The April 2026 edition of Beatique is now live on Mixcloud. This month’s installment features new music from Slayyyter and Kneecap, throwbacks from Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Armand Van Helden, plus lots more. If you want the whole tracklisting, you have to listen, but there are links to posts related to the songs and/or artists at the bottom of this post.
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If there is one song on Chin Up Buttercup that summarizes this fifth full-length album from Austra, it’s “The Hopefulness of Dawn.” The six-minute epic opens with a cavernous, echoing intro that plays up the ethereal quality of Katie Stelmanis’ voice. Then, at about two-and-a-half minutes into the song, the raver synths kick in, rising with her voice as a new rhythm overtakes the song. Stelmanis’ name-checks Ray of Light as an influence and, indeed, “The Hopefulness of Dawn” does play out like Austra’s twist on the title track from Madonna’s era-defining 1998 album in that it’s an ecstatic, almost spiritual, slice of dance music.
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