This week the drummer and bandleader Johnathan Blake lingers lightly over the life of Ana Grace MƔrquez-Greene, the daughter of the saxophonist Jimmy Greene and flautist Nelba MƔrquez-Greene, who died in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting almost a decade ago. Conjuring her lively presence and the blessing of her birth, Blake pays a form of tribute to his old bandmates while establishing a new quintet for his first album on Blue Note.
Megan Alice Clune filters tremulous voice through a myriad of technologies on her latest album of ambient minimalism, finding a liminal space amidst the pandemic somewhere between scattered Tokyo and the operatic confines of her Sydney home. The Manchester producer Clemency draws from dub and bleep techno on a two-track of tightly wound percussion and sub-bass slugs.Ā And the Los Angeles composer Sarah Davachi offers a deeply resonant take on early music armed with a patched-up Mellotron and plenty of tape echo.
Gauzy covers enfold the selection, as Annie spins to Patrick Swayze and Dirty Dancing, Iggy Pop and the guitarist Matt Sweeney shred some Velvet Underground, and Moses Sumney launches his new creative agency Tuntun in the company of the saxophonist Sam Gendel with an effusive take on T-Pain. Lana Del Rey maps the United States of America as a carnal utopia, and Ari Lennox pays homage to some of the iconic divas of times past including Diana Ross & the Supremes, Donna Summer, and TLC.
Anna Shoemaker gets lovesick over glistening synths, Big Thief deal in certainties sure as the turning of the tide, and Tirzah taps out the hive mind while staying resolutely untethered. On her debut for Ninja Tune, Park Hye Jin finds solace in the dance floor, while for the multidisciplinary PAN, Marina Herlop plays with the cyclic rhythms and nonsense syllables of South India. Songs by Haviah Mighty, Kacey Musgraves, Bomba EstƩreo, and Maxo Kream round out the latest set of new music.
Playlists: Spotify Ā· Apple Music Ā· YouTube
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Lana Del Rey ā āArcadiaā
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Tirzah ā āHive Mindā (feat. Coby Sey)
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Sarah Davachi ā āBorder of Mindā
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Kacey Musgraves ā āsimple timesā
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Anna Shoemaker ā āSick!ā
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ė°ķģ§ Park Hye Jin ā āLetās Sing Letās Danceā
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Ari Lennox ā āPressureā
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Johnathan Blake ā āHomeward Bound (for Ana Grace)ā
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Bomba EstĆ©reo ā āAhoraā
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Moses Sumney ā āCanāt Believe Itā (feat. Sam Gendel)
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Megan Alice Clune ā āSo Boredā
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Clemency ā āDrum Circles Against Lamentationā
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Maxo Kream & Tyler, the Creator ā āBig Personaā
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Annie ā āSheās Like the Windā
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Iggy Pop & Matt Sweeney ā āEuropean Sonā
