This edition of Common Time was assembled to coincide with the 2026 Meakusma Festival. Thanks to the musicians for being willing and taking the time to contribute.
I’m not a writer but what I’ll say is that the closer I can get to the source - to a direct line from a musician to my ears - the more I appreciate the music. The best labels are run by artists and the best way to find music is through other musicians. The more the “business” of music is left behind - the more the music shines. The following is a collection of recommendations - largely of newer music - contributed by people who make the world of music more interesting, plus one of my own…
(Click images to buy/listen.)
Via ANTOINE FONTAINE (FEW CRACKLES):
Turner Williams Jr.: vipérine (mistralph0ne)
"This is the last album from Turner Williams Jr. , an American artist from Alabama based in Marseille. He plays the Shahi Baaja, an electrified and modified version of the bulbul tarang, combined with analog electronics. Turner is also involved in the organization of DIY experimental gigs in Marseille with the mistralph0ne crew, a group of artists inviting local musicians to perform in grassroots venues across town. Key figure in the Marseille local scene with a killer release."
Via ARTHUR (OPEN GROUND/HARD WAX):
Various: Mzansi Bass curated by Shannen SP (TraTraTrax)
"Shannen SP & Joe Cotch did the NTS Now compilation in 2021. 5 years later Shannen SP’ Mzansi Bass is spinning out via Tratratrax - a current update, unearthing more, no-compromise South African bass futurism. Fact-finding killer stuff here. We need more of this - HEAT."
Via CONNOR CAMBURN (CHAINED LIBRARY/LITÜUS/ELIZA B.C.):
Vidad: Gang (self-released via YouTube)
“I wanted to sign them to my label, Anal Dream House Productions. I commented on their video, but it didn’t stick? idk if they saw it: Vidad Gang has been signed to Anal Dream House Productions. Coming soon, 2027.”
Via XAVISPHONE (MODERN LOVE):
MC BOLADINHO ZS (DJ WZL): MARKETADA NAS GOSTOSA (self-released via Soundcloud)
“I love listening to musicians and producers who you can tell entered a flow state while making the song. DJ WZL is a producer I see tapping into that (for lack of a better term) “zen” place consistently - lol. Everything balanced and deliberate. Perfect music.”
Via GEORG ODIJK (A-MUSIK):
Caterina Barbieri:At Source (light-years)
“Words are not my profession. Usually, I am not a big fan of mixing up electronics with acoustic instrumentation but here it really works as a natural unit. It’s more than the sum of two collaborators. Barbieri is not shy of drifting into melancholic melodies and being uplifting at once. Great cinema at a perfect length.”
Via CONRAD PACK (SELN/LOST DOMAIN):
Xj: Black Lights (Tarnac)
“Tarnac is the latest label from Berlin’s Truthspeaker - focused primarily on dance music. I’ve always loved Truthspeaker’s own productions - they have a real energy to them, raw and straightforward, yet managing to avoid falling into predictable tropes. This outing from Virginia-based Xj feels like a great derivative of a similar sonic world - a sinister blend of darker atmospherics melded within an addictive flair for groove that lies somewhere between Blood Witness and early 2000s minimal. Top tier!”
Via BRUCE (HESSLE/TIMEDANCE):
Pessimist: UVB76-029 (UVB-76 Music)
“Bristol’s very own, lean-n-mean, cig smoking machine - reminding everyone once again that no one today does hard-n-dark DnB better! (in my opinion anyway…)”
Via great area (RELAXIN RECORDS):
Sport 2 & cr00k6: An Eclipse Of A Ship
“I don’t normally listen to mixes, and I only found this one via Endless (05.15.26) on NTS because it has a very old song of mine on it. It’s sick. All of the songs get turned o! as soon as he gets bored which is quite soon. I don’t know who cr00k6 is - probably 1 friend away - but what I can find sounds cool and I’m happy that in this city of 9 million, I still end up finding things that I’m completely unaware of. The first track and a few others on the mix are by cr00k6 himself and this new record from him and Sport 2 that I haven’t heard yet is out in May.”
Via RAISA KAY (GOOD SAD HAPPY BAD/MICACHU & THE SHAPES):
Shabaka: Of The Earth (Shabaka Records)
“Shabaka is obviously an incredible musician and creator, but this album sometimes feels a bit naive; it feels a bit rough around the edges like he’s trying new things out and I like how you can hear his process exploring ideas as each track unfolds. It’s not slick or overthought, it’s really real and the sounds and acoustic/electronic blends of things are so nice. Overall, it just gave me a burst of energy and inspires me to create. I love listening to it.”
Via MADTEO (HONEST JON’S/SÄHKÖ RECORDINGS):
KINGDOM MOLONGI: Kembo (Nyege Nyege Tapes)
“Been saying for the last decade and a half - the best new electronic music from the old continent side of the Atlantic comes from the 2 extremities of the European continent, Portugal and Russia. Other than that, the African continent, especially the Congo and Uganda… This LP especially blew me away for how the producer, Jonathan Uliel Saldanha, collaborating with a seven-person choir from Uganda, created an immersive LP with choral chants and intricate melodies over contemporary electronics with deep bass and whirring drones that also draw from liturgical music, glossolalia, or speaking in tongues.”
Via IBRAHIM ALFA JNR. (FO/MILLE PLATEAUX/WORKSHOP):
Jana Rush: Dark Humour (Planet Mu)
“Underrated, inspirational. Jlin is a lazy but obvious comparison, but Janais absolutely unique in their own right. Outstanding imo +”
Via KELMAN DURAN (SCORPIO RED/HUNDEBISS):
Laenz: 88 Keys (Scorpio Red)
“It reminds me a lot of floating in air, right before you go to sleep and right before you have your last nightmare before waking. It is the only analogy I think I can make. I love Laenz’ working process even though I am quite mystified by it.”
Via SISSEL WINCENT (Rösten/Peder Mannerfelt Prod.):
Ryan James Ford: Tungsten Portals (Blue Hour Music)
“This is a release with tracks that combines great atmospheres with superb sound design while simultaneously being energetic and emotional. Pretty much everything I’m looking for in music!”
Via OPO (JOKKOO COLLECTIVE/MEAKUSMA):
Novelist: Audacity (self-released)
“This EP is a massive dose of energy, discipline, vision and sensitivity. Novelist always brings the goods, this time serving up new productions laced with ear-worming lines and hooks and archive instrumentals with nostalgic melodies and samples.”
Via KOREA UNDOK GROUP (PENULTIMATE PRESS):
Spring of Life: Shot Girl Costume (self-released)
“Beginning where it ended: as feedbacked signals fizzle through the atmosphere and byzantine objects crush themselves under their own weight, creeping static ushers everything into an empty space, repeated over and over; moments of meditation immediately contrasted by furious layered movement, hastily taken into another trainyard, warehouse, storage unit, with the only provisions being cold associations of estrangement and apostasy. Cast-off and abandoned. The album answers no questions and leaves only speculation, indifference and a brooding uncertainty.”
Via FRANZ WRAKHOWITCH (KASHUAL PLASTIK/EDITION D’ART/INKASSO):
Various: Unhallowed Corners - Roulette, Vol. 4 (Tusco/Embassy)
“The whole Roulette Series is fantastic. When I first read that Paul Brekus from Aardvark Mastering – who was also responsible for mastering the ’Locked Groove’ series by rrrecords – was involved, it piqued my interest. I was immediately curious about the releases and when I got my hands on the first records, I was absolutely thrilled – it took me quite a while to figure out how the whole thing worked. The LP is known for its ’Roulette’ format, which means that the tracks are cut in such a way... Highly recommended collector items!”
Via TRIBE OF COLIN (5 GATE TEMPLE/HONEST JON’S):
Echo Ltd 002 (Echo Ltd.)
“Most recent purchase - multiple tempos, dub undertones. Channeling something. The journey.”
Via POLIDO (HOLUZAM/ANA):
Criptobanda Musical of Paradela do Rio: Domínio Total do Espectro (Favela Discos)
“On first hearing, I got fixated with the idea that this sounded something like a martial music decoded from noisy field recordings made in the village of Paradela. David Ole, founding member of Favela Discos and w/ plenty aliases and collaborations (Bezbog w/ Dora Vieira, for one), now acts here as a sort of cryptkeeper, a necroromantic maestro, assembling a band from artefacts.”
Via GAVSBORG aka GAVIN BLAIR (EQUIKNOXX MUSIQ):
Keanu Nelson: Place Where I Go (Efficient Space)
“Such a lovely, lovely tune. I play it all the time and feel like I’m travelling alongside him on the journeys he takes in the song. Every time I listen, it feels as though he takes me somewhere new.”
Via KEITH CONNOLLY (NO-NECK BLUES BAND/GRAY SMITH):
Nean: Doo Dah Nean (la musica/Black Editions)
“What is music if not a half-life of memories? Thusly Doo Dah Nean, a not-circulated cassette release on the fabled la musica label from Japan released in the pre-internet 90s. I got this from label boss, Nanjo, at a la musica transonic gig at the Cooler in a dealer’s choice swap that seemed at once hermetically sealed. Upon its Black Editions LP rerelease, I feel I know less about it now than I did then (which was nothing.) Think a wordless Tate Mcrae meets Under The Skin at 16rpm or a chopped-and-screwed NYMPH and you’d be close - though such a context could only have been a fever dream back in the day. maybe it still is…”
Via XTEREA (5 GATE TEMPLE/MINDEYERECORDS.XYZ):
Fumu: Enter The Anima (YOUTH)
“Top record, zero skips. One of them records that gets you thinking about making some new tunes you know.”
Via STEPH KRETOWICZ (AQNB/ULTRA INSTINCT):
DJ Plead: Please (Smalltown Supersound)
“Thoughtful, understated, and intimate dance music from a third-culture kid known for his functional house, techno, and dub bangers made on his “Oriental edition” keyboards. This second album leans ambient and emotional while keeping to his established musical language of minimal Levantine percussion without ornamentation.”
Via FEARDORIAN:
Teenage Mexican: fallas paredes (Bunny Jr. Tapes)
“The best way I can describe this record is cold & haunting - some of my favorite ambient/almost slowcore - that I’ve heard in the 2020s. I wish there was more information on where this band originated & who is in it, but maybe that adds to its mystique for me.”
Via TERRENCE DIXON (TRESOR/AXIS/RUSH HOUR):
Leo Anibaldi: Muta (ACV Records)
“Innovative and Dark. It was one of my first records, and it really inspired me. Minimal dark experimental techno with the art to match.”
Via LUTTO LENTO (DUNNO RECORDINGS/HAUNTER/MEAKUSMA):
Angles In America: Asphalt Green (Halcyon Veil)
“My favorite American band is back with their first proper album in over a decade. Still filthy, mutating, and extremely beautiful.”
Via DJ GONZ (SELN/WAIN/LOST DOMAIN):
Various: JackBoys 2 (Cactus Jack Records)
“Been coming back to this album at various times due the largeness of the productions. It’s got that American bad boy energy that given all its issues still remains quite attractive, especially listening from the UK, where things are a lot more self conscious and nervy. Lots of heavily processed vocals, vintage game console chirps all dancing over booming 808s. Favorite tune: Where Was You Ft. Playboi Carti.”
Via EIKO ISHIBASHI (DRAG CITY/BLACK TRUFFLE):
Eliana Glass: E (Shelter Press)
“There is something comforting about this record—it feels as though the sound is coming from the room next door to where she is. It neither approaches the listener too closely nor remains too distant. Instead, it allows each listener to meet the record at a distance that feels right to them. I think it is wonderful that the album carries itself with such a quiet and graceful presence.”
Via NEBUCHEDNEZZAR (MAGDALENA’S APATHY/LOST DOMAIN):
Graham Lambkin: Two Points On The Angle (No Rent Records)
“Released in 2017, this sonic composition by Graham Lambkin refreshingly presents its non-invasive yet emotionally potent self with no decipherable intent, loosely patching together saturated field recordings and a schizophrenic sermon delivered by a compassionate rendition of Microso Sam, whose gospel truth seems to be something along the lines of: “Unfortunately, despite your best efforts, everything is going to be ok”. I keep coming back to this one over and over, there’s something about it that excites something a bit more fundamental in giving you, the listener, plenty of room to participate.”
Via GUY GORMLEY (JOLLY DISCS/RAP/WAIN RECORDS):
Betty Hammerschlag: fake girl (blush)
“I think Thomas (Bush) put me onto this project. All of the music is great, but I love the delicacy and ease of this record. I’m excited to see it live in July for the Jolly Discs show at OTO.”
Via SSTROM (SHXCXCHCXSH/RÖSTEN):
Karim: Lila (Tikita)
“A record that just floored me from the Moroccan artist Karim. Extremely hypnotic patterns of synths and percussion in constantly changing polyrhythms. Very minimalist but detailed sound design. A record that keeps the tension going from beginning to end, without almost any bass drums.”
Via RICHARD YOUNGS (NO FANS/JAGJAGUWAR/BLACK TRUFFLE):
Noriko Ogawa: Plays Erik Satie, Vol. 3, Vexations (BIS Records)
“This is a not so new recording I’ve only just come across. Ogawa plays the piece on a period piano and at quite a pace. It’s bracing, there’s nothing mellow about it. I’d heard Reinbert de Leeuw’s version - very beautiful - and this is so different. I’m kind of mildly obsessed with the composition.”
Via NUDO (HALCYON VEIL/AMERICAN SOUTHWEST):
Chino Amobi: You’re Not An American (self-released)
“Listening to You’re Not An American, I felt a familiar unnerving feeling; it took me back to being a precocious 15-year-old and listening to forbidden shit like NON, Death in June or things of that ilk. Amobi’s pastiche of ’neofolk’ is disembodied and sadder, summoning the weight of the American South, reorienting those haunted symbols into what is slowly revealed to be a Black American epic. The singing is monotonous and uncomfortably plaintive. A sporadic breakbeat or a lone sampled vocal run reminds us we aren’t treading in Douglas Pearce’s storied Europa, but in the gunpowder’d mists of Gettysburg, Chickamanga, and Corinth. The Sphinxes in Utah, the American Babylon, an empire in its death throes, albeit not yet dead. Highly Recommended.”
Via OLEG BUYANOV (OL/SERWED/IC LANDER):
Aeson Zervas: s/t (Heat Crimes)
“As a music producer, I always appreciate albums that let me listen as a listener rather than analyze them technically. Back in 2024 I discovered HEAT CRIMES, an independent Athens-based label focused on experimental electronic music and unconventional blends of local traditions with contemporary production. One release in particular stayed with me: Aeson Zervas - s/t. The music is simple in the best sense of the word — easy to sink into and completely timeless, blending Greek folk and classical influences with a subtly experimental approach. What keeps bringing me back is how, through such transparent and understated means, Aeson creates worlds of rare moods, shi ing from eerie and mysterious, almost mystical, to deeply romantic and nostalgic. To me, it feels like a complete artistic statement that exists outside of time.”
Via ERIN HOPES (LOST DOMAIN, WAIN RECORDS):
PIXY: XY (self-released)
“Hip Hop has a direct correlation towards techno: sound, culture, beliefs and attitude, and the fact that everyone’s always beefing with each other… I’ve really been deeping soundcloud rappers, the beats are kind of like an amalgamation of many things and it’s intriguing to see where they’re all potentially getting influence from and a lot of it is just executing their perception or experience of life. i think the album that’s most recently influenced my kind of inner being is “XY” by PIXY. i first came across legacy and i was sort of stunned by how polished it was and just undeniably powerful - you kind of immediately knew it would take off. i think i instantly recognised that the artist conveyed a particular type of intellect that’s easy to miss, because it’s not necessarily loud. the production on the whole album feels like getting lost in the clouds and flowing with all the seasons, but there’s a constant warmth that carries you. it works really well as a whole and individually. the lyrics throughout just emphasize the depths of her intellect. art connects people, of course, but as an artist myself it can be difficult to pull yourself out of someone else’s world, i actually had to distance myself from this ep but the impact resounds in me.”
Via J.TRIPP (HAUNTER/SAGOME):
FearDorian & osquinn: Before You Press Play
““Endlessly replayable new record by two barely 20-year-olds from the East Coast of America. Not sure what makes this the perfect combination of elements but perhaps it fulfills some promise of the Drain Gang ecosystem that appeals conceptually but doesn’t always li off in practice. Check distance for a great sample of a great sample of Britney Spears by Hype Williams.””
