Feb 2024 - In Which I Have a Lot of Trouble Googling Stuff
Albums
Algiers - The Underside of Power
Given the name, you probably won’t be surprised to learn that Algiers is extremely political. The city itself, capitol of Algeria, has been an ongoing hotspot of revolution, violence, and oppression since the beginning of the Algerian War in 1954. The band’s name is a reference to the film The Battle of Algiers, which is fictional, but based heavily upon the memoirs of FLN commander Saadi Yacef, who also co-produced the film. I mention that both because the film is interesting in its own right, and because the band flew to Algeria specifically to meet him. Their revolutionary leanings are no joke.
Track 1 on The Underside of Power is “Walk Like a Panther,” which opens with a quote from Black Panthers leader Fred Hampton, and immediately launches into a frenzied, dystopian blend of soul, rock, and industrial. It’s hard as hell, and I think completely embodies the fury they must have been experiencing at the time they recorded it in 2016/2017. There was plenty for a revolutionary Marxist to be angry about at that time (and there still is now), so it’s not surprising that a band with those political leanings would produce something as arresting as this.
I went to revisit this album in part because Algiers just released a new one, Shook, and while I don’t find it as powerful as The Underside of Power (it’s a little cleaner than what’s happening here, and much less political), it’s still pretty great, especially the single “Irreversible Damage.”
Cécile McLorin Salvant - Mélusine
Us music writers love a concept album. It gives us a place to start, guarantees that there will be something to say, and since all the other music writers are inevitably talking about it as a concept album too, we don’t even have to do much research. And wow does that help with jazz. Try writing 150 words about a saxophone. Not easy.
Mélusine is a concept album. It’s based mostly on the story of Mélusine from European folklore, and tells the story of a woman who (for reasons) turns into a snake for awhile every week. She’s not supposed to let anyone see her like that, but eventually her fiancé breaks down the bathroom door while she’s in the bath and sees her as a snake, and then she uh, turns into a dragon, gives him some magic rings, then flies away, I guess. Look, it’s folklore and things get kinda weird over the centuries. Anyway, much has been written about this story, as you can imagine. In particular, scholars have been interested in its themes of femininity, hidden power, and a man who cannot allow for his partner to have a life apart from him.
For Salvant to work with this story is interesting, both because of her personal take on the story (some excerpts from an interview on the subject are available on her Bandcamp), and because its juxtaposed with the blending of genres and cultures that Salvant is known for. This album is primarily in French, but it also contains English, Occitan, and Haitian Kreyòl, which I think grants takes the story a universality, whereas it may have otherwise felt like a European affair. This is about women across the world. It’s also interesting how her vocal and emotional inflection changes from song to song.
It’s a beautiful piece of work, and, for the audio nerds out there, absolutely beautifully recorded.
It’s also worth checking out her visual art, which is pretty weird and cool, and reminds me of one of my favorite avant garde artists, Leonora Carrington, albeit in a way that I don’t really know how to justify.
вспышка - Параллакс
I wish I had more that I could tell you about this, but I don’t. I can tell you that her name, вспышка (Englishized as Vspyshka), translates as “Flash” and the album name Параллакс translates as “Parallax.” This is one of the challenges that come with listening to music from other cultures - sometimes you just don’t turn up much in the way of context, and you just have to hope that the vibes you get from the music are the ones that the artist intended. Or, I suppose, you could go out into the world and call up label heads and booking agents and eventually land an interview or something. But look, nobody’s paying me for that kind of thing.
So, giving up on the idea of historiography, I love this brand of mysterious electro-pop. It reminds me of some of the early Chromatics stuff, or maybe even some modern darkwave like Boy Harsher (I’ll take any excuse to talk about Boy Harsher). So… uh… idk, that’s it, I guess. I can’t even find the lyrics written down anywhere so I can run google translate on them. Sorry! Um, enjoy?
Kate NV - Room for the Moon
I gave my dad a copy of this album for his birthday a few years ago and what he said about it was this: “Well, I really liked it, and then I looked her up the other day and… I don’t know, reading about it is so much more complicated than listening to it.”
Indeed. Kate NV is a badass. Under this name, her work is complex, full of polyrhythms and odd musical modes. It’s a dense layering of sounds, and it feels like nothing is ever on the same beat. And yet, it feels pleasant. I almost never like anything in major chords, but this one is an exception.
