M3LOMANIA back with 9(!) shiny new releases for you to sample and hold
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SAY SHE SHE - Prism [LP/CD](Karma Chief/Colemine/Secretly/AMPED)
Colemine’s female vocal group makes their debut with an album steeped in Sixties harmonies and Seventies groove. Like The Emotions crossed with Minnie Riperton, Say She She would have been a sensation around 1973. Their sweet Soul music is neatly augmented by electric piano and an airtight rhythm section and band. The best songs either work with (the skip beat and off-key piano hook on “Fortune Teller”) or against (the skittering “Apple of My Eye” could have been a 90s Neo-Soul jam) their formula. However, when Piya Malik (featured in El Michels Affair, and backing singer for Chicano Batman), Nya Gazelle Brown, and Sabrina Cunningham are allowed to come together for choruses and then show their individual styles separately on verses, Say She She manages to home run Disco (“Pink Roses”) and make the title cut a missing Seventies Soul wonder. The album “Prism” is most refreshing because it makes no apologies for trying to sound good next to Classic Soul yet never strikes a revivalist note.
DUNGEN - En ÄR FÖR Mycket Och Tusen Aldrig Nog [LP/CD](Mexican Summer)
It is well known that Dungen can do just about anything. Gustav Ejstes never shies from writing beyond the expected spectrum of sound and the band then adds their extra thrust or haze. “En ÄR FÖR” most compares to their 2004’s breakthrough “Ta Det Lugnt.” However, 2022 Dungen is far more quiet and methodical about moving through a variety of styles here. Like a Swedish Todd Rundgren, this album is a feast for the ears. “Höstens Färger” basks in Beatlesque ideas - but other than the Harrison-esque style does not sound Beatlesque. Dungen is by no means subdued. “Var Har Du Varit?” combines the familiar chordal wash of Kosmiche Musik with a fierce breakbeat-style beat to emulate what could be a modern Soft Machine. The songs come surprisingly easy, but it is so tempting to get lost in the sonic palette. “Klockan SLÅR Den ÄR Mycket Nu” is both elegant piano like Foxygen and 70’s Prog/Pop accented by mellotrons, DJ scratches, and a subtle synth. The entire album must be experienced. Ejstes’ musical ideas and melodies often feel like portions of a much larger composition (as “Om Det Finns Något Som Du Vill Fråga Mig” best exemplifies) where melodies find their way to tangle with each other in alternate voicings and key changes until they often simply turn themselves over to Dungen to driven home.
DC10 -Isabella [7”](Detour UK)
Back to 1984 for these three bratty Undertones-ish gems from DC10. The garage stomp/Motown handclap combination of the title cut is sweltering (so much he growls “want you to take off that sweater” with reckless abandon.) While these are not the best recordings, the energy of DC10 is most present. Steve Cassidy’s vocals are often like a more adenoidal Iggy (with one fantastic scream/shriek.) “Fallen Star” is very British circa Mod’s second comeback musically, but the delivery and double-tracked vocal sound make it sound like Guided By Voices. “I Forgot Your Birthday” floats in on surf guitar before morphing into a pre-C86 Kinksian vibe. What a find!
TOWN MOUNTAIN - Lines in The Levee [LP/CD](New West/Redeye)
CALEB CAUDLE - Forsythia [LP/CD](self-released)
A river runs through most Americana today. The best acts try to best manage the balancing act between purist roots and that elusive Modern lean. Asheville’s Town Mountain hearkens back to the 70’s version of The Band. All the hallmarks are in place (including uplifting but more low-key organ) as Town Mountain earnestly (the Old Crow Medicine Show-esque “Comeback Kid”) and feverishly (the more Levon-esque take on “The Shape I’m In” that inspires the title track) push Bluegrass, Folk, Country, and Rock together. “Firebound Road” is a blazing hoot-n’holler-er that builds effectively. “Lines In The Levee” is largely about revealing the promise of Town Mountain (three capable yet different singers in Phil Barker, Jesse Langlais, and founder Robert Greer) and the depth of their musical interactions (everything is greatly helped by the newest addition, drummer Miles Miller from Sturgill Simpson’s band.) Much more to come from this Asheville sextet.
