Published on
November 24, 2023
Category
Features
Essential weekend listening.
This week’s rundown is by VF’s Kelly Doherty and Becky Rogers, and contributors Annabelle Van Dort, Emily Hill and James Hammond.
Ciel
Homesick
(Parallel Minds)
Toronto native Ciel releases her long-awaited debut album, Homesick. Following an excellent anthology on Eris Drew’s Ecstatic Editions vinyl label earlier this year, it’s a pleasure to spend time with an intentionally connected collection from the producer. Drawing influence and song titles from the elements of traditional Chinese instrumentation, Ciel has crafted a skittish, often minimalist rhythmic body of work. Heady club tunes packed with a self-contained percussive language.–KD
Various Artists
Light In The Attic & Friends
(Light In The Attic)
Traverse Light in the Attic’s back catalogue as they play homage to artists they’ve released over the past two decades with this special RSD Black Friday album. Light in the Attic & Friends is a case of greats covering greats, as Iggy Pop takes on Betty Davis, Angel Olsen puts her spin on Karen Dalton, and Haruomi Hosono gets a slacker-pop makeover from Mac DeMarco, amongst many more. Light in the Attic is renowned for resurfacing the very best and often forgotten voices, and these interpretations and covers are no different. Over its 20 tracks, Light in the Attic & Friends pays its respects with those who’ve enjoyed and been influenced by the label’s re-releases.–BR
Otik
Cosmosis
(3024)
Martyn’s 3024 outfit offers the long-awaited album Cosmosis from London-based producer Otik–his second release on the label and their fourth album on the imprint in 10 years. Written during the pandemic, the album is a deep dive into a more introspective musical side, evoking their internal dialogue during a period of spiritual questioning. Across eleven tracks, Otik has created an ambiance of warm hazy melodies which have a somewhat celestial feel, sitting on the line of intelligent dance music and euphoric ripples.–EH
Kirk Barley
Marionette
(Odda Recordings)
On his second solo album, Yorkshire-born composer and producer Kirk Barley brings a sense of otherworldliness to the quotidian soundscapes of the natural world. According to Barley, each composition on Marionette is a “landscape or static scene paintings”, self-contained worlds and unfolding vignettes, brought to life through Barley’s layered field recordings and electro-acoustic meditations.–AVD
Max High
Recordings 3
(Aloha Got Soul)
Honolulu-based multi-instrumentalist Max High makes his Aloha Got Soul debut with Recordings 3. Originally developed as an improvised mixtape last year, Recordings 3 makes the move to vinyl with its varied sound collage adjacent approach. Recordings 3 is an exceedingly soothing listen, traversing ambient, lo-fi and jazz to dabble in all forms of chill-out music. Unlike much of the often maligned laid-back listening oeuvre, however, Recordings 3 is sincerely explorative, bringing its listener along for an intriguing ride.–KD
Sonia Whittingham
Sweet Sensation
(Isle of Jura)
Australian label Isle of Jura reissues another classic lovers rock gem, originally released in 1988 on Star Disc, an illusive three record imprint. This time, they bring back to life the sought-after Sweet Sensation by Sonia Whittingham. Produced by label affiliate Glen Sloley, the two-tracker features a gorgeous vocal, with tender lyrics serenading the soul with lines such as “When I look into your eyes I feel a sweet sensation. I know our love is true ‘cos you make me happy”. On the flip, there’s a dubbed-out instrumental style version filled with a buoyant warmth and charm.–EH
Jules Reidy
Trances
(Shelter Press)
Continuing on the intrepid path set out by last year’s World in World, this latest LP from Jules Reidy presents a set of enveloping compositions for hexaphonic electric guitar that’s once again set to curious sounds of just intonation. In this tuning style, Reidy’s compositions expand beyond familiar zones, but with the essence of their fingerpicking and strumming skills at the core, as they ebb and flow and build into washes of sound. Working the strumming up into these pockets of activity that subtly bring in autotuned voices, synths and flowing arpeggios, this one is a powerful and transportive work that explodes the standard vocabulary of composition for electric guitar.–JH
Elijah Minnelli
Gradually
(Zam Zam)
Over the last four years, Elijah Minelli has cultivated a uniquely beguiling fusion of cumbia, dub and outside folk, showcased across a series of self-released singles on his own label, Breadminster County Council. On his first outing for Zam Zam Sounds, Minnelli returns with a standout 7”, Gradually, a haunting, elegiac dub with melancholic pitched-down vocals mourning the passing of time. Where the A-side takes inspiration from percussive cumbia rhythms, the B-side version puts a forceful steppers twist on Minnelli’s original—a must listen!–AVD
Ustad Zia Daggar
Vrindavan 1982
(Black Truffle)
A master of Hindustan’s dhrupad music, Z.M Dagar’s extended improvisational approach is in full bloom here as he works through the three parts of the Yaman Kalyan night raga. A solo instrumentalist for the rudra veena, this 1982 performance in the Northern Indian city of Vrindivan shows the full range of this unique instrument, with its two large gourds resonating the deep low end of Dagar’s playing. Backed by a tanpura and starting off on the lower pitches before gradually climbing and progressing the raga, this previously unreleased live set is the perfect way to acquaint yourself with a legendary instrumentalist whose work thrived on live performance.–JH
Dungen
4
(Mexican Summer)
To celebrate the 15th anniversary of Dungen’s fifth album 4, Record Store Day is treating fans of the Swedish psych rockers to a double LP reissue on aquamarine vinyl. The 2008 release sees the group tackle their typical psych rock, but it’s the free jazz and woodwind-led interludes that make 4 stand out within their repertoire. The overdriven guitar chugs of “Fredag” may feel disparate to “Målerås finest”’s orchestral chimes, but the heightened cinematics are a tying force in Gustav Ejstes’ lush analogue-psych vision.–BR
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