World music – Page 9 – 7th Level Music

Khruangbin to release “Hasta El Cielo” – a dub version of “Con Todo El Mundo.”

“On their second album, the Houston-based instrumental trio crafts a unique, psychedelic vibe that hangs between continents and eras.” — Pitchfork

“The result is a border-blurring convergence, one likely to propel whatever dance floor is lucky enough to receive it.” — Los Angeles Times

“Buy it, stream it, hear it, get it, live it: It’s been a spell since one of those all-things-to-all-people albums has come along, but Khruangbin’s second full-length, Con Todo El Mundo, seems to be just that.” — VOGUE

“…Khruangbin gives us a window seat on an invigorating musical experience with a serious groove.” — NPR Music (Best Albums of 2018)

“…funky, jumpy tendrils of guitar, mixed with hazy washes of surf rock…” — Vulture

Globetrotting Texan trio Khruangbin are set to release Hasta El Cielo, the band’s glorious dub version of their acclaimed second album Con Todo El Mundo, on July 12th via Dead Oceans/Night Time Stories. The full album has been processed anew along with two bonus dubs by renowned Jamaican producer Scientist. Stream lead single, “Mary Always,” below.

Stream “Mary Always” — https://youtu.be/Cwv1adTliYA

The band’s exotic, spacious, psychedelic funk aligns with the dub treatment particularly well. Indeed, keen fans won’t find this a surprising release. Dubs of tracks from their first album The Universe Smiles Upon You appeared on limited vinyl releases of “People Everywhere” for Record Store Day 2016 and “Zionsville” on the BoogieFuturo remix 12”. The especially eagle-eared will have caught a dub of “Two Fish And An Elephant” playing over the credits of the track’s celebrated video.

“For us, Dub has always felt like a prayer. Spacious, meditative, able to transport the listener to another realm. The first dub albums we listened to were records mixed by Scientist featuring the music of the Roots Radics. Laura Lee learned to play bass by listening to Scientist Wins the World Cup. His unique mixing style, with the emphasis on space and texture, creates the feeling of frozen time; it was hugely influential to us as a band. To be able to work alongside Scientist, a legend in the history of dub, is an honor. This is our dub version of Con Todo El Mundo.” — Khruangbin

Formed of Laura Lee on bass, Mark Speer on guitar, and Donald “DJ” Johnson on drums; Khruangbin’s sounds are rooted in the deepest waters of music from around the world, infused with classic soul, dub and psychedelia. Since the release of Con Todo El Mundo, Khruangbin have continued their almost non-stop approach to touring, playing over 130 dates in 2018 alone, most of them selling out well in advance, including sold-out shows across North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. Khruangbin closed out 2018 supporting Leon Bridges in North America, and have already graced the stages of numerous festivals this year, including Coachella, Marfa Myths, Fortress Festival, FORM Arcosanti, Lightning in a Bottle, and more.

They’ll kick off their summer tour with select shows in the Northeastern US, including a sold out show at Central Park’s SummerStage in NYC, before heading overseas for festival performances at Green Man, Latitude, Mostly Jazz, Funk & Soul Festival and Barclaycard British Summer Time. They’ll return to North American to play Pitchfork Music Festival, Pickathon, Lockn’, and THING. A full list of dates is below.

Hasta El Cielo Tracklist: 01. With All The World 02. Sisters & Brothers 03. Mary Always 04. Four of Five 05. How I Love 06. Sunny’s Vision 07. A La Sala 08. The Red Book 09. Order of Operations 010. Hasta El Cielo 11. Rules – Scientist Dub (Bonus Track) 12. Cómo Te Quiero – Scientist Dub (Bonus Track)

