SPECIAL installment of Warm Selections where I’ve featured all new music! No iPod 0-play mp3 shuffle journeys on my plate for this week, which is honestly pretty good since I’ve enjoyed all this new music that’s come out in the last few weeks.

Below you’ll find new tracks from artists like Lip Critic, Gemma, Tara Clerkin Trio, and so many new-to-me artists and bands that took me by surprise. I was telling my coworkers that this weekly posting series has got me to check things out I likely wouldn’t have bothered with, purely out of me not giving it the time of day. It’s actually very good. Everything below is very good. Please lock in. Also a Tidal playlist is below also. And subscribe! It’s like Substack but not sponsored by Polymarket.

I’ve been forgetting to mention that you can listen to all these songs on my Best of 2026 Tidal playlist, along with the past Warm Selections picks and more! Listen HERE.

Fugue State – “Dark” [Switch Hit]
Composer Dan Langa, aka Fugue State, is releasing his new album After Nothing on May 22nd via Switch Hit Records. The singles he’s released thus far (I’m unfamiliar with his prior work), are knotty and ambiguous, shapeshifting into something else when you take your eyes off it. On “Dark,” thickets of winds warp in and out of digital wormholes, and digital sequences blip in and out amongst flitting vocal lines, some of which contributed from blog favorite Maia Friedman. It’ll be interesting to hear the rest of the record – how these sounds and structures continue to morph under Langa’s watch. 

Gemma – “Glad 2 Have U” [Self-Released]
Felicia Douglass has had one of my favorite voices in music since the moment I first heard it on Ava Luna’s 2014 album Electric Balloon, particularly the track “PRPL.” Since then I’ve kept up with Ava Luna, her time in Dirty Projectors, and also her duo project Gemma with Erik Gundel, who have a new album, Be About It, out May 1st. “Glad 2 Have U” is a busy song despite its slower tempo, with a blossoming, complicated vocal line that cascades around a great groove and accented by lots of little sonic touches that zip and zap through the mix. Really loving this song.

Hannah Lew – “Another Twilight” [Night School]
California musician Hannah Lew has been an orbiting piece of my musical consciousness for over a decade now, through her work in bands like Grass Widow and Cold Beat, and is now putting out a self-titled record under her own name on April 10th via Night School, the label that brings you records from Molly Nilsson, Patience, and more. Lew’s sound fits well with those contemporaries, with rubbery synth patterns giving the overall sound a plasticky sheen. A pop-art synthesis of synth pop, a dreamy vision of nostalgia’s past and our current present.

Holy Sun Opera House – “Voice of Gob” [Hologram Opera]
Los Angeles “opera cult” Holy Sun Opera House is readying their debut self-titled album, which arrives May 15th, and have released their first song “Voice of Gob” to the world this week. Vocally there are elements of a Circuit des Yeux or Dead Can Dance: dark, space goth moods and melodies stretch across a thick, velvety instrumental of synths and the lush choir of voices that make up the Opera House. It’s a mysterious, somewhat despondent track that’s still flecked with crystals of hope, a state I’m sure we’re all used to feeling in 2026. 

kiss facility – “Kotshena” [ambient tweets]
Big shout out to my coworkers Allison and Olivia for repeatedly recommending me this album despite me being an asshole and not listened until last night. kiss facility is the duo of producer Sega Bodega and singer Mayah Alkhateri, who make innovative shoegaze with heavy electronic and Arabic edges, making for a record unlike much else I’ve ever heard. I haven’t spent too much time with this full album yet, but I anticipate I will be in the coming weeks. 

Lip Critic – “Jackpot” [Partisan]
NYC quartet took a can opener to my brain in 2024 with their debut Hex Dealer, which seemed to match and establish a ceiling of the paranoia and despair that haunted that year. Well, here we are in 2026 at previously unexplored levels of depravity. Lip Critic are here to meet that moment with a new album Theft World, out May 1st. “Jackpot” is another song that’ll curdle your innards with volume and message, inspiring rebellion against our wealthy overlords milking us for every cent and braincell we’ve got left. I still crave the feeling. 

Paperclip Minimiser – “II A2” [peak oil]
Techno for dancing… techno for mind-melting… we’re finding our way. Paperclip Minimiser is the project of John Howes, and his new album II has been long in the making, and just take a look at the fabric. Head-rattling drums, squishy and dubby threads launching in and out of portals appearing every which way. This is music for testing out speakers on so you can truly plunge the depths of these compositions. I haven’t listened to much of the record yet, but standout track “II A2” has been a blast to repeat. I also just always need to shout out the label peak oil for always putting out good shit. Don’t miss this one.

Rachel Lime – “Nacreé” [Self-Released]
A very cool sensation simmers up to the surface on “Nacreé,” the new single from Brooklyn-based artist Rachel Lime: synths that sound programmed to a similar timbre to a steel drum, woodblock, woozy early-2010s electronics all melding together, but not for something relaxing or “chill.” There’s serious urgency bleeding out of this one, further enhanced by Lime’s dramatic, hushed vocals; warning the listener that about something fully doomed on the horizon. The whole thing is right in my zone, very glad this slid through in my inbox. For those who are really tapped into Warm Visions’ history, think an artist like Glasser or JFDR. Lime’s new album STORIES is out April 10th.

Tara Clerkin Trio – “Somewhere Good” [World of Echo]
It’s hard to pin down exactly why I like Tara Clerkin Trio so much, but man this music just hits. It’s not quite plain, but it’s not flashy. Simple elements that are stacked or aligned in peculiar ways; ways I hadn’t really seen before. Either way, this new song “Somewhere Good,” the first taste and title track of TCT’s debut LP coming June 5th. It scratches an itch I needed but wasn’t aware. That’s a good fortune.

Trippers & Askers – “No Coming, No Going (feat. Chessa Rich)” [Sleepy Cat]
In this time of pure chaos and strife, I found I’ve been seeking out more leveling presences in my music consumption. Most of my favorite records from this year are more ambient-leaning, or have some kind of purposeful, introspective quality to them. This steady comfort and mantra-like stability is very much found on the new single from Trippers & Askers, aka singer/songwriter Jay Hammond. Hammond and his guest Chessa Rich’s voices meld really well together, sitting harmoniously in a humble, folky backdrop amongst tall trees and a distant stream gurgling just out of view. Trippers & Askers new album Tried To Do’s is out May 8th via Sleepy Cat Records.

Witch Post – “Witching Hour” [Partisan]
Duo Alaska Reid and Dylan Fraser make up Witch Post, a quickly ascending superduo of sorts that have combined to utilize their songwriting powers for good. They put out an EP in 2025, and now have another out now entitled Butterfly. There’s no shortage of killer tracks on it, but seeing them perform live in NYC last week really sold me. Total 90s heartthrob energy from both of them, and their musical talents jump off the page too, of course. I could have picked any track from this EP; they’re all seriously that good. “Witching Hour” was memorable live, with Fraser’s similarities to someone like Jeff Buckley was really coming through.

ZENA – “IT’S YOU (ANTE NEH) (feat. Meron T)” [Brownswood]
When in doubt, always trust Gilles Peterson. London duo ZENA just dropped a new EP for Brownswood that takes beloved Ethiopian jazz modes and grooves into more of an accessible R&B / bedroom pop zone. The crown jewel of this collection is “IT’S YOU (ANTE NEH)” featuring guest vocals from Meron T. I love the simple drum machine beat, the chintzy organ, the fat bass, and of course the vocals. It’s a song that’ll sound perfect at sunset, or when it’s so hot outside the air feels like it’s vibrating.