September 2020 – 7th Level Music

Scintii announces “Times New Roman” EP due October 2nd.

Houndstooth’s newest signing, Shanghai-based Taiwanese singer and producer Scintii (aka Stella Chung), shares “Times New Roman,” her debut single for the label. The EP, featuring remixes from Palmistry, Loraine James, Mechatok, and Osheyack, is out October 2nd. “Times New Roman” was co-written and produced by Danny L Harle (PC Music, Charli XCX) and the striking accompanying video, directed by Kynan Puru Watt (known for Arca’s “Mequetrefe” video), invites us into Scintii’s deeply-hued world. “Times New Roman is one of the main languages used in graphic design and this song is about finding that language for myself as an artist,” Scintii explains. After initially coming up with the main melody and then collaborating with Harle on a beat he was making, “‘Times New Roman’ really started to become about me feeling sure of myself as a musician and producer, going in a new direction and really being able to maximize my own voice.”

Watch “Times New Roman” Video

The “Times New Roman” EP is backed by remixes from the cream of current underground club music producers. SVBKVLT label mate Osheyack shakes out its hard lines in classic trance stabs; Mechatok ups its saturation for a bouncing hardcore version; hyped London producer Loraine James takes the track apart by stems and re-plaits them into glitched-out IDM, and Palmistry chases rushing synths before dropping into bubblegum breaks.

Based in Shanghai, Scintii started to produce her own music after studying music and performance in London. It was equally influenced by the pop she grew up with in her hometown of Taipei and her time soaking up club music in London. She released her debut EP “Mica” (Eternal Dragonz) in 2017 and broke through with her follow up, 2018’s “Aerial/Paperbags” EP (SVBKVLT), leading to a remix for acclaimed English group These New Puritans and performances at London’s Southbank Centre and Sonar Hong Kong. As described by DUMMY, “Scintii’s productions tend to chop up and piece together crystalline sounds to fashion ethereal and futuristic sonics.” With her distinctive gossamer vocals, Scintii has forged a sleek and moody sound that is all her own.

Stream / Purchase “Times New Roman”

“Times New Roman” EP Tracklist:
1. Times New Roman
2. Times New Roman (Osheyack Remix)
3. Times New Roman (Mechatok Remix)
4. Times New Roman (Loraine James Remix)
5. Times New Roman (Palmistry Remix)

Keep your mind open.

[Thanks to Ahmad at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Rewind Review: DJ Zinc – Crack House E.P. (2018)

It seems wrong to refer to London-based DJ / producer DJ Zinc‘s 2018 release, Crack House E.P., as an EP when it’s ten tracks in length. He’s the DJ, however, so who am I to argue with him? It’s ten tracks of bouncing house, jungle, and drum and bass that’s great for any house party or club – even if they are just in your backyard or apartment and consist of no one but you and your pets.

“Blunt Edge” gets the party started with its killer electro-beats and even wickeder synth-bass. “Pimp My Ride” adds Afro-beat dance rhythms and you’re already starting to sweat on the dance floor. “Jekyll and Hyde” is classic strut-your-stuff house with a bass groove that gets stuck in your head all night. “Number 1 Girls” is a straight-up dancehall track featuring vocals from Benga and Sweetie Irie.

“Watch Dis” blends that dancehall vibe into a wild jungle track that will have you jumping around your living room. “Nu Sound” continues the dancehall-laced beats and drops a sick bass line on you that sounds like DJ Zinc has transformed into some sort of rattlesnake working the decks with his tail.

“Horrible” isn’t horrible. It blends retro-rave sounds with vintage video game blasts and beats chopped up by a master chef. “Because” is aptly named as Zinc loops a woman saying just that throughout the track as synths and bass swirl around her voice and then drop out into a killer cut for any dark club any night of the week. Why? Because.

“No one can complete with our killa sound,” No_Lay sings on “Killa Sound.” It’s hard to argue with her, because she and Zinc make a killer team on this hot dancehall track. The closer, “128 Trek,” is one of Zinc’s biggest hits and the first song I ever heard by him. It made me immediately want to track down more of his work, and will do the same to you. The way Zinc drops and loops beats throughout it is immediately ear-catching. You’ll want it on every workout playlist you have.

