Now We're Talking
Ambient neoclassical, acid-folk eclecticism, deep harp led soul, cosmic funk tripping, I'm not quite sure what the fifth one is and metal guitar threaded electroid math rock extremism. As you do.
Minimal chat, maximum music today. The album release schedule is spluttering into life, and this year’s first meaningful quantity of albums were released last Friday. I’m hard pressed for time as usual, but I’ve listened to a chunk of them and here’s my favourites. Enjoy.
Brueder Selke & Midori Hirano - Split Scale (Thrill Jockey)
I do like to start the newsletter with something ambient or as near as I can get, especially as the newsletter often arrives on a Sunday, surely the perfect day to indulge or dabble with the genre? If you want another suggestion I actually love to pop some ambient music on my headphones if I head to a big bad city, or if I’m flying solo overseas, the calm of the soundtrack is a genuine tonic to the urban hustle, airport bustle and low budget airline engine noise. Try it sometime.
Midori Hirano is a Japanese pianist with an adventurous approach to her instrument, and an often electronic fusing approach to composition, in fact pretty similar to collaborator Brueder Selke, who is actually a they in the old school sense - two brothers: Sebastian Selke on cello, and his brother Daniel Selke on piano. All are resident in or near Berlin, hence the faraway look as they dream about living somewhere warmer.
I shouldn’t laugh though, I’m currently hunkered down indoors due to 80kph winds that are trying to blow my building over, backed up by sheets of horizontal rain to make those who ran out of milk and bread today regret it. Fortunately the trio have left their wet jackets and occasionally noisier tendencies at the door, and the LP is an astral voyage to balmier dimensions and a serene slice of plutocratic escapism, the perfect antidote to the bluster and buffoonery outside.
Harano and Daniel Selke can be found behind the piano, seemingly competing to be the least intrusive. Sebastian Selke takes care of the classically rooted, inventively bowed cello and is by far the busiest acoustic player. But what keeps all three busy are the impeccable ambient electronics that provide the synthetic thermals to elevate their acoustic colleagues.
The LP really is a cultured, beautifully crafted start to finish listen.
Sam Amidon - Salt River (River Lea)
Sam Amidon first came to my attention when he followed in his parental footsteps by releasing his self entitled album on Nonesuch, a recording he considered the fullest realisation of his artist vision to date. If you get any joy from Salt River then make sure that’s your next port of call, it was on repeat at TSMM HQ four years ago and is highly recommended. I also urge you to take a peek at his Wikipedia page, he really has lived a pretty incredibly life from a very young age.
I’ve been waiting for this LP for a while, alerted to its impending arrival by some great singles, and now it’s here I’m… well processing it, I guess. Not that it’s bad in any sense, just surprising and hugely eclectic at every turn.
The three singles suggested the LP would be some sort of cosmic acid-folk affair, so I wasn’t anticipating this wild ride through medieval tinged instrumentals, cascading ambient folk ballads, all sorts of jazz injections including a hoe down banger that dissolves into weightless spiritual jazz, childlike spoken word abstraction, start of night Celtic folk that decides to morph into classic minimalism, a North African fused Sesame street singalong and some traditional barnyard swinging. The LP is a joyous, wondrous trip.
Sophye Soliveau - Initiation (Self Release)
Thankfully, the start of year lull means I get a bit of breathing space and a chance to discover slightly older music, which often gets rapidly buried in the new release avalanche. Well this deep soul debut from Parisian Sophye Soliveau was definitely the “throwback” find of last week, made all the more special by the fact she was completely off my radar.
Soliveau is a singer, harpist and women choir director, keen collaborator and nocturnal composer with a serious knack for fusing her classical training with a deep soul sensibility that nods to the twentieth century greats, looks around at the deeper end of the nu-soul present and celebrates the increasingly forgotten blues and gospel roots of soul music. The arrangements have a stripped back, spacious feel, with her (sadly anonymous) band and backing singers seemingly on a collective mission to selflessly elevate the star of the show and provide emotional encouragement at just the right times.
I have some slight reservations about the actual recording and mastering quality, it sounds a touch thin and a tad distant at times, so you might have to crank the volume a bit for the recording to fully hit home, but that minor quibble aside, the deep soulfulness and quality are very real. Expect to see her on a label for her sophomore.
The Natural Yogurt Band & The Oracle - Nebulous (BMM)
The Natural Yogurt Band are a couple of funktified trippers from Breaston, a small village in the North Midlands of England; a place that time and modern music have obviously forgotten, in fact just the sort of place I’m increasingly attracted to.
I first came across them when they dropped an LP on the ever hip Jazzman Records and have been keeping tabs on them ever since. For a duo they have a surprisingly full bodied sound, with Miles Newbold on keys, synthesizer, vibes, bass guitar, guitar and percussion with his partner in crime Neil Tolliday wielding the sticks as well as dabbling with bass, synths and guitar - presumably not at the same time. On this new release they’ve recruited no less than The Oracle; a mysterious character who certainly knows their electric pianos & organ, as well as the future.
Their output has never strayed from the psychedelic funk arena, with just the heaviness varying to keep you on your toes, possibly a reflection on what the local dealer can get his hands on at the time of the recording? Whatever they were on for Nebulous though I want some, this new LP is far out.
Realising that humanity’s days are numbered they’ve somehow plugged into the universal consciousness to guide them and set their sights on neighbouring galaxies in search of greener, more peaceful pastures with space to do the bus stop, and I for one am hitching a ride - f^*K Space X, Elon you’re on your own and don’t come back. Onwards, upwards and outwards.
Big Bend - Last Circle in a Slowdown (Shimmy-Disc)
Big Bend is driven by Ohio native, main composer, lead singer, piano tickler and bass player Nathan Phillips. This new LP started life during an Australian residency where the recordings took place, then, with the assistance of Shahzad Ismaily, the ensemble jam sessions were artfully “collaged” and augmented in a fit of post-production prowess, to produce this genre ambiguous gem.
It’s another hard to describe fusion affair, in fact exactly why god invented the play button, but I’ll have a go. There’s a real folkiness to proceedings with Phillips falsetto urged higher by the acoustic guitar picking and post modern piano twinkling, with some roots fiddle adding a rural charm to what is otherwise another parallel dimensional voyage. The percussion is pleasingly light weight, a flimsy frame on which to hang the rarefied vibes, sample oddities, distant machines and all sorts of instrumental cameos. The detailing is subtle and the vibes are real.
Waldo’s Gift - Malcolm's Law (Severn Songs)
Despite all the amazing music I’ve recommended today, Waldo’s Gift are the only outfit I really want to see live. OK, I wouldn’t say no to checking The Natural Yoghurt Band and Sam Amidon (get your tickets soon the shows are either selling fast or sold out), but I’m certainly not interested in more ambient artists. At shows I want a bit of oomph, a bit of attitude, I want to sweat, and I have a feeling that Waldo’s Gift would leave me drenched, drained and smiling.
The LP is nothing less than sonic shock and awe, the tracks threaded with metal guitar improvisations that pierce through the intersection of noise, math rock extremism, bass culture and electronics. I've been appreciating the shoutier, angrier, disenchanted and saying something about it end of the musical spectrum a bit more again the last couple of years, and have a constant desire to hear something a bit different and twisted. These boys are scratching both itches.
The UK live dates start on February 6th, be there for me and tell me how they were in the comments. Oh yeah there’s only two tracks currently available on Bandcamp so buy a copy or check your streaming provider for the full LP.
Sophye, yesssss. An instant acknowledgment of groove. Thank you for nudging us out of our algorithmic slumber
Wow great read & I’m about to go listen to all of these, thanks!