Jefre Cantu-Ledesma

A platoon of 8 and 9 year olds are about to descend on my house in about 25 minutes for my youngest son's sleepover birthday party.  It's gonna get loud.  But it looks like i have just enough time to listen to and possibly meditate to the latest 20-minute opus from Jefre Cantu-Ledesma.  "The Milky Sea" is the opening track to the upcoming "Gift Songs" LP due next month.  Here's hoping it calms my already frayed nerves.  Check it out below and pre-order the record here from Mexican Summer.

Raum

Liz Harris records under a lot of different monikers from time to time, and one of those is here collaborative project with Jefre Cantu-Ledsma called Raum.  It's been a few years since we last got a release from the duo, but that changed today with "Daughter."  The ambient record explores grief and loss through sound, and it's quite effective.  Check out "Sunlight Crying" below and get the record here.

Julie Byrne & Jefre Cantu-Ledesma - Love's Refrain

A few years back, Jefre Cantu-Ledesma released the beautiful "Love's Refrain," an dreamy instrumental track that was used to profound effect on last year's "Knife + Heart."  It makes its way into rotation pretty regularly around these parts, and now we've got a new lyrical version courtesy of folk artist Julie Byrne.  Byrne leaves the song intact and adds her soothing vocals to create a wonderful new take on the track.  Check it out below and get it here from Looking Glass.

Jefre Cantu-Ledesma

Prolific experimental artist Jefre Cantu-Ledesma has a new album coming out on Mexican Summer in June called "On the Echoing Green."  Listen to the first taste of the record, the sprawling dreamscape of "A Song of Summer" below.  If it's any indication, the record should be dreamy, reverby wonder.