Good Monday, everyone. I’m back from a weekend spent in my hometown, with the intention of seeing my mother in Hospice care. Sadly, she passed away on Friday, before I was able to arrive, though I’m told it was very peaceful.
I’m not a very spiritual person, but while we were driving to get to my family, at the very moment that she died, there was a rainbow over our heads. It doesn’t mean anything, but it means something to me.
Music helps keep my mind in a positive frame, and, while I was driving here, there, and everywhere this weekend, I was still able to come up with nine titles to recommend, and to massage my soul.
I have a sneaky single to start my picks for the week. Sneaky, because Sault’s new 10 is a 10-minute track called Angel, divided into three movements. Touching vocal performance with emotional resonance.
My Imaginary Nightclub has lately been lacking in fresh jams to get my imaginary patrons on their feet. Just in time, before it imaginarily goes out of business, it has been given fresh life. An unfamiliar DJ and Producer, possibly from the State of California, and who goes by Mon$rock, has released a new Beat Tape called Some Slight. It it 26-tracks of continuously-mixed songs, aimed to get your booty shaking or head nodding (if you’re too cool).
The Chillout Room also has some New Music. British Producer and Musician Loraine James has released a new album, titled Building Something Beautiful For Me. Downtempo, with shades of ambience, and always progressing. Yes.
Band Name of the Week is awarded to Sheffield, UK duo Get The Fuck Outta Dodge. Their aggressive pairing of distorted bass guitar and speedy drums comfortably sits among their Punk compatriots. What sets Dodge’s 17-tracks-in-25-minute, Mammoth, apart is the ingenious way the two of them trade off vocals and harmonize. It strangely reminds me of the way Chuck D and Flavor Flav work together.
My BandCamp Wishlist came through again. Seattle Cellist Lori Goldston’s new album, High and Low, is evocative solo instrumental music performed on an Amplified Cello, with some songs featuring heavy distortion. Her musicianship is bold, with aggressive attack on the instrument to punctuate the droning effect. It is both exciting and meditative.
A three-piece from Brooklyn, NY, caught my attention for its audacious new album. Bi Ba Doom released graceful collision last week, and I love how the trio is using root elements of Jazz (saxophone, bass & drums) with electronics to create something improvisatory and unique.
An interesting blend of Electronic Music and Pop greets us next. A anonymous duo from New York who record as Macula Dog has released their second album, titled, Orange 2. It is eleven tracks that aspire to replicate the typical “verse-chorus-verse” format, but just miss, to astonishing effect.
The Bobby Lees are a band from New York State that released an ep that I featured back in June. They have just released their debut full-length, called, Bellevue. Smart and slinky Rock & Roll fronted by the captivating Sam Quartin. In addition to the four songs previously released, there are nine more tracks to get your pulse racing.
My Feature Pick for this past week comes from another band that I have featured in the past. Sorry are a duo from London that released an ep that I fell in love with last year. I’m so happy to have New Music from them, in the form of a full-length album. Anywhere But Here is couched in Pop, with a darker edge, and full of hooks. New Order meets Siouxsie Sioux meets the future.
I hope you enjoy what I have on offer, and that you are taking care of yourself. If you are, be sure to check in on your loved ones. I’ll be talking to you again soon.
New Music Jason’s Picks 
So sorry to hear of your experience…death is hard no matter the circumstances, but not making it in time has got to be top of the list of hardships. My deepest sympathies.
Your choice of “Building Something Beautiful for Me” seems to reflect your current emotional state as well as resonates with me personally. A prime example of how homelessness & joblessness does not mean one is worthless, a drain on society, unproductive or lacks creativity – this album is proof of that. RIP Julius
from bio: “In 1990, the composer Julius Eastman quietly passed away, out of the spotlight, a young man. By his death substance-addicted, homeless and broke, he was unforgivably overlooked in his lifetime. Still, the legacy of creative work he leaves is far more befitting to celebration than destitution. Only a portion of his music remains – a deeply regrettable sidenote to an already heartbreaking story – but this work represents a glorious and beautifully hued depiction of a composer totally in step with any modern great we could name.”
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