Eccodek – New Music Jason’s Picks

Greetings and smellutations, Lords and Lasses (and everyone in between)! Who else is excited to listen to some New Music?

Let’s turn off the outside world for awhile and check out these eight titles!

A single to start my findings this week came from a stone’s throw away. Guelph, Ontario’s Andrew McPherson, as Eccodek, has been making some of the finest Globally-inspired Electronic Music for over twenty years. He’s back again with Malian Artist Mansa Sissoko with Second Bird Calling. Sissoko’s kora leads into downtempo beats and deep bass, before he begins to sing, with a shining tenor. Local Legend Lewis Melville joins on atmospheric slide guitar. McPherson’s production, and Sissoko’s voice make me smile.

After I went to press last Friday (so to speak), an album came out from the great Czech Label, Korobushka Records. Oswaldovi is a band from Prague that seamlessly connects Guitar Rock with the droning essence of Tuareg, and Eastern rhythms. They released their fourth album, their first for Korobushka, Across The Borders We Build. Don’t call it Dad Rock. This this ‘The Guy Your Mom Slept With’ Rock.

*Oswaldovi – Across The Borders We Build*

I generally have a rule when exploring New Music to avoid remixes for previously released music. I’d rather hear the original first. However, I came upon an EP, featuring four remixes of Singles from a Psychedelic Garage Project from Guadalajara. Lorelle Meets The Obsolete is a duo of Lorena Quintanilla on vocals and bass, and Alberto González on guitar and drums. Remezcla includes a remix from Montreal band SUUNS, among this release that combines droning bass with atmospheric synths. Lorena’s dreamy voice and scattered beats have me firmly on-board.

Bombino is a guitar hero from Niger who is a proponent of a hypnotic style of Desert Rock called Tuareg. I’ve often found and enjoyed this style, and Sahel is a showcase of many moods. Impassioned vocals make it a thrilling listen.

I discovered a collaboration between two New York Artists. Ingrid Laubrock is a saxophonist and Composer, and a contemporary of John Zorn’s. Cecilia Lopez is a Electronic Composer and Multimedia Artist. They’ve come together to create MAROMAS; a ten-track album that explores the parameters of Sound. It sounds like a conversation between sentient saxophone and rudimentary technology, morphing into a grand duet that moves beyond Music.

*Cecilia Lopez & Ingrid Laubrock – MAROMAS*

Speaking of saxophone, Steve Lehman plays the saxophone. The Composer and Musician from New York has worked with Anthony Braxton and Jason Moran as a sideman, but on Ex Machina he is leading France’s fifteen-piece Orchestre National de Jazz. Lehman’s ambitious compositions benefit from the depth of texture that the Big Band offers, and gives his saxophone a luscious playground. Shoutout to Jonathon Finlayson on Trumpet.

*Steve Lehman & Orchestre National de Jazz – Ex Machina*

I feel like I’m not doing “my job” properly if I don’t, at least once in a while, discover something that makes my wife insist that I turn it down. This week we have a winner. Justin K. Broadrick is a UK Industrial and sometime-collaborator with Kevin Martin (The Bug). As JK FLESH he creates “heavy/mutant techno/electronica”, as shown in impressive fashion on NO EXITS. My Imaginary Nightclub is getting noise complaints for the throbbing beats, harsh loops and aggressive tempos that are getting the late night crowd ready to riot. And there are no exits!

My Feature Pick for this week comes directly from my BandCamp Wishlist. Fieh’s second album, In The Sun, In The Rain introduced me to this fun and fabulous band from Oslo. I’m thrilled to see they’ve returned, full-force, with III. Lead singer and writer Sofie Tollefsbøl has a versatile voice that is capable to exude confidence and energy. Overall, this eight-piece occupies a similar spot in my mind as Jamiroquai, for its throwback vibe with modern aesthetics. Party Funk!

Have a grand weekend, and try to not let the outside world bring you down. You’re great!

I feel like my age is showing itself in more obvious ways, the more I continue to age. My fellow parents start to look more like children to me, and the disconnect grows between my son and I, in terms of taste in music (Noah’s current fave). I’m feeling it, friends. I don’t even have to mention my legs, which I’m thinking of replacing with wheels.

The releases this week are plentiful, and I’ve been tickled by a surprisingly large number of new titles, and one that I missed last week (to my chagrin). In all, I have ten to recommend.

Let’s do it to it!

Another sign of age; I stumbled onto a world I know nothing about. A world of “mashcore”, and “breakcore”, and about a dozen more “cores” that, to my ears, all used to be called “Industrial Music”. My introduction to this is from a film major from Portland who makes electronic music in their spare time. As you may be able to tell by the name, Sophiaaaahjkl; 8901 has spent their social life mostly online. Their latest release, “Dawn Of The Dachshund”, is a pandemic project, spending the last two years exploring sound design, and using Twitch livestreams for inspiration and collaboration. The resulting twenty-one tracks span a wide sonic scope, from twitchy rave music, to deep bass, to heavily processed samples. The tracks do not have lyrics, but the titles speak to various young people problems, from the sublime (“I’m On My Period!!!”), to the ridiculous (“I’ve Never Been To An Anime Con, And Now I Never Will”).

