September's New Music for Te Awe
We review some new material we have been buying for the music collection at Te Awe Library.
Look to the east, look to the west - Camera Obscura
Sam Says: Scottish indie-pop veterans Camera Obscura have been through numerous highs and lows over the past 25 years, with the tragic passing of keyboardist Carey Lander in 2015 seemingly putting an end to the band. Nine years later, they return with Look to the East, Look to the West, their first full-length since 2013’s monumental Desire Lines. On this latest effort, Camera Obscura are creatively in full swing, delivering a positively evocative and mature set of songs. Tracyanne Campbell’s airily reserved vocals carry a somber sense of delicacy that feels both familiar and poignant in delivery. In spite of the aforementioned events, the music on Look to the East, Look to the West seems to pick up right where they left off, with new keyboardist Donna Maciocia filling Lander’s shoes in a seamless manner. For those who enjoyed their previous work, this is essential listening.
Mark Says: Eng & Celtic folk all female group Landless return with their sophomore album, 6 years after their 2018 debut Bleaching Bones. Minimal drone like instrumentation underpins the swirling 4 part vocals that dig into feminist takes on traditional tales. Haling from the same Dublin scene as Lankum, Lisa O’Neill and ØXN there is a uniquely eerie and hypnotic quality in these revisionist interpretations.
The sky will still be there tomorrow - Charles Lloyd
Neil Says: The legendary Charles Lloyd turned eighty-six this year. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest saxophonists of all time. Decades of experience allow his playing to convey the joy of life, at the same time as expressing a sombre thoughtful contemplative tone. On this album he has surrounded himself with jazz musicians of the very highest calibre, allowing a sophisticated and complex interplay between the various musical elements and players. The album interweaves soft delicate jazz tone poems into impassioned elements of real weight and depth creating, in the end, a meditation on life . An exceptional release that will enthral jazz enthusiasts. In a recent interview he said that he felt that the end of his musical journey was getting near. Let’s hope that that’s not true, and some more exquisite music emerges from this jazz force of nature.
Where we've been, where we go from here - Friko
Sam Says: Where We’ve Been, Where We Go From Here is the debut album by Chicago newcomers Friko. With the band themselves noting The Beach Boys, Mitski, The Microphones and Philip Glass as direct influences on the album, the music within is as varied, as it is energetic and immediate. The spirit of indie-rock permeates very strongly throughout the record in a way that feels inspired without being derivative. Niko Kaptean’s emotionally vulnerable vocals soar atop lushly crafted arrangements, with a good sense of dynamic balance across the album’s nine songs. Overall, Where We’ve Been, Where We Go From Here is a promising debut from an act that has the potential to reach great heights.
Unprecedented shit - Ani DiFranco
Mark Says: The output of this prolific & iconic independent folk artist has slowed down since her early years, as this is only her 3rd album in the last ten years. Embracing a new direction musically, it’s full of treated guitars and vocals, distorted sonics and experimental directions. The songs were written in 2011 and 2022, originally penned for musicals, soundtracks, children's books and other outlets, but still remain a cohesive exploration of the nexus between the personal & the political, and the struggle to find core values in our distorted reality.
Neil Says: Its been eight years since the previous High Llamas release. That said, Sean O’Hagan the main creative force behind the band has never been one to rest on his laurels, and some readers will recognise his name in connection with Microdisney and Stereolab. Previous High Llamas releases have leaned heavily into a blissed-out Beach Boys vibe, which of course is no bad thing. This is certainly not the case with 'Hey Panda', which finds the band in full reinventive form, creating a truly unique take on buoyant pop. It is an album full of charming, quirky and elegant surprises, and the addition of several guest vocalists, including Livvy O'Hagan, Rae Morris and Bonnie "Prince" Billy to the mix, gives the sonic palette of the album another dimension. It is a clever, fun , eclectic and lovely work, jam packed with creative ideas that float to the surface for a few moments before sinking back below. A sumptuous mix of RnB, soul, electronica and of kilter squelchy pop, that at first listen has a chilled whimsical nature but grows in depth with each repeat .
