RETROSPECTIVE SAMPLE / RELEASE WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 18, 2026
DOUBLE EXPOSURE.
Daylight, night moves, and the shape of a new beginning. 49 records in two kinds of light: Beck’s acoustic return, Carly Rae Jepsen’s day-and-night double, Actress’s broken frames and Empress Of’s rebuilt home. Soul ensembles, spiritual jazz and five quiet ambient doors lead toward heavier shadows and unusual combinations.
49records to explore
45 new releases · 4 returning / live
14 with critic ratings
15 with listener ratings
RESEARCHED MONDAY, OCTOBER 26Pop 5 · rock 6 · ambient 5 · 4 discovery leads
49 releases · separate critic & listener reception · descriptions plus sourced review excerpts where available
Megan LaPierre finds the Day sequence cohesive and adventurous, but hears Night’s house-oriented second half as less compellingly shaped and overextended.Exclaim! · Read review ↗
The artistCarly Rae Jepsen pairs prolific pop songwriting with expansive companion releases, from Dedicated Side B to The Loveliest Time.
The recordA 24-song double album divides organic instruments and psychedelic pop on its Day side from house, disco and synthesizers on Night. Marriage and motherhood inform its two-part world.
The artistEmpress Of is Lorely Rodriguez, the singer, songwriter and producer behind a catalogue of beat-led, emotionally direct pop.
The recordHer fifth album follows the loss of her childhood home in the Eaton Fire. Fourteen tracks weave her mother’s spoken interludes into songs about grief, reconstruction and the possibility of renewal.
The artistAgnes Obel is a Danish-born singer, instrumentalist and producer who writes, records and arranges in her Berlin studio.
The recordTwelve tracks reflect on birth and metamorphosis after motherhood. Obel’s voices, keyboards, synths and samples meet strings, winds, harmonium and lap steel; Enheduanna, Hannah Arendt and Emanuele Coccia supply conceptual touchstones.
The artistWasia Project are siblings Olivia Hardy and William Gao, a songwriting duo active since 2019.
The recordTheir twelve-track debut expands on earlier EPs with production from St. Francis Hotel. The release’s chamber-pop and electronic elements sit within a cinematic, song-led setting.
The artistTove Lo is a Swedish pop singer and songwriter whose work includes Dirt Femme and the SG Lewis collaboration Heat.
The recordHer sixth album was recorded between Los Angeles, Stockholm and her childhood fishing village. Fourteen songs take their title from the biological term for an animal in heat, addressing desire and emotional complexity.
The artistAyanna Witter-Johnson is a singer, cellist and songwriter who also plays keys, bass and percussion on her recordings.
The recordHer second album centres British-Caribbean identity, family inheritance, grief and healing. Written during lockdown and touring solitude, its ten songs use cello as both rhythmic foundation and string voice.
The artistThee Sinseers are an East Los Angeles ensemble led by Joey Quiñones, expanding their sweet-soul arrangements through an eleven-member collective.
The recordLove Stories considers romantic, familial and unresolved bonds. Arrangements were established collectively before recording, with Kelly Finnigan handling the final mix and Skip Heller contributing strings.
The artistThe Next Movement are a band whose release notes connect vintage soul, jazz freedom and amplified funk within a live ensemble approach.
The recordKarma Dojo contains eleven tracks and a September digital release; vinyl and CD follow in October. Its stated focus is the intersection of disciplined ensemble grooves and spontaneous playing.
The artistJo James works at the meeting point of blues, soul and Americana, the three traditions named on the artist’s release page.
The recordEight tracks explore faith, struggle, redemption and love. The artist frames the album around personal scars and lived experience rather than providing a detailed studio narrative.
The artistMatt Berninger is a singer and songwriter whose solo releases include Get Sunk, the album this EP follows.
The recordSean O’Brien produces five digital tracks. The artist describes a grittier follow-up to Get Sunk; the vinyl adds an acoustic Australian live performance as a sixth track.
The artistbeabadoobee is songwriter Beatrice Laus, whose guitar-centred work here draws on grunge, Midwest emo and 1990s radio rock.
The recordWritten while touring This Is How Tomorrow Moves, her fourth studio album includes collaborations with Hayley Williams, Brendan Yates, Chino Moreno and Evan Stephens Hall across fourteen tracks.
