Went on a little string of online digging (not very deep, but mining for soul & groove is a relatively new thing for me), and found this cut that has been stuck in my head for a full week now. Brazilian groove at its finest. It’s incredibly catchy and the type of tune that instantly mellows you out. I imagine gliding on roller skates by the beach, the sun shining off the water, a palm tree gently dancing in the breeze.
Was tuned into a weirdo internet radio station and got hooked up with this absolute heat from South Africa. Later found that it was also shared on god-blog/label Awesome Tapes from Africa, which makes sense. They gotta give this an affordable vinyl/tape treatment soon! Please!
It’s Sunday night, right on the precipice of Monday. An awful feeling. Dig yourself out of that dark place with Masayoshi Takanaka’s infectious “Oh! Tengo Suerte” which employs a triple threat of smile-inducing action. What does this mean? It means that with a three-pronged approach, Masayoshi Takanaka will make you feel better.
First, you’ll see the album artwork pictured above. That’s the real art for the album this is off of – All Of Me, released 1979. This man is living his best life, skydiving over a pacific island (my guess is the Seychelles, as they’re referenced multiple times during the album) and giving a great smile & thumbs up to the camera. Incredible. Likewise, the suit and boots he’s decked out in are top notch.
Second, the music itself, which you’ll find above, accompanied with its music video. These are the two next fronts on your seasonal depression and pre-Monday blues. The song starts off with the following: a summery, psychedelic guitar, an audible representation of a heat mirage seen in the distance; with a shimmering acoustic guitar, mimicking the ocean’s surface on a beautiful day; and a whining, slide guitar, to represent the gentle breeze that caresses your damp hair as you stroll along the beach. The song eventually blossoms into a bonafide jam, building upon all the pieces in the intro, establishing a main voice in a chiming melody guitar, and furthermore adding in hand drum percussion, marimba, incredibly funky bass and rhythm guitar. There’s also a short burst of Spanish vocals that pop into the mix near the end, giving the track its name, like a pair of dancers strolling by and handing you a lei. Takanaka attempted to emulate paradise on this track and it’s safe to say he essentially succeeded.
But then the music video. I was not been familiar with this video until I started writing this post. I had planned for it to be pretty short & sweet, just talking about the tune and probably the album art. But this video put me over the edge. It shows Takanaka enjoying himself in a tropical paradise: jet skiing, driving around in a jeep, taking a nap under a tree, having dinner with an old man, looking out from a hotel balcony, and playing guitar at an outdoor cafe. When this album came out, Takanaka would have been about 26 or 27, which is essentially my age. That lucky duck. Takanaka tiene suerte indeed, for he is able to take a relaxing holiday in a beautiful, seaside oasis – a rather vacant and tourist-free one at that. Best of all, he brought a cameraman along with him so we can enjoy it alongside him.
Now if you feel nothing after watching that video and looking at that album art: you might already be dead. Go take a vacation. Lighten up. It’s Monday tomorrow. That’s no way to start your week. People need you. Channel your inner Takanaka and take it easy.
LASTLY – we’re warmvisions.net now! No .wordpress here. Very exciting after 9 years of doing this. Can’t wait to take advantage of all the features I’m now allowed to use.
I was recently introduced to fantastic weirdo label EM Records out of Japan, who have been releasing and reissuing truly unique and singular records for at least 20 years now. I’ll hopefully be posting about my introductory release, Takao’s Stealth, sometime soon.
For now, let’s bask in that #FridayFeeling with 7FO’s “竜のぬけがら Ryu no Nukegara” (translates to Dragon’s Husk), the title-track closer from the project’s last record. It shimmers, it bubbles, it clatters, it chimes, it lights up, it shimmies, it rumbles, it shakes, it slides, it sways. It does it all. Laying in a hammock stretch between two palm trees, a slight breeze, playing Gameboy with the sound off. Specifically Link’s Awakening. The waves slowly washing in behind you. There are a few clouds, but nothing to take away from the rejuvenating sunlight.
Been rightly obsessed with Varg over the past few weeks, especially his new album Evanescence (A Love Letter). Shout out to the Niche. This track on there as FLORA, his collab with singer AnnaMelina, is a fantastic swarm of sound to get lost in.
