Fear of Men

Fear of Men is a great London/Brighton band trading on a combination of freak-folk, 60's bubble-gum pop and lots of laid-back, yet emotional, vibes. I detect a hint of 90's nostalgia too. Actually, their "Ritual Confession" below reminds me a little of the Cranberries. In any case, it's all really well executed and great to vibe out to.

Sand Circles

Sweden's Sand Circles is a really brilliant ambient/electronic project that's just come out with a new album called "Motor City". If you like loopy, new-agey stuff like Blondes and perhaps Oneohtrix Point Never, but wish it was all a little more hazy, blurry and mysterious, then Sand Circles is it. Just catchy and dancey enough, yet contemplative and damaged. Good shit.

And here's an oldie but a goodie....

Molly Nilsson

Molly Nilsson is a Swedish composer based in Berlin who has worked with John Maus and makes a similar kind of naive pop music using simple synths and clever, dramatic lyrics. She recently released an album called "History" and a few of those tracks are below. I, personally, can't stop listening to an older track of her's called "Truth", posted above. This is fun, occasionally goofy, pop music that is, at it's heart, subverting the, usually hard to embrace, nature of experimental music. Excellent stuff.

Also, she actually wrote the standout track on John Maus' new album "Hey Moon".

A$AP Rocky

Harlem rapper A$AP Rocky just released a new track called "Goldie" which is a good as everything he's released so far... which is pretty fucking good. Rocky is making some of the best druggy hip-hop around. Most of his stuff is really smooth and hazy but still keeps a kind of classic hip-hop style intact. And it's made even more fun by the fact that Clams Casino produces some of of tracks, like these below:

Featureless Ghost

Featureless Ghost is a brilliant new band based in Atlanta via Brooklyn who make dark,  catchy and exciting industrial music. Think Joy Division but more New-wave, new-age and maybe even a little B-52s. They make excellent, trippy music videos as well. 

Future Islands

I know this music has been out for a couple years, but my friend Jonny reminded me of how amazing Future Islands are with the music video above. The Baltimore band is like a chill-wave Joy Division with a slightly more idiosyncratic singer. There's a lot of passion underneath all the playful synths. Great stuff.

Mirroring

Mirroring is a collaboration between Grouper and Tiny Vipers, both from Portland. Both musicians have been experimenting in the hazy area between sound art and folk music for some time now, so it's good to see them working together. This is beautiful, calming music. Always a little melancholy, always a little brilliant.