After a short break, we return with an expanded set of Now Sound favorites.

New music continues to be a major focus for us here at In Sheep’s Clothing… Each week the global listening community gets bombarded with new releases, reissues and restocks. As music freaks who read these missives and are attuned to the bounty regularly arriving, we love sharing great sounds. Below are some particularly crucial new arrivals, a number of which will soon be available in the In Sheep’s Clothing shop.

Arooj Aftab – Night Reign

(Jazz / Pakistani Folk / Modern Classical)

If the full moon could sing, it would likely sound like Grammy award winner Arooj Aftab. It’s no surprise that Aftab has shared she draws inspiration from the night, and she beautifully captures the quiet intimacy that emerges after sunset in her new release Night Reign. It’s clear that there was little dedication to any one genre, and listeners will find heavy jazz and devotional elements with refreshing glimmers of post-punk bass lines in ‘Bolo Na’ and even afrobeat rhythms in ‘Raat Ki Rani’. The depth of calm in Aftab’s voice feels endless, but she underscores it’s a result of an alchemy of ‘displacement, reinvention, exile, chaos, feminism, and the maddening fabric of love and loss and tragedy in the world.’ This is a most relevant and important discourse in these tumultuous times. Night Reign is another instant classic by Aftab, and a must for those in search of a sonic salve for the soul. – Tana

Cancer House – A Hiding Place Demo

(Indie Rock / Alt-Folk)

Chicago’s Cancer House first and only release, “A Hiding Place demo,” is a seemingly very limited 7” on the freshly set label “Entombed by Autumn.” The infectious title track “A Hiding Place” is an angsty piece that harkens back to a turn of the century midwestern alt-folk/indie sound. Each remix also suggests that the group are likely fans or participants of the ever-burgeoning online ambient community. Fans of Grouper, Movietone, or the Gothenburg Scene will surely be intrigued by this brief yet potent release. – John

Naemi – Dust Devil

(Ambient / Downtempo / Indie Pop)

Shy aka Special Guest DJ’s 3XL imprint has been on a tear in 2024 and their latest from Berlin-based producer Naemi is easily one of our favorites on the catalog. Featuring an all-star cast of collaborators from the extended West Mineral Ltd. and Motion Ward camps including Huerco S, Pontiac Streator, Ulla, and Ben Body, along with 4AD’s Erika De Casier, the album floats through therapeutic ambient, translucent spoken word, and drifting indie pop tracks with sampled & live instruments, granular VST processing, reverb-guitar, and subterranean grooves. “Ambrosia” featuring vocals by Mexico-city based artist NAP is our pick of the bunch with its ethereal Rhodes chords and downtempo drums. – Phil

Montel Palmer – Love Getaway

(Dubwise / Punk / Electronic)

Montel Palmer, a group comprised of four artists with their own distinct projects, return with another collection of slinked out dusty downtempo tracks. Shadowy dub grooves anchor woozy melodies and tripped out lounge style vocals into a bed of cozy tape hiss. Uniquely subdued and groovy. Hop on board for a tranquilized dub-punk adventure. – John

Yu Ching – The Crystal Hum

(Lo-Fi / Indie / Pop)

Spectral vocals and spring reverb’d guitars meet old drum machines and cheap Casio keyboards on Taiwanese artist Yu Ching’s debut on Glasgow-based independent label Night School. Inspired by lo-fi experimenters like The Space Lady, Arthur Russell, and Suicide, Yu Ching takes a minimalistic approach to composition with bass grounding most of these tender love songs while the other elements seem to swirl around the scene like a slo-mo hurricane or rainstorm of sorts. – Phil

Shelter & Orion – Here’s Where You Understand It’s Only Dreaming

(Krautrock / Improvisation / Post-Punk)

