Hello again,
I’m back and it’s no joke. Welcome to issue #12 of Crow’s Nest. Thank you as always for reading or opening this.
This Friday April 2nd, if not already upon you, is a first Friday of the month, making today a day Bandcamp waives its share of purchases made on the platform, and passes them along to the artists to help support them through the pandemic. This issue is to highlight some music that’s gotten into my Bandcamp wishlist in the past month but not one of my regular Crow’s Nest issues. If you’ve got some stimulus money you’ve not yet spent or are otherwise able to spend some money on music, I hope something within here catches your ear and that you show some support to those artists.
Let’s get started.
Normally these issues are to highlight (slightly) lesser releases I’ve come across, but let me be clear—this one is easily on par with the ‘highlight’ ones I include at the top of other issues. Kidi Band is a Los Angeles quartet fusing together West African polyrhythms with freak folk, and their second album is an utterly spellbinding full-length I’ve had to force myself to stop playing constantly. Shout out to Turntable Report for pointing it out. I’m not super well-versed with freak folk—its peak was a bit before my time, man—but imagine Palberta performing Sung Tongs with a heavy low end and you’re a step away from this. Simply phenomenal and a completely gorgeous listen that lives up to its title.
Can footwork be mellow? This album from a local producer sure sounds like some late-night, just before bed footwork to wind down and relax to after some quality juking time. The release is pay-what-you-want but any proceeds will be donated to My Block My Hood My City, an amazing nonprofit working to improve the quality of life and opportunities in neglected areas of Chicago. So be sure to add a few bucks in when putting this in your cart.
Olof Dreijer, one half of The Knife, released this 13-minute track a few weeks ago. If that won’t convince you to press play I’m not sure what else I can say.
This is a set of low-lit, sample heavy house from down under—Melbourne, specifically. I get a bit of a Leon Vynehall taking it easy or collaborating with Galcher Lustwerk vibe when I listen, not sure how accurate that is but that’s how it feels to me when it’s on.
I’ve never fully understood the vibe of TAR despite following them on Bandcamp for years. Netlabel? Something more or else? The vocals on this recent EP they released caught my ear, though usually it’s the artist and/or release names that I ponder with them.
Dance/electronic albums are typically less effective than singles and EPs; an exception to this is this collaborative album from DC producers Jackson Ryland and Max D. It’s out on Max D’s Future Times which is always worth checking out.
I’m surprised I cut this from the last Crow’s Nest myself. Experimental dancehall kings Equiknoxx trade riddims and dubs with Twin Cities upstarts Feel Free Hi Fi. Another notch in the belt of the Jamaicans’ current collaborative hot streak.
This is a quality EP of wriggly, slippery dance floor tracks on Frankfurt’s Die Orakel, via Melbourne. I had to look up what a lacerta is—Latin for lizard and the name of a small constellation. Fitting.
ever/never records is officially on my unofficial ‘labels that intrigue me’ list after seeing some familiar names among their previous releases. This set of tunes from Australia has that not-quite-undead no wave momentum to it over blasted, elongated and hopefully semi-parodic vocals, particularly the longer ‘Hybrid Animal’ and ‘Bath Boy’. I can already tell “WE CAN DINE ALLLL FRESSSCOOOO” is gonna haunt me when making date plans on the apps shortly.
Tune-yards’s leftfield indie pop and ‘surely, deep down you’re not completely like this, right?’ hipster aesthetic has made them a bit challenging to engage with as I’ve followed them over the past decade. I will say that this album is probably their strongest since 2011’s w h o k i l l and one I can see myself openly spending more time with.
If you follow electronic music and do not have an eye on DeForrest Brown Jr.’s work, you need to. I’m not sure what the theoretical underpinnings are for this suite of tunes but the speaker-rattling rhythms within are worth the price of admission.
Atomnation releases always are a pleasant listen but rarely do I find myself returning to any of them, with the notable exception of Gidge’s Autumn Bells. Towards the middle of this set of tracks from Tunnelvisions I found myself stopping work for a moment to take in the ecstasy of what was happening here. I don’t regret it and need to queue this up some more.
Finally, I enjoyed this latest release from one of Legowelt’s many aliases. I’m not sure if it’s a standard or exceptional Legowelt release, but it’s a Legowelt release and I like it.
Ok that’s enough. If you’ve gotten to this point regardless of whether it’s still Bandcamp Day or not, thank you for reading. I hope you found something inside you’ve enjoyed. @embirdened on Twitter of the other links within if you want to reach out to me about anything within.
Here’s a picture from a recent walk so the social media preview isn’t trash.