Pre-order Hasta El Cielo — https://khruangbin.ffm.to/hastaelcielo

Khruangbin Tour Dates: Fri. June 21 – Portland, ME @ State Theatre Sat. June 22 – Montreal, QC @ Corona Theatre — SOLD OUT Fri. June 28 – Werchter, BE @ Rock Werchter Sat. June 29 – Sete, FR @ Worldwide Festival Sat. June 29 – Sat. July 6 – Roskilde, DK @ Roskilde Festival Tue. July 2 – Montreux, CH @ Montreux Jazz Festival Sat. July 6 – Roskilde, DK @ Roskilde Festival Sun. July 7 – Beuningen, NL @ Down the Rabbit Hole Thu. July 11 – Bilbao, ES @ BBK Sat. July 13 – London, UK @ British Summer Time Sun. July 14 – Moseley, UK @ Mostly Jazz, Funk & Soul Festival Wed. July 17 – Athens, GR @ Ejekt Festival Thu. July 18 – Bern, CH @ Gurten Festival Fri. July 19 – Suffolk, UK @ Latitude Festival Sun. July 21 – Chicago, IL @ Pitchfork Music Festival Sun. July 28 – Fuji, JP @ Fuji Rocks Wed. July 31 – Honolulu, HI @ The Republik Fri. Aug. 2 – Sun. Aug. 4 – Happy Valley, OR @ Pickathon Sun. Aug. 4 – Kaslo, BC @ Kaslo Jazz Festival Fri. Aug. 9 – Gothenburg, SE @ Way Out Fest Festival Thu. Aug. 8 – Sat. Aug. 10 – Rees, DE @ Haldern Pop Festival Sun. Aug. 11 – Helsinki, FI @ Flow Festival Tue. Aug. 13 – Budapest, HU @ Sziget Festival Thu. Aug. 15 – Paredes de Coura, PT @ Paredes de Coura Festival Thu. Aug. 15 – Sun. Aug. 18 – Brecon Beacons, UK @ Green Man Festival Thu. Aug. 22 – Sun. Aug. 25 – Arrington, VA @ Lockn’ Fri. Aug. 23 – Miami, FL @ The Ground (DJ Set) Sat. Aug. 24 – Sun. Aug. 25 – Port Townsend, WA @ THING Fri. Nov. 15 – São Paulo, BR @ Popload Festival

Stream Khruangbin’s Con Todo El Mundo – https://spoti.fi/2DN1Y2N

NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert – https://youtu.be/vWLJeqLPfSU

Pitchfork Live Session – https://youtu.be/q4xKvHANqjk

Book A Playlist Curated By Khruangbin via AirKhruang – https://www.airkhruang.com/

“Como Te Quiero” video – https://youtu.be/cxrotrIvqyY

“Friday Morning” video – https://youtu.be/KjQSSYOTXzk

“Maria También” video – https://youtu.be/7hlGqj3ImQI

“Evan Finds The Third Room” video – https://youtu.be/QcD_YXCxxZM

“Cómo Me Quieres” video – https://youtu.be/GHzIl82165g

Purchase Con Todo El Mundo — https://khruangbin.lnk.to/contodoelmundo

Keep your mind open.

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Here Lies Man are “Clad in Silver” on their upcoming EP – “No Ground to Walk Upon.”

“An evolutionary step forward for their sound.” – Metal Hammer

“A woozy wall of Afrobeat inspired fuzzbox riff worship and pounding circular rhythmic power, Here Lies Man connect the stoner rock underground straight to downtown Lagos.” – The Quietus

“Here Lies Man are still really, really good at making riffy, rhythmic psychedelic rock that sounds like the ’60s/’70s but still feels fresh today. Fans of anything from Nuggets to Ty Segall and King Gizzard should take note.” — Brooklyn Vegan

“This is a band ahead of their time.” — The Obelisk

Los Angeles quartet Here Lies Man share the lead single from their forthcoming 7-song mini-album No Ground To Walk Upon today. Hear and share “Clad in Silver” via YouTube and Bandcamp.

Dinked, the UK collective of independent retailers, are offering an exclusive special edition of the release that comes with a signed picture of the band, a patch, and a tote bag, on purple vinyl with orange swirl. For more information see Dinked HERE.

Here Lies Man took the music world by storm in 2017 with their self-titled debut positing the intriguing hypothesis: What if Black Sabbath played Afrobeat?

