Outsideleft Week in Music... like the Pixies Never Left
We're hearing from The Pixies, Alewya, Hari Sima, Wet Leg, James Krivchenia, Teen Idle, Raveena, Charlotte Adigery & Bolis Pupul, Kevin Morby, Springtime , POLICA, OneRepublic, Alabaster DePlume, Flo Milli, Jacqueline Taieb and Le Gout De Son, Steve Von Till and Caroline
by Lee Paul,
first published: March, 2022
first published: March, 2022
The Pixies. What an impossible job, to follow up the most sublime rock music almost ever. - Tim London
What a truly great week for music. Totally all over the place I think. Not so many big names. Maybe the best of the year so far...
RECORD OF THE WEEK
THE PIXIES - Human Crime (BMG)
by Tim London
I can forgive The Pixies for almost anything and so I will. Actually, this ain’t bad. But what an impossible job, to follow up the most sublime rock music almost ever. The Pixies can only ever be compared to themselves and they are beyond compare.
SINGLES
ALEWYA - Ethiopia (Boddhi Satva) remix (dontknow)
by Toon Traveller
Alewya is one of the exceptional artists in music right now and this, well, Dub version of the standout track, Ethipia, sure it's an acquired taste, and within that, unless you're an aficionado, (I'm not), you have to to be in the mood for, so a review sometimes has to wait... For its moment. For me it's that mix of voice, rhythms, percussion, cymbals, and the phasing. Vocals skip in and out, across, upside, inside downside, outside mix, chopped words phrased, phased, chopped spliced, slide in and out, a horn and bass compliment. So this slab of Dub, yeah it's got great playing and backing vocals, echo a plenty, and good bass lines, horns in and out, echo scatter gunned, bass boosted, bright splashes, snared drum lashes, but something's missing, not to sure what. Yeah it's moved away from the masters of Dub Magic I loved and treasured, and still play, and there's great sentiment in politics and heartfelt wishing, but it's somehow not enough, It's not quite there for me, but I hope others disagree, and give the couple of listens I did, and reach a different conclusion.
POLIÇA - Rotting (Memphis Industries)
by Tim London
Uptempo Fever Ray.
KEVIN MORBY - This is a Photograph (Dead Oceans)
by Ancient Champion
Oh well. The 'bigger' you are the longer the lead time between announcement of and the release date of your product. You should know I could have a new track out tomorrow. Kevin Morby has a new LP out on May 13th, called This is a Photograph and this is the title track. And it really is quite brilliant. I love his music a lot. But I hadn't seen him, seen what he looks like. I know where he live(d). I know things about him. However, after listening to his music for many hours, it was disconcerting for me, very, to see words from this song, great words, well worth singing, funny, spikey, barbed, sentimental... to see those words coming out of a mouth. Kevin Morby's mouth, in an otherwise all together great video and music track. Now of course we can debate whether on video I am seeing Kevin Morby at all. I am seeing a ghost an apparition of something Kevin got up to doing a while ago. More than 1 day ago. Lots to think about with Kevin.
WET LEG - Angelica (Domino)
by Tim London
The same glorious summer tune twice in one rock song.
JAMES KRIVCHENIA - Emissaries of Creation (Reading Group)
by Ancient Champion
From James Krivchenia's forthcoming Blood Karaoke LP. Dear God. Emissaries of Creation is a hauntologists delight. Composed mostly from hundreds of tiny samples of unwatched YouTube videos found through random online generators (such as Microsoft Office PowerPoint presentations, video game walkthroughs, old local news clips, etc), mangled midi fed into Krivchenia’s rig of synthesizers and pedals, and then meticulously layered and collaged. Exciting and short. Like an inverse of a famous Annie Hall joke. And just as entertaining.
ALABASTER DEPLUME - Mrs Calamari (International Anthem)
by Ancient Champion
Alabaster DePlume's Mrs Calamari minimal and beautiful. From the forthcoming and much anticipated Gold LP. One of the more unique artists in the UK right now. Not defying description, just not getting defined here. You really should listen.
ONEREPUBLIC - West Coast (Interscope) ZERO s
by Tim London
Every cliche ever in a 2010s pop song.
TEEN IDLE - Burning (Eyes of Horus)
by Ancient Champion
Just give this a moment to get those guitars going. Teen Idle's first new music for 2022. Bigger, better, everything. The Sound of Young New Jersey...
STEVE VON TILL - Indifferent eyes (Revolver)
by Toon Traveller
Sloth intro, bounces of sound, empty streets, yesterdays papers wind floating, a dystopian vista, peopled with sad pained lost lives. This is the sound of bar, long after "last call for alcohol", swishes of the cleaner's floor brush, on the bar wood. A slow drag of a last dog ended cancer, the last dreg in a last glass, that seen too many shots of pain's worst killer JBs JDs, and Turkey 'wild'. Alone in the night of his dark thoughts and empty hopes. this song scrapes like a rusted razor, it pulls and drags, Steve's voice a sub-Tom Waits (in a GOOD way) excruciating drawl of cowed pain, deep in a hearts of place all too many of us are to scared to look for, let alone engage and explore. This is darkness, soul-less-ness in a dark self-realizations of nothing left inside, this is pain, guttural, uncompromising, and self aware, there is no sense of redemption, no sense of hope, just life being played out achingly, a screw turning slowly. This comes from the night terrors of childhood. Now alive, and real in the dark soul-ripped and ego shattered, psycho damaged, world this song wants to exist in. SEVEN minutes unrelenting misery. I used to think, depressing music was Nick Cave, or Leonard Cohen. Von Til has Cohen Lyrical composition, and shares his minutia infused imagery. Like Cohen, Von Til know what to leave out, to tell a dark story of death's door wretchedness, this is not a pretty listen. I don't think I can actually "LIKE" this song, but it deserves recognition for it's raw, visceral, primeval, desperate passion. I suspect not many will like this song, and I would worry for a friend if they did. This is one for hardcore morose, down in the depths of the dark night of the soul, or for those happy clappy chappy people who believe global warming is good coz the sun makes us happy happy happy .
