November 2020 – Page 2 – 7th Level Music

Review: October and the Eyes – Dogs and Gods

New Zealand’s October and the Eyes is a one-woman show. Perhaps the Eyes mentioned in her “band’s” name are the eyes of the world, or the Creator, or Big Brother. I don’t know the answer, but that’s okay. Sometimes the mystery is more intriguing than the answer itself, and “intriguing” is a good way to describe October’s Dogs and Gods EP. She calls her music “collage rock,” meaning she blends influences ranging from krautrock to house music to dub and garage punk. It all works, and the fact that all this sound is produced by one person is damn impressive.

Opening track “Playing God,” for instance starts off with industrial beats and guitars and soon blows your speakers onto their backs with psychedelic reverb-laden vocals reminiscent of Siouxsie Sioux emerging from a dark cave. “All My Love,” a tale of love and lust, is a gothic shoegaze masterpiece with sexy robot beats and synth-bloops doing a striptease alongside October’s vocals that sound like she’s singing through an FM radio dug up in a post-apocalyptic junkyard that can somehow access broadcasts from the early 1980s.

“Wander Girl” continues the goth-synth vibe with Dum Dum Girls and, I’ll say it, Cyndi Lauper-like vocal stylings. “I’ve only been waiting my whole life for you,” October sings on the peppy “You Deserve It” – a song that seems aimed at herself and her potential lover at the same time. “The Unraveling” is a flat-out shoegaze rocker designed to rattle your home walls or the roof of your car. The closing track, “Dark Dog,” is dreamy synth-wave that has a slightly creepy feel to it as October sings about a man best left alone.

This is one of the coolest-sounding (and sexiest) EPs I’ve heard all year. I hope we hear more soon.

Keep your mind open.

[I’ll send all my love if you subscribe.]

[Thanks to Patrick at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Review: Partner – Never Give Up

I don’t know if there’s an award for Most Fitting Album Title of 2020, but Partner‘s new album, Never Give Up, might win it if there is. It seems that everyone has shouting this for the entire year. Everyone is fighting a battle. This has been true throughout all time, of course, but internal and external battles seem, and often are, magnified in this year no one will be sad to see leave.

Thanks heavens we have bands like Partner (Josée Caron, Lucy Niles, Simone TB) to recharge our batteries with massive riffs and songs about sex, rock and roll, and being comfortable in your own skin.

I love that they open Never Give Up with an introduction song – “Hello and Welcome,” which has Caron and Niles sharing vocals about how happy they are to be rocking off our collective socks. The breakdown on it is like stomping the gas pedal on a 1970 Plymouth Road Runner. “We’re Partner…We’re not foolin’ around,” Caron sings. Those riffs certainly aren’t. “Rock Is My Rock” is full of power chords and hand percussion s Caron and Niles sing about how rock and roll not only keeps them afloat through hard times, but how it can shake us out of the funk this crazy year has dropped on the world like an oppressive net. “I wouldn’t want to imagine a world without rock,” Niles sings. Who can argue with that?

Caron’s vocals take on a bluesy swagger on “The Pit,” a song about letting go of anything holding you down. “Honey,” a song about Caron’s guitar is, appropriately, full of big guitar riffs. “This guitar sounds like honey going down,” they sing, and they’re right. It does. “Big Gay Hands,” a favorite in their live sets, is a strutting, sweaty, sexy track about hotties and the hotties who love them.

“Good Place to Hide (at the Time)” reminds me a bit of Rush, who are known influences on Partner, with its echoing vocals, switching time signatures, and space-rock riffs. “Roller Coasters (Life Is One)” is a piano-first rock opera ballad about navigating through the madness of 2020 and the world in general. “At the heart of each day lies a brand new, scary, sweet surprise,” Caron sings.

“I couldn’t remember my postal code if I tried,” Partner sing on “Couldn’t Forget” – a peppy song about memory and self-deception with some country twang for good measure. Simone TB’s drum lick on “Here I Am World” is slick, reminding me a bit of the opening beats on Blondie‘s “Rapture.” Caron sings about grabbing “each scrap of joy” and Niles reminds us that “each day is a precious gift.” It sums up the theme of the album, and the best way to get through this nutty year, quite well. The record closes with the chugging, powerful “Crocodiles,” in which Partner warn us that many beasts (often ones self-created) lie in wait around us to catch us up in their maws if we let them.