Since that time, Here Lies Man has expanded and expounded upon their sound and ideas of heavy riff rock and psych within the ancient rhythmic formula of the clave. The L.A. based band comprised of Antibalas members have toured relentlessly over the past 2 years, while also releasing a second album, You Will Know Nothing and an EP, Animal Noises, both in 2018.

No Ground to Walk Upon is due worldwide in August 2019. It continues with an ongoing concept of HLM playing the soundtrack to an imaginary movie, with each song being a scene. The lead single “Clad in Silver” is the soundtrack snippet of a journey to the imaginary place called home, which can never be arrived at. With every step, the character imagines getting closer, but it is a hallucination that fades in and out of perception.

Rough Trade named Here Lies Man in their prestigious Top 10 Albums of 2017. BBC 6 & Classic Rock Magazine deemed it among the year’s best, as well as countless other press outlets singing its praises. 2018’s You Will Know Nothing furthered the band’s reputation for genre-smashing rhythmic experimentation, topping many year-end lists as well as earning features from countless metal and indie rock outlets, plus cover stories in weekly papers. No Ground to Walk Upon is the next step in the band’s rapid ascent to what is bound to be influential upon riff based rock.

“We’re very conscious of how the rhythms service the riffs,” explains founder and vocalist/guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Marcos Garcia (who also plays guitar in Antibalas) of the band’s sound. “Tony Iommi’s (Black Sabbath) innovation was to make the riff the organizing principle of a song. We are taking that same approach but employing a different organizing principle: For Iommi it was the blues, for us it comes directly from Africa.”

No Ground To Walk Upon also includes an interesting conceptual mathematics to the entire proceedings, a theme begun on the prior album. “There are interludes between each song that are 2/3 to 3/4 of the tempo of the previous song,” Garcia says. “The reason it breaks down to 2 over 3 or 3 over 4 is that everything in the music rhythmically corresponds to a set of mathematical algorithms known as the clave. The clave is an ancient organizing rhythmic principle developed in Africa.”

Garcia and cofounder/drummer Geoff Mann (former Antibalas drummer and son of jazz musician Herbie Mann) recorded the mini-album much like they did their previous releases, at their own L.A. studio on a Tascam 388 8-track tape machine. Additional layers were recorded with former Antibalas keyboardist Victor Axelrod and other contributors in various other locations, all while the band continued its rigorous touring schedule.

Here Lies Man has already spent much of the past three years on tour, with dates supporting Antibalas, Earthless and Fu Manchu, as well as headlining treks through the EU & UK. The remaining months of 2019 and 2020 will see the band once again performing at numerous International festivals (including Austin’s Levitation Fest in November.)

No Ground to Walk Upon will be available on LP, CD and download on August 16th, 2019 via RidingEasy Records.

Keep your mind open.

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Review: Claude Fontaine (self-titled)

Get ready to meet your new crush – Claude Fontaine. Her debut self-titled album is one of the best world music records so far this year, combining reggae, dub, and bossa nova with Fontaine’s lovely voice behind a knock-out backing band including gents who have worked with Miles Davis, Ziggy Marley, and Steel Pulse.

The opening track, “Cry for Another,” is a heartfelt reggae cut about longing. The bass riff alone will make you move. “Hot Tears” has Fontaine singing about being alone and waiting for a call from her lover that she knows in her heart will never come. “Hot tears in my coffee, cold sheets in my bed. If he really loved me, he’d be here instead,” she sings in a voice so lovely that you and everyone else who hears this track will agree that this guy’s an idiot. “Little Sister” brings up the raga tempo (Seriously, the groove is outstanding.) and has Fontaine warning her sister / friend that the guy she’s falling for is a faker.

The horn section is a great addition to the smooth reggae beats (by legendary drummer Airto Moreira) on “Love Street.” The breakdown on it slides you into a dub-fueled sexy dream. Fontaine sings about finding love with someone for whom she’s pined for a long while – perhaps the subject of “Hot Tears.” “Play by Play” keeps the dub touches, and Fontaine’s voice is perfect for the psychedelic, trippy touches of dub music. She’s almost a ghost you keep trying to catch, but she always playfully slips away before you can grab her.

