Author: John-Paul Shiver

What We Drew 우리가 그려왔던 Yaeji XL Recordings Yaeji’s WHAT WE DREW 우리가 그려왔던, the bilingual Korean American producer’s first full-length, and XL Records début, making her quick label mates with Adele, Kaytranada, and Thom Yorke, brings a nonexclusive contribution of electronic feels. Going closer to home, this time-naming, getting up ahead of schedule, remaining hydrated, and cooking basic things as she does, to feel stable – more  than her past house EPs. Truly, they were happy and sweet stretches, loaded up with chipper murmurs between bass drops, her new mixtape venture, two years taking shape, gets stacked up with companions and feelings, playing out a particular plan. “In a…

Donʻt Turn Your Back The Pendletons Bastard Jazz Donʻt get it confused, The Pendletons – a boogie-funk, modern soul outfit created in San Francisco by Eric Boss and Daniel Meisenheimer – are always gentlemanly with their groove. Shit. Gilles Peterson, the international DJ, tastemaker and label head released their 2016 track “Gotta Get Out” on his Brownswood Bubblers compilation. So you already know how they get down. Understanding the hardship of starting off a project cold, they always share the Funk around with Bay Area artists or musicians abroad. Recording as E da Boss & Trailer Limon, 2019ʻs 2 Steps Away, a nine-song muse on the scars, bumps, and…

Mind Bahn Jouis None More Records Jouis (pronounced “jew-eee”), a three-piece Brighton-based psychedelic rock band, put together a full-utility “traveling without moving” type function on their sophomore outing. Complete with the dramatic turns, zips, and vacuum cleaner sounding chord progressions that get prog heads in the mood. Mind Bahn, nine songs that trade back and forth in sequence between balladry and supreme atmospheric territory, is the full out-and-out representation of that set. Laying claim their influence draws on the bands from the late 60s & early 70s Canterbury scene performers such as Caravan and Soft Machine may have legs. But “Wiltons Green” gives off…

Not To Miss is a bi-monthly column dedicated to all things music related that might have fallen through the cracks. SEED ENSEMBLE/Afronaut/jazz re:freshed Afronaut, by SEED Ensemble, is an eight-plus minute jazz opus that shuffles and swings along to cascading horns lines, fiery poetic stanzas referencing Toni Morrison, and grand tempo fluctuations. Delivered exquisitely by SEED Ensemble, the track explores West African rhythms, Caribbean intonations, and Hip-Hop bombast. Formed in 2016, the emerging ten-piece London-based collective, led by composer, arranger, and alto saxophonist Cassie Kinoshi combines African, Caribbean, and contemporary dance grooves with R&B and classic 60s Jazz ensemble harmonies. Already a force…

City Pop Benny Sings Stones Throw Records Can’t front. On first listen to “Not Enough”, the funk adjacent low-simmer bop from Benny Sings, I swear to the Power of Terrestrial Radio, I got transported to the 2009 Lipo Lounge Basement in San Francisco’s Chinatown for my Sunday dose of Sweaterfunk. Co-written and co-produced by Mayer Hawthorne, the tune possesses a close intimate quality that you only want to divvy among friends. While grooving to the stout piano work and heartfelt frankness crooned in earnest by Tim van Berkestijn, everybody on that sweaty basement dance floor would be thinking: Public ain’t worthy of…

Not To Miss is a bi-monthly column dedicated to all things music related that might have fallen through the cracks. Two Syllables Volume Fifteen/First Word Records Widespread critical acclaim on releases from Yazmin Lacey, Kaidi Tatham, and Children of Zeus made underground and mainstream heads turn and acknowledge, similar to Brainfeeder in the states, First Word Records for providing a quality alternative to what urban music is perceived to be. This London imprint came into their own in 2018 by sticking to a “talent changes trends” ethos. Critics, DJs, and music lovers, of a larger number, caught up. Being named Label…

Not To Miss is a bi-monthly column dedicated to all things music related that might have fallen through the cracks. Steve Spacek/Carnival Nights/Natural Sci-Fi A portion of the material on Natural Sci-Fi, out today on Eglo Records, dates back to 2005, just after the release of Steve White’s first album under his Steve Spacek alias, Space Shift. The second LP was shelved and White pursued other projects, like Black Pocket, Beat Spacek, and Africa Hitech with Mark Pritchard. It’s okay though. White is so far off the curve of predictability, in any decade, that nothing he produces will get tired. That lopsided South…

