A bit late with Warm Selections this week (by a few hours) but whew, there are some great tracks, both new and old, to dig into on this lovely Wednesday morning. Two Irish musicians, some longtime favorites, some new faces in new formations… I think you’ll enjoy your listening, if you choose to spend it with my selections.

I also keep forgetting to link my playlist with all the Warm Selections tracks in it, so venture HERE to listen to the ones below, along with weeks previous!

Croz Boyce – “Hanging Out With A Blueberry Pop” [Domino]
Avey Tare and Geologist of Animal Collective have unveiled a new instrumental side project, Croz Boyce, and their self-titled debut album coming May 8th via Domino. Pre-Sung Tongs AnCo is a little hazy for me, but this feels like approaching territory closer to Campfire Songs, and maybe a bit of Tongs, but nothing much else like it. On its face it could be placid, acoustic guitar explorations, but they extend deeper than that, with dreamy glitters casting light into murky depths that the ambiguous synthesizers make. We’re in a time where chillout music can only do so much, why not let a record narrate the conflicting clouds of emotions that circle around us daily, illustrating the fluid consciousness swirling inside ourselves at any given moment.

Kelela – “Idea 1” [Warp]
Warm Visions has spent 13 years writing about Kelela. How crazy is that? I’m not stopping either, as new song “Idea 1” is another excellent track in her bulletproof catalog, leaning more on guitar than any track of hers before. No surprise that her voice sounds incredible over swirling, smoothed down alt-gaze guitars and booming bass. It made me think: when have we heard this combination work this well? Have any other R&B girlies embraced heaviness like this recently? My first thought, and this isn’t on the same plane of heaviness, but The Weeknd’s “Wicked Games” on House of Balloons. Another tidbit is that Kelela used to date Animals As Leader’s virtuoso guitarist Tosin Abasi, and there’s a video of them performing in a studio together, with multiple comments from metalheads being like “yo she’s dope!” And he may have contributed guitar to Cut 4 Me tracks as well? Not fully trusting the Google AI fact I just got. Either way, this track is dope, ready for a full album of all this. Thanks!

The Laughing Chimes – “Behind Your Blue Fields” [Slumberland]
If you’re looking for some good jangle, Athens, OH’s The Laughing Chimes have you covered. They’ve got a new record Behind Your Blue Fields, coming May 22nd via Slumberland, so dig into this track and the other early single if you’re looking for more fuzzy, chiming (ha) guitars and warm organ. Also even though I’m from Michigan and Ohio is my enemy, I gotta shout out midwest bands when I can.

Paycheque – “Generic Actress” [Mansions & Millions]
Warm Visions is a TOPS universe defense force. Whether it’s the main nexus or its side projects; Jane Penny, Marci, Born at Midnite, DVC Refreshments, and deep cuts like Vesuvio Solo, I will be there! With that, I welcome Paycheque, the project of Allison Goldfarb and Jackson MacIntosh (TOPS, Drugdealer, Sheer Agony) to the team. In this case, Paycheque has already been in my cadre with their first two singles appearing in playlists of mine (Camcorder Diary + Ennui Potpourri). They have a self-titled debut album coming at last, out June 12 via Mansions and Millions, and “Generic Actress” is the first jammer, glittering with sophisti-pop glamour and stuffed with quivering, studio nerd synths and snappy drum machine. I really don’t think the TOPS affiliation is doing the lift here, I sincerely think this is some of the best 80s pop throwback out there. Can’t wait to hear what else the record holds.

Star Moles – “Skip the Party” [Historic New Jersey]
Shout out to Aquarium Drunkard for this one. Star Moles is the project of Philly musician Emily Moales and she recently released her new album Highway to Hell, an understated, dreamy folk/pop/rock record with a heavy piano presence – you gotta love hearing some real ass piano in the mix nowadays! I’ve only done cursory listen in my office and I’m due for one in headphones, but penultimate track “Skip the Party” was one that immediately stuck out to me. I love the staccato, chiming piano that opens up to a more open, sweeping song about a very relatable practice: flaking! We love to flake, we love to walk around the city and be alone, that’s a busy night of plans to me. Take a listen to Highway to Hell when you can, I think you’ll find some gold in there.

Stephen Star – “Pit” [MirrorWorld]
Shout out to New Commute for this one, I cannot deny I didn’t find this on my own. I was sampling the first track on this Stephen Star record (Newt, out now) and thought “ok this is pretty good,” but when the second song “Pit” came on I said “ok, now this is something good.” NC references Elliott Smith comparisons, which are valid, but also could pull some mid-00s folky, emo zones purely on the instrumental. I absolutely love how this song sounds, and I haven’t even dug into the rest of the album yet. Deliciously fuzzy!

Slayyyter – “BEAT UP CHANEL$” [Columbia]
I’ve had Slayyyter’s new album on repeat this week after an unsatisfactory office listen the other day. Very glad I came back to it because hoo-wee, this is delicious, salacious, addictive pop music of the highest order. It matches the moment of teetering on the edge of sanity, balancing mania and hedonism with existential doom and dread in the lyrics, while still being a headbanging, delirious listen.

Tasha – “Summer” [Bayonet]
Full-bodied and free-floating, Tasha’s new song “Summer” was written two summers ago in between her performances in the Sufjan Stevens musical Illinoise, and captures the tranquility of, you guessed it, just sitting in a park in NYC in the summer. I’m sure most other city residents will understand its magic, but I will be an annoying New Yorker and say “buddy, parks here just hits different.” “Summer” breezes through with echoing wood block, vibraphone, easy-going guitar, and maybe some plucky marimba too? There’s a lot to love instrumentally here, and Tasha sounds great as well, completely at ease, and one with the world. 

THEATRE – “The Fall” [Echo / BMG]
It’s a good sign when I first tap into something and I say “oh this reminds me of [X] band,” then I go to the comments and see “thank you [X] band for turning me onto this!” In this case the band is Fontaines D.C., which makes sense: THEATRE is a fellow Irish band and the production and timbre of the guitars really put me back in the Romance space from their last album. This is the band’s debut single, showing off the lead singer’s ferocious vocals (at times reminding me of Brutus, or maybe The Joy Formidable), and they’ve already gotten swiped up by BMG. If you’re a purveyor of alt rock or Irish music in general, sit down with THEATRE. Also shout out Ireland, Stephen Star from earlier in the list is Irish too. Let’s go. Up the craic.

Tim Buckley – “Song to the Siren” [Straight]
Finishing off this week’s post with two older songs. I also was probably the last person to realize that “Song to the Siren” was NOT in fact an original by This Mortal Coil, but by Tim Buckley. I haven’t listened to much of Tim, but I know he was the deadbeat dad to the beloved Jeff Buckley. All that to say I didn’t have much knowledge when this song came up on shuffle but hoo-wee: talk about a haunting, beautiful, almost psycho vision of a song. This Mortal Coil’s version is otherworldly and ethereal, but it’s really just trying to capture the essence that the original has; a bizarre and undeniably beautiful song.

Tomberlin – “idkwntht” [Saddle Creek]
I got two songs from Tomberlin’s 2022 album I Don’t Know Who Needs To Hear This in my weekend shuffles, and it reminded me how excellent this album is. There are a lot of imitators out there right now, but no one did it like Tomberlin. I know a few people who would say this record is in their Top 10 for the decade thus far. If you like tender singer/songwriter records but haven’t checked this out yet, please do yourself a favor.