newclassic monthly #1: may 2024
dear nc.la readers,
hello! trying out a new monthly write-up of some of our favorite listens for the previous month; some are new releases, some not.
Leslie Ting – What Brings You In (2024, People Places Records)
a dutiful introspection of self through a vicious swirl of suspension & outpour, pressed in a rare format of both stereo & binaural versions; eventually, it paralyzes into a stasis of vulnerability & honesty, which we could all use a little more of in this moment…this album isn’t quite a substitute for therapy, but it’s close.
Violet Tang
Alessandro Rovegno – Everything Loose is Traveling (2024, self released)
Alessandro Rovegno’s, Everything Loose is Traveling re-appropriates nostalgia as a tender ephemerality: forgoing romanticized mush for glitchy field recordings, stuttering synths, and fragmented melodies. The past is neither idealized nor lost, but a phantom stream flowing alongside the present. Rovegno invites us to take a dip under a mid-September’s sun.
Jack Herscowitz
Shuttle358 – Field (2018, 12k)
Recently, I’ve been relistening to an old favorite of mine that I hadn’t spent time with in a long while. I first discovered “Field” by Shuttle358 (aka Dan Abrams) while working a summer job at the UT Austin library back in 2018, just by chance. It’s one of my all time favorites. Each track sounds quite simple at first blush, but every time I sit down and really listen closely, there’s always something new to discover. He creates these simple yet intricate worlds of sound that you can dive into and get completely lost in if you wish. My favorite track from the album is “edule”. It’s a bit of an oddball, because Shuttle358 takes a synth solo about halfway through. An interesting oddity that doesn’t really occur much in the rest of his body of work.
Eric Lennartson
Erykah Badu – But You Caint Use My Phone (2015, Motown and Control Freaq)
I’ve been hooked on “but you caint use my phone” (mixtape) by erykah badu ever since I saw it in a Kyle Abraham piece last month at the Music Center. It’s such a fascinating, fun, and groovy concept album.
Anuj Bhutani
I recently met the producer who did the Atmos upmixes for a bunch of Frank Sinatra recordings, and they are unbelievable sounding. I was into Sinatra as a teenager, and it’s been rad to revisit these songs. Start with Come Fly With Me, and get yourself a pair of headphones that can handle binaural properly before you do.
Nick Norton