Shall we write a new editorial? Oh the endless demand and who needs a damn editorial? No time for editorials, let the actual music do the actual walking and the actual talking. Exact same thing again, another five (or so) slices of music that have passed our way recently and however you like to slice it and of course it was the price of oranges and here comes the editorial. Don’t be flippant she said, how could it ever be flippant? I can’t remember why she said that now, in one ear, out the other, we have a bad attitude here apparently, no respect for those who work in the music industry, well no poop Sherlock, have you only just worked that one out?
Five? There’s something rather compelling about five. Cross-pollination? Five more? Is there another way? A better way? A cure for pulling flying rabbits out of the clouds? Is there a rhyme? Is there a reason? Was there ever a reason? What do reasons make? Five more? Snake oil? Everything must go and no, we never do and the proof of the pudding is in that proof reading. When we started this thing, oh never mind, it doesn’t matter why we started this damn thing and like we asked last time, does anyone bother reading the editorial? Does anyone ever actually look down the rabbit hole or is it all just method acting? We do really try to listen to everything that comes in, we do it so you don’t have to, we are very (very) very very picky about what we actually post on these fractured pages or about what gets played on the radio or indeed what we hang in a gallery. Cut to the chase, never mind the editorial, skip this bit, there’s loads of music further down the page, well five or so pieces of music that have come our way in the last few days and what’s Wordsworth? Just the basic facts and links and those sounds (and visuals), that’s surely all you need from us?
Here we go, five more slices of music that have recently come our way, this time we start in London whatever the weather is like…
1: Whatever The Weather – the always rewarding Loraine James has just shared a new single as Whatever The Weather – “Across a remarkable run of releases in barely half a decade, London’s Loraine James has garnered renown as a leading light in electronic music, whilst establishing her sonic identity too – through a blend of refined composition, gritty experimentation, and unpredictable, intricate programming.
While titles released under her given name on the esteemed label Hyperdub tend toward IDM-influenced, vocal-heavy collaborations, James reserves her alias, Whatever The Weather, for a more impressionistic, inward gaze, with titles of tracks based on their “emotional temperature”.
On Whatever The Weather II, rich worlds of layered textures flow seamlessly from hypnotic ambience, to mottled rhythms, to cut-up collages of diaristic field recordings. The result is a uniquely fractured beauty, born from a compelling union of organic and human elements, processed through a variety of digital and analogue methods.
On the latest single, 9°C, the haunting echoes of children on a Tokyo playground break through intermittent bursts of static, steeped in a bath of off-kilter, bubbling tones. Here, James displays one of her many strengths; a fearless approach to sonic collage, elevated by ambitious experimentation and pacing that manages plenty of surprises.
The album’s singular sound arises from James’ favouring of hardware over software, as her battery of synths is modulated, transformed, and reassembled through an array of pedals with few or no overdubs, effectively anchoring each arrangement to its precise moment of creation. The greatest effort in post-production was given to sequencing, on which the artist places the utmost importance; taken as a whole, the suite ebbs and flows with a fitting sense of seasonal flux and naturalistic grace”.
Links / Bandcamp – She plays a London show on 15th April at Cafe Oto where we fully expect she’ll support herself again…
2: Swervedriver‘s latest move isn’t sounding too bad, the first rather strong track from something called The World’s Fair EP that the long standing band have out in March. Adam Franklin and his band on forward looking form. Find it on Bandcamp
And a quick glimps at the Swervedriver website “First new Swervedriver music in over 5 years and damn, was it worth the wait! Four brand new tracks: two recorded with Ride’s Mark Gardener in Oxford and the other two recorded in Rick Beato’s studio in Atlanta, the World’s Fair EP is a triumphant return to the studio by Swervedriver. The EP is pressed on orange vinyl and a limited edition red vinyl that comes with a postcard that is only available through mail order. All orders come with a download code. This EP will be released March 7th”
3: Cassels – The continued gnashing of teeth, that and labels and their PR pimps thinking we’re nothing more than just an unpaid part of their advertising scheme, a cheap holiday and constant retreats and well, the music walks, Cassels do make music than walks rather than just talks and we’ll happily go with that and the price paid and the edge and a second single from an album out in March called Tracked In Mud and well it does hit somewhere behind the eyes and the failed flights of fancy and don’t be telling where or when we can post it
4: Coco Rosie – “For just over 20 years, sisters Bianca and Sierra Casady have transmuted the love, hardship, and ecstasy of sisterhood into some of the most daring, dangerous, and wildly original music.. ”
Here’s a link or two and here’s the new track on Bandcamp, Bandcamp is always best for the banda and labels. The new album Little Death Wishes is out on March 28th via Joyful Noise. The album features Chance The Rapper and importantly for people are these parts, there are collaborations with Deerhoof‘s Greg Saunier who recent(ish) album is well eorth your time – ORGAN: Some albums reviewed – The beauty of Deerhoof’s Greg Saunier, the genuinely experimental Morgan Garrett, the jazz of Sol Sol, Sam Lee, the post rock of Corker Conboy and…
5: Mark Pritchard and Thom Yorke – Back to 2020 again, It’s either this or jump if you know what I mean… Some bloke from Sydney, Australia and some bloke from Oxford who seems to be on these pags rather a lot at the moment. Video by Jonathan Zawada. Here’s the Bandcamp and other links – “Today, the pioneering electronic musician and producer Mark Pritchard and The Smile and Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke share a new collaborative single”
“Debuted on the first night of Thom Yorke’s Everything solo tour in Christchurch, New Zealand and a mainstay of setlists across further dates in Australia, Japan and Singapore, the new single is the second time the two have collaborated on record, following the acclaimed Beautiful People, which appeared on Mark Pritchard’s Under The Sun solo album for Warp Records in 2016″.
More of that new Coco Rosie album…
Previously
And while we’re here, that time Gillan covered Stevie Wonder…
THE ORGAN 