EKHO Sonic Chill #13

Cowboy Junkies. Formed in Toronto in 1985 around three Timmins siblings: Margo on vocals, Michael on guitar and songs, Peter on drums, plus bassist Alan Anton. The breakthrough, The Trinity Session, was recorded mostly in a single day, November 27th, 1987, inside Toronto's Church of the Holy Trinity. The band gathered around one Calrec ambisonic microphone, so the church's natural reverb became part of the sound. Their hushed 'Sweet Jane' is modelled on the Velvet Underground's live 1969 version, not the studio cut, and Lou Reed was often quoted calling it his favorite cover of the song. The album went platinum in the US and double platinum in Canada, they entered the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2019, and their best-of Open to Beauty: Best of the 21st Century came out in 2026.

Massive Attack came out of Bristol's Wild Bunch sound-system scene in 1988 and defined trip-hop across Blue Lines (1991), Protection (1994) and Mezzanine (1998). 'Three' is the Protection cut sung by Nicolette, the Glasgow-born singer who co-wrote it with the band and producer Nellee Hooper. She sang the album's 'Sly' too. Protection reached number 4 in the UK and topped the UK dance and R&B album charts. In 1995 dub pioneer Mad Professor remixed almost the whole album as No Protection, and 'Three' came back as 'Trinity Dub'. In April 2026 Massive Attack put out 'Boots on the Ground' with Tom Waits.

Mr Cooper is producer Paul Cooper, putting out instrumental beats from 2002. Born Of Man And Flies came out on Lex Records when he was nineteen. His first solo album, Amongst Strangers, came out on Wimm Recordings in 2005, and in November 2006 Project: Mooncircle pressed a vinyl edition limited to 500 copies. That's the version 'Ten' comes from. The album notes say it was 'made with samples, a PC and a crude bass guitar', produced between 2002 and mid-2005, with tracks born in late-night sessions with Chatro. He went on to help coordinate Project: Mooncircle and made the follow-up What Else There Is (2008), which Textura described as cinematic beat-making with a Blade Runner aesthetic.

Night Swimming. Five of them, out of Bath, working the Bath and Bristol scene: Meg Jones on vocals, Sam Allen and Jesse Roache on guitars, Josh Nottle on bass and Torin Moore on drums. 'In The Real World' was a self-released single in 2025, again produced by Peter Miles. The band say it's written from the perspective of a young person longing to be part of something bigger, and it shimmers with echoes of Cocteau Twins and Melody's Echo Chamber. That year they supported Lush's Miki Berenyi on her trio's UK dates. In 2026 they put out the Melting, Sometimes Bleeding EP on Venn Records.

Radiohead. Five schoolfriends from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, who became one of the defining art-rock bands of their era. 'Staircase' was worked on before The King of Limbs but stayed a demo until after the album came out. First heard on Tuesday, June 21st, 2011, as a live performance from Nigel Godrich's From the Basement series. It's skittering and keyboard-soaked, with two drummers: Phil Selway alongside Portishead's Clive Deamer. It came out as a download single with 'The Daily Mail' on December 19th, 2011.

The Bilinda Butchers. Hazy, whispery dream pop, and their Bandcamp lists them in New York. Their goodbyes EP came out on August 28th, 2012 on CD and vinyl. Later came the Edo-period concept album Heaven (2014), then Night and Blur (2020), which pulled 90s house, drum and bass and trip-hop into their sound, inspired by the chaotic rhythm of their tours in Asia.

mary in the junkyard. South London trio: Clari Freeman-Taylor on vocals, guitar and cello, Saya Barbaglia on bass and viola, and David Addison on drums. They came up on the Brixton scene alongside Goat Girl and black midi. 'Blood' is the second track on their debut album, Role Model Hermit, out on Friday, July 3rd, 2026 on AMF Records through Island, produced by Oli Bayston. Cello and viola in with the guitars. Far Out called it 'about as perfect as a debut album gets'. And they opened every date of Wet Leg's North American tour in autumn 2025.

