Published on
November 2, 2018
Category
Features
This month’s wantlist.
We’ve combed through the pre-orders, promos and release listings so that you don’t have to, showcasing a diverse selection of music from our favourite artists and labels, alongside newcomers we think you need to hear.
This month’s selection features virtuoso ’70s fusion updates from Mansur Brown and Eli Keszler, Japanese no wave from Eiko Ishibashi and the return of Anderson .Paak. Ever the international affair, the list is completed by music from Venezuela, Scotland, Berlin and Tunisia.
North Sea Dialect
Local Guide
(Numbers)
Due: 9th November
Enigmatic Scottish producer North Sea Dialect releases his debut LP Local Guide on Numbers – an atmospheric ode to the “power of the sea.” Filled with the “echoes and surrealness of alienated life” the 10-track album’s release is preceded by three videos of found ocean footage that are well worth checking out, ranging from aquatic Baltasounds to serene sunsets to ‘so terrifying you can’t look away’ storms.
Lia Mice
The Sampler As A Time Machine
(Optimo Music)
Due: 9th November
An intriguing new album from producer and instrument designer Lia Mice, The Sampler As A Time Machine evokes Holly Herndon’s dystopian Platform or Laurie Anderson’s Big Science in exploring the tension between the human and the electronic. Exemplified by the use of her self-made instruments, which include a voice-controlled, one-handed violin and a reel-to-reel hacked into a digital tape loop, The Sampler As A Time Machine strikes a compelling balance between cold wave, industrial and synthetic pop.
Objekt
Cocoon Crush
(PAN)
Due: 9th November
Objekt returns to PAN following his Objekt #4 EP – one of our favourite 12″s of 2017 – with his second full-length Cocoon. Described as a move away from a “typical dance floor format” the album’s percussive explorations remind of a more sinister, less zany, Errorsmith-esque approach. Deep basement musings, well suited for the melancholic truce of seasons as winter takes hold.
Deena Abdelwahed
Khonnar
(Infiné Music)
Due: 16th November
Tunisian producer Deena Abdelwahed fuses acidic electronics with traditional and far-out instrumental experimentations in her debut album, Khonnar. An “untranslatable Tunisian word that evokes the dark, shameful and disturbing side of things” Khonnar paints Arabian visions via the dance floor, and sees Abdelwahed playing everything from Tunisian percussive instrument the bendir (with an ice pick no less) to the trusty 808.
Powell Tillmans
Spoken By The Other
(XL Recordings)
Due: 16th November
Turner Prize-winning artist Wolfgang Tillmans and electronic musician Powell team up for their debut record, Spoken By The Other. Its 6 tracks were recorded in Berlin, London and Turin, and workshopped at festivals before transforming into its current iterations. Complete with a finale tune that includes Tillmans knocking out percussion on cutlery and glasses.
Anderson .Paak
Oxnard
(Aftermath Entertainment)
Due: 16th November
Yes lawd! Anderson .Paak is back with his third solo record, following Malibu and his collaborative 2017 LP with Knxwldge under the name NxWorries. Produced by Dr. Dre, and featuring Kendrick Lamar, Khadja Bonet, Snoop Dogg and Q-Tip, amongst others, we’re hoping Oxnard sounds more like blazing, Bollywood sampling ‘Bubbling’ than its second single ‘Tints’.
Eiko Ishibashi
The Dream My Bones Dream
(Drag City)
Due: 16th November
The sixth album by indefatigable Japanese artist Eiko Ishibashi, The Dream My Bones Dream delves into the unknown personal histories of her father, entwined with Japan’s occupation of Manchuria in the 1940s, and delivered with idiosyncratic theatricality. A Lynchian suitcase drama that delivers some of the multi-disciplinary no wave of downtown NYC through a Tokyo haze.
Insólito UniVerso
La Candela del Rio
(Olindo Records)
Due: 16th November
A gorgeous debut from Paris-based Venezuelan outfit Insólito UniVerso, drawing on the country’s psychedelic and spiritual folk traditions – best exemplified by the album’s dream-like opening track ‘Transmutada’, which celebrates the legacy of cult Caracas singer, caricaturist and new age guru Conny Mendez. The full-length follows a 7” on Olindo earlier this year, and is co-produced by The Heliocentric’s Malcolm Catto.
Eli Keszler
Stadium
(Shelter Press)
Due: 16th November
Fresh from collaborations with Oneohtrix Point Never and Laurel Halo, percussionist Eli Keszler delivers the intricately woven album Stadium as a 2xLP black vinyl edition this month. Stepping dextrously between free improvisation and composition, Keszler’s crisp syncopations play like stung-out Tony Williams solos that skit restlessly over sparse electronics. Virtuoso throughout, it’s in distorted ballads ‘Lotus Awnings’ and ‘Which Swarms Around It’ where the most compelling moments of Stadium are to be found.
Mansur Brown
Shiroi
(Black Focus)
Due: 22nd November
Guitarist Mansur Brown’s much-anticipated debut Shiroi on Kamaal Williams’ Black Focus gets its vinyl release this month. Like Keszler, Brown takes the bombastic legacy of ‘70s jazz fusion and twists it into something personal and deeply introverted. Like eavesdropping on a late-night session, Shiroi is an insight into Brown’s undeniable talent as a guitarist, with subtle touches of Vini Reilly’s ‘Otis’, Blaxploitation funk and Brainfeeder-esque robot jazz providing the unexpected turns throughout.
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