Five more slices of music? We could do it again, we could, glorious typing, warts and all, we should do it again, repeat ourselves? Clapping with one hand? Five more musical things? Where were we? More music? Do we need any more? Where were the Things? The battle of any more? Ever more? More? Are you that bothered? Why? Red bats? Sharks? Five slices of music that has come our way in the last few days, five slice presented in no particular order, five slices of music that we think might be worth your time. Why? I don’t really know, do you? Talking to you? Caught in a mosh? One eyed  tie pin? If only one could see what one actually types what a wonderful thing this would be. Informers inform, burglars burgle, lovers love and surely? Today at the studio, three recent paintings, it is hard not to paint politically during times like these. Surely there is no reason whatsoever for the US postal system not to deliver every postal vote cast and posted before the election and surely every vote cast should be counted? Surely it really is that simple? Surely anything else declares a country’s government morally bankrupt? Surely he has to go now?

Before anything else, today I do believe is Peter Hammill’s 72nd birthday, we surely can’t let that pass with a word of celebration, here’s how he sounded in 1975, ahead of things

Five slices of music that has come our way in the last few days, five slice presented in no particular order, five slices of music that we think might be worth your time, okay six then….

1: LOUD APARTMENT – System Breakdown – Now this new Loud Apartment album just flows so so well, flowing funk from the streets of New York City, okay, maybe not the streets, some loft somewhere, it does so flow, it does it foes it does, it jsut hits the spot while Trump demands they stop counting votes for fear of democracy defeating him. They just have it nailed, Loud Apartment I mean, “Loud Apartment are a New York City music group created by musician and technologist Nevaris AC. The lineup currently features legendary musician / producer Bill Laswell on bass, turntablist DJ Logic, multi instrumentalist Peter Apfelbaum (flute/sax), guitarist Will Bernard, drummer Lockatron, and Nevaris (voice, percussion, keyboards).  There’s so much soul in there, do much flow, so much “now”, so much everything and all pin-point right, so full of beauty. Loud Apartment’s second studio album, System Breakdown, and first with the current line up, is released around about now. The album was produced by Bill Laswell and created at Orange Music in West Orange New Jersey. The recording of System Breakdown began in January of 2020, before the Covid-19 pandemic hit New York City. After the pandemic hit, the recording was halted and Nevaris began writing new lyrics that reflected his anger at the current administration. The band returned to the studio in the summer of 2020 and finished the album with the new material, giving the record a more political tone – pretty difficult not to be political these days, it can still flow with beauty though.

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2: LINN – Copenhagen-based DIY musician and producer Linn has shared her new single “Happy Metal”, THIS FollowS the recent announcement of her forthcoming debut EP of the same name. The new single sees Linn “further expand the template of her idiosyncratic” debut single ‘Frozen Pizza’, a released that was described as having “a kind of beautiful unfamiliarity.” Built upon a lo-fi rhythm section, which was recorded on an iPhone, the track sees Linn combine surrealist, cyclical vocal collages with contorted guitar lines and samples of her daughter’s hedgehog accordion toy.

Speaking about ‘Happy Metal’ Linn says it’s “a song about trying not to take things too seriously and being a little less pretentious.” She goes on to say, “in Danish we have a saying that goes something like “it’s not a matter of what happens to you, but how you cope with it” I wrote a verse and it seemed a little dark and depressing, so I wanted to twist it with a bit of humour. That’s also why the song and EP are called ‘Happy Metal’, I like to play around with genres, contrasts and moods.”