DJ Cam is Laurent Daumail, born in Paris in 1973, one of the founding figures of French trip-hop and instrumental hip-hop. Hip-hop at the root, mixed with jazz, dub and ambient. 'Innervisions' comes from Substances (1996), the album after his Underground Vibes debut, out on his own Inflamable label with Columbia. Wikipedia notes Underground Vibes is often cited as one of the first complete instrumental hip-hop albums. FACT later ranked his 1996 Abstract Manifesto number 9 among the 50 best trip-hop albums of all time, saying he positioned himself as the European equivalent to DJ Krush and DJ Shadow. The single 'Wake Up' came out in July 2026.

Two People. Melbourne duo, Phoebe Lou and Joey Clough, childhood friends who first played together in Snakadaktal, the five-piece that won triple j's Unearthed High in 2011 and split in 2014. They regrouped as Two People, and their debut album, First Body, came out on Friday, January 18th, 2019, through Brooklyn's Terrible Records and Liberation Music. They wrote, recorded and produced it themselves between 2016 and 2018, and Rodaidh McDonald (The xx, Sampha) came in to mix. 'Give Me Order' builds from a minimal verse into an orchestral chorus over prominent drums. In 2020 they previewed a second album with the single 'A Taste', co-produced with Simon Lam of Kllo.

Ivy. Dominique Durand on vocals, a Parisian who moved to New York to study English, with New York musicians Andy Chase and the late Adam Schlesinger. They formed the trio in 1994. Lush, breathy dream pop. 'Apartment Life' (1997), then 'Long Distance' (2000), 'In the Clear' (2005) and 'All Hours' (2011). 'I Think Of You' is track 10 on Long Distance, recorded at Stratosphere Sound in New York, with Eric Matthews credited on trumpet. Schlesinger died of COVID-19 complications in April 2020. Chase and Durand finished the 2025 album 'Traces of You' (Bar/None) from archived material with Schlesinger on every track, and in November 2025 they announced their first shows in 15 years.

A Forest Mighty Black. German downtempo, fronted by producer Bernd Kunz, with Michael Schwalbe and Rainer Trüby also credited as members. Freiburg-based, blending Brazilian and fusion influences with trip-hop. They came up on Munich's Compost Records in the mid-nineties, and the debut album, Mellowdramatic (1997), is an hour of melancholic Rhodes-and-breaks downtempo pulling in drum and bass, hip-hop, jazz and Brazilian flavours. 'Rebirth' is track 9, and a remix album followed in 1998. Kunz later moved into Detroit-leaning deep house as AFMB and with the Lost Men on Drumpoet Community.

You'll Never Get to Heaven. Dream-pop duo out of London, Ontario: Alice Hansen, a classically trained pianist and violinist, and tone-sculptor Chuck Blazevic. Their records, a 2012 self-titled debut, Adorn (2014) and Images (2017), are minimal, ethereal ambient pop. 'Dust' is track 3 on their fourth album, Wave Your Moonlight Hat for the Snowfall Train (19 November 2021), out on Mystic Roses, the duo's own imprint. The band call it sparse, lightly dub-infused songs built from fretless bass, watery piano and marimba, hushed vocals and tape echo. They've been selective about playing live.

a.s.o. Singer-songwriter Alia Seror-O'Neill, who records as Alias Error, and producer Lewie Day, the Berlin-based Australian better known as Tornado Wallace. 90s trip-hop, cinematic and dubby, pointing to Cocteau Twins, Fleetwood Mac and Portishead. 'Go On' is the 2:54 opener of their self-titled debut album (Low Lying Records, 2 June 2023), written and recorded by the pair at Quintagon Studios in Berlin and Palmerston Studios in Melbourne between 2020 and 2023, mastered by Mikey Young. The album later got a vinyl run, a Japanese CD edition (2024) and a remix set, a.s.o. remixed.

