July 2020 – 7th Level Music

Review: Jess Cornelius – Distance

The first thing that strikes you about Jess Cornelius, of course, is her haunting voice. It’s right up there with the vocal chops of Erika Wennerstrom and the honesty of Patsy Cline.

Her new album, Distance, starts out with the powerful “Kitchen Floor” – a song about getting up and moving on after a one night stand (which, I suspect, is both a literal tale and a metaphor for moving forward when things are tough, even if that walk from the bedroom and out the front door feels like a marathon) and then finding a lover who isn’t so easy to leave. The groove on it is empowering. “No Difference” is a song summed up by the Zen proverb “Let go or be dragged.” Cornelius sings, “If it’s gone, it’s gone. You gotta keep on doing without it, and one day it’ll feel like none of this was real.” Tony Buchen‘s keyboard work on the track is excellent.

Cornelius gets real and raw on the electro-poppy “Body Memory” – a song about the loss of a child and how the loss left her unsure of everything. The country-tinged “Easy for No One” has Cornelius realizing that living in the past is a treacherous game (“I keep wasting my time on other things, like thinking of the past and all the other lives I could’ve lived instead.”). She gets real about lust and hot sex on “Here Goes Nothing” (and Buchen lays down a cool bass groove) with lyrics like “…nothing kills lust like real life.” and “…you know that we won’t want each other if we could actually be lovers.”

The subtle “Born Again” pulls the veil back on Cornelius’ feelings of isolation as a younger woman (“Have you ever wanted to be loved so bad, and not by a person who could love you back, and not by a person at all, but by the world?”). The addition of Mary Lattimore‘s harp is a beautiful touch. “Palm Tress” drifts from an alt-country sound to shimmering Southern California shoegaze thanks to Michael Rosen‘s keys and Cornelius’ guitar work.

“Banging My Head” would’ve been a massive hit were it released in the mid-90’s era of Liz Phair, as it’s full of self-anger (about returning back to old behaviors and bad relationships) and big, bold chords and softer verses, not unlike a Pixies track. “Street Haunting” has a neat, rolling groove that weaves throughout it without beating you over the head. The closer “Love and Low Self-Esteem” has Cornelius finding the strength to talk about being jilted, but also knowing that she still has some longing for her ex (“I just don’t care at all, that’s what I’m gonna say to you when it is true, when I no longer need a single thing from you.”).

The title of Distance covers a lot of ground. It’s easy in this time of COVID-19 to apply it to all of us distancing from each other, and even members of our own families. It can refer to the distance Cornelius feels in her heart toward ex-lovers, her current beau, and herself at different stages of her life. It can refer to the physical distance between her English homeland and California, to the passage of time, the healing of wounds, and probably a dozen other things. The album is a look into Cornelius’ heart, but at arm’s length. She’s not going to let just anybody in there, but she is willing to share her stories and encourage us to look into our own hearts. Bridging that gap in ourselves will eventually let us bridge the gaps we’ve built between others.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Jaycee at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Ric Wilson and Terrace Martin encourage you to dance on “Don’t Kill the Wave.”

Chicago-based musician, activist, and organizer Ric Wilson and GRAMMY-nominated producer Terrace Martin are thrilled to share their new video for “Don’t Kill The Wave,” a standout track off the pair’s collaborative EP, They Call Me Disco, a “jubilant six-song burst of summertime grooves and throwback funk” (Pitchfork) out this past May on Free Disco/EMPIRE/Sounds of Crenshaw. “Don’t Kill The Wave” is joyful and motivating. Its accompanying video, directed by A Solo Vision, is reflective of its energetic spirit as Wilson and his friends have a living room dance party. “I made this song for the dance floors at the block party, the cookout, the weddings, the rallies, the covid19 living room clubbbbbbbbs,” says Wilson.

