1) Stereolab, “Instant Holograms on Metal Film” / The European ensemble’s first record in 15 years is a wonderfully bendy, often consoling set that fits within and only furthers the greater Stereolab story.
2) I’m With Her, “Wild and Clear and Blue” / One of our truly inspired “supergroups,” the twining of Sara Watkins, Sarah Jarosz and Aoife O'Donovan forever yields beautiful (sometimes torturously so) harmonies adorning and aligning resonant folk melodies.
3) Loscil, “Lake Fire” / Vancouver musician Scott Morgan perfectly captures the wildness and weather of his home on this immersive atmospheric project.
4) Essex Hemphill, “Love is a Dangerous Word: Selected Poems” / This selected collection of the late poet is sharp, deep, ebullient and tragic. Hemphill lives with and writes through the false choices society forces upon Black and queer people, proving that the humane option is to reject these binaries altogether.
5) Will Musgrove, “The (Adjective) Telemarketer Stuck in a Mad Lib” for Maudlin House / I truly appreciate Will Musgrove’s writing and online presence; here, Musgrove both allows readers to fill in the blanks and consider the spaces filled and unfilled between two people. To quote just one line of this well-tuned flash would be to do the writing a disservice, so please go read it all at least once.