New releases 20/26 of March 2023

What's been going on this week in music?

Well, not a lot to be fair. 

As usual my ear never strays far from the ground and this week hasn't been any different. Even though it hasn't been overly eventful there are still some things worth mentioning. I'm top fiving this, otherwise the post could go on forever. 

1. To be, or not to be ugly - Hotel Ugly 

Once again, indie sadboi boy band Hotel Ugly has broken the scene by releasing a new album. Texas bros Mike and Chris Fiscella are still intent on making us all cry with slightly melancholic romantic tunes. This song in particular is a cry for answers, and aren't we all crying for some answers in life? Also putting some idealised version of someone in front of yourself just for the sake of romance. Now, is that universal or have I gone crazy?

With distorted sexy guitars, soft vocals, lyrics versed around heartache and just a sunny light side that's accesible to anyone who enjoys lying down for a bit, Hotel Ugly's new album is ready to take on the American indie scene and find its spot. Off the top of my head it sounds like Tame Impala if you were to slow + reverb it. Never not good.

 

2. Pallisades, CA - Larry June, The Alchemist, Big Sean

What happens if you mix deep rich voices that are in no hurry to spread their message with a sick instrumental that is slowly rocking you to nirvana? Probably this single. 

Their lyrics speak of going through the motions and coming out king on the other side in a manner that makes you think that it might not be that hard to do in the first place. It feels like it's tiring to teach how to live your  life right once you've mastered it. Larry June talking to me as if I should know better makes him the coolest guy this week. 

I haven't even started on the instrumental. Am I worthy of opening the Pandora's box that is The Alchemist? I'll give it a go. Revered rap producer The Alchemist is still going strong since the early 90s, still coming out with familiar yet new sounds such as Pallisades, CA. In a suprising turn of events (not really) he samples a few elements, including the strings from an obscure track by Argentinian artist Luis Alberto Spinneta, Omens of Love (1980). But after listening to the original, it just blows my mind how a rework sounds completly different. He does add a gentle reggae-esque guitar and beat that is underlying throughout the track which adds a groove to the strings I previously mentioned.

Clean clean clean work.

 

3. Gateway #001 - MTRLV

All I'll say before I begin is: "The power of good headphones". I had a listen to this on Friday and I thought it had potential but didn't really go anywhere so I lost interest halfway. It was particularly disappointing because last year the track I Long for Your Reflection was nearly the death of me after listening to it on loop for months. Now I'm currently listening to Gateway #001 again with my good headphones at home (not the crappy ones I have at the office) and it is a completely different experience. There are so many layers to the song and there is such an exquisite taste in what layers come to the forefront of the stage at each point of the track that it feels like it's keyhole surgery. It is good old techno and it's as Martian and industrial as it can get. There are certain moments when your man MTRLV pretty much leaves the deepest beat on it's own and it reminds you of your own heart and how it can pulse through into the ground beneath your feet.

 

4. Jill Says - Caroline Rose

She's not French but this certainly sounds like plucked out of a sequence shot from the most French movie ever. The piano work in this is fenomenal. So delicate and beautiful, almost as if the fingers are playing your heartstrings instead of the actual instrument. It is one of the most cinematic songs I've heard in a very long time and it made me think that my life is not as intense enough to have permission to listen to it. Caroline Rose sings as if she's singing through the microphone of a late night bingo session but it somehow works a magic trick and fits in with the rest of it. It is a spectacular part of the new album The Art of Forgetting and it kind of makes me wish I could forget I listened to it just so I could hear it for the first time again. If you want to make your life a film just listen to it at sunset and tell Richard Linklater to bring the camera over.

 

5. Donnys Wylin Out - Collard

Has someone ever had sex with your ears? Maybe Prince? Well this is the new Prince sound. London artist Collard does it again and just decides infect your brain with some daring new music. Donnys Wylin Out could be about anything but it's really just an ode to sensuality. From the bass to his falsetto that doesn't drop at any point in the song. There's a bit where he gives you some respite and sings from what seems like another room but he comes right back to finish you off. He cries that it's "So essential to let me in" and the only correct answer is "How could we not Collard?". It's astounding how a song can be such a turn on. It is most probably the best thing to come out this week.

I lied. I can't topfive it. I'll topsix it. 

6. Running Away - Thee Sacred Souls

I just love this new soul band too much to not talk about them every time there's something new out. This particular song is more upbeat than what they normally do and it sounds shockingly similar to Curtis Mayfield's Move on Up only sweeter. It's just great good vibes to end the week with, even though the lyrics speak of a man who is not willing to face up to his terrible actions. "He didn't mean to break your heart" but he's running away. And if these are the vibes, I'm running away with him to be fair.

 

More stuff that was out recently that I just realised this week is Benny Sings' new album Young Hearts. In short, it's sweet lakeside afternoon full of light keyboards that bounce through the songs and slightly funky basslines that grounds them. (personal opinion: not something that would bother me if I heard it in a cafe but not something I would choose to play). 

Mac Ayres has his fifth album out called Comfortable Enough. Also full of funky guitars, pseudo-jazzy distorted percusion with autotuned vocals that makes it sound like he has fifteen clones doing his backing vocals for him. It is extremely cool and worth a full listen. 

Westerman's new single Take. This is full jazzy percusions, no pseudo-jazz. And it actually might be a couple of clones doing his backing vocals, almost like an echo of what the lead singer is doing. I'm pretty sure this would fall into the category of indie but for me it's more jazz than anything else. It has some excellent piano work towards the end that doesn't get enough of the spotlight in my opinion. 