Actually, you could just make all of Crack House E.P. a workout playlist. You can’t go wrong there. It works as a house project, cooking, or hot sex playlist as well. Get it while it’s (still, two years later) hot.

Keep your mind open.

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Review: Rituals of Mine – Hype Nostalgia

Terra Lopez, AKA Rituals of Mine, is, if nothing else, a trooper. Her newest album, Hype Nostalgia, began (at least emotionally and conceptually) a couple years ago when she was processing the highs and lows of a three-year period of depression resulting from her father committing suicide as she was starting a world tour and a friend dying in the same week Lopez signed to a major label. Highs and lows. She began therapy in 2018, just in time for her bandmate to leave ROM, but she pressed on with the record, using it as not only her own audio medication, but also in hopes of helping others dealing with similar highs and lows.

Opening track “Tether” opens with the haunting lyrics, “You used to love, you used to laugh at my mistakes.” as Lopez loops choppy beats, bullfrog bass, and just the right amount of echo on her vocals to bounce her lyrics around in your head and cause you to think, “Yeah, I’ve been there.”

“Come Around Me” was the first single from the album, and it’s an out-and-proud track about being an openly gay woman of color in a male-dominated industry. She doesn’t want “none of this fake shit” and tells guys in the music biz that all she needs from them is to get “back to the basics” of just being a compassionate / cool human being. “Exceptions” has Lopez singing about her former bandmate’s departure. “You’re not the only one who has these thoughts,” she sings over sultry slow jam beats and synths.

“Heights” has Lopez putting down vocals that are almost raps, and those trip hop beats behind her are top-notch. Speaking of trip hop, “Trauma” is so deep, trippy, and smoky that Tricky is probably kicking himself for not writing it. The follow-up, “Free Throw,” has Lopez telling us “I stay in my lane,” meaning she’s no longer interested in being involved in other peoples’ circuses. “Reflex” is downright sexy as Lopez sings, “All I want is you.” to a special lady somewhere.

“My family history is only a mystery,” Lopez sings on “65th St” – a song that appears to reference her parents and her deceased friend. “All I ever wondered is if you are the source of my emptiness,” she sings on the deeply introspective (but no less beat-heavy) track. I’m not sure if she’s singing to a family member, a former lover, a friend, or herself in a mirror. It works anyway you slice it. Lopez laments her lover being miles away and “fucking with my mind” as she wonders, “Who you thinking of?” on “Omen.” Her electronic beats and bedroom bass are so good by this point in the record that the feel effortless.

“222” is spacey bliss that floats into “Hope U Feel” with Lopez singing, “I’m exhausted…” and “What am I supposed to do without love?” Yet, the song has an uplifting undertone that leaves you feeling like she (and all of us) can move forward if we allow ourselves to do it. The album ends with the short and lovely “The Last Wave.” Lopez puts down simple piano chords as she sings, “I tell myself I’ll find a way out of this.” and how she tried to break through her father’s depression but was unsuccessful. “I can never breach the divide, but I tried, and I still think of you sometimes.”

That’s all most of us can do at times, but that’s okay. Lopez has learned to move forward, as all life must, can, and will do. She encourages us to do the same.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Patrick at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Rewind Review: Screaming Females – Baby Teeth (2006)

Baby Teeth, the first album by power trio Screaming Females (Mike Abbate – bass, Jarrett Dougherty – drums, Marissa Paternoster – guitar and vocals), is like a hard slap across the face to awaken you from a stupor induced by bland rock, bro-rock, nu-metal, and other genres that tend to dominate FM airwaves and beer commercials.

Opener “Foul Mouth” bursts forth with bold drumming from Dougherty and Abbate and Paternoster’s chugging riffs. Hearing Paternoster’s voice for the first time in 2006 must’ve made a lot of heads turn. Her singing voice is a mix of (sometimes) controlled anger, heartfelt balladry, and punk snark that was sorely absent from the airwaves fourteen years ago. Paternoster’s guitars swirl and spin like a dust devil on “Electric Pilgrim.” “Jonah” gets off to a funky start with Abbate’s bass walk and continues that groove with hand-claps and strut-down-the-street beats and guitar riffs.

