Electronic-Dance

Sylvan Esso’s No Rules Sandy is a hazy summer daydream of an album. During the album sessions, the band decamped to Los Angeles, where they focused on experimenting and improvising. Perhaps it’s not surprising then that there’s a serpentine quality to the songs; the listener never knows where the next turn will take them, but oh boy is it an enjoyable ride. The songs flow from almost ethereal Stereolab-esque electropop to glitchy, distorted, yet ultimately danceable party tracks. No Rules Sandy is one of Sylvan Esso’s most exciting records with enough toe-tappers to and unexpected twists to make any fan happy.

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Ibeyi’s Spell 31 is vibrant, urgent, and (yes) spellbinding. The French Afro-Cuban twin singers Lisa-Kainde and Naomi Diaz possess lovely, dexterous voices that seamlessly shift from otherworldly highs to earthbound lows. The music itself pulls from such a vast array of influences that it feels like the duo has crafted a genre all their own: futuristic, globally-influenced, percussion-driven, experimental soul. This is a gorgeous, powerful release that you need to hear for yourself so you can understand why artists like Beyonce, Angelique Kidjo, and Erykah Badu count themselves as fans.

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Fever Ray is back with their first album in five years, Radical Romantics. The album title is an accurate synopsis of this left-field electro-pop production; as you’d expect, the songs are glittering and strange, filled with twists and turns both lyrical and melodic, all rooted in a deep love for both the darkness and the (heavily filtered) light. Fans of The Knife will rejoice to hear that Karin Dreijer has recruited their brother and The Knife bandmate Olof Dreijer for the first several songs, creating a vibe that eventually shifts into more buoyant, technicolor sonic territory as the album goes on. Fellow travelers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross contribute, as do Nídia, Johannes Berglund, Peder Mannerfelt, and Vessel.

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