Watch Ric Wilson & Terrace Martin’s Video for “Don’t Kill The Wave” –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gB1p3lS2kG8

2020 is shaping up to be another busy year for Wilson. Shortly after the release of They Call Me Disco, Wilson dropped his acclaimed protest song “Fight Like Ida B & Marsha P”. Produced by Norbert Bueno, “the song combines a funky, bouncy bass line, a little Detroit house influence and handclaps with powerful subject matter,” according to Cool Hunting.

“I hear people quoting a lot of black men who were freedom fighters, which is valid,” says Wilson, who has spent time organizing with the likes of We Charge Genocide, Black Youth Project 100, Chicago Freedom School, and much more. “But when I think about next level courage to ball your fist up and look bigotry, racism, sexism, homophobia, and transphobia right in the eye and fight against it, I feel like blk women like Ida B. Wells and non-binary folks like Marsha P. Johnson are of the bravest of us all and if ima fight any injustice I wanna have the courage of freedom fighters like them. The liberation of black womxn and black trans womxn lead to the liberation of all black people.”

Listen to “Chicago Bae” (Feat. BJ The Chicago Kid) (Co-Prod. by Ted Chung) –
https://youtu.be/ql-yoviDQas

Watch Video For “Move Like This” –
https://youtu.be/57NT3t8Nlo8

Purchase They Call Me Disco –
https://empire.ffm.to/theycallmedisco

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Sam at Pitch Perfect PR.]

New Bomb Turks to release diamond edition of classic album “Nightmare Scenario.”

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the release of Nightmare Scenario, New Bomb Turks’ fifth full-length album, third for the Los Angeles-based Epitaph Records, and first with drummer Sam Brown (Operators, Divine Fits, RJD2, Gaunt). Originally recorded by Jim Diamond at Ghetto Recorders, Detroit, MI, November 3-7, 1999 and newly re-mastered by Diamond in July 2020, the album will be available August 7, 2020 at https://newbombturks.bandcamp.com. 100% of proceeds will be donated to: Black Queer & Intersectional Collective (https://bqic.net/) and Columbus Freedom Fund (IG @columbusfreedomfund).

It was spring, 1999. New Bomb Turks had just returned from their first tour of Australia in a suspended animation. They soon procured ace drumsman, dessert aficionado [not a typo], and all-around great guy, Sam Brown. It suddenly felt like a brand new beast, but they had an album to deliver forthwith, and nary a new song in sight! Nails were chomped to the cuticle, empty beer cans sat in the corner mocking us…Like a Phoenix rising from the ashes (or at least like a bartender finding another unopened bottle of mezcal at last call), New Bomb Turks soared again. Within four months (May-August 1999), Sam slipped right into the NBT stool, 12 new songs were cooked up easy as fryin’ an egg, and they were back on the road with the Hellacopters to hash those new ones into place.

By the time the band got to Jim Diamond’s Ghetto Recorders studio in Detroit – his rep revving up from production jobs with the curdled cream of that Detroit trash-rock scene (Clone Defects, Detroit Cobras, Dirtbombs, White Stripes, Andre Williams) – New Bomb Turks were piqued like a baby screamin’ for a higher push on a swing set. Over four days and nights, the band enjoyed their easiest and most fun recording session – the only break being a jaunt over to a bar to see a reunited Real Kids, their first show in years, which floored the band and only added more mezcal to the fire.

Final mixes were left to Jim Diamond, and by the time he forwarded them to the band, overdub ideas had hatched, and about half the record was remixed with local studio wiz, Jeff Graham, in Columbus. A middle ground was eventually found, and what resulted was Nightmare Scenario (Epitaph Records, 2000) – the fifth album in their six album/three compilation catalog, and the one the band believe is their best.

