New music round-up (for w/e 23 September 2022)
Our selection of the best new music across a range of genres from the week ending 23 September 2022.
Jorja Chalmers follows up 2019’s critically acclaimed release, Human Again with her sophomore release, Midnight Train (via Italians Do It Better). The album has been described as an ethereal masterpiece with Jorja’s signature at the centre. Fogged out synthesizers chase locomotive rhythms in a duel to the death between her siren wail and her saxophone. Nocturnes for the 21st century.
South African cellist Abel Selaocoe makes his debut on Warner Classics with Where is Home (Hae Ke Kae). Its dual title, in English and Sesotho, reflects the album’s diverse program which draws from vibrant European and African influences: pieces inspired by South African and Tanzanian musical tradition share a space with works by J.S. Bach and Giovanni Benedetto Platti, some of which are renewed with instrumental and lyrical improvisations. The title of the album holds multifaceted significance for the Manchester-based musician: “Home is the place that empowers you; it’s not only a geographical place but in people as well, where you can live a life of empowerment and not of oppression. I’ve learned to find my different homes through the cello.” Abel Selaocoe represents Africa on the move.
You may already be familiar with Cecil Alexander’s guitar playing from Instagram. He is one of the most promising young guitarists on the jazz scene today, and the Michigan son’s singularly soulful, harmonically rich voice as a soloist and his impeccable alternate picking technique has gained him a dedicated fanbase of almost 40,000 followers, among them some of the world’s most respected musicians. His guitar prowess has also landed him a coveted teaching position at the legendary Berklee College of Music. Introducing Cecil Alexander is dedicated in tribute to Alexander’s dad, Cecil Alexander Sr. who passed in 2019. He introduced his young son to albums by Grant Green, John Coltrane, Donny Hathaway, and The Crusaders, all artists that would exert an enormous influence on Alexander.
Courting’s debut album Guitar Music comes on the heels of their debut EP “Grand National”, which saw them earn plaudits across a wide array of media for their boisterous, whip smart lyrics and angular instrumentation. Whilst the album follows closely on the back the EP, the new material sees the band making a marked step in a new direction, exploring more dynamically expressive songwriting than ever before. This new approach to songwriting is key to the whole ethos of the new record, which was produced by double GRAMMY nominated producer James Dring (Gorillaz, Jamie T, Sorry, Lana Del Rey, Blur, Loyle Carner).
In These Times is the new album by Chicago-based percussionist, composer and producer, Makaya McCraven. Although this album is “new,” the truth it’s something that’s been in process for a very long time, since shortly after he released In The Moment in 2015. Dedicated followers may note he’s had 6 other releases in the meantime (including 2018’s widely-popular Universal Beings and 2020’s We’re New Again, his rework of Gil Scott-Heron’s final album for XL Recordings); but none of which have been as definitive an expression of his artistic ethos as In These Times. This is the album McCraven’s been trying to make since he started making records. And his patience, ambition, and persistence have yielded an appropriately career-defining body of work.
“The whole point of this record was to share every emotion that I feel,” says The Soft Moon’s Luis Vasquez. “No two songs are the same. It’s about existing in the world as a human being and experiencing many emotions and experiences throughout life.” And so hence the title Exister, a record rooted in the ecstatic joys and crippling lows that life can throw up and how just hanging on and existing is sometimes all we have. “Exister is my way of saying ‘I’m here, deal with it.’” Vasquez says. Sonically, this expression is a vast, expansive and potent one. The album runs the gauntlet of everything from ambient to dark wave – features ferocious guest contributions from fish narc and Special Interest’s Alli Logout on ‘Him’ and ‘Unforgiven’ – all while retaining that distinct tone that unmistakably The Soft Moon.
From the first bass note within the driving drum beat you can tell something is different about the new record from Nikki Lane. The backbeat feels like a gutsy strut while the lead guitar feels like a revved up engine shifting gears. Denim & Diamonds comes out firing, spit shining the cowboy boots and tossing on a jean jacket. Produced by Joshua Homme (Queens of the Stone Age), Denim & Diamonds has the Highway Queen embracing a more rock-oriented sound while still maintaining the heartfelt outlaw country sound she has developed across her previous three releases. Denim & Diamonds still has the flair Nikki has come to be known for. Her stylized, story-telling lyrics are all there as well as her catchy country hooks. The outlaw country sound is now balanced out with a gritty guitar and a machine gun snare that echoes the sound of 70’s rock.
Other reviews you might enjoy:
- New music round-up (for w/e 19 May 2023)
- New music round-up (for w/e 12 April 2024)
- New music round-up (for w/e 8 April 2022)
David Edwards is the editor of The Blurb and a contributor on film and television