HARI SIMA - Del Barranco del Rio (Objetos Perdidos)
by Toon Traveller
From the new ‘Solo en Occidente’ LP. THis... On the river's ravine, a great concept and I'm always up for chilled out, cool grooved ambient sounds. The Press Release talks about Tangerine dream and that's there all over the track, echoes of Edgar Froze Aqua, a classic at the time, slow themed repetition this should be delight in sound, cool as mountain on an Italian Beach, but it's ambivalent, in all senses of the word. Some will say look at the video, the problem is the music, I listen to it, I groove, relax, chill, and dance, watching a video isn't part of the deal. This is ok for someone whose Knowledge of Tangerine Dream is limited, to next to nothing. T Dream are a guilty pleasure, that this track has helped me confess to that.
FLO MILLI - PBC (RCA)
by Tim London
Special Skit Review section: it’s short and is what it pertains to be criticising.
Now, back to the singles reviews: ‘pretty for who?’ Obviously pretty for music programmers for model competition programmes.
Single: https://youtu.be/sURT4LJizXs
EPs
SPRINGTIME - The Names of the Plague (Joyful Noise)
by Toon Traveller
Opening the page to read "15 minutes"... Yeah up for that sometimes, especially in Jazz, and particularly contemporary music, it's the journey, not the familiar views, not stops on the way that matter. It's the sense of adventure to a new place, hopes and anticipation, that inspire the responses. So with a window seat, a open mind, sun streaming in, bad news on the radio, ears ready, imagination engaged, hopes raised, a judder and jolt and we're underway. Well that clattered unsure start, cacophony of sounds, huge hammer blows of intention, and anger, tornados of rage, a few minutes in, and the distant trapped wolf howled vocals, strangled feedback. Doom goth death rock, yeah sounds like that. Feedback as confused anger tells me nothing new. I was tempted after 6 minutes to jump the train, fast forward and abandon ship, but then a tempo change, a curtain pulled back, a glimpse of light, a hint of calm and change, and we're into 60's moog-echoplexy, and space rock, sprinkles of guitar, a chef's signature touch to a standard dish, hmm the percussion, reminders of Zappa, or whacky Jazz rock, but ultimately not a lot that's new. 13 minutes in, and out of nowhere, the crashing desperate resentful vocals scream, but really it's come out of nowhere, out of the calm, a storm in a teacup, yeah that'll do for me. this is song that needs more dedication than I'm willing to give. How about you?
LPs
CAROLINE - Caroline (Rough Trade)
by Ancient Champion
Caroline... Well I was checking through a list of record releases and the attendant cover art and associated capsule reviews somewhere and somehow I'd gotten confused by the sleeves, dissociating them from their bands. And so, I want to like everything about Caroline. But I hadn't liked the cover, which turned out be an obvious indie rock record cover even when I associated it with another record and then it's not making me love Caroline any more now I know where it belongs. Caroline, I don't know.
RAVEENA - Asha's Awakening (Moonstone Records)
by LamontPaul
Raveena surely, impossible not to love. Perfect contemporary Pop. Fab Vince Staple Cameo. 15 minutes little fluffy cloud chill out warm down (Let Your Breath Become a Flower (Guided Meditation)) (required) at the end. So Asha's Awakening, don't look at this as a bad thing - if some aging dude with a saxophone said they were making a concept LP about a Alien Punjabi Princess who crash lands into love and loss you'd be like wow, what's the way to Diskovery Records. Or HMV wherever you do that thing with your gold plated pension. So, songs and sound gorgeously constructed around Raveena's effortless voice. It's a highly polished high romance of a record and soulless boys you should consider aching a little more. When I am thinking I should be working, Raveena has me dancing. And maybe longing a little.
CHARLOTTE ADIGERY & BOLIS PUPUL - Topical Dancer (Bounty & Banana Records)
by Toon Traveller
This album has a had a lot of interest and I think deservedly so. Pretty great vibe going on. Esperanto has the right buzz. An invented language that tells it's own story whilst borrowing much from 80's electro, nothing wrong in the that, Making Sense Stop could be taken from the 70's arcade game PONG, some lovely samples there, and a simple Euro sounding beat, this is nowhere as razor sharp as Esperanto, sounds a bit like Tom Tom Club, or the B52's in the quirky, staccato vocals, in an overall ok way. Ha Ha Ha is a standout, recorded, sampled and chopped up laughter. So that's the fuss, Topical Dancer is a great album full of razor sharp observations, lines of put down, and assertive self confidence. Musically and vocally mixed up but I like the album all the more for it..
JACQUELINE TAIEB, LE GOUT DE SON - Play It Like Jacqueline (Anthology)
by Ancient Champion
Oh this record is so brilliant it is hard to imagine it exists. So fantastic I feel that I am having the wool pulled over my eyes but as I listen, the wool pulled from ears. Wow! Is Jacqueline Taieb even real and if so why wasn't this number one all over the world? Totally fantastic remix record for the smashing up the streets french republic of revolution kids. Even Roland Barthes might approve. The best record I haven't understood in the last 60 years.
Essential Info
Main Image screengrab from the Pixies Human Crime video
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