The album moves into bossa nova territory on “Pretending He Was You” – one of my favorite singles of the year so far. It blends Fontaine’s sad lyrics with tropical bird sounds, simple hand percussion, and classic Brazilian guitar strumming. “I’ll Play the Fool” is just as good, with Fontaine telling her lover not to worry about the “how’s” and “why’s” of their relationship and that she’s willing to be the silly one who embraces life if he won’t.

The soft percussion on “Strings of Your Guitar” is outstanding, and I’m pretty sure Fontaine’s lyrics are about wishing her lover would treat her with the same care as his instrument. #swoon. “Footprints in the Sand” is a heartbreaking ballad about a lover who has walked out on Fontaine. “Footprints left in the sand are all I have,” she sings, knowing that even her memories of him will fade in time. If you aren’t completely under her spell by the time you reach the closer, “Our Last Goodbye,” you might want to consider seeing a psychiatrist because you are probably an emotionless sociopath. Fontaine’s vocals about parting too soon from a lover make you want to buy her a glass of wine and just sit with her to watch the sunset.

Ms. Fontaine’s debut is a gorgeous record, and easily the most beautiful work I’ve heard so far this year. Don’t sleep on her (as the kids say). You need these songs more than you might realize.

Keep your mind open.

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Tal National announces summer North American tour.

“Rollicking, dizzying, high-octane grooves with the joie de vivre of afrobeat and highlife.” — Rolling Stone

“It’s downright miraculous how the songs mesh: guitar licks, hopscotching bass lines, cymbal offbeats and talking drums all land with microscopic precision and can reconfigure in an instant.” — The New York Times

“The sound of a group without obvious peer… such brazen confidence and ability” — Wire Magazine

Niamey, Niger band Tal National returns to tour North America this summer supporting their highly lauded third album for FatCat Records, Tantabara. The tour begins in July and will bring the band to Canada for the first time, while also returning to some US cities in which they’ve blown minds and moved feet previously. Please see current dates below. Hear and share Tantabara via Spotify, Bandcamp and YouTube.

Watch & share “Akokas” official VIDEO.

Tal National is a band built on bringing people together. Their home country of Niger is split into a wide variety of cultures and ethnicities — Songhai, Fulani, Hausa, and Tuareg voices all vie for attention under their national banner, and all are represented in the vast membership of Tal National’s ranks. This gives the band’s music its own particular mash of ethnomusical touchstones, from the bounce of kora, highlife and afrobeat, to the dusting of Tuareg Blues and the roiling boil of Hausa percussion — they are truly their country’s best cultural emissaries. In 2013 the band’s FatCat debut was released to wide critical acclaim: The NY Times placed it on their year end Top Ten and other publications followed suit — The Guardian, The Independent, Mojo, Vice, The Wire, and others all sang exuberant praises. NPR, KEXP and WBEZ hosted frenetic live sessions. Two years on, their follow-up only cemented their status, adding shouts from Pitchfork, Afropop Worldwide, FADER, The Quietus and The Boston Globe to the fray. Though with each heaping of praise they all seemed to echo NPR’s assessment that “there’s no way you won’t dance to this one!”

Tantabara is available on LP, CD and download, released February 9th, 2018 via FatCat Records.

