Jan 2023 - In Which We Go Hard (Sometimes)

Albums

Taxi Kebab - Visions al 2ard

I’m so excited about this one. A lot of the international music we get here in the states feels like it’s either a) tailored for the US market or b) really commercial and manufactured. This, though, has some real rawness to it. Aggressive, cutting guitar tones, dark electronic beats, arabic-scale melodies, wailing vocals… I love it. The vocalist/guitarist/buzuq player, Lea Leïla Jiqqir, is from Morocco by way of France, and partnered up with the electronic producer to create this sound. It’s pretty unique to my ears. I’m dying to see them live. Unsurprisingly, that would mean traveling to the EU, but… maybe…

Also, if anyone knows Arabic and is able to translate these lyrics, I’d love to know what she’s talking about.

The Organism - Dictator

Even I get tired of all the glitchiness and the distorted guitars sometimes, and I just want some sophisticated, mid-tempo house music where the weird little dissonances are just spice. The Organism has delivered on that with a really solid left-field album that sets up a nice groove and keeps it interesting without attacking you. If you don’t know his other work, you should definitely check out his back catalog because there’s a lot of variety there, from more hard-nosed electro to some hip-hop influenced stuff, to just straight up techno. This one is feeling good to me this winter though. It’s cold out and I want some of this coziness.

Gaz Coombs - Turn the Car Around

I’ve been trying to place this most recent album in terms of his work with Supergrass. Obviously a lot of time has passed since In It for the Money, or even since Road to Rouen, so I guess it’s not all that surprising, but I really have to squint to see the relationship between something like “Don’t Say It’s Over” and all his other late-stage britpop. Gone is the squeaky-clean production, the peppy vocal melodies, the quirky subject matter… this sounds much more personal and messy to me. It still has the nice piano lines and the storytelling, but the overall sound is a completely different animal. Coombs commented that he thought this is some of the best work he’s ever done. I’m not sure if I agree with that or not because it strikes me as pretty apples-and-oranges, but there’s no doubt that this is very, very good stuff.

Wata Igarashi - New Dawn EP

Wata Igarashi is one of the grand heroes of the Japanese techno scene. He’s one of the first Japanese producers to become internationally famous, and developed Labyrinth into a world class festival. I’d describe his style as layered, progressive, and… relentless. This EP does a little bit more relenting than his past albums, but there’s still plenty of pounding and glitch. He’s an extremely consistent artist, so if you like this, you’ll probably find it rewarding to dig through his back catalog a bit. Kioku is another of my favorites.

I’m going to go on a short little rant here because, dear reader, I spent hours and hours this month trying to find East Asian electronic music, and came up almost entirely empty-handed. I dug through festival lineups, found local club nights, and read articles about the scene, and none of the music is available here! Even artists that I know about are impossible to find on any of the major streaming services. What gives? Tidal and Spotify have tons of great music from the Middle-East, Eastern Europe, North Africa… are they just using some other app over there?

Anyway, end of rant. Listen to Wata Igarashi, and if you’re ever in Seoul or Osaka, pick me up some vinyl, ok?

Tracks

Locked Club - Doschitai

Apparently Moscow is a good place to be if you’re looking to go hard (there are lots of reasons to avoid being in Moscow, but I’ll give them this at least). If you look up some videos or images of these guys, you’ll find that that ski mask logo appears everywhere - it’s on all their covers, people get tattoos of it, and they even appear on Boiler Room wearing chain mail versions. You’ll also find a lot of dark rooms and moshing.

Which makes sense, right? Anyway, I don’t know what any of the lyrics mean, but I’m told that 90% of the samples are pulled from Russian TV. Presumably with a certain amount of irony? Anyway, that’s how I usually take samples in US/UK/EU techno. Also, enormous props to these guys for coming up with a techno bassline that I don’t think I’ve heard before.

