I will be posting just a short note today for the Singapore-France duo Cravism x Maya Diegel. They have released their ‘Caryatid’ and ‘Ladies’ Night’ singles via Komplex Recordings with a video that features both songs.
The two singles are in a stunning video mix blending created by Arthur Etienne and Thibaut Vega. Several weeks ago, the duo released the first single, ‘It’s Okay,’ with soulful and jazzy textures laid over lush, mellow jazz hip hop beats, transporting the listener into a chilled relaxing realm.
Out in full on October 22, the ‘Caryatid EP‘ project entails a staggered release of a track every three weeks with accompanying films, in addition to a series of online live performances of these compositions.
Enjoy, I will be back with another installment in three weeks.
Earth felt like it was moving from the moment this LP opened with the song Earth Moves. With age comes a different worldview. It is not necessarily accurate; however, it is never the less our take on how this world and its inhabitants move forward through time and circumstances.
David Long & Shane O’Neill have cultivated that field, and the result is this gorgeous album, Moll & Zeis. I have to be honest; I had no idea what a moll or a zeis were. A quick search on the internet revealed that a moll is a prostitute and a zeis is either a fortune teller or an instrument used to harvest with, in other words, a scythe. I lean towards the prostitute and fortune teller.
I like concept albums, I have been threatening to write a blog about them, and this album might be the catalyst that gets that concept moving forward. Anyhow, back to the future, and we have Moll & Zeis to entertain us. An album that I will let David Long tell you more about.
“We wanted to make an album that could and should be listened to all the way through. It was
an equal collaboration, Shane and myself have known each other so long that there was never
a problem editing each other if something didn’t fit with the song. We had no time restrictions, or
release dates to go by, so we took our time with this album and thought about every aspect of
it,” says David Long.
I found that listening to this album was better when I heard it in one go. Each song can stand on its own, but the album has a continuity that flows—everything about it flows.
Sometimes, it flows in darker places, such as in the song Far From Home, where the author confesses that they are scared of what the future might bring. During this era of Covid, that is a genuine fear for millions of people. These songs could spiral into depressing dirges if it weren’t for David Long and Shane O’Neill wrapping the pieces in gorgeous music.
What kind of music is this? That’s a fair question. The answer isn’t easy. It dances around in pop-rock but isn’t as simple as that. The depth of production takes it up and above pop. Alternative is what Apple Music calls it. That is a reasonable tag, alternative it is.
Moll & Zeis deserve the opportunity to grow and develop. A lot is going on if we take the time to listen, focused listening. Moll & Zeis is not single-use and tossed into the bargain bin music. I have had at least a dozen go-rounds and still hear fresh nuances, and I am sure that will continue each time I listen to Moll & Zeis. It is ethereal music. I love it!
As of September 10, the ‘Moll & Zeis’ EP will be available across online platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music and Bandcamp.
Keeley presents the live performance of ‘Never Here Always There’, recorded at the Workman’s Club as part of the Dublin Quays Festival. Here they get deep and trippy with a rendition of this track from the EP that veers off in an otherwise unexpected but delightful direction. Enjoy this live performance and the full debut EP.
‘Brave Warrior’ is now available everywhere online, including Spotifyand Bandcamp.
I do not remember when I first encountered the music of the young lads known collectively as Jupiter Hollow. The thank-you paragraph at the end of the insert in the CD case tells us that Jupiter Hollow started as two young musicians, Grant and Kenny, who began jamming in their basements back in 2015.
I’m glad that their parents granted their blessing on the noise that at times must have sounded like it emanated from the bowels of the earth itself or at least the region where “Hades Heart” resides. That is the second track on a rather expansive album titled AHDOMN. I will take a wild guess that AHDOMN is pronounced Adam.
The style of music presented to us on AHDOMN is most certainly prog, and I like prog, so that is most likely what attracted me to this album. It isn’t a new album; they released it in 2018, or at least that is the copyright date on the back panel. However, it is new to me, so I dropped a few bucks to cover shipping, and they mailed their free CD to me.
As I said previously, it has prog slapped all over the place, but other styles of music are woven into the album’s fabric, giving it a rather expansive feel. There is some metal music with screaming vocals and distorted guitar work. A melodic keyboard is also tastefully planted throughout the album, closing it out with some pleasant chill moments.
The musicianship is rather good for what I think is their first album if I read the insert correctly. It is a robust and ambitious album full of twists and turns that kept my ear engaged from start to finish.
The lyrics follow as many stylistic meanderings as the music. The story of those words is another thing altogether. I think there should be a storyline, but I couldn’t pull it out for the life of me. I tried; honestly, I tried. After multiple listens and reading the lyrics through the album, I am no closer to knowing the overarching story. I’m sorry, guys. I imagine I am overlooking some simple leap of logic. I’ll keep trying even though I don’t need an excuse to listen to this most listenable album.
