Onwards, ever onwards, our oars paddling hard against the current, with this episode, the middle child, so to speak, traditionally struggling to find its identity within the family. But in fact a confident set of tracks of some diversity.
There was justified commentary of the first tranche in the previous episode that it was rather guitar-dominated which, on reflection, it rather was.
So this time round, by way of contrast, there are instrumentals and a fair bit of electronic experimentation.
Some old friends such as Four Tet, but also many artists never featured before on the show, such as M L Buch, Allegra Krieger, Ex Easter Island Head, Packs, Jessica Pratt and Moin. And also a couple of deep cuts from 2024’s more popular albums from Clairo (sounding like Broadcast here) and, of course, Charli XCX with a track of immense vulnerability. It wouldn’t have sounded at all out of place on this year’s Insecurity episode.
Without more ado …
Tracklist:
27. Loved, Four Tet
26. I might say something stupid, CharliXCX
25. Never arriving, Allegra Krieger
24. My God! Tapir
23. Norther, Ex-Easter island Head
22. Clairbourne practice, Julie
21. Earth hater, The Hard Quartet
20. HFCS, Packs
19. The last year, Jessica Pratt
18. Guess it’s wrecked, Moon, Alan Monk
17. High speed calm air tonight, ML Buch
16. Modesto, Pedro the Lion
15, Echo, Clairo