MELOMANIA crosses into YR3 with 8 reviews of new releases for you!
Thank you for two years of musical madness!
MAMALARKY - Pocket Fantasy [LP/CD](Fire Talk/Redeye)
When introduced you to the bubbly but twisting Pop of Mamalarky (11.19.20), we hailed how well Livvy Bennett’s voice blended in and out of all the musical activity around her. For their latest, the Atlanta band actually attacks their songwriting more like a Rock band but always gives you an unexpected variation as a detour. Again, this is no case of short attention span theatre. “Little Robot” dials in its magic with some heavenly synth sounds but incorporates a Stereolab-ish sensibility into slowing down its ending. The Meat Puppets-esque “Mythical Bonds” is all strong chords during the verses but the downward strokes of the power chords beautifully set up both the “surprise” chord change and an instrumental part that is straight out of Frank Zappa. The real difference this time out is how well Mamalarky makes their weirdness fit into near-conventional writing. There is a lot of twangy Pop (“Shining Armor” yet again masterfully using Bennett’s “struck” chords to startling effect) but the ballad “It Hurts” is now in the horserace with other singles-of-the-year. Like a hybridized Clairo jam (with more Soul,) “It Hurts” captures that perfect moment where love turns down a few degrees. Mamalarky hangs everything on its Seventies-style lush Pop arrangement and then lets Bennett guide it through the world of doubt to a dreamlike state where just the right child-like melody can save you from the impending doom.
JULIE ODELL - Autumn Eve [LP/CD](Frenchkiss)
Like a New Orleans-based Jeff Buckley, Julie Odell gives a bravura performance of guitar and voice on these moving songs of emotion and loss. “St. Fin Barre” opens the album with a highwire act of thanks and gratitude. Odell immediately establishes that she is earnest but this battle has been long fought. The tough “Envelope” is countered by Odell’s angelic chorus, while “Caterpillar” and the stirring “Cardinal Feather” are both singleworthy. “Caterpillar” works wonders with a drone note before its release into a rising progression making it soar ever higher. “Cardinal Feather” is the most complex of Odell’s tracks. She and her band beat out a thunderous opening that amazingly slows down and never loses its momentum. In large part, that forward motion is everything that “Autumn Eve” is about. These are tracks that cover the beginning of life, the discovery of love everlasting, and the notion that no matter how frenetic balancing the pillars of life can be - Odell will never let anyone take it away from her again.
ISATTA SHERIFF AND KORALLE- Eat The Kiwi Skin [LP](Melting Pot ITA)
What do you get when you add an East London MC and an Italian beatmaker? Sheriff rips through her rhymes with a special emphasis on the last syllable (“Who Am I (Eh-Eh)”) to make it sing. Koralle’s unquantized slinky beat and light Jazz touches consistently feed her flow and never interfere. Sheriff’s doubled vocals then make the hook sail (that chorus on “Window Thoughts.”) Even when Sheriff gets cranked up (“For Those Who Love..,”) Koralle smooths out the groove. The guest spots emphasize the hooks like American Hip-Hop. Shumba Youth helps sell Sheriff’s staggered bars on “Dream Theory” and Mercy’s Cartel helps cool the chorus on “For Those Who Love.” However, the show belongs to Sheriff and Koralle whose chemistry pumps life into these six tracks.
CITY OF CATERPILLAR - Mystic Sisters [LP/CD](Relapse/The Orchard)
HIGH VIS - Blending [LP/CD](Dais)
On their first record in 18 years, the reformed Richmond post-Hardcore band find a way to update their sound by honing a surprising Metallic edge (“Paranormaladies” has the most scintillating grinding moment) and still keeping the swooping changes in dynamics (“Decider” stretches their limits of volume in both directions.) The AmRep-ish “In The Birth of A Fawn” and the eight-minute opener “Thought Drunk” both demonstrate how well they stretch the tenets of this sound. “Fawn” has a blistering descent that is punctuated effectively by a yowling, rhythmic Fugazi-esque exclamation of “Get it OUT!” While the former gets so lost in its wall of wavering guitars and mumbled vocals, you know what the title is implying. That sense of overload/underplay is City of Caterpillar’s central skill. “Mystic Sisters” is both a surprise and shows a band growing in new directions.