*Sophiaaaahjkl; 8901* – Dawn Of The Dachshund

From Portland to Portugal we go now, to meet multi-instrumentalist Rui Botelho Rodrigues. His music, performed as handwrist (of which I have two) is couched in Prog-Jazz tropes, and exploration. His newest full-length, “Anamnesis”, is two songs, each breaking the 20-minute barrier, and featuring fellow musicians providing clarinet, vibraphone, sax, and trumpet. Rodrigues plays “everything else”, which includes some smoking guitar and keys. The production on this is so tasteful and engaging.

I’m just going to come right out and say it – there isn’t enough scat singing in New Music (I know you’re all thinking, “Finally, someone had the guts to say it.”). I was reminded of it’s absence by the new album from the Jazz Is Dead series, from producer Adrian Younge, and A Tribe Called Quest’s Ali Shaheed Muhammad. Number Twelve in the series features 75 year-old Jazz and Pop vocalist extraordinaire, Jean Carne. In the seventies, she was a backing singer and budding solo artist that time has seemingly forgotten. The two producers and the singer have created a beautiful album of new material that showcases Carne’s brilliant voice. Scatting hasn’t sounded this good since Eiffel 65’s “Blue (Da Ba Dee)”.

*Adrian Younge & Ali Shaheed Muhammad – Jazz Is Dead Volume 12: Jean Carne*

As a child with vinyl records as my intro to recorded music, I relished those moments when the needle would get stuck on a small piece of debris or imperfection. The music would loop until you physically moved it with your hand. An album came out this week by a duo from Bristol with the puzzling names Territorial Gobbing & Carnivorous Plants, which takes that notion as its inspiration. The seven tracks on “Orange Matter Interface” use vinyl loops as their source material, with guitars, percussion, vocals, and electronic weirdness added, creating a dizzying and extraordinary experience.

*Territorial Gobbing & Carnivorous Plants* –
*Orange* *Matter Interface*

As the unlawful and horrendous invasion of the sovereign nation of Ukraine, by Putin’s dupes, continues, I’m happy to have found another musician from Russia who is fighting the good fight. But instead of weapons, Kate NV (who made one of my favourite albums of 2020) has come with flowers. The eight tracks on “Bouquet” are a collaboration with Andrey Bessonov, and were actually recorded in 2017, but never released. They highlight Electronic ingenuity and playful woodwind improvisation, blowing the winds of war away. But moreover, they serve a higher purpose. All proceeds from sales are earmarked for Helping To Leave’s effort to help Ukrainian refugees. Noble and awesome.

Speaking of warzones, we go now to Texas. I’ve always had a fascination with Austin, TX., this strange, artistic, collegiate city, surrounded by…Texas. “Keep Austin Weird” is the slogan, so it sounds like my kind of place. It’s also known as the “Live Music Capital Of The World”. I suppose I might get there someday. In the meantime, Jad Fair has been keeping it weird in Austin since the ‘80’s. Fair is founding member of Half Japanese, and has been recording as a solo artist, or in collaboration, on over 180 albums. His new album (his fifth this month!), “Now It’s Back” is fifteen tracks, each clocking in at about a minute each. The subject matter spans the cautionary tales and methods needed to protect yourself from the various monsters and ghouls you may have been warned of before. From mummies, to vampires, The Blob, even leprechauns and space worms, Jad is looking out for your safety. “Bring me that vampire, bring me a stake. I’ll show you how it’s done.” So, yeah, it’s weird. ✅

As I’ve been on my New Music journey these last few years, I had heard the name Moor Mother in passing, but had yet to experience her. I’ve learned that she is actually Camae Ayewa, from Philadelphia, PA, and she is a poet, musician, and activist. She has released a new collaboration with fellow Philadelphian DJ Haram, as 700 Bliss. “Nothing To Declare” is fifteen tracks that span House beats, noisy Hip Hop, poetry and sound collage. Music for the head.

An artist I’ve never heard of before caught my attention this week, despite the fact that it was their tenth album, spanning back to 2004. Deca is a producer and rapper from Colorado, now based in NYC. On “Smoking Gun”, Deca MCs, produces, and even makes the excellent cover art. Downtempo and clever, he also shares the microphone, with features from Blu and Homeboy Sandman.

It seems to be a USA-heavy roster of artists this week, so I’m pleased to have found this next artist from Uganda. Brian Bamanya is a producer and Electronic wizard. When faced with the prospect of obtaining a modular synthesizer, Bamanya was challenged by the lack of retailers in Africa, and prohibitive pricing. This led him to build Africa’s first DIY modular synthesizer, by teaching himself how. The name of the synthesizer, and Bamanya’s musical output, is The Afrorack. The self-titled debut is nine tracks of brilliant synthetic ear candy.

My last pick is the release that I missed last week, and it came from right under my nose. So, to make amends, it is my Feature Pick. Guelph, Ontario’s Eccodek is the multiple Juno Award-nominated project of producer and multi-instrumentalist Andrew McPherson. “Recalibrate” is the first album in seven years under that name. Featuring a cast of contributors from around the globe, including John Orpheus, and Kiran Ahluwalia. It’s a beautiful nine tracks made for the dancefloor. Killing it on the drums for Eccodek, again, is my old friend and former HMV co-worker, Adam Bowman.

Truly, a weird and wonderful way to bring the month of May to a close. Did something catch you ear? I’d love to hear about it, but it’s not that important. What is important is that you take good care of yourself. You have one job: Do It To It!

Tag Archives: Eccodek

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