Kate NV’s description of her own work is a dizzying constellation of influences ranging from Japanese city pop artists like Haruomi Hosono, Soviet children’s shows like Dot Dot Comma, Sailor Moon, John Cage, New Wave, Kraftwerk… It would be easy to roll your eyes, except that, once you’ve been told that it’s there, it presents itself the music and music videos. It’s tempting to think of her as over-intellectual, except that everything she claims about herself seems completely true, she clearly has a sense of humor, and even more than that, her work includes a lot of other stuff which is (on the surface, at least) much less cerebral. Check out her rock band Glintshake, and her new wave/electro group Decisive Pink (which is a collab with another favorite of this blog, Deradoorian).
I have to just say once again that I love that video I linked above. I have no idea what’s going on, and I’d probably assume that there’s nothing to know, except that she’s such an interesting artist that she probably actually does have something in mind. She’s so cool.
Lake People - Purposely Uncertain Field
Once again, Google has failed me. Producers can be tough, especially when they’re no longer active. As my friend KKV said, “This sounds like standing in a nightclub in Barcelona in 2017.” That is correct, and it’s also the deepest commentary I’ve been able to find.
Tracks
Clark - Alyosha
It’s kind of surprising that Clark has been as consistently awesome music for as long as he has, and isn’t wider known than he is. Part of it might be that he sits at a corner of electronic music that’s somewhat intellectual and somewhat danceable, like your Amon Tobins or your Jon Hopkinses, which appeal to a smaller crowd than other categories. And I imagine part of is that “Clark” is one of the least memorable names out there.
I think it’s probably also that his sound is difficult to pin down. He tends to produce cinematic journeys, but the textures and the beats change from album to album. “Alyosha,” though, is a real departure for him. It’s much softer, more melodic, and more vocal than what he’s done before. It kind of reminds me of “Sun” by Caribou. Sus Dog, the album, is worth a listen as well.
Grafix - Acid Generation
I’ve said it many times and I’ll say it again here, there isn’t enough acid house/techno in the world. Psychedelic, hard, all-consuming, this is what it’s about.
Steven Wilson - What Life Brings
It’s hard for me not to compare this track to Broken Bells’ wonderful album Into the Blue. Both are reminiscent of 1970’s style sweeping long-form rock, complete with the harmony vocals. This kind of stuff can get a little… 70’s sometimes, and the rest of this album goes that direction, but I find “What Life Brings” transportive.
Steven Wilson is hilariously prolific. Look him up and you’ll discover that he and his bands have been nominated for Grammys 6 times, and he’s worked with all kinds of superstars like Elton John, XTC, Guns ‘n’ Roses, Opeth, Yes, Black Sabbath… Music is full of unsung geniuses working behind the scenes. It makes you wonder how much of music superstardom is about being a brilliant musician and how much of it is getting to work with guys like Steven Wilson.
Joanna Sternberg - I’ve Got Me
There’s something kind of refreshing about “I’ve Got Me” and it’s earnest simplicity. Almost everything I listen to has at least a bit of self-awareness, a wink, a nod, a sense of humor. Not this! This is the title track from the album, and that total lack of irony continues until the very end. YMMV when she gets into heavier themes, but I find this pretty lovely.
Descartes A Kant - After Destruction
So I went into Descartes A Kant’s backlog, hoping to find more stuff like this fun, buzzy, major-chord electro-punk track. Unfortunately, it seems like they think they’re doing [overserious frown] Serious Art. Or anyway, they were on their previous two albums. This one, also titled After Destruction, goes in a different direction as some kind of vaporwavey concept album that I didn’t have the patience to figure out. It’s like 90% skits!
Anyway, After Destruction is their most recent album, so who knows, maybe they’ll do something more like this track in the future. We can hope!
Kassa Overall - Ready to Ball
I’ve talked before about some of the interesting things happening in the jazz world right now - lots of interesting experimentation with electronic elements, hip-hop beats, complicated production - most of it taking place in London. Kassa Overall is a great representative for the US scene as both a drummer and rapper, and I think this track is an especially good example of how interesting things can get when you really let those things blend. The album, ANIMALS, features collaborations with a lot of other rappers and musicians, including Danny Brown, Lil B, Theo Croker, and Shabazz Palaces.
Liv.e - Gardetto.
If you ask me (and no one did, but you’re reading this so you’re apparently willing to listen, at least), RnB is overdue for getting a lot weirder. There are a few artists out there trying to make that happen, with mixed results, but I think this album, Girl in the Half Pearl, does a pretty good job with it. It’s certainly weird!
Tienna Esperanza - Terror
Man, she has a cool voice. This is serious material, and that bass really drives home the oppression and, well, terror.
W. H. Lung - High Pressure Days
New wave never died, it just turned into other stuff. dance-pop. It's dance-pop with a heavy post-punk bottom end, which is funny because new wave was one of the directions that post-punk went to begin with. Or maybe it’s that post-punk is one of the directions new wave went. Either way, the snake eats its own tail, and you keep dancing.