TAL NATIONAL TOUR 2019: 07/06 London, ON – Sunfest 07/07 London, ON – Sunfest 07/08 Toronto, ON – The Baby G 07/09 Detroit, MI – Trinosophes 07/11 Pittsburgh, PA – Spirit 07/13 Winnipeg, MB – Winnipeg Folk Festival 07/14 Winnipeg, MB – Winnipeg Folk Festival 07/16 Portland, OR – The Jack London 07/17 Seattle, WA – Nectar Lounge 07/18 Harrison Hot Springs, BC – Harrison Festival 07/20 Vancouver, BC – Vancouver Folk Festival 07/21 Vancouver, BC – Vancouver Folk Festival 07/26-07/28 Calgary, AB – Calgary Folk Festival 08/01 New York, NY – Public Records 08/02 Marlboro, NY – Live at The Falcon 08/03 New Haven, CT – Cafe Nine 08/04 Portland, ME – Space538 08/06 Hudson, NY – Half Moon presents 08/07 Boston, MA – Museum of Fine Arts 08/08 Easthampton, MA – New City Brewery 08/09 Edmonton, AB – Edmonton Folk Festival 08/10 Edmonton, AB – Edmonton Folk Festival 08/16 Salmon Arm, BC – Salmon Arm Roots and Blues Festival 08/17 Salmon Arm, BC – Salmon Arm Roots and Blues Festival

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Claude Fontaine releases another lovely single, “Hot Tears,” from her album due April 26th.

‘Claude Fontaine’ promises 10 tracks of artful reverence and tasteful reimagining of globetrotting sounds.” — Noisey

Los Angeles-based singer and songwriter Claude Fontaine shares a new single, “Hot Tears,” from her forthcoming debut, self-titled album, out April 26th on Innovative Leisure. Following the “hypnotic and romantic” (Noisey) “Pretending He Was You” and lead single “Cry For Another”, which the Los Angeles Times described as “a straight-up rocksteady song that conjures the essence of Kingston, Jamaica, in the late 1960s,” “Hot Tears” is another standout nod to the early 1970s Studio One, Trojan, and Treasure Isle records of Jamaica. Over muted percussion and flutters of trumpet, Fontaine tells a story of unrequited love.

Listen to “Hot Tears” –
https://youtu.be/5oYzwUyy_LE

Claude Fontaine was tracked in two potent sessions with guitarist Tony Chin, whose playing with Althea and Donna, King Tubby, Dennis Brown and so many more very arguably defined a significant part of the classic reggae sound, and Airto Moreira, the Brazilian drummer whose work both solo and in collaboration—with Miles Davis, Astrud Gilberto, Chick Corea, Annette Peacock—make him an actual living legend. They also enlisted a murderer’s row of additional session players—bassist RonnieMcQueen of Steel Pulse and Ziggy Marley drummer Rock Deadrick, Now Again Records guitarist Fabiano Do Nascimento, Sergio Mendes percussionist Gibi Dos Santos and Flora Purim bassist Andre De Santanna. The ten tracks that comprise Claude Fontaine were tracked at both KingsizeSound Labs in Northeast Los Angeles and Sage and Sound, Chet Baker’s legendary old studio in Hollywood.

Fontaine will celebrate the album’s release with a show at Zebulon in Los Angeles on Fri. April 26th. Tickets are available here.

Listen to “Pretending He Was You” —
https://bit.ly/2J0aCi4

Watch “Cry For Another” Video —
https://youtu.be/ztHTOL_EJWM

Pre-order Claude Fontaine —
https://claudefontaine.bandcamp.com/album/claude-fontaine

Keep your mind open.

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Live: Mdou Moctar and Guerilla Toss – Bell’s Eccentric Brewery – Kalamazoo, MI – March 31, 2019

I’d heard a lot of good things about Nigerian guitarist / Tuareg musician Mdou Moctar before seeing him live for the first time. I knew he opened for Jack White on some of his tour dates, and that he’d made his own version of the Purple Rain film, and that he plays all sorts of gigs – from big festivals to weddings. I also heard that he shreds. After seeing him live in Kalamazoo, I can confirm this. Boy, does he ever shred.

Opening for Mr. Moctar and his band with the NYC new wave / post-punk / psychedelic outfit Guerilla Toss. They put on a wild set that mixed all three of those genres that left the crowd wowed and weird. I especially liked their tunes that wandered into psychedelic jams.

Mr. Moctar and his sharp backing band were a contrast to Guerilla Toss’ style. Moctar and crew brought in fierce African rhythms, heavy bass, and fiery guitar solos that could barely be contained by the small venue.