The artistSlow Pulp are Alex Leeds, Emily Massey, Teddy Mathews and Henry Stoehr, with Massey and Stoehr sharing songwriting duties.
The recordEleven songs are produced by Elliott Kozel, Stoehr and Massey. The band’s guitar, bass and drums lineup supports a record listed between folk rock, dream pop and shoegaze.
The artistOnelinedrawing is Jonah Matranga’s long-running project, alongside his work in Far, New End Original and Gratitude.
The recordJay Maas produces ten tracks developed from songs written across different periods. Multiple guitarists and vocalists turn intimate sketches into a fuller collaborative rock recording.
The artistAfter are Justine Dorsey and Graham Epstein, a Los Angeles duo formed in 2023. Their earlier work includes two EPs released during 2025.
The recordTheir thirteen-track debut reflects on impermanence, preserving memories and building a future. Take Me to Sunrise and Promise (When You Go) introduce a set informed by 2000s pop and rock.
The artistAndrew Collberg is a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who co-produces and arranges with Mikkel Mohr. Their credits span the principal instrumental performances here.
The recordFourteen tracks add Connor Gallaher’s pedal steel to selected songs, with guest bass, backing vocals and synthesizer. The release page spans indie pop, neo-psychedelia and instrumental electronic music.
Stephen M. Deusner finds the familiar country-folk setting polished but emotionally distant, while identifying guitar details that interrupt its predictability.Pitchfork · Read review ↗
Alexis Petridis praises unusually strong songwriting and an affecting awareness of aging.The Guardian · Read review ↗
The artistBeck is a songwriter and producer whose catalogue moves between experimental pop and acoustic songcraft. He wrote and produced this release.
The recordTwelve songs reunite musicians associated with Mutations, Sea Change and Morning Phase. His first collection of new material since Hyperspace returns to orchestral arrangements and the emotional aftermath of separation.
The artistJake Xerxes Fussell sings and plays acoustic and electric guitars, arranging traditional material with a small ensemble.
The recordBen Whiteley produces nine tracks, mostly traditional songs arranged by Fussell alongside his original No 1. Fiddle, harmonica, reed organ, bass and synthesizer extend the instrumental setting.
The artistVandaveer is an indie-folk project led by Mark Charles Heidinger, with a catalogue extending from Grace & Speed to The Wild Mercury. Drummer Robby Cosenza played on every release from 2007 onward.
The recordThree original songs return after nearly a decade’s hiatus. The surviving members reconvened to finish their final recordings with the late Cosenza; regret, mortality and passing time form the EP’s stated themes.
The artistKaryn Ann is an acoustic singer-songwriter whose release page places her work between Americana, folk pop and soul.
The recordThe six-track hope you’re happy recounts the realizations accompanying a crumbling relationship. Its artist-supplied note keeps the narrative concise rather than offering a production history.
The artistAZ Chike is a Los Angeles rapper whose Warner debut follows years in the city’s independent rap scene.
The recordFourteen tracks balance kinetic rapping and autobiographical material. The production credits include Tyler, the Creator, Hit-Boy and Sounwave, broadening the setting around his West Coast delivery.
The artistLucy Bedroque is a rapper and producer whose discography includes Unmusique, Fête de la Vanille and Tether.
The recordFifteen tracks run for 39 minutes, with production credits including Lucy, skai, Jay Trench, Ginseng and MISOGI. Its rage and digicore framework has drawn sharply differing critic and listener averages.
The artistYeat is rapper Noah Smith, who began releasing music around 2015 and broke through in 2021 with Gët Busy. His catalogue spans Alivë, Up 2 Më and ADL.
The recordThe seven-track COCOON EP bridges his ADL touring period and a new phase. Drake appears on Miss My Dawg, while Earnëd It and Tënnis frame the short track sequence.
The artistAythis is the recording project of Carline Van Roos, who composes, performs, produces, mixes and masters this release.
The recordFive dark ambient pieces explore presence, absence and the impression of something unseen. Slowly changing textures and distant sounds provide the stated framework; Lisa Meester’s painting supplies the cover.
The artistTomasz Bednarczyk writes, produces and masters his own ambient pieces, working here with small melodic fragments and sampled acoustic instruments.
The recordstories builds eight short compositions from ocarina and recorder samples surrounded by summer field sounds. Kodak Charmera photographs and videos form a parallel visual component.
