Category: Music

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Music

Huerco S – Plonk VI

The world has changed – arguably irredeemably – since Huerco S released his last album, the universally lauded and wordily titled For Those Of You Who Have Never (And Also Those Who Have); an album which many have aped but few – if any – have bettered. February 2022 sees the release of his new LP Plonk, which, if the first tastes are anything to go by, we’re all going to be completely absorbed by for many years to come. His palette many have expanded since For Those…, but his ability to craft intoxicating sonic worlds remains as tight and impressive as ever.

https://huercos.bandcamp.com

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Music

Nosaj Thing & KUČKA – Gemini

I wanted to start 2022 with something uplifting and positive and was sure this was a suitable choice. However after a few listens I’ve decided that actually Nosaj Things’s latest single might instead be crushingly sad and melancholy. I just can’t decide. So here it is so you can make your own mind up. Happy/Sad New Year all!

http://nosajthing.com

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Music

Hollie Kenniff – Under the Loquat Tree feat. Goldmund

The slow, painstaking trawl through end of year lists to unearth all the incredible music I inevitably missed this year has begun, and so far this is top of the pile in terms of unforgivable oversights, especially as Hollie makes up one half of Mint Julep who not only feature on TPW’s own list, but also provided a wonderful One Track Mind. Better late than never, though, and the fact that I’ve only just discovered her stunning solo ambient album The Quiet Drift just means I have many months of hammering it relentlessly to look forward to.

https://www.facebook.com/holliekenniff/

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Music

Tierra Whack – Sorry

“It’s Whack History Month. Any month I’m dropping back-to-back, it’s Whack History Month, so that’s what we’re doing,” So says Tierra Whack, who today released her third EP in as many weeks, following up previous drops Rap? and Pop? with R&B? – a three track which concludes with this spellbindingly sorrowful gem directly out of the Drake manual of reflective morosity.

https://twitter.com/TierraWhack

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Music

Lady Wray – Thank You

“My goal is always to help and to heal people with singing” says Lady Wray of her latest single, Thank You. “Part of that is to try and bring back real music, real singing, so people can feel something again.” Worked on me! Thank You is without question her most powerful, moving single since Piece Of Me.

The only thing that slightly bothers me about this is that Thank You is already the fifth single to be released from her new album Piece Of Me due out in January. It’s kinda sad that the way the industry is currently beholden to Spotify et al., we will have been exposed to nearly half the album before it lands. Albums are a sacred format – at least to me – and I’d much rather listen to one in its entirety not knowing what’s coming next, rather than already being overly familiar with it. Sufjan’s Beginners Mind suffered from exactly this problem earlier this year: six singles had been released ahead of the album – pretty much all the strongest records on there – which led to a slightly underwhelming album release day.

But then that’s just me. I expect lots of people will just enjoy this without fretting about it so much.

https://www.instagram.com/ladynicolewray

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Interviews Music

One Track Mind: John Moods

The Berlin-based artist talks in depth about the enigmatic beauty of Townes Van Zandt’s Highway Kind

The premise of One Track Mind is pretty simple: I ask artists to pick one track that means a lot to them – either something they’ve discovered recently, something that’s been with them for years, or one that reminds them of a specific time in their life or career – and tell me what makes it so special to them. I get to talk to the artists I love, and they get to talk about the artists they love. Love all round!

John Moods is the musical solo exploration of Jonathan Jarzyna from the Berlin based pop band Fenster. Released back in August of this year, I came to his 2021 album So Sweet So Nice a little late, but it’s one of my favourite releases of the year. Tackling questions about mortality in an often light-hearted and delicate fashion, it at times evokes the hazy melodies of 80s acts like Steeley Dan, at others diving off into Paul Simon-adjacent territory, but all the while maintaining its own strong, distinctive identity. It’s a beautiful, beguiling body of work, and I one I highly recommend if you’re not already familiar with his music.

For his One Track Mind selection, John describes a song that seems to him to channel something from beyond this earthly plane.

Continue reading “One Track Mind: John Moods”
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Music

Neil Foster – Dawn River

A theme of: Very Chilled Music Indeed seems to be emerging on the blog this week, which perhaps reflects my mindset of trying to wind down to such an extend that by Christmas I may need assistance simply getting out a chair. And it doesn’t come much more relaxed that this gorgeously atmospheric slice of ambient from Belfast-based composer, multi-instrumentalist and producer Neil Foster. Created using analog arpeggiators, live vocals, delayed, layered pianos and his own field recordings, it is, in a word, lush.

https://neilfoster.bandcamp.com

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Music

Ludovico Einaudi – Atoms

Four decades and dozens of albums into his career, Ludovico Einaudi doesn’t seem to be slowing down, which, if you like gentle, emotionally -charged classical piano, can only be a good thing. For me Einaudi is like a gateway drug I never graduate from into “proper” (read: old, probably Austrian) classical, as this kind of classical musical intimidates me, so I remain stuck on this less challenging but arguably just as beautiful fare. Atoms is gentle, sad (obviously) and foreshadows his new album Underwater due for release in January.

https://Einaudi.lnk.to/UnderwaterID

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Music

Gabriels – Stranger

Gabriels’ Jacob Lusk has never sounded better than on Stranger, one of the four tracks on the LA-based soul group’s second EP Bloodline, which ebbs and flows between sombre reflection and full-on, string-led, orchestral bombast. An extremely assured next step on an increasingly impressive path: widespread recognition is surely on the horizon.

https://gabriels.bandcamp.com

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Music

BRLY DRSSD x Chanty Thushara

Shout out to BRLY DRSSD for leaving it late in the year to drop one of the most unashamedly positive tracks of 2021. Teaming up with Sri Lankan artist Chanty Thushara and reminiscent of Crazy P at their bubbliest, Diamonds is “for all the ladies who sometimes don’t think they are strong or worth listening to.” A warm, breezy dance/pop cut, it’s hard not to be won over by its open-hearted optimism.

https://soundcloud.com/brlydrssd/diamonds/s-h0RwLCaxLLQ

https://soundcloud.com/brlydrssd