Compelling submission from Bordeaux-based STABNEE. In French, papoter essentially means to chitchat or prattle. Sampling a line from French rap duo PNL, “j’papote avec ma pocket” (chat with my pocket), is meant as a reference to loneliness; talking to yourself becomes the only outlet because no one else is there. The song captures some of the often bewildering quality of anxiety and solitude, albeit mostly indirectly: it starts abruptly in the same way a wave of loneliness can come on suddenly out of nowhere; the repetitive and incessant quality of its 3 note lead line is nonetheless oddly comforting; the low end weighs heavily on the chest; and then it’s over before it really has a chance to fully develop. The song is from STABNEE’s recent album Cycle, which is out now to stream. No bandcamp, but the artist has kindly allowed me to upload the mp3 here.

STABNEE – “j’papote avec ma pocket” (mp3)

Turning from the pain of loneliness to the sweetness of yearning; a lovely bit of almost-lofi house from Dublin’s Blimp (real name Shane Smythe). I believe the vocal comes from a track by Dutch deep house producer Wolffman, but it’s possible it’s just that increasingly common problem of producers all having access to the sample sample packs. Either way, Blimp flips the vocal into something really soothing. “All I Ever Wanted Was You” keeps it simple and accessible, with familiar sound design and chords, but it’s all the better for it. No reason to reinvent the wheel when you’re working with something good. This is from Blimp’s latest EP, Casio. You can grab that on bandcamp or find it for streaming, but the artist has generously offered the mp3 here too.

Blimp – “All I Ever Wanted Was You” (mp3)

Last but not least is a pair of tracks from Pheonix, AZ-based Paternal (real name Benjamin Soto). Soto mentions in his submission that he sources all his samples from local musicians, and overall seems super focused on building queer community; lovely vibes all around from this one. Both tracks have a sweet almost-naive sincerity, which I think tracks with the energy Soto presents. But I’m equally charmed by the stylistic references. When I occasionally post harder wub/bass-heavy songs these days, I’ll sometimes describe them as throwbacks to Palms Out’s glory days, but these tracks both remind me that we were also something of a minor fixture at the back edge of electroclash (and what bloggers of the time lazily referred to as “indie dance”). Both of the songs Soto sent me–one older original and a remix he did for Tempe-based duo Bogan Via–have that spirit. I can picture these both playing really well in the days when we were all clamoring for new material from likes of Hot Chip, Fischerspooner, Ladytron, CSS, and Peaches. I’m glad to hear that energy is still being mined. Both of these are available to stream, but Paternal was nice enough to send me the mp3s to post here.

Paternal – “Everything” (mp3)
Bogan Via – “Everything’s OK” (Paternal Remix) (mp3)