Like every band ever, the years have supplied moments of mixing rumination. So last year, when the band saw the 20th anniversary of Nightmare Scenario right up on their ass, they asked Jim Diamond if he had his original mixes lying around his palatial estate. He found them on a DAT (look it up, kids) tucked underneath a pile of professional recording deck manuals (i.e.,old MAD mags). Lo and behold, they were even more ripping and burning and stinging than remembered. There was the 20th birthday idea, screamin’ like a brat! So here you have the original mixes of Nightmare Scenario that Jim Diamond finished in November 1999, ensconced deep in his legendary, now torn-down Detroit digs. Ain’t saying it’s better than the original, just leaner and meaner. But don’t take our word for it – take yours when you’re screamin’ along too! – Lance Forth, July 2020 (Astoria)

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Jo Murray.]

Brijean’s “Moody” might put you in the mood.

Brijean – the Oakland-based duo of Brijean Murphy and Doug Stuart – announces signing to Ghostly International and shares new single “Moody.” The easy-grooving, ephemeral cut “Moody” captures Brijean’s signature sound in just over two minutes: the dazzling, golden-hued haze of percussive beats and honeyed vocals. Stuart says the track is “a quick gentle trip” that started in a living room — recording with Murphy’s drum mentor Pepe Jacobo — windows open, stream-of-consciousness lyrics flowing.

Murphy, an accomplished DJ, session and live player in Oakland’s diverse music scene has emerged as one of indie’s most in-demand percussionists (Poolside, Toro Y Moi, U.S. Girls). In 2018, she began recording songs with multi-instrumentalist and producer Stuart, who shares a background in jazz and pop in bands such as Bells Atlas, Meernaa, and Luke Temple. Murphy’s musical talents are family heirlooms: her father, percussionist and engineer Patrick Murphy, taught Brijean her first patterns on a pair of congas that she inherited from the late Trinidadian steel drum legend Vince Charles (Neil Diamond). Growing up in LA’s Glassell Park, Murphy was raised by a cadre of honorary aunts and uncles – a deep bench of jazz, latin and soul musicians in their own rites. This meant she grew up regaled by musical lore – larger than life tales of jazz luminaries, psychedelic trips and obscure cultural enclaves – sampling some of those family stories and weaving them into her work.

Growing up outside of Chicago, Stuart found his way into jazz clubs and festivals as a teenager, frequently going to hear Jeff Parker, Fred Anderson, and other members of the AACM. While attending the University of Michigan, he studied under Detroit jazz royalty, Robert Hurst and Geri Allen. After college, Stuart became intrigued by the music of J Dilla and Moodymann, and began learning production and exploring the connections between jazz, house, and hip hop.

Eventually dubbed Brijean, the project grew out of marathon sessions at their intimate home-studio, wedged between touring schedules that rarely-overlapped. Their first effort, Walkie Talkie (released by Native Cat Recordings in 2019), found Murphy taking the mic for the first time to deliver dreamy dance tracks that felt home-cooked and effortlessly chic. Her layered percussion and hypnotic, expressive vocals coupled with Stuart’s production and harmonic palette evoked shades of disco, ‘90s house, and a sly pop sensibility. Ghostly International has also re-released Walkie Talkie alongside “Moody” which is the first taste of new, forthcoming material.

Stream “Moody”:
https://ghostly.ffm.to/brijean-moody

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Patrick at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Hannah Georgas releases lovely new single – “Just a Phase.”

Last month, Toronto’s Hannah Georgas announced her new LP All That Emotion (out September 4th on Brassland and Arts & Crafts) with the mesmeric lead single “Dreams.” Produced by The National’s Aaron Dessner, the album has already attracted an enthusiastic critical response with “Dreams” — along with a pair of pre-announce singles “That Emotion” and “Same Mistakes,” — earning praise from outlets like FADER, Stereogum, The Line of Best Fit, Clash, American Songwriter, BrooklynVegan,
Exclaim, Earmilk, World Cafe and Consequence of Sound who dubbed her “a new generation’s Feist.”

WATCH Hannah Georgas’ “Just A Phase” video here

Today, Georgas is sharing a new offering from the LP, a track called “Just A Phase,” a warm, enveloping track that seamlessly melds propulsive electronics with Georgas’ measured tones. With lyrics that focus on change, resiliency and anxiety the song finds an encompassing calm while presenting a buzzing hive of sonic ideas.

