It’s been a Banner Week in New Music. Good thing that I will never run out of rafters to hang them in My Imaginary Gymnasium. I was able to find thirteen new titles that I’m really happy to recommend.
I should mention, if anyone reading this connects with only one of the titles I talk about, that really makes me happy. I don’t expect everyone to like everything that I like. I contain multitudes.
To start the week off right, I have to start with the pre-release single for Björk’s new album, Fossora, due at the end of the month. Released on Tuesday, Atapos features an Electronic bed, with a Clarinet sextet. Björk’s voice continues to be unmatched, and her lyrics are a call to the heart of everyone, to overcome our differences. “If we don’t grow outwards towards love, we’ll implode inwards towards destruction.”
Another single (of sorts) was brought to my attention this week, thanks to fellow Music Blog New Music United. Catherine Graindorge is a Belgian Violinist and Composer, and has released the four-track, The Dictator. The title track features Iggy Pop, and so too do the two tracks that follow. Track Four is an instrumental piece, simply titled Iggy. Dark, deep, and atmospheric.
The Dictator
My BandCamp Wishlist paid off again this week. As I mentioned on Tuesday, LA Artist Sudan Archives’ second album, Natural Brown Prom Queen, was released today (Friday). It has certainly exceeded my expectations, with its array of sonic palettes at play. Trip-Hop meets R&B, which then meets with Experimental Electronic Music. Highly recommend. Highly.
Also on my Wishlist this week was an album by an artist from Cyprus. I’ve always had a fondness for Cyprus, as my old friend Biva visited family there and brought back a keychain for me, in the shape of the island. The easternmost part of the Country (which I referred to as “Cyprus Hill”), was useful for cleaning out my cannabis pipe. I miss it to this day. Nevertheless, Cypriot Antonis Antoniou brings interesting sounds with his second solo album, Throisma. Antonis is a Sound Artist and Producer, and across the nine tracks, he utilizes analog synths, fuzzy bass, and tzouras (which is a small bouzouki), to create a mystical Eastern Mediterranean journey.
Scottish singer-songwriter KT Tunstall had a hit back in 2004 with, Black Horse And The Cherry Tree, and I hadn’t heard much from her since. To my surprise, she’s just released her ninth album since then. I’m pleased to recommend NUT for its creative Pop production (by Martin Terefe), it’s incorporation of unique instrumentation, and Tunstall’s skilled vocals.
I was wondering when I’d be hearing from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Moreover, what form will the New Music from Minneapolis take? Will it be following in the footsteps of local legends Prince, or Hüsker Dü? Or maybe something else entirely? Surrogates are something else entirely. Their lofi, no frills, self-titled debut showcases the quartet’s in-your-face raw energy. DIY Punk by talented musicians, fronted by unhinged and mesmerizing Lulu on vocals.
A duo that I wrote about in April is back with another release. 106 is comprised of Phew and Dowser n, and they hail from Tokyo. Together they make what they call “Desktop Punk”. Their latest release, 106 DTP02, is seven tracks continuing their experimentations with synth beats, throbbing bass, guitar and expressive vocals. Wonderful.
A husband-and-wife duo from Oakland, CA, is doing something really different. Jamey and Volly Blaze have been recording and performing as Vantana Row since 2015. Their brand of Music takes the best part of heavy Thrash and Screamo, and pairs it with Experimental Hip-Hop. Their new TXTS MIXTAPE is jarring and exhilarating, and requires maximum volume. It features two covers, one of AC/DC, and the other, Dolly Parton. Put this on for size.
A few hours drive south of Oakland is the West Coast’s Punk Capital. Orange County is home to many of the big Punk and Pop-Punk artists of the last thirty-plus years. A set of twins from Orange named Wyatt & Fletcher Shears have been recording together as a duo for over ten years as The Garden. Their fifth full-length, Horseshit on Route 66, contains the Punk aesthetic, mashed with electronic beats, samples, and aggressive vocals. Well suited with pogo dancing.
Taking a sharp ninety degree turn, both in style and geography, we go to London. Here we find Coby Sey, a multi-instrumentalist, producer and poet. His debut album, Conduit, is a twitchy, bass-heavy testament to life at the end of Elizabethan England.
I get the tingles for the sound of backwards drums, and cymbals particularly. So does, I presume, an anonymous DJ and Producer from London who records as Nottap (who wants to bet their first and/or last name isn’t Patton?). Their second BandCamp release is a five-track ep, titled Sandman. Backwards drums accompany backwards vocals, synths, and guitar. To make it further confounding and fun, I think the vocals are in Russian. Get lost in linear time!
In the great city of Montréal there is a writing duo of Abigail Galway and Danny Trudeau that has ganged up with nine other musicians to create their debut album, EDDY. Funk/Soul is the primary template across the ten tracks, with intriguing melodies and phenomenal performances, particularly Galway’s vocals.
The musical and personal mythology of massive and broken pop stars has long been abundant creative fodder that still has much to mine. The trick is to make it interesting, and not a retread. Detroit Artist Timothy Michael Jones has been recording and self-producing music since 2020 as Alice Dreamt. His latest is an alter-ego project; as described on Twitter, a purported ‘Final Album’ by the “biggest band in the world,” The Candy Land Generals. The Visions of Dear Perfection (Or, The Candy Land Generals). Also, it’s my Feature Pick for this week. It’s a Rock Opera, in the same way that Sgt. Pepper is, in that it doesn’t tell a story, and the songs don’t have anything, fundamentally, in common. Without having heard any of his previous work, I can only imagine that this is the artist branching out, and, to my ears, it succeeds. From the attention-grabbing ‘Intro (Variations)’, into ‘Closer To The Light’, (which sounds like Muse, having a great day in the studio with Jeff Lynne), through to its ‘From Peppermints To You’ conclusion, it’s the kind of album that would hold the top eight positions on the Singles Charts, if the world were mine. The production is fantastic, it’s filled with terrific melodies, and he’s a winning vocalist. Can’t lose!
The Visions of Dear Perfection
(Or, The Candy Land Generals)
So, hey, so if you happened to have found thirteen out of thirteen titles to your taste, I think it falls upon you to let me know. That’s just being polite. Share the love, people!
New Music Jason’s Picks 
Great blog. Thanks for the link to New Music United. 🙋
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So much music to listen to here Jason! I’m really liking the music of Sudan Archives, who I was not familiar with, but seems to have a solid following. I see she’s playing at a venue in Sacramento, CA, not far from where I lived in the early 90s. Will listen to more of the albums you shared as time permits.
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