I give it a nine out of a possible ten for the simple reason that I completely missed the storyline. A good listen just the same, pop it in your car, and you have some cruising tunes.
Insecurities is the title of the new EP from the Swedish musician who goes by the moniker of Summer Heart. My brain keeps telling me to type Summer Heat because we had a hot, dry summer in my pin drop on Google Maps.
The opening track of the EP is also the title track, Insecurities, and it introduces us to the narrator. He is running away from something. In some form of transportation in which he is playing the radio too loud. Possibly in an attempt to overrun the memories on loop in his brain. Memories have taken him 90 miles or 144 kilometres to a lake where he has some pleasant memories of what used to be.
Back to the present and we learn that the author is very insecure and can’t make any sense of what his world has become. The song ends with him crashing into the car of the person that he is obsessed with and cutting down the flowers that that person loved. A violent end to a journey of discovery. A journey in search of meaning for the life that he has left for living.
The song Inside Out gets real for the author of the piece. He tells us this.
“I have a tendency to
say I’m getting better
but really I’m a quitter
quitting under pressure”
It takes intestinal fortitude to admit out falts. Step 4 of the 12 step program tells us to make a searching and fearless moral inventory. Saying that he is a quitter is a small step, but an important one, towards a complete inventory.
Next up, the centrepiece of this EP is the song Wash You Off, another small step towards that inventory with the confession that he struggles with being prideful. Unfortunately, that is a short-lived victory. The ink is barely dry on that page before he dives back into wobbling between telling his lover that the affair is over and then saying that he doesn’t “wanna stop.” He ends the song by throwing the responsibility to her when he is confused and messed up, not her. You gotta own it, bro.
I’m not sure, but song four, Clean, could work as an anthem to an addiction treatment plan.
“I can keep it clean.”
Alternatively, it comes off as the plaintive cry of a broken man.
“nothing kinda turned out as I planned.” Man up because “Life is what happens to you while you are making other plans.”
The EP closes with the song Too Many Miles, which has some good confessional or step 4 material.
“We don’t talk anymore.”
“I’ve been running way too many miles.”
“I’ve been fighting way too many fights.”
Unfortunately, he then starts to tentatively say that he “kind of wanna start over again.”
At the start of the last refrain of the song Too Many Miles, the author states they “don’t fight anymore.” A wise person once told me that if a couple isn’t fighting, they aren’t communicating. They let everything bottle up inside, which usually leads to an explosion of messy results. So, if you don’t even fight anymore, I kind of think this event is over.
“You swipe right like a sport.” Now ring the final bell.
I enjoyed this adventure in music, but I think it just falls short of its full potential. Put some edge on those synths. Don’t pull the punches. Put some darkness in there, make the vocals cry, shout and even wail when appropriate. Let us, the listeners, really hear the pain. All I hear now are some lovely songs. These lyrics demand more than pleasant. They need some real emotion thrown in.
Take a look at the photo below. Is this man bubbling over with sweet happy thoughts?
No. He is pensive. He looks confused. Perhaps a bit lonely. Pained perhaps but not bubbling over with happiness and I think the music and vocal delivery should support this photo with all the emotional rawness that it projects.
Exemplary musicianship and good storytelling for this EP, I give it a thumbs up and anticipate more from Summer Heart. The potential is there for more excellent music from this emerging artist.
Summer Heart’s new EP ‘Insecurities’ is out on the 3rd September via Icons Creating Evil Art.
Ireland’s Emperor of Ice Creamhas released their new‘Weather Vane’single via FIFA Records. Moods, motives and expectations can sometimes make us feel like we are caught up in a tornado of emotions when a relationship hits a rocky patch. This song about the hope that remains even when things are falling apart.
Mixed and produced by Graham Finn, this single was mastered by Tom Volpicelli (The Who, Iggy Pop, The Alarm, Pat Benatar, The Bloodhound Gang) at The Mastering House in New Jersey.
They have also done a second vinyl pressing of their debut album ‘No Sound Ever Dies’ LP, which had sold out but is now available on white vinyl, CD, cassette and digital download. It will ship out August 27, the day before its first birthday.
Garnering a new legion of supporters around the globe, renewed demand for the band’s back catalogue resulted in the release of a compilation album of their three early Sony-backed EPs (‘Overflow’, ‘William’ and ‘Know Me’), having sold out in the pre-digital 90’s. Reaching number 21 in the official album charts, the album also rose to number 3 in the independent charts. While the limited-edition physical copies were sold out on release day, it is still available as a digital download.
Since re-emerging on the scene in May 2020, Emperor of Ice Cream have embarked on a chapter few anticipated would be written. Their debut record’s first anniversary is marked by a second pressing on vinyl and CD. Entering the official Irish album charts at number 35, the LP topped the independent charts and was among the top 20 best-selling Irish releases of 2020.