The accompanying video shares an insider’s view of the album’s recording sessions and what came after. Primarily, it’s a tour of Dessner’s iconic Long Pond studio—which is recognizable from its portrayal on the cover art of The National’s Best Alternative Grammy winning album Sleep Well Beast, but also features footage from the year Georgas spent on the road singing in The National’s touring band around the release of their 2019 LP I Am Easy To Find.

“We recorded All That Emotion in concentrated periods of time with breaks in between,” says Georgas. “I had never made an album this way before. It was also the first time making an album outside of Canada which was a really unique experience. It was nice to make solo road trips to Upstate NY from Toronto knowing that the stretch of time recording will solely be dedicated to being as creative and as open as possible. Then last year, I had the opportunity to join The National on the road singing back ups for them and opening up in a few cities in Europe and North America.”

The video acts as a travelogue and journal of those before times, including footage of her long drives across the Canadian border — glimpses of tour life with the band — and ending with her listening to a test pressing of the forthcoming album.

Hannah Georgas began creating the album All That Emotion about a year after the release of her celebrated 2016 album For Evelyn —starting with an intensive process of writing and demoing songs in her Toronto apartment, and finishing with a month long retreat in Los Angeles. She began the record making process in the middle of 2018 when she traveled to Long Pond, the upstate New York studio & home of producer Aaron Dessner of The National.

“Before each session, I would make the long drive from Toronto to Hudson Valley in Upstate New York.” Says Hannah. “It was really special getting the opportunity to work in such a remote space with Aaron and Jon and I was always itching to get back whenever we had breaks. At the same time, I appreciated the space in between and coming back with fresh ears.” Hannah continues, “Aaron and I agreed the production needed to bring out the truth in my voice. During these sessions we musically found a new depth and, vocally, a delivery that was more raw and expressive, allowing the emotional texture of each song to shine through.”

The writing of the album found Hannah creating her most personal album to date. “All That Emotion’s album cover is an old family photo,” says Hannah. “I love the image because it captures this calm confidence. It looks like people are watching a performance and it seems like he’s diving in without a second thought. Similarly, I find that it parallels the approach needed within art. The calm confidence of expressing yourself without the thought of consequence, regardless of anyone watching.”

On the album, you’ll hear about bad habits and prayerful families—right and wrong love—mistakes and moving on—casual cruelty and most of all, change. Plotting the boundaries of where to place this music it’s emotionally fraught but warm & fuzzy. “An indie-minded avant-pop artist” was the Boston Globe’s formulation for her charms. Think of Fleetwood Mac meets The National; Kate Bush-sized passion with the earthiness of Cat Power or Aimee Mann. The album grows inside you and sticks to your insides. The songs are big tent anthems, rough at the edges but relatable.

Hannah continues: “I still have long conversations with my friends over the phone, talking about love and relationships, pain and heartbreak, our upbringings and the hardships that come along with that.” In an era of social media quips and hollow memes, maybe it’s this kind of one-on-one contact a form of communication worth getting back to?

“In this way, I get a lot of lyrical inspiration through the individuals I interact with in my everyday life,” she says. “Then music becomes the forum where I work out these feelings, embrace and express pain and love, joy and anger, frustration and fear and hope. It’s where I can be uncensored, not hold back, and say what I want to say. In that way, making music is a cathartic and cleansing process. It’s always the best feeling when someone tells me my music has helped them out in some way. That keeps me going.”

All That Emotion will be released September 4, 2020 on Arts & Crafts/Brassland. It is available for preorder here.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Tom at Hive Mind PR.]

Rituals of Mine scores on her new single – “Free Throw.”

