Keeping track of new music, media and industry news.

A spoonful of Kan Wakan’s ‘Molasses’, a lick of Thom Yorke’s ‘Coloured Candy’ and a nibble on Frau Pouch’s ‘Biscuit Beard’ – tuck into the latest succulent edition of Single-Minded…

Agnes Obel – Golden Green

All signs are pointing towards Agnes Obel’s new album, Citizen of Glass, being her best to date. And by all signs, I mean this great big ‘Golden Green’ sign constructed out mysterious percussive ostinatos and Obel’s bewitching voice. Kier Wiater Carnihan

Botany – Needam / Wish To

I remember being rather enamoured with Botany’s 2014 album Lava Diviner, and listening to this latest single reminds me why. Haphazardly tossing a thousand chiming instruments into a great big bucket of reverb, ‘Needam / Wish To’ still manages to sound soothingly mesmeric, especially when it takes a hearty lungful of jazz poppers halfway through. KWC

Frau Pouch – Biscuit Beard

Sometimes a YouTube description is so good you just can’t beat it: “Song about a man who develops a biscuit beard and becomes a local celebrity. The video has nothing to do with the song apart from featuring biscuits.” Mmmm, bisuits. Mix a gill of Gang Of Four with 100g of Gramme, and Frau Pouch is the perfectly baked result. KWC

Kan Wakan – Molasses

Elle Olsun’s subtly dramatic vocal adds heaps of pathos to Wakan’s glossy, intricate production. Reminding me of Massive Attack’s more soulful output without veering into trip-hop stereotypes, ‘Molasses’ is a slow-burning, strangely uplifting winner. Nicholas Burman

Róisín Murphy – Whatever

I’ve got to admit that despite its good review on this very site, I never really took to Róisín Murphy’s Take Her Up To Monto. My main complaint was that it wasn’t as immediate as the preceding Hairless Toys, but listening to ‘Whatever’ again makes me think I need to give it another go. A beautiful, delicate production with an impossibly tender vocal, it shows that sometimes good things do come to those who were clearly too dense to recognise their quality first time around. KWC

Sex Swing – Karnak

I’ve been meaning to clamber up onto the mighty Sex Swing for some time now, but circumstances keep making me miss their gigs. Until that changes, this serrated slice of skronking, frenzied mania will have to do. And it does, with all the uncompromising conviction of Pep Guardiola dealing with Yaya Toure’s agent. KWC

Strobes – OK Please

Is math rock back yet? I mean, is it cool again? It feels like the scene that never really was, but still managed to produce some relatively high profile bands in the process. As was always the case with a genre more focused on feeling than form, ‘OK Please’ veers from self-indulgent mess to enticing breakbeat rhythms at the stroke of a crash cymbal; whether you find the track any good or not really depends on your capacity to appreciate the, erm, less organised elements. NB

Thom Yorke – Coloured Candy

Yorke produced this to be a backing track for a runway show at a fashion week, and to be fair he did succeed at producing background music. As an ambient composition should, it allows you to focus on other things while creating a sonic backdrop which stops you getting distracted. NB

Tkay Maidza feat. Killer Mike – Carry On

Maidza is setting herself up as a decent bridge between pop and the more subversive end of hip-hop. For an artist who recently collaborated on an air-headed (albeit popular) pop-EDM tune with Martin Garrix, bringing Killer Mike onto her recent single shows she’s probably still keen to make sure she’s not written off as a bubblegum artist just yet. NB

Wrekmeister Harmonies – Light Falls I – The Mantra

The new Wrekmeister Harmonies should be squeezing onto a ton of best album lists this year, and this woozy, droning seven-minuter shows why. The lyrical conceit also makes it sound like a really fucked up version of ‘A Different Kind of Tension’ by Buzzcocks, with an added all-consuming, string-fraying denouement. KWC

Youandewan – Waiting For L

I’m a bit of a sucker for Aus Music releases. It’s pretty much the same thing every time, but if something ain’t broke… The upcoming Youandewan LP There Is No Right Time as a whole is well worth checking out if you’re a fan of Boards Of Canada-esque soundscapes. ‘Waiting For L’ isn’t the most original club track you’ll hear all year, but in its warm keys, crisp percussion and ambient outlook it’ll certainly help cure any hangovers/comedowns you may be suffering from this autumn. NB

Yves Tumor – The Feeling When You Walk Away

The watchwords for Yves Tumor’s upcoming sophomore LP are “delicate and emotive”, and with this teaser track it seems the Turin-based producer has certainly achieved soulful intimacy. Can’t wait to dig into the whole record as for once I really sort of wish this track and its effect would last for way, way longer. NB