He mostly played cuts from his excellent new album, Ilana (the Creator), a stunning record that has him exploring new guitar techniques and singing about love of fellow man. He laid down multiple stunning solos throughout the show.

He’s a nice chap as well. He was at his merchandise table before and after the set and chatted with anyone who wanted to chat. That friendly energy became bigger onstage as he encouraged everyone to rock out with him and his band.

Speaking of his merchandise, he’s selling handcrafted jewelry from Niger while on tour to support a school he’s building there. The guy plays a mean guitar and he’s building a school. Your argument is invalid.

Don’t miss him live, and be sure to support his charitable efforts. He’s secretly one of the biggest upcoming stars on the world music scene playing small venues near you.

Keep your mind open.

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Review: Mdou Moctar – Ilana (the Creator)

Mdou Moctar’s new album, Ilana (The Creator), is a powerful, stunning record full of amazing guitar work, trance-inducing vocals, and uplifting energy sure to bring you up from any blues you might be feeling.

Starting with “Kamane Tarhanin,” a slow burn that builds to an inferno, the album makes your jaw drop in just the first track. The slightly fuzzy vocals on “Asshet Akal” mix well with the guitar licks that are somehow rough and pristine at the same time, like a gem pulled fresh from the ground. “Anna” is a lovely track that might be a love song. I’m not sure, since I can’t translate the lyrics, but Moctar’s vocals and the overall sound of the song make it appear as a love song. In a way, all of Moctar’s work is about love: love of country, fellow man, nature, art, and the Creator.

“Takamba” is a nice instrumental track, and “Tarhatazed” is another track with mind-blowing guitar work that has influences ranging from Hendrix to ZZ Top. “Wiwasharnine” is a toe-tapping, hip-shaking rocker that boosts your spirits with its handclaps, soaring guitar, and joyful vocals.

The title track is a rocking takedown of the French government’s treatment of Nigerian uranium mine workers. The album ends with the beautiful “Tumastin,” an almost meditative track that sticks with you for a few moments once it’s done.

This is one of the best albums of the year so far, and a must-have for any fan of Tuareg music.

Keep your mind open.

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Review: JODI – Pop Espontaneo

Pop Espontaneo by the Paraguayan duo JODI is a great collection of psychedelic garage music from 1969 through 1975 remastered and released by Guerren Records. The duo, brothers Joern and Dirk Wenger, used guitars, Moog synths, exotic instruments, and distortion pedals to create stuff ahead of its time, and Pop Espontaneo is full of unreleased home recordings from the Wengers.

The opener, “Loveseller,” drenched in fuzz and falsetto vocals, sounds like a lost track from Thee Oh Sees. Besides having a great title, “Altered Termites in My Room” has a great 1960’s South American secret agent groove. “Change Your Mind About Me” is psych-pop with a wild guitar solo. The guitar on “Night Dreamer” is also excellent. It soars like a 32-bit eagle in a fantasy game. “Save My Soul” and “Take Me Higher” are weird rockers that belong in some kind of horror-disco musical.

The organ work on “A Sunburst of Bees” (another great title) is outstanding. It almost reaches demented church organ levels. “Where Are All My Friends” sounds like it could’ve been recorded by Ariel Pink yesterday. “I Will Wait for You” reveals JODI’s love of Rubber Soul (as does “Tell Me Why” five tracks later) with its beats, guitar chords, and vocal work. It’s great. “I Found You in the Night” reveals JODI’s love of the Kinks‘ early work. Just listen to that beat and tell me I’m wrong.

The wild psychedelic guitar solos continue on “I Loved You Once,” and the church organ continues on the Simon and Garfunkel-like “Hard to Be Alone” – one of three “bonus tracks” on an album that is essentially all bonus tracks found in an office of the Wenger family’s paint factory after forty years. The other two are “Searching for a Figure” (with wild synths) and another Kinks-like fun tune, “Toys.”

The fact that these master tapes survived in a tropic environment in a desk drawer is amazing. It’s amazing as this collection, really. The Wenger brothers deserve to be better known by the world at large, and Pop Espontaneo is a great place to start.