Did I mention they’re on Boysnoize? Because of course they are. See also: “Irak”

Maleem Mahmoud Guinea & Floating Points - Mimoun Marhaba

Guinea’s guitar and hand-claps are really the stars of the show here, carrying the beat all the way to the end, even when the electronic stuff starts happening halfway through. I’m really impressed with the way Floating Points stays out of the way until it’s time to get weird.

Stromae - L’enfer

This is a gorgeous piece of songwriting, all about piano and vocals, with occasional punches of enormous wub-wub-wub. The album, Multitude, is worth a listen as well if it’s to your taste - there’s some rap and r&b content in there as well, but the intensity is always there. Also, worth checking out this surreal moment in which he busts it out a capella on a random news show. It’s clearly orchestrated, but… whatever.

DJ これからの緊急災害 - Fuck the Pa1n Away

This is the only Peaches remix I know of that deserves to exist. I have to admit that I’m a little confused about this guy’s deal. His name is Japanese for “emergency situation in the future” but it seems like he’s from Argentina? Also, is he the same person as Wachita China, or is that someone else? If you like this, and want to check out some other juke/footwork, check out the brilliant DJ Rashad, or for a more experimental take, some Japanese stuff like DJ Foodman or Gnyonpix.

Yaeji - For Granted

If you don’t know who Yaeji is, stop reading my blog right now (I guess you’re almost done anyway) and check out What We Drew 우리가 그려왔, easily one of my favorite albums of 2020. I’m just, so excited, that she’s back and still being weird.

COBRAH - BRAND NEW BITCH

Cobrah operates in the grand tradition of “lady says dirty things over a beat.” But for that, it’s pretty good. I love the slightly Elmer Fudd-y way she says the word “brand.” Brwand. I also like “GOOD PUSS” - both the original version and the one in which she collaborates with Cupkakke (one of the most no-brainer collabs I’ve ever heard of).

David August & Nelia Kit - A Golden Rush

Something a little more moody, with a western feel, a little country twang on the vocals and a nice guitar riff. I can’t find any more Nelia Kit anywhere. Keep an eye out for me.

Sampa the Great & W.I.T.C.H. - Can I Live?

Sampa the Great has a lot of range, and even on this one track she swings from soul to rap to tearing electric guitar. Sometimes she works for me and sometimes not, but this one hits hard. This is a very good album that maybe deserves to be in the ALBUMS section.

Yuksek - Beirut Ma Bet Mout

“Beirut ma bet mout” translates as “Beirut never dies,” a phrase that got a lot of traction following an explosion in the Beirut port in 2020. You’ll find a lot of songs with that title. And if this song is the vibe, then Beirut is still dancing.

Demi Levato - BONES

I’m as surprised as anyone that Demi Levato appears on this blog, but her new album, HOLY FVCK, goes surprisingly hard. Maybe she’s doing a Poppy? Also, check out that album cover, which got banned in the UK for featuring her in bondage gear on a bed shaped like a crucifix. The UK is weird.

Be Svendson - Drifter

Be Svendson is a downtempo artist with a fairly specific sound, pulling in guitars with a bluesy/westerny vibe. He has a ton of good tracks out there, so dig around.

Moodymann - I’ll Provide

This is the 2nd month in a row in which Moodymann has made an appearance here, so maybe I need to change my opinion of him. This is a song about wanting to fulfill someone’s needs, whatever they may be. At some point, he decides that they’re “dirty nasty” needs, but I like to think he developed that fantasy halfway through the offer, and at the beginning he just wanted to like, listen to their problems and hold them when they had a bad day.

Owiny Sigoma Band - Nyiduoange Drums

This project started as a Kenyan cultural exchange program between Jesse Hackitt (from Gorillaz) and Joseph Nyamungu, a local musician who unfortunately doesn’t have anything else I can find. Owiny Sigoma Band has some other good stuff, though.

Schacke - Kisloty People

We’ll go hard one more time before we wrap this up. Kisloty people, eh?