Our selection of the best new music across a range of genres from the week ending 10 March 2023.
Lonnie Holley’s new album, Oh Me Oh My, is both elegant and ferocious, sharpening the work contained on his 2018 release MITH. It is stirring in one moment and a balm the next. Intricately and lovingly produced by LA’s Jacknife Lee (The Cure, REM, Modest Mouse), Oh Me Oh My features both kinetic, shortwave funk that calls to mind Brian Eno’s My Life in the Bush of Ghosts and the deep space satellite sounds of Eno’s ambient works. There are also elements of Laurie Anderson’s meditations, elements of Gil Scott-Heron’s profound longform soul, elements of John Lurie’s grabbag jazz, and yes, elements of Sun Ra’s bold afro-futurism. But Oh Me Oh My is a triumphant sonic achievement of its own.
The legendary conductor Neeme Jarvi celebrated his eighty-fifth birthday in the summer of 2022, in Tallinn, giving a series of concerts with his beloved Estonian National Symphony Orchestra. The album, Neeme Jarvi in Concert, serves not just as a commemoration of those wonderful concerts, but also as a personal calling card for this remarkable musician. The concert overture Polonia, published in 1836, may well have been inspired by Wagner’s encounters with defeated Polish nationalists in Leipzig in 1832. Wagner wrote several concert overtures during this period – whilst plans for his revolutionary operatic output were developing – including Christoph Columbus and Rule Britannia!! Max Reger composed the Serenade in G major in 1905 – 06; it demonstrates the style and talent of this too-little-heard composer. Brahms set Schicksalslied (Song of Destiny), a poem by Friedrich Holderlin, in two movements with chorus, but then added a third, an orchestral postlude. Ave verum corpus, possibly Mozart’s best-known setting for chorus, rounds off the programme.
Sleaford Mods will return in 2023 with new album UK GRIM. Throughout their music the duo’s poetic protest and electronic resistance has seen them consistency chart and call out their times with an eloquence and attitude that has made them one of the most urgent and unique voices in modern music. Hailed by the likes of Liam Gallagher, Seth Myers, Iggy Pop, Amyl & The Sniffers and a legion of loyal fans whose devotion for the band would rival most sports supporters. Continuing this sonic vocation on their new album, Jason Williamson and Andrew Fearn’s creative evolution now finds them capturing the atmosphere of their era too. Though no strangers to the dancefloor, the minimal yet immersive beats and grooves of UK GRIM’s tracks – which include collaborations with Dry Cleaning’s Florence Shaw and Jane’s Addiction’s Perry Farrell and Dave Navarro among them – add a new, physical dimension to Sleaford Mod’s sound that makes their words more vital than ever. Music for body AND mind.
The Nature of Things is King Khan’s follow up to his jazz debut The Infinite Ones. The record is titled after a nature television show he grew up watching hosted by David Suzuki. Joining King Khan are a line-up featuring John Convertino (Calexico) on drums, percussion and marimba, Alex White (Fat White Family) on sax and flute, Torben Wesche (King Khan and The Shrines) on saxophone, Davide Zolli (Mojomatics) on percussion and Brontez Purnell (Younger Lovers) on drums and percussion and Maureen Buscareno on Harp.
Alt-country and Americana pioneers The Long Ryders have released their first album in four years. September November is the follow up the critically acclaimed Psychedelic Country Soul. The album’s songs are all originals by guitarist/ mandolinist Sid Griffin (author of the Bob Dylan ‘Basement Tapes’ book Million Dollar Bash) and guitarist/pedal steel player Stephen McCarthy (who also plays with the Jayhawks and the Dream Syndicate).
H. Hawkline (Huw Evans) has released his fifth album, Milk For Flowers. Released on Heavenly Recordings, the album was produced and features musical contributions from long-time collaborator and celebrated solo artist Cate Le Bon. The album features a host of musical collaborators – Davey Newington [Boy Azooga] on drums, Paul Jones [Group Listening] on piano, Tim Presley [White Fence, DRINKS, The Fall] on guitar, Stephen Black [Sweet Baboo] and Euan Hinshelwood [Younghusband, Cate Le Bon] on sax, Harry Bohay [Aldous Harding] on pedal steel and John Parish [PJ Harvey, Aldous Harding] on infrequent bongo.
It’s hard to believe Climax in a Process is the first full-length release by Sharkiface the solo project of Angela Edwards, whose trail of achievements and accolades began in the 90s. Starting with her experience booking and doing tour management for Daniel Johnston, she moved from Texas to the Bay Area and quickly became an important staple, collaborating with local exploding psychedelic stalwarts Hans Grüsel’s Krankenkabinet, Tarantism, and (rumour has it), Caroliner Rainbow, among many others. Sharkiface has toured the United States steadily, with some stints in Europe and Japan, and has been featured at fests such as San Francisco Electronic Music Fest, No Fun Fest, Colour Out of Space, and Ende Tymes, to name a few. Despite having done splits or collaborations with familiar names like Rodger Stella, Leslie Keffer, or Fletcher Pratt, and running a venue called Life-Changing Ministries, this is still her first truly solo outing as a recording artist.
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David Edwards is the editor of The Blurb and a contributor on film and television