MELOMANIA back with 9(!) slabs of new music running the gamut but all satisfying your appetite
Everyone tell your Mom "Hi!" Tell her we said "Hi!" too
LMD - Flying High [LP/CD](Stones Throw/Redeye)
Hip-Hop supergroup LMD rolls old-school on their blazing new album. Madlib is dishing out the classic funk (the bumpin’ title track,) and sampledelica from around the world (“The Cypher” brings out mysterious Indian music for a weed anthem.) LMNO, M.E.D., and Declaime trade verses like they are just figuring each other out. Listen as they back each other up on “Steppers.” They know exactly how to lay out for the other’s spiral of words yet you can hear them punch in some enthusiasm for the other in the background. On tracks like “Birthday” and the epic closer “DuWop,” the samples of Madlib pump energy into the rhymes until you are convinced they need no oxygen to lay down these spellbinding 80s/90s style bars.
LAUNDROMAT - En Bloc [LP](Brace Yourself UK)
Laundromat drills out some serious grooves with only bass and drums (mostly) and tracks that barely get up to speed. Their mysterious whispery vocals continue to subvert cliches and are often written specifically for their vowel sounds and rhythms. Their most singleworthy jam is the Spoon-ish “Slow Clap.” It masterfully builds slowly around the bendy guitar parts and the continuing allure of “watch your mouth.” Elsewhere, they capture the lover’s spell beautifully on the title cut where they conjure lines like “we’re drinking shotgun shells again.” Laundromat barely needs to show their hooks or even structure their songs according to any rules. For these reasons and more, their original Post-Punk Funk holds a lot of promise for the future.
BEN AULD - Lemongrass [LP](Earth Libraries)
With his George Harrison-plays-with-The Byrds sunny Sixties music, Bristol’s Ben Auld complements it with his detached but sweet low singing. The effect is as intoxicating as soaking in the sun’s rays on the hottest day of the year. “You’re A Ghost” flips around its formula of 60’s Folk/Rock and 80’s jangle for a doubled guitar lick that really lights a fire. “Worry All The Time” begins typically enough with its ebullient tacet melody between vocal and guitar. Still, Auld is actually expressing his doubts and absorbing a loss like it happens every day (“first I felt it once a week/now I feel it compleeeeeeeteeeeely.”) In his wispy Elliott Smith-like manner, Auld is hinting that the real sadness hides in the sunshine. “Lemongrass” is a set of breezy tunes (“O Athena!” is a beauty of arrangement and harmony, while songs like “D4A” and “Our Time Is Now” work as Lo-Fi 90s with lovely 60s progressions.) that make you reminisce about the Beatles, CSNY, and all the classics - but Auld’s real skill is reshaping melancholia into a new intermingling of Jangle Pop and Sixties Folk/Rock.
STATUS/NON-STATUS - Surely Travel [LP/CD](You’ve Changed/Redeye)
Canada’s indigenous Status/Non-Status steps up the Built To Spill-esque Rock side of their anthemic writing. “Blown Tire,” tells the story every fledgling band has been through but never sounds a bit pessimistic. Formerly WHOOP-Szo, S/N-S still has the burning guitars (check those scorching leads and the distorted chords on “Has It Been So Long,) and pounding rhythm section. However, there is a balance between vocalists Adam Sturgeon (his Oasis-y wail makes “Mainly Crows” a magnificent single) and Kristen Kurvink Palm (her earthy voice is a beautiful way to wave goodbye to “North Adelaide,” also we wish she could sing on the Weather Station-esque “Travelogue”) The same handoff between explosive electricity and thoughtful acoustic meditation exists on “Surely Travel.” Sturgeon’s “What Am I To Do” has an Eleventh Dream Day feel and manages all of its compositional chord changes without losing an ounce of consistency. “Surely Travel” shows a lot of depth for their writing and the passionate pursuit of identity while drifting from town-to-town losing some here and always regaining by staying on the road.
100% - Clear Visions [LP](IT Records AUS)
Australian SynthPop group 100% keeps their sound rooted in classic Eighties minimal Synth ideas but finds a way to filter in the pulse of EDM and the mood of Darkwave. “Second Chances” takes its time building up around the vocals to allow the synths to warm the verses and cool the chorus. “Clear Visions” is very Lo-Fi and could use further refinement. “No Cure For Love” is a potential standout. When it peaks and they continue to intone “I will kill for love” is it chilling. “Prisoner” follows the same blueprint of pushing repetition (“we all know what you did”) but its peak comes in the very New Order-esque high synth line. The funk-laced “Abandon” is clearly the single. The minimal Boy Harsher-esque Italo Disco central idea is very good especially when they double each other’s parts on top of each other. If anything, “Clear Visions” displays 100% mastery of these patterns of repetition and how they are building toward a sleek, sultry female wave of SynthPop.