“Angelo’s Song” sets you up with simple guitar notes before Paternoster unleashes with her trademark guitar fury to stagger you back a few steps before it turns into almost a power-pop track. “The Bearded Lady” has some of Paternoster’s wickedest playing and Abbate and Dougherty’s snappiest rhythms on the record. The opening of “Henry’s Embryo” seems to display the band’s love of The Cars.

Abbate’s bass on “Dinosaurs” has a cool, dark feel to it that you can’t shake. The track gets so rowdy that it made my boss once tell me to turn down the volume at my desk. “Sports” is just as wild. Dougherty’s calm high-hat taps at the beginning of “Bus Driver Man” are a deceitful whisper before the whole band unloads with heavy hits that a lot of stoner metal bands would love to steal. The closing track, “Baby Jesus,” ends the album on a powerful, wild note with furious playing by the entire band.

If Screaming Females were cutting their baby teeth on this self-produced debut, they replaced them with big cat fangs. Baby Teeth is a slap with a steel gauntlet in challenge to anyone who dared scoff at them.

Keep your mind open.

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Rewind Review: Chelique Sarabia – Revolución en Música Venezolana (2019)

In 1971, the Shell Oil Company sponsored Venezuelan poet and musician Chelique Sarabia to compose an album of traditional folk music updated for modern times. This album would be given as Christmas gifts to Shell employees, friends, and customers in 1973. Sarabia enlisted local musicians to play a host of traditional instruments so he could filter those tracks through synthesizers, sequencers, tape loops, and who knows what else. The result, Revolución Electronica en Música Venezolana, was an amazing South American synth-wave album that’s still ahead of its time.

Opening track “El Pajarillo” blends funk bass with traditional guitar arrangements warped by reverb, pan, and filter controls into a trippy, exotic vacation. “Maracaibo en la Noche” blends distant female vocals and birdsongs with the psychedelic guitar. “Polo Margariteño” has what sounds like a lovely clarinet piece throughout it, and the effects are taken off the guitar to let the traditional dance rhythms come to the forefront. “Cantos de Mi Tierra” has a bit of a spooky feel to it at first, which I love, and then it curves into a beautiful dream space.

“El Cumaco de San Juan” shimmers with an underlying brightness that eventually fades as the guitars come forward as snappy as Rice Krispies. “El Diablo Suelto” is as subtle and witty as Old Scratch himself. “Polo Coriano” sounds like it’s going to be a bold piano-led track at first, but then makes a left turn and becomes a toe-tapping track that brings a smile to your face.

The opening chants of “Mare-Mare por Comer Zopoara el Pájaro Guarandol” weave in and out of the track but rarely overtake the beautiful accordion, organ, and traditional guitar flourishes. “Somobra en los Médanos” reminds me a bit of Italian romantic comedy scores from the 1960’s, and Sarabia puts the filter effects to good use again on the guitar solos.

“Barlovento” gets off to a mind-warp start and continues spinning down a rabbit hole into a Venezuelan wonderland of guitar solos, traditional hand percussion, and echoing vocal sounds. “Rio Manzanares” brings in a hot saxophone riff now and then to mix with the traditional guitar strumming, producing a great effect. Not to be outdone, the closing track, “La Bella del Tamuangue,” adds a trumpet that drifts back and forth from leading with skillful zigging and zagging to hanging out in the back with long, soft tones to add more psychedelia.

It’s a sharp record that will make you want to bug out to South American for at least a few weeks, and, again, so far ahead of its time that it sounds like it could’ve been released last week instead of almost fifty years ago.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Guerssen Records.]

Review: Death Valley Girls – Levitation Sessions: Live from the Astral Plane

Live from the Astral Plane is the latest in the Levitation Sessions put on by The Reverb Appreciation Society. The sessions are recorded live performances that are later streamed for ticket buyers and then released as official live albums from the respective bands. The first, from July of this year, was by Holy Wave. The newest is by Death Valley Girls, and it’s a stunner.

