Much to our suprise and fortune, Chicago rap experimentalist David Cohn aka Serengeti has revealed he has a new album coming out tomorrow October 29th. The record is a collaboration with Deerhoof’s drummer and composer Greg Saunier and is aptly titled With Greg from Deerhoof. In the summer of 2018, nearly a decade after they first met when Serengeti opened for Deerhoof at a Chicago show, the two were at the PEOPLE residency in Berlin and they both happened to sign up for the same slot in one of the recording studios. With nothing prepared in advance, the pair performed ‘I Got Your Password’ to a small audience, including recording engineer Jonas Verwijnen and a few other musicians. Greg got the audio recording earlier this year and sent it to Serengeti, who decided to make a full-length album. As a superb taster for With Greg From Deerhoof, Serengeti has shared two fine singles, ‘Wasps’ and ‘Première’. Take a listen now.
2020 will end on a high with the freshly announced collaborative album that pairs two of our favourite musicians: marvelous composer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Daniel O’Sullivan and wonderful and inimitable multi-instrumentalist and improviser Richard Youngs. Entitled Twelve of Hearts, the upcoming album marks their first collaboration and was in the works for several months, with O’Sullivan based in London and Youngs based in Glasgow. The two experimental songwriters followed specific rules to compose a cycle of 12 songs based on one chord progression, that came to be called Twelve of Hearts. As Youngs pointed out, “Each song has four chords. No more. No less. They cycle without variation. They never change key“. O’Sullivan had this to say about it:
“The writing process had a geometric quality. Not too much fuss. Just a simple adherence to this method. It’s basically a grid-like structure – concrete pillars in square formation, consonant and unbending and always in a supporting role to these liquified poems and suspended songs. It’s hard and soft at the same time.”
Youngs also stated:
“We did all of the album remotely. It started when Daniel sent me a sprawling improvisation and there was a short section crying out for these four chords. Before we could help ourselves, we had stumbled on the formula – something that seemed to take us from song to song. The same four chords, harmony vocals, some ornamentation, and a lead vocal. We became really focused on it – anything that deviated got rejected. Finding variation in the predictability became quite surprising. I think it shifted some of my ideas on songwriting.”
Twelve of Hearts is set for release on December 1st through O Genesis Recordings but we can already hear the first celestial single, ‘Don’t Hang with Angels’. It comes with an accompanying video directed by Harry Miller.
During this year’s pandemic, Olive Ardizoni (Green-House), South Asian-American vocalist, sitarist, producer and composer Ami Dang, Diva Dompé (Yialmelic Frequencies, Diva & The Pearly Gates) and harpist/composer Nailah Hunter joined efforts to create music reflecting on these times. Under the name Galdre Visions, the new supergroup is putting out their self-titled debut release though Leaving Records. “Each member of the group provides a unique sonic lens with which to view the realms beyond this world,” said Hunter. “Each member’s music recalls the sound of organic life in a different way.” Ardizoni also commented on their collaboration:
“Well, we are going through some extremely difficult times so there is no way that this project has not been influenced by that. I find that with writing music during difficult times you don’t really become aware, sonically, of the impact of that time until you listen to it way down the road. Writing this kind of music has always been a means of transmuting my pain into joy so that the listener can experience that by proxy.”
Galdre Visions have shared the soothing and inspiring closing track ‘The Sun Will Rise Again’, encapsulating their focus on optimism and on the shift from negativity to positivity. Take a listen now.
Following the Mothertime EP released last April, Kalbells has shared a new track called ‘Hump The Beach’. Kalmia Traver, the multi-instrumentalist and songwriter behind the project, co-produced the track with Luke Temple (Art Feynman, Here We Go Magic). ‘Hump The Beach’ comes with an accompanying video directed collectively by Traver and her bandmates Zoë Brecher (Hush Puppy, Sad13), Sarah Pedinotti (LipTalk, Okkervil River), and Angelica Bess (Body Language), who all star in the video both as themselves and as characters. Traver commented on the making of the video:
“We co-directed & created this video as a band and used emergent strategy (a philosophy explored by one of our heroes, writer Adrienne Maree Brown) to create the treatment. It was our first time being all in one place together since the beginning of COVID and being, dreaming & creating together was a healing explosion of joy. We have always loved styling ourselves and each other for photo shoots and live shows, and we knew we wanted a beach involved, and plenty of humping, and so the treatment emerged from there. During the making of this song and video we have been employing a technique we call the “radical love experiment” to communicate our desires and get to a better place where we all feel heard and held. The only rule of the experiment (so far – it’s an experiment!) is that we are each allowed to say how we feel and the other person/people must listen. So far so good!”