Caleb Caudle has steadily grown a following for his Country-ish Americana songwriting. However, the lockdown forced Caudle to seek out nature for inspiration and actually trace his writing back to its roots. In the simplest of ways, Caudle focuses on a different kind of balancing act than the one previously mentioned. Gathering the best players (Jerry Douglas, Sam Bush, Dennis Crouch and even receiving high harmonies from Elizabeth Cook and Carlene Carter,) Caudle raises the communication of his lyrics, feelings, and phrasing to a higher level. Caudle could easily pull off a clever song like “I Don’t Fit In” on his own and likely push a few lines harder for emphasis. However, with his world-class support, Caudle only needs to let the words do the work. The title cut returns to the “slow as molasses” beautiful days, but Caudle’s melodic lines and quaint quiver imply that his gaze is not yet another of those mythic (“sweet as sugarcane days”) times - it is Caudle truly seeking comfort in a modern world turned upside down.
SUMMER SALT - Happy Camper [LP](Cherry Lime/The Orchard)
MOTEL RADIO - The Garden [LP/CD](Single Lock/The Orchard)
Austin’s duo Summer Salt is billed as “Trop Rock.” While that moniker is easy to hear with their gentle swaying songs that visit you like ocean breezes (the version of “Revvin’ My CJ7” on this year’s “The Juniper Songbook.”) Matthew Terry and Eugene Chung are writing the next iteration of “Slacker Pop” (no worries, we hate that label too) in the vein of Mac DeMarco. “Heart And My Car” employs some beautiful Jazz chording without being showy. “Speaking Sonar” could be a Yacht Soul single for Colemine. “Rockin’ My Paw” uses its 50s-ish progression to charm, while “Candy Wrappers” is 90s throwback Pop. Summer Salt shows no limits to its incorporation. In addition, their harmonies and even lyrical ideas have a lot in common with Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys. “Lovesick” may seem like yet another song with that title, but Summer Salt makes it worthy of campfires and the C86 crowd. Released in 2018, “Happy Camper” is a showcase of their songwriting ability and stylistic leaps. (Their earlier EPs are scheduled for release this December. The promise of “Happy Camper” is fulfilled on the brilliant new Pop single “April Baby” - which would make a great single.)
New Orleans’ Motel Radio tap into an easy Rock vibe that some will call “Yacht Rock.” Yet again, do not be fooled. While “The Garden” could use a little more edge in places, the harmonies on the chorus of “Wise” and especially the Real Estate-ish “Happiness Pie” are unique. In fact, the overall phrasing of both writers Ian Wellman and Winston Triolo really lends to their music and words being inseparable. “The Garden” is a welcome addition to the lockdown era canon because it gets reflective (“Stress”) while staying optimistic (“Sweet Daze.”) Their best feature is the ability to create these sweeping 80s Pop style sweeping choruses (“Outta Sight”) and use the pair of lead voices like Dr. Dog or Local Natives. When they shake off the frost and dive headlong into a 70s groove on “Automatic,” Motel Radio is at its most irresistible. AAA radio is officially on notice for this promising pair of artists.
BITCHIN BAJAS - Bajascillators [LP/CD/CS](Drag City/Redeye)
Like it or not, Chicago’s Bitchin' Bajas are making a giant leap to the head of the Minimalist class. Cooper Crain (and Dan Quinlivan and Rob Frye) mastered the art of lengthy tracks that use a mixture of randomness and consistency to leave you feeling as though no time has passed. 2017’s “Bajas Fresh” marked a turning point. Last year’s luminous “Switched on Ra” was a thing of beauty as if Sun Ra jammed with Stereolab. On their latest, the Steve Reich-ian looping (“Amorpha”) and the ring-modulated organ (the amazing 14-minute “Geomancy”) may be rooted in Musik Kosmiche, but “Bajascillators” is truly calling up echoes of Terry Riley, Throbbing Gristle and Laurie Spiegel. The tracks are explorations (“World B.Free” vaults from New Age-ish haze to Kraftwerk-ian hypnosis seamlessly and feature an effective placement of clarinet) of how it feels to make music that does not feel like you are making music. We are convinced Bitchin Bajas will soon be unknowingly communicating with distant galaxies in the future.
ESMERINE - Everything Was Forever Until It Was No More [LP](Constellation CAN)
Montreal-based neo-classicists Esmerine make gorgeous, languid music that at its best resembles an outpouring of emotion. The seven-minute ebb and flow of “Imaginary Pasts” journeys through long string lines, Godspeed-esque cymbal swells, and pulsing bass to arrive at hypnotic Rock underpinnings. When it returns to the mild chaos it beautifully dovetails into a meditative gaze. Esmerine’s songs need both the melody (the beautiful opener “Blackout,”) and the idea of it (the sparkling “Foxtails & Fireflies.”) “Everything” is well-orchestrated and arranged to demonstrate the depth of Esmerine in both composition and performance.
Well, another week, another list of several different styles and pursuits in music for you. Enjoy. Listen again. Share as you wish.
NEW RELEASES lovingly compiled for you from this very week!
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