Listen: Badge Époque Ensemble – “Sing A Silent Gospel” [2020]

Posted on September 2, 2020 by Very Warm

One of my favorite, if not THE favorite discovery of 2019 for me, Badge Époque Ensemble, are releasing their sophomore album on November 20, Self Help, via Telephone Explosion Records. I saw the group open for U.S. Girls at Union Pool of all places last year and was hooked. Their self-titled album was my #16 favorite album of last year and their follow-up EP, Nature, Man & Woman, was another favorite.

This upcoming album features Meg Remy of U.S. Girls, perennial Canadian favorites Jennifer Castle and Dorothea Paas, and BÉE standout guest vocalist James Baley on various tracks. This new one features Meg & Dorothea – get pumped! This first single is exactly what I want from the group, jazz funk with an air of cosmic mystery around it. Wicked hand percussion, solid mellotron, stellar-as-ever horn section, and ripping leads from the guitar and sax players. It all comes to a head near the end with the band engaging in a hypnotic synchronized melody while the drummer goes absolutely HAM in the background. This is an excellent sign of things to come. I cannot wait for this album and I hope you can’t either.

Badge Époque Ensemble is:
Jay Anderson – Drum kit
Chris Bezant – Guitar
Karen Ng – Saxophone
Alia O’Brien – Flute
Ed Squires – Percussion
Giosuè Rosati – Bass
Maximilian ‘Twig’ Turnbull – Fender Rhodes, Clavinet, synthesizers, piano

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Listen: Coral Club – “Undefined Traces” [2020]

Posted on September 1, 2020 by Very Warm

Russian producer Alexander Sirenko paints vivid pictures of a psychedelic, humid rainforest on his track “Undefined Traces”, coming off his upcoming album Nowhere Island, out September 4 via Not Not Fun. Layering sounds of waterfalls, water splashing on a tiled floor, bird calls, wood-block percussion, cicadas, bushes rustling, along with more digital ambiance thrown in there, Coral Club establishes a universe unlike our current one (well outside those that exist in the concrete jungle of cities, anyways – shout out to everyone living on the equator), and provides a place for us to escape to during this truly screwed up time.

The layers of sounds slowly ramp up and really submerge the listener in its humidity at the midway point, then ushers them out of it by the end, sufficiently hypnotized by digital hand percussion. It really reminds me of certain levels from the Pikmin series, specifically the Perplexing Pool and Forest Navel locations. Such wonder, such surprise, such magnificence.

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Listen: North Americans – “Furniture In The Valley” [2020]

Posted on September 1, 2020 by Very Warm

North Americans, aka Patrick McDermott, put out one of my favorite overlooked records in 2018 with Going Steady. Simple, meditative guitar music with plenty of floating ambiance, American Primitive flair, and just reliably relaxing and engaging songs. His follow up, Roped In, is coming October 9 via Third Man, features guest players like Mary Lattimore (who’s on this track here) and William Tyler, AND features more lovely artwork from fav of the blog Brian Blomerth. There’s another track out now as well listen to it here.

It’s a wondrous soundscape, dripping with harp, pedal steel and new age-leaning guitar passages. I was excited about the record once I saw the announcement, but this really got me over the edge.

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Listen: Melorman – “8 a.m” [2020]

Posted on August 21, 2020 by Very Warm

Get to know Greek electronic producer Melorman, aka Antonis Chaniotakis, who’s been in the electronic music game for over 20 years putting out records on various labels. His newest, For The Sun, came out June 8 via Same Difference Music, is a bubbling collection of six tracks that feels tailor made to experience while basking in the sun, or perhaps even the warm glow of street lights. For any fans of mellow instrumental electronica to help you relax or to reset a mood, please add this to your playlists now.

I don’t know if it’s the cover, or the fact that parts of it reminds me of 2814’s Birth of a New Day, but this album inherently makes me think of an urban scenario while listening – riding a train at night out of the city, riding a bike down a sun-lit avenue, or just shimmying through a cluster of people on a crowded sidewalk. The music is incredibly cinematic like that. The synths are refreshing, the melodies are buoyant, uplifting and gently propulsive. Washes of synthetic harmony ebb and flow through the steady beat while calculated melodies tell the story. It’s music like this that makes me want to hop back on the subway and drift away into my imagination. Until then, I’m gonna keep it locked and loaded on a playlist for that moment.

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Listen: Godcaster – “All The Feral Girls In The Universe” [2020]

Posted on August 21, 2020 by Very Warm

Add another reason to hate COVID for its blocking of live shows – now knowing about the existence of Philly/NYC band Godcaster and the fact that we won’t get to see them live until who knows when. I literally JUST listened to this song “All The Feral Girls In The Universe” and knew I had to 1. post them here and 2. check them out more. Their new album Long Haired Locusts is coming September 4 via Ramp Local.