BIGBABYGUCCI has a new album out called Colors. Every song on the album is a different color (duh) but I particularly recommend White and if you're feeling a little sexy Teal. If your a fan of super soft trap and autotune that sounds like caresses on your bare back then this is the album for you. 

R&B artist Destin Conrad has an amazing single out SWITCH. It has this African beat and vocals to it that just invites summer in. It's almost as if you can hear the waves of the sea in the background as you're taken out to dance at a beach party. Just a warm sound to fill you when your down. 

If you're still craving more indie don't worry, Butter Bath have a good vibes only single out called Love You Now which will surely satisfy. Some little sad lyrics sung by a slightly distored voice and hidden behind upbeat danceable chords, as indie as it can get. A decent track to have on in the background while cooking a quiche. 

Not much on the rock scene this week, or not much that I've heard of anyway. But, having said this, there is this great single out by RVG called Squid. Just a little dark to wonder if something isn't right but not dark enough to change your mood. A slight headbanger that does the trick if you want something a little harsher but not too depressing. He's also singing about being a squid, I mean, just for that it's probably worth a listen. 

Just because it's my current obsession, German trap music, I'll give a completely biased final recommendation. There's something about the genre that's captivating and I've still not found what exactly so I can't really get into explaining it yet. This week  I discovered  a new song by Sandzo called MATIGNON and it is a brilliant neon purple track that just invites you to softly dance through a cloud of smoke. It's part of the album X and I cannot get enough of it. If you want something that will make you coil and uncoil like a sexy snake then listen to top track SKYLINE. 

I guess we're doing this again

You know when you leave someone on read accidentally on purpose and forget about it but then for some reason the universe decides to put you in the same tube carriage on a random Friday night for a good twenty minutes?

Yeah, that's probably the same shame I felt logging on to blogger after three years and seeing the sad attempt to restart the blog in 2020 after going on a spring cleaning rampage and deleting all the weird crap that was on it from my university years. 

So what happened? Not as in what happened in the last three years, as in what happened specifically today? I got annoyed. That's it. I spend too much time listening to music and researching music and talking about music and compiling music and hoarding music and and and and and and to just let all of it sit on my Spotify profile collecting tonal dust. 

I'm doing the selfless act of giving back as if my recommendations were gospel (they're not, they're just objectively very good (big surprise, I'm biased, they're my own opinions (bracket within bracket (they call it bracket inception)))). 

Okay so prelude done. Here we go. 

I have the intention to restart this thing and actually keep it going as a way of keeping a musical diary and also self-promote my playlists, not gonna lie. Trade offer: You get awesome tunes plus some context and I feel like I'm not wasting my time (or wasting even more time, two sides of the same coin yadda yadda yadda).

What you will hopefully find here *fingers crossed* are my monthly playlists broken down and explained, weekly finds, occasional rants on music, current and past obsessions and whatever comes to mind worth posting really. 

*runs into the warehouse full of stacked boxes of songs and playlists* "okay okay okay what to kick this off with... there must be something here... StereoMC's?" *shrugs and runs back out*

Okay. Classic. Timeless. But also very easy to pinpoint in a time period which is early 1990s UK. This is Connected by Stereo MC's.

Connected was released in 1992 and was the first single of the band's third album which was also named after the song. 

It sounds like a weird cross between hip hop, funk, electronic music and what is known as acid jazz. (scroll down to the end real quick to see what acid jazz is) 

So yeah, you could think it's a little all over the place. I mean, just look at the artwork on the album cover, there's a lot going on there. Are they in space? Is it a forest with mushrooms? It does a fantastic job representing what the music feels like. 

It samples the insane bassline of funk song Let Me (Let Me Be Your Lover) by Jimmy "Bo" Horne but they reworked it so it sounds really insinuating and as if you're listening to it from inside a fish tank.

It also samples some of the vocals from this reggae track Now That We've Found Love by Third World and flips them around. You can hear it right at the start  of Connected before the beat hits.

 

Aside from the fact that it's imposible not to bob your head a little to that bassline, it's helped out by vocalist Rob Birch who adds in the "yeah" loop which goes on and on throughout the track. As a result, you're locked on the the neverending and contagious circle of sound which is this single. The rest of the vocals sound a little carefree, a little dreamy, like he's driving on some convertible shaped cloud and he's got his female backing singers up in the sky with him. 

Lyrically, I'm going to be honest here, he could be rambling on about anything. I mean, get connected to what exactly? I had to Google it.

DJ and producer of the band Nick Hallam explained the tune's meaning in an interview with Billboard back in 1993: "The song 'Connected' is about human beings and the lack of connection there is between anything today. It's about the way everyone tries to categorize everything. The way every race is trying to separate from each other". 

Apparently Birch had the idea of spreading out good vibes "they way Bob Marley did" while also criticising that "somethin' ain't right" as there was a lot of rioting going on in LA against police brutality at the time and there was general unrest in London for similar reasons. 

Stereo MC's are "sort of" considered as one-hit wonders because of Connected, and even though I do agree that it's very evidently their best track, the rest of the album isn't bad so I'll give them a pass. It's what you can play in the background if you're having a chill day at the park. I particularly recommend Step It Up, Chicken Shake and The End from that same album. 

And on a final note, in case you're looking for a similar sound, a lot of the music from that era sounds just as funky and weird. Add to the queue some Happy Mondays with Step On, some Fun Lovin' Criminals with Scooby Snacks and some Freak Power with Turn On, Tune In, Cop Out.

*Acid Jazz: Music genre that combines jazz, hip hop, disco, funk and soul (it's basically Frankenstein's monster). It originated in London in the late 80s and its most notable artist is Jamiroquai.