To Darnelladon (and Beyond)  TUSH do you feel excited?  Do Right Music! Bespectacled in shimmering psychedelic visual settings, while a cold wave bass line sets a tone, Kamilah Apong makes many declarations to the galaxies winking and nodding with delight. And we buy all of it. To say the video for To Darnelladon (and Beyond) is a stumbling upon a shooting star moment would be a gross understatement. Tush, the Toronto based duo consisting of Jamie Kidd & Apong, may bill themselves as a disco act, but the talent here runs a bit farther. Kidd has a background as a bassist, DJ, producer, and co-founder of…

Fudge Sandwich Ty Segall In The Red Records This past year, the extravagant psychedelic guitar work of Los Angeles-based musician Ty Segall has appeared on five albums. Yes. This ceviche-obsessed multi-instrumentalist released Freedom’s Goblin in January, an album with GØGGS, and an album with White Fence and put out an EP with his band The CIA — a collaboration with his wife Denee Segall and Cairo Gang’s Emmett Kelly. Fudge Sandwich, a covers album the former San Francisco-based artist recorded for fun, is kinda like a day-long journey of a vinyl addicted DJ who is constantly digging in the crates, looking for the most popular and…

Not To Miss is a bi-monthly column dedicated to all things music related that might have fallen through the cracks. Les Graciés/Live at Cafe OTO After a week of radio spots and studio sessions in Paris, the group Les Graciés, consisting of Gaël Segalen and Eric Douglas Porter aka Afrikan Sciences, joined forces at a prominent experimental music venue in London for a one-night-only live performance this past July. Les Graciés Live at Cafe OTO, released last month, showcases a much more ambient version of the thunder and fog attack on frequencies and vibrations by the two. Equipped with peaks and valleys augmented…

IC-01 HANOI  Unknown Mortal Orchestra Jagjaguwar Records When Unknown Mortal Orchestra announced last week their jazz, Krautrock, fusion and avant-garde record IC-01 HANOI would be released on Oct 26th, deep cut UMO fans, thirsty for guitar-driven psychedelia minus the pop sheen encasing, got a Christmas present five days before Halloween. To be clear. This is not a return to the catchy and well-constructed pop jam of the summer “Hunnybee,”  or the breezy electric piano aerobics of  “Everyone Acts Crazy Now” from the hit record Sex & Food. “Hanoi is a record of exploration, finding its closest antecedent in Miles Davis’ experimental…

Bob Marley & The Wailers Kaya 40 Tuff Gong/Island Def Jam/UMe While it would be easy to assume that a 40th-year celebration of Bob Marley and The Wailers’ Kaya, equipped with colored vinyl pieces, original songs and Stephen “Ragga” Marley’s remixed versions of his father’s hits, is a poorly veiled attempt for yet another mega cash grab for the Marley Estate. Especially when this arrives five years after the 35th-anniversary deluxe edition of Kaya. Well, it’s not. These recording sessions took place in London concurrently with the material that ultimately comprised 1977’s Exodus. Kaya was released just one month ahead of Bob Marley & The…

Not To Miss is a bi-monthly column dedicated to all things music related that might have fallen through the cracks. 79.5/Facing East/Big Crown Records 79.5 is a New York City band that combines the rhythmic sensibilities of ESG, early B-52’s sass, and Roland Kirk type sax chops. Yes, they carry house, disco, and doo-wop type magic.  It’s a live-in-the flesh-experience that was so damn alluring they got written up twice in The New Yorker due to the showmanship and execution. “Facing East,” a slice of tempered pop-soul, with bee-hive vocals, calming acoustic piano bits and earthy sax hooks, bids a wave goodbye…

