As I type these words I’m waiting for my Daughter at the Dentist’s office while she gets two baby teeth pulled. The darn assistant won’t let me have a huff of the nitrous!
I was right about the high quality of New Releases this week, and Drake actually pulled the trigger on his new album. It’s nearly an hour and a half long and is time better spent.
In all, I’ve come up with nine recommendations to share with all my friends. Ready, friends?
A single to get my recommendations rolling for the week comes from one of my favourite MCs, Homeboy Sandman. I’ve recommended Sand plenty in the past, most recently with with new LP, Rich. He’s released a ‘remix’ of the track Therapy, but not your average remix. Off the top of Therapy (Truth Hurts Remix), Homeboy explains, “This is the Remix…Back in the day they’d do a remix that was a whole new song, with new lyrics, and a new beat. Like The Roots did to You Got Me…” It’s completely unrecognizable from the original, with jaunty horn samples and freestyle rhymes. But be careful! At a brisk 93 seconds, sneeze and you miss it.
For Artists who toil in Experimental Sound, or in the case of Rafael González and Hal McGee, “Audio Folk Art”, it’s a fine line between transcendence and navel-gazing. fortunately for us, this duo, based in Gainesville, Florida have assembled a brilliant and exciting experience with COLLABORATORY. Throughout ninety minutes, divided into six fifteen-minute tracks, the recordings created by each Artist separately, and then they “mixed the recording together using an automated random chance shuffle procedure.” The harsh noise and electronic chirping, spliced with barking dogs and conversation harken the chaos of everyday life and works great among the rest of my New Music Playlist. Recommended if you believe The Beatles’ Revolution 9 is too short.
An EP arrived this week from an Artist that I discovered August of last year. Tek Lintowe is from Åland Islands and he makes eccentric Electronic Music. On I am a evil person they’ve teamed up with California producer Pentagrvm for four moody tracks with bubbling autotune and deep bass.
An anonymous Artist known only as rrao, who hails from China (Texas) released a three-track EP this week. Hara is smart Electronic Production with bounding beats that cleverly utilize tabla, and Indian samples. It’s warming up the early crowd at My Imaginary Nightclub.
Next up is a duo that I can’t help but love, despite my wife’s complaints. From the Northwest coast of California, “Cybergrind” Act Vantana Row is back with a new EP. Following up from their latest Full-Length back in May, the four-song DOGGEMFUCKEM UDONTKNOWMEWELLENUFFYET VXROW3 continues with their abrasive and abusive style of crunchy Electronic Rock, capably led by vocalist Volly. The two have a good sense of taste, and know how to most effectively destroy it. It gets my adrenaline flowing!
Whenever I see an Artist or a band refer to themselves as “Shoegaze”, it is immediately off-putting . To me, it signifies a distance from the audience, and a lack of attention. But that’s just me. You can not accuse Tokyo Artist (or band) what is your name? of simply going through the motions. The lead-off to their new album the now now and never is the nine-minute title track. It begins with a wash of synths that glitch and arpeggiate and you begging to hear voices talking. The drums and guitar come in and the animated conversation continues before it all gets shut down abruptly. The cinematic track continues to evolve and progress, and that is the main feature of this entire eight-track Instrumental LP. It’s a trip!
Much of what I recommend comes directly from my BandCamp Wishlist. And with it being BandCamp Friday (a tradition I hope never ends, despite a change in ownership) I’m extra proud to be recommending an artist I never would have discovered without this fantastic website. Chouk Bwa is a sextet from Haiti, and The Ångströmers are a production duo from Belgium. Together they create a thrilling combination of tribal drumming and vocals with Electronic Club infusion. Somanti, their second full-length, is a journey into deep Vodou culture and directly to a sweaty My Imaginary Nightclub.
Jasper Marsalis is a progeny of the great Jazz Dynasty that includes his father Wynton, uncle Branford, and grandfather Ellis Jr. With such rich Jazz genetics, you would expect a talented musician named Marsalis to continue the Jazz tradition. And in a way, he is. But Jasper is removing that famous last name from his recording projects, and as Slauson Malone 1, he’s just released his new album. EXCELSIOR steers more toward the futuristic R&B of Flying Lotus and Moses Sumney, and the multi-instrumentalist conjures Stevie Wonder at his most introspective. Deep bass drops and warbled vocals tell you that this is a recording for Warp Records, not Blue Note.
In my BandCamp adventures, an Artist that I keep coming across in various bands and collaborations is percussionist and multimedia Artist Valentina Magaletti. One of her many ongoing concerns is her trio with multi-instrumentalist and singer Cathy Lucas and bassist Susumu Mukai. Vanishing Twin has been together since 2019 and on Afternoon X, their latest full-length, they cast a downtempo spell with novel arrangements and a slight Pop scent. Massive Attack’s smartass little siblings, and my Feature Pick for the week.
Thanks for tuning in. Remember to be good to yourself, and floss your teeth every once in a while.
New Music Jason’s Picks 
It bears repeating that you have the most unusual and eclectic music tastes of any other bloggers I know of Jason! While I found ‘COLLABORATORY’ an interesting concept, it’s just too discordant and weird for me to want to listen to for very long, whereas the EP by Tek Lintowe & Pentagrvm is oddly beautiful and compelling. I had to look up where the Åland Islands are located, and find it really fascinating how someone from such a remote place can come up with innovative musical ideas like this. And I’m afraid I’m on your wife’s page regarding Vantana Row, though I concede their music is perfectly suited for those times I feel like breaking some shit, or fully express to MAGAs the depths of my disgust and loathing for them. Will listen to the rest as time permits.
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Thanks Jeff! I’m trying to manifest a recommendation that you like so much that it ends up in your Top 30!
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