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SHORTS
Kraftwerk cover ‘Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence’ in tribute to their friend, Ryuichi Sakamoto
Kieren Hebden aka Fourtet explains how he composed ‘Looking at your pager’ in bed, in 15 minutes.
A Fela Kuti cover from behind the Iron curtain in 1979. ‘Egbe Mi O’ as conducted and arranged by Georgian guitarist and vocalist, Robert Bardzimashvili and featuring Azerbaijani jazz keyboards player, Vagif Mustafazadeh.
I wandered round Epping Forest while waving my mobile phone around and listening to Clevelode’s ode to the forest.
Lollise – ‘Iron Woman’
“I’ve been poked, I’ve been scrutinized
Bleed, bleed, bleed, fall, ambulance”
Lollise was in the last roundup but I make no apologies for a rapid second plug to mark the second single from her forthcoming album.
’Iron Woman’ is an intense listen, claustrophobic sax in the vein of The Comet Is Coming or Melt Yourself Down perfectly matches the subject matter, the fibroid heath crisis and how – according to Lollise – the US health care system makes it immeasurably worse.
Lollise has stated that the intensity of the song is her attempt “at capturing what menorrhagia feels like, falling down a flight of subway stairs or collapsing on the hospital floor and hitting your head, blacking out on a train ride from bleeding so much”.
The stunning video was shot on location in Botswana and features the art piece “The Light” by Motswana visual artist Ngozi Lebogang Chukura.
“Most of my black friends with uteruses have had hysterectomies or undergone multiple myomectomies. In this song I talk about my experiences dealing with fibroids and menorrhagia going in and out of various emergency and hospital rooms”.
Casper Grey – ‘TRU’SAY’
Musician, Actor and designer Casper Grey’s latest release ‘Tru’Say’ is a visceral blast of rap mixed with a clanking Industrial sounding production. There are multiple characters or moods within the track. At first Robert Del Naja’s smokily blurred vocals for Massive Attack spring to mind but the track flicks between themes of suicide and violence, occasionally flickering with such rage that you can almost feel the spittle on your face as you listen.
It’s raw but essential.
“Revenge will punish you with suppressed guilt… Regret will punish you with suppressed shame. Choose your sin.”
Grey also records under the ‘Eastend Gravy moniker’ (are the Gravy sweatshirts available please?)
‘Day One Freestyle’ transports you back to the days of Wiley’s ‘Eskimo’ in that early 2000s grime era of Dizzee, roll deep etc.
Simon Fisher Turner – ‘Toast’
“Mixing up slivers of processed audio from Salford Electronics, sounds from his vast recording archive, strings from Elysian Collective and his own vocals, legendary polymath Simon Fisher Turner reconciles his extensive and varied recording career on a quietly dramatic new album. Inevitable comparisons to Coil/Sleazy – but this is also entirely its own thing – a portal into an ambitious, spectral soundworld tipped if you’re into Noto/Sakamoto, Anohni, Klaus Nomi”.
New single ‘Toast’ is accompanied by a video that perfectly suits the playful nostalgia of the tune. It’s directed by doll and film maker John Lee Bird with Turner having fun inhabiting his comic loving childhood self. His mothers disapproval at reading comics instead of ‘proper books/ makes me feel slightly guilty about my attitude to my daughters love for graphic novels.
“In brilliant blue pyjamas, with a garage full of props, this is what happens when two friends have two hours to lark around.”
Lee Bird has an exhibition of his dolls on at the Vout-O-Reenees Arts Club, near Tower Hill until the end of August 2024.
Girl Ray – ‘Hold Tight (Joshua Idehen remix)’
Girl Ray celebrate one year since the release of their album ‘Prestige’ with a remix of ‘Hold Tight’ from Joshua Idehen (Benin City, Sons of Kemet, Comet is Coming).
Joshua Idehen:
“I’m just a massive fan of Girl Ray over here (probably account for half their plays in Sweden, easy) so getting a chance to reinterpret one of their songs was too exciting to pass. And as my first remix, I’m pretty chuffed. Ludvig (the producer and bandmate) knew from the moment we heard the original we were going to make a 90’s era rave-y number like you’d find on pop singles back with… but with a poem.”
Kumar – ‘World Wide Love’
Fruits Records and Easy Star Records proudly present “World Wide Love.
Kumar, former lead singer of GRAMMY-nominated roots reggae band Raging Fyah, meets Switzerland’s The 18th Parallel on this classic ‘80s major-key, Roots Radics-influenced riddim. The main version and the dub version of ‘World Wide Love’ are mixed by JAH David of Zion I Kings.
Two Shell & Sugababes – ‘Round’
After releasing countless unofficial remixes and edits of The Sugababes ‘Round’ over the years, Two Shell finally got official signoff and collaboration. Joyous stuff, although they’ll always struggle to match the utter genius of ‘Mum is calling’.
Goat – ‘Ouroboros (Radio Edit)’
Goat’s new self-titled album is coming out later this year, and they’ve led off the rollout with a shortened radio edit of the apparently-epic album closer “Ouroboros”.
Built on a shuffling breakbeat and some hard-driving wah-wah chicken-scratch guitar, it’s going to be fun live.
Elijah Minnelli – ‘Wind & The Rain (feat. Joe Yorke)’
Noted mixologist and aspiring travel agent Elijah Minnelli has teamed up with four vocalists from the world of reggae to breathe new life into traditional and folk songs.
Bristol’s Joe Yorke sings ‘The Wind & The Rain’ and his sleek, haunting falsetto matches perfectly with this tale of weather and weariness from Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.
Call Sender – ‘Palm Forest (Shawn Lee Remix)’
Call Sender follow the release of their debut album “Lost To The Storm” with a rhythm-laden remix of ‘Palm Forest’ by legendary American musician, producer, award-winning video game composer, and multi-instrumentalist Shawn Lee.
A Shawn Lee Remix is a rarity and his rendition of ‘Palm Forest’ is a creation only he could conceive. With a stroke of genius, Lee has reimagined the beat, taking Call Sender on a journey through a hazy 1970s L.A., with funk and soul blaring from the radio.
Death At The Derby – ‘Legends Of The Lombardia’
Death At The Derby continue their quest to immortalise every aspect of football rivalry in rap.
From the cold corners of London’s Northeast ends, we slide over to the top of Italy & the region of Lombardy for the forever fierce rivalry between Atalanta & Brescia. A region as rich in history as it is in calcio, this feud between these footballing institutions spans across more than 900 years on the timeline according to historians.
V-Mash – ‘Naughty Boy’
Strut Records have a new compilation out, ‘A Dancefloor In Ndola,’ curated by revered East African DJ, Kampire.
The compilation flows through different East African and South African genres from Congolese rumba and soukous to 1980s township bubblegum and the rich guitar-led sounds of Zambian kalindula.
One of the highlights is 1989’s ‘Naughty Boy’ by Vinolia Mashego who became known as V-Mash.
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If you have any recommendations of must listens please send a message or leave a comment. I’d love to know what’s rocking your world right now?