Wu-Lu is Miles Romans-Hopcraft, out of Brixton, South London. Deliberately genre-agnostic, splicing punk urgency into dub, trip-hop, grunge and hip-hop production. His 2022 Warp debut, Loggerhead, picked up nominations for Best Punk Record at the Libera Awards and Best Independent Album at the AIM Awards, and Learning to Swim on Empty followed on Warp in 2024. 'Gooie' comes from Soon Come (July 2022), the 22-track compilation from Touching Bass, the South London club night, concert series, NTS Radio show and label run by Errol and Alex Rita. DJ Mag said it comes on 'like a hazy, stripped-down Rotary Connection'. In June 2026 he put out Bakerz Dozen, a collaborative EP with POiSON ANNA, on Warp.

Esthero is Jenny-Bea Englishman. Canadian singer, grew up in Walkerton, Ontario and moved to Toronto at sixteen, where she was paired with producer Martin 'Doc' McKinney. Their album Breath From Another (Work Group, April 1998) is lush late-'90s trip-hop, gold in Canada, Juno-nominated, and nominated for the 2016 Polaris Heritage Prize. 'That Girl' is track 4. It went out as a promotional single, the Patrick Hoelck-directed video was shot in Toronto and went into rotation on MuchMusic in June 1999, and the song plays in the 1998 film I Still Know What You Did Last Summer. She went on to write for others, co-writing three songs on Kanye West's 808s & Heartbreak, and self-released Everything Is Expensive in 2012.

Kruder & Dorfmeister. the Viennese duo of Peter Kruder and Richard Dorfmeister, partners since 1993 and one of the defining acts of downtempo. 'Definition' opens G-Stoned, their four-track debut EP, recorded in September and October 1993 and released on their own G-Stone Recordings. The two handled all instruments, writing and production themselves. Gilles Peterson gave the EP global traction, and then came their 1996 DJ-Kicks mix and the remix collection The K&D Sessions (1998). They returned with the album 1995 in 2020, and in 2026 they've been touring a show marking 30 years of their DJ-Kicks mix.

Doves. Manchester trio, Jimi Goodwin and twin brothers Jez and Andy Williams, who started out as the dance act Sub Sub until a 1996 studio fire gave them a fresh start. Widescreen, melancholic northern rock with the rhythmic pull of their club past. 'M62 Song' is track 4 on The Last Broadcast (Heavenly, 29 April 2002), which went to No. 1 in the UK and was shortlisted for the 2002 Mercury Prize. A hushed, Andy Williams-sung interlude, it adapts King Crimson's 'Moonchild', and they recorded it outdoors under a motorway flyover. Their 2025 album Constellations for the Lonely was followed by the compilation So, Here We Are: Best Of Doves (14 November 2025) and a UK winter tour.

Coldplay formed in London in 1997 after Chris Martin and Jonny Buckland met in their first week at University College London, then Guy Berryman and Will Champion completed the line-up. Their debut, Parachutes (Parlophone, 10 July 2000), produced with Ken Nelson, was Mercury-nominated and won the Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album and the Brit Award for British Album of the Year. 'Trouble' is track 6, a piano ballad built around Martin at the keys. It took four attempts in the studio to get right, and as the third single (October 2000) it reached No. 10 in the UK, their second top-ten hit. They went on to become one of the biggest bands in the world, and their Music of the Spheres World Tour paused at Wembley Stadium in September 2025.

Ane Brun was born Ane Brunvoll in Molde, Norway, and has been based in Stockholm since 2001, where she writes, records and runs her own label, Balloon Ranger Recordings. That intimate folk-pop voice has won her Norway's Spellemannprisen twice (Best Female Artist in 2005, Female Pop Solo Artist in 2011) and Sweden's Grammis for Composer of the Year (2021). 'Oh Love' is off It All Starts With One (2011), produced by Tobias Froberg, with Jose Gonzalez guesting on 'Worship'. The album debuted at No. 1 in both Norway and Sweden. One reviewer said Froberg's production is so spare 'you could often hear a pin drop', especially on acoustic pieces like 'Oh Love'. Peter Gabriel asked her to sing the Kate Bush part with him on 'Don't Give Up' for his 2011 album New Blood, and she went out on that tour with him. Her new album, I Thought We Were the Same, her first newly written collection in six years, is due on BMG on Friday, November 6th, 2026.