BELIEF [LP/CD](Lex UK)
Boom Bip and Stella Mozgawa are both respected musicians and producers. Apparently together they have a real penchant for the high-winding bleeps and squelchy melodies of Techno. Eschewing the boom-boom-boom-boom backbeat for rhythms that as far more sinuous (“Anx” is almost live drum funk,) Belief keeps everything so minimal, the separation of their parts is mesmerizing. Even when they do usher in the boom-boom-boom-boom for “Dreams” it heats up just like Belief is working in a live room. The tracks here are so subtle, the best ones are over before you know it. “WOT” is possibly closest to a single as it bubbles over like low-key EDM with various stops and hints of melody. However, its best moment is the lengthy Dubstep style drop in reverse where it simmers below the surface for so long - the hook is renewed perfectly. While Belief is clearly doing what they love, it may be hitting on a new brand of “intelligent minimal Techno” like Leon Vynehall and other innovators.
CB3 - Exploration [LP/CD](Majestic Mountain SWE)
Swedish Space Rockers CB3 are less concerned with sounding like Space Rock and more interested in the strains of Shoegazer and Doom they fuse with their Psychedelic jams. “Daydreams” is an epic opener that aims to put you on a cloud and keep you there. The trio colors their music very well rarely sounding showy and always making excellent use of the space between the parts they string together. “Daydreams” wields its big solo and then cools down after a Smashing Pumpkins-esque flourish to a lengthy hushed portion that never lets you know it is slowly but surely gaining steam. “To Space and Away” is a desert-ish Stoner Rock chugger, while “Going To The Horizon” is a bit like early 70’s Pink Floyd playing 90’s Alt. Rock (with a very Rush-ian conclusion.) However, it is the unassuming riffage on “In A Rainbow With Friends” that really travels. Like a song written backward, “Rainbow” opens with its huge benedictory riff climbing into the stratosphere like a rocket taking off. Once we disengage from the engines, the middle is a long float in the ether before the capsule finally begins to travel on its own. Here the guitars race through notes and harmonies soar higher, but the bass and drums stay steady. Finally, they all join together again for the most melodic portion until some Lifeson-esque licks signal that propulsion is starting again. With CB3, vocals are sparse and drenched in effects. That departure into instrumental Rock (per se) frees the band up to do far more with Space Rock.
KILLING JOKE - Lord of Chaos EP [LP](Spinefarm)
Bashing it out since 1978, the four-song “Lord of Chaos” EP delivers a surprising overview of the best aspects of Killing Joke. Still working with the reunited original lineup (since 2010 no less,) Jaz Coleman still sounds powerful (the “Wardance” like hollers above Geordie Walker’s crushing riff of “Total”) while Youth’s bass and Paul Ferguson’s tribal drums have lost no edge. Like most of the recent releases, the synth wash remains heavy (as do the effects washing over everything.) However, when they switch from the Hawkwind-ish wash to the driving riff on the title cut, it is a Post-Punk/Metal bonecrusher. Add to that a brilliant remix of “Big Buzz” and Youth’s amazing dub/breakbeat workout on “Delete In Dub,” Killing Joke is clearly raging on.
JOHAN GRADEN AND ELLEN ARKBRO - I Get Along Without You Very Well [LP/CD](Thrill Jockey/Redeye)
These two Swedish composers and multi-instrumentalists toy with the ebb and flow of music on this beautiful album about the loss of love. Arkbro’s voice encompasses both warmth and loneliness. To hear her sing against the long, legato notes of bass clarinets and brass is to aurally wander without knowing where you are going. Her higher register even juxtaposes a Bjork-ian snap and a sweet coo. With her singing and words being so unpredictable, these eight songs might as well be movements of the same end-of-love symphony. “Out of Luck” dramatically changes mood and grows more tense thanks to Graden’s piano chording. While together on “All in Bloom,” the pair mix the mood of Radiohead’s haunting ballads and Billie Holiday’s “Solitude.” At its most dreamy, “Never Near” dares to bring in slightly cacophonous notes and a swelling bass clarinet. What once sounded warm and inviting, just turned cold and the chill even holds on to the final note of the song. Arkbro bravely heats things up again while horns bellow opposing notes on “Temple” until the same notes usher in the sunny organ on “Love You, Bye.” When Arkbro sings with herself above Graden’s rolling organ - it is hard not to weep at the emotion summoned here. Emotional, experimental, and impossible to shake (even if you only choose to listen to the beautiful “Close,”) this one lives with you after it ends.
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!
T-BONES Records and Cafe is a full-service fast-casual restaurant and record store in Hattiesburg, MS. We are a Coalition of Independent Music Stores member. We are the longest-running record store in the state of Mississippi. If you have questions - we have answers … and probably a lot more information just waiting for you at:
tbone@tbonescafe.com
Visit our website for more information and shop in our ONLINE store if you wish.
T-BONES ships the best music all over the United States daily. We also specialize in Special Orders. Let us know what you are looking for - we are thrilled to help.