Start Your Week Right
Ambient enlightenment, a hazy ethereal folk soundtrack to your most pleasant dreams, dance music to make you sweat so much you won't pee again until Tuesday and the jazz vocal debut of the year.
I do like a bit of a moan at times, and the modern media landscape with its constant stream of doom and gloom seems fully geared to encouraging feelings dissatisfaction and promote griping, often resulting in a bunker mentality, a rush to the shops to briefly dull the pain or voting for plums like Nigel Farage. But shrouded by the media shadows are stories of hope and positivity; Reason To Be Cheerful tells them, and there is a musical connection - David Byrne, yes he of Talking Heads and untold other artistic endeavours.
Whereas I like to think of TSMM as audio escapism or perhaps a palliative to modern living, not to mention a leg-up for lesser known, alternative and indie music, Reasons To Be Cheerful is Byrne’s “tonic for tumultuous times”, and it’s a blog that I like to dip into at times to cheer me up when the gloom gets too much. I’ll leave him to tell you more:
“We tell stories that reveal that there are, in fact, a surprising number of reasons to feel cheerful. Many of these reasons come in the form of smart, proven, replicable solutions to the world’s most pressing problems. Through sharp reporting, our stories balance a sense of healthy optimism with journalistic rigor, and find cause for hope. We are part magazine, part therapy session, part blueprint for a better world.
Reasons to be Cheerful was founded by artist and musician David Byrne, who believes in the power of approaching the world with curiosity—in art, in music, in collaboration and in life. Under the banner of Byrne’s nonprofit organization, Arbutus, Reasons to be Cheerful embodies this sensibility, applying it now to the future of our world. Through stories of hope, rooted in evidence, Reasons to be Cheerful aims to inspire us all to be curious about how the world can be better, and to ask ourselves how we can be part of that change.“
Perhaps check Reasons to be Cheerful and add some optimism to your doom scrolling, or even get involved with some local projects? Things just might, might be alright, but only if the grass roots are strong enough.
On to the music.
Satomimagae - Taba (RVNG Intl.)
Satomimagae has serious hazy ambient folk and ethereal singer songwriting form. She hit the ground running back in 2012 with her low gravity, at times post rock hinting debut LP, and followed that up with a couple of accomplished LPs for Japanese ambient legend Chihei Hatakeyama’s White Paddy Mountain label where she dialled back the electronics a tad to shine a light on her guitar and vocal essence, before heading over the Pacific expanses to RVNG Intl., her present label home, where she appears to be honing an even more air cushioned approach.
Fortunately on her new LP not too much has changed, so if you liked any of her previous LPs then you’ll immediately feel right at home, those translucent vocals and softly plucked guitar still melt into what sounds like the ambient soundtracks to your most pleasant dreams.
On Taba though she’s repurposed these waking dreamscapes as a bridge to an earthly entwined spirit world to gain an unsleeping spectral view on the comings and goings of humanity in an attempt to grasp the group dynamics and domino effects of even the smallest interpersonal actions and report back to us through ethereal song. Every recluse or social butterfly flapping its wings has unquantifiable social ramifications, and Satominmagae is gently encouraging us to give that some thought.
So far so normal, but how about that evolution? Well apart from the usual polishing improvements that practise and studio dedication provides, there’s a subtle hint of, whisper it, socially acceptable song forms on a few of the tracks. There’s even some non-chart worrying “singles” like the patiently building “Tonbo” that could even make it onto more open minded indie-folk playlists or the dream pop primed, “Many”. Marvel at the rhythmic, hook and horn licked “Horo Horo” although even that has a twenty second field recording outro to lessen the shock. Some might also point to the catchy, vaguely familiar vocal or guitar refrains on “Omajinai”, “Tent” or “Dotsu”, but if this is the future of folk or dream pop then bring it on.
Eliana Glass - E (Shelter Press)
If you’ve been paying attention to the blog and playlists you might have already picked up on Eliana Glass. If not she was born in Australia, moulded in Seattle and has been in New York finishing school for a while, where she studied jazz voice and also fortunately bumped into TSMM fave Francis Harris who helped record E, her debut LP on the ever great Shelter Press imprint. If that fortuitous/well chosen path wasn't enough she's also a dab hand at the piano, which she taught herself by ear when she was a child.
