I’m always a sucker for some library meets jazz, and this has it in spades. The debut album from the Hauge-based collective consisting of brothers Bart and Melle Sturing, Olivier Tumbisha, Kai Tseng, and Roy Hoogervorst, Disaster Jester, totally blew me away. The 10-track record revolves around the “Jester,” a trickster figure embodying the duality of chaos and wisdom. Unabashedly nostalgic with a mix of minimalism, analogue textures, and the warmth of 1970s soundtracks. The influences range from MPB and library music to jazz and modern classical. Unit Nine has the sound of a band that clearly found its unique groove, and I love it! Absolute killer from start to finish.

We blinked, and suddenly we lost touch with Charlotte Day Wilson. The daily onslaught of music means that some (many) artists vanish from our rotation, which happens to the best of us. Anyway, that’s all to say we’re making up for lost time by reentering her orbit with Patchwork. The 7-track EP featuring a collection of intimate, raw demos is described as a “nonlinear collection of moments”. The project highlights her signature soul-infused R&B, and includes collaborations with Saya Gray and Yukimi.

‘EXPO’ is a real gem of an album from Ulrika Spacek, a band that has built up a very, very impressive body of work over the past ten years. It is a work of passion; the band members still hold down day jobs (experimental physicists, graphic designers, music producers). EXPO is one of those albums you fall for immediately, all quiet intensity and understated power, compelling from the first moment and, frankly, a delight in its uniqueness. I couldn’t choose a favourite track even if I tried; each song hits you differently. How do you make music this accessible yet still so sharp, so leftfield, so bloody entertaining? Just ask Ulrika Spacek.

A band that has already put out amazing work in 2021’s debut ‘New Long Leg’ and 2022’s follow-up ‘Stumpwork’ faces the tough challenge of constantly trying to outdo itself. And with a clutch of EP’s and standalone singles, Dry Cleaning consistently puts out quality, and Secret Love is no exception. The band has a talent for making the mundane feel faintly radioactive: guitars twitch and coil, the rhythm section marches with that familiar deadpan swagger. The jewel in their crown is, of course, Florence Shaw, who delivers her lines with the cool authority of someone reading classified documents aloud in a supermarket queue. The album is part good and part great. The good sections, ‘The Cute Things’, ‘Let Me Grow and You’ll See the Fruit’, and ‘Joy’ keep you entertained, but it’s outstanding tracks like ‘Hit My Head All Day’, ‘Cruise Ship Designer’, and ‘Secret Love (Concealed In A Drawing Of A Boy)’ that really showcase why Dry Cleaning are unclassifiable, stunningly unique and bloody marvellous.

On Roseland En Why Cee’s, new track, jazz and reggae cosy up, slipping into each other’s rhythms with effortless ease. The single is a cinematic jazz-reggae reimagining of the Drifters and George Benson classic, drawing heavily from the lineage of Denis Bovell’s BABYLON. A seamless collision of worlds, Raseland’s immaculate, from the soft piano glide under Richie Seivwright’s haunting trombone in perfect step. This is really, really good stuff.