Category: Music

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Music

Vegyn – Beat step Twoards Nothing [120 BPM]

Nope that’s not a typo: it’s really spelt ‘twoards’, which gives some indication of the approach Vegyn has taken on his new mixtape, Don’t Follow Me Because I’m Lost Too!! – as if he banged out the titles in 10 seconds and just thought ‘fuck it that’ll do’. Of course there are Aphex comparisons – not least in the inclusion of the track BPMs – but the entire project has an unpolished, ramshackle vibe that I’m really into and sets it in its own distinct space.

https://www.instagram.com/vegynvegyn/

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Lady Wray – I Do

Lady Wray released her long-awaited album Piece Of Me last week, and thankfully it’s a banger, the only drawback being that if you’ve kept up with the run of singles over the last couple of years, you’ve already heard half of it, including a lot of the best tracks. There’s still some previously unreleased gold in there though like opener I Do, and if you’re completely new to her music you’re in for an intensely soulful treat.

https://ladywray.bandcamp.com/album/piece-of-me

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Music

The Weather Station – Endless Time

Fairly fresh from releasing one of 2021’s best albums Ignorance, The Weather Station have just announced a new album, the enigmatically titled How Is It That I Should Look At The Stars alongside lead single Endless Time. Comprising songs written at the same time as Ignorance, it’s safe to expect more heartfelt, contemplative brilliance, “songs that [are] simple, pure; almost naive… that spoke to many of the same questions and realities as Ignorance, but in a more internal, thoughtful way” according to The Weather Station’s Tamara Lindeman. Sign me up.

https://theweatherstation.lnk.to/EndlessTimeID

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Music

Innovations – Seabird

Delving back more than 40 years into the past today on this new music blog and celebrating Innovations’ majestic Seabird: a yacht rock staple so I’m reliably informed, but one that had completely escaped my attention until this week. First released back in 1977 and a cover of an Alessi Brothers song from the year before, it’s one of only two singles Innovations released but easily holds its own against similarly sun-drenched offerings from the likes of Steely Dan et al.

https://www.discogs.com/release/16055124-Innovations-Seabird-Put-A-Little-Away

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Music

Ehiorobo – Maker

I’ve listened to Ehiorobo’s album Joltjacket a few times since it came out in December, and it’s really a very impressive and incredibly creative body of work. At times it cane be a big jarring: like he’s trying to cram just a few too many disparate ideas, rhythms and textures into too narrow a space, but you can’t argue with the level of artistry on show. He’s managed to carve a pretty peerless space for himself: his music reminds me a little of Choker – but even more freewheeling. Maker is the final track, and a clear highlight from an album that definitely deserves more attention than it’s received so far.

https://daily.bandcamp.com/album-of-the-day/ehiorobo-joltjacket-review

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Music

Ripsime – Tell me the lie

Tell me the lie is the debut single from British Armenian Ripsime and was written a week before war broke out in Armenia back in 2020. Parts of the video was filmed in the Artsakh region, most of which was subsequently destroyed in the war, adding an extra level of poignance to what is already a disarmingly affecting slice of dreamy indie pop, and a remarkably assured, fully-formed first single.

https://www.instagram.com/ripsime.xyz

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Music

Laurie Anderson – Big Science (Arca Remix)

An unpopular opinion: I don’t really like Arca’s music and find it fairly hard, even borderline impossible to listen to. I’m wrong, obviously, and if I think about it it’s objectively ‘good’ (many would argue peerlessly groundbreaking), I’ve just never got on board with it. So it’s a rare treat to hear her remix of the equally experimental Laurie Anderson and enjoy it, so I’m finally free to jump on the Arca Appreciation Juggernaut ™.

https://laurieanderson.lnk.to/BigScienceArcaRemix

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Music

Jenny Hval – Year Of Love

Year Of Love is the second single to be released from Jenny Hval’s forthcoming album Classic Objects – her first studio album for 4AD. The song explores a “very troubling” experience she had of witnessing a marriage proposal at one of her performances. Plenty of artists, I’m sure, would have experienced this as a purely romantic act, and thought very little about it afterwards, but for Hval it elicited questions about how her art impacts others, and her own marriage; themes she explores and attempts to resolve over the course of the song.

Of course, you could just ignore all that and enjoy what is – lyrics aside – one of the most upbeat songs in her catalogue to date.

https://jennyhval.com

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Music

Orlando Weeks – No End To Love

A couple of years ago I went to see ‘A Celebration of Talk Talk and Mark Hollis’ in London: a hastily thrown together live show following the death of Hollis earlier that year, with various singers stepping into their iconic frontman and creative driving force’s shoes. It was patchy to say the least, and the variety show-style version of It’s My Life was among the most painful things I’ve seen. One shining light however was Orlando Weeks, who not only resembles Hollis vocally, but seemed to be the only guest artist who not only knew, but genuinely felt the heartbreak of the Spirit of Eden-era output. His performance of I Believe In Your was quietly devastating, and he’s been on my radar since then. Talk Talk members: if you’re reading this (ha) a tour with Orlando is something I’d be very interested in.

Anyway, this is taken from his new album Hope Up, and it’s lovely.

https://www.orlandoweeks.co.uk

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Music

Molly Nilsson – Avoid Heaven

One of the many things I love about Molly Nilsson’s music is how completely effortless it seems. Her DIY aesthetic makes it both approachable and relatable, almost as if we could all be banging out rich, emotional tunes if we just erased screentime from our lives and actually put our minds to it, as far-fetched a fantasy as that may be. Avoid Heaven from her new LP Extreme – which came out last week on Night School Records – sees Nilsson at the peak of her powers, tossing out lines like “Sometimes you just feel so powerless / And that’s the way the powerful like it I guess” over a soaring synth line, drums tripping over themselves in an effort to keep up with the propulsive majesty of it all.

https://mollynilsson.bandcamp.com/album/extreme