Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Best new music: Ibibio Sound Machine’s rhythm is gonna get you

Merge Records

Every Monday, 88Nine music director Erin Wolf shares a sonic gem she found using her nearly 20 years of new-music exploration experience. You can hear all her discoveries at 2 p.m. every Sunday on What’s All This: Adventures in New Music

London’s joyfully angular dancefloor gurus Ibibio Sound Machine’s forthcoming EP, Black Notes, follows hot on the heels of 2024 full-length Pull the Rope. As their label home Merge Records so appropriately puts it, the new project reveals “even more facets of Ibibio Sound Machine’s perpetual groove.”

The four-song EP’s groovy leadoff is the title track and quite the sassy comeback jam. Led by the smooth-voiced Eno Williams, “Black Notes” incorporates electronic, disco and highlife rhythms to lighten her powerful delivery. Included on the full EP is another brand-new song, as well as two remixes.

Black Notes gets its release Sept. 4, but in the meantime you can enjoy the lead single below. When you’re ready for even more of the latest releases, I’ll be back at 2 p.m. every Sunday for another installment of What’s All This: Adventures in New Music.


Episode playlist

  • Ibibio Sound Machine, "Black Notes"
  • Flying Lotus, "Garmonbozia"
  • Lola Young, "Flicker of Light"
  • Ginger Root, "Only You"
  • Field Music, "The Limits of Language"
  • John Davis, "Take My Brains Out"
  • knitting, "Heaven"
  • Christopher Owens, "No Good"
  • Katy J Pearson, "Maybe"
  • Liam Benzvi, "PTLSD (ft. SSION)"
  • Hazel English, "Jesse (ft. Day Wave)"
  • Elias Rønnenfelt, "No One Else"
88Nine Music Director / On-Air Talent | Radio Milwaukee