Refreshingly she doesn’t seem to worry too much what her peers sound like and even has a fondness for seamlessly melting the sounds of some age appropriate electronic equipment in to the sparse, languid percussion, upright bass and thoughtful piano, which are all perfectly weighted to elevate, not distract from the undoubted star of the show - Glass’ distinctive vocals, as she gives the classic jazz sounds of last century a personal twist or two.
"Good Friends Call Me E" sees Glass take a thoughtful, somewhat unnecessarily melancholic considering her age, trip down memory lane into the world of no longer used nicknames. “Shrine” muses on life’s chance encounters via a mellow, fairly well worn vocal jazz course albeit with some great vocal layering lest you think you’ve heard it all before.
Alongside her originals Glass also hints at her eclecticism and inspirations. Carla Bley’s “Sing Me Softly Blues” gets reimagined, there’s a pretty far out take on Annette Peacock’s “Dreams” and “Emahow” is a languorous, treacly tribute to Ethiopian pianist, composer, and nun Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou.
Whether it’s her original compositions or tributes to less heralded greats, Glass just digs that bit deeper and twists those familiar sounds that bit more to deliver surely one of the most compelling jazz vocal, and perhaps even jazz releases of this year. Late night, a quality tipple in hand and lean forward listening recommended.
DJ Dadaman & Moscow Dollar - Ka Gaza
Alright let’s get this party started, with a rare look back in time from the normally brain twisting Afrofuturistic Nyege Nyege Tapes crew out of Kampala, Uganda, who are taking a break from blowing up people’s expectations of African music to head over to the most exciting place in the dance music for the last twenty years, South Africa, for a trip down memory lane.
Ever since Kwaito in the late 80s, South Africa has been twisting the house template into fresh new shapes and with Gqom and Amapiano this century, been responsible for the most exciting mutations in the house continuum, just at a time when the West is stuck in a retromaniacal dance music death cycle that is still spinning out of control.
Well, in the middle of all this innovation around 2000, there was bacardi music and if you need to get down and dirty sometime soon then let it all hang out to this raw, bouncing, somehow unreleased snapshot of the genre from Pretoria’s DJ Dadaman and vocalist Moscow Dollar, who tells no doubt colourful tales of township life in Bantu language Xitsonga, simultaneously giving the beats an ancestral soul meets urban grind vibe.
Like a lot of township studios the equipment was basic, but like those early Afro-American house pioneers Dadaman, with his innate Afro-funkiness and vision, squeezes every ounce out of his gear to turn up the bounce, swing and party potential to eleven. This is music to sweat not sip to, and I hope you respect that when you crank it up. Hell even your neighbours will be wining rather than whining.
Soda Lite - Earthbound (Aural Caynon)
So the summer rave is over, you’ve sweated so much you’re not going to pee until Tuesday and you’ve collapsed into a grinning heap, but still the drugs won’t let you sleep. It’s time to hit play on the new Soda Lite and soundtrack your sun baked, hypnagogic state.
Soda Lite is another one of those artists that TSMM has grown up with, and the childhood memories are unfailingly fond. Residing in Lutruwita (Tasmania to all you colonialists), he’s a gardener and music maker who likes to include “environmental sounds gathered from across the diverse biomes of this isle” in his blissful new age of new age recordings, and by the sounds of Earthbound he might have recently attained full ambient enlightenment at the Aural Canyon ashram.
The album is a verdant, parallel dimensional island surrounded by warm turquoise waters. Synth tones either flutter around the sonic flora, blown by a light new age breeze, or hover contentedly once they find their happy place. Mycelial bioluminescence takes just what’s needed from real world instruments and distributes the micro-samples just where they are needed, and so it continues, track after blissful track until your tire eyes finally win their battle with the drug gang chemists. Sleep well, there will be another party and newsletter next week.
Don’t Forget TSMM’s Playlists.
From ambient sound baths and wellness imbuing new age vibes to underground house via jazz, neoclassical, folk, dub and more, the twenty TSMM playlists cover a lot of ground.
They’re available on Tidal, Apple Music, Amazon, Youtube Music, Youtube, Deezer, Soundcloud and Spotify (if you don’t worry about them not paying most of the artists on the playlists). Just hit this smartlink to connect to the various services and TSMM profiles.