87th installment of the Joyful Union Select series.

Tracks by Dylan Owen, LLWLL, Sleeve Of Skin, Blu & Exile, Fine China Superbone!, Original Flavor, Boyscott, Stereosity, Vic Spencer, and more

Joyful Union Select 087

Shared Systems 有限 - the call of the void

ANFANG

Stream on Spotify/Apple here: https://dylanowen.ffm.to/dobeforeyoudie

"ROMANTIC LANGUAGE" CREDITS
Inspired by the language of love, and a girl from the desert who taught me how to dry my eyes.
Lyrics and vocals by Dylan Owen
Produced by naebird
Electric guitar by naebird
Background vocals by Astraia
Mixed by Jeremie Inhaber
Mastered by Héctor Vega at Bespoke Sonics
Bespoke Sonics Assistant Engineer Isaiah Chamberlain
Bespoke Sonics Studio Personnel Dasha Sands
Mixtape Cover Photo by Thomas Ford Flynn
Mixtape Cover Artwork by Dylan Owen

DO BEFORE YOU DIE MIXTAPE

STREAM

ROMANTIC LANGUAGE

Watch Me Drive Them Dogs Wild

Birdseed

Stena

Biskopskulla Hogstena

*title track from coveted LA vocal phenom, bandleader, songwriter Sharada Shashidhar debut album Soft Echoes, out Sept27 2024 via Leaving Records All Genre preorder vinyl cassette digital at leavingrecords.com/soft-echoes
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Los Angeles-based vocalist, composer, and producer Sharada Shashidhar has a deep awareness of the cosmos. There’s a distinct tug-of-war in her music, an understanding that scanning the heavens to answer existential queries isn’t quite enough; there are internal depths to plumb as well. Shashidhar’s first album, 2020’s Rahu, found her voice billowing out of smoky, post-beat-scene soundscapes, meditating on the collective unconscious and the energy exchange between all living things. Her newest work, Soft Echoes, is a bold step forward, eschewing her previous work’s hip-hop tilt for expansive compositions that blend jazz and Indian classical influences into a swirling, spiritual whole.

Though she has an extensive resume as a collaborator in LA’s experimental jazz scene, notching work with the likes of Carlos Niño, Zeroh, and the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra, Soft Echoes marks Shashidhar’s first outing as a bandleader. Gathering an ensemble that includes Anna Butters on bass, Julian Rodriguez on keys, Devin Daniels on saxophone, and Timothy Angulo on drums, Shashidhar sought to create a band that ostensibly functioned as an extension of herself. Her primary goals in writing these songs were to “let [her] body do what it wanted to do,” to trust her intuition, and “play without judgment.” Through that process, making Soft Echoes became a practice of presence and exploration, a chance to unlearn rigid structures and rediscover the joy of creating for oneself.

Recording took place over three brief, distinct sessions at Altamira Sound in Alhambra, California. Though the full band wasn’t ever present at the same time, Soft Echoes sounds like the work of a group in complete, mind-meld focus. Splashy drums nudge up against skronkingsaxophone on “Canyon Song,” while mushrooming synth tones stack up behind rippling Rhodes piano on “Luckiest.” Shashidhar’s elegant voice is the anchor for each of these tracks, sometimes gracefully stretching between instruments like a lithe dancer’s limbs, other times scattering through psychedelic delay.

She describes the album as having “two poles,” illustrated by the whimsical, buoyant opener “Soft Echoes” and the darker, more anxiety-ridden closer, “New Echoes.” The songs in between may come from different emotional spaces, but “it’s all really reflective,” she explains. The album can play like a loop, with Shashidhar entering a portal “into the endlessness” during “New Echoes,” only to be transported back to the beginning, full of gratitude and pondering “how strange it is to be alive.” On Soft Echoes, Shashidhar leads us on a journey through her mind, traversing its peaks and canyons in search of greater connection. “I want to take people places,” she says, pausing thoughtfully. “I can’t always guarantee that they’re good places, [but] hopefully you’ll feel something.”

Soft Echoes

Sharada Shashidhar - Soft Echoes

thisisldm is an experimental solo project from the UK.

also producing as @sharedsystems 有限