February 2021 – 7th Level Music

Field Music announce new album, “Flat White,” with release of a new single – “No Pressure.”

Last month, Field Music – the English “national treasures” (NME) composed of Sunderland-born brothers Peter and David Brewis – shared their single “Orion From The Street,” a track which built some considerable excitement among the Field Music-faithful (including their fellow indie veteran The New Pornographers’ AC Newman) about what might becoming next from the band. Ever prolific, the duo have released two full lengths since 2018 that neatly encapsulate the band’s unique approach: a critically-adored new wave-addled art pop LP about Brexit in 2018s Open Here, and a high concept song cycle about the aftermath of the First World War, Making A New World in 2020. Today, the band are announcing their 8th studio full length Flat White Moon (due out April 23rd via Memphis Industries), and sharing the album’s lead single “No Pressure.”

LISTEN: Field Music’s “No Pressure” HERE

After a pair of albums that have skewed towards the more ornate and esoteric extremes of the band’s sound, their latest began as an attempt to make something more direct and “physical,” with songs inspired by ’70s rock and folk influences, that later evolved to encompass the organic-feeling, sample-based approach found on albums like Beck’s Odelay and De La Soul’s Three Feet High and Rising. For the most part, the album has fewer explicitly political themes than previous records, though lead single “No Pressure” (which is accompanied by a video that pokes fun of YouTube musical instructional videos) tackles the political classes, in what David Brewis describes as a kind of inversion of the lyrics of David Bowie and Queen’s “Under Pressure.”

“It feels like we’re in a new political paradigm where no one takes responsibility for anything and, even worse, they don’t seem to feel any shame or remorse about it,” David Brewis explains. “The song is like a mirror image of ‘Under Pressure’. But if that was about ‘people on the street,’ this is mostly from the perspective of someone up on high insisting that nothing is his fault while the rest of us scratch around trying to hold things together.“

As part of the announcement of the new album, Field Music have shared plans for a live stream show to celebrate the release of the LP that will take place at the Brudenell Social Club in Leeds on April 29th. Tickets are available for purchase here.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Tom at Hive Mind PR.]

Review: Blanck Mass – In Ferneaux

I’m not sure calling Blanck Mass‘ new record, In Ferneaux, an “album” is correct. It’s only two tracks (“Phase I” and “Phase II”), which makes it seem like an A-side and B-side single, but each is about twenty minutes long. So, is it an EP? EP’s rarely cover as much ground as In Ferneaux, so that doesn’t seem right either. It’s more of a soundscape than an album, a strange journey instead of a musical experience.

In Ferneaux is a “soundscape journey.” Yeah, I think that works.

The record is a collection of live “in the field” recordings of ambient sounds, bits of conversation, city cacophony, psychedelic musings, and, of course, Blanck Mass / Benjamin Power‘s signature shimmering synths and beats that often surprise you no matter how far away you hear them coming.

“Phase I” alone blends all of these elements in just the first five minutes. It almost sounds like it could be a sci-fi movie theme or the theme to the next World Cup tournament, and then it becomes something like a robotic dream from Philip K. Dick’s mind. It drifts into drone, and at one point seems to have the sounds of a boat bumping against a dock and futuristic bacon made from grub worms sizzling in a skillet. Bird and / or whale song floats into the track, as do the sounds of busy streets, children talking, and possibly distant video game noises.

“Phase II” starts us off in the middle of some kind of dystopian future nightmare thought up by an android with a migraine headache, but then it dissolves into a recording of a conversation Powers had with a street preacher saying things like, “It’s hard to handle the bitch-ass misery…Be ye transformed by the renewal of your mind…” and other gems of knowledge about giving and receiving blessings. The man’s words are brought to the front and then are replaced with bright, ambient synths and white noise to cleanse your mental palate. Those sounds grow into a wild swarm of cybernetic wasps hovering treacherously close. Weird chants / screams and tribal drums emerge, throwing you into either a panic or an intrigued hush. The track, and the album, ends with more sounds of water, and Powers’ lament that a passing truck is ruining his recording.

Again, a record like this is hard to classify, but that’s part of the point. It doesn’t need classification. It simply is. All of us simply are, but most of us fail to realize this liberating truth. In Ferneaux has Powers coming out of the metaphorical fire of 2020 with a deeper appreciation of the simple things around him. We could all use some time in that purifying heat.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Patrick at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Review: Brijean – Feelings

Dreamy, sexy, danceable, and, yes, fun, Brijean‘s new album, Feelings, will give you plenty of feels – all of them good.