Nikki Nair - Startrack
There’s some serious Propellerheads vibes going on in this great breakbeat track.
Nailah Hunter - Through the Din
People love ethereal vocals these days. This track also has some beautiful hazy background composition.
IKARVS & AKASHA MX - Akacje
This is a pretty nice mysterious electronic track with a reggae beat and ethereal vocals. I wasn’t really sure what to make of them at first, but apparently their shows are almost entirely improvised and feature guitars, vocals, DJ gear, and keyboards. They look like a pretty fun show to wander into if you’re ever in Warsaw.
Jungle Bobby & lentra - turn it all the way up
Is it complicated? Nope. But it’s got a fun bassline, some cool tinkly synths, and someone with a really deep voice saying “turn it all the way up.” No point in pretending I don’t want that.
JJUUJJUU - No Way In
This is a wonderful rock groove that underpins an incredible trippy swirling mess of vocals and keyboard stuff. Apparently Jjuujjuujjuu is the founder of the Desert Daze music festival, which I had heard of but never really looked at very closely because it’s on the other side of the country. But just now, as I was writing, I pulled up their 2022 lineup (I guess 2022 got cancelled) and it had like 40% of the artists I’ve talked about on this blog. Everywhere I look on that poster is someone I’d have killed to see. I guess I have to keep an eye on it for 2024 in case my Sept/Oct plans need to suddenly change.
Lankum - Go Dig My Grave
Lankum may not be excited to hear that this song reminded me of a trending TikTok video, but I couldn’t help thinking of this version of “Hoist the Colors” set to footage of sailors almost dying on the North Sea. It’s got a similar bottom-heavy oppressiveness on a track that could otherwise be thought of as traditional. I think it speaks well of the TikTok video rather than poorly of Lankum. But um, no one mention to Lankum that “Hoist the Colors” was written for a Pirates of the Caribbean movie, please.
Nia Archives - Baianá
The other day I remarked to my friend that I haven’t really been on top of discovering new and awesome DnB apart from just going and Shazaming an entire DJ set at the Phoenix Landing (don’t judge). It’s tough to find! As with a lot of electronic music (most music, really), there’s a lot more bad stuff than good, and it can be hard to find a way in.
Well, this is some amazing DnB, but it hasn’t really solved my problem either, because it seems like most of what Nia Archives does is basically RnB, which is the wrong nB.
Pássaro - Assum Preto
This is a track that I discovered on a compilation album put out by the label Shika Shika. Compilations like that are almost guaranteed to have a lot of artists who are impossible to track down because they just did a one-off or a handful of tracks and then disappeared. In this case, it doesn’t help that they’re Brazilian, and google gets them mixed up with Luiz Gonzaga. Anyway, so far they have this and one full album that came out in 2022, so there’s a good chance that they’re not done yet. Let’s hope!
Paper Idol - I’m Fantastic
One thing I’ve noticed about myself is that I don’t like “too much singing,” meaning that traditionally beautiful voices doing poppy, bouncy melodies don’t really do it for me. Paper Idol usually falls into that category, but on this track the chorus drops into some buzzy bass beats. The juxtaposition reminds me of Self’s Gizmodgery, which was one of my favorite albums in high school.
six impala - 6FINGERDEATHPUNCH
This track has a similar energy to meat computer’s social distancing from reality. This is a much dancier take on the idea, but they’re both following the formula of weird vocal effects + weird broken electronic productions. I feel like one of them would open a show for the other, though I’m not sure which artist would be which.
This comes from a compilation called All Nighter vol. 6, which is the result of a charity event in which a bunch of small electronic artists get together and spend 48 hours making music. I need to spend more time with these compilations because grassroots electronic has a high potential for discovering something obscure and awesome. However, there’s a lot of them, and as you can imagine, most of it is… not what I’m looking for.
Thandii - Give Me a Smile
I could’ve picked almost any track from this album, A Beat to Make It Better, a hazy world of slow-groove basslines and warbly, smoky vocal effects. I chose “Give Me a Smile” mostly because of the little “ooo” noise on every “four-and.”
MSPAINT - Information
I think this track works because the chanty vocals take a back seat to the brash instrumentation. Later on this album they have a collab with Militarie Gun, which makes a lot of sense.
Kabeaushé - These Dishes Ain’t Gonna Do Themselves
Possibly more on this to come :)
Anyma & Grimes - Welcome to the Opera
It’s a little weird to me that I’m calling out a Grimes song here, but hey, when she’s good, she’s good.