Ana Roxanne and DJ Python wind through a gauzy ode to a sticky New York summer.
Initially conceived in New York, recorded in Los Angeles and finished back in NYC, the self-titled debut of Natural Wonder Beauty Concept sounds just as much like a record about driving around both cities as it does of a blossoming new friendship between Ana Roxanne and Brian Piñeyro. Meeting in New York during the winter of 2020, the duo got to know each other during long car rides tracing the outskirts of a metropolis under lockdown, listening to tunes and decompressing from their respective experiences of releasing beloved albums, Because Of A Flower and Mas Amable, during a time in which no one could get out to see them play. Their Times Square Transmissions session serves as a gorgeous artefact of this period, during which the pair glide through a selection of modern classical and lovelorn pop music.
Fitting, then, that the friends turn their attention to a sticky New York summer for their Fact mix, a gauzy sequence of gossamer electronics, sunlit instrumentals and golden hour somnambulance, like a warm breeze rustling at the thin curtain of a high-rise apartment. “During this warm summer, you finally get home, sweat on your skin,” they say of the mix. “The breeze from the fan cools your body as you throw yourself onto the bed. A smile across your face as you read a text message from your sweetheart.”
Expanding the soundscape from which the Transmissions mix and their album emerge, they wind through avant-pop experiments, ’90s shoegaze, ’00s indie, Instagram corridos, all-ages bedtime jams, Harry Fraud’s eternally underrated, Dexter Wansel-sampling, ‘Bird On A Wire’ beat and, arguably, Dizzee Rascal’s best instrumental. It’s like listening to your best friend playing music at the afters through your bedroom wall, or of an impromptu playlist made in the morning light on the way home from the club. Like their Natural Wonder Beauty Concept debut, Ana Roxanne and Brian Piñeyro capture perfectly the sound of sharing songs with friends.
You can find DJ Python on Instagram and Bandcamp. You can find Ana Roxanne on Instagram and Bandcamp.
Tracklist:
Sydney Spann – ‘Untitled No. 1’
Northern Picture Library – ‘Into The Ether’
Elusin – ‘Godsend’
Cash Bently – ‘Loco Sin Ti’
Chris Isaak – ‘Can’t Do A Thing To Stop Me’
Harry Fraud – ‘Bird On A Wire’
The Pudding Club – ‘River Dream’
Alsace Lorraine – ‘You Are Like Charles Lindberg To Me’
Beethoven – ‘Piano Sonata No. 8’
Blossom Dearie – ‘Now At Last’
Olivia Rodrigo – ‘Vampire (Edit)’
Dizzee Rascal – ‘Brand New Day’ (Instrumental)
Star – ‘The History Of Elephants’
Breathe – ‘Hands To Heaven’
Smashing Pumpkins – ‘Shame’
Bowery Electric – ‘Empty Words’
Low – ‘Laser Beam’
Alsace Lorraine – ‘Summer Days At Home’
Listen next: Fact Mix – Civilistjävel!