Keep your mind open.

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Claude Fontaine’s debut album, due April 26th, is going to be stunning. Listen to “Pretending He Was You” if you don’t believe me.

“Claude Fontaine’s music perfectly captures the thrill that comes with discovering an excellent old LP at a record store.” — Noisey

“The Los Angeles-based Fontaine is preparing for the release of her debut album […] ‘Cry for Another’ is a wonderful early warning.” — Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles-based songwriter and singer, Claude Fontaine, announces her debut, self-titled album, out April 26th on Innovative Leisure (LA-based label who has worked with the likes of BADBADNOTGOOD, Rhye, Allah-Las, Nosaj Thing, Hanni El Khatib, Nick Waterhouse, Classixx, etc). Today, she shares lead single, “Pretending He Was You,” which premiered this morning via Noisey.

Stream “Pretending He Was You” —
https://soundcloud.com/innovativeleisure/claude-fontaine-pretending-he-was-you-4/s-GYXxX

Last month, Fontaine presented listeners with early single “Cry For Another,” a track praised by the Los Angeles Times as “a straight-up rocksteady song that conjures the essence of Kingston, Jamaica, in the late 1960s” and a “wonderful early warning” of what’s to come. Fontaine even made a special appearance at Ulla Johnson’s New York Fashion Week show in support of the single; Johnson, immediately upon hearing the track, personal reached out to Fontaine to perform it.

A love song to classic reggae and Brazilian music, Claude Fontaine is an album honoring that feeling of finding a home away from home. Fontaine wrote and demoed her debut album after living in London off Portobello Road and stumbling into Honest Jon’s, a long-lived spot for fringe records collected from the furthest edges of the world.

She was immediately captivated by the old Studio One, Trojan, and Treasure Isle records she was discovering—the same records that got The Clash covering “Police And Thieves,” and the Slits sharing a bill with Steel Pulse. “I wandered in one day and from the first moment I was under a spell,” Fontaine says. “I was transfixed.”

Tracked at both Kingsize Sound Labs in Northeast Los Angeles and Sage and Sound, Chet Baker’s legendary old studio in Hollywood, Claude Fontaine was recorded with a murderer’s row of session players, including Airto Moreira, the Brazilian drummer whose work both solo and in collaboration—with Miles Davis, Astrud Gilberto, Chick Corea, Annette Peacock—make him an actual living legend, Tony Chin, (Althea and Donna, King Tubby, Dennis Brown), RonnieMcQueen (Steel Pulse), Rock Deadrick (Ziggy Marley), Andre De Santanna (Sergio Mendes, Flora Purim), Gibi Dos Santos (Sergio Mendes), Nando Duarte (Gal Costa, Elza Soares), Fabiano Do Nascimento (Mia Doi Todd), and Jaime Hinckson (Hollie Cook, Daniel ‘Bambaata’ Marley).

“I hope this record will transport people,” said Fontaine. “I want it to feel like those lost records, like it got lost in the dusty bottom bin of some world music store in London because that’s how I felt when I walked in to that record store. I want it to be its own world.”

For those in the LA area, Fontaine will celebrate the album’s release with a show at Zebulon on Fri. April 26th. Ticket are available here.

Watch “Cry For Another” Video —
https://youtu.be/ztHTOL_EJWM

Claude Fontaine Tracklist:
01. Cry For Another
02. Hot Tears
03. Little Sister
04. Love Street
05. Play By Play
06. Pretending He Was You
07. I’ll Play The Fool
08. Strings of Your Guitar
09. Footprints In The Sand
10. Our Last Goodbye

Pre-order Claude Fontaine —
https://claudefontaine.bandcamp.com/album/claude-fontaine

Keep your mind open.

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Mdou Moctar shares “Tumastin” from upcoming album due March 29th.