Any album that begins with 1980’s New Age synth-wave directions on how to astrally project is bound to be a trip, but it’s not surprising coming from DVG. They are known proponents of manifestation and utilizing the laws of attraction. The nine minutes of instruction end with “Now, with blessing, go forth.”

And DVG do exactly that, creeping out of your bedroom closest at 2am with the sublimely spooky “Abre Camino” – a track that builds on horror film heartbeat drums from Rikki Styxx and vocals from guitarist / lead vocalist Bonnie Bloomgarden and bassist / backing vocalist Nicki Pickle that border on being incantations. It bubbles like a cauldron and by the time they reach the three minute-fifty second mark you’re thinking, “Holy f*<k, they are not screwing around.”

Lead guitarist Larry Schemel leads the charge on “Street Justice” with riffs that never let up for almost three straight minutes. “Death Valley Boogie” brings in some Southern California surf riffs and some of Pickle’s fastest bass moves. The way “Sanitarium Blues” moves back and forth from low-key psychedelic grooves to hard and fast garage rock choruses is sharp.

Bloomgarden adds organ on “More Dead (Than Alive)” to provide weird contrast to Schemel’s frying pan-hot solo. Somehow, he conjures up even more heat on “666” (but, should we really be surprised with that title?). “Disco,” one of DVG’s early hits, is always a blast to hear, live or otherwise, and this version from the astral plane doesn’t disappoint.

“Wear Black” brings the band’s surf influence back for us. “It’s a man’s world, that’s what you think. It’s a man’s world, it’s not for me,” they sing on “I’m a Man, Too” – a song that throws down the gauntlet at man-splaining, sexual harassment, and male douche baggery (“If you’re a man, I’m twice a man as you.”).

“Dream Cleaver” is a nice tease since it’s the closing track of DVG’s upcoming album, Under the Spell of Joy. “Disaster (Is What We’re After)” has this great garage punk energy through it and some of Styxx’s heaviest, wildest beats. The closer, “Electric High,” chugs like a phantom train that uses bones instead of coal in its engine and leaves you a bit out of breath and wanting more by the end. Yes, the feeling is a bit tantric.

And, yes, you need to hear and own this. Let it take you out of your body, your social media feeds, your mind-space, your ego, and whatever else is containing you.

Keep your mind open.

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Rewind Review: Santana – Santana 3 (1998 re-release)

Originally released in 1971, Santana‘s third album, originally titled Santana but later known as Santana 3 (or Santana III or Man with Outstretched Hand), was the last of their albums featuring the original “Woodstock-era” lineup of musicians for their first two classic chart-topping, platinum-selling albums (Santana and Abraxas). It’s also the debut of a chap named Neil Schon who would later go on, with original Santana member Gregg Rolie, to found some obscure band called Journey.

To say this album is a classic is an understatement. The band was firing on all cylinders in 1971 and experimenting like few other bands were at the time, mixing Latin funk with jazz, R&B, psychedelic rock, Afrobeat, and garage rock with such ease that it was easy to forget they were still college-age dudes who hadn’t been playing together for decades.

The opening track, “Batuka,” brings in the sweet percussion from Jose Chepito Areas and Coke Escovedo and builds it, along with David Brown‘s killer bass lick, to a surprisingly heavy jam. It flows so naturally into their classic single, “No One to Depend On,” that you barely notice the transition. The mix of English and Spanish vocals from Carlos Santana (not to mention his fiery guitar solos) and Michael Carabello‘s conga work were destined to make the song a hit. The breakdown into deeper beats and heavier guitar is outstanding.

“Taboo,” has a sweet mellow groove throughout it that was probably the soundtrack for many trip-out sessions in early 1970s San Francisco. The “Toussaint L’Overture” is a great example of the blend of musical styles Santana could create that was, and still is, hard to define. It’s definitely not just “Latin rock,” “world music,” or jazz. It’s something in-between and also beyond all of those things. It’s also simply stunning and nearly six minutes of jaw-dropping percussion that dances all around you.

“Everybody’s Everything” was another top single from the record back in 1971 (reaching #12 on the charts), and the addition of Tower of Power horns certainly helped it reach that point. The tune takes off right out of the gate and doesn’t stop its hot groove for three and a half minutes. Rolie’s organ solo on it is also nice. “Guajira” is something you hear in the sultry Central American nightclub of your dreams.

