Needle Drops: Four Essential Electronic Music Releases

Looking for some unexpected new music to propel you through the weekend? Needle Drops has you covered. There are four electronically minded new releases this week, and only two of the recommendations refer to waves in the text. So, what did we miss? Please drop your own recommendations in the comments below.

Jon Irabagon - Server Farm

Chicago-born saxophonist Jon Irabagon explores artificial intelligence's societal impact through an ambitious new large ensemble work, Server Farm. The ten-piece electro-acoustic group features an all-star lineup, including Matt Mitchell on keyboards, Chris Lightcap on electric bass, Dan Weiss on drums, Mazz Swift on violin and vocals, Peter Evans on trumpet, Miles Okazaki and Wendy Eisenberg on guitars, Michael Formanek on acoustic bass, and Levy Lorenzo on percussion and electronics.

The five-track album unfolds as a narrative examining humanity's relationship with technology. Opening with "Colocation," built around Lorenzo's traditional Filipino kulintang gongs, the music progresses from organic to synthetic textures. The centerpiece "Singularities" reveals many dramatic shifts through its 14-minute arc, while "Graceful Exit" presents an uneasy balance of Ellingtonian beauty and electronic disruption. The closing "Spy" features Swift singing Irabagon's poetry about technological paranoia.

Irabagon's compositional process mimicked AI training behavior for this project by analyzing and repurposing patterns from his collaborators' past works. The album draws inspiration from large ensemble innovators like Carla Bley and Charlie Haden while pursuing a high concept that never overburdens the music. (LP)

Tim Hecker - Shards

We wait for a new Tim Hecker album, deeply curious about where he lands after the last of his ever-evolving and endlessly surprising work. Shards is meant to tide us over as a collection of pieces Tim scored for "various film and TV soundtracks … including Infinity Pool, The North Water, Luzifer, and La Tour." His albums are often connected in sound and sinew, listened in whole as a sort of contemplative sequence, so the idea of a potentially 'cobbled together' Tim Hecker album is an odd concept. But even though these compositions weren't created in tandem, a threaded 'vibe' persists, which honestly shouldn't come as much of a surprise. No one else makes music like this (though some have tried), so music like this sticks together. Tim's compositional process, whatever that is, is a binding agent.

That process results in seemingly freeform electronics, rhythms sometimes eerily present (like on the Shards track "Joyride Alternate") but with textures that might exist outside of tempo. I often get an impression of moon-sparkled ocean waves when listening to Tim’s songs. Waves have a rhythm, but that rhythm—and frequency—alternates with the gentleness or ferocity of the tide. I find that a great way to describe Tim Hecker's music.

For an assembled collection, Shards remains cohesive and satisfying. Some elements reoccur, like a tinkling piano, which appears emblematic of Tim's soundtrack work. "Sunset Key Melt" places the instrument in the background, below the bendy, shoegaze-inspired drones that Hecker is known for, while "Morning (Piano Version)" has the piano right up front for a buzz-intruded take on a jazz ballad. And "Monotone 3" sounds the most comfortable on a recent Tim Hecker album. Its exotic blend of percussion, flute, and strangely plucked strings wouldn't be out of place on the masterful duo of Konoyo and Anoyo.

I haven't seen any of the films or shows this work accompanies, so I can't comment on how well these compositions fit. But Tim's music always strikes me as 'cinematic' (an overused descriptor that feels okay here) and easily evokes its own mind-movies, like the waves I just mentioned. Thematically, the songs here are loose but somehow tied together, again owing to Tim's unique place as an electronic composer. And taking 'soundtrack' out of the equation, Shards stands on its own, perhaps not as a major Tim Hecker album but certainly as a fine in-between mini-LP. If nothing else, this collection elegantly primes the ears for what this talented sound-whisperer has in store for us next. (MD)

Oksana Linde - Travesías

Venezuelan electronic music pioneer Oksana Linde's Travesías, her second album with Buh Records, unearths a collection of previously unreleased works recorded in her home studio in San Antonio de Los Altos. Using Casio CZ-1 and Polymoog synthesizers paired with a TEAC reel-to-reel machine and Roland tape echo, Linde crafted otherworldly sonic landscapes that blur the lines between electronic experimentation and meditative sound art.

The album's centerpiece, "Mundos Flotantes," layers shimmering synthesizer textures to create floating harmonies while subtle melodic patterns emerge and recede like waves. Other tracks, such as "Luciérnagas en los manglares," capture the nocturnal atmosphere of fireflies among mangroves through rippling electronic tones. The nine-minute "Sahara" demonstrates her skill in extended composition, building an immersive sonic environment that recalls the work of early electronic pioneers like Wendy Carlos and Isao Tomita while maintaining her distinct character.

This collection represents a crucial period in Linde's artistic development, when she merged her background in chemistry with electronic music exploration, creating works that served as concert pieces and aids for meditation practices. With Travesías, Buh Records continues its work documenting the story of Latin American electronic music innovation. (LP)

Benjamin Fulwood - The Stars Are Very Far Away From All Of This

Benjamin Fulwood's new album begins with the clarion call of multitracked horns—clarinets and saxophones in Benjamin's case—before transcending into a measured cacophony of jazz drums and rising textures. "Speedboat" is a curious entry into this music, but it feels all right with the album's title: The Stars Are Very Far Away From All Of This. As one of the latest installments in the Room40 imprint's prolific march of aural goodness, Benjamin's five-song effort sets a tone that indeed feels star-crossed and lonely yet refreshingly intimate.

I can't find much on Benjamin Fulwood, though the album notes place him in Tokyo, and the sessions occur “after hours." There's also talk of a fateful bicycle accident that interrupted the recordings, injuries temporarily inspiring a shift from horn playing to electronic adornment. Despite this incident, these are mostly gentle tunes, like the following "Amidst Tall Grasses,” which features what could be a saxophone dramatically manipulated into a modular drone (I'm not sure), and the hauntologically inclined "Willows & Rushes.”

These calm moments make the parade-rush of the opener a fine curiosity. It's like traversing a beautiful, brightly colored gate only to discover the subtle pleasures just beyond. And perhaps the most pleasurable is the evocative "Black Willow," peering in ominously before nodding to those late nights in Asia as guest musician Michael W. skillfully and wistfully accompanies on a dilruba.

The mood is thick, and nighttime is the creative glue. The settings for these midnight sessions are conveyed in a listener's imagination with assuring confidence. You’re there in the room. It really feels like traveling without leaving. (MD)