Ostensibly a popstar, Spanish singer Rosalía is so much more. Her new album, Lux , is intellectual, experimental, and one-of-a-kind. Recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra, arranged by Pulitzer- and Grammy-winning contemporary classical artist and composer Caroline Shaw, and with a cast of collaborators including Bjork, Yves Tumor, fado singer Carminho, flamenco singer Estrella Morente, Spanish singer/composer Sílvia Pérez Cruz, and American regional Mexican music trio Yahritza y su Esencia, you know this album's going to be special. Rosalía sings of faith and heartbreak, with lyrics in her native Spanish and Catalan, plus Arabic, English, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Mandarin, Portuguese, Sicilian, and Ukrainian. Unexpected, soaring, and stirring, this is the cinematic modern-classical-meets-experimental-pop-with-religious-undertones album of your dreams.
Take a trip back to 1998, to the roots of the psybient movement on the classic Are You Shpongled? , the debut release from the UK electro pioneers Shpongle. Trance innovators Simon Posford and Raja Ram take trance to faraway lands, forging a new branch of the electronic family tree. From dancy beats to hypnotic flute interludes and mindbending atmospheric oddities, Are You Shpongled? will bring you on an otherworldly aural odyssey.
Ric Roman Waugh
On a remote coastal island, a reclusive man rescues a young girl from a deadly storm, drawing them both into danger. Forced out of isolation, he must confront his turbulent past while protecting her, sending them on a tense journey of survival and redemption.
Loukeman's SD-3 is one of the liveliest, most joyous electronic releases of the year. It's a melange of styles – folktronica, ambient, electronic pop, hip-hop, synthpop, and R&B – all tossed in a shaker and poured out into an effervescent, potent cocktail. It's dreamy and lovely, danceable and unexpected. Imaginative and entrancing, this is an album that'll put a smile on your face and make you long for the dance floor.