Here’s some new music for y’all to take in. Just a quick warning though: it’s not all immediately accessible (especially Sigh) and one of the songs is 2 years old, but I’m sure many of you are unfamiliar with it so I’m posting it regardless. Enjoy!
Burial - Kindred
Stream here
Firstly, let’s start off with a song so fresh that it still has that brand-new car scent. You’ll all no doubt have heard of Burial by now. Letting all of us become familiar once more with Dubstep’s presence in 2007 via Untrue, Burial helped us get in touch with a genre we almost forgot existed and has since been satiating the craving for those pining to hear more of his signature style of Dubstep through the release of EPs. Somehow (almost impossibly) redefining a sound that was already redefined, “Kindred” (song and EP) sounds like it’s charting new territory, fleshing out Burial’s brooding side and focusing heavily on atmosphere. On an EP with songs that constantly meander, “Kindred” is decidedly the most straightforward of the three. The other two are available for stream right below “Kindred”, assuming you like said song.
John Talabot - Depak Lne
Stream here
John Talabot’s 2012 entry alubum (Fin) is one of the most exciting house albums I’ve heard in recent memory. Toying with ideas most artists stray from or are too afraid to fully explore, Talabot seems to really have a knack for creating mood and atmosphere, taking influence from funk, glam, electro, and so on. Fin truly is an album comprised of songs that sound completely different, nuanced, and fully realized. It’s in listening to a track like Depak Lne that one can fully appreciate just how nuanced his sound is: drawing initially from tribal percussion and a contorted synth line, "Depak Lne" is a slow burner - transitioning from a hazily brooding atmosphere to an organic, upbeat sound with crooning chants, it encapsulates Talabot’s best qualities.
Sigh - The Transfiguration
Stream here
Okay, