WILTLW: Jul 20, 2025

Cleo Reed - Cuntry

Harsh word for a harsh world. Cleo Reed’s Cuntry speaks to the insanity of our present moment better than any record I’ve heard this year, a reel-to-reel stunner replete with exploitation in all its clever guises. But the name’s not just for show folks, there really is country on here, and hip-hop and soul and folk and several more generations worth of black music. It’s an album to restore your faith in albums, greater than the sum of its already very good parts. Plus “Nona’s Jam” might be the smoothest groove I’ve heard since “Black Truck.”

Forth Wanderers - The Longer This Goes On

Cool band to come back. I remember finding Slop in sophomore year of college when I was listening to a lot of this kind of “in your feels” jangly garage rock. There was a lot of it around too, but Forth Wanderers stuck out for their keen melodic sensibilities and Ava Trilling’s sweet ass vocal. The Longer This Goes On is good for similar reasons with the added bonus of more mature and adventurous song writing. Worth a listen!

METAL IRON GOLD - INTERCOM 53

After debuting as Metal Iron Gold with a haunting industrial drone mix earlier this year, Christian Kim returns with a compelling foray into the world of avant-garde percussion for multi-media platform Homeroom. Focusing on the drum, this mix explores the variety of tones, textures and timings the instrument can illicit, stretching the field of possibilities with each selection. What I like about this mix is how it primes you to key in on a particular aspect of the songs, you get these “is that really how that sounds?” moments, like what happened to me with Curtis Mayfield’s “Move On Up.”

SOTW: DIME - "Shake It"

There could be no other. An absolute masterpiece, the 7th circle of hell opening up on the dancefloor, it’s hot, it’s sinful, it’s bad as fuck. A blessing to all who’ve heard it, a baptism for all who remain. Party starter, world conqueror, bow before DIME.