One of the best songs of 2019 is also one of, if not THE horniest, and I am all for it. The natural swag of DAWN oozes freely on this track, but with co-production helmed by certified “my guys” Cole M.G.N. and Hudson Mohawke, this track is an endless replay.
Realized I hadn’t posted directly about one of my favorite shoegaze / noise pop tracks of the decade. Wildhoney is a rippin’ noise pop band from Baltimore that I’ve been a fan of since the release of their Seventeen Forever EP back in 2014. I had the opportunity to interview them for my radio station, which was really sweet. Definitely fanboy’ed for a bit. Beautiful, overdriven fuzz.
We haven’t heard from the band in a while, but I just saw that they released a new single, “Naive Castle” at the end of last year. Check it out below! Hopefully they have a new record or EP on the horizon soon.
This month’s edition of Recommended Albums features darkwave synth, Japanese ambient, a dub ambient collab, an official DJ mix, and some of the best singer-songwriters on the planet.
Boy Harsher – Careful [Nude Club]
A dramatic, black-lit car chase sequence between a non-binary, goth dominatrix vampire and the gargoyle raver computer nerd tasked with killing them.
Jessica Pratt – Quiet Signs [Mexican Summer]
Sitting in a corner booth of a 24-hour diner watching waitresses and clientele mingle at 2am, steam rising out of the kitchen window, woman smoking on the curb outside.
Julia Jacklin – Crushing [Polyvinyl]
Walking past a display of flowers and immediately thinking of the people you’d give flowers to, if you had the chance.
log(m) & Laraaji – The Onrush of Eternity [Invisible, Inc.]
Doing a cannonball into a natural hot spring, feeling the bubbles trace your body and watching as they rush up to the surface.
Mikron – Severance [CPU Records]
A camera set up to monitor deep-sea creatures is absorbed by a current-riding, gelatinous being, showing the scientists unseen worlds, normally unreachable by humankind.
Nivhek – After its own death / Walking in a spiral towards the house [Self-Released]
A rogue, blinking stimulus tries to resuscitate you from a numb, comfortable stupor.
Powder – Powder In Space (Mix) [Beats In Space]
Getting every musical toy in a store to sync up perfectly, creating a small club in aisle 5.
SPELLLING – Mazy Fly [Sacred Bones]
A bubbling, smoking cauldron is host to a myriad of destructive, devious spells.
Tiny Ruins – Olympic Girls [Ba Da Bing]
Finding a bottle with an ambiguous, inspiring and oddly specific message written inside makes you think it was made just for you, giving you a romantic hope for the future.
Various Artists – Kankyo Ongaku: Japanese Ambient, Environmental & New Age Music 1980-1990 [Light in the Attic]
Deriving all pleasure gained through life from watching nature interact and change around you.
Big Thief, one of the best bands of this decade, is releasing their third album U.F.O.F. (and their first for indie rock big boys 4AD!) on May 3.
U.F.O.F. stands for Unidentified Flying Object Friend, which I think is such a sweet album name. I love thinking of cute little UFOs. The album also contains two songs that also made an appearance on Lenker’s solo album from last year, released on Saddle Creek.
If you’re on the fence about the band, like you enjoy their music to some degree but aren’t completely sold on the group as a whole, I implore you to see them live. They work as a well-oiled machine in the live setting, operating in a deep pocket. Adrianne Lenker is also an immediately likable front person, ripe with polite anecdotes and traditional wisdom for stage banter. If you’re in NYC, prepare your wallets for tickets to their upcoming album release show at Elsewhere on May 5. Tickets HERE.
It took me long enough, but I’m finally getting around to posting the new Aldous Harding song, “The Barrel”, complete with disconcerting video. Her new album Designer is out April 26 via 4AD.
Harding was the creator of my favorite album of 2017, Party, and tied for first in artists I saw live the most times that same year. To say I’m a fan would be a bit of an understatement. The adjective I used earlier, disconcerting, can be easily blanketed upon most of her creations, music and videos, but there’s obviously more to it than that. There is an underlying current of despair within the seemingly airy and tranquil folk melodies. So many things breaking her apart from other similar artists in the fold right now.
You need to be listening to this.
Warm Visions 