Slowdive. Formed in Reading, England in 1989 around childhood friends Neil Halstead and Rachel Goswell, and one of shoegaze's defining bands with Just for a Day (1991) and Souvlaki (1993, with Brian Eno collaborating on two songs). 'Crazy for You' is from Pygmalion (Creation, 1995), a sparse record built entirely from samples and loops, made while, as Halstead put it, the band was disintegrating. Drummer Simon Scott had already left, because live drums weren't a big part of it. They split after that, then reunited in 2014. Everything Is Alive (2023) became their first top-ten album in the UK.

e.s.t. Pianist Esbjörn Svensson, his childhood friend Magnus Öström on drums and Dan Berglund on double bass, a Swedish trio that came together fully in 1993. They played jazz like a rock band: Bartók and Radiohead among their touchstones, electronics and effects on the bass, shows in rock venues. 'Ballad for the Unborn' opens Seven Days of Falling, recorded at Stockholm's Atlantis studio in 2003. It won the German Jazz Award and a Swedish Grammy in 2004 and charted on both jazz and pop album charts. The follow-up, Viaticum, was Europe's best-selling instrumental jazz album of 2005. Svensson died in a diving accident in 2008. His bandmates have kept the music alive, including the live tribute album e.s.t. 30, recorded at the Kölner Philharmonie in 2023.

Björk Guðmundsdóttir, out of Reykjavík, Iceland. She was singing for the Sugarcubes by 21, then went solo with Debut (1993). 'Possibly Maybe' is from Post (1995), which hit No. 1 in Iceland and No. 2 in the UK and went platinum in the UK and US. It's an ambient-dub, trip-hop torch song she produced with Nellee Hooper, Marius de Vries on programming and Howie B mixing. As a single in October 1996 it reached No. 13 in the UK and topped the UK indie chart. She first imagined it as 'ambient country' with slide guitar, inspired by Chris Isaak's 'Wicked Game'. She won the Polar Music Prize in 2010 and has confirmed a new album for 2027.

Film School. Shoegaze out of San Francisco, founded by Greg Bertens in 1998, now split between SF and Los Angeles. 'American Turnip' opens their debut, Brilliant Career (Me Too! Records, 2001), which began as Bertens recording with members of Fuck and Pavement before a full line-up formed. The sleeve notes say it was recorded in 1999 and 2000, partly on a PC in a bedroom and partly at Black Eyed Pig Studios in San Francisco. A self-titled 2006 album on Beggars Banquet widened their audience, and after a 2011 hiatus they reunited in 2014 for Bright to Death (2018), We Weren't Here (2021) and Field (Felte, 2023).

Song of the show on Episode 13 · pick 13 of the EKHO Sonic 25

BRONCHO. Formed in Norman, Oklahoma in 2010 around Ryan Lindsey. Deadpan hooks, buried vocals, guitars just out of focus. 'Imagination' opens Natural Pleasure (25 Apr 2025), their fifth album, produced by Chad Copelin. Most of it was cut at Blackwatch Studios in Norman and finished at Sonic Ranch in Tornillo, Texas. 'Imagination' was one of the singles, with 'Funny'. In spring 2026 they toured 'A Decade of Double Vanity'.

Still Blank. Transatlantic duo, Jordy (Jordan Fleming) and Ben (Benjamin Kirkland), from Hawaii and Manchester, now based in Los Angeles. Blurry alt-pop that recalls 90s alternative radio. 'What About Jane' opens their self-titled debut (Capitol, 21 Nov 2025). It came out as a single on June 6th, 2025, co-written by both of them, produced by Joel Pott and mastered by Heba Kadry.

Telefon Tel Aviv began in 1999 as a New Orleans duo, Joshua Eustis and Charles Cooper, making IDM, ambient techno and glitch. 'The Birds' is the 6:38 opener of their third album, Immolate Yourself (BPitch Control, 2009), which reached No. 17 on Billboard's Dance/Electronic Albums chart. Slant called it 'the rare electronic work that feels entirely alive.' Eustis has kept the project going solo since Cooper's death in 2009, and Dreams Are Not Enough came out on Ghostly International in 2019.