Garnering a new legion of supporters around the globe, renewed demand for the band’s back catalogue resulted in the release of a compilation album of their three early Sony-backed EPs (‘Overflow’, ‘William’ and ‘Know Me’), having sold out in the pre-digital 90’s. Reaching number 21 in the official album charts, the album also rose to number 3 in the independent charts. While the limited-edition physical copies were sold out on release day, it is still available as a digital download.
It’s okay that I am doing a short shoutout about this single, It’s Okay, by Cravism and Maya Diegel. The single is an excellent little package that only hints at what is to come. What is to come is a single released every three weeks and culminating the release of the Caryatid EP, which will celebrate all the singles coming together and forming an EP bigger than the sum of each part.
Exciting, right! I am marking my calendar for each release date and then on the big reveal of the EP on October 22, 2021, via UK-French label Komplex Recordings.
I will do a more substantial write-up on that day, but a few introductory remarks will suffice for now.
Hailing from Paris and initially trained as a jazz singer, Maya Diegel‘s trajectory would take a big turn upon meeting Singaporean producer Cravism several years ago in Cornwall after his performance at the local university, Maya fell in love with Cravism’s set and sought to collaborate. Impressed by Maya’s capacity for writing high-level melodies, harmonies and lyrics, their fateful meeting ultimately brought the 2019 release of their first collaborative album ‘Vibes, vol. 2’, which resulted in ample playlisting and radio interviews and ultimately secured them a record deal with Komplex Recordings. I recommend ‘Vibes, vol. 2’, it is a lovely listening experience.
Back to the present, as of August 20, Its’s Okay became available via online stores such as Apple Music and Spotify. Accompanied by a film by Parisien video director Stewart Livinec, this is the first taste of their sophomore project ‘Caryatid EP’, entailing aseries of songs and films. With smooth jazz textures laid over lush mellow jazz hip hop beats, the listener is transported into a chilled relaxing realm.
Dive into this music, enjoy the video, and join me looking forward to the next track being released.
When this gets out, you will have some fantastic music for your listening pleasure. When This Gets Out is the lead single from The Persian Leaps new recording Drone Etiquette, a 6-track recording arriving on October 1 via Land Ski Records. I had a nice trip down memory lane while listening to When This Gets Out, it was an enchanting journey. It triggered memories of music that came and went many moons ago. I won’t bother you with a long boring reading list, but trust me, this hit excited neurons that had been dormant for years.
From the distorted guitar that opens, When This Gets Out, the music is catchy and mesmerizing. Drew Forsberg, the face of The Persian Leaps, has crafted a master class of music that weaves down the lane with images of days gone past. From the jangling guitar sound of the ’60s to the distortion of the post-punk bands of the ’90s. This album has it all. Plenty of top ten to satisfy anyone’s taste.
Lyrics? You bet. There are downright intelligent lyrics. I’ll let Drew Forsberg tell you about them:
“Each week, it seemed there was a new Trump-related scandal that by rights should have sunk him. However, instead of consequences, the scandal would be eclipsed the next week by something even more appalling. After a while, people didn’t even bother to pay attention. ‘When This Gets Out‘ imagines something big enough to cut through the apathy, alienate the enablers and apologists, and finally make a difference. Also, starting the EP with the song seemed very appropriate. “When this gets out, the shit will hit the fans.”
‘When This Gets Out’ will be available today, August 19, 2021, exclusively via Bandcamp. On October 1, the full ‘Drone Etiquette‘ album will be released on CD and online platforms, including Apple Music and Spotify. It is already available for pre-order via Bandcamp. I will do a complete album review On or about October 1 if the good lord is willing and the creek don’t rise.
The weekend is here, and so are some new sounds to check out.
LISA GERRARD & JULES MAXWELL of DEAD CAN DANCE are back for a new audio-visual trip with ‘Keson (Until My Strength Returns).’ Gerrard explains, “Keson implores us to live in our dreams and befriend our soul.” Produced by James Chapman (MAPS), the entire ‘Burn’ LP is euphoric and compelling, more inventive than what they had worked on separately in the past. Each track builds and intensifies, creating a hypnotic experience to listen to from start to finish.
‘Oh, Ballerina’ by TRAITRS, one of the dark music scene’s fastest rising indie artists, previews their ‘Horses In The Abattoir’ LP. Also, enjoy their art-house thriller-inspired video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59Sw-xW2YJ4
Produced with JOSH KORODY (F*cked Up, Japandroids)and mastered by PETE MAHER (U2, Nick Cave, Depeche Mode, NIN, Prince), The Spill Magazine call this “an impeccable mélange of alternative dark pop and catchy goth-laced retro-futuristic soundscapes.”
