As today (September 30) is Canada’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, I’d like to hereby acknowledge and share my gratitude that I am on the traditional territory of the Neutral, Anishnaabeg, and Haudenosaunee Peoples. My city is situated on the Haldimand Tract, land promised to Six Nations, which includes six miles on each side of the Grand River. Let’s give it back!
It’s a fantastic Friday at the NMJ* abode, full of wondrous New Music and palpable excitement. If you want to know what I’ll be listening to tonight, put this in your ears, at full volume.
*I’m cool enough to have an acronym, no?
Don’t Light My Fire (Live at SXSW 2021)
As I’m anxiously awaiting my first Club Gig in 3-4 years, I have eleven new titles to share with all my friends. Let’s get right down to it!
This week’s single to whet your whistle comes from British Rapper and Singer M.I.A. Beep is a Dancefloor bop. Can’t have too many of those.
A solo Electronic Producer from Japan who goes by GuruConnect has released a terrific 8-song EP. Illness was created during, and chronicles a hospital stay, due to a Diabetes emergency. Clocking in at nearly 25 minutes of what one may label as “Experimental Instrumental Hip Hop.” The artist makes ingenious use of loops of traditional instruments, fortified by clever Production. Don’t worry. They’re fine, I presume.
I’m happy to be able to recommend Mamalarky’s second album, Pocket Fantasy. The Austin band, now based in Los Angeles, has outdone itself with inventive melodies and charming vocals from lead singer Livvy Bennett.
As I mentioned on Tuesday, I had a album in my BandCamp Wishlist released this week by a very similarly-named band, and it’s made the cut. Mamaleek hail from San Francisco, and their particular brand of noise utilizes elements Jazz, Noise, and Thrash Metal. The resultant concoction on the seven-song full-length, Diner Coffee, is a surprising brew filled with many tangy flavours.
This week is seemingly full of coincidences. Yeah Yeah Yeahs have released their first album in nearly a decade (which I can’t, in good faith, recommend), but a One-Man Band called Weird Crush has released his second album, Yeah Yeah Yippie Yippie Yah. Otherwise, they don’t have much in common. The latter is a London musician “with too many guitars and too much spare time,” and the record in filled with ten tracks with whip smart pop hooks, and ingenious chord progressions. As a vocalist, he conjures Damon Albarn and Robert Smith. In a parallel universe, this is huge.
Yeah Yeah Yippee Yippee Yah
To the best of my recollection, I’m visiting the Nation of Hungary for the first time in my musical journeys. From the beautiful City Of Budapest I give you the Progressive Punk sound of Palánta. Their debut, five-song Demo jumps out of the speakers with manic lo-fi glory, accentuated by keyboards and punishing drums, perfectly performed with wild abandon.
A quintet from Atlanta is rocking my world this week. The band with the charming name Upchuck has been around since 2018, and they’ve released their debut album, Sense Yourself. It’s aggressive and fierce, with moments of great sludge. If you think Amyl & The Sniffers are too poppy, this should more than suffice.
OK, so I won’t bury the lede any further. I can now officially recommend Björk’s New Album. It thrills me that fossora is every bit the adventurous and daring album I hoped it would be. No words, just listen.
My favourite Country to which I’ve never before been factors into this week’s picks. Rafael de Toledo Pedroso is from Ponta Grossa, Brazil. He’s an Experimental Electronic Artist, and his latest project is Eu não cheguei tão longe pra existir agora, which translates to, “I did not come this far to exist now” (a clever turn of phrase). It is twenty-four tracks of Field Recordings, Noise, Hip Hop and great lo-fi production.
Eu não cheguei tão longe pra existir agora
For the first time this week I get to recommend something that comes from artists of Iranian descent. NY-based brothers, known only as Muhammad and Mehdi, record and perform together as Saint Abdullah. Their new album is a collaboration with Ian MacDonald, better known as Eomac. Patience Of A Traitor is a lovely mix of Electronic production, harsh noise, Jazz samples, and traditional vocals.
Patience Of A Traitor
My Feature Pick this week comes from Beatmaker and DJ Enver Göyken. Based in London, Göyken is of Turkish descent. On his second full-length “beat tape,” Ozan, he lays out twenty-one tracks immersed in Turkish Rock, traditional instruments, and Club grooves. It is glorious.
I’m sure I’ll have no problems with staying awake for my concert tonight, but wish me luck that the same holds true while driving home early tomorrow morning after the show. If I play the music loud enough, and roll down all the windows, I should make it.
Be kind to yourself, and I’ll talk to you again on Sunday, for Jason’s New Music Heroes, Chapter Four – MuchMusic. Ta!
New Music Jason’s Picks 