Back with our recent favorites from Los Angeles, Xiamen, Sweden, UK, Ghana, Chicago, New York.

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.

Laura Groves – Radio Red

It’s hard to believe Radio Red is Laura Groves’s debut full length under her given name. After releasing a slew of singles over the last decade with Bullion’s DEEK label, the UK songswriter delivers ten self-produced songs “inspired by the two radio transmitting towers outside of her studio window.” The writing leans inward, reflective and mature, conveying “themes of communication – missed and intercepted signals, chance meetings, and synchronicities.” Her productions shine as she interlays her front-and-center vocals amid a choice mix of electronic and acoustic instruments, at times restrained and at times full on. Sophisticated pop fans rejoice, and tune your dial to Radio Red. – Jonny

African Head Charge – A Trip To Bolgatanga

One of the most beloved projects on the On-U Sound roster, African Head Charge return for their first new album in twelve years. Originally
formed as a vehicle for Adrian Sherwood to express the more experimental side of the label, the group’s sound heavily featured the driving, polyrhythmic African and “outernational” rhythms of bandleader / percussionist Bonjo Iyabinghi Noah alongside Sherwood’s rubbery, punk-funk and dubwise production. A Trip To Bolgatanga is a musical journey to Bonjo’s current hometown in north Ghana. Merging Jamaican and African styles including Nyabinghi, Poco, Kumina, and kologo music, the album continues the group’s decades-long psychedelic exploration into Afro-futurist experimental/spiritual music. Check the gorgeous title track, which features King Ayisoba’s masterful kologo playing, Rhodes piano, and a jazzier-side of the AHC horn section. – Phil

Santilli – Motions

The new Max Santilli record moves like a compilation album, one that exudes a specific vibe while also drifting in strikingly varied directions. Opening with a pair of a echoed shaker-conga rhythm tracks that wouldn’t sound out of place on an UNKLE or Massive Attack record, Motions gradually morphs through spacial measures and into ambient terrain. Sydney-based Santilli earned early attention as half of Angophora. As a multi-instrumentalist, he swaps out synths for acoustic guitars, percussion and wooden recorders. Best is “Waterline,” which sounds like the opening theme to a 1970s Sam Peckinpah movie. – Randall

Knopha – Kwong

Noah Li (aka Knopha) has been quietly making waves from his hometown of Xiamen since his debut EP Nothing Nil landed in 2018. The Chinese artist’s crystalline production and unique approach to sound design won us over immediately and we’ve been keeping up with every release since. Knopha’s latest ‘Kwong’ arrives via the Canadian Riviera on Vancouver-based label Mood Hut. The close-knit collective has been expanding their musical universe recently, and this release marks the label’s first international signing. It’s a perfect match. Knopha’s dubbed-out grooves, pop connections, and club sensibility are totally in sync with the Vancouver collective’s singular take on futuristic dance music. We hope to hear the winding deep bass of “Mizu Le Goût” on a dance floor very soon! (Crucial mention: Grammy Award winning producer/mixing engineer Eric Lau contributed to the record). – Phil

Purelink – Signs

Purelink has quickly established themselves as prominent figures in the ever-expanding world of ambient and sound design. Signs, the group’s fifth release, finds them stripping back a bit more, and placing greater emphasis on the more buoyant and textural elements in their work. Tracks like “Circuit,” “Stadium Drive,” and “We Should Keep Going” still lean sturdily on a groove, but one intended for headphones versus the club. The album exudes a comforting atmosphere, one that feels akin to what labels like ~scape and Kompakt were chiseling out in the early 2000s. Although we could attempt to point to their influences, there is an unmistakable and timeless quality to Signs. – John

Available now: https://insheepsclothinghifi.com/product/purelink-signs-lp/

Ana Roxanne & DJ Python – Natural Wonder Beauty Concept

Futuristic electronic pop of the highest order, Natural Wonder Beauty Concept, a new project from Ana Roxanne and DJ Python (Brian Piñeyro), draws from a shared love of melancholic indie songs and nostalgic ’90s staples including Björk’s Telegram remix album, Portishead, Seefeel, and Boards Of Canada. Roxanne’s vocals sound as angelic as ever floating over sampled pianos, digi-harp, IDM drums, breakbeats, and chill-out room soundscapes while Piñeyro offers up his own voice for the first time on choice moments. The duo’s lyrics touch on generational sentiments: “feeling too much and feeling nothing at all” / “I always mumble what I’m saying” / “Why’s it feeling so impossible, impossible?” A fully enveloping listen, we recommend giving this one some time and multiple full playbacks. “Let’s beauty happen.” – Phil

Baba Stiltz – Paid Testimony

For the last 15 years, Baba Stlitz has primarily been known as an electronic artist, but with his 2022 tape release Baba Stiltz in LA, he turned to the blues and American-primitive guitar concepts as essential road maps. His latest, Paid Testimony, focuses in on another corner of the American musical mythos, blending alt-country, subtle-psych, and a slacker-turned-poet approach to songwriting. Baba builds worlds using downtrodden characters who seemingly weather their unfortunate scenarios with a little wry humor. “Sacramento” and “Stockholm” act as backward love letters to two of his hometowns. “You Can’t Put Your Arms Around a Memory” sways back and forth beautifully before landing on a fist pumping Silver Jews-style chorus. “Running to Chris” is a wonderfully crass tune that one can oddly imagine Lucinda Williams singing. “Paid Testimony” is a hidden gem for those who grew up loving the more vulnerable zones of the indie rock spectrum. – John

Jamma-Dee – Perceptions

Local hero Dyami O’Brien, aka Jamma-Dee, comes through big with his debut album for Nothing But Net, Perceptions. A masterclass of modern funk and soul produced on classic equipment (MPC, Emu Mo’phatt “Urban Dance Synth,” analog compressors, etc.), the album touches on G-funk, new jack swing, deep house, downtempo R&B, and street soul, all “through a distinctly Californian lens.” The collaborator list is a true family / LA affair and built on connections made through Dam-Funk’s renowned Funkmosphere parties: Stones Throw’s Mndsgn and Koreatown Oddity, prolific beat maker Swarvy, guitarists Benedek and Craig T. Cooper, and singers Devin Morrison, Sarah Jewel, and Harriet Brown. Too many jams to count… No doubt a certified LA classic – we expect to be playing this one out for a long time! – Phil

Loren Connors & Scott Tuma – A West Bound Brook / Gone To Turin

Few guitarists of the past three decades have carved a more singular sound and feel than Loren Connors, whose delicacy on the fretboard is matched only by his ability to conjure the so-called feels. For this peaceful, inspired split 12-inch, label Profane Illuminations captured a lightning-in-a-bottle 2019 Connors performance at Union Pool in Brooklyn. Called “A West Bound Brook,” the side-length piece finds the guitarist channeling his instrument through an array of messy effects pedals, which play with the venue’s natural acoustics to create deepness. Tuma is cofounder of the brilliant Chicago proto-cosmic-Americana band Souled American. Like Connors, Tuma does his own amazing thing using his six strings, which on “Gone to Turin” features more twang, structure and melody — but just as much freedom to roam. – Randall