Discover Blogly: Listen to new projects from Lila Ehjä, DJ Kolt, and more

Lila Ehjä is a Parisian “one-girl-band” who makes experimental, gothic coldwave appropriate for soundtracking doomsday or a dark solo rave in your bedroom. Her latest full-length effort Clivota is an exploration of atmospheric, winding, grunge-influenced instrumentation by way of ’80s new wave heroes Siouxsie and the Banshees and Disintegration-era The Cure, traditional verses and structure sacrificed for forlorn vocals and cryptic lyrics. Clivota exists as a mood and feeling instead of something logical, the chugging beats and relentless layers of distortion always hypnotic but never punishing, always meandering without being discordant. There’s a deadpan, Kim Gordon-esque essence to Ehjä’s vocals, a sonic blend of everything great about no-wave, new wave, post-punk, gothic rock, and everything in between. — Cady Siregar

Ambient music is not necessarily a genre where the idea of a supergroup necessarily works. It's unlikely anyone has ever wondered how Tim Hecker's clanging percussion would sound if he got in a room with Stars of the Lid, for example. Cowboy Sadness are not strictly a supergroup, though they are made up of three artists who are notable for their work prior to coming together. David Moore (Bing & Ruth), Peter Silberman (The Antlers), and Nicholas Principe (Port St. Willow) find a common ground between the minimal compositions and heart-rending indie rock they have made previously, creating an hour-long album from over 20 hours of recordings they have made together in the years between 2017-2021. The result is a spacious and uncluttered collection of songs that amble elegantly between light drone soundscapes and post-rock grandeur. Recorded in upstate New York but described by the trio as "desert music," Selected Jambient Works Vol.1 conjures images of wide open expanses and neverending skies. Tracks like "Range" and "Willow," the latter singing with an almost celestial melody, speak more to the mind-bending scale of nature than the kind of tranquility found by plugging in headphones and shutting off the rest of the world. It's a big old world out there, let Cowboy Sadness show you around. — David Renshaw

If this truly is the final release from DJ Kolt as the EP’s statement suggests, he’s going out with same no-holds-barred and cheeky approach to the dancefloor. Kolt first emerged as a member of Blacksea Não Maya — with fellow Lisbon natives Perigoso and Noronha, who helped weave the electronic music coming out of Lisbon’s African diaspora into a genre known as “batida,” music that would find a home and worldwide audience through the Principe label. BNM’s debut album Máquina De Vénus had a clear affection for obsidian-black techno textures flowing beneath the playful electronic percussion like haunted lava, and that carries on into the four songs on Verdadeiro. Opening track “Fiqexpert” sets the impulsive tone, opening with occult-worthy organ and rumbling sub-bass before swapping it out for alien air-raid siren synths. “VUGUVUGUU” recalls the hedonistic experiments of Arca, while “BATESTE” is the EP’s most anxious and restless track. Closing things out is “Shaman,” where the harsh and steely colors of the previous three songs are brightened ever so slightly for a effervescent celebration of rave. — Jordan Darville