Here’s a selection of great titles that I’ve been enjoying that were either sent to me or have recently graced my Bandcamp feed:

Daisy Rickman – Howl

Gorgeously psych-tinged Cornish folk dedicated to the sun, the stars and the turning of the wheel of the seasons within and around ourselves? Well, that checks off so many boxes for me. With cellos, bouzouki and sitar mingling with the likes of fiddles, guitar and synthesizers underneath Daisy Rickman’s densely layered vocal harmonies, this is a record with a richly lived-in and elemental sound. Certainly one of the best LPs of the year thus far.

Cosmic Country Revue – Live at PDV 03​/​31​/​23

Co-released be None More and Arrowhawk Records, this new tape captures Jeffrey Silverstein, Bobby Lee and Joe Harvey-Whyte launching into astral cowboy mode while performing in London together last spring. Based on the strength of Silverstein’s absolutely ripping “Sunny Jean” alone, you know this is gonna be good.

Nick Millevoi – Moon Pulses

Available today through Island House, Moon Pulses is perhaps guitarist Nick Millevoi’s most kosmische solo outing yet. Recorded rather minimally, Moon Pulses is a meditative soundscape built out of effects-laden guitar overdubs that channels the celestial wanderings of Manuel Göttsching and the rusted fuzz of Neil Young or Eddie Hazel. Put this record on and let yourself drift off into the clouds.

Alison Cotton – Engelchen

Based on the lives and altruistic efforts of sisters Ida and Louise Cook, Engelchen is a baroque and heartfelt tribute to the humanitarian spirit. The Cooks amazingly used their obsession with music to help smuggle refugees out of war-torn Europe during WW2, and yet their story is somehow little known. With gothic strings, chilled vocals and somber percussion, Alison Cotton beautifully recounts and reflects on their incredible history. For an age that is seriously lacking in compassion, we need more people like the Cook sisters, and more music like what you can find on Engelchen. Click here to read more about Isa and Louise and Cotton’s dreamy drone-folk homage to their once secretive heroics.

Little Wings – High on The Glade

For easy breezy folk rock that speaks of days of debauchery and villainy as well as rebirth and rehabilitation, seek no further than Little Wings’ upcoming record on Perpetual Doom, High on The Glade. Initially developed while spending time at Malibu’s High Gulch Ranch, the former set of Gilligan’s Island, this record beams with a sense of fun (with the occasional wicked grin). Fans of Dave Van Ronk and Jonathan Richman will surely dig this one.

Emergency Group – Mind Screen

Brooklyn’s finest prog-jazz fusion astronauts have returned with the Chris Schlarb-produced Mind Screen. Dig into the opening title track here for a taste of their new sonic direction, which features a rapid fire drum beat, scorching guitar leads and Robert Boston’s Sun Ra-like dazzling cosmic keyboards. If interstellar noir, Canterbury Sound rarities and live Oneida recordings are your bag, pre-order this record ahead of its July 1 release date.

DAVi MUSiC – On By

This glitchy lo-fi ambient album gives the feeling you’re listening to an old mangled high school science documentary VHS tape. I happen to greatly appreciate that aesthetic, so of course this upcoming release on Aural Canyon Records immediately jumped out at me. Composed out of recycled loops and musical fragments, On By is a peaceful and slightly hazy listen that is easy to get lost into.

WHAILS – I

This Aural Canyon release however, by WHAILS (Chad Walls and M Cody McPhail), leans deeper into beat-driven kosmsiche musik and fluid soundscapes. Sounding like a more organic ARP or an unreleased Future Museums record, this is an ambient album that’s smooth enough to be a welcoming gateway drug to the rest of the genre.

Goblin Band – Come Slack Your Horse!

The Goblin Band is a collective of queer musicians that have built a scene around central London’s branch of the folk-instrument shop, Hobgoblin Music. Much like the Shovel Dance Collective, this group is steeped deeply in British folk traditions as well as early and medieval music. As you can hear through the album’s first available track, “Widecombe Fayre,” they’re re-contextualizing and breathing new life into tried and true tunes from ages past, so that new generations can discover their magic.

Zachary Cale – Next Year’s Ghost

Zachary Cale quickly became one of my favorite singer-songwriters of our era, and his upcoming record, Next Year’s Ghost, only further cements that feeling.

More piano-based than his previous records, the songs here play like haunted and visceral releases of pent up emotions. Throughout the record, Cale captures these moods well with his lyrics and then channels them further into exuberant jams that wouldn’t be too far removed from his work with the great Vague Plot. If you’re not onboard with Cale’s work yet, you’re in for a real treat.

Shiroishi, Prymek, Nguyen – Eventually the River Rises Here Too, Same as it Always Has

Available today through the good folks at Ramble Records, Eventually the River Rises Here Too, Same as it Always Has is a chimeric jam between Thom Nguyen (of Mendocino and Manas) on drums, Chaz Prymek (A.K.A. Lake Mary) on guitar and electronics and Patrick Shiroishi also on electronics and saxophone. Blending elements of spiritual jazz, drone music and noise rock together into a fiercely unique beast, the trio plays like they’re caught in a ritualistic trance. Landing somewhere between the devotional and the alchemical, this is indeed a career highlight for all involved.

Imaginational Anthem vol. XIII : Songs of Bruce Cockburn

For Tompkins Square’s latest volume in their trendsetting Imaginational Anthem series, James Toth curated this loving tribute to one of Canada’s finest artists, the great Bruce Cockburn. With familiar names like Jerry David DeCicca, Lou Turner and the Powers/Rolin Duo (with a rare lead vocal by Rolin, no less!) this album is an instant classic.