Words and music - Margo Guryan
Mark Says: Jazzy pop-soft rock singer Margo Guryan was one of those artists who only ever attained a small cult following during her lifetime. She became a staff songwriter in the 50s for Atlantic Records while a teenager, then went on to study classical and jazz piano at the famous Lenox School of Jazz (fellow students included Don Cherry and Ornette Coleman), before shifting to pop song-writing in the 60s after being inspired by Brian Wilson. Several artists achieved hits with her songs, but she eventually left music behind. 1968's Take a Picture would come to be regarded as a baroque classic, and her music began to be rediscovered in 2000 when it was reissued after being long out of print. She passed away in 2021 and this Numero Group 2024 compilation collects most of her recorded material, and will no doubt only lead to more reflection as to why she never achieved the recognition she deserved a the time.
Leatherman & the Mojave green - Troy Kingi
Sam Says: Troy Kingi has proven himself to be a highly prolific and eclectic artist through his 10|10|10 project, with which he has set out to release ten albums from ten different genres over the span of ten years. Leatherman & the Mojave Green is the eighth entry in the series and shows him diving into the sweltering realms of desert rock. Recorded at Rancho de la Luna studios in Joshua Tree, California (a location most well-known for being the home of Josh Homme’s Desert Sessions), the music seems to absorb the very essence of the surroundings it was captured within, packed with fuzz-laden guitar riffs and deep, bluesy grooves, with Kingi’s soulful vocals adding a sense of charm that compliments the overall artistic aesthetic. With 17 tracks in-tow, Leatherman & the Mojave is a weighty yet worthy listen.
The moon and the melodies - Cocteau Twins & Harold Budd
Neil Says: 'The Moon and the Melodies' is a collaborative album from 1986 between Scottish dream pop pioneers the Cocteau twins, and the American minimalist composer Harold Budd, who had previously worked with Brian Eno and was at the forefront of the modern ambient movement. Debate raged at the time of the albums initial release as to whether it was more a Harold Budd or Cocteau twins album, and the initial release didn’t even credit the Cocteau Twins, just listing the band members individually. That debate is actually totally unimportant. What is important, is that this ethereal abstract album is a truly unique work. Tranquil, atmospheric and languidly floaty in feelings. It does have typical Cocteau twins touches, with spectral piano playing from Budd, but all involved bring out something different and new and unique in the other participants. An exquisitely beautiful release. Like being lost in a hazy dream by a river on a perfect summers day. One of the best releases of the year.
The past is still alive - Hurray for the Riff Raff
Mark Says: The ninth studio album by Hurray for the Riff Raff (the Americana project of singer/songwriter Alynda Segarra) follows 2022's critically acclaimed Life on Earth and may be their best yet. Burnished, reflective & mellow songs dissect life in the margins of modern America, and reflects on the people and places that have been part of their life journey with a dark-toned romanticism.
Sam Says: Emerging out of South London’s exciting and enigmatic post-punk ‘windmill’ scene, WeirdOs is the explosively bizarre debut album from O. A two-piece outfit armed with a saxophone and a drum-kit, the members of O are well-established in the contemporary London jazz scene. However, the music found on this record pushes into several directions, incorporating punk energy, experimental electronics, choppy breakbeats, doom-metal atmospherics, and countless other elements to create a chaotically kaleidoscopic soundworld. The melding of such disparate musical ingredients could easily turn into an incoherent mess in more creatively cumbersome hands; however, O are able to wrangle them in such a way that is truly thrilling and compelling.
Sorceror : music from the original motion picture soundtrack
Neil Says: Tangerine Dream are one of the most influential bands of all time. Their monolithic, dark and brooding 1972 album Zeit could lay claim to being one of the very first ambient albums of the modern age, and is now viewed as a once neglected classic. They really spread their creative wings with their 1977 soundtrack to Exorcist director William Friedkin’s 'Sorcerer'. Which was also their first Hollywood film soundtrack. They were subsequently to go on to record many more soundtracks to varying degrees of success but this, however, is a masterclass in mysterious intense electronic music. The band employed a wide variety of instruments in its creation, including mellotrons, electric guitars, and of course many varieties of analogue synthesisers. The resulting soundscape perfectly accompanies Friedkin’s psychologically claustrophobic remake of the French movie classic The Wages Of Fear. The album is certainly one of the bands best releases, which is saying a lot, and fans have pondered whether the forty-five minutes of completed but still unreleased outtake music is as crucial? Perhaps one day we shall know.