Rituals of Mine – the immersive, hybrid R&B electronic project of Los Angeles-based songwriter Terra Lopez – will release her new album, HYPE NOSTALGIA, on September 25th via Carpark Records. Today, she shares the new single/video “Free Throw (feat. KRIS),” which follows lead single “Come Around Me.” Through the dark pop and noisey beat of “Free Throw,” Lopez urges equality for BIPOC artists in the music industry. Lopez and KRIS (King Woman, Miserable, NGHTCRWLR) recorded the song in the studio last summer with Wes Jones. The accompanying video, animated by AvaantGarbDesign, is futuristic and matches the track’s noir tone.

“Kris and I talk a lot about our experiences being women of color in the music industry and how time and time again, we’ve been fucked over by either white women musicians or white guys and that shit takes a toll on you,” elaborates Lopez. “It takes a toll on your mental health, your confidence, your perseverance. It also limits your access to opportunities within the industry in a very real way. We wanted to address how we were feeling and have been feeling for years in ‘Free Throw’ by airing it all out, putting it all out there because at this point this needs to be addressed. These disparities within the industry have to be examined and ultimately broken down. Kris and I want to help change the industry and music is just going to be one of the ways in which we shed light on issues. We have a lot of things in the works to help even the playing field when it comes to BIPOC artists. ‘Free Throw’ is just the introduction to that.“

Watch “Free Throw” Video:
https://found.ee/Z4h5

HYPE NOSTALGIA follows 2019’s SLEEPER HOLD EP, which was filled with emotional intensity and self-reflective songwriting, confronting the emotional rollercoaster that came with the death of her father and later, her best friend.

On HYPE NOSTALGIA, Lopez didn’t want to solely focus on the heaviness of her life. Instead, she opted to create an album written from a pre-loss perspective. There are dark moments and devastation throughout, but what largely transpires is Lopez’s ability to reconcile with her emotional trauma by reimagining her past in a way that isn’t shrouded in total darkness, but glimmers of light and hope.

Between St. Augustine, Florida and Los Angeles, Lopez collaborated with producers Wes Jones and Dev the Goon on HYPE NOSTALGIA. The result is a self-assured 13-track album interspersed with future R&B, electronic and pop, and layered with the softness of Lopez’s ethereal vocals. From tackling what it’s like to be a woman of color in the music industry to exploring intergenerational trauma, HYPE NOSTALGIA is an all-encompassing look at Lopez’s personal growth and resilience.

With HYPE NOSTALGIA, Lopez offers a glimpse into her own experience in the hopes that it will open the door for listeners to confront their own mental health challenges and serve as a touchstone as they find their own way to process and heal.

Watch “Come Around Me” Video:
https://found.ee/Z6XU

Pre-order HYPE NOSTALGIA:
https://found.ee/uEkw

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Patrick at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Rewind Review: Rolling Stones – Blue and Lonesome (2016)

There’s a quote from Mick Jagger in the liner notes of the Rolling Stones‘ 2016 album Blue & Lonesome that sums up how good the record sounds pretty well: “We could have done this album in 1963 or ’64, but of course it would not have sounded like this…It’s the interesting thing about a record that is made really quickly, it reflects a moment in time – a time and a place.”

Yes, the Stones could’ve recorded this album decades ago when they were young and raw, and it would’ve sounded great, but Blue & Lonesome is an album that shows the Stones as masters of their craft. They have evolved and matured to the point where they can walk into a studio and record a stunning blues album in just three days. Also, as mentioned in the liner notes, legendary producer (and musician in his own right) Don Was says Blue and Lonesome wasn’t planned. It came about while the Stones weren’t in the groove while recording another song and Keith Richards suggested playing the title track to “cleanse the palate.” After they had played and recorded it (in one take), Don Was (according to the notes) “…said, ‘Let’s do another one.’ It was clear that we had embarked upon the much-talked-about, but never realized, blues album.”