Never Give Up is the metaphorical shot in the arm we all need right now and easily one of the most uplifting albums of the year.

Keep your mind open.

[I’ll never give up on the idea of you subscribing.]

[Thanks to Mar Sellers.]

Badge Époque Ensemble release “Just Space for Light” ahead of upcoming album.

Toronto’s Badge Époque Ensemble present a new single, “Just Space For Light” (feat. Jennifer Castle), from their forthcoming album, Self Help, out November 20th on Telephone Explosion Records. “Just Space For Light” follows “Unity (It’s Up To You),” which was presented alongside an incredibly ambitious claymation video, and lead single “Sing A Silent Gospel.” With each new single, which has featured a new guest vocalist (beginning with Meg Remy and Dorothea Paas, then R&B soul artist James Baley and now Castle), Badge Époque Ensemble show more of how their sound and style can evolve into something wholly unexpected. On its onset, “Just Space For Light” is blissfully soothing, drifting with rhodes by bandleader Maximilian Turnbull, flute by Alia O’Brien, percussion by Ed Squires, and Castle’s affecting vocals. As the song approaches its peak, it transforms into a flurry of fragmented guitar and progressive instrumentation.

“’Just Space For Light’ weaves a few BÉE themes together,” says Turnbull. “The collision of disparate moods between sections, lyrics which touch on the meditative experience, and collaboration with a distinctive vocalist; in this case Jennifer Castle, who’s soulful presence on our album is a blessing.”

Listen to Badge Époque Ensemble’s “Just Space For Light” (feat. Jennifer Castle)

Recorded live over three weekends at Toronto’s Palace Sound Studio in the months before lockdown, Self Help is an exploratory record that dances across time and genre, guided by fidgety miniatures and jazz inflected collage. While constructed from the inspiration of soul, funk and film music, BÉE mediate those influences having first digested them through the productions of Madlib and the RZA.

“Unity (It’s Up To You)” (feat. James Baley) Video

“Sing A Silent Gospel” (feat. Meg Remy and Dorothea Paas) Visualizer

Pre-order Self-Help

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe before you go.]

[Thanks to Sam at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Review: Affect Display – Animal Drift Animal

Animal Drift Animal, the first album from Affect Display (AKA Damien Smith), is a lush sonic soundscape that sounds not unlike what you’d hear while dreaming of electric sheep.

Lead single “Until the Light Hits the Door” starts off sounding like something you might hear in the score of a modern psychological thriller but then transforms into slightly goth, slightly ambient trance music. “Flight or Fury” pulses like an alien menace on a haunted moon, blending Ennio Morricone and Vangelis influences.

The subtle sonics of”Transference” are suitable for meditation, your morning tea, making out, or taxiing down the runway on your flight to wherever you’re going to quarantine for two weeks. “Dauen” is full of bright synths, strange samples, and beats that sound like they were recorded in an empty Olympic pool (and I mean that in the best way).

“Flock” builds around a drone that could be some kind of machine Smith recorded in the field for ambient sound. Stuttering drum beats stumble around a swelling guitar line and Smith’s robot overlord vocals. “Red Blue In-Between” starts off with psychedelic guitar (!) and then becomes something like an instrumental Sisters of Mercy song with its fierce drumming and slithering synths. The closing track, “Floating Pictures,” has touches of synthwave, city pop, and ambience for a nice finish.

It’s a lovely record and one that is suitable for so many different situations that it’s impossible to list them all. Let’s hope Smith keeps up these sonic explorations and unearths more treasures for us.

Keep your mind open.

[Fly over to the subscription box while you’re here.]

[Thanks to Pirates Blend Press.]

CHAI release cover of Mariya Takeuchi’s “Plastic Love.”

Today, Japanese quartet CHAI are excited to share the official video for “Plastic Love,” their cover of Mariya Takeuchi’s 1984 city pop standard, which recently saw a resurgence of its own in 2018. “Plastic Love” stars the group as “tour guides” of their beloved Tokyo, taking you through the city’s many districts in this exuberant visual. CHAI says: “THIS IS TOKYO! Everyone has their own perception of Tokyo, but many, at times, would say it can be sort of gloomy, sort of dark. With our version of ‘Plastic Love,’ we wanted to show you what Tokyo looks like from our point of view. From Asakusa, to crepes in Harajuku, to the skyrise buildings and Tokyo Tower, to long night-time drives in Shibuya…we welcome you to our version of Tokyo! You also notice how we’re all wearing white? That’s because we are going to disrupt the gloomy Tokyo! We are the brightness amongst the darkness and we’ve come to illuminate! Just like Mariya Takeuchi did with this song in the 80’s, we’ve come to do this again with our version today!”

