Hip artist and producer Madlib collaborates with electronic music artists Four Tet on this collection that draws on both of their loves for music and record collecting. The music samples from a catalog of soul and R&B, Jazz, Latin, folk, and reggae to create a tribute to ancestral music and something new at the same time.
This week I’m posting less of a music review, and more of a suggestion for a couple of recordings I found clever, enjoyable, and even educational. Each is a compilation of works by various artists that draw inspiration from a flying animal. In one case, bats, and in the other, birds:
Stuart Hyatt returns with another sonic wonder in the Field Works series, bringing the listener into truly uncharted acoustic territory. Ultrasonic is perhaps the first-ever album to use the echolocations of bats as compositional source material. For this special album, Hyatt has assembled an extraordinary group of contributors: Eluvium, Christina Vantzou, Sarah Davachi, Ben Lukas Boysen, Machinefabriek, Mary Lattimore, Felicia Atkinson, Noveller, Chihei Hatakeyama, John Also Bennett, Kelly Moran, Taylor Deupree, Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, Julien Marchal, and Player Piano. Ultrasonic is part of a broader storytelling project about the federally endangered Indiana bat. Generously funded by the IUPUI Arts & Humanities Institute and the National Geographic Society, each album contains an official printed booklet of The Endangered Species Act of 1973.
An album of music inspired by the song of endangered birds with 100% of the profits going towards organisations working to protect them.
“A Guide to the Birdsong of Mexico, Central America & the Caribbean” is the second Volume in the series following on from “A Guide to the Birdsong of South America”, originally released on Robin’s label Rhythm and Roots. Volume I raised nearly 15,000 USD for two birding organisations and featured artists like Nicola Cruz, Dengue Dengue Dengue and Chancha Via Circuito.
For this second edition we have shifted focus north of the equator and to the vulnerability of bird species like the Momoto Carenado (Nicaragua), Ferminia (Cuba) and the Jamaican Blackbird (Jamaica), birds who have dwindled in numbers as a result of the environmental repercussions of climate change, deforestation and trapping for the pet trade.
For the album we chose 10 endangered or threatened bird species and challenged 10 of our favourite producers or musicians from the region. Working with the Xeno Canto birdsong community and the Macaulay Library, we sourced a recording of each bird’s song. Each artist was then asked to create an original piece of music inspired by the bird and its song.
In line with out vision at Shika Shika the curation of artists is specifically geared towards those bridging connections between traditional music and modernity, or between organic and electronic sounds. There are contributions from artists in eight different countries, ranging from Jamaica’s organic dancehall trio Equiknoxx, to Dj Jigüe, one of the leaders of Cuba’s burgeoning electronic scene. Belize’s critically renowned Garifuna Collective have been bringing the unique Garifuna culture and language to a global audience for many years, while Tamara Montenegro has been one of the leaders of Nicaragua’s electronic music scene for the past decade.
The project would not have been possible without the support of an incredible Kickstarter community, helping us raise £12,599 in August 2019.
Once the costs of production have been covered, all of the proceeds from this album will be donated to Birds Caribbean, La Asociación Ornitológica de Costa Rica and Fundacion TXORI in Mexico. All profits from the sales of the record, music streaming, poster and t-shirt will be shared between these organisations who focus on engaging local communities to help improve and grow the bird tourism sector, create awareness of vulnerable birds with young people and crucially, provide rescue, rehabilitation and breeding programmes.
Kokoko! is a collective of artists from Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo. They use instruments fashioned from trash to create sounds for a musical style that blends electronica with dance punk. The synths layered on by their French producer Débruit also gives it an 80s freestyle dance pop sound. Kokoko! makes refreshing music that functions equally well at a dance club or a political protest.
Only three new songs for the month of July, probably because I’ve been too busy listening to “Old Town Road.” All of these bands share in common band names that are challenging to find in a search engine.
Some new albums that don’t exactly contain new content, so I’m reviewing them in bulk.
