5 new releases we love: A retro-cool collab, a Southern funk sojourn, and more
Music Features A-Sides
Tank And The Bangas, “Ants”
[Verve Forecast, March 7]
There’s a certain duality about Tarriona “Tank” Ball that makes Tank And The Bangas so deeply engaging. Stylistically, “Ants” is a smooth, funk-infused departure from total bass thumper “Spaceships,” released last fall. And yet, the second single from their highly anticipated sophomore album, Green Balloon—due May 3—further confirms Tank’s place as one of our most underrated modern storytellers. Much like the single’s official video, “Ants” illustrates a coming of age unburdened by anything heavier than young love, Lizzie McGuire, and JanSport backpacks. Her ability to lace accessible, poetic bars with rich, heartfelt vocals shows such command over both her artistry and identity as a young, carefree black woman. Listening to this soulful bit of nostalgia feels like sitting on a Louisiana stoop with a fish plate, pondering little more than schoolyard gossip and the mysterious whereabouts of tiny insects. And it’s a necessary sojourn. [Shannon Miller]
Elizabeth Colour Wheel, Nocebo
[The Flenser, March 15]
It takes a lot for a metal vocalist to stand out from the pack. That’s why Lane Shi of Elizabeth Colour Wheel is so engaging: Her approach is so drastically different from other metal singers that it often feels like the band is playing around her specifically. With its debut album, Nocebo, Elizabeth Colour Wheel offers up a record that’s packed full of memorable riffs, but it’s Shi’s eerie vocals that steer the ship. Songs like “Life Of A Flower” show the band’s dexterity, as it pings between hushed moments and massively cathartic washes, sounding a bit like if Joanna Newsom were singing for Neurosis. And when it’s more direct, as on “Hide Behind (Emmett’s Song),” the band sounds a bit like Gouge Away, before splitting the song wide open in the second half. Unlike many other metal albums that work outside the genre’s confines, Nocebo doesn’t just work in another subgenre and call it a day. Instead, Elizabeth Colour Wheel pushes itself into a space that’s not so easily replicated. [David Anthony]
6 Comments
I’m amazed 1.3-billion-year-old recordings have survived. My CDs usually got scratched after a couple months.
The secret to the longevity of avant-garde recordings is that nobody actually listens to them 🙂
Album of the week goes to Uranium Club! Great spazzy devo-esque post-punk, and they stretch out into some looser passages on this lp but still bring the herk&jerk we crave!I’m with everyone else sweet on Chai – their second album PUNK is a lot of fun and will be a go-to blast of sunshine energy. The Comet is Coming have a new release for fans of sax-synth-rhythm blasts, and I really dig the Kate Tempest cameo halfway through. Dexter Story has a genre-hopping new lp that will appeal to global funk and groove fans of all stripes. I’m still excited to dig into the new Matmos full-length and see what wacky sounds and rhythms they make out of various plastics. I think it was Sean O’Neal who introduced me to Vagrant – he’s got a new lp out that is less a Burial tribute album than his first one, but similarly suffocates with distorted synths. Still looking forward to digging into new Malkmus and new Bouncing Souls. And really digging Tank and the Bangas and Elizabeth Colour Wheel above! Great calls!
I love Chai so much. Everybody who I play them for just doesn’t get it. I don’t even listen to guitar music usually, but Chai is a rhythmic delight.
Needs more Gesaffelstein and The Faint.
Stephen Malkmus’s new solo LP is delightful.
Gorging on the new Download this week. It’s bittersweet because it’s a phenomenal record but will probably be their last since the recent tragic death of Phil Western.Today’s electronic music tends toward the minimalistic, but these guys cram every song with layer upon layer of such interesting ideas and sounds. It’s densely packed music that can either fade into the background or hold your attention depending on how you want to listen to it.At least they’re going out in top form.P.S. To anyone that likes this, Phil’s Bandcamp is selling digital downloads of his entire solo catalog (46 releases) for about $30 and all the money goes to his family.