News of 2021 releases are starting to prick our ears. One album that we’re excited about is All The Unknown, the upcoming third album from German duo Grandbrothers. It follows two spellbinding albums, 2017’s Open and 2015’s Dilation, and is set for release on January 15th through City Slang.
The album sees them further expand their exploratory and open approach to music, with the grand piano, up until now their only centrepiece, now paired with electronics. German-Turkish pianist Erol Sarp and Swiss engineer/mechanic/sofware designer Lukas Vogel, who make up the duo, crafted the record also using self-built computer-controlled mechanics. “The main difference compared to the last two albums, is that we set ourselves a rule that everything needed to be created on the instrument in that moment,” Vogel explained. “But now that this rule is gone, we’ve started to produce or record things on the computer which means we can stack up more layers” Sarp added. “Previously, it has always just been me sitting at the piano playing, but now we have three or four piano parts together, which I wouldn’t be able to play at once as it’s too many notes; it just wouldn’t be possible as I only have ten fingers. This new method has opened up worlds and given so many more opportunities to write music.”
It seems like a long wait until the album arrives in January but they are already enticing us with title track, ‘All The Unknown’. Take a listen below.
Following the postponement of Le Guess Who?’s 14th edition to 2021, the festival has reshaped itself within the current pandemic boundaries. The organizers unveiled last week a new hybrid event called ON/OFF, taking place from 13-15 November.
Next month, Le Guess Who?’s 14th edition would have taken place, and as we’ve personally experienced in the last 3 years, Utrecht would undoubtedly become the most wondrous place on earth. Every year, around 200 diverse and cutting-edge artists from across the globe, spanning genres and generations, grace one of the many stages in venues scattered throughout Utrecht, gifting audiences with mesmerizing experiences and unforgettable memories. The global pandemic has prevented the festival from happening in its regular format this year, but the organizers channelled their adventurous and bold musical and artistic vision into a new event called ON/OFF. A 2-part program, ON/OFF has a plethora of treats in store to be enjoyed both online and offline.
LGW ON will offer a rich variety of programming initiatives through a freely accessible online TV channel, broadcasting 13-15 November via leguesswho.com. Matana Roberts, John Dwyer (Thee Oh Sees), Phil Elverum (Mount Eerie), Lucrecia Dalt and The Bug, who have all performed in past editions, will co-curate LGW ON, hand-picking their favourite videos, films and documentaries for the channel. LGW ON will also be streaming for the first time live recordings of unique performances by Mary Margaret O’Hara, Sons of Kemet XL and Circuit des Yeux Ensemble, as well as live sessions with Dutch artists, Zoom interviews, a documentary about Le Guess Who? and highlights from last year’s edition. An alternative way to continue being a vital avenue of cultural discovery, LGW ON will present ‘Reports from Other Continents’, a specially commissioned program where people from all over the world will share video reports introducing audiences to the art, culture and music of their homelands. ‘Reports from Other Continents’ will feature video reports from countries like Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, India, Iraq, Mexico, Nepal, South Africa, Tanzania, Turkey, and Venezuela.
LGW OFF will take place on 14 and 15 November in both new and familiar venues throughout Utrecht, presenting a 100% Dutch program, featuring over 50 artists “with a strong urge to innovate”. The full program is yet to be announced and tickets for each show will be available then.
Whilst we’re obviously extremely sad not to be heading to Utrecht next month for a weekend of discoveries and delights, we are also very excited with the online extravanga Le Guess Who? has cooked up for us. We’re sure we won’t be alone devouring it from the comfort of our homes.
To get you in the mood, here’s the trailer for Le Guess Who? presents ON/OFF.
