The Predatory Wasp
There’s something immediately, hauntingly arresting about the scratchy, low-fi guitar strumming on this that I was sold even before Wright’s broken, beautiful vocal comes in. Then the beat drops, the melody surges, and I’m melting.
I don’t often just copy in release hype for posts, but this is an important one, and gives you an indication of the tone of the album better than I ever could, so here you go…
“Blue Scar Vol I , is the first installation of a long form album. This tapestry of songs is a personal mythology of love and survival, I have been patiently writing and working on this since 2013, the year I almost died because of intimate partner violence.
“This body of work brought me back to my body, and continues to do so everyday, my prayer is that it does the same for all trauma survivors, that this music is a place we can tend to our personal and generational wounds as well as a place to honour our scars. This is for youngest selves , for my child self and my god self, who always seek to protect and heal me – this is a quest to relearn what love is.”
Lugubrious, meandering alt-pop-meets-folk-meets-americana from the Australian artist who released her new album of the same name via her own Kallista Records imprint last week.
Daniel Avery has assembled an impressive raft of caollborators on his new album Ultra Truth, with production from Ghost Culture and Manni Dee, vocals courtesy of HAAi, Jonnine Standish (HTRK), AK Paul and the “voices” (not sure why that’s different from ‘vocals’, but apparently it is) of Marie Davidson, Kelly Lee Owens, Sherelle and James Massiah. It’s a more contemplative record that he’s produced before – way more afterparty mong than peak time rave up – and is probably the release of his I’ve enjoyed the most, which tells you everything you need to know about my current levels of rave-readiness. Spider is 90s-evoking ambient techno with all the OTT heartfeltness that entails, and I love it.
I was a latecomer to Low: I only really started paying attention around the release of Double Negative, but I would now consider myself a huge fan, not just of their music, but of Alan and Mimi themselves. From afar they seemed like decent, loving, compassionate people, and from what I’ve read from those who knew them well, this was all true. Their music is extraordinary, like nothing else out there, and I was so sad to learn of Mimi’s death yesterday.
This is one of my favourite songs of theirs, and exemplifies everything I love about Low. Crunchy, bleak and foreboding but also – possibly – quietly hopeful, and one on which Mimi’s vocal takes centre stage and is pushed to its emotional limits. Together, they have delivered some utterly timeless, genuinely phenomenal music that will never be forgotten, and she will be greatly missed by many.
There is a frankly obscene amount of music I’m interested in out today including albums from Okay Kaya, µ-Ziq, MorMor, Daniel Avery and plenty more, so here’s a very quick post about one of the best tracks I’ve heard today so I can get on with listening to everything else.
Here’s something of a throwback, at least in terms of the kind of music I listen to these days. Michael Claus’s new album Lavender Palace is deep house. Like actual deep house. No urgent basslines and catchy vocal samples here! It’s a throwback to the days when this was pretty much all I listened to, with shades of Moomin, Francis Harris, even Larry Heard; a beautiful, sad, dusty old collection of house music that absolutely doesn’t want you to dance, and would strongly prefer if you listened to it by yourself while feeling extremely, paralysingly melancholic about something. Works for me!
The South Indian-Canadian artist on the unrestrained joy of a US saxophone icon.
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!
Thanya Iyer is an enigmatic songwriter who crafts sparkling experimental pop music. Her live trio, with Pompey and Daniel Gélinas, wields acoustic and electronic instruments to flesh out her serene, spiritual compositions.
Her wonderful 2020 album KIND was inspired by years of touring and connecting with community in a live setting. Released earlier this year, new latest EP rest is more reflective and introspective, composed predominantly during the pandemic, and explores existential themes through the prism of contemplative pop, folk and jazz.
For her One Track Mind selection, Iyer has selected a life-affirming jazz cut from the American saxophonist and composer Wayne Shorter.
Post-Drive analogue synth-a-thon Destiny is a duet with Bree’s long-time collaborator Princess Chelsea, with its release marking the 20th anniversary of Lil’ Chief Records, the New Zealand based record label Bree formed with friend and musical collaborator Scott Mannion. For Xanax-fulled days and nihilistic nights.
Brooklyn-based visual artist, poet and musician Xena Glas released her new Movement EP last week, including To the A: a restrained and beautiful slice of electronica heavy on choral vocals and atmosphere. Xena employs content from a single field recording of her walking from her Crown Heights apartment to the A train, and then off the train to the Hudson River in Manhattan, which adds a flavour of the mundane in this otherwise ethereal track.
The Predatory Wasp 