Florist EMILY ALONE (2019)

elemental and enveloping.  reminds me of grouper in her deliberate pace and atmosphere, sam amidon in his graceful update of folk tradition, and the microphones in their of-a-place-ness, with handmade organic sound that seems to have been pulled directly from the surrounding environment, wind rain and ocean having their say, the stones have been unearthed.

she also makes some really nice minimal/ambient albums under her own name that I had been digging earlier in the year without making the connection

Lana Del Rey NORMAN FUCKING ROCKWELL (2019)

not out yet but the four lead singles suggest it will be the album of the decade & I'm trying to will it to come out before summer ends. doin' time is unconfirmed for the album smh such bounty

Editor's note: it fucking worked!  out August 30th.  I swear to only use my powers for good.

Strange Ranger REMEMBERING THE ROCKETS (2019)

a partially Portland band with a truly lovely old-school indie sound

i hope you're having a good summer.  this is my favorite summer song:

Rhye SPIRIT (2019)

I'm so glad they resurrected this project.  Perfect balmy summer music, reminds me of screen door weather, ice cream sprinkles and sprinklers, when every window in the house is open and the sun has set but there are still buckets of light, like the day doesn't want to end

Eluvium PIANOWORKS (2019)

nursery music for your future Sorbonne dropout

Kelly Moran ORIGIN (2019)

it can take a minute to get lured into Moran's prepped piano, imagine waking up in a strange castle and hearing a distorted but familiar melody exploring and changing itself in the distance, and you explore the grounds and can't find the source anywhere so you suppose it must be the castle itself, some captured energy repeating, never dissipating, defying even Lord Kelvin and his damned thermodynamics

Jefre Cantu-Ledesma TRACING BACK THE RADIANCE (2019)

He has an MDiv in Buddhism and it fucking sounds like it! Not ambient nor minimalism, more like essentialism, have some tones that you want to play with, use a variety of instruments to frame them when helpful, and disappear when not.  How do you take your tea? Yes!

Carly Rae Jepsen DEDICATED (2019)

We finally just got to see everybody's Canadian girlfriend a couple weekends ago, and it was as delightful and uplifting as you could imagine.  The room was full of librarians!  And kids, and buff gay men in jean shorts, and the assorted other phenotypes of incurable sweetheart.

I was slightly let down the first few listens, as my expectations were unreasonably high after E*MO*TION, but I think I was mostly underwhelmed by the lead singles choices.  The top five are excellent and it all hangs together really well. 

5. Happy Not Knowing
4. Right Words Wrong Time
3. Too Much
2. Want You In My Room
1. I'll Be Your Girl