See the New Music section for all the of tracks and albums featured this week.
1.
Staple Singers
I’m Looking For A Man
Amidst all the new new music, is this reissue of the famous gospel singing family The Staples Singers’ debut album from 1975 album on Luaka Bop today. It’s all great, so put it in your rotation.
2
Arcade Fire
Age Of Anxiety II (Rabbit Hole)
The sixth studio album from the Canadian superstars rolls back the conceptual idea to a more suitable kaleidoscopic indie-rock that references Bowie and Big Thief. It has big ballads and synth pop. It features Peter Gabriel and Father John Misty doing “stomps and breaths”, some great songs and some clunkers.
I adore the opening tracks, particularly this second one, which has all the hallmarks of Arcade Fire at their best – the nonchalant call and response, spatial intro, a big sprawling kick-in with tension-filled synths and drum hits (the credits have Portishead’s Geoff Barrow’s name on ‘Granular Synthesis’), strings by Owen Pallett, and world-building lyrics about Icarus and the Acropolis. And, it’s got one of those fine Reginé outros.
Born into the abyss
New phone, who’s this?
3.
Katie Kim
Mona
Dublin-based Waterford artist Katie Kim returns with news of a sixth album Hour Of The Ox to be released on July 8th. It is to be the “concluding” album under the Katie Kim name.
Lead single ‘Mona’ is a contrasting melt of dirgey industrial sounds (“sludge”) and Katie Kim’s bright vocals that builds into a Portishead-style track. The album was produced by long-time collaborator John “Spud” Murphy (Black Midi, Lankum) and was written and recorded while in the process of moving to New York and subsequently mixed after returning to Ireland during the pandemic.
“Mona has existed for around 7 years, and has taken on many forms, but for this album version myself and John wanted to drape it in a magnificent sludge and a sense of close confinement for the first few introductory minutes. To then almost present a feeling of freedom and emancipation and awe at the final half. Mona represents an aspiration for something better to me.”
4.
HAAI, Jon Hopkins
Baby, We’re Ascending
English producer HAAi has collaborated with Romy and Fred Again lately, and here it’s the iconic sounds of producer Jon Hopkins that is providing some input on the title track of her forthcoming record, out May 27th.
It’s a big one.
“This is a track I made with one of my dearest friends Jon Hopkins. I’d been working on this particular track alone for a while and got stuck with it – I posted a clip on my Instagram one morning and Jon messaged me asking what it was and could we work on it together. It started to evolve after a few weeks and became something quite special and personal for us. ”
The album features Jon Hopkins, Alexis Taylor, Moxie, Obi Franky as well as the spoken word poet and trans-visibility activist Kai-Isaiah Jamal.
5.
Strabe
Magic
After the recent feature of ‘Life On Pause’, Scottish singer Angelica Black and Irish producer Emmet Carey aka Strabe have stepped up the banger quota with this clubby track, which they say has the aim of capturing “the full-body rush of when you’re in a sweaty, grungy club with flashing lights and a pulse-like bass into music form. We want this song to echo through you, making you move before you can even think about it… like magic.”
Strabe’s EP JUVENOIA is released on July 22nd on PIAS.
6.
Caleb Kunle
All In Your Head
You know we haven’t been sleeping on the talent that is Caleb Kunle, since he was one of our best new artists of 2020.
Whether it’s the soulful spirit of ‘Could Be Good’, the quietly triumphant ‘Call Me Mad’ or the bittersweet ‘Going Home’, the Nigerian-Irish artist has been super impressive.
Well, step up, as ‘All In Your Head’, the latest track from the man is a cut above.
Produced by London production duo Sunglasses For Jaws (Sinead O’Brien, Miles Kane), ‘All In Your Head’ brings the swerve and swing and is from a new EP coming later in the year on London label Pony Records.
7.
Tirzah
Ribs
A once-off single from Tirzah, following on from last year’s Colourgrade album.
Collaborators Coby Sey and Mica Levi are back, and this is a typically loosely-built tune from the English artist.
8.
Desire
Black Latex
Italians Do It Better’s band Desire (Johnny Jewel and Megan Louise) released an album called Escape earlier this week.
This French/English synth pop track from the release has some bite.
9.
Chanel Loren
Disappear
I love this hazey R&B song from London-born Sydney-based artist Chanel Loren.
“‘Disappear’ is about accepting the end of a connection. Explaining how you should be loved is redundant, embarrassing and a recipe for disaster! Sometimes you need to take the L and ghost (disappear) haha”.
10.
Solkatt
Labels
Oof. Another wavey ravey banger from Kilkenny duo Solkatt from their EP out today on Made Magnetic. I love the self-referential samples on this one and those big old school rolling jungle breaks.
It also features the previously-posted ‘Gold Seal’.
Nialler9 Weekly Playlist
Nialler9 New Music Playlist