“Day dreaming about you. I’m falling, it’s true (for you),” Ms. Brijean sings on the opening track – “Day Dreaming,” a lovely electro-pop track that blends dance percussion and Bossa nova vocals. “Softened Thoughts” mixes video game sounds and thick bass to create a somewhat trippy effect. “Pepe” is a short and sweet track full of bright bells and bubbly synths.

“Wifi Beach” is an instant house music classic with cool retro synths and hot percussion. The title track is full of electro-bubbles that tickle your whole body. “Ocean” takes us to a tropical jazz lounge where the local DJ is playing stuff he found at a 1960’s Bossa nova record mogul’s estate sale. “Paradise” adds some groovy psychedelia to Feelings, and it’s a welcome addition to the album’s color palate.

“Lathered in Gold” is not only a lush, exotic track, but it’s also a good way to describe Brijean‘s sound. Everything has an exotic feel to it, and this song sounds like it emanates from a Tiki bar in Brazilian spy movie set in 1962. “Chester” is another short but sweet bridge between songs and leads into “Hey Boy,” which is going to be a massive hit at dance clubs once they’re open again (hopefully) this summer. The album closes with the thumping and bumping (and humping?) “Moody” – a flirtatious, groovy track that sends us off with a nice afterglow.

This will easily be one of the best make-out albums of 2021, let alone one of the best dance records and lounge records. It works on all levels.

Keep your mind open.

[I daydream about you subscribing.]

[Thanks to Jim at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Iceage return with new single – “Vendetta.”

Copenhagen’s Iceage – Elias Bender Rønnenfelt, Jakob Tvilling Pless, Johan Surrballe Wieth, and Dan Kjær Nielsen – announce their fifth album, Seek Shelter, out May 7th on Mexican Summer. Today, they present a new single/video, “Vendetta,” which follows “The Holding Hand,” “an ominous transmission from a band who can summon a storm like few others” (Pitchfork). Enrolling Sonic Boom (Pete Kember of Spacemen 3) to produce the record and an additional guitarist in the form of Casper Morilla Fernandez, Seek Shelter sees Iceage’s propulsive momentum pushing them in new, expansive, ecstatic directions. A decade on from their first record, Iceage continue to harness their lives together through music.

Rønnenfelt casts the influence of Kember, the band’s first outside producer, as that of a sparring partner, another wayward mind to bounce ideas off of (along with Shawn Everett, who mixed the record) to help shape the sound. For Seek Shelter’s story of scorched-earth salvation, Iceage’s songwriting embraces conventional structures more conspicuously than it has in the past. The dirge-like drone that opens the record gives way to a wall of reverb that sounds fuller and brighter than anything they’ve committed to tape, signalling a clarity of clouds breaking. The Lisboa Gospel Collective, who joined the band for two tracks on the final day in the studio, provide a new scale to Rønnenfelt’s incantations.

As with all Iceage’s previous albums, Rønnenfelt stowed away for a set period of weeks and wrote the lyrics for Seek Shelter in one shot. Here, his lyrics reach grand heights despite its classic opacity — he sings of taking shelter, of tranquil affections that threaten to combust, and of a limp-wristed god with a cavalcade of devotees in search of relief. His expressionist imagery consistently hinges on the divine, a natural result of his desire to take a kernel of ordinary emotion and, as he explains, “blow it up like a balloon.”

On the slow-grooving new single, “Vendetta,” an electronic beat and blues signatures break through to the front. Rønnenfelt comments, “Crime is the undercurrent that runs through everything. If you don’t see it, you’re not looking. In its invincible politics, it is the glue that binds it all together. ‘Vendetta’ is an impartial dance along the illicit lines of infraction.”

The accompanying video features the band, as well as actor Zlatko Burić. Director Jonas Bang explains, “We wanted it to be less 1:1 story and more short format collage-ish – like if you flick through a chapter in a book reading a bit here and there.”