WATCH CHAI’S VIDEO FOR “PLASTIC LOVE”

STREAM “PLASTIC LOVE”

CHAI’s interpretation of the international cult hit is from their double A-side single, “Donuts Mind If I Do”/”Plastic Love,” out now on Sub Pop. “Donuts Mind If I Do”/“Plastic Love” double A-side single is available as a limited edition 7,” which is available to purchase now from Bandcamp (on orange or turquoise colored vinyl), and Sub Pop Mega Mart (on lime green vinyl). All three options while supplies last. The “Donuts Mind If I Do”/“Plastic Love” 7” single will be available worldwide (excl. Japan and Asia) with an estimated ship date in late November.

CHAI is a revolutionary four-piece, made up of miracle twins Mana and Kana, and the impeccable rhythm section of Yuuki and Yuna. Combining their powerhouse musical prowess with “pinkish punk” sensibilities, CHAI has managed to create a huge splash in the music scene in their homeland, Japan, and abroad. Now ready to build on their infectious sound and musical accolades, CHAI is gearing up with their new label to release even more new music into the world.
WATCH THE VIDEO FOR “DONUTS MIND IF I DO”

PURCHASE “DONUTS MIND IF I DO”/“PLASTIC LOVE” 7”

CHAI Online:
http://chai-band.com/
https://twitter.com/CHAIofficialJPN
https://www.instagram.com/chaiofficialjpn/
https://www.facebook.com/CHAIofficialJPN/

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe before you split.]

[Thanks to Jacob at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Review: Khruangbin – Mordechai

Named after a friend of the band, Khruangbin‘s newest album, Mordechai, continues their string of excellent funk / jazz / dub / world music records.

They waste no time in getting to the funk on the first track, “First Class,” with Laura Lee‘s superb bass line backed by Donald Johnson‘s Chex Mix-crisp drums and Mark Speer‘s guitar that sounds like a chattery ghost. “That’s life. If we had more time, we could live together,” Lee sings on “Time (You and I)” – a groovy track that deals with impermanence – a subject many find frightening, but Khruangbin remind us is a beautiful thing. Lee’s vocals on it, and throughout Mordechai, are some of the clearest Khruangbin have ever released. It’s a nice change. I also must mention Johnson’s disco high-hat work throughout the track. It will make you turn your head and say, “Daaaamn!”

“Connaissais de Face” has Lee and a gentleman (Speer?) chatting about old friends and lovers while a happy, sexy jazz tune plays behind them. “Father Bird, Mother Bird” brings in Spanish flavor to Speer’s guitar, providing him with a great instrumental showcase for his talent and those pure tones that he makes sound effortless.

Lee’s vocals on “If There Is No Question” come at you like soft breezes across a veranda across from a New Delhi disco. “You’re wild, but you’re not crazy,” she repeats like a mantra. “Pelota” has Lee singing in Spanish and having a blast doing it and playing a sweet bass groove. “One to Remember” is another mostly instrumental track that is downright hypnotizing.

“Dearest Alfred” has some of Johnson’s snappiest drumming and Lee’s sexiest vocals. “So We Won’t Forget” has a groove that makes you want to dance down the street and not care who’s watching or what might be going on around you. The album ends with the snappy instrumental “Shida,” sending us out on a fun note.

Khruangbin are batting .1000 right now, and I don’t see them missing any pitches soon. If you need something to pick you up during self-isolation, this album’s for you. It’s for all of us.

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe.]

[Thanks to Pitch Perfect PR.]

Review: Caroline Rose – Superstar

On the cover of Caroline Rose‘s new album, Superstar, Rose is bathed in red neon light, her makeup and the cellophane around her neck making her look like a mannequin that was mostly unwrapped but then forgotten in a store room or perhaps left there when the place went out of business. She is glamorous, sexy, beautiful, and yet artificial in appearance. I might be reaching a bit here, but it’s as if Rose’s message is that images of beauty are often illusions. True beauty lies in true expression of the self, which she superbly does on Superstar.

