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Nia Archives: Forbidden Feelingz
The up-and-coming Manchester singer and producer Nia Archives fuses jungle, reggae, breakbeat, and more propulsive music to form a nostalgic, thrilling patchwork. Her debut EP, Forbidden Feelingz, is a breathless burst of energy that’s grounded by a dulcet, almost laconic vocal delivery that keeps listeners on their toes. From the revved-up vocal samples that pump through the title track to the intoxicating, melancholic chorus on standout “Luv Like,” every minute urges you to move. –Eric Torres
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Pan•American: The Patience Fader
On his latest release, Mark Nelson, who has recorded ambient music under the name Pan-American for nearly a quarter-century, turns his attention to a singular instrument: the guitar. The 12 songs on The Patience Fader are built from clean, wintry motifs: On “Outskirts, Dreamlit,” his electric guitar is layered and reverberated, building steadily even as it dissipates into pure atmosphere; on “Nightwater,” he accentuates his acoustic fingerpicking with lap steel to conjure a sense of open-road momentum. Through these solo guitar performances, Nelson embraces the instrument’s melodic qualities as much as its atmospheric potential, lingering in the fragile space between where a note rings out and where it dies. –Sam Sodomsky
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Plosivs: Plosivs
Rob Crow is a songwriting machine. He’s started more than a dozen bands since forming Pinback, but arguably none have sounded as immediately addicting as his latest project, Plosivs. The supergroup unites a who’s-who of San Diego’s old guard—aside from Crow, there’s guitarist John Reis (Drive Like Jehu, Hot Snakes), drummer Atom Willard (Against Me!, Rocket From the Crypt) and bassist Jordan Clark (Mrs. Magician)—to pursue ’90s punk-rock glory. On their self-titled debut, Plosivs ignite with manic drumming (“Broken Eyes”), nostalgic vocal harmonies (“Rose Waterfall”), and aggressive riffs (“Never Likely”) meant for air-guitaring along. Like the best supergroup releases, the album reminds you why you first fell in love with the individual artists all those years ago. –Nina Corcoran
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Raum: Daughter
Jefre Cantu-Ledesma and Grouper’s Liz Harris work at complementary extremes. Both are drone musicians with ears for melody: Harris, more of a stark, solitary dreamer; Cantu-Ledesma, a meditative romanticist. Immersing oneself in the vast expanses of their respective catalogs, you might wonder how sounds so simple could make you feel everything. Their second record together as Raum is a striking elegy to their late friend, the filmmaker Paul Clipson—a seven-track suite in which decaying vistas of sound blister like Super 8 film, evoking, to quote one title, “sunlight crying.” –Jenn Pelly
Read More: 26 Great Records You May Have Missed: Winter 2022