You Never Let Them Get You Down

Sofia Kourtesis featuring Daphni “Unidos”

Dan Snaith – who you’d know as both Caribou and Daphni – is a class act. One way I know this is because in the press release for this collaboration with Sofia Kourtesis he makes a point of saying “to be clear, all the good ideas in this track are Sofia’s, I just added some drums and pumped up the arrangement.” I’ll take his word for it, which is pretty easy because I already knew Kourtesis has a brilliant ear for samples and dynamics. “Unidos” is a feel-good track, and in a very pointed and political way. It’s not a subtle piece. It’s designed to spike your endorphins and urge you to fight back against oppressors. It’s encouraging and empowering, and it works even if it’s not strictly meant for your ears.

Buy it from Bandcamp.

Pangaea featuring Jazz Alonso “Manía”

I’m sure the seemingly ineffable and intangible thing I love about Pangaea’s production aesthetic can be easily explained by some very technical decision made in some piece of software, but I can try to explain it: Everything bounces just a little ~too~ hard, but there’s grace in that extra bit of force. If you imagine it in terms of color, every color is a bit ~too~ saturated, but not so much that it gets messy and distorted. Everything in a Pangaea track is hyper-real and ultra-vibrant, like it’s dialed into the frequency of a better, more fun universe.

Buy it from Bandcamp.