New music round-up (for w/e 16 August 2024)

Our selection of the best new music across a range of genres from the week ending 16 August 2024.

Paradise State of Mind is the long-awaited fourth album from multi-platinum group Foster the People. This is the 3-time GRAMMY Award-nominated band’s first new release in over three years. The record had its origins in the late 1970s crossover between disco, funk, gospel, and jazz according to Mark Foster. “I wanted to dive into that and figure out what they were doing. I was also thinking about how that era has musical and social parallels to the time that we’re in now, with the giant recession in the Seventies, the political turmoil post-Vietnam, and other major tensions. But then you see these expressions of joy happening through music, and I started thinking about joy as an act of defiance”.

Devon Allman has unleashed Miami Moon, his first solo LP in 8 years (out now via his own label, Create Records). For the album, Allman put together one of the finest studio bands in recent history featuring George Porter JR. (The Meters) on bass, Ivan Neville (Keith Richards, Dumpstaphunk) on keyboards, Adam Deitch (Lettuce) on drums, Karl Denson (The Rolling Stones) on saxophone, and Jackson Stokes on guitar. The album sounds like the past and the future colliding under neon pink Miami skies… funky, fresh, and soulful.

After 27 years and nearly 20 albums, it still bears repeating that Bill Charlap is one of the great jazz piano players, and that his trio with bassist Peter Washington and drummer Kenny Washington is one of the great working jazz groups of our day. Those truths are evident on the Bill Charlap Trio’s new Blue Note release, And Then Again, recorded live at the Village Vanguard. The album is a showcase for the locked-in accord and extrasensory communication shared among the three musicians, their fleet yet diamond-sharp decision-making, and the terra firma of the repertoire set against the improvised pluck of the arranging, and the many wonderful, unforgettable moments that ensue.

Japanese musician Hakushi Hasegawa/長谷川白紙 has released their new album Mahōgakkō/魔法学校. Mahōgakkō, translating to “Magic School”, also seeks to make sense of a chaotic, vibrant world by letting itself get swept up in it. A balance of pop and pandemonium, the album is one of extremes, where chipmunk-pitched voices square off against percussion set to speed metal’s tempo and volume. Noise and melody, cutesy and aggressive, acoustic and electronic — all come to a head in a process Hasegawa calls the Explanatory Ratio. Mahōgakkō finds Hakushi pushing their boundaries to the absolute limit, with hyperspeed jungle and breakcore traded up for the even more pummeling onslaughts inspired by Tanzanian singeli so that they become just another texture in the wild sonic landscapes. And just when your senses are bordering on overloaded, Hakushi gifts you a moment of sweet reprieve before the roller coaster sets off again with hectic syncopations and harmonic jumps not for the faint of heart.

Ben Sollee’s first solo studio effort in seven years, Long Haul, is out now via sonaBlast! Recordings. On Long Haul, Sollee draws from diverse influences, from nearby Appalachia and Muscle Shoals (he lives in Kentucky) to the exotic music from Polynesia and West Africa. These influences all meet with Sollee’s cello and vocals to create a wonderfully textured album, something akin to Paul Simon’s Graceland.

Saskia Giorgini presents Images, containing some of Claude Debussy’s most colourful piano works. Starting with tuneful early works such as the Danse (Tarantelle styrienne) and Deux arabesques, Giorgini gradually works towards later, more ambitious pieces such as the Estampes and the two sets of Images, from which the album derives its name. Debussy’s music has always held an enormous attraction to Giorgini, and this album is the result of a years-long search to bring these mesmerising musical pictures to life. With her solo Liszt recordings, Giorgini has demonstrated a masterful touché and unique sense of colour, which makes Debussy’s music an obvious next step.

On his new album Sun Glories, composer, and producer Chuck Johnson explores themes of time, memory, and illusion through his unique blend of pedal steel, synths, organs, strings, and drums. The record sees Johnson performing on pedal steel guitar, electric guitar, synthesizers, harmonium, organ, tapes, and treatments. He’s joined by Ryan Jewell on drums; Clarice Jensen on cello; Emily Packard playing violin and viola, and Cole Pulice doing both tenor saxophone and electronics.

Other reviews you might enjoy:

• New music round-up (for w/e 28 July 2023)
• New music round-up (for w/e 23 February 2024)
• New music round-up (for w/e 27 October 2023)