New Music Friday has come to be an exciting — and daunting — day when a boatload of new albums arrive on streaming services and record stores shelves. It can be hard to wade through the curated, meticulously placed content on services like Spotify and Apple Music, but we've pulled out an album by an act coming to Tampa Bay in the coming weeks.
Imaginary Music is from British chillwave producer Hugo Manuel, who is better known as Chad Valley. This album is the offspring of an unfortunate accident where a laptop containing much of Manuels unreleased music was stolen two years ago. "Rather than bitterly working to recreate those lost tracks, Manuel opted to pursue a fresh artistic direction, consciously adopting a more timeless pop approach as opposed to his usual autobiographical style," Exclaim! wrote of the effort. "The result is an immediately engaging and ultimately rewarding album that should please fans of refined electronic pop everywhere.
Chad Valley plays Crowbar in Ybor City, Florida on Saturday, June 2. Fr33dback and King Complex play support. Doors are at 8 p.m., and tickets are $10-13. More information is available here. (Listen: Spotify / Apple Music / Bandcamp)
This article appears in May 24-31, 2018.