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Jul 14, 2019 By Charles Steinberg

“Daydream” by Bleached is that perfect song you look for to kick off a mix. There have been a couple of recent releases from New Order playing the Manchester International Festival and this rendition of “Ultraviolence” carries the weight of “Daydream” like a feather as it steamrolls along into the stripped down “Skate” off of Tycho’s latest release. White Cliffs and Khruangbin walk together, in a rhythmic psych-pop, funk strut with “Sidewalk” and “Mary Always”. Devendra Banhart pokes his head around the corner with a smile on “Abre Las Manos” and we’re happy to see him as always. A match made in heaven comes next when Toro y Moi visits Dev Hynes on the new Blood Orange track “Dark and Handsome”. I really can’t get enough of Jana Hunters voice and it’s amazing on Lower Dens’ almost yacht rock ballad vibe “Real Thing”. Then, Julien Baker embraces and lifts “Modern Leper” like only she can, from the Tiny Changes album celebrating Frightened Rabbit’s The Midnight Organ Fight, in honour of the late Scott Hutchison. Later, every human emotion courses through the thermal guitar beams of The Twilight Sad’s rendition of “Floating in the Forth” from the same album. I haven’t seen it yet but the angelic float of “The House That Hårga Built” must contrast incredibly with the horror in Ari Aster’s new disruptor, Midsommar; Bobby Krlic, aka Haxan Cloak really killed it on this score. Jesca Hoop escorts us on a night crawl with “Free of the Feeling” before Jennifer leads us on a psych-prog trip of their own with “Stay Awake”. The great thing about METZ is there’s structure to their brawn and “Dirty Shirt” is a great example. Waiting at the end is a weightless drop into the ambient, where beauty hides in shadow. Follow Young Marco’s “Looking Back” and Ben Frost’s “Apokalypse” from his score to the Netfilx series DARK, and don’t return for a while.