New Music Friday: Fog Pop, Gloomy Post-Punk, Sexy Fingerstyle
July 31 releases include Ed Askew, sachi's mirror, Dawuna, Amanar De Kidal, Wayne Everett, Dry Wedding, Tokoro Wohnen, Mopar Stars, Sir Richard Bishop
Lately, I've been bemoaning the fact that my favorite rapper (and producer) is no longer with us: MF DOOM. He was just everything I could want out of hip-hop in one dude: creative, weird, funny, dramatic, nerdy, world-building, wild. And no one else has taken that spot… out of grief? A slight indifference about the state of current hip-hop? Nah, that just means I'm not paying as much attention as I should be. So let's just say grief and then perk up when a lost DOOM verse ends up on a pretty good song.
And then I realized: GOSH, BILLY WOODS AND ELUCID ARE RIGHT THERE, DUMB DUMB. They don't just fill a void for me; they've meticulously crafted their own world. So I lunged at the opportunity to produce Armand Hammer's Tiny Desk, which is out now. Kenny Segal, who makes some of the most unique beats around, assembled and arranged the band (Human Error Club + Ryan Crosby). billy woods and ELUCID gave a captivating performance. I loved working on this one, especially since everyone was game to collaborate.
A supersized New Music Friday for y'all today. Someone asked me recently if these are in any kind of order and the short answer is no, but usually the first 3 are my highest recommendation. So start there!
Stream the Viking's Choice Guide to New Music Friday mixtape (tracks 1-11 are from the albums reviewed, the rest are new-ish singles). Follow me on Bandcamp and check out previous mixes via Buy Music Club.
Ed Askew, The Final Painting
Dreamy songs with an uncommon beauty. It's as if, even as his health declined, Askew could hear new colors in his music. The arrangements, featuring a list of luminaries too long to share here, shimmer with his unmistakably shaky voice.
sachi's mirror, Talking in a Different Way
To me, the brightest star from the best Constellation Tatsu tape batch in a minute. Quiet electronic-pop songs that billow and bloom, like flowers from fog. Julia Holter's stately songwriting and Grouper's heavy atmosphere come to mind, but everything's at a horizon-seeking tilt.
Dawuna, African Family Laptop Musik
D'Angelo's ghost in a bedroom, sound designing the hell out of soulful lo-fi beats, deconstructing some mental damage. Quiet, confessional and powerful.
Amanar De Kidal, Kel Tamasheq
Soulful, Tuareg guitar music in no hurry, but absolutely in the business of healing. Even when the band rocks, Ahmed Ag Kaedy is more concerned with the shape of melody than showing off… though he's very much a string wiz.
Wayne Everett, After Dark
Wayne's (The Lassie Foundation) sweet falsetto is a constant source of comfort for me. Sunny indie-pop meets romantic post-punk in a concise EP that's never short on surprising hooks.
Dry Wedding, The Back of Beyond
Doom and gloom post-punk with a cinematic sense of drama. A splash of gothy black metal riffs and Western motifs feel standard these days, but there's an otherworldliness that keeps me coming back. FFO: Circuit Des Yeux, Wayfarer, 16 Horsepower.
Tokoro Wohnen, Bing Industries
Imagine Loren Connors' spectral guitar, but stretched and warped by Robin Guthrie, buried beneath disintegrating layers of unrecognizable field recordings and sumptuous drones. A disorienting experience that nevertheless soothes.
Loren Connors & David Grubbs, Somewhere in the Wild
There are ghosts of gritty spaghetti westerns in these guitar duos. Violent flutters and cackling reverb rule these side-long improvisations that end with two silhouettes slinking separate ways.
v/a, Eleven Harps
Can we nickname this comp And I Await the Resurrection of the Harp? (Shouts to the late, great Susan Alcorn.) Mary Lattimore, Nailah Hunter, et. al, show us the seemingly limitless range of the plucks, drones and grooves of this stringed instrument.
Mopar Stars, Official Researchers of the NJ Devil
Find a smoker-friendly bar in America, buy a pack of cigarettes, toss these greasy power-pop songs with chunky power chords on the stereo, rage, and wake up on someone else's couch.
Sir Richard Bishop, Hillbilly Erotica
Let's coin a new genre: Sexy fingerstyle, baby! Aside from some creaky strings that sound like loud bed springs, Sir Rick continues to develop his elegant, yet ravenous guitar music.
Starflyer 59, Disappointed EP
This is SF59's Ramones EP. Jason Martin is disappointed, wants to disappear and feels like trash. Girl group melodies, fuzzy power chords and a bit of that classic Starflyer lounge-gaze.
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