She opens with the electro-poppy “Nothing’s Impossible,” which combines hip hop beats with bright synths that carry along her lovely voice like a ballon on a warm breeze and ending with space opera keys that melt into lounge jazz. The groovy, fun “Got to Go My Own Way” has Rose talking about her big dreams and moving on from lost love to finding new opportunities. “I was born to be a star,” she claims. It turns out she was right.

Rose embraces her sexuality (again, self-expression is true beauty) on “Do You Think We’ll Last Forever?” as, over a slick bass groove accentuated by handclaps, she sings about lusty sex (“I want to climb inside you every single day.”) and wondering how long it will last (“Do you think we’ll last forever? No pressure, though, just tell me yes or no.”). She gets Zen on the short and psychedelic “Feelings Are a Thing of the Past.” She’s right. They are. The only moment is now.

“Feel the Way I Want” has Rose strutting across the room like Ric Flair on his way to the ring (“I’m lookin’ good, I don’t think it’s a crime.”) before she gives us a lesson on self-expression and not kowtowing to the pressure of pleasing others, as living a life as others expect you to live it (in terms of expression, at least) is a trap. “Everybody’s so quick to sit you down and say, ‘Try to be cool about it,'” she sings, but she’s going to embrace her feelings and who she is instead. Again, the image of beauty is one often put upon us by others.

Need some make-out music? Rose has you covered with the sultry “Freak Like Me.” “My love is a real bad scene,” she warns, but you want to walk into it despite the warning because you know it will be a good time. Rose moves onto “Someone New,” which is a great showcase of her vocals. It’s easy to overlook how good of a singer Rose while you’re paying attention to the dance floor synths and electronic drums.

“Pipe Dreams” opens with what sounds like a train rolling along the tracks, and the opening guitar certainly goes along with that theme before it drifts into a softer space and Rose’s vocals seem to saunter out of the Black Lodge in Twin Peaks. The opening synths on “Command Z” sound like something out of an early 1990’s video game, which means they sound great, and the rest of the track has a neat dark wave feel to it as Rose sings about wishing she could go back to a better past, much like the thick bass-heavy “Back at the Beginning.” “If it takes a lifetime, I will find my true love again,” Rose sings on the “I Took a Ride” – a pure synthwave cut about heartbreak. You leave the album without any doubt she’ll do it.

Why? Because she’s a superstar. She’s someone who has embraced herself as she is and is leaving illusions behind her on the road. She has cast off the masks that others want her to wear. She has forged her own path. We should all be so lucky.

Keep your mind open.

[You’d be a superstar in my eyes if you subscribe.]

[Thanks to Pitch Perfect PR.]

Review: Ultraflex – Visions of Ultraflex

Consisting of electronic / disco / synth / dream-pop musicians Farao and Special-K, Ultraflex create music that seems ingrained into your DNA if you grew up on late night cable access TV, VHS culture, and 1980s workout classes. That exercise esthetic is prominent throughout their debut album, Visions of Ultraflex, and even their live performances (which often have them doing aerobics to their own music).

I mean, the first track is called “Get Fit,” and is perfect for a warm-up yoga session. The band’s name is the most repeated line in the song when they’re not encouraging you to “Get fit, get ripped, get a lover, get kids.” The electro-drums and sexy, breathy vocals of “Work Out Tonight” would make Janet Jackson envious. The electro-poppy “Papaya” might be about naughty bits. The saxophone throughout it is reminiscent of many Cinemax late night film scores.

“Never Forget My Baby” blooms like the theme to a Saturday morning talk show that focuses on fitness, exotic locations, and hot trends in dating. The vocals echo around your bedroom and produce the perfect atmosphere for making out. “Man U Sheets” sounds like the name of a naughty He-Man villain, and that seductive saxophone and sexy synths are more powerful than a Charm Person spell cast by Evil-Lyn.

“Olympic Sweat” is synthwave bliss. It’s like floating on a cool stream after you’ve been in a sauna with your lover. “You’re not really my type, but this is your lucky night,” they sing on the cheeky and delightful “Slave to Your Crush” – which is filled with bright synths, electro-pop beats, and a sense of fun missing in a lot of dance music. The closer, “Secret Lover,” sounds like something Prince wrote down after a wet dream. The electro-phat bass, 1980s fashion show synths, and near-industrial beats are great combination.