Linn goes on to say, “I have played in bands and made collaborations before, but these songs represent just me and what is inside my little weird head. I have been working on the songs for a few years now, recording and producing it at home, so it is both terrifying, but also a huge relief to finally unleash the music and share it with other people.” The EP has been self-produced by LINN with mixing assistance from Simon Kjær (of Danish band, Chinah) and Mathias Bertelsen (of alternative rock band The Entrepreneurs) on drums. Linn’s debut EP “Happy Metal” is out 20th November 2020. Pre-order details here

“Copenhagen native Linn Holm is a former member of Danish alternative rock-duo The Bowdashes and has prieviously supported Garbage (US), shared the stage with Lydia Lunch, recorded and toured Europe with Nouvelle Vague and worked with Gordon Gano of Violent Femmes. Now Linn is stepping out on her own with her debut release “Happy Metal”, which draws inspiration from motorik kraut, future R&B and electronic lo-fi in her playful and experimental pop arrangements, often accompanied by bizarre sound effects, samples and her kid’s toy instruments

3: SCHNELLERTOLLERMEIER – Schnellertollermeier have a new album called “5”, there’s only been time to explore the one track that’s been added to the Cuneiform Records Bandcamp page so far, there” be a “proper” review along in a moment, there’s been nothing but watching the US election for nearly all the hours the last few days and nights have had to offer. This one piece is a beautiful eight minute delight, as melidically minimal as the Autumn tree is the weak sunlight of East London now all but one of the tree’s leaves have gone, hang on let me take a photo, Sherpard’s art is looking good today outside of the studio and those branches, like this one track are looking rather wonderfully clean cut and still alive with somekind of hope and hey look if you have any sense you don’t bother reading any of this, surely you just cut to the chase and listen to the music these day’s don’t you? You surely don’t need words, we only post the very best things that come our way, signposts and such, here’s the Bandcamp page with the what, where and how of it all. Love the economy of that one piece, the careful consideration of every space between every beautifully crafted sound, love the slow build, the sparse sunny production, the hope of it all…

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4: GIUNGLA – Pop music, just good pop music really, something that has a weight to it, intelligent pop music that doesn’t mock the listener, that gives the listerner a little bit of credit. Warm pop music from Milan and a single or a track or a something or other that, according to the press release in the in-box, has just been released…

“GIUNGLA is the project of Milan based artist Ema Drei. ‘Giungla’ means ‘jungle’ in Italian and it’s in this sort of tangled-happy-place, where Ema’s minimal pop songs come alive with in your face attitude.
 
New single, ‘Walk On The Ceiling’, was recorded in 2019 in London with esteemed producer Andrew Savours (My Bloody Valentine, The Kills, Black Country New Road). “Working with Andy in his studio was cool because throughout his career he has worked with some of the musicians who made me fall in love with my instrument (especially Nick Zinner from Yeah Yeah Yeahs)” explains Drei. “We tried to create a sound that was modern but timeless with a main focus on guitar”.
 
Collaboration is key for GIUNGLA, an artist who likes to take inspiration from other creative mediums and channel it into her own work. Whilst on the hunt for artwork for her forthcoming E.P, thanks to curator Tommaso Speretta, Ema had the pleasure of meeting with Swedish painter Sophie Westerlind at her studio in Venice where she first saw the painting ‘Martina’s Flowers’. A close up from which would go on to become the cover art for new single ‘Walk On The Ceiling’. “I chose this painting because its brushstrokes, full of matter and movement, immediately felt right for my music, but also because of the story behind it” says Ema.
 
Before experiencing lockdown in Venice, Westerlind had never painted flowers, but due to the new restrictions she found herself yearning for a connection with nature and flowers became a symbol of that. Thanks to a tip-off from a friend, Martina, Westerlind managed to find a woman who sold flowers and met her in an alley behind Campo Santa Margherita to buy a bouquet.  “Before giving me the flowers she wanted me to smell the perfume, then she told me to hurry back to Giudecca as if we had just exchanged something forbidden. While I was walking back to my studio a lady in the street saw me and shouted at me ‘where did you find those flowers ?!’ Painting them felt like doing something very precious and secret” she explained.
 
