Cleaving her way through a bout of writer’s block with the aid of the percussionist Matt Chamberlain and producer Randall Dunn, this week Zola Jesus unveils her sixth studio album amid the cave dwellings and rock-cut chapels of Cappadocia, with the song ‘Lost’ serving as ‘a sigil to rediscover our coordinates and claim a new path’. From the concert hall and theatrical stage to the recording booth and the sonorous sounds of suspended ephemera, Leo Hofmann likens his full-length debut to a joyous jump, while Joel Ross blurs the lines between melody and improvisation in a swinging burst from his seven-part suite for Blue Note Records.
Redolent of the near and distant past, Green-House scan the produce aisle in the spirit of ‘Quick Save On A Sunday’ by Opiate, the California band Mapache offer a dreamy West Coast take on the existential Americana of Glen Campbell, and the Drain Gang duo Bladee and Ecco2k twist homeward bound tracing the country roads of John Denver. Next-door neighbours Mary Lattimore and Paul Sukeena split guitar drones and celestial harp shivers on an album described as a cross between Alice Coltrane and Apollo-era Brian Eno, and Matmos dabble in anagrams while manipulating the sonic experiments of the Polish polymath Bogusław Schaeffer.
The bassist and producer Jung Buffalo of the Vietnamese collective Rắn Cạp Đuôi issues a solo extended play, Sirr TMO unleashes a spiritual blast of Chicago footwork, and the fantastical world of Grykë Pyje finally lands with a tingle and howl in physical form on the Slovakian label Mappa Editions. The Philadelphia hardcore group Soul Glo team up with Mother Maryrose, while the scabrous and stomach-churning long-play by RXM Reality employs fierce vocal shards plus mastering by Angel Marcloid of Fire-Toolz. Folk rock and indie rock from Jake Xerxes Fussell, Caracara, Taj Mahal, and Ry Cooder completes the roundup of best new music.
Playlists: Spotify · Apple Music · YouTube
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bladee & Ecco2k – ‘The Flag is Raised’
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Grykë Pyje – ‘Glittering Embalming’
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Mapache – ‘They Don’t Know At The Beach’
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Mary Lattimore & Paul Sukeena – ‘Altar of Tammy’
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Joel Ross – ‘DOXOLOGY (Hope)’
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Matmos – ‘Cobra Wages Shuffle / Off! Schable w gurę!’
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Jake Xerxes Fussell – ‘Love Farewell’
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Taj Mahal & Ry Cooder – ‘Pick a Bale of Cotton’
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Caracara – ‘Colorglut’ (feat. Anthony Green)
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SOUL GLO – ‘Driponomics’ (feat. Mother Maryrose)
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Jung Buffalo – ‘Lighter fluid’
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