Watch Iceage’s Video for “Vendetta”

While recording, rain dripped through cracks in the ceiling of Namouche, the dilapidated wood-paneled vintage studio in Lisbon where Iceage set up for 12 days. The band had to arrange their equipment around puddles. Pieces of cloth covered slowly filling buckets so the sound of raindrops wouldn’t reach the microphones. Kember arranged garden lamps for mood lighting in the high-ceiling space. It was the longest time Iceage had ever spent making an album. When the rain had stopped, Seek Shelter revealed itself as a collection of songs radiating warmth and a profound desire for salvation in a world that’s spinning further and further out of control. Even Rønnenfelt was surprised with what they were able to create together. “When we started, I think we were just lashing out, completely blindfolded with no idea as to why and how we were doing anything. For Seek Shelter, we had a definite vision of how we wanted the album to be carved out, yet still the end result came as a surprise in terms of where we sonically were able to push our boundaries.” He’s speaking of the new record and also of their entire existence as a band, a travelogue that has catapulted these four friends far past the horizons of punk.

Watch “The Holding Hand” Video

Pre-order Seek Shelter

Seek Shelter Tracklist
1. Shelter Song
2. High & Hurt
3. Love Kills Slowly
4. Vendetta
5. Drink Rain
6. Gold City
7. Dear Saint Cecilia
8. The Wider Powder Blue
9. The Holding Hand

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Jessica at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Review: Bantha Rider – Binary Sunset Massacre

I’m not sure if you’re aware of this, but Star Wars-themed stoner / cosmic metal is a thing. I don’t know how much of a thing it is, but apparently it’s a thing in Warsaw, Poland – home of Bantha Rider. The name lets you know that the members envision themselves as Tusken Raiders on the desolate desert wastes of Tattooine. Their newest album, Binary Sunset Massacre, is as fierce as the album’s cover and subjects appear.

The title track is a brief instrumental introduction (the album is entirely instrumentals) that unleashes the power of “De Wanna Wanga” (a phrase known to Star Wars: Return of the Jedi fans) like a horde of charging Sand People attacking a surprised Storm Trooper outpost near the Sarlac pit. The bass alone on “The Gammorean” (the horned “boar-men” of Star Wars) hits as heavy as an axe sharpened on the bones of its enemies.

The guitar solo on “Boonta Eve” is positively cosmic, and the song starts with what sounds like spacecraft revving up for travel. “Sagittarius” is also pure cosmic rock. “Rancor’s Delight” starts with sounds of the massive beast’s footfalls and roar before it erupts into heavy, heavy riffs that channel the sense of dread Luke Skywalker felt upon being dropped into a pit containing the monster.

I love the way the bass and drums seem to stumble around a bit at the beginning of “March of the Banthas.” Banthas are huge, horned, furry beasts who take their time across the desert, and the song takes its time with chugging riffs and hefty beats. The album ends with “Pazuzu” – a psychedelic trip enshrouded in dark mystery (it is named after the Mesopotamian king of demons, after all) that lasts over thirteen head-trippy minutes.

It’s a wild ride, and enjoyable for Star Wars and stoner metal fans. It’s a win-win if you like both.

Keep your mind open.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZav8quv6jc

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Review: Slift – Ummon

There are times when YouTube’s algorithms make a good call. Ummon, the latest album from Slift, is a good example for me. I kept seeing this record and live performances by the Toulouse, France cosmic rockers in lists of suggested videos. I finally gave Ummon a listen several months after it was released and was about knocked over by how damn heavy it is. The cover image of a naked man dragging a massive sword across what looks like a hot asteroid sums up the heft of this album pretty well.

The title track opens the record with guitars and drums sounding like ancient warriors taking armor off racks and strapping it on before charging over a drawbridge to repel invading ogres…on Titan. The lyrics about an army emerging from the Earth’s core (“Set the controls for the Earth’s surface. From the night we have waited. Bring the fire to your sleeping brothers.”). How much more metal can you get? “It’s Coming…” is a bright, shining epic tale of a white city in heavens that rushes to greet us. Is it a song about death? Probably, but it’s lets us know that death is a cosmic journey we will all find fascinating…and loud and crazy if the song’s end is any indication.

“Thousand Helmets of Gold” has Slift leaving the Earth for better times in space (“We’ve left this world of violence. Stars aren’t that far at all.”), propelled there by the power of rock riffs. What lies there in space? Well, according to “Citadel on a Satellite,” it’s a “calm and serene vista of wonders” where “time signifies nothing.” I can’t argue with that, or with the psychedelic guitar solo that weaves throughout the song. The way it softly drifts out and then slaps you awake with “Hyperion” is stunning. The song is about either an ancient warrior or an elder god – or both – and epic enough for either.

