SAICOBAB "NRTYA"
SAICOBAB channels the vital energy of living music traditions through ecstatic performance. The quartet brings together four musicians whose understanding of ancient musical forms is matched only by their thrilling contemporary resetting of such styles. YoshimiO’s experiments in this field are well documented, from OOIOO’s incorporation of Javanese gamelan into their kaleidoscopic soundworld, to Boredoms’ electrifying modern rituals. Multi-instrumentalist Yoshida Daikiti reveals the human hand that shapes living traditions, as much through his fluid playing as his own collection of handmade instruments, while percussionist and multi-instrumentalist Motoyuki “Hama” Hamamoto embodies the metaphysical power of rhythm. The group initially coalesced around hyperkinetic, improvised live performances, but have since expanded into an increasingly daring series of studio albums. NRTYA, Sanskrit for “dance”, speaks to the spiritual power of music and movement, the group crafting transcendent modern ragas that push from profoundly physical playing to higher planes of existence.
The album’s title is particularly apt for music that speaks to the body as much as the spirit, threading from hypnotic meditations one moment to ecstatic freak-outs the next. Each track is a combination of the “raga” (melody) and “tala” (beat), with members often trading roles and slipping effortlessly from one to the other. YoshimiO’s wild vocal acrobatics and inimitable range shift from hypnotic chants to ethereal atmospherics and darting melodies, ducking and weaving around Daikiti’s serpentine sitar figures and basslines, eddying in psychedelic whorls or expanding outwards into infinity. Hama’s solid rhythmic architectures and deft polyrhythms are here enhanced by additional drums from Taketawa Yo2ro, slipping from subtle pulses that are more felt than heard to thundering grooves that drive the music from the fore. Beneath each track’s enrapturing immediacy, every melodic and rhythmic turn is pregnant with layers of meaning and symbolism, drawing as much on numerology and mysticism as the group’s flawless musicianship to imbue each track with incandescent spiritual power.
SAICOBAB’s music exudes a true reverence for living musical traditions while remaining unbound by orthodoxy, with the group fearlessly exploring the futuristic possibilities contained within ancient music. NRTYA explores the shared roots of Japanese and Indian spiritual practices in a tangible, intoxicating form. The electrifying energy of the quartet’s original performance is palpable in every track, eliminating established hierarchies with performer and listener alike entwined in the same cosmic dance.
Rosali "Bite Down"
Dan Bejar of Destroyer says:
“It’s hard to talk about Rosali’s music. Songs that reach outward like this, but then constantly disarm with their intimacy. What do you call such inner searching that is hellbent on rollicking? Songs that long for a sense of peace and songs that want romance, all on equal footing in the same plot of earth? Performed wild, but always centered around the incredible lyrical calm that is Rosali’s voice.
Bite Down makes me think about singers and bands that throw themselves hard into the storm, the way the Rosali quartet does. … The calm of her voice over top of the band’s raging—it is the emblem of songs that live to put themselves in harm’s way. But it’s not harm. It’s just that you have to play hard to get at these goods. The calm of Rosali’s voice, the straight talk of her inner search vs. the wildness of the band, the sonic storm she rides in on. That’s their sound.”
Wye Oak "Shriek: Variations"
Outer World "Who Does the Music Love?"
Who wouldn’t want a break from planet earth after the past few years we’ve all had? Kenneth Close and Tracy Wilson have built themselves a new universe in the form of a home recording studio to transport themselves a galaxy away from the grief, fear, and worry the pandemic brought. The duo dubbed themselves Outer World and they blasted off into an entirely new to them corner of the musical universe to create their debut album Who does the music love?
Covid moved into Wilson’s lungs in February of 2020 and overstayed its welcome. It stole what she describes as “her big voice”. For those familiar with her previous bands Dahlia Seed or Positive No, her trademark, no need for a microphone belt, was gone for good. The couple grieved for the literal loss of a primary instrument used in their art, but were determined to find a way back to making music again.Together, they began exploring the world of songwriting using a computer, samples, synths, and plug-ins. The goal was to create a new musical landscape where Tracy could find a new voice that wasn’t as focused on power, but still potent nonetheless. The next two years were spent wrestling with long Covid and finding ways to work around each new frustrating lingering side effect.
Close and Wilson had spent the previous decade creating technicolor post-punk pop as the band Positive No. Their final cinematic album Kyanite dabbled with electronic sounds and hints that had they remained active through the past three years, their indie rock genre banner would have been torn down to make way for something more free adventurous. Their current home studio sits in the center of what they lovingly call the record womb, a computer surrounded by some 7,000 records and all their instruments/ recording gear. Tucked into the layers of Who does the music love? is a century of recorded music from all over the world. We find the dynamic swing of a Swedish soul jazz singer on top of Bond worthy spy themes. We hear the sensuality of France in the ‘60’s when in swaggers a wink to ‘90s house music. There is a tug-o-war between a ‘70s angular post punk and experimental Brazilian psych. Cosmic Jazz, noisecore, freakbeat breaks, space age bachelor pad Moog mayhem, and the treatment of the iconic retro-future group Broadcast as a genre and chosen family. This diverse blend is just some of Outer World’s psychedelic garage pop points of inspiration. It is music to make any crate digger’s heart skip a beat.
A six songs demo in the summer of 2022 was reshaped at the Sweeping Promises home studio in Lawrence Kansas with the additional help of Keith Renna on drums; fellow member of Positive No with a proven chemistry to Close and Wilson. A 7th song was written that fall, and then the entire body of work was handed over to Maryam Qudus (Spacemoth) for her artful mixing. Outer World’s long EP had metamorphosed from song sketches used for vocal rehab and a pandemic escape hatch into a reverb drenched, hallucinogenic fever dream. Thematically the pandemic is never given the spotlight; it was merely the dirt from which these flowers bloomed: Lotteries (Loteria), an artist’s complicated relationship with making art (Outer World), notes to self written on hotel stationary (Have), French proverbs (Forms of Knowing), Chiaroscuro contrasts (Flower Gunpowder), Keith Haring’s personal musings (The Message is the Message), and the power dynamics in relationships (The Drum, The Beat – featuring Lira Mondal of Sweeping Promises on backing vocals). Chicago illustrator Sara Gossett carries us out of this world and into a colorful cosmic universe where joy radiates out in all directions.
It would be tempting to call Outer World a pandemic project or assume their debut record carries the emotional weight of terrible times, but you would be wrong on both counts. Outer World is a band nearly 15 years in the making and Who does the music love? is a blissful rainbow wrapped up in a giant silver lining bow. Problem solving around a tragedy has never sounded so curiously enthralling.