Yeah Yeah Yeahs – New Music Jason’s Picks

The New Music I’m Listening To For Me, You, And Your Mama This Week, September 24 – 30, 2022:

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?

Otoboke Beaver –
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.

M.I.A. – Beep

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.

Weird Crush –
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.

Rafael de Toledo Pedroso –
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.

*Saint Abdullah & Eomac –*
*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!

Upcoming New Releases – Week Ending Friday, September 30, 2022:

Happy End to the Month, Dear Friends! The days have turned notably cooler these last few days, and I guess that it won’t be long until we are shovelling the precipitation that falls from the sky. I do hope we get a reasonable amount of time to enjoy Autumn’s beauty before then.

It is an exciting week for this guy, with all the anticipated New Releases due this week, and a Club show in Toronto to end the week. It’ll be my first indoor concert experience since 2019. I’ll be strapping on a mask this Friday to see Otoboke Beaver at the storied Lee’s Palace. I’ve been training my body all this week to be able to stay up that late. Expect a full report to follow next week. Even if it doesn’t happen.

But it would be foolish of me to gloss over the new titles due for release This Week. Holiday shopping begins in earnest, with eagerly-awaited New Releases from Pixies, M.I.A., Slipknot, and Yeah Yeah Yeahs, with their first album in nine years.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Burning

Beyond these titles, I’m also looking forward to hearing the new ones from Lambchop, Steven Page, Kid Cudi, and the sophomore effort from Mamalarky.

Mamalarky – Shining Armor

In terms of my BandCamp Wishlist, I have a total of seven titles awaiting my final approval. By a fun coincidence, one of the artists has a similar name to Mamalarky. Mamaleek are from San Francisco and they have my ears firmly pricked.

Mamaleek – Wharf Rats In The Moonlight

Well, that’s about all I can think of for this week’s New Releases, I haven’t ~~forgotten anything—~~

Oh yes, I have! Only a silly person like me would pretend to forget about Björk. fossora is released on Friday, and I will state now, for the record, that it will be among my picks for the week. Also, in advance I will be celebrating the music of Björk tomorrow (Wednesday), when I publish Jason’s New Music Heroes, Chapter Three: Björk.

Björk – Álfur Út Úl Hól (The Fool On The Hill)

I do hope we can connect with each other, through Music. I’ll talk to you again tomorrow. Take care.

The New Releases I’m Anticipating Before The End Of 2022:

Happy September, dear friends! It’s been a cooler morning, a clear indication that Autumn is nigh. My children are headed back to school after the holiday weekend, which is momentous, as our eldest is beginning High School (a clear indication that I’m old.).

The time of year has come when the Music Industry, or whatever is left of it, releases their most attention-grabbing, and thus sales-producing releases of the year, for all of your Holiday Shopping needs. Although I may mention some of these releases, they are not my focus.

Today, we’re looking ahead to the releases I’m excited to hear. Maybe some will be great gift ideas, but I like to think that perhaps most of these artists aren’t as ‘fiscally-focused’ as Taylor Swift or Red Hot Chili Peppers. Also, there will be no Greatest Hits, no box sets, and no cash-grab live albums. That’s right, I’m surly.

Starting off right at the end of September, there are two well-established artists with anxiously anticipated New Releases. New York’s Yeah Yeah Yeahs are releasing their first album in nine years, Cool It Down, and Icelandic legend Björk is releasing her fourteenth full-length, fossora. It’s also Björk’s first in five years, and it goes without saying that it’s been too long. I’ve been a fan of Björk since her debut solo album, and she has never disappointed. A lesser-known band from Los Angeles is also releasing their sophomore album on September 30. I’m a big fan of Mamalarky’s self-titled debut from 2020, and from what I’ve heard of Pocket Fantasy, it is indeed promising.

Mamalarky – Mythical Bonds

In October there are a slew of artists pitching their wares. Among the Meghan Traynors, Carly Rae Jepsens, Tegan & Saras and the Swiftsesses (all releasing new albums 10/21), there are lodes of talented lesser-known musicians who deserve Happy Holidays too.

The month starts with another artist to release their first since 2017. Toronto band Alvvays got my attention with their last album, Antisocialites, and they are finally following it up with Blue Rev on October 7th. Also due out that day is a new project from Dan Snaith (Caribou). Daphni is the nom-de-plume for his new full-length, Cherry. Also being put out that day is a record I’m eagerly looking forward to from Cellist Lori Goldston. You may know her from Nirvana’s MTV Unplugged performance. She also toured with the band, and has done session work with innumerable artists. Her solo album, High and Low, is sure to be exquisite.

Lori Goldston – The Waves and What’s Under

Sharing shelf space with Red Hot Chili Peppers on the 14th are a couple things that pique my interest. The first is a band from the UK of some acclaim called The 1975. I feel like their previous album had a lot of potential, but it didn’t quite make it for me. Perhaps Being Funny In A Foreign Language will do it. Also being released on this day is Louis Cole’s new full-length, Quality Over Opinion. I can’t wait to hear what else this musical wunderkind has up his sleeves.

Louis Cole – I’m Tight

I’ve already noted that October 21 is a massive New Release day. The scraps left behind by Ms. Swift are definitely worth your time and attention. UK stalwarts Arctic Monkeys have a new album, The Car, and so do Canadian Rock Legends Sloan. The Halifax band’s thirteenth full-length, Steady, sounds like they continue their tradition of whipsmart hooks and catchy harmonies.

Sloan – Scratch The Surface

Among the confirmed releases for November are a couple of things that I eagerly await. London DJ and Producer Archie Fairhurst is putting out his most recent album as Romare. Fantasy is due November 4th, and so is the latest release from New York’s Kaya Wilkins. As Okay Kaya, she won me over with her 2020 full-length, Surviving Is The New Living. She’s releasing her follow-up, SAP.

Okay Kaya – Spinal Tap

I’m happy to note that BandCamp Friday is back, starting tomorrow, September 2. The first Friday of the next four months will see BandCamp waiving their percentage of sales. It’s a perfect time for gift giving, both to your loved ones, and to the Artists that give us all such joy. And may I be the obnoxiously early person to wish each and every one the Happiest of Holidays, whatever they may be.