The album turned into twelve great blues classics played by one of the greatest rock bands of all time. The album opens with Little Walter‘s “Just Your Fool,” with Mick blowing out dirty harmonica riffs that nearly run away from Richards’ and Ron Wood‘s guitar licks. Their take on Howlin’ Wolf‘s “Commit a Crime” is downright filthy and sounds like it was recorded in a juke joint in the middle of Mississippi on a humid summer evening. Charlie Watts beats the cymbals on his kit half to death throughout the whole track.

Hearing the title track and remembering it’s the only take they did of it makes it all the more impressive. Richards’ guitar on “All of Your Love” sounds effortless (which it probably is, for him), and Chuck Leavell‘s piano solo on it is sharp. Jagger’s harmonica is back in business on Little Walter’s “I Gotta Go,” and Watts’ groove on it is outstanding.

As if the album wasn’t power-packed enough, some guy named Eric Clapton plays the slide guitar on Little Johnny Taylor‘s “Everybody Knows about My Good Thing.” I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Darryl Jones, who plays bass on the entire album. He puts down a lot of lockstep grooves, and the one he drops on Eddie Taylor‘s “Ride ’em on Down” is solid as a rock. Their cover of Little Walter’s “Hate to See You Go” is a definite toe-tapper, and I like how they bring Watts’ snare drum to the front.

Lightnin’ Slim‘s “Hoo Doo Blues” is as rough and raw as you’d hope it would be, and Jimmy Reed‘s “Little Rain” is the slowest, and still one of the most powerful, songs on the record. They get back into a fun swing on their cover of Howlin’ Wolf’s “Just Like I Treat You.” You can tell they had a blast on this one (and the whole album, really). That Clapton guy comes back with a so-good-it’s-not-fair guitar solo to help finish out the album with a cover of Otis Rush‘s massive hit “I Can’t Quit You Baby.” Jagger saves some of his best vocal chops for the final cut, too. You can’t help but imagine him strutting his stuff in the studio as he put down the vocal track.

It’s a stunner of a record and one that was long overdue from the Stones. You owe it to yourself to hear it if you’re a fan of the blues or the Stones.

Keep your mind open.

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Gordon Koang’s “South Sudan” is another delightful track from his forthcoming album.

Legendary South Sudanese pop star Gordon Koang will release his eleventh album, Unity, out August 14th on Music in Exile / Light in the Attic. Today, he releases a new single/video, “South Sudan,” which follows lead single/video “Tiel e Nei Nywal Ke Ran (We Don’t Have a Problem With Anyone).” In “South Sudan,” Gordon sings in Nuer, his native language, and speaks of a leader and aid worker he knew whilst in South Sudan. He shares a story of this man’s wisdom and his efforts to keep Gordon and his community from falling into poverty. The catchy and percussive melodies transcend language barriers and are sure to have listeners across the world dancing! Gordon adds: “I’m so happy to share this song with you, my audience! Even if this song is not in English, God will translate it for you!”

Directed by frequent collaborator Nick McKk (Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, Julia Jacklin, Stella Donnelly), the music video for “South Sudan” follows Gordon and his cousin and lifelong friend, Paul Biel, around some of their favorite local spots; highlights include Edithvale Beach, Dandenong Plaza, Dandenong Markets and their favorite kebab shop. The clip beautifully captures the warmth of their friendship and the joy that Gordon and Paul feel when they are able to share music with their community. Director Nick McKk elaborates: “Dandenong is a favorite spot of Gordon and Paul’s. Was a wonderful meander through the streets, the town stuck in a 80s wonderland. They both like extra chilli on their kebab.”

Watch the Video for “South Sudan”

Gordon Koang is a Nuer musician, hailing from the banks of the River Nile in what is now South Sudan. Born blind, he began playing music on the streets of Juba as a young man though has now become a grassroots hero, the voice of the Nuer people, a prominent figure in the fight for cultural independence in South Sudan, affectionately known as the “King of Music.”