Not To Miss is a bi-monthly column dedicated to all things music related that might have fallen through the cracks. Children of Zeus/Travel Light/First Word Records Tyler Daley and Konny Kon, collectively known as Children of Zeus, deliver a soulful, mature, and carefully produced long player with Travel Light. Understand, there is not one ounce of a displeasing or sophomoric idea here. Veteran representation of Manchester’s now-school of British Soul Music. CoZ stands as the ideal formula of how hip-hop can grow old with grace and possibly bloom into something greater. The floating “Bruk” brilliance of Vibrations, a collaboration with K15, the neo-soul…

Alive in the East? Binker & Moses Gearbox Records Ever resilient saxophonist Binker Golding and drummer Moses Boyd, last week  released a ten  track, 45-minute free-jazz kinetic sermon, Alive In The East, that should put new and former jazz aficionados on immediate notice. This live recording, a follow-up to last year’s  Journey To The Mountain Of Forever, captures the present electricity surrounding the UK jazz renaissance. ‘Children of The Ultra Blacks’, a follow-up of sorts to the previous ‘The Valley of the Ultra Blacks’, provides a dogged hypnotic state that continuously builds for over seven minutes. With pronounced stature, funk, and…

Not To Miss is a bi-monthly column dedicated to all things music related that might have fallen through the cracks. Kaidi Tatham/It’s A World Before You (feat Dego)/First Word Records Kaidi Tatham is about to reset the clock on what broken beat, soul, and downtempo can do in 2018. Known for his landmark work with Bugz In The Attic and consistently backing up his reputation as a première DJ. His upcoming double vinyl release, It’s A World Before You, establishes the breadth and depth of his jacket, and the high caliber of his electronic music. Tatham’s discography, along with fellow producer…

AN ANGEL FELL IDRIS ACKAMOOR & THE PYRAMIDS STRUT RECORDS An Angel Fell, the cosmic jazz odyssey from veteran San Francisco-based outfit Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids, is a timely call to action, giving context and maintaining synchronicity with the jazz renaissance happening now. It deserves to ride on any playlist of upstart jazz phenoms of today. Punch it in someplace between Nubya Garcia and Kamasi Washington. An actual student of legendary pianist Cecil Taylor, and a spiritual disciple of sorts of Sun Ra, Ackamoor brings dub, prog, and global soul to the jazz table. Similar to Ryan Porter drawing on his hip-hop…

Not To Miss is a bi-monthly column dedicated to all things music related that might have fallen through the cracks. Something My Heart Trusts/Yazmin Lacey/FirstWord “Something My Heart Trusts” is the second single this year from the lax voiced, Brownswood Future Bubblers graduate, and  Nottingham-based singer Yazmin Lacey. Tagged in the press as part of the UK’s New Jazz movement, Lacey continues to keep her raspy-sounding vocals backed up with straightforward, real talk lyrics. Evidenced by the opening lyrics “You won’t shut the fuck up/ And I won’t let you in /Something’s got to change this is sink or swim/So meet me in the…

Déjà -Vous? Aquaserge Crammed Discs With the eight-song out-of-body experience that is Deja-Vous comes a new live recording by the five-piece French experimental pop band known collectively as Aquaserge. This veteran unit cut teeth with Tame Impala, Stereolab, Melody’s Echo Chamber, Aksak Maboul ,and Acid Mothers Temple, and you can hear that in their grizzled, atonal, snarling fuzzbox sound—a triumphant footnote to Sonic Youth and Captain Beefheart. Yep: Benjamin Gilbert, Audrey Ginestet, Julien Chamla, Julien Gasc and Manon Gilbert deliver the smack-down on how skilled musicianship can move through experimental jazz, French film music, noise, kraut, and psychedelic rock without sounding vanilla. This…

Sex & Food Unknown Mortal Orchestra Jagjaguwar Records Throughout Sex & Food, the fourth full-length release from Unknown Mortal Orchestra, tiny details intertwine with many stylistic swings to form an oddly svelte twelve-song decompression mechanism. It’s Ruban Nielson’s observational take on the truth of current affairs in the world today. UMO, formed in 2011, shift shapes once again, this time like a yeast culture fed on pure paranoia. “Major League Chemicals,” a welcoming blast of uptempo guitar driven psychedelic-pop, speaks of a sure-fire way to give a short-term problem a permanent conclusion. Next, “Ministry of Alienation” successfully trolls our collective…