While listening to this song and watching the video, my brain almost couldn’t comprehend the chaos happening. I haven’t experienced that with a modern group in a long time. It’s funky, complex and totally wild rock music, with flute no less. I’ve been listening to a lot of old jazz fusion from Japan and I’m seeing some parallels with that and this in terms of melodic arrangement and just packing VOLUME and SOUNDS into every available crevice. Gotta respect them for that! I gotta imagine they have a wild live show, so put them on your list once things mellow out.

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Listen: Kestrels – “Grey and Blue (feat. J Mascis)” [2020]

Posted on August 20, 2020 by Very Warm

Where oh where has all the great shoegaze gone? Well my friend, it’s all around us! Halifax group Kestrels has been on my radar since 2014 or so with their The Moon Is Shining Our Way EP, but I haven’t really kept up with them until now. I remember that EP leaning heavily into the distortion and guitar bendery aspect of the noise pop genre, whereas their new album Dream or Don’t Dream sees the band crafting legit earworm power pop songs while still dipping into total heavy guitar nerdery. There’s still crushing distortion, warped-string manipulations, heavy percussion and smooth vocals that aren’t completely drowned out, offering a nice variation of timbres. Trust me, I love me a good deluge of guitar noise, but sometimes you gotta mix that up a bit! Kestrels achieve that balance masterfully here.

On the song at hand, more guitar nerdery: having a J Mascis guitar feature on a track! You can even tell that it’s him – if I were given this song without knowing he was on it… I’d have a feeling. The full album is so solid though I wouldn’t even say this track is my favorite on the record (that’s probably “A Way Out”), but the song features the legend Mascis and the video has a ton of dogs in it. How could I not feature the dog video.

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Listen: Sweeping Promises – “Safe Now” [2020]

Posted on August 20, 2020 by Very Warm

I got turned on to this record by Sweeping Promises late last night and vowed that I would post about them in the morning. Fulfilling my side of this imaginary bargain, I’m featuring the Boston outfit’s new record Hunger For A Way Out, a record that almost sounds like a buried gem from late 80s/early 90s post punk heaven.

The guitar lines are sharp and innovative, the bass lines are sturdy and the vocal lines shift from lackadaisical to pointed, motivated. I can think of a few friends that will absolutely lose their marbles to this record, so I hope y’all are reading my blog and listening to this dang music. Makes me wish I could see them live! Damn you COVID!!

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Listen: Ela Minus – “megapunk” [2020]

Posted on August 20, 2020 by Very Warm

If you need a new, motivating anthem to get you through this deluge of political inaction (or destruction), pandemic fever, idiocy in the form of policy, and the stifling suffocation of the arts, look no further than the new Ela Minus song “megapunk”, released at the end of last month.

Minus is a Colombian-born, Brooklyn-based, Berklee-educated (got enough superlatives?) producer + musician that started off in hardcore, but has packed up those bags and moved into synthesizer music, bringing that same urgent energy into a field that stands to be just as revolutionary. “megapunk” has got a great, dark beat bringing me visions of early DFA Records releases, but also definitely staying firmly in the present. The groove is rather steady, but there are moments when slight electronic deviations seem to rip out of the stitching the song has tried to lace together, encouraging the same burst of nervous energy in the listener. It’s an awesome track, and as far as I know there’s no album announced yet… please let there be an album.

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Listen: Dntel – “Anywhere Anyone” [2001]

Posted on August 19, 2020 by Very Warm

I’ve posted about this song in playlists and retrospective lists, but never given it its own spotlight. If you have never listened to this song, change that right now. This is one of my all-time favorite songs and a mainstay on my depression playlist. Don’t let that superlative make you shy away. This song came out in 2001 and somehow sounds totally of its time, but still fresh. I love the glitchy dreaminess of electronic music from around the turn of the millennium and Dntel’s foundational Life Is Full of Possibilities is near the top of my list for albums all-time. Please listen to this damn album! Also support the postal service!

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Listen: Land of Talk – “Love In 2 Stages” [2020]

Posted on August 18, 2020 by Very Warm

I already featured the Land of Talk album on my Recommended Albums of July post, but man I gotta feature this simmering beauty of a track, “Love In 2 Stages”. It’s not upbeat and pummeling like a regular single, but the band hooks you in with glowing ember guitar lines and a smooth vocal delivery & melody from Elizabeth Powell. The whole album again though, is fantastic. I just ordered it on vinyl for Bandcamp Friday and I’m so excited to hear it in hi-fi.

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