Unity is Gordon’s first album since coming to Australia. It is his only recorded output in the painstakingly long six years of living as an asylum seeker, and the album was completed just weeks before Gordon was awarded his permanent residency. In late 2019, Gordon began a series of collaborations with musicians from around Australia, in search of a new sound that would be suited to his adopted home. He now proudly calls himself an “Australian,” a term which so many from around the world have come to know as their own. Through his recordings, Gordon hopes to reach as many new listeners as he can around the world. He wants everyone to hear his message – on the radio, in clubs, at festivals, on the street.

And what is this message? Unity. Peace between all people of the world, regardless of religion or cultural differences. A painfully first-hand experience of what these rifts can create between people has led Gordon to devote his life, and his music, to a simple message of peace, love and unity. Love each other, and love yourself. It’s not so hard!

Watch the Video for “Tiel e Nei Nywal Ke Ran (We Don’t Have a Problem With Anyone)”

Watch the Video for “Mal Mi Goa (Ginoli Remix)”

Pre-order Unity

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Brid at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Rewind Review: Blanck Mass – Dumb Flesh (2015)

I had heard Blanck Mass (AKA Benjamin John Power) before with his work in Fuck Buttons, but had unknowingly heard songs from Dumb Flesh five years ago not knowing who had created them. So, hearing this album in its entirety for the first time was a real treat because it reunited me with songs I didn’t realize were my introduction to his solo work – which I have come to enjoy through multiple albums like World Eater and Animated Violence Mild.

Opener “Loam” is a weird backwards vocal track that lets you know you’re in for something out of the ordinary. No Blanck Mass album is necessarily “normal.” They’re all soundscapes that range from strange and sometimes creepy dreams (like “Loam,” which almost seems to be the sound of a possibly haunted lava lamp) to industrial dance tracks to ambient psychedelia.

“Dead Format” is the first Blanck Mass song I ever heard, and I was elated to be reunited with it on this album. I actually first heard it when I saw Blanck Mass perform at the much-missed Levitation Chicago in 2016. The thumping electronic beats and futuristic bounty hunter synths are a wicked combination that get you moving and absolutely kill live.

The title of “No Lite” is a bit misleading because it’s full of shimmering synths that fade in and out like sunlight breaking through rolling storm clouds as wickedly subtle beats pound underneath them. “Atrophies” mixes synth swirls with karate chop-like processed beats. “Cruel Sports” would be a perfect theme for some sort of cyborg octagonal cage fight. The bass hits hard, the beats sound like metal clashing with metal, and the synths gleam like stark overhead lights.

“Double Cross” is a great synth-wave dance track that’s dark-wave at the edges with break-beat subtleties. It belongs in the next video game you’re designing or playing. “Lung” pops and chirps like some sort of alien machine. It becomes somewhat hypnotizing after a short while.

The album ends with “Detritus,” which is a wild eight minutes and thirteen seconds of what at first sounds like some kind of excavation machinery running with almost no oil in the gears. The synths slowly build, like a creature rising from a junkyard to see the sun for the first time in a century.

It’s a powerful record, and just one of many such records Blanck Mass has put out there. Brace for impact before you hear it.

Keep your mind open.

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Holy Motors take us to “Country Church” with new single from upcoming sophomore album.

Today, Tallinn, Estonia’s Holy Motors are announcing Horse, the follow up to the group’s critically acclaimed 2018 debut album, Slow Sundown, which is due out October 16th on the iconoclastic Brooklyn indie, Wharf Cat Records (Bambara, Public Practice, Dougie Poole). To mark the occasion the band are sharing lead single “Country Church” alongside its accompanying video.

WATCH: Holy Motors’ “Country Church” video on YouTube

Though their music has often been tied to the traditions of Americana and America roots music, Holy Motors were formed in Tallinn, Estonia in 2013, when founding member Lauri Ruas (songwriter and one of the band’s three guitarists) recruited Eliann Tulve, who was just 16 at the time, to join the band as songwriter and lead vocalist. With Tulve’s gorgeously foreboding vocals serving as a ballast for the guitar section’s “infinity-pool-style shimmer” (Pitchfork) the band quickly became as un-ignorable as they were inscrutable, rising from the ranks of eager supporting act (for Low, at SXSW) to sought after headliner (at NYC underground-meets-above-ground mainstay Berlin) in just a matter of days during their first unofficial tour of the US in 2018.

