Destroyer "Have We Met? (Merge)"
Remember back 20 years ago when Y2K was gonna destroy all technology? (Looking back over the last few years, would that have been the worst thing?). Well, while the rest of us were hanging out by ATMs at the time in hopes that money would just come flying out of them when the clocks turned over, Dan Bejar was writing what has eventually become Have We Met? (Merge). Originally started then, and aping the then-appropriate sounds of Air, Björk, and Massive Attack, the idea was eventually scrapped. Well, here it is 20 years later and the album has finally been finished. The whole thing is mysterious (as all the best Destroyer albums are) with the sound landing somewhere between his normal output, and the sounds described mere moments ago by yours truly mixed with something of a lounge-y approach. Check out the ethereal “Crimson Tide.”
Torres "Silver Tongue (Merge)"
We’ve been fans of the enchanting music of Torres for a few years now-and are thrilled she is back with her 3rd full-length album. Silver Tongue (Merge) is a heady mixture of swirling synths, hidden guitars, AOR drums, Torres’ poetic, present vocals, and the perils of drinking mercury. Ok, I made up the last one (get it? silver tongue?). But don’t let my dumb joke turn you off to this stunner of an album. Instead, allow yourself to be stunned by this stunner. Start with the first song on the album “Good Scare” and go from there!
Goran Ivanovic & Fareed Haque "IndoBalkan (Delmark)"
From Delmark:
After a 20-year hiatus, virtuoso guitarists Goran Ivanovic and Fareed Haque have joined forces again! A year of intensive touring and composing has produced IndoBalkan, the duo’s debut release on Delmark Records. Featuring rising star percussionist Juan Pastor and incorporating elements of jazz, classical, Indian and Balkan music, the duo explore longer, more complex compositions and stunning technical challenges while retaining their love for beautiful melodies and sweet tones. Two of the most gifted guitarists performing today, their styles and backgrounds are vastly different but, as the Chicago Tribune wrote of them, “when their two guitars play, cultural barriers melt away.”
With IndoBalkan, Ivanovic & Haque are offering their audience a collaborative musical capstone. This multifaceted projects brings together the duo’s musical and geographical influences and showcases their virtuosity and creative lyricism.
Certain tunes like “Prorok” or “Detour Samba” showcase their ensemble and rhythmic sophistication while others like “Rhodes” and “Ikaria” are sensitive, lyrical, and introspective. Percussion widens the palette of the record, performed both on the guitars themselves, as in “Santorini”, as well as on other instruments. Fareed adds a spatial wash of cymbals to the title track “IndoBalkan” and up-and-coming percussioning Juan Pastor guests on “Jim Phelps”.
Over time, Ivanovic & Haque’s music and performance has evolved and matured, becoming more thoughtful and expressive, while retaining its natural athleticism. Their fresh musical language is propelled by strong rhythms, verging closely towards popular forms, meant to be felt and experienced, revealing an inner solidity. — Notes by Julia A. Miller
Check out the haunting title track “IndoBalkan.”
OOIOO "nijimusi (Bandcamp)"
From Thrill Jockey:
Sounds created for no reason. Sounds that come and go, and disappear into the air like a scent, as soon as they materialize. Atonal phrases that hold the meaning of words that existed before the advent of language. The wonders of a vortex pulsing with life. Just as a new discovery is actually a new way of looking to see what has always been there, OOIOO, seemingly from the core of their being, created a world of sound made up of parts well known that is strikingly precise and intensely original. After a six year hiatus, OOIOO has created a new album that goes back to the roots of being a four-piece band. The music shows the full spectrum of the unique sound they have crafted throughout the years, which can only be described as “OOIOO”.