Speak In Code

Bertine Zetlitz “Never Let You Go” – This is the moment after the break-up, when trauma sets in and awareness is blunted by intentional emotional blinders. The sound is shell-shocked and brittle, cool but not exactly collected. She initiated the split, and so she’s proud and hopeful that her life moves on quickly, and that maybe without him, she’ll “be a great lay.” He’s stoic and wounded, and confused by his sudden loss of what he’d assumed was a sure thing. They are both fooling themselves if they think they can fully escape the other, and that’s mostly because neither of them really wants it that way. (Click here to buy it from CDON.)

Klanguage “All This Time” – It’s almost easier to think of Klanguage’s music entirely in visual terms — every tone is a supersaturated color, and each dynamic shift pops out as if the song was recorded in 3D. There’s a lot going on, but it never seems busy since the negative space is managed so well, and elements zoom in and out of the foreground so quickly that you may feel that you need to dodge oncoming chord progressions. (Click here to buy it from Fnac Music.)

Also: R.I.P., Leslie Harpold. I didn’t know Leslie for very long, but her coolness, sense of humor, and range of knowledge was only surpassed by her kindness and generosity. She will be missed.