June 2023 - Let’s All Just Take a Minute, Yeah?

Albums

Kikagaku Moyo - House in the Tall Grass

I don’t know about you guys, but for me, June was one helluva month. I had responsibilities left and right, piles of emails to respond to from friends, family, and associates from every part of my life, and - as things shook out - a big life change that I haven’t even had time to think about. When my life reaches fever pitch like that, I find myself seeking out activities that have nothing to do with whatever else is going on. It ends up filling time that I could be spending doing like, the shit I’m supposed to be doing, but I think it’s also useful as a break break. Active rest, if you will.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that House in the Tall Grass has been on heavy rotation. I have a vivid memory of driving around looking for parking in Cambridgeport, on my way to visit a friend that I hadn’t seen in a year or two, listening to these chill, dreamy tracks, eating chocolate-almond chunks from a nearby gas station.

These guys broke up in 2022, which makes me sad, but their reasoning was, “We achieved everything we wanted to. We wanted to play psychedelic music festivals and tour the world, which we did. We poured time and energy into not just making music, but creating art, merchandise and a vision for what Kikagaku Moyo is. And we now get to complete our journey on our terms, on the highest note possible.” So like, fair enough. Be like, artists, or whatever. I’ll be over here eating Bark Thins.

Blood Cultures - LUNO

“Alternative pop” is a pretty big umbrella. It covers everything from Dirty Projectors to Magdalena Bay, to Jesse Ware, and if you really want to be broad about it, you could probably even toss in Iggy Pop’s “The Passenger.” It’s one of those too-big-it’s-unhelpful terms. Except that this album hits on nearly all of the territory covered by the term.

You might say that it’s all over the place - creepy, oppressive, bopping, twee - but it’s all really pretty great. Blood Cultures have been out of the public eye for a few years now (you might remember them from the 2013 track “Indian Summer”), and this is their comeback album (see track 1, “Keeps Bringing Me Back” - get it?). But I suppose that since this came out in 2021, there’s an open question about whether they left after coming back. Maybe they’ll do a re-comeback eventually?

Fakear - Talisman

East Asian influence has a complicated history in the electronic music world. At times, it’s handled really poorly, with canned samples of shansin repeated ad nauseum or just plain people speaking nonsense Japanese over a house beat. At other times its risen to the heights of artistry, with complex live instrumentation that make their influences plain. The nuances of what constitutes a respectful use of other cultures traditions vs what is simple appropriation are probably beyond the scope of this humble blog, but it’s almost inevitable that someone will bring it up any time that “world bass” comes up. And probably rightfully so. There’s more garbage out there than there is gold.

Nonetheless, I think Fakear falls into the latter category. He’s (usually) not just using some samples and throwing them over a dominant 7th, he’s crafting some intricate melodies in non-Western scales. There’s a lot of beauty here.

I’m deeply annoyed that the second sentence of Fakear’s Wikipedia page is, “Boasting a distinct style akin to that of French musician and producer CloZee, Fakear's music is best described as "world bass," a term also used to describe CloZee's music.” Look CloZee is great and all, but Fakear is a different artist doing a different thing. Who on Earth went to all the trouble of writing a Wikipedia page for him without thinking about what makes him a different artist? (sigh)

King Stingray - s/t

King Stingray are a great example of my favorite kind of artist to highlight with this humble blog: artists outside the normal channels of US/Canada/UK/AU music promotion who include their non-Western music traditions in their sound. To make that a little more concrete: King Stingray are Yolŋu and balanda artists making 90’s style rock music that incorporates Yolŋu and balanda sounds and stories. Disorientation in Australian urban life is a common theme, and the instrumentation includes didgeridoos. It’s also damn catchy.

IMO, this album gets better with each successive track. I don’t even especially like track one. Everything else is pure gold. If you’re not feeling the 90s rock vibe, try “Milkumana” for a little disco flavor.

Bugge Wesseltoft & Henrik Schwarz - DUOII

It’s rare, but every once in a while, a collaboration between two diverse artists will produce something like this: an album that would be completely left-field for either of them on their own, but perfectly situated between their distinct styles nonetheless. I mentioned last week that I think Henrik Schwarz is a genius as both a producer and a DJ, but I don’t think I gave enough attention to Bugge Wesseltoft, a brilliant jazz/classical musician and composer in his own right. This album is ruminatory, introspective, and troubled. It’s worth sitting with and contemplating. I had to try more than once to find the right occasion, but if you’re willing to take the time, there’s a lot here.

Dave Okumu & the Seven Generations - I Came From Love

I thought about using the word “haunting” to describe this album, but I think really the word I’m looking for is “haunted.” Certainly, there’s a lot of stuff here that evokes spookiness and sinister portent, but it refuses to stay in that territory. It hops around between creepy electronic productions, bluesy guitar-riffs-and-muttering, quick paced hip-hop-esque bops, and something-like-jazz oppressiveness. It does everything, but nearly all of it refers to the long history of oppression that black people have faced in the Western world, and expresses it through some combination of depression, defiance, dread, despair, and a complicated and honest evaluation of history. Musically speaking, it’s complicated, layered, and dense.

I can’t listen to it a whole lot, but man, is there a lot here.

Quick note: if you look up The Seven Generations, you’ll probably turn up some news articles about a hardcore band that got cancelled in the 2010s. That’s someone else. I think this “Seven Generations” is just kind of a collective term for the many, many collaborators that Okumu called in for this tour de force.

Tracks

Spiral Drive - Space Train

Psych rock is an enduring theme of this blog. Lots of delay and mixed down vocals.

But I mean, the star of the show here is obviously what the synth is doing. That fantastic hovering warbling tone like a UFO overhead. For me, this evokes the SNES game Earthbound, but I suspect that younger readers (are there younger readers?) will think more of Hotline Miami. Either way, that hovering sound plus the angular rhythm guitar interjections really take this track over the top.

Anz - Unravel in the Designated Zone

I love space disco/funk. This track puts a fun spin on the idea by leaving all the synths with hard, abrupt edges. Those claps manage to have really intense reverb but not at all blend into anything else, making the whole thing feel like a synthesizer-funk collage.

Para One - Vertigo

Ok, so I wasn’t always trying to relax this month. I still found a little time for rising electronic menace.

Hugo Kant - Melancholia

Moving back to world bass territory for a moment here. Listen to all that crazy percussion happening. And dulcimers! Who’s going to say no to dulcimers plus wowwwwmmmms?

Bodega - Thrown

I like my post-punk revival ironic and funky, which means that Bodega is right up my alley. If you haven’t heard it, go check out their fantastic 2018 album, Endless Scroll (which is one of the best album titles I’ve ever heard). I went back and forth on whether to include this track or “Doers” on the same album.

Death From Above 1979 - One + One

Let’s go hard for a sec. Grrrroooow-wum-wum-wum-wum-wum-wum.

Can’t spend your whole life ruminating, amirite?