M3LOMANIA here with 7(!) fairly calm and relaxed vibes for your head-whistling week
Kick back. Share with a friend. Just enjoy.
STEPHEN BECKER - A Calm That Shifts [LP/ccD](NNA Tapes)
Art Rock meets Elliott Smith in the calming but constantly shifting world of guitarist/singer Stephen Becker. Becker’s songs typically climb and purposefully avoid the I/IV/V style (or Verse/Chorus/Verse) of writing. Even when he sings a ballad like “Unspoken,” Becker uses repetition to push the track along before literally crashing it into dissonance. That is not to say Becker’s works are not accessible. The Shudder To Think-lullaby vibe of “All In All” conjures both beauty and drama as he tells a story (“matching souls with other souls to find a mor-sel of some truth.”) “Secondary Truth” slows everything down to introduce a synth-based majesty. However, surprisingly it is the busy guitar figure led “Disappearing Hand” that poses the best single potential. As his acoustic crosses the line with the switch between tension and relaxation with the other instruments, Becker really shows his compositional hand.
SURPRISE CHEF - Education and Recreation [LP/CD](Big Crown/Daptone/Redeye)
Australia’s Surprise Chef dropped one fantastic debut in “All News Is Good News” in 2020. The mixture of Library Music-style mood and instrumentation (more vibes please) with subdued (but bottom-lip-biting Funk) made it a go-to. 2022’s single “Velodrome” (included here as well) was a signal that the follow-up was going to be more David Axelrod-like. “Conversation Piece” weaves its serpentine funk around staccato piano strums, tack piano-style rolls, and a beautiful-but-dissonant vibraphone chord. Surprise Chef knows the secret is not to drive their tracks too hard. However, they immediately find the pocket on “Money Music” and never let up until its dreamy, beat-less bridge. Like all good Surprise Chef jams, they are concise and precise. “Together Again” is a very Booker T. and the MG’s Soulful delight, while the opener “A1 Bakery Pledge of Allegiance” neatly mixes a loping bass line with an airtight, upfront funky drummer Stubblefield drum part. Finally, “Education” benefits from being a quieter record. Songs blossom in as parts have plenty of room and they are continuing to develop new sounds. Many of the ideas here seem to have Sound Dimension and Studio One at least in mind (“Grinners Circle”) and point to a great future for an instrumental group is actually pushing ahead while sounding like the music of days of old.
ROBOHANDS - Violet [LP/CD](King Underground)
Andy Baxter’s latest Funk with a dash of Miles-era Fusion finds a way to serve as a tribute to Jazz’s past (“Sumimassen” layers acoustic guitar, electric guitar, and hints of synth to create a Seventies mood) while always sounding futuristic (the cooling chord changes on “String Feelings.”) The tracks with vocalist Aleh Ferreira are the best, especially the poppin’ bass-to-Pop feel of “Wildflower.” “Violet” is a much more chill record than “Shapes” (check out the far-out funk of “Ikigai” and “Leaves”) but another step forward for this multi-instrumentalist composer.
OFFICE CULTURE - Big Time Things [LP/CD](Northern Spy/Redeye)
Like a new version of Steely Dan, Brooklyn’s Office Culture is working on discovering just the right mixture of elegant Pop and Jazz-y experimentation. Singer/songwriter Winston Cook-Wilson gives them a lot to do in the most repetitive backgrounds (the freakout on “Suddenly” shows how vivid their parts are when set in motion) and guides them along during his most evocative moments (the twinkling ballad “Little Reminders.”) Cook-Wilson is not being a smartass like Becker and Fagen, many Office Culture songs work because they are sincere. “A Word” and its near Bedroom-Pop/R&B vibe is the closest to a single. The “Nightfly” -ish funk goes well with his Bob James-ish chords and the slap bass cutting through. With the incorporation of horns, backup singers, and the works on “Big Time Things,” Cook-Wilson and Office Culture is on the cusp of a breakthrough.
EL RELOJ [LP](Survival Research)
This Argentinian Prog Rock group may be combining primary influences (King Crimson and Deep Purple) well beyond their time in 1976, but they predate the speed and wizardry that is going to form Technical Metal. With its Uriah Heep-style organ and precision guitar lick “Al Borde de Abismo” starts “El Reloj” with a mighty thunder. The stop/start madness and the drum fills alone are spectacular. However, add the brief guitar solos and you have a headbanger in multiple time signatures. “Tema Triste” raises the stakes even higher. The rugged electric opening filters nicely into contemplative guitar strums before finding a classic tension-building Crimson-esque riff to go tangential on. “La Ciudad Desconocida” is the ten-minute magnum opus. Unlike the other cuts, El Reloj takes more time to broaden the melodic textures here, principally with a violin. However, when they counter the elegant fingerstyle acoustic guitar in the middle, the bass and electric guitar parts find alternate notes to play together that crash into each other like a primitive pitch bender pedal. Elsewhere, El Reloj continues to invent Crimson/Rush-like cascading riffage (“Aquel Triangulo”) that adds small facets to the mix each time to avoid sounding too similar (the Pink Floydian striking chord they smartly let resound in “Harto y Confundido.”) What is most surprising about El Reloj is how they truly do not incorporate too many South American/MPB rhythms in their music. In the end, “El Reloj” can be enjoyed like it was a blueprint for The Mars Volta.
IRONSIDES - “Sommer/Changing Light” [7”] (Colemine/Secretly/AMPED)
Some of the best modern Soul/Funk throwback to the past in sound but manages to do something thoroughly modern with it. This Bay Area group’s A-side “Sommer” builds up from its acoustic guitar strum to a bold horn-driven emotional single that hangs on both its tough (but slow) beat and melody. The real magic in “Sommer” happens in the subtle shifting chord changes in the chord where if you close your eyes they create different colors. “Changing Light” is even more evocative adding strings and the most tasteful electric guitar/French Horn mix you will hear this year. The season’s first Slow Burner Go-To.
DAN BOADI AND THE AFRICAN INTERNATIONALS- “Money Is The Root Of Evil/Duodu Wuo Ye Ya” [7”](Numero Group/Secretly/AMPED)
African music in the Seventies tends to angle toward the Disco and Funk trends of the day. However, a few artists (Pat Thomas, and William Onyeabor) manage to slip through their own inimitable style that while still satisfying the dancefloor cravers remains thoroughly African. Dan Boadi’s 1977 epic single “Money” stands both as a funky James Brown-like jam and still manages to blend Fela-ish undercurrents. Between the streams of organ and gurgling bass (which honestly dwell well beneath the mix,) Boadi leads this band like he was holding on to a stick of dynamite. Recorded in Chicago, the group is so consistent that the other sounds that enter the mix strike the ear immediately. This short version (and the B-side which ends his album) have an amazing-sounding guitar that rifles between Onyeabor-ish rhythms and a wild phased-out countermelody. A tight organ and flute pattern light up the B-side. Boadi’s single (and album) stand as some of the first exports of Highlife music from Africa.
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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