Album: MassEducation Artist: St. Vincent Release Date: October 12, 2018 Favorite Tracks: “Slow Disco,” “Los Ageless,” Thoughts: A release of Masseduction with everything stripped away except Annie Clarke’s voice and a piano, making her sound more like a chanteuse. I think I like this version better, although I didn’t really like the original much at all. Rating: ***
Album: My Way Artist: Willie Nelson Release Date: September 14, 2018 Favorite Tracks: “Summer Wind,” “Fly Me to the Moon,” “One for My Baby (And One More For the Road,” “What is This Thing Called Love?,” and “My Way” Thoughts: Willie Nelson sings swinging standards in the style of Frank Sinatra. What’s not to like? Rating: ***
Album: Piano and a Microphone 1983 Artist: Prince Release Date: September 21, 2018 Favorite Tracks: “17 Days,” “Cold Coffee & Cocaine,” and “Why the Butterflies” Thoughts: The first posthumous release from Prince’s music vaults is a glimpse of an artist at work. Just Prince tooling around on a piano, working on several songs, and being amazingly talented. Rating: ***1/2
Got a backlog of albums from recent months, so here’s a collection of quick reviews.
Album: re:member Artist: Ólafur Arnalds Release Date: 24 August 2018 Favorite Tracks: “re:member,” “undir,” and “ekki hugsa” Thoughts: Piano-based ambient music, reminiscent of Sigur Ros. Very soothing. Rating: ****
Album: Marauder Artist: Interpol Release Date: 24 August 2018 Favorite Tracks: “If You Really Love Nothing” and “The Rover” Thoughts: I’ve liked Interpol’s previous recordings, and this is an acceptable addition to their oeuvre. But it feels a bit redundant and uninspired Rating: ***
Album: Negro Swan Artist: Blood Orange Release Date: August 24, 2018 Favorite Tracks: “Charcoal Baby,” “Holy Will,” “Daenham Dream,” and “Out of Your League” Thoughts: Dev Hynes fourth album recording as Blood Orange is smooooooooooth. The music is chill, but the lyrics examine depression and anxiety through an intersectional lens of political consciousness. Rating: ***
Album: The Now Now Artist: Gorillaz Release Date: June 29, 2018 Favorite Tracks: “Humility (feat. George Benson),” “Hollywood,” Thoughts: Damon Albarn’s second band – a “virtual band” at that – is now a veteran band of 20 years. It features a stripped-down sound with fewer guest artists and I think it benefits from that even as it falls a bit short of Gorillaz best work. Rating: ***1/2
Album: Utopia Artist: Björk Release Date: 24 November 2017 Favorite Tracks: “Arisen My Senses,” “Blissing Me,” “The Gate,” and “Tabula Rasa” Thoughts: The latest release from Björk is a dense aural soundscape with the singer’s notable voice layered over musical instruments, electronic noises, and sound effects. The first three songs are the strongest, with the rest of the album hard to differentiate, although I do like “Tabula Rasa” simply for the novelty of hearing Björk swearing like a sailor. The down tempo nature of the music combined with bird and whale calls makes it all feel like an elaborate nature sounds relaxation tape. I miss how Björk would incorporate upbeat melodies and dance rhythms into her earlier recordings. Nevertheless, if you like Björk, this is more of Björk being Björk, and than can never be a bad thing. Rating: ***
This week, quick thoughts on three new albums I listened to today.
Album: Plunge Artist: Fever Ray Release Date: 2017 October 27 Favorite Tracks: “Wanna Sip” and “IDK About You” Thoughts: Fever Ray is the solo project of Swedish electronic musician Karin Dreijer, also of the duo The Knife. The album has some sick beats and synths, but Dreijer’s voice is unpleasant and the frequent profanity seems to be juvenile attempt to be shocking. Rating: **1/2
Album: Wild and Reckless Artist: Blitzen Trapper Release Date: 2017 November 3 Favorite Tracks: “Joanna” and “Stolen Hearts” Thoughts: A twangier, pure country outing from Blitzen Trapper grew out of a “rock opera” staged in their native Portland, OR that tells a sci-fi love story of two kids on the run. Rating: **1/2
Album: Queens of the Breakers Artist: The Barr Brothers Release Date: 2017 October 13 Favorite Tracks: “You Would Have to Lose Your Mind” and “It Came To Me” Thoughts: The Montreal-based Americana jam band with a harp received good reviews for their innovative sound, but the album sounds kind of like generic folk-pop to me. Not my thing. Rating: **
“All Rolled Up” is an atmospheric, electronic track from an Australian trio with a name that defies Google, F Ingers. It’s on their new album Awkwardly Blissing Out.
