New Music Friday: Cool Samba, Sublime Drone, Chaotic Noise-Rock
Aug. 7 releases include Roy Montgomery & Martha Skye Murphy, daddy's boy, Tenniscoats with Tape, Joyce & Tutty Moreno, Hana Stretton, maya ongaku
The Olivia Tremor Control's masterpiece Music from the Unrealized Film Script: Dusk at Cubist Castle turned 30 this week. If you don't know it, the quick pitch: 1960s-inspired pop songs filtered through rowdy and ramshackle indie-rock, spliced together with tape collage techniques. There's nothing like it.
When I was a DJ at WUOG in Athens, Ga. — the home of OTC and most things Elephant 6 — I would occasionally host Dusk at Cubist Castle parties where I'd play the album in its entirety at midnight, but with the bonus disc of ambient sounds and field recordings ... simultaneously. In the spirit of the music, I'd mix in my own sound collage, and folks would call into the station wondering what the hell was going on!
The band's primary songwriters, Will Cullen Hart and Bill Doss, are no longer with us, which makes The Olivia Tremor Control's The Same Place, out Oct. 23, both bittersweet and a minor miracle. Can't wait for y'all to hear it.
In the meantime, 10 new albums are out today, which happens to be Bandcamp Friday. Be excellent to each other.
Stream the Viking's Choice Guide to New Music Friday mixtape (tracks 1-10 are from the albums reviewed, the rest are singles released within the last week). Follow me on Bandcamp and check out previous mixes via Buy Music Club.
Roy Montgomery & Martha Skye Murphy, Nebular
When the world feels too overwhelming, I reach for music that matches that energy. This pan-generational duo lives in layers of shimmering guitars, echoing keys and wordless vocals that waver between beauty and banshee. Staggeringly sublime.
daddy's boy, FOUR HOMBRES
Cartoonish chaos that will leave you completely thwacked. Crusty, high-octane, octave-fuzzed noise rock that is both darkly funny and deadly serious. Shellac'd Pylon post-punk grooves pummeled by nasty Negative Approach riffs.
Tenniscoats with Tape, Minat Soul
Small music that fills a quiet room. Japanese indie duo and Swedish post-rock band's 4th collab captures the bleary intimacy of morning light with sweet harmonies, simple songs and gentle ornamentation.
Lawrence English, The Rest is My Ghost
Impending doom never sounded so immersive. And a stacked credits list never rendered so obscured. These thundering drones somehow give vapor viscosity.
Adrian Younge, Joyce & Tutty Moreno, Joyce e Tutty Moreno JID027
Jazz is Dead 🤝 Brazil. Two absolute legends and one of the deepest lovers of groove capture the classic samba sound. Could've easily come out in 1970, yet is casually cool with the current moment.
Drew Gardner, Rabbit Ears
Wavefinding psychedelia bent toward easygoing melodies and deep-pocket grooves, but bangs heavy when the moment demands. Not necessarily noodly, just jams gliding through portals.
Hana Stretton, tiarn
Phil Elverum-approved and it's easy to hear why: The Australian artist doesn't so much write songs as gather ghosts with cicadas and living room choirs.
Bon Odori, Kimyo
Patrick Shiroishi and Amulets' ambient album complements their sensibilities to create an unexpected cross between múm and Boris: warm, fuzzy, glitchy, twee and heavy.
maya ongaku, Nothing Space Music
As cozy as a cup of genmaicha. The Japanese trio weaves folk, bossa nova and pastoral psych into a quiet and considered batch of songs that feel like nooks to nestle into.
Felisha Ledesma & Snakeskin, Palm of Hand
An ambient lament that articulates its anger as the composition unfolds. From a live commission between the Swedish sound artist and the Lebanese dream-pop duo at Malmö’s Intonal festival.
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