Asheville based, Bhutanese guitarist Tashi Dorji, known for his improvisational solo work, has joined forces with drummer Thom Nguyen for a new project called Manas. The result is a self-titled debut album, due out on July 7 via Feeding Tube Records.
‘No Oracles’ is one of the hypnotic cuts off Manas and you should listen to it now.
Andrew Phillips and Marcus O’Dair, who make up Grasscut, released their wonderful third album, Everyone Was A Bird, last month. The outfit are offering a visual accompaniment for the album track ‘Snowdown’. Grasscut made the video. Watch it below.
Everyone Was A Bird is out now via Lo Recordings.
We’re only a month away from the release of C Duncan‘s debut album. The effort, entitled Architect, comes out on July 17th via Fat Cat Records. The Scottish composer wrote and recorded the album alone in Glasgow in his bedroom studio, “gradually adding each layer and each instrument one at a time, building up the breadth of the pieces”, as the press release describes. “Though time-consuming, the process allowed for Christopher to lovingly assemble the intricacies and subtleties for this astonishingly intricate and subtle collection of music.”
Ahead of the album’s release, C Duncan has shared two beautiful singles off it, ‘Say’ and ‘For’. Listen to both below.
Lambchop’s Kurt Wagner has an unexpected new electronic project called HeCTA, with fellow members Scott Martin and Ryan Norris also joining him. Comes September 18th, the trio will release their debut album, ‘The Diet’, via City Slang in Europe and via Merge in North America. HeCTA co-produced the album with Jeremy Ferguson and Morgan Geist and John McEntire (The Sea and Cake, Tortoise) lent a hand on mixing duties.
Kurt explained how HeCTA came to life in their website, mentioning a 78 RPM record he had come across featuring a 45-second monologue about weight loss, performed by the comedian Buddy Hackett, and the book Love Saves the Day: A History of American Dance Music Culture 1970–1979 by Tim Lawrence. “I saw parallels between the dance culture of that era and the indie-rock/punk/experimental music culture. It unlocked in my mind a genre of music long dormant in memory yet an influence so prevailing in a variety of current musical genres. Woe be it unto the man whose tastes are frozen forever, for given time, space, and understanding, such things become reborn and reimagined as we search for a creative kernel of truth.”
Kurt continues to describe the project:
“As HeCTA, we take our approach seriously and are respectfully aware of the great electronic music created throughout its history continuing into the present—so much so that when it came time to mix these recordings, we reached out to some of the central figures of the genre. Such greats as Morgan Geist, John McEntire, and Q all had a hand in shaping the refined sound we present to you. With invaluable creativity and engineering by Jeremy Ferguson at Battle Tapes in Nashville, we together created what we consider to be a collection of songs that move and move through you, from the dashboard to the dance floor, from Decatur to Dornburg, from Dorchester to Detroit.
Suck it up, hippies. This music is our attempt to extend the boundaries of our expression and have some fun. It’s not Americana, house, techno, trap, juke, or blaze. Why would it be? And like any good diet, it will be reviled then ultimately loved by all who give it a chance to work its way into their lives.”
September seems a long way away but we can already get a taste of what they’ll be throwing our way with the first single from the album, ‘Till Someone Gets Hurt’. Give it a listen now.
Two years on from the release of Mo7it Al-Mo7it, Montreal based audio-visual performance collective Jerusalem In My Heart have announced its follow-up, If He Dies, If If If If If If.
The project’s mastermind, Radwan Ghazi Moumneh, has been busy lending a hand on production and engineering duties for incredible artists like Matana Roberts, Mashrou’ Leila, Ought and Eric Chenaux, not to mention the recent collaborative album with Canadian outfit Suuns.
Currently a duo, with fellow Montreal artist Charles-André Coderre on visual duties, Jerusalem In My Heart conceived and recorded the upcoming If He Dies, If If If If If If in their homes of Montréal and Beirut.
The album sees Moumneh “exploring new deconstructions and juxtapositions of both traditional and popular Arab musical currents”, as the press release describes, “with an album that oscillates between powerfully emotive vocal tunes and instrumental works that primarily make use of Radwan’s expressive acoustic playing on buzuk as a point of departure.”
If He Dies, If If If If If If arrives on September 4th via Constellation Records. To whet our appetite, Jerusalem In My Heart have shared a video featuring stunning new music. Here it is.
Back in April, Los Angeles noise rock outfit HEALTH announced the release of a new album, Death Magic, and shared the first cut off it, ‘New Coke‘. The foursome have now unveiled another track off their upcoming album called ‘Stonefist’. Take a listen below.
Death Magic is due out on August 7th via Loma Vista Recordings.