Mdou Moctar presents his newest single, “Tumastin,” from the upcoming full length, Ilana: The Creator (out 3/29 on Sahel Sounds). A departure from the high energy wedding rock synonymous with Tuareg guitar, “Tumastin” further showcases Mdou’s versatility, in what might be the first of its kind of Saharan shoegaze. Singing with ghostly reverbed vocals over echoing-with-whammy wow and fluttering guitars, Mdou sounds a plaintive note for his “Tumastin,” or “people back home.” Nostalgic with a steady loping drum crash, it ends in dreamy, Julie Cruise-inspired reprieve.

LISTEN TO “TUMASTIN”
https://youtu.be/kqaHGTQpoTY

The song is premiered in conjunction with an interview with Stereogum, who today named Mdou an “Artist to Watch,” making him, by our count, the first Tuareg guitarist to be named as such.

Don’t miss Mdou on tour this Spring, as he brings his electrifying shows to our continent.

“TUMASTIN” LYRICS
My people are dispersed
across different countries
It hurts my heart
With such pain
it stops the blood
from running in my veins

For me
it is my heart that pains me
with a deep sadness
as I pity the women
who live in the desert

Look at the other countries
And look at the world before us
The men don’t sleep
but work hard
To bring the women
into the shade
What a beautiful idea

PRAISE FOR “KAMANE TARHANIN”

“It’s easy to imagine the breadth of Mocatar’s musical influences. [‘Kamane Tarhanin’] is a droning, hypnotic, and psychedelic meditation.” – NPR Music

“blistering and gritty psych rock” – Stereogum

“While nothing captures the live Mdou Moctar experience, this is as close as I’ve heard.”
– Afropop Worldwide

MDOU MOCTAR TOUR DATES
Thu. March 28 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Andy Warhol Museum
Fri. March 29 – Cleveland, OH @ Now That’s Class
Sat. March 30 – Detroit, MI @ Trinosophes
Sun. March 31 – Kalamazoo, MI @ Bell’s Eccentric Cafe
Mon. April 1 – Newport, KY @ Southgate House Revifval – Sanctuary
Tue. April 2 – Columbus, OH @ Ace of Cups
Wed. April 3 – Bloomington, IN @ The Bishop
Thu. April 4 – Chicago, IL @ The Empty Bottle
Fri. April 5 – Milwaukee, WI @ Milwaukee Psych Festival
Sat. April 6 – Minneapolis, MN @ Cedar Cultural Center
Sun. April 7 – Omaha, NE @ Pageturners Lounge
Mon. April 8 – Denver, CO @ Globe Hall
Tue. April 9 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
Wed. April 10 – Garden City, ID @ Visual Arts Collective
Fri. April 12 – Olympia, WA @ Octapas
Sat. April 13 – Portland, OR @ Star Theater
Sun. April 14 – Seattle, WA @ Chop Suey
Tue. April 16 – Felton, CA @ Flynn’s Cabaret
Thu. April 18 – Oakland, CA @ Red Bay Coffee
Fri. April 19 – Visalia, CA @ The Cellar Door
Sat. April 20 – Los Angeles, CA @ Zebulon
Sun. April 21 – San Diego, CA @ The Casbah
Mon. April 22 – Tucson, AZ @ 191 Toole
Tue. April 23 – Albuquerque, NM @ Sister
Thu. April 25 – Austin, TX @ Hotel Vegas
Fri. April 26 – Lafayette, LA @ Festival International de Louisiane
Sat. April 27 – Lafayette, LA @ Festival International de Louisiane
Sun. April 28 – New Orleans, LA @ New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
Tue. April 30 – Birmingham, AL @ Saturn
Fri. June 28 – Sun. June 30 – North Adams, MA @ Solid Sound Festival

Pre-order Ilana (The Creator) –
https://mdoumoctar.bandcamp.com/album/ilana-the-creator

Hi-res images, album art & bio available here: http://pitchperfectpr.com/mdou-moctar/

Mdou Moctar Online:
https://mdoumoctar.bandcamp.com/
https://sahelsounds.com/mdou-moctar/
https://www.facebook.com/mdoumoctarofficial/

Keep your mind open.

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