Santana and Schon’s guitars on “Jungle Strut” are a great match and bounce off each other well. Rolie also gets a great opportunity to shine on a hot organ solo. “Everything’s Coming Our Way” is a bright, bouncy track with Santana singing in his falsetto and Areas’ putting down rapid grooves between jazz lounge beats. Their cover of Tito Puente‘s “Para Los Ruberos” is as hot as you hope it will be.

The reissue ends with three previously unreleased live tracks from their famous July 04, 1971 concert at the Filmore West – “Batuka,” “Jungle Strut,” and “Gumbo.” All are solid live cuts and make you wish you could slip back in time to catch that show in person.

III / 3 / Santana / Man with Outstretched Hand is a true classic and a must-have for Santana fans and fans of 1970’s funk-rock. Is that the proper term to describe their music? I don’t know if it is, or if it matters after hearing an album as good as this.

Keep your mind open.

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Shame release first new single in two years – “Alphabet.”

Shame have announced their much-anticipated return, via the frenetic, storming new single “Alphabet.” It marks their first new music since the release of their critically acclaimed debut album Songs of Praise in 2018 via Dead Oceans.

Alongside, the band have shared a Tegen Williams-directed video for the single, capturing the unnerving nature of hypnagogic hallucinations and the distressing way the mind can play tricks on us while dreaming.

On the track, produced by James Ford, frontman Charlie Steen explains:

“Alphabet is a direct question, to the audience and the performer, on whether any of this will ever be enough to reach satisfaction. At the time of writing it, I was experiencing a series of surreal dreams where a manic subconscious was bleeding out of me and seeping into the lyrics. All the unsettling and distressing imagery I faced in my sleep have taken on their own form in the video.”

Shame’s return, at under three minutes long, is a burst of energy that blazes bright and fast. It’s a restless and relentless track that feels familiar yet bigger and bolder than anything the band have done before, signalling the arrival of a new era of Shame.
WATCH “ALPHABET” VIDEO

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Jacob at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Teenager offer “Romance for Rent” on new single.

WATCH: Teenanger’s “Romance For Rent” video on YouTube

Toronto’s DIY scene purveyors, Teenanger have today shared their blistering new single, “Trillium Song“, the second to be lifted from the new record, Good Time – out October 2 via Telephone Explosion Records – which has so far earned praise from outlets like Paste, The Line of Best Fit, Exclaim, BBC 6 Music, So Young and more. The new record, which comes mixed by renowned Toronto musician, Sandro Perri, follows previous releases that have found the band share stages across North America and Europe with the likes of METZ, Ty Segall, Death From Above, Dilly Dally, Dish Pit and more.

“Romance For Rent” presents another snappy highlight from the forthcoming record with the quartet pulling on incisive hooks and buoyant melodies that further mine this fresh, pop-punk angle to the group’s sound. There’s a sharpness here, not just in the sonic arrangement but also in the lyrics that give a satiric examination of the world of online dating and the perplexing moves that we sometimes make as individuals when caught in the throes of romance. The video, which was shot at the height of lockdown, looks at this further, examining the role of isolation and how this can manipulate people to do peculiar things with the hope of a quick fix.

“The lyrics were inspired by a friend of mine who had come out of a long-term relationship and was exploring the world of online dating,” says singer, Chris Swimmings. “I’ve been a serial monogamist for the last 12 years so it was a vicarious exploration into his life at the time.”

Blair elaborates on Swimmings’ sentiment to say: “The ‘Romance for Rent’ video takes the idea of loneliness and buying love and puts it in a blender with internet culture. It follows a lonely man who, rather than learning how to connect with others, connects with a meme pillow, and finds some short-lived solace with it; he is trying to solve his loneliness with an internet search, and kinda clings to the first thing he finds – a celebrity pillow. When that fails to get him the attention or connection that he was looking for, he goes back online. Rather than changing anything about himself or what he’s looking for, he just repeats the same cycle.”