As a Post-Punk screamer, Manchester’s High Vis has a lot to say above their catchy anthemic driving 90s Alt/Post-Punk. “Trauma Bonds” is a powerful song on its own. However, mix Graham Sayle’s shout with its pair of musical peaks, the pain and loss really hit hard. Like a more atmospheric Emo band, “Blending” invests in both its raw emotion (the wound-up release of “0151”) and jangling/chorused melody (the Britpop rumble of “Fever Dream.”) The compact swoon of classic Eighties Post-Punk (think The Chameleons or The Sound on their classic single “Walking Wires” from 2019) is now both more visceral and melodic (“Join Hands”) and still true to their roots (the droning melodicism of the title cut.)
JULIA, JULIA - Derealization [LP/CD](Suicide Squeeze)
Before you even think this is yet another languid singer/songwriter bathed in a diaphanous musical haze, Julia, Julia is actually using these effects to create a wall of loneliness, doubt, and longing to climb over. “Do It Or Don’t” is almost like 60s Folk channeled through 90s slowcore. Julia, Julia either pushes the words she really means (“say hello to your reflection” or “my vacant smile is my protection”) or hovers around the ones she is uncertain about (the title which comes out as a death-defying choice under these auspices.) And then, there is the ending. When she steps into an almost Jesus and Mary Chain-like echo chamber on “No Hard Feelings,” the heartbreak wavers in the effects chain. Finally, “Fever In My Heart” is likely the single. Julia, Julia lets it sneak up on you in between eerie organs and haunting piano. Julia Kugel is both in The Coathangers and Soft Palms. However, you do not need to know that because “Derealization” is her making the unreal real - that is what we hope you think about.
BEN SHEMIE - Desiderata [LP/CD](Joyful Noise/Secretly/AMPED)
JEAN-BAPTISTE FAVORY - CIELS [CD](Feeding Tube)
In the 21st world of Neoclassical, while minimalism is everything - the choice of arrangement and instrumentation often makes records far more beguiling as they cross genres. Ben Shemie from SUUNS has a background in Classical music but he is far more interested in contortion than conformity. “The Eye” combines some hair-raising string work from Quatuor Molinari, with distorted beats, and effected vocals for music that might be Middle Eastern on Jupiter. While “The Future Indefinite” uses the strings and synth sounds for cinematic quality, “The Other Being” tempts a Hip-Hop-esque flow with complete synth destruction. “Desiderata” is at its best when Shemie goes for the hypnotic edge. “The Mirror” beautifully pits his robotic sequencer loops against his very human voice singing about “this sinking feeling.” When Shemie wraps up with an optimistic “The Return” that ties it all (vocals, electronic beats, synth washes (in place of strings, but just as effective), and loops) together, “Desiderata” is truly from the stars above.
Jean-Baptiste Favory has worked with Gavin Bryars and even delved into Mexican Free Rock. On his seventh album, “CIELS” mixes a wide variety of minimal sounds to create a vivid, often meditative wash of sound. Like Franco Battiato’s landmark 1974 album “Clic,” “CIELS” is most interested in never allowing you to hear too many sounds for long enough for your brain to decipher where they are from. His haunting vocoderized vocals and Klaus Schulze-ian electronics on the title cut open the album with a thrill. From here, Favory never lets you pull away. “CIELS” is an album that demands close listening. When “The Naked Now” dissolves into a blend of distant lo-fi drums and up-close ringing, it feels as though you are floating in the space between. The bends and quivers on “Golden Blues” may never be truly melodic - but they are oddly relaxing. “Time On Time” pushes the limits but never becomes overbearing enough to pull away. Finally, the mono synth wonderland of “Love Structure” and the brief guitar closer “The Need To Be Touched,” fuse two disparate parts together into an ending that marks a steady return to Earth. “CIELS” is Musik Kosmiche that truly gives flight. In the long tradition of Tangerine Dream, Brian Eno, and countless others, “CIELS” is aural magic whose secrets we may never want to know.
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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