The artistOff Land is an ambient project whose release catalogue includes Unknown Frequencies, the source material revisited in this recording.
The recordTen alternative drone mixes rework the original tracks from Unknown Frequencies. This is a new set of reinterpretations, presented as an expanded sound experience rather than a straight reissue.
The artistFohn is violinist and multi-instrumentalist Tom Connolly, who describes composition as constructing imagined environments for refuge.
The recordPorcelain emerged from grief, loss and nostalgia for a life that could not be lived. Nine pieces translate those experiences into an instrumental setting, mastered by James Trevascus.
The artistFortresses is Sam Ashton’s ambient project, founded in 2020 and built from guitar loops, synthesizers and recordings of personally significant places.
The recordTwo pieces composed during Ashton’s first Oregon year combine forest and river recordings with modular drones and wordless vocal fragments. The seventh Fortresses release follows the related Speak under the Tharn alias.
Andrew Ryce finds a demanding, uneven sequence whose brief experiments and long finale expose Cunningham’s range; the club tracks offer especially persuasive entry points.Pitchfork · Read review ↗
The artistActress is Darren Cunningham, the British producer and composer whose electronic work began with Hazyville and now spans more than ten albums.
The recordEight tracks move between compressed sketches and extended electronic forms. CASISDEAD appears on Live By You and Rainy Miller joins the long closing piece, Sheets.
The artistBoy Harsher are Jae Matthews and Augustus Muller, a long-running synth duo who continued their creative partnership after ending their romantic relationship.
The recordTwelve songs process separation and grief through the duo’s new-wave framework. Their Atlantic release turns the breakup album into a collaboration between its two protagonists.
The artistPépe is a Valencian electronic producer whose work connects house, IDM, bass and rhythmically fractured club music.
The recordNondualism marks his International Chrome debut. Four tracks are designed to connect functional dance structures with playful sound design, combining footwork rhythms, low frequencies and breaks.
The artistFVIRFVIR produces electronic music in the lo-fi house and breakbeat territory described by the Welofi release page.
The recordThe five-track Lucid Memories EP takes fading recollections as its concept. Supermarket Sunset contributes a collaboration to the set’s melodic house framework.
The artistRomare is Archie Fairhurst, a producer whose sample-based work draws connections across recorded musical history.
The recordHis fifth album channels that sampling practice into questions of technological change, planetary limits, justice and power. Twelve tracks span downtempo, broken beat and house-oriented grooves.
The artistFranklin Kiermyer is a drummer and bandleader whose Scatter The Atoms That Remain project is dedicated to transformative spiritual music.
The recordHis eleventh album brings together Isaiah Collier, Keyon Harrold, Jasbir Jassi, Aaron Parks, Linda Sikhakhane and Carlos Niño among its guests. Ten tracks address collective crisis while returning to tenderness and meditation.
The artistPatrick Shiroishi is a saxophonist, composer and poet; Jason Nazary is a drummer and producer associated with Little Women and anteloper.
The recordTheir We Jazz duo debut is dedicated to jaimie branch. Seven spontaneous pieces extend saxophone and drums with electronics, effects and voice, recorded during the musicians’ processing of a close friend’s death.
The artistMitch Marcus leads this quintet on tenor saxophone, joined by Evan Francis on alto saxophone and flute, Jeff Miles on guitar, Peter Brendler on bass and Jerad Lippi on drums.
The recordNine tracks were recorded at Figure 8 in December 2024. Michael Coleman recorded and mixed the ensemble; the release tags connect hard bop, post-bop, funk and jazz rock.
The artistJack Steffen and His Orchestra are presented by Four Flies Vaults in a ballroom-oriented orchestral setting combining European dance music and jazz.
The recordTwelve tracks move among waltzes, shuffles, blues and Latin-inflected dance pieces. The primary page dates this issue September 18 but gives no original recording date, so its archival status remains unconfirmed.
The artistEmma Ruth Rundle is a songwriter, guitarist and keyboard player who also performs with Marriages. Her work connects experimental rock and heavier guitar music.
The recordEight songs are co-produced with Sonny DiPerri. The ensemble includes Jess Gowrie and Troy Zeigler, with contributions from Patrick Shiroishi, George Clarke, Marissa Nadler and other guests.
