we are all definitely sane

New music from Floating Points, H31r, Lil Wayne, Olof Dreijer and Sepehr

Hello! A day late, a buck short, but at least I’m writing the report. Shout out to Blink-182’s once-listenable music!

Nothing but Good Links this week:

• me (insane) talking to my friend (also insane): ur not insane. and neither am i – I really loved Ezra Klein on Search Engine talking about how to use the Internet and stay sane. I found his take on the digital media bubble really interesting, but also his defense of longreads, printed materials and making things that make people uneasy were all compelling.

• How is this album 15 years old? – I highly recommend revisiting Women’s debut album, one of the 21st century’s best guitar records, on its 15th birthday. It’s still as noisy, mysterious, and striking as ever.

• Wiry, but not Wire-y – Matthew Schnipper put together an excellent playlist of weird post-hardcore/emo/guitar rock from the 90s in Deep Voices #76

• Just a cool thing – If, like me, you live in Brooklyn and love Italian cured meat, this guy delivers Italian sandwiches by moped, with new specials every day.

On to the best of the week! You can follow along on our playlists on Spotify and Apple Music, which update every Tuesday along with the newsletter. Enjoy!

Floating Points – Birth4000

I’ve loved the last two Floating Points albums for their creative, blooming beauty, but “Birth4000” proves the man still loves a dancefloor filler. The almost-Italo bassline drives the song, an unrelenting backbone that he only pulls back for two drops that bookend the muscular single.

H31R feat. Quelle Chris – Down Down Bb

“Down Down Bb’s” minimal mishmash of dreamy cluster chords and Jersey Club-ish kicks grabbed my attention, but maasaai’s verses (the rapping half of this Jersey/Brooklyn duo) are so hook-filled it takes a few listens to realize they only hit a chorus once in the whole song? Can’t wait for this whole LP.

2 Chainz & Lil Wayne – Presha

Did Chainz and Wayne get advance notice that Meek Mill and Rick Ross were doing a team-up album to go after aging Millennial rap fans? Because they dropped the first preview of their upcoming Welcome 2 Collegrove with “6 Foot 7 Foot” producer Bangladesh for an extremely “you went to college in the 2000s” single – and honestly, 2 Chainz sounds perfectly fine but I was surprised at how fresh and energetic Wayne sounded on his verse.

Olof Dreijer – Rosa Rugosa

After getting a taste of new Olof Dreijer music on the new Fever Ray record – handling album standout “What They Call Us” – he’s dropped a new EP Rosa Regosa on Friday. His signature wiggling FM synthesis is all over the EP, and it’s exciting to hear his unique palette put in the service of exploratory, pulsing dance music. Here’s hoping there’s more to come in 2024.

Sepehr – At The Gates Of Heaven

I got to know Sepehr when he worked out of my studio for a while in 2022, but I wasn’t as familiar with his music until recently – I’m really excited for his upcoming LP on Garmo, Pomegranate Skies. “At The Gates of Heaven” is delightful squelchy, frenetic techno track. Stick around for the acid-tinged bassline that hits at the 1:23 mark.

t h r o w b a a a c k

Hal Bradbury – You Win, I Lose

I thought I was relatively well-versed in Yacht Rock deep cuts until I stumbled upon this playlist, which kept hitting me with deep 70’s smooth pop I had never heard of. This track is from Hawaiian-based crooner Hal Bradbury’s 1981 This Is Love LP, and it’s the type of deep deeeeep cut you always hope to dig up on shuffle. The vocoder intro is a great curveball before hitting a slick groove at 0:22.