Crow’s Nest 84: 060125
Reminder to pay your rent if you haven’t yet
Hello everyone, and welcome to issue #84 of Crow’s Nest. It’s officially meteorological summer, even if it doesn’t feel like that temperature-wise here in Chicago. Hopefully you’ve been building up plans for the warmer months, though if you’re anything like me, you already have a ton of stuff already on the books for September, somehow. Anyway, below are a dozen selections from my listening since I sent issue #83 your way, so let’s get to it:
Few bands manage the combination of being distinct and prominent enough to be considered a genre in and of themselves. They spawn plenty of imitators—many of them pretty good!—but after they fall from the zenith of their iconic sounds’ popularity, the fear that new material will be a middling retread of their imperial phase remains ever-present. For Stereolab, back with their first album of new material since calling it quits 15 years ago, this specter hung over my thoughts since Instant Holograms on Metal Film was announced. Listening in full though, this feeling all but dissipated by the time Laetitia Sadier sings “The war economy is in inviolable/violently suppresses all intelligence that conflicts with the stakes of those who drive it” on the standout single ‘Melodie is a Wound’.
Working with a new crew of collaborators primarily from the same city that helped establish their legacy some 30 years ago—which is also where I live 😇—the new record, produced by synth wizard Cooper Crain, sounds like a natural evolution for the Groop. The restraint they often show in developing songs sets plenty of traps throughout the record, such as holding back fuller drum sounds or jazzy wind instrument deployments until just the right moment. Texturally, they’ve also found new sounds within their standard formula, sounding sunny and bright like the cover art. Zagging where their imitators would zig or peter out—the lullaby-like start to ‘Immortal Hands’ mutates into a dubby mutant disco/yacht rock hybrid, as a prime example—the full record, by itself, is very good. But on top of that, it’s a reminder: All these years later, there is still only one Stereolab.
One of the things that’s stuck with me from when I was dabbling in academic music writing during undergrad is a footnote in some article I read for a paper that noted that Wikipedia is often the best place to learn about the distinctions between dance music genres. I’m not going to try digging up that source now, but, listening through Livity Sound’s compilation of new microhouse tunes, I did turn to that site to get situated: “A noticeable difference between microhouse and house is the replacement of typical house kick drums, hi-hats and other drum machine samples with clicks, static, glitches, and small bits of noise … “ The rest of the article gets into more detail there, and the labels and artists it cites within are pretty much all ones I’d consider major (formative) influences on my taste.
Given the above, you can imagine the 2+ hours of tracks on Pattern Gardening would be very much up my alley, and they are. I’d say Wikipedia is pretty accurate in describing this compilation. It’s great headphone listening, and while it features a mix of artists both familiar and new to me, it’s the artists within who are not typically adjacent to the genre—particularly in the rRoxymore to Iglew run—who turn in some of the strongest tracks on here. Like a well-maintained Zen garden, there’s plenty of detail to get lost in if you’re not already spinning these cuts.
South Africa is always an intriguing country for electronic music that goes against the grain of mainstream Western tastes. Kwaito is definitely a genre I’ve heard of before, but I’m not really familiar with the style or details. This record from Moskito, reissued by the fittingly-named Awesome Tapes From Africa, is an incredible listen. To my ears, it’s slowed down, woozy house with trance-inducing sing-rapping on top. I’m pulling these comparisons out of my ass here, clearly, but this material is slinky like some of Tirzah’s dance features, or Vladimir Ivkovic turning his attention to vocal house tracks. Time to get digging for more gems like this, I guess.
I didn’t care much for local indie rock group Deeper’s last album Careful!; moving up to Sub Pop, it lacked the groovy grit I had really dug in Auto-Pain, and felt like a bigger and emptier swing as they took aim at audiences in >500 person venues. Evidently, Depeche Mode felt differently, inviting Deeper to open on the last week of a recent European tour. On this live recording from the final date of that tour, the band sound much fuller than on wax, playing a mix of tracks from these two albums, an appropriate fit for an audience of 20,000. Shows what I know some times.
