From another time and dimension comes Big Black Delta with this industrial belter, ‘Huggin & Kissin’.
This track seems to pound its way into your head and claims its grip on you in hopes of giving you the best sound experience you’ve had in a while from an industrial band.
The Tel Aviv Session – The Touré-Raichel Collective (Cumbancha/ September 3 2012)
By Alexandra Sewell
Israeli piano virtuoso Idan Raichel and Malian guitarist Vieux Farka Touré serendipitously met in a German airport while independently on tour and decided it was a good idea to make an album. “When I first met Idan he looked like a crazy hippie to me. But he carried himself with a lot of confidence… then the minute we first played together, I knew that I was right” claims Touré, who clearly recognises talent when he sees it.
A good idea turned into a work of art, it seems, and what followed was an intrinsic musical engagement that resulted in a debut album. The two were joined by fellow Malian cabalash player Souleymane Kane and Israeli bassist Yossi Fine (who is also a long time friend of Raichel’s) in a small Tel Aviv studio. This assembly of four talented musical minds created The Tel Aviv Session; a celebration Middle Eastern and southern European music in it’s purest form.
‘Joanna’ by Little Comets. It was at the Oxjam Takeover a couple of years ago when I first heard this song and, as ever, it was an impromptu surprise as I’d never heard of the band prior to this gig. People were cheering, laughing and jumping around with every song and I knew this band were going to be huge.
This 1:49 minute diamond is ‘Easy’. No, it’s not the cubic zirconia from Cartier; it’s one of the stunning new tracks on the brand new album NEVER by London-based trio Micachu and The Shapes.
This group have always kept their ways firmly in the experimental category and won their way into our hearts when their blissfully catchy first single, ‘Golden Phone’, came into light. Audiences looking for something fresh and different were certainly satisfied and have been hooked ever since to their choppy, post-punk style. Makeshift cymbals, clattering drums and a heavily bashed ‘chu’ guitar played with no concern for consequence along with 25 year old Mica Levi’s distorted vocals, is what makes ‘Easy’ a firm favourite on the album.
A hit from experimental group Animal Collective’s eighth studio album Merriweather Post Pavilion, ‘Daily Routine’ is a wonderful recipe of wonder and style with a hint of magic. Animal Collective is formed of David Portner, Noah Lennox, Josh Dibb and Brian Weitz who go by the rather obscure pseudonyms Avey Tare, Panda Bear, Deakin and Geologist.
Irish-born folk-style singer and guitarist Conor J. O’ Brien wrote the first song for his band, Villagers, with a hangover, which pretty much makes it one of the greatest and most honest things ever to come out of having one.
‘Becoming A Jackal’ is the first single to be released from their Mercury Music Prize nominated debut album of the same name and is three minutes of pure heartache and bliss put together. The song describes the situation of someone young and coy, trapped by familiar and insipid settings (“your homely sense of disarray/never once the same/always rearranged/but things would never change“) stepping away from familiarity and transforming into ‘the jackal’. He is essentially unafraid to be bold and step out of his comfort zone: “I danced with the jackals and learned a new way to move“.
African musicians Krar Collective and Alhousseini Anivolla will both be playing at the BT River Of Music, as part of the London 2012 Festival on Sunday July 22.
The festival will feature an international melting pot of musicians from across the globe in celebration of the countries taking part in the Olympics and Paralympics at the end of the month. Musicians will perform on six stages along the river Thames.
Temesegen Tareken, Robel Tesfaye, Genet Asefa (aka Krar Collective) will be inviting fellow Ethiopian musicians to take to the stage to give Britons a taste of what this vibrant East African region has to offer. The Collective will also be promoting their new album Ethiopia Super Krar, which is devoted to Ethiopian music using the traditional krar harp and kebero drums, at London’s Rich Mix in September.
By Alexandra Sewell
Immutable SoCal noise rockers No Age come in strong with their sublimely messy, favourable (and oddly catchy) classic from their 2009 EP Losing Feeling.
Randy Randall and Dean Allan Sprunt never fail to perpetually introduce us to new and interesting guitar riffs and slow tempo, angsty vocals; welcoming us into their version of the noise genre which gained peak popularity in the early to mid 2000s. From the start, you can feel the beachy Californian influence paired with a hardcore metal edge and this is what puts No Age into a different calibre to the rest.
Ondatrópica – Ondatrópica (Soundway Records/July 16 2012)
By Alexandra Sewell
It’s a collaboration to die for; a 12-strong South American musical outfit formed from the respected talents of Fruko, Anibal Velásquez, Michi Sarmiento, Alfredito Linares, Pedro Ramayá Beltran, Markitos Mikolta, and Wilson Viveros. The self-titled double album Ondatrópica is a creative project brought together by Columbian musician and brains behind the popular cumbia band Frente Cumbiero, Mario Galeano and UK producer Will Holland (aka Quantic).
The project is all about embracing that classic tropical Columbian sound while mixing in the diverse, modern sounds from around the world. Ondatrópica is financially supported and developed by the British Council in Columbia and the group will be performing in aid of representing Columbia at the opening ceremony for London 2012 Olympics.
By Alexandra Sewell
Iowa-based outfit White Flashes are fairly new in my playlist this week but their ambient and interesting date-specific titled single ‘February 27, 1979′ caught me the moment I heard it and stunned me into submission. From the beginning, the track gives off a humble yet powerful burst of lush ethereal energy; no doubt to offer a feeling of being underwater and not unlike fellow chillwaver Washed Out‘s track ‘Feel It All Around’. There’s something different and more intruiging here though, as the presence of floating vocals gives this track a slick feel and the electronic drums have a slight robotic edge to them, making a wholly enjoyable track and definitely one to listen to during the summer months.
