The Music Box.
Entries about the music I like.
Yaeji — What We Drew 우리가 그려왔
Each short track of this mixtape is a hazy journey into the self. The lyrics deal with the everyday, the mundane: easily my favourite lyrical focus. Rarely have I heard the simple combination of bass + drums + vocals + synth done this expertly.
GoGo Penguin — GoGo Penguin
The tag cloud that forms in my mind when I think of this album contains the word jazz, but after many other words: bright piano, technical proficiency, tight yet jammy, instrumental fusion between rock and (then finally) jazz.
Thiago Nassif — Mente
Mente navigates seamlessly through avant-garde experiments, while also showcasing its pop sensibilities. There’s no wave infused with funk, pop infused with dissonant jazz. Melody + noise. Over its ten-track run, Nassif collaborates with 20 musicians from the Rio underground, chiefly Arto Lindsay, the album’s producer.
Peter Gabriel — So
A classic of experimental pop, striking a deliciously fine balance between those two words that are unfortunately (read: incorrectly) often seen as contradictory: experimental and pop.
On Zamrock: a psych-rock explosion in 70s Zambia
A week ago, gripped by your usual seasonal feelings of inadequacy, I turned for comfort to a playlist of Zamrock, 70s psych rock from Zambia. I have since fallen in love with Lazy Bones, the magnum opus of the genre’s archetypes, WITCH, Africa by Amanaz, and other albums from the scene in general.
Klô Pelgag — Notre-Dame-des-Sept-Douleurs
On 26 July, Québécois Canadian singer-songwriter Klô Pelgag released a jaw-droppingly stunning baroque pop album, Notre-Dame-des-Sept-Douleurs.
Kelly Lee Owens — On
Kelly Lee Owens’s second album, Inner Song, was slated for release on May 1, 2020, but was delayed due to Covid. Last week, she released the fantastic single, On.
Seasonal Affected Beats — 2°
New Delhi-based jazz drummer Tarun Balani’s debut EP under this electronic music moniker, 2° is 20 minutes of carefully crafted, moving electronica; what used to somewhat condescendingly be called ‘intelligent dance music’ or IDM.
Radio Schizoid
They’d call this Mumbai based radio channel I discovered on Radio Garden a mix of psybient and dub and psytrance and deep house.
Wrapped in an eighties blanket with a faux eighties pillow
In my mind, songs from the eighties are always juxtaposed with images of Mumbai’s many beer-and-fried-food establishments. Rainy nights, dumb chatter, old friends who are now scattered around the world, out of reach.
Nation of Language —Introduction, Presence
This album does such a good job of something that’s been done so many times before. That said, you’d be right to ask: does the world need another one of these after the 80’s nostalgia of the National, the Editors, the 1975, Future Islands, and on and on the list goes. The answer is yes, it does.
My experiences with Radiohead, and boys becoming men
Ever since there’s been nerdy people on the internet writing about nerdy music, there’s been nerdy people writing about Radiohead. I have no interest in perpetuating the mythos of great men and great art, so I won’t do this.
The tracks the made Age
An introduction to a new Akhil Srivatsan Track called Age, with a playlist of tracks that inspired it including some from Washed Out, Peggy Gou, Ross From Friends, Hercules and Love Affair, and Funktuation.
Ichiko Aoba — "gift" at Sogetsu Hall (Live)
This is an enchantingly beautiful acoustic folk performance by the Japanese artist, recorded live in a concert hall in Tokyo. What’s remarkable is its simplicity: one woman playing an acoustic guitar and singing.
Waxahatchee — Saint Cloud
Waxahatchee's Saint Cloud is a wonderful alt-country gem. In some ways, it's a throwback to Wilco's classic Summerteeth,
Nicolas Jaar — Cenizas
Since his previous album Sirens, Nicolas Jaar has been particularly concerned with how electronic music can reflect his anxieties about the geopolitical future of the world. Cenizas appears to very much be a continuation of that exploration. It isn't bleak, but it is certainly concerned.
The Soft Pink Truth — Shall We Go On Sinning So That Grace May Increase
Great ambient albums don’t sit in the background, but are instead unforgettable. Be it Music For Airports, or Disintegration Loops, or The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid, they’re all hugely memorable. The same is true for Shall We Go On Sinning So That Grace May Increase, by The Soft Pink Truth, the pseudonym of Drew Daniel, one half of Matmos.
Run The Jewels — RTJ4
The murder of George Floyd isn’t just an American issue, but a global one. RTJ4, Run the Jewel’s fourth album, is a hip-hop album made for this particular moment in history.
Equiknoxx — Bird Sound Power
An article about great Jamaican music: a bit of ska, rocksteady, and dancehall. Equiknoxx’s Bird Sound Power is eccentric post-dancehall.
Nepali Indie
A curated collection of chill indie music in the Nepali language from Nepal and India.