The artistEarly Moods are a Los Angeles quintet combining doom’s heavy foundations with NWOBHM guitar craft and thrash influences.
The recordSeven tracks are produced and mixed by Toshi Kasai. The band’s notes emphasize capturing live dynamics; additional keys, banjo and theremin appear alongside the two-guitar lineup.
The artistDeaf Giant are a Lübeck metal band working across sludge, stoner and doom styles. This is their second album.
The recordTen tracks extend that heavy framework toward groove and occasional djent elements, according to the band’s notes. Ingo Bednarek mixed the record, with mastering by Role at Tonmeisterei.
Progressive Death MetalTechnical Death MetalBlackened Death Metal
The artistHanging Garden is guitarist Dylan Cruz’s death-metal project, distinct from other bands with the same name. He is also associated with Noxis, Scumbag and Dissonance.
The recordCruz writes, performs, mixes and masters all seven tracks on Dream Death. The release notes describe a progressive and technical approach threaded with melodic passages and blackened elements.
The artistManifest’s lineup comprises vocalist Stian Leknes, guitarist Ole Marius Larmerud, drummer Alessandro Elide and bassist Johnny Wangberg.
The recordNothing Left To Kill returns to the group’s thrash-and-death-metal combination across seven tracks. Rune Stavnesli produces, and Travis Smith provides the cover artwork.
The artistTerry Callier was a singer-songwriter and guitarist whose music connected soul, folk and jazz, supported here by his hand-picked Family Band.
The recordThirteen tracks preserve Leeds concerts from 1998 and 2001, with Jim Mullen, Chris Kibble and Bosco D’Oliveira. The surviving source was restored with AI-assisted tools; his daughter Sunny endorses the release.
The artistPianist Red Garland leads a trio with bassist Sam Jones and drummer Art Taylor, joined by tenor saxophonist Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis.
The recordThis newly remastered Moodsville edition revisits an album first released in 1960 and recorded at Rudy Van Gelder’s New Jersey studio. The eight-track issue belongs to Craft’s revived Moodsville series.
The artistThe Three Degrees began as a Philadelphia vocal trio assembled by writer-producer Richard Barrett, before their later international success.
The recordHeartbroken Memories collects their earliest Swan Records sides on vinyl for the first time. Twelve tracks document the group’s formative period, including recordings later adopted by Northern Soul audiences.
The artistKim Petras is a pop vocalist and songwriter whose discography includes Feed the Beast, Turn Off the Light and Slut Pop.
The recordThe Rare N’ Deluxe edition expands Detour into an eighteen-track sequence, adding material including Pop Sound, Like a Cherry, Autobahn and What a Night. The verified listener snapshot concerns this expanded listing.
Beyond the main discovery stream, with a concrete reason to investigate. Intriguing leads, without a listening verdict.
BJ Cole & Secondson
There Is Wonder Here
AmbientElectroacousticMinimalism
IMPRINTGeology Records / Centripetal Force
The artistBJ Cole is a pedal-steel guitarist whose collaborators include Brian Eno, Björk and John Cale. Secondson performs on the Cristal Baschet.
The recordTen pieces pair pedal steel with the acoustic resonance of tuned glass rods rubbed by wet fingers. A long-distance exchange developed into studio improvisation, recorded by Thomas V. Westgard and mastered by Chuck Johnson.
The artist100 POEMS creates a sample-informed meeting of Americana, Balearic music and dub, with credits tracing sources from Johnny Cash to Bessie Jones.
The recordThe final part of an Americana trilogy contains seven pieces plus a continuous mix. Country, blues and archival speech sources are folded into its road-trip concept; proceeds support MIND and Jigsaw.
The artistStrawberry Hands is poet and songwriter Jacob Brunner, a collaborator of Weyes Blood, Karl Blau, Frank Hurricane and Little Wings.
The recordHis third album was built over nine months through doubled parts, tape transfers and found-language lyrics. Its nine songs include a piece fashioned from his mother’s emails, transformed into speech-synth poetry.
The artistMarc Malitz is an instrumental rock musician working with virtuoso guitar and bass approaches, as reflected in his artist tags and notes.
The recordFive tracks revisit his teenage ambition to make joyful guitar-led rock. The artist explicitly frames the project as a response to the clinical tendencies he hears in the instrumental-guitar genre.
