Devon Kay & The Solutions "Grieving Expectation"
Grieving Expectation is the 4th studio album by Devon Kay & the Solutions and it’s first on Pure Noise Records. The band recorded and engineered the album themselves with their respective home recording equipment and was mixed and mastered by longtime collaborators Mike Kennerty (All American Rejects) & Erik Atwell (Telethon), respectively. The album is a collection of maximalist pop punk songs pulling from every genre imaginable. Masking nihilistic musings with “sugar in your teeth” pop music has become a mainstay for Devon Kay & the Solutions and with Grieving Expectation they’ve expanded on that idea ten fold.
Field Work "Stations"
What does the Earth sound like? In Stations, the 10th volume in the Field Works series, producer Stuart Hyatt approaches that question with a team of scientists working on the EarthScope experiment. Using sophisticated ground recording devices, Field Works has created a new type of music in which human voices sing along with the actual voice of the Earth. Stations features an all-star ensemble of vocalists and instrumentalists, including Hanna Benn, Janie Cowan, Masayoshi Fujita, Stuart Hyatt, Laraaji, Qasim Naqvi, and Brad Weber.
Minibeast "On Ice"
Minibeast is the current project from Peter Prescott, formerly of Mission of Burma. The Providence based band has a new album coming out on April 1, “On Ice: and one of the songs they’ve made available to listen to is “Exclusive.” If you’re familiar with Prescott’s work with Mission of Burma or Volcano Suns, chances are you’re going to dig this song. “Exclusive” has a lot of the noise and clunky guitars of his previous bands, but there is also an jazz-like groove throughout the song. The song surprisingly stops just shy of being mainstream, but definitely stops short. While it may be rooted in classic Burma, Minibeast are a completely different project, but still ones fans will love.
Ibibio Sound Machine "Electricity"
Electricity was produced by the Grammy Award– and Mercury Prize–nominated British synthpop group Hot Chip, a collaboration born out of mutual admiration watching each other on festival stages, as well as a shared love of Francis Bebey and Giorgio Moroder. The fruits of their labor reveal a gleaming, supercharged, Afrofuturist blinder.
Electricity is the first album Ibibio Sound Machine have made with external producers since the group’s formation in London in 2013 by lead singer Eno Williams and saxophonist Max Grunhard. True, 2017’s Uyai featured mixdown guests including Dan Leavers, aka Danalogue, the keyboard jedi in future-jazz trio The Comet Is Coming, but Hot Chip and Ibibio Sound Machine worked together more deeply throughout the process, collaborating fully. Along the way, the team conjured a kaleidoscope of delights that include resonances of Jonzun Crew, Grace Jones, William Onyeabor, Tom Tom Club, The J.B.’s, Jon Hassell’s Fourth World, and Bootsy Collins.