Soundscape is a weekly look at local and international releases making an impression on our musical radar. The list offers a cross-section of EPs and albums arriving at the station.

We have been busily scouring the Soundscape! Check out some of our favourite finds for this week 25 May 2020

Sweet Whirl - How Much Works (Chapter Music)**Album of the Week

Timelessness is the key descriptor for Esther Edquist’s debut album as Sweet Whirl. These are songs that multiple generations of your family would love. How Much Works is filled with dusty folk ballads, shimmering melancholic pop, blues-infused love songs and philosophic prose.

Nat Vazer - Is This Offensive And Loud? (Hotel Motel)

The Melbourne songwriter easily combines a bouquet of 90s and 2000s influence on her debut LP to create something that sounds very 2020. Think the dissonant chords of Sonic Youth, the easy melancholy of Elliott Smith, the warm, saturated reverb of Pavement with a voice which can rise and turn in a way reminiscent of Tom Yorke. Vazer combines diary entry lyricism while reflecting on wider societal issues, revealing herself as one of the most compelling voices in the resurgent Melbourne indie-rock scene.

Party Dozen - Pray For Party Dozen (GRUPO)

Pray for the Party Dozen is the latest from the Sydney duo of Saxophonist Kirsty Tickle and Percussionist Jonathon Bouletk. This is heavy, apocalyptic instrumental music, driven by the sludgy drums of Bouletk while Tickle explores manic, virtuosic sax improvisations. Like the Dirty Three, Party Dozen create sonic shapes and colours which can worm their way uncomfortably deep into the skull.

The Colours That Rise - Grey Doubt (Rhythm Section International)

Grey Doubt captures the zeitgeist of 2020 UK jazz, soul and dub. The project of producers Simeon Jones and Nathaneal Williams, the duo have stated that “we wanted to make an audio documentary...about a secret history - that black people live on mars.” They’ve created a rich long-play of lo-fi electronic jams, 70s funk, hip-hop and music to dance to.

Moodymann - Taken Away (Management Control)

The elusive Detroit producer follows up 2019’s Sinner with Taken Away, originally slated for release as part of Detroit’s now cancelled Movement Festival. While predominantly a house record, Moodymann wraps his music in reference points from the depth and diversity of historical black music. The result is a sound of blues, soulful grit foregrounding an ever present electronic thump.

Katie Von Schleicher - Consummation (Ba Da Bing Records)

Brooklyn based songwriter Katie Von Schleicher follows up her lo-fi debut with the more slick and ambitious Consummation. Von Schleicher’s second album is an exercise in retro-revivalism, as she digs through sub genres of 70s psych. The arrangements here are complex and intricate, driven by sun-drenched guitars and glittering synths.

Various Artists - Soul Jazz Records Presents Black Riot: Early Jungle, Rave And Hardcore (Soul Jazz)

Black Riot is a 12 track compilation featuring seminal cuts from the early to mid 90s as UK producers chanelled the darker strains of rave and hardcore into a the new sound of Jungle. The compilation features the likes of Levictus, DJ Duboate, The Terrorist and more.

More information here

Donny Benét - Mr Experience (Remote Control)

The Sydney based artist Donny Benét imagined his new record as a soundtrack to a dinner party set in the late 1980s. Chanelling the stylings of the likes of Bryan Ferry and Hiroshi Yoshimura, Mr Experience is “sincerity served on a kitsch platter.”

Sharada Shashidhar - Rahu (Leaving Records)

Sharada Shashidhar is a compelling and refreshing new voice in the US jazz scene. Recorded over four years between Los Angeles and New York while completing her vocal studies, Rahu is a galactic exploration of sound and voice, with epic, glitching soundscapes which transcend physical bodies and musical boundaries.

The Mauskovic Dance Band - Shadance Hall (Dekmentel)

Out of the current musical hot-bed of Amsterdam comes The Mauskovic Dance Band with their debut Shadance Hall. The album is a maze of influences, with the sounds of no-wave, psych rock, cumbo, power dub and numerous other shapes of global grooves. Following initial recordings, the group experimented with tape loops and multi-tracking, creating waves of reverb and echo.