As of August 13, ‘Oh, Ballerina’ will be available digitally everywhere, including Spotify and Apple Music. On November 19, the full-length ‘Horses In The Abattoir’ LP will be released on vinyl, CD and digitally. The LP can be ordered at https://orcd.co/horsesintheabattoir.
Dublin indie music icons DAVID LONG (INTO PARADISE) AND SHANE O’NEILL (BLUE IN HEAVEN) release the 3-track EP ‘Dreams Come’.Recommended for fans of early New Order, Echo and The Bunnymen, the Go-Betweens, The Sound Beck and Tom Petty. The Irish Times calls this “as even-handed a collaboration as they come… creative synergy that time hasn’t had the nerve to erase”
Irish music icons David Long and Shane O’Neill present their ‘Dreams Come’ EP. This 3-track offering arrives hot on the trail of their ‘Far From Home’ EP and video for the title track, which has garnered the duo excellent reviews and radio play in dozens of countries.
The title track features a sweet, uplifting melody intertwined with bittersweet lyrics – a seeming nod to a love that could be fraying at the edges. From the beautiful opening chords right through to the end, it will make you feel like you want more of whatever it is. Love, loss, hope, all of it, whatever it is.
Back in July, I listened to the album, You Also Have Eyes by The Mystery Plan, but I didn’t feel good about what I reported, so I revisited the album. I listened to it again, several times in fact, and ran the CD through my big speakers in the music room. I came away with a different perspective of what I heard, so I will do a do-over and write up my new experience with the album.
First observation: I listened to the CD that the boys in the band sent me. I like the physical medium. It’s a step back in time to the golden days of the records. I still enjoy listening to records, although all the other mediums, including CDs and streaming, have places, and I frequently visit them. I listened to 429 albums in 2020; 210 of them were vinyl records, 100 CDs, three cassettes and 166 steamed through various sources. So, yeah, I like listening to physical pieces of music, and I had a good experience listening to You Also Have Eyes by The Mystery Plan. Thank you for the CDs, Mystery Plan
From The Mystery Plan‘s Bandcamp page, I learned that you also have eyes is a compilation of songs from their last few albums, plus two new recordings. It was released July 16, 2021, so it is still relatively new.
The opening song, electric love, starts with a short ditty that evolves with an excellent deep bass playing with some gentle synths and a gentle voice floating over it all. At two minutes, give or take a few seconds, the vocal gets a bit stronger and takes a prominent spot with the bass faded down, but it doesn’t go away. Some percussion and synth join it. And then, the vocal gets very sensual. She sounds like she is enjoying whatever she is doing or what someone else is doing with her. The vocal gradually fades to a sound more like a breathing exercise, and the music takes a back seat with gentle synths and then ends.
Track two, the golden moon and the silvery sea, opens with some sweet bass lines, and then the whole band joins in. This song has some serious grooves, toe-tapping and head-bobbing music.
The Mystery Plan is: Amy Herring, Otis Hughes, Patty McLaughlin, Jefferson Chester, Jason Herring
Tracks 3 and 4 have gentle synths leading the way.
Track 5 is a bit faster-paced and revisits the sensual singing.
Track 6 is silver lining and features Big Supreme on some mighty fine vocals. Straight-up hip hop and a stand-out song from where I am listening.
Track 7, wonder why is synth-pop in a good way.
Track 8, those stars, is a favourite of mine. It opens with some sweet bass and introduces a sax that takes us into a jazzed-up song, and I liked the references to looking at the stars. Jazz and celestial objects, you can’t go wrong with that combination, and The Mystery Plan does not falter. This track is a solid 10 out of 10 stars and 7 minutes of glorious music.
There is some excellent production on this recording, such as playing with the spatial shape of the music. Track 9, always, is a perfect example of that, with the sound moving from left to right and then back. Some voices seem to float around the centre of the stage but feel that they are not upfront but a bit further back. Ten takes us a long way to heaven in what I would call pop-rock. It has an almost retro feel, like Strawberry Fields with Vangelis on synths and Jeff Beck on guitar. Weird things that people like me can imagine.
Track 10, wonder why, is remixed by Peter Anderson. More pop music. It is a song that I laid back and let my mind wander while I listened, good stuff.
11 is before you go more of the same synthpop that continues where track 10 left off—excellent percussion, especially at the end.
This most excellent album closes with weird things humans do. Gentle acoustic guitars with samples and synths that slowly build with some up-tempo, and then some discrete percussion and bass slip into the mix, and we close sixty minutes of a delightful album.
It is easy to get lost in this album, and it is a good listen that I recommend, 10 out of 10 stars.
p.s. The Mystery Plan do not like shifting for capital letters, their songs are shown in lower case as they appear in Bandcamp as well as on the CD liner.
Weathered Music 