good mail day (Zola Jesus edition)
ARKHHON has arrived: a brilliant record that pushes everything I love about Nika’s music into new directions, a document of an artist constantly and fearlessly evolving. Spectacular.
Angles – A MUTED REALITY
A dynamic sonic exploration that sways from reflective quiet to explosive propulsion and brings to mind (apologies here in comparing something wholly original to something else – Angles really are their own beautiful cocktail – but my music review skills are a still little rusty; working on that by writing more about music here) The Necks – if they were playing in a New Orleans second line. I've listened to it three times today – and could listen to it thrice more. So good.
TWIN DANGER
I've had their eponymous album on repeat since it came out in 2015, always hoping for another offering from this group – but learned this morning that singer Vanessa Bley and her two children (ages two and four months) died on 25 October 2019 "when another driver intentionally swerved into their lane and hit them head-on": what a tragic, senseless loss. Just… damn. RIP.
good mail day (Mary Halvorson edition)
Received my double LP of a Mary Halvorson's transcendent AMARYLLIS and BELLADONNA albums and now I'm inordinately excited to actually get a turntable and embark on the vinyl collector / better artist-supporting phase of my life.
earbliss: Sam Gendel – SUPERSTORE
A madcap array of sonic vignettes: Gendel's transitions from one exploration to the next never fail to elicit a smile and a laugh at their addictive unpredictability.
EarBliss: Mary Halvorson – AMARYLLIS / BELLADONNA
Two new offerings from one of my favorite composers and guitarists, Mary Halvorson, AMARYLLIS, and BELLADONNA. Ordered the double LP; both are must-listens:
celebrate for there is new yeah yeah yeahs music in the world
New album, COOL IT DOWN, their first in nine years, releases in September.