‘Walk On The Ceiling’ similarly presents an intimate and delicate dimension, inspired by late nights spent writing notes and thoughts on her phone, head under the covers and the light of the screen in her hands. “I like to think of the phone light as a candle to be protected and given to someone special” says Ema. “The perspective is upside down, as if those who stay awake at night to write were in another reality; it is about the beauty of looking for a bit of mystery and magic even in a protected and domestic environment, trying to be braver than you are during the day”.
 
Armed with just samplers, an electric guitar and her voice, GIUNGLA fast developed a reputation for her breathtaking and visceral live show. She played alongside The xx, Foals, Grimes, Franz Ferdinand, Mura Masa, Let’s Eat Grandma and Battles. She was also invited to play SXSW in Texas, Sziget Festival in Budapest, Europavox in Austria and France, Eurosonic and Le Mini Who? in The Netherlands and The Great Escape in Brighton UK. After working on a couple of singles with producer Luke Smith (Depeche Mode, Foals, Anna Of The North), she spent summer 2019 in the studio with Andrew Savours. GIUNGLA is currently wrapping up her second EP which will be released in 2021 by label Factory Flaws“.

5: ASIAN DUB FOUNDATION – Now this is class, of course it is, coming over here with their excellent music, “Coming Over Here Feat Stewart Lee”, taken from Asian Dub Foundation’s new album “Access Denied“, but hey, where’s the bit about the bloody beaker people!? Needs to be ten minutes longer at least.

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6; OZRIC TENTACLES – And this new Ozrics album really should be mentioned before the end of the play today, Ozrics were a band that did get lots and lots of attention back there in early years of Organ, a band we regularly wrote about, interviewed, reviewed and indeed a band who’s gigs were always furtile ground for Organ selling back in the days of Club Dog and free festivals and Pullens and the rest. Ed and the band (is it mostly Ed these days?) have a new album just out, you can get it via Bandcamp or the other links we’ll add at the end. It does in all honestly sound pretty much like you’d expect an Ozrics album to sound, almost reasuringly so, it feels comfortable, it feels warm, it feels good, it feels like time has kind of stood still. A little cleaner maybe, a little slicker but that’s maybe becasue we’re not listening ot it all on a DIY casette on the Better Days label

“Written, programmed, recorded and produced throughout 2019/20 by Ed Wynne in ‘Blue Bubble Studios’ by the sea, this exploratory and diverse musical adventure comprises seven new tracks spanning 45 minutes. Inspired by the Scottish hills, valleys and beaches surrounding his studio, Wynne feels that lockdown in a strange kind of way has provided space for the Earth to breathe for a while and for people to rediscover its resonant healing frequency. ‘This is space music for people from the Earth to enjoy’.

Ozrics’ synth player Silas Neptune and drummer Balázs Szende join forces again with Wynne on the album which also features special guest appearances from former members synth player Joie Hinton, drummer Nick Van Gelder, flautist Champignon and percussionist Paul Hankin. Psychedelic voyager Gracerooms also contributes additional synth layers.

The album ebbs and flows through blissed-out soundscapes featuring incendiary guitar solos, space grooves and ambient atmospheres. Wynne plays his recently revived Ibanez Jem, a new 8-string guitar, all kinds of synths and bass. Van Gelder uses the original snare he played on the first six cassette albums and early live Ozric performances. One tune features Champignon playing kaval, a traditional wooden Balkan flute.

The album artwork was inspired directly by these seven tracks and realised by arboreal artist Kitty (Twisty-Trees) with help from Ed and cosmic artist Ivy.

One of the most influential bands to emerge from the UK’s festival scene, Ozric Tentacles formed during the solstice at Stonehenge Free Festival 1983 going on to become psychedelic staples at Glastonbury and other festivals. The creative vision of multi-instrumentalist Ed Wynne, the Ozrics’ uniquely trippy soundscapes connect fans of progressive rock, psychedelia and dance music culture. Space for the Earth represents the next harmonic step in the unfolding Ozric journey”. 

www.ozrics.com

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More of this later, maybe….