“Altitude Lake” is a psychedelic tale of a warrior seeking a mystic sword in a forsaken land of mist and mystery. The track moves back and forth between hypnotic jams and epic shredding. “Sonar” is a cool instrumental suitable for your next video game session or late night drag race with a UFO. “Dark Was Space, Cold Were the Stars” is a tale of death told by a groovy bass line, spacey synths, lock-tight drumming, and booster rocket guitars. “Aurore aux Confins” (“Dawn at the Edge”) is another wild, trippy instrumental that sounds like a laser refracted through a lava lamp.

“Son Dông’s Cavern” is a short, trippy affair that leads into the Oh Sees-like “Lions, Tigers and Bears,” which clocks in at thirteen minutes and eighteen seconds – and it’s worth every moment of that running time with its massive riffs, guttural vocals, and wild drums as they sing about a cosmic race of lion-pulled chariots across the cosmos to usher in a glorious age throughout the universe.

Ummon is an impressive piece of work, and one of those albums that makes you say, “How are three people putting out this much sound?” I don’t know the answer. My guess is that they tapped into some sort of cosmic energy well while meditating in a cave full of ancient crystals placed there by aliens. You’ll understand this when you hear it.

Keep your mind open.

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Review: Nick Schofield – Glass Gallery

There are many albums that convey a sense of place. Sometimes the place is an entire town or nation, other times it’s a small bedroom. Nick Schofield‘s excellent new ambient music album, Glass Gallery, conveys the energy of part of Ottawa’s National Gallery of Canada. The gallery is full of high ceilings and massive windows, creating a space full of light, air, and meditative quiet.

“Central Atrium” immediately puts you into the right headspace for the record with its warm synths and simple, relaxing chords. Listening to “Mirror Image” is like listening to a prism with light shining through it. I’m not sure I can describe it better than that. “Getty Garden” blips and bleeps like a happy robotic cat. “Water Court” seemingly drifts along without effort, and “Molinarism” sounds like the theme to a Blade Runner spin-off TV show.

“Travertine Museum” and “Snow Blue Square” are luxurious meditations. “Ambient Architect” is a good way to describe Schofield himself, as the song weaves intricate yet relaxing patterns of synth chords over and through each other. “Garden Court is a nice compliment to “Water Court.” “Kissing Wall” is as intriguing as its namesake and a perfect song for androids who want to make out, with humans or other synthetic beings. The album ends with the subtle, but no less hypnotizing, “Key of Klee.”

What makes this album even more impressive is when you consider it was made with just one synthesizer – a Sequential Circuits Prophet-600. I couldn’t make this with ten synthesizers if he, Gary Numan, and Giorgio Moroder were coaching me. It’s a lovely piece of work.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Gabriel at Clandestine Label Services.]

Rochelle Jordan’s new single, “All Along,” is out now.

Today, Los Angeles-based Rochelle Jordan returns with “ALL ALONG,” her second single of the year for TOKiMONSTA’s Young Art Records. Following the recently released “GOT EM,” “her most devastating dance floor track to date” (Resident Advisor), “ALL ALONG” is an R&B song tapping into a new jack swing sound. Working again with producers KLSH and Machinedrum, “ALL ALONG” is percussive and lush while showcasing Jordan’s rich and hushed vocals.

“ALL ALONG” initially developed as a love song to someone close to Jordan, but as she continued listening, it transformed into an ode to self-love. “As the song started to close in, I began to get this overwhelming feeling that I was actually speaking to myself. This song felt better to me once I started hearing it as the importance of recognizing your own self as your greatest lover. It’s so easy for us to get caught up searching for someone else to fill our voids, instead of working on us in order to make ourselves whole.”
Listen to Rochelle Jordan’s “ALL ALONG”

Born in London to British-Jamaican parents, Jordan and her family relocated to the eastside of Toronto in the early ‘90s. Her father, a drummer, encouraged her love of art and instilled an appreciation for Northern soul, Jamaican reggae and dancehall, while an adolescent Jordan simultaneously soaked in the record collection of her older brother: funky UK house, nocturnal drum and bass, garage, and all the gospel samples contained therein.

Since relocating from Toronto to LA, Jordan has gone on to tour with Jessie Ware, collaborated with Childish Gambino (Donald Glover) on his 2014 Grammy-nominated album, Because the Internet, and landed a stint doing voice over work for the Adult Swim show, Black Dynamite, where she appeared in a memorable episode featuring Erykah Badu, Chance the Rapper, and Mel B. of the Spice Girls.

