Welcome to 2SER’s new music review, it’s where we connect you with some of the best and latest releases from around the world. Read on, click through to our Spotify playlist and enjoy it all on 2SER!

SERvin’ Up! – w/c April 30, 2018

Jess Williamson – Cosmic Wink (Feature Album)
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Tropical F*ck Storm – A Laughing Death in Meatspace
Eleanor Friedberger – Rebound
Antonio Sanches – Buli Povo!
Damien Jurado – The Horizon Just Laughed
Vive La Void – Vive La Void
Cut Worms – Hollow Ground
Engelwood – Boardwalk Bumps
Great Earthquake – Thinking & Making
Black Moth Super Rainbow – Panic Blooms

A standout Record Store Day re-issue of this year is definitely from German label Analog Africa who shine a spotlight on Cape Verdean musician Antonio Sanches and his 1983 album Buli Povo!. The volcanic archipelago gained independence in 1975 and with it, the Portuguese ban on Funaná, one the most African of music styles from Cape Verde, was lifted. Prior to this, anyone who played Funaná was at risk of being arrested, imprisoned and sometimes tortured. Sanches took the spirit of an ancient and traditional, accordion-based genre and welcomed it to the modern world of electric guitars, drum kits and spaced out synths. The album is drenched in sweeping, embellished key hooks and wild, danceable rhythms — it’s a fascinating, eclectic re-issue and good times all around!

 Vive La Void is the solo moniker of Sanae Yamada. As the co-founder and keyboardist in Moon Duo, she brings this almost otherworldly sheen to their music, with sprawling synth composition. As Vive La Void and on her self titled debut album, we hear that extrapolated. There’s a retro-futurist feel to these songs with some dark underlying tones, but always great to hear Yamada’s vocals front and centre, which add almost a haunting, yet soothing quality to it all.

We also see the return of former Fiery Furnaces singer Eleanor Friedberger and the follow up to her 2016 album New View. On her new record Rebound, Friedberger trades in acoustic instrumentation for programmed drums, a Juno synthesizer, and muted guitars, and we see a new and welcomed sonic direction. Boasting upbeat and snappy hooks, nostalgic dream pop ballads and a even a homage to 80s dark goth pop, it’s refreshing and damn catchy.

Plus new singles from homegrown talents Body Type, The Goon Sax and Shepparton Airplane, serpentwithfeet, Beach House, Kiefer and Tuareg guitarist Bombino.