Good Time is out on October 2nd on Telephone Explosion. It is available for pre-order here.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Tom at Hive Mind PR.]

Matthew Cardinal announces first solo album due this October.

Matthew Cardinal today announces his debut solo album, Asterisms – a dazzling collection of ambient electronic music that crystallizes moments in the amiskwaciy (Edmonton) based musician’s life. Known for his work in nêhiyawak – the moccasingaze trio whose debut album nipiy is currently nominated on the 2020 Polaris Music Prize Shortlist, and was nominated for the JUNO Awards Indigenous Album of the Year – Cardinal’s first solo full-length is an audio journal that explores “captured moments of experimentation and expression” in eleven entries: “asterisms drawing attention to where I was musically, mentally and emotionally at very brief passages of my life,” says Cardinal.

Illuminated by the first single “May 24th” and its accompanying video by multimedia visual artist SCKUSE (Stephanie Kuse) shared today, Asterisms explores emotional-sonic textures with an often gentle, dreamy tint – the glint of synthesizers dancing around atmospheric melodies and rhythmic accents.

WATCH: Matthew Cardinal’s video for “May 24th” on YouTube

Inspired by Cardinal’s ephemeral night-time flash photography, Kuse set out to create “something soft, hypnotic, and pretty to suit the music that also reflected the dreamy and nostalgic nature of his photos,” she recounts. “I spent a few evenings out collecting footage near the South Saskatchewan River until I stumbled on the right material – wildflowers and grass going in and out of focus as the camera trailed behind. The footage was then processed through an old TV to enhance the vibrancy and to add subtle distortion.”

“‘May 24th’ is the result of experimenting with generative synthesis and syncing external equipment, playing around and having multiple sound sources playing the same melody. I slowed everything down significantly and built on top of that,” reveals Cardinal, a consummate sound-shaper both solo and in his role in the nêhiyawak trio. Coupled with its successor track, “May 25th” – a brief retro-futuristic motif – “May 24th” features alternatingly ascendant and cascading celestial strands, buoyed by dramatic swells of synthesizers that emit a spacious sigh at the song’s gentle end.

———-

Created with analogue synthesizers, a small modular system, samplers, electric piano, and processed voice, each sonic entry came out naturally in improvisational waves, recorded often in single days if not single takes. The minimal instrumental framework, usually set up on the floor of Cardinal’s bedroom for maximum communion, created pathways through each machine to the album’s vast cloud of starry narratives. “I’m very influenced by the instruments I play,” says Cardinal. “I love the sound of reverb, the imperfect reflection of sounds and how it decays. The sounds of bells, chimes, electric piano, and cello. I find certain sounds very inspiring.”

Calling to mind the luxurious minimalism of Brian Eno, Erik Satie, Steve Reich, and Glenn Gould, and the swirling influence of Fennesz, Jim O’Rourke, Boards of Canada, and Slowdive, Cardinal creates a glacial, airy sonic universe that is personal yet evocative, subtle yet impressive. The album opening “Dec 31st” glistens with the crystalline climate synonymous with the day, while the album closing “Jul 23rd” ranges into Postal Service territory at the height of summer with a pulsing bpm that punctuates the amorphous map of moods that makes up the record.

Described by Cardinal as “music recorded mostly for myself,” the cathartic value of these instrumental compositions is found in their release. A collection of intimate contemplations becomes interpretive and intentional music, a catalyst and companion to reading, studying, working, walking, dancing, hand-holding, and sleeping. “I would like it if people listened and interpreted the music anyway they want to,” says Cardinal. “I don’t think these songs need a narrative, and I think certain moods come through some of the tracks, while other moods might only be heard by individual listeners.”

Cardinal found the title Asterisms to be the perfect encapsulation of the record he made. In typography, a near-obsolete character used to draw attention to a passage, and in astronomy, a visually obvious pattern of stars, asterisms connects the tangible and the intangible aspects that define this music. On his solo debut, Cardinal creates a document of his inner reflections that flourishes into an offering of sonic refractions for our own contemplation during these thought-provoking times.

Asterisms is out on October 27th via Arts and Crafts. You can pre-order it here.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Conor at Hive Mind PR.]