Billing themselves as ‘industrial folk’, London group MPTL Microplastics make copious use of eerie noise across the material they’ve put out so far. I’m particularly reminded of early Black Country, New Road when I listen to them—which is probably a function of their instrumentation, more contemporary influences, and yes, discovering them via The Quietus—if that group had immersed themselves in Throbbing Gristle instead of maximizing their theatre kid energy. It’s a little too early to pigeonhole such a group further—who can tell if they’re a flash in the pan or the next Animal Collective—but it’s safe to say I will be keeping an eye out for what they do next, for sure.
I’d come across this EP that feels like a full LP the week before Instant Holograms on Metal Film came out, and had planned it to be higher up in the issue with a comment like ‘If you need a break from rinsing the new Stereolab LP …’ but—let’s be clear—you and I both know we’re not done with that one. Nevertheless, if you need or want a break from spinning that while staying in familiar-feeling territory, here’s an EP from an Italian group who lean into the math-y indie pop side of Stereolab, as is obvious from the first listen. A great record for a nice walk on a sunny day.
I can only imagine how difficult it must be to prepare a new record after releasing an acclaimed, highly regarded one. A fair amount of commentary surrounding Kara-Lis Coverdale’s new album considered it a disappointing followup to Grafts. I found that to be a bit harsh, considering this is still a good record from the Canadian composer and, ultimately, small potatoes in the world of droning contemporary classical with crossover appeal to ambient and experimental heads. It has been a minute since I’ve listened to that other album though, but the windy sounds within still feel placidly unsettled and a step above many other peers.
Learning about older music like I mostly do through reissues, tour announcements and random online posts about older acts, my knowledge of major history of genres can have massive gaps in it. So, as far as I know, The Flying Hats would like you to think this is not their debut record—and that might be true! But per the liner notes, the rhythm section to this reggae LP has 2 decades of experience playing together, which I do think shows within. Stealing the show on this instrumental record is organist Bob Birch’s lead lines, which make for a deliciously funky listen no matter how well versed you might be in the genre or how many names are familiar to you in said liner notes.
File this one under ‘mysteriously compelling’. Den Haag group Zero Happy Campers (great name) consider ‘chaos’ to be their fourth member, and given their foundation in free music, that’s certainly accurate. With the same instrumentation as Apparitions from last issue, they’re nowhere near as intense as they hack out these numbers, but still, something keeps this record on the back burner in a way others get their browser tab closed and soon forgotten. I can’t really articulate why though—give them a listen yourself and let me know what you think their je ne sais quoi is?
Erika de Casier’s pop music has never fully clicked with me. I don’t think it’s bad, but I don’t obsessing over its supposed mastery like other people. (As with Deeper/Depeche Mode above, NewJeans probably beg to differ.) On her latest surprise-released album, de Casier goes trip-hop, making for a smooth listen if you’re not already a stan. I especially appreciate the unexpected sample in ‘Delusional’ that, imo, proves ‘Frontier Psychiatrist’ is a trip-hop song at its core.
Underground shape-shifter Deradoorian’s new album has been an intriguing listen the past few weeks. Classified as synth-pop, it feels to me like a strongly no wave-inflected, deconstructed 80s record, filtered through modern sensibilities and the creative freedom it allows. How else does one fit a harpsichord-led ballad into such an LP? Definitely one to spin as a palette cleanser and/or expander.
Let’s close this issue out with a Banger Alert: Floorplan, the father-daughter duo of Robert and Lyric Hood, dropped this house single as this weekend kicked off. The vocal chopping reminds me a bit of Daft Punk. It definitely feels anthemic; I’ll be damned if I don’t hear this on a dancefloor in the next few months.
Anyway, that’s issue #84 of Crow’s Nest for the books. Thanks again for opening, reading, listening, intaking the contents above, hopefully some of which was to your liking. Speaking of summer weather, I’m off to start making the most of it in true Chicago fashion — hanging out at a street festival. I hope you have a good summer as well! Until next time.