“ALL ALONG” and “GOT EM” are Jordan’s first pieces of new music since last year’s single, “Fill Me In,” in addition to collaborations with the likes of Jacques Greene, Machinedrum, Jimmy Edgar, and others.
Stream/Purchase “GOT EM”

Watch visualizer for “GOT EM”

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Ahmad at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Review: Psymon Spine – Charismatic Megafauna

The opening track of Psymon Spine‘s new album, Charismatic Megafauna, “Confusion,” is pure dream / synth-pop bliss and lets you know that you’re in for a treat. The whole album mixes dance grooves with synth hooks and funk and inspires you to move and / or chill.

Bright synths, cool bass, and sweet disco beats are all over this record. Psymon Spine’s founders, Noah Prebish and Peter Spears, describe the slightly dark “Modmed” as a break-up song about leaving their previous band – Barrie. The bass on it is as thick as a dozen donuts eaten during a self-pity binge that becomes a “You know, what? Screw it. I’m eating these donuts because I’m moving on.” celebration. “Jacket” moves and sways like it has some junk in the trunk.

“Jump Rope” is a sexy romp with female vocals about meeting and defying expectations. “Milk” features Barrie – the lead singer of Prebish and Spears’ former band – doing backing vocals on another cool, bass-heavy track. “The game is called ‘Channels,” they sing on “Channels” – a fast dance-punk track about the drudgery of work and going along with the crowd when you really want to go off-road, forge your own path, and tell your doubters, “Get the fuck out of my face.”

“Different Patterns” mixes acoustic guitars with Knight Rider bass for a weird, dreamy effect. “Real Thing” bubbles and pops with synths that remind me of God Lives Underwater tracks and electric drums hit so snappy they could be a breakfast cereal. “Solution” bounces with a wicked house music beat that builds to a floor-filling frenzy. The album ends with “Unwound” – a bit of a psychedelic treat to send us off on a trippy note.

It’s a pretty cool record that blends its multiple influences well – making you dance and think. That’s not an easy task, but they make it seem easy.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Cody at Clandestine PR.]

Debby Friday’s new single will have you “Runnin”’ to the dance floor.

Audiovisual artist, vocalist and experimental producer DEBBY FRIDAY has shared her new single & video “RUNNIN”.

Shedding the previous layers of noise and catharsis, the Vancouver-based artist drives home a snaking synth-rap jam that’s primed with electric potential. Speaking about her thrilling new single, she says:

“This new record is about pure expression. I don’t feel like I need to exorcise anything from myself anymore. I wanted to to push myself in different directions and see what would happen and I think I accomplished what I set out to do. “RUNNIN’” is a cheeky song that has DEBBY FRIDAY themes present, but now I’m having so much more fun.”

A trippy experiment in exposure techniques, “RUNNIN” is brought to life by its own hypnotic video, which was shot on 35mm and directed by FRIDAY and Ryan Ermacora. Filmed near Hope in British Columbia, the visual was inspired by the colour palette of tinting techniques in early cinema, and shot using multiple exposures on one roll of film.

Watch & listen to “RUNNIN” here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwHCwo_KlhM

Born in Nigeria, raised in Montreal and now based in Vancouver, FRIDAY released her debut self-produced, rap adjacent EP, BITCHPUNK in 2018. In 2019, Deathbomb Arc ushered in her second, critically acclaimed EP, DEATH DRIVE, which throbbed with eroticised electropunk fervour and cleared a path for self-actualisation. The project was accompanied by FRIDAY’S first music video and directorial debut for the lead single “FATAL”, which was subsequently nominated for the 2020 Prism Prize Award.

Having swapped Montreal’s heady nightlife scene for Vancouver’s scenic mountain views two years before, FRIDAY spent much of last year in lockdown figuring out this new direction in her life. “I was going through another change that involved so many other things – internally and externally in the world – and I felt like I needed to create something to represent that rebirth. Making a short film had been on my bucket list for a while.”

Conjuring elements of folk horror in its bewitching depiction of nature and isolation, the eight and a half minute film BARE BONES is an ode to the cycles of change, building upon FRIDAY’s self-mythology. “I like things that have a little bit of a creepy vibe to them,” she offers. “I like things that are just a little bit unsettling, because I think it brings you back to yourself in a visceral way. It reveals the subconscious.”

“RUNNIN’” celebrates rebirth, and the next stage of DEBBY FRIDAY’S evolution. Working with producers Cayne and Andrew of Big Kill, this track marks FRIDAY’S first studio outing, having previously produced everything from her bedroom.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Frankie at Stereo Sanctity.]