That same year marked the release of their critically acclaimed debut LP, Slow Sundown, on New York City’s equally enigmatic Wharf Cat Records, an album that garnered praise and airplay not just in the band’s native Estonia (where it won Tallinn’s Music Week award and a nomination for Debut Album of the Year by the Estoniain Music Awards), but also via a battery of publications west of the Baltic, including Stereogum (Album of the Week), Bandcamp (Album of the Day), and the UK’s DIY Mag (Neu Pick). All this momentum went so far as to capture the attention of one of the band’s very own idols, Anton Newcombe of The Brian Jonestown Massacre, who approached them after seeing a live performance in Berlin and would go on to produce a handful of tracks for the band in 2019 as well as join them for their set at Switzerland’s Festival Nox Orae (you can watch the full set here) during a summer itinerary dotted with European music festivals.

But rather than being blunted and worn down by the tumultuous forces of success, Holy Motors’ incongruence has instead grown all the more prevalent and endearing. They remain musicians from an ex-Soviet country producing music that has been described as “cowboy dream-pop with a dark side” (Interview Magazine), “shoegaze that sounds like the old West” (The Fader), and like “a twang-filled soundtrack to… cowboy melancholy” (Beat). The resulting mystique is an inalienable part of the band’s DNA, stemming from the shared infatuation with the American West that the members developed waiting out Estonia’s long, grim winters with the warm company of American western films (Badlands and Paris, Texas amongst their favorites) and their instruments. What began as an innocent fascination evolved into a sincere embodiment of that dreamy, melancholy cowboy aura, both in their music and persona as a band.

Now, at 22 years old, Eliann Tulve resembles Mazzy Star’s Hope Sandoval, reincarnated as an Estonian cowgirl. She is enigmatic as ever but stands more firmly alongside co-songwriter Lauri Ruas, the solidification of their roles perhaps accounting for the more hopeful turn their songwriting has taken of late. Their new LP Horse, which is due out on Wharf Cat on October 16th, finds the band acknowledging the Americana and rockabilly strands of their musical DNA without sacrificing any of the otherworldly mystique that keeps them from neatly conforming to the shoegaze and dreampop labels often applied to their music.

From the album’s opening moments, songs like “Country Church,” with its major key and classic rhythm and blues guitarline, and “Midnight Cowboy,” which sounds like a lost Buddy Holly 45 played at 33 rpm, make it clear that Horse — even if it may not accomplish the impossible task of demystifying this band of ex-Soviet cowboys — will at least show you that there’s more to them than the near-impenetrable darkness of their work to date may suggest. While tracks like “Trouble” and “Endless Night” gravitate towards the ethereal production and existential subject matter of prior releases, repeat listens will reveal the same complex compositions and an empathy that are much more a hallmark of Horse’s eight songs.

As a whole, Horse stands as a warmer, more human counterpoint to 2018’s celestial Slow Sundown, and showcases Holy Motors as a hypnotic force that draws listeners in and leaves them wanting more. This effect, paired with their ability to write lyrics and music that resonate with a deeply relatable feeling of isolation, has resulted in an album built to connect with people from devoted shoegaze and western psychedelia fanatics to dreamer cowboys, driving through wide open country roads under the stars.
Horse will be released October 16th on Wharf Cat Records. It is available for preorder here.

Tracklist
1. Country Church
2. Endless Night
3. Midnight Cowboy
4. Road Stars
5. Matador
6. Come On, Slowly
7. Trouble
8. Life Valley (So Many Miles Away)

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Tom at Hive Mind PR.]