This week’s guide is by CF Smith and contributors Words By Shoaib, Neil G, Imran Mirza and Irfan Ayaan.
Hello Friday! It’s that time again where we dive headfirst into the new release wonderland, bringing you another week of under the radar gems. Welcome back to your sonic treasure hunt—our Between The Cracks guide! This week, Felica Atkinson, Alice, Charlie Needs Braces, Farhot and more. Hopefully, you’ll stumble upon some new favourites that’ll have your finger twitching over the buy button. Check out latest our picks below!
Albums
Felica Atkinson – Promenades
‘Promenades’ is a delightful sound meditation lovingly crafted using a Nord Keyboard during the chill of winter, as visions of lush, blossoming spring danced in Felica Atkinson’s mind. Ever dipped your toes into the quirky world of synesthesia? Felica Atkinson has her latest project, a sensory crosswalk where you can “see” sounds or “taste” colours, blending experiences into meditative music. In ‘Promenades’, Atkinson showcases her most delicate side, masterfully blending ambient, electroacoustic, and drone into a sound world that is both tender and captivating. This album is a masterpiece. Each note and sound meld seamlessly to create a beautifully crafted musical work.– CFS
Alice – Châteaux Faibles
Châteaux Faibles isn’t just an album, it’s a living, breathing patchwork of tenderness, humour, and shared strength. Alice, the Geneva-based trio, returns with a bold 20-track collection that pushes the boundaries of art-pop and musique concrète, while celebrating human vulnerability as a communal force. From the jump, Les fleurs blossoms with intimacy. Its layered voices and body percussion create something tactile and present, like a shared whisper in a quiet room. There’s tension and softness here, braided into a melody that holds both sorrow and resilience. Then comes Les châteaux faibles, the title track and emotional spine of the record. Built around haunting vocal harmonies and clinking, everyday textures, it imagines fragility not as weakness but as architecture, cracks that let others in. Alice’s DIY ethos shines through it all. Real-life sounds, thrift-store synths, and poetic French lyrics turn this into more than a record. It feels like a collective diary, sketched in harmony and breath. Châteaux Faibles is stitched together with care, turning small details into something quietly monumental. – WBS
Charlie Needs Braces – NYAA WA
A charged collection of tunes oozing with a groovy and rhythmic aura that gets the blood pumping, ‘NYAA WA’ by the talented duo Charlie Needs Braces is a must-listen. The album’s title, which means “take care” in the GuriNgai language, proclaims the bold message of preserving the sanctity of nature and the importance of keeping traditions and cultures alive. With tight percussion and a creative mix of traditional Aboriginal instrumentation, each composition in NYAA WA unfolds layers upon layers of resounding themes and messages, cleverly wrapped in the raw and “all-natural” musicality of Charlie Needs Braces, which leaves a lasting impact on its listeners. – NG
Farhot – RAQS (105-118BPM)
RAQS finds Hamburg producer Farhot stepping boldly outside his Deutschrap comfort zone into club-ready cultural fusion. Following his impressive production work with Giggs, Kano, Talib Kweli, and Nneka, the Afghan-born Kabul Fire Records founder embarks on a virtual sampling journey connecting sounds from Egypt, Lebanon, Somalia, and beyond. The five-track EP translates “raqs” (the Dari word for “dance”) into downtempo grooves that celebrate diverse musical heritage through his signature sonic collage approach. MARS opens with a dynamic fusion of big beat, house, and hip-hop, featuring captivating vocal samples from Somali band 4Mars. YA SAGHIRA takes on synth-heavy psych wedding celebration vibes with sharp, celebratory endings; elsewhere, the collaboration HOOYOO with Siriusmo proves most WOMAD-friendly through its funky guitar licks, wicked organ work, and sing-along chants. YANA featuring Daniel Kimaz channels Stones Throw’s golden era aesthetic, as if Daedelus were transported to North Africa, while AL QUDS with Bazzazian flips Fairuz’s classic into experimental uptempo territory. Throughout, Farhot demonstrates his talent for chopping and distorting vocals while maintaining respectful homage to source material. This is underground hip-hop meets Middle Eastern fusion at its most sophisticated, essential listening for those seeking music without borders. – IA
Smerz – Big City Life
Smerz’s Big City Life is a sleek, fragmented ode to the complexities of urban womanhood. With a postmodern flair, the Norwegian duo of Catharina Stoltenberg and Henriette Motzfeldt blends dream pop, experimental electronics, and glitchy R&B into a sound that is both intimate and theatrical. It’s a cityscape of contradictions: freedom and loneliness, glamour and grit. The title track “Big City Life” opens with swagger, short, sharp, and full of synth-layered confidence. It sets the mood for an album that embraces chaos as much as it seeks tenderness. Then comes “You got time and I got money”, a highlight that swirls like a late-night mantra. Its pulsing rhythm and slightly detached vocals echo the push-pull of desire and distance in modern relationships. Throughout, the duo leans into abstraction, crafting melodies that shimmer and disappear like streetlights in the rain. Yet, underneath the cool production is real emotion, restless, raw, and searching. Big City Life is both a party and a diary entry, a love letter and a scream into the void. It’s a bold, hypnotic listen that captures the mood of a generation always in motion. – WBS
EP’s
A-tet – Night Watch
This summer is proving to be a real treat for Growroom Productions enthusiasts as the Maryland-based label reassert themselves with some new releases for the year. Just a month removed from the release of Hyper Battle’s ‘III’, the alternative live electronica aesthetic mixed with a left-of-centre rock sensibility concluded the Dominic Elliott and Lee Durham project in fine fashion, making for a riveting three-part series of enthralling music. But as one chapter closes, another begins with the release of A-tet’s debut release with ‘Night Watch’. Although serving as the group’s formal introduction to new listeners around the world, fans of live music around the Washington DC area would have had the opportunity to catch A-tet live as far back as 2018. Boasting a lengthy residency at the speakeasy jazz bar, 600 T, A-tet have presented their eclectic musical tastes on Thursday nights with a mix of their original compositions alongside, as described via the group’s Bandcamp page, “classic and modern straight ahead, funk and hip hop interpretations”. It’s certainly an exciting perspective to showcase for an innovative jazz ensemble, especially considering the imaginative minds involved in the A-tet quartet. Comprised of upright bassist and band leader Alex Nowak, guitarist Rob Coleman, drummer Lee Durham and saxophonist Brendan Schnabel, the A-tet quartet is represented by four artists having been immersed in Washington’s live music scene for years. A-tet’s ‘Night Watch’ is very much indicative of the Growroom aesthetic. A four-track release, recorded in March 2024, and with each track penned by a different member of the band. The eight-minute ‘A Living Picture’ kicks the project off perfectly displaying a vibrant and infectious enthusiasm before the undeniable sublime groove of ‘Teal Blues’ kicks in. ‘Sunny Ocean’ displays the twinges of noir jazz that conjure up those intimate nights of what a performance in 600 T would probably sound like while the effervescent title track reinjects that unpredictability back into the EP. As A-tet step confidently from the stage to the studio, they not only showcase their individual talents but also reinforce the spirit of collaboration that lies at the heart of both their band and the Growroom label. It’s a striking debut that captures the atmosphere of their live shows and offers a thoughtful, soulful release that’s as much about place and people as it is about sound. – IM