I hope these two ladies keep putting out records, because this one is superb. They have a future as bright as their synths ahead of them with a debut album this good.

Keep your mind open.

[Flex your arm over to the subscription box.]

[Thanks to Frankie at Stereo Sanctity.]

Review: Fuzz – III

Just in time to shake you out of your COVID-19 self-isolation funk, Fuzz (Charles Moothart, Ty Segall, and Chad Ubovich) are back with III – an album to make you look inward and shake you out of the trappings of everything outward.

“There is no greater sum than one,” Segall sings on opener “Returning” amid wild drum fills and enough, yes, guitar and bass fuzz to fill up an arena. A running theme throughout III is how unity often produces things greater than the individual can produce. Not that individual effort is worthless. Far from it. Sometimes individuals joined in a common cause (rock, in Fuzz‘s case) combine their powers for the greater good.

The funky and skronky “Nothing People” calls out rich elitists (“Nothing People have enough to eat, but they ain’t worth a dollar.”) with garage-metal swing. “Spit” has a bit of a Queens of the Stone Age feel to it with its strip club rhythm and gritty guitar. “Time Collapse” rolls along at a smoky pace and then drops doom metal riffs and lyrics (“Claim your throne in the black.”/ “You are forgotten by the one. After the light is gone, you are always alone. Your blood the only sun.”) on you.

“Mirror” calls out squares (“Freaks are breeding love in the gutter with another, burn the ceiling of house you live in with your mother.”) and slaps them with hyper-speed guitars and heavy drum fills. “Close Your Eyes” encourages us to let go of our illusions of there always being something better just over the next hill when we often have paradise in front of us. Segall sings, “You might think I’m crazy, and I don’t blame you, living like I don’t care. I just want you to come with me and see there’s nothing out there.” as the song drops into a sweet groove near the end.

“Blind to the Vines” starts off with space-rock guitars and then switches gears to almost southern-fried rock with its riffs. “End Returning” takes us down a rabbit hole that bores through psych and doom rock for almost eight minutes. It’s a trippy way to end a heavy record, but good psych and doom makes you do that (and the song doesn’t skimp on some punk madness either).

III is another solid record from Fuzz that shows three men operating at the height of their powers for one cause – to shred your speakers and awaken us out of our funks.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Pitch Perfect PR.]

Rewind Review: Sidiku Buari – Disco Soccer (2019 reissue)

What do you get when you have an African athletic hero studying music in New York who became obsessed with baseball and disco and with bringing his native music into dance clubs in 1979? You get Sidiku Buari‘s fun album Disco Soccer.

Mixing English and his native Ga language vocals along with West African rhythms and disco beats, Buari came to make everyone have fun in 1979. “Koko Si” is a song encouraging everyone to make love and get down when you’re feeling blue. The song is complete with women moaning in orgasm, lush strings, wah-wah’s guitar, and basically everything you want in a disco track. The funky bass on “I’m Ready” will be stuck in your head for days, and that’s not a bad thing. “I’m Ready” was the first song I heard by Buari and I knew right away that I had to track down this album after hearing this great jam about being open for anything.

“Let me feed your body, baby, with my natural thing,” Buari sings on “Feed My Body.” You can pretty much guess where the song is going from there, and the track speeds up to a horn section-heavy groove. “It’s What’s Happening” could easily have been a theme song to a cool 1970’s film. It’s the first track on the album in which Buari sings in his native language, and you can tell right away that he’s loving the chance to do it. “Hard Times” is the soundtrack of an (unfortunately) unmade Shaft film. Buari sings about poverty, world hunger, and suffering on both sides of the Atlantic as his drummer (Errol “Crusher” Bennett) goes wild on the track with some of his heftiest grooves that sound like he’s about to break his high-hat at any moment.

“Born with Music” slows things down a bit, but the African hand percussion beats are still prominent. Disco synths and piano take the forefront on “African Hustle.” “Kinyi Kawali” has bold brass and guitar licks that sound simple but are trickier than you think. It blends well with “Adesa A,” which flows well into “Minyo.” The three tracks make for a sweet mix of African disco (and the violin work on “Minyo” is sharp). The closer, “Games We Used to Play,” sends you out on a bit of a synthwave note.

It was great of the UK label BBE to reissue this gem because it deserves to be heard by a lot more people.

Keep your mind open.

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