A weekly(ish) answer to the question “What have you been listening to lately?” It’s lightly annotated because I don’t like re-posting material without providing some context. I hope to write more about some of these in the future, but didn’t want to delay sharing them.
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NEW: Recent(ish) arrivals and pre-releases
▰ London-based Vigi Beats delivers five brief instrumental hip-hop tracks, the loops expertly balancing a downtempo pace with a frenzy of sped-up samples. The set is titled [*Just Some Chops*](https://vigilantebeatmaker.bandcamp.com/album/just-some-chops).
▰ Hard to imagine the new Thys / Amon Tobin collaboration wasn’t initially conceived as the score to an unidentified video game or film project, so thick is [*Ithaca*](https://music.amontobin.com/album/ithaca) with scene-setting, rhythmically amorphous sonic experimentation.
▰ John Schaefer’s New Sounds hosts two piano performances by Icelandic musician Olafur Arnalds. Arnald’s new album, *some kind of peace*, involves his algorithmic Stratus software (“intelligent custom software that could trigger self-playing, semi-generative ‘ghost’ pianos — his ‘robot writing partners'” per the software company, [Spitfire Audio](https://www.spitfireaudio.com/shop/a-z/olafur-arnalds-stratus/), that released it). Listen to the interview at [newsounds.org](https://www.newsounds.org/story/icelandic-pianist-composer-olafur-arnalds-highlights-importance-rituals).