versions of his voice layered over itself so that when it’s just a single thread saying ‘what? who?’ you feel like you’ve collectively been hearing voices. and then when it breaks down into discordance and those choral vocals after he says “can you sit down with me for a moment please / can you hold my hand / i am frightened” it gives me literal full body goosebumps. a lil disappointed the rest of the album isn’t as weird as this tbh, it’s something special.
breakthrough - yaya bey
she’s amazing. the whole album goes to a million different places in a very smooth languid way, mixing rap and r&b, synth, house, and managing to be extremely chilled out the whole way. lemme just hang out on the balcony and vibe.
morning sun - sampology
also lemme just hang out on the balcony and vibe, but differently. maybe with a canned cocktail and a little boogie?
very good new tracks from some usual suspects:
save me - emma-jean thackray
don’t listen - corto.alto
máze - isák
i spent a week in san sebastián for work—what a city that is by the way. had a great time: heard about some interesting research, did some of the most beautiful runs of my life, sounded like a complete brit abroad every time i was crying about how incredible the produce was. “😭 i’ve never had a tomato so flavourful” - me, every lunchtime. one of the plenary talks (from pia lane) was about the historical linguistic oppression of the indigenous sámi people in the north of norway. at the end, she played a clip of this modern joik, a traditional form of sámi singing, accompanied here by drums rather than the traditional a capella form. always be diggin.
no me dejes en visto - marcianeke, donner + katteyes
more tales from san sebastián, shazammed from teenage boys doing incline push-ups by the sea on a friday afternoon. honestly now i’m back it doesn’t sound so good, just like i hear txaoli wine tastes shite in germanic climates. but it was what it was.
aquamarine - addision rae
i had been studiously ignoring the addison rae discourse and output but something in me finally snapped after hearing A Gay (sorry i forgot ur name babes xo) on the every outfit podcast who had worked on one of her music videos and was like ‘she’s so fuckin tuned in, it’s her vision, she has all her references down, they’re good songs’ etc etc. so i was like FINE OK and went and skim listened to the album. and you know what!!!!!! this one is kinda late 90s madonna. i also love headphones on which is imo lana del rey meets zero 7.
baba - ekathé + el mundo limon
some overall pleasant funky jazz straight out of buenos aires. however, what really sold me was that it has an enormous bass solo. respect for the goat instrument.
pretty girls - will smith ft. obanga
hear me out: this sounds like a drag race contestant who’s trying to Make It after the show. it’s kind of a bop.
NOT IT: will smith on dj ag. idk so flat somehow?? although people are singing along so maybe i’m just not clicking with it.
SO DEFINITELY IT: alesha dixon on dj ag!!! holy shit. people (me) forget she’s insane on the mic.
optimo [instrumental mix] - liquid liquid x optimo (espacio)
i didn’t plan to highlight this track, but having heard the sad news about jd twitch this week i wanted to acknowledge it. i read about optimo (espacio) in the nme in 2004 while in shetland (lol), and i daydreamed about the day i too would go to sub club on sunday nights. when i moved to glasgow, my first optimo night, somewhere in a basement in merchant city, i was giddy. after about 20 minutes i was yelling at anyone who would listen ‘oh my god, this is what the club IS FOR!!!'. it gave me a whole new perspective on the dancefloor and what a dj can do. shout out twitch & wilkes, absolute icons of the scene 🤍
linga sound updates:
i played 9-2.30am at hagglers corner last saturday. SO FUN! i was slightly worried about playing for 5.5hrs especially as i am notoriously sleepy. but i need not have worried and i had a blast. thanks to all the dancers x
i really enjoyed the q&a at grub with nick dwyer and kay suzuki on a century in sound, about kissa (listening bars) in tokyo! i wanna hit up the purely rolling stones kissa asap.
some tramlines weekend news coming soon! ☀️