With oblique references to ‘The Anchor Song’ and ‘Hyperballad’ plus the Georges Bataille favourite Story of the Eye, this week through the fanfare of retreating horns and a subterranean bass squelch Björk steadies the glass submersible of a romantic relationship. Expanding the space for contemporary Black art through a blend of popular forms with cutting-edge music production, Kelela returns from hiatus with an ambient heart check which finds the singer-songwriter floating face up in the Danakil Depression. And crying out of the past while screaming into the present, with volcanic ash underfoot Haru Nemuri unleashes the video for ‘Never Let You Go’ amid the Japanese desert of Uru-Sabaku.
Amber and russet with a purplish sunset hue, pellucid like the first drop of dew come the morning, the quartet of Chris Jusell, Chaz Prymek, Matthew Sage, and Patrick Shiroishi herald the fall as funds from the latest Fuubutsushi extended play head towards reproductive healthcare resources in Missouri. Claire Rousay spotlights her own struggles with mental health on a benefit album whose proceeds will aid young LGBTQ lives by way of The Trevor Project. And next up in a series of stellar releases on the Oslo-based Smalltown Supersound label, the pianist Anja Lauvdal unfurls a fantasy inspired by the impressionistic Norwegian composer Agathe Backer Grøndahl, with production deftly handled by Laurel Halo.
Tracks of the week goes long as Jessica Pavone, Lukas Koenig, and Matt Mottel add lashings of spam to their free-range sonic stew, where thick keytar riffs provide the crunchy base for the interlaced tremolos and sharp sopranos of drums and viola. Jordan Reyes enlists the ONO founder travis who reappropriates the mythology behind the minstrel song ‘Old Black Joe’, viewing the wistful lament through a Black futurist lens buttressed by the strings of Lia Kohl, Sam Wagster on pedal steel, and the vocal stylings of Ambre Sala. Weightier still the duo of RA Washington and Jah Nada issue a sprawling double of vaporous soul, colliding sides, and meditative drones as part of a fourteen-piece ensemble on their debut for Astral Spirits.
Separated by the Atlantic Ocean, collaborating via correspondence over the course of one year, the German-Brazilian vocalist Gloria de Oliveira and longtime David Lynch collaborator Dean Hurley pluck at the celestial chords which bind us together. As Nyege Nyege 2022 wraps alongside the steep cascades and roaring rapids of Itanda Falls, the Kampala-based label and its offshoot Hakuna Kulala unfurl a couple of extemporaneous missives running the gamut from gqom, amapiano, and kadodi to grime, kuduro, and baile funk in the form Cruise Beat Album by DJ Tobzy Imole Giwa and Raw Space by Authentically Plastic.
The cratedigger soFa unrolls a set of free-form dub over which Nyati Mayi sings and plays the lulanga, a long rectangular trough zither, as the Brussels duo unite under the name Nyati Mayi & The Astral Synth Transmitters for their first album on Les Disques Bongo Joe. Milf Melly and King Milo combine on a record of slick footwork and rippling ghettotech. And Molly Joyce questions concepts of weakness, resilience, access, and interdependence as the composer entwines her vintage toy organ with the words of forty-seven disabled interviewees, ranging from veterans, activists, and pageant models to academics and musicians like JJJJJerome Ellis. Tracks by Makaya McCraven, Mykki Blanco, Swimful, and Julian Lage complete the roundup.
Playlists: Spotify · Apple Music · YouTube
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Mykki Blanco – ‘Pink Diamond Bezel’
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春ねむり Haru Nemuri – ‘あなたを離さないで / Never Let You Go’
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Jessica Pavone, Lukas Koenig, and Matt Mottel – ‘Binge Listen’
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Authentically Plastic – ‘Sakata’
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Nyati Mayi & The Astral Synth Transmitters – ‘Cry Woman’
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RA Washington & Jah Nada – ‘Keter’
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Anja Lauvdal – ‘Fantasie for Agathe Backer Grøndahl’
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Fuubutsushi – ‘The End of Antelope Island’
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Gloria de Oliveira & Dean Hurley – ‘Picture of a Picture’
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