The quartet of 10-minute improvisations by producer-musician Alan Briand (Shelter) and multi-instrumentalist Tom Val (Orion Music Workshop) on Here’s Where You Understand It’s Only Dreaming are driven by rhythm and noise: the percussive thrum of a darbuka, a Middle Eastern drum with a wobbly tone that, coupled with Val and Briand’s affection for Indian ragas and German krautrock, creates woozy rhythms. Release notes for Shelter & Orion’s work describe their collaborative sound as “Durutti Column unplugged in an art gallery,” which is totally accurate; these are beguiling, mesmerizing jams. Val’s a versatile player, to say the least. He works with instrumentation that includes electronics, flutes, zither, kalimba, glass, percussions (darbuka, hand percussion, balafon) and more. The highlight? “Slalom Autobahn,” a motorik-propeled raga that opens with a tiny electronic rhythm before full-bore, propulsive guitar and noisy electronics take over. Heavy stuff. – Randall

Pablo’s Eye – The Light Was Sharp, Our Eyes Were Open

(Experimental / Ambient / Folk)

The international collective, Pablo’s Eye, returns to Belgium’s jaunty reissue/contemporary label Stroom for their fourth release, ”The Light Was Sharp, Our Eyes Were Open.” The group’s previous three releases with the label were compilations of older music; this is their first of new material. Recorded in 2023 with original members, and some additional help by Noor-e-Sehar Ali and Ludwig Lapauw. As noted on one of their previous press releases, “More than anything, Pablo’s Eye is a temporary atmosphere, like a taste or a dream…” This sentiment still very much so applies to what they’re producing now. Drenched in reverb and a bit of melancholy, each track reaches out towards a vague yet familiar collective narrative. This music is emotionally vast and open yet keeps its cards close, retaining its mystery. It’s this kind of duality that keeps people coming back to their catalog to turn over rocks. – John

Rafael Toral – Spectral Evolution

(Ambient / Drone / Guitar Music)

The first new release on Jim O’Rourke’s revived label Moikoi (the label that first reissued Nuno Canavarro’s Plux Quba) since 2002 arrives via the veteran Portuguese musician Rafael Toral, whose work over the past 30 years is forever-music. A truly breathtaking document, Spectral Evolution is a one 47-minute piece that showcases Toral’s expertise at layering acoustic and electronic tones until they’re as enmeshed as a silk scarf. When, at about the 15-minute mark, waves of odd staticky squawks and radio wave noise overtake the once calming piece, the piece moves toward noise that eventually gives way to humming, velveteen washes of harmony. Muted trumpet. Organ chords. Toral’s primary instrument, the electric guitar. What sounds like slow-rolling harmonium heaving and wheezing. It’s all intertwined into one mass of sound. This is bliss. – Randall

Carman Moore – Soul Musings

(Soundtrack / Modern Classical / Improvisation)

Soul Musings is a collection of meditative piano and Ensoniq keyboard improvisations from world-renowned NYC-based composer Carman Moore. While the sound of the instruments used here are quite digital (rompler guitar, flute, harp, percussion, etc.), Moore’s playing is fully transportive and expressively organic with many of the sounds, especially on the second CD titled “AFRO-LATIN MEDITATIONS,” drawing from the Hispanic/Latino sound, rhythm, and heart of New York City. Other tracks, like “Peace Piece,” come from Moore’s time spent in Costa Rica creating a forest-oriented children’s opera. – Phil

DSP – Downstairs People

(Neo-R&B, Downtempo, Pop)

Underground pop collective Downstairs People’s sophomore effort reaches even further into the neo-R&B sounds of their debut with appearances from Special Guest DJ, Ben Bondy, Hysterical Love Project, and “some other people we can’t name for legal reasons.” Lead single “Kiss My Vibe” reminds us a bit of Steve Spacek’s solo work with its deep sub-bass and contemporary boom-bap groove. Another favorite, “Show You,” is an earworm of a duet with HLP’s Brooklyn Mellar’s dreamy melancholy meeting Shy and Ben Bondy’s “honest vox.” – Phil

Anysia Kym – Truest

(Experimental / Hip-Hop / R&B)

