Lots of great albums in April 2021! Some really great field recording + ambient records, excellent futuristic R&B, warping post punk, promising dream pop, and just generally beautiful music. Hope you enjoy! And in case you’re new, each month I recommend 10 albums from the month and describe them in semantic, highly visual ways. A small anecdote. Hopefully you’ll listen or sample all the records listed here, but hopefully the little description whets your appetite.

Arooj Aftab – Vulture Prince [New Amsterdam]
Spending a night stargazing in a scenic pasture, a blinking satellite passing overhead syncs with your relaxed heartbeat.

Ben Seretan – Cicada Waves [NNA Tapes]
Small leaves of a houseplant on a windowsill sway gently after a big sigh.

CFCF – Memoryland [BGM Solutions]
The world if the internet had been used for good instead of evil.

Claire Rousay – a softer focus [American Dreams Records]
Attempting to remember what you did on the day aliens landed in your small hometown before they wiped everyone’s memories and returned to space.

Dawn Richard – Second Line [Merge]
Being outfitted with cybernetic parts to become an augmented humanoid and then starting a romantic relationship with the android from Björk’s “All Is Full of Love” video.

Dry Cleaning – New Long Leg [4AD]
A J.D. Salinger novel protagonist escapes the story they’re bound to, hijacks a car and buys a house in the American southwest to live a life in peace.

Leon Vynehall – Rare, Forever [Ninja Tune]
A post-apocalyptic timeline where all life on Earth has reverted back into its most ancient, microbial form amongst a harsh, ultra-futuristic crumbling metropolis.

Rochelle Jordan – Play With The Changes [Young Art]
Trying to make your way home in a futuristic, neon-lit cityscape through underground pipeline raves, Akira biker gang fights and gravity-bending fashion shows.

Sasha & The Valentines – So You Think You Found Love? [Oof Records]
Riding a horse at full clip on the edge of a beachside cliff, tall waves crashing below you as you hold up a majestic sword in one hand and a roman candle shooting off multi-colored heart-shaped fireworks into the air in the other.

SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE – ENTERTAINMENT, DEATH [Saddle Creek]
Staying up for two full days watching unmarked VHS tapes from a dumpster, then hiking to the top of a wooded mountain and burying yourself in litter you collected on the way.

GR8 TRACKS OF APRIL 2021::

Listen to all these tracks + more on my Best of 2021 Spotify Playlist.

• Arooj Aftab – “Baghon Main”
• Arooj Aftab – “Mohabbat”
• Ben Seretan – “Fog Rolls Out Rabun Gap”
• Ben Seretan – “11pm Sudden Thunderstorm”
• Bobbie Lovesong – “Sun Star And Moon”
• CFCF – “Night/Day/Work/Home”
• CFCF – “Self Service 1999”
• Claire Rousay – “discrete (the market)”
• Dawn Richard – “Bussifame”
• Dawn Richard – “Jacuzzi”
• Dawn Richard – “Pressure”
• Dry Cleaning – “Her Hippo”
• Dry Cleaning – “New Long Leg”
• Dry Cleaning – Scratchcard Lanyard”
• Flying Lotus – “Black Gold (feat. Thundercat)”
• Gilligan Moss – “Special Thing”
• Izzy Johnson – “Seeing”
• Leon Vynehall – “An Exhale”
• Leon Vynehall – “Dumbo”
• Rochelle Jordan – “Got Em”
• Rochelle Jordan – “Next 2 You”
• Rochelle Jordan – “Something”
• Sasha & The Valentines – “Flower”
• Sasha & The Valentines – “I See The Light”
• Sasha & The Valentines – “Tears For Mars”
• Satomimagae – “Ondo”
• Satomimagae – “Uchu”
• SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE – “RAPID & COMPLETE RECOVERY”
• SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE – “THE SERVER IS IMMERSED”
• SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE – “WRONG CIRCLE”