Organ Drone, Feedback Punk, Hobbit Prog
Oct. 30 releases include Kali Malone, Moses Boyd, PISS, Wolf Eyes, NØ MAN, foot foot, Magdalena Abrego, Chuck Roth, Joyce Moreno
Happy Halloween, y'all. Spent last weekend playing Smashing Pumpkins songs to benefit Thrive D.C. — we raised $2850! And after seeing other D.C. pals tackle AFI with such energy and urgency, I realize it's better late than never to get into the proud sons of Mendocino County (or at least Black Sails in the Sunset and The Art of Drowning).
Two recent podcast appearances on NPR Music for your commute/cooking time:
New Music Friday: I'm the guest host this week! We go in-depth on new albums by Kaitlin Butts, Sampa the Great, Kali Malone, Moses Boyd and PISS.
All Songs Considered: The third and final Olivia Tremor Control album got Robin Hilton and me thinking: Can we explain the story, style and meaning of the Elephant 6 collective in less than 60 minutes? This was an emotional episode to make — we both lived in Athens, Georgia at different times, but never stopped feeling the effects of its music scene.
Stream the Viking's Choice Guide to New Music Friday mixtape (tracks 1-12 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.
Kali Malone, Burning Song
Are these pop songs … played as slow-moving organ drones? The emotional movement recalls Low or Warning, with returning motifs that you ache to hear again and again.
Moses Boyd, Songs for Sinners
A new way into gospel music via London's most musical and athletic jazz drummer and electronic composer. These refreshingly honest songs sit in uncertainty and unknowing, but ripple with ecstasy and joy.
PISS, you made me / skin on linen
There is no surface level listen to this Vancouver punk band's debut. It is, instead, a confrontation and a contemplation about gender-based violence seared in feedback and plainspoken poetry. Necessary, needed.
Wolf Eyes, Self Embalmed
Vein-throbbing howls echo into a liminal space, yet primal beats squelch between slimed walls. The effect is claustrophobic, yet intensely personal. Crucial capture of a noise band in another mutation.
NØ MAN, Between the Sword and the Neck
A feral, uncompromising 26 minutes from what I consider to be the most vital D.C. hardcore band right now. Some moments bruise and blister with buzzsaw riffs, others lunge with a hulking post-punk menace.
foot foot, PREY TIME
Grubby, hobbit-frolicking, frog-hopping prog-folk that slips through bleary dawns and verdant dreams. Heartily recommendeded for fans of The New Eves, The Ophelias and caroline.
Magdalena Abrego, Xolo
Somewhere between the glittering, ambient jazz of Fuubutsushi and doomed folk songs of Grouper lies this emotional patchwork of songs and sketches from the Deerlady guitarist. Quiet, yet full of distraught texture.
HMOT, Here in the Future, Waiting for You
Do you love weird flute shit? I love weird flute shit. Freak folkies will find affinity in these organic improvisations, but there's a deep ritual happening here, one that seeps through the ground and communes with smoke.
Chuck Roth, Texture Songs
Simultaneously a showcase for his idiosyncratic songcraft and the extratextual sounds of his Strat — the plucks, plonks, fingerboard mutes, harmonics and pickup taps that make these songs so intimate.
Joyce Moreno, Never Too Soon
A subtly inventive album from a legendary voice of Brazil, who, at 78, is still finding new ways into jazz and bossa nova. Breezy, yet warm, which will be welcome as winter hits.
Fantaisie, Pariah's Ballad
Cinematic and pastoral like a Terence Malick film, this anonymous project moves through trip-hoppy folk and lush, electronic fantasias like Beth Gibbons swimming through Air.
Chrome Chasm, Interpreter
Not quite ambient Americana, more like psychedelic Texan noir. Tom Carter's expansive guitar, Will Adams' drippy pedal steel and synth, and Mlee Marie's smoky sax and flute scrape oil-streaked skies.
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