Brooklyn based producer and NTS radio host Anysia Kym’s 22-minute, sample-driven, drum n bass-tinged R&B dream is a late but big discovery for us. Released back in March via 10k, Truest plays out like a trip through Kym’s mind. Her laidback, sometimes hyper-pitched vocals take centerstage over an array of breakbeats, jazzy pads and rumbling low end. A welcome addition to the genreless approach to hip hop and R&B that we’ve been following from the likes of favorites Liv.e and Contour. – Jonny

Ezra Feinberg – Soft Power

(Jazz / Ambient / New Age)

Ezra Feinberg is a composer-guitarist and psychoanalyst living in upstate New York’s Hudson River valley, and his third album, Soft Power, reflects this bucolic setting. A founding member, with Thee Fucking Champs’ Tim Green, of San Francisco group Citay, Feinberg’s work is a lot more chill, vibing more like Penguin Cafe Orchestra or Woo than the song-based, structurally sound work of his previous band. Feinberg has brought in a killer group of collaborators for Soft Power, including harpist Mary Lattimore, pianist David Moore (Bing & Ruth) and multi-instrumentalist and Root Strata Records founder Jefre Cantu-Ledesma (The Alps, Raum). Filled with recurring patterns, rich melodies, and labyrinthine  improvisations, the instrumental record moves with serenity and patience, one so precisely played that a studied urgency drives it.

FC Music – Soft Hands Long Gone

(Electronic / Experimental / Dance)

Hot off the release of buzzed supergroup project ‘Princ​€​ss’, Dublin’s wherethetimegoes label bring it back to the open-minded dancefloor with a debut 12-inch from FC Music. An alias of Finn Carraher McDonald (aka Nashpaints), Soft Hands Long Gone is a crisply produced, sonically rich electronic exploration into UK Bass Music described by the label as being “very dublinesque.” Highly recommended for fans of the Future Times or Trilogy Tapes sound! – Jonny

Vanessa Bedoret – Eyes

(Modern Classical / Experimental / Leftfield-Pop)

Experimental sound design, modern classical, and black metal come together on London-based artist Vanessa Bedoret’s debut on Scenic Route (the young label that launched the career of Baltimore’s Nourished of Time). Bedoret’s vocals often take a sustained, choral type quality which provides a soothing contrast to the broken, almost IDM-like beats and dark, synthetic modulations. “Ballad” is the gentlest of the bunch featuring beautiful nylon string guitar and violins backing whispered vocal harmonies. Highly recommended for fans of Astrid Sonne, YL Hooi, Salenta + Topu, and Niecy Blues. – Phil

Available Now: https://insheepsclothinghifi.com/product/vanessa-bedoret-eyes-lp/

G.S. Schray – Whispered Something Good

(Ambient / Jazz / Avant-Garde)

Our favorite Akron multi-instrumentalist Gabe Schray’s fourth full-length arrives as a spacious and pensive affair. Schray said he “set out to make something strange and ugly and somehow ended up with a pretty electric guitar album with a lot of rooms to explore.” Swerving from some of the electronic tones explored on previous albums, Whispered Something Good feels like a return to the jazzy, post-rock sound we fell in love with on Schray’s debut for Last Resort. – Jonny

Tim Koh, Sun An – Salt And Sugar Look The Same

(Sound Collage / Ambient / Electronic)

Refracted memories between two LA heroes: Tim Koh, a multi-instrumentalist (Animal Collective, Hieroglyphic Being, DJ Harvey, and No Age) and visual artist, and Sun An, a graphic designer, art director, and sound designer. Salt And Sugar Look The Same is a hazy collection of ambient sound collage pieces that weave a thread through the two friends’ shared past and present lives as Korean Americans in Los Angeles. While most of the pieces are built around programmed electronics, Koh’s guitar shines through on tracks like “Bye Bye Betty,” which recalls Roberto Musci’s “Claudia, Wilhelm R And Me” with its gentle finger-picking and distant vocal, seemingly lost-in-time. – Phil

Pre-Order Now: https://insheepsclothinghifi.com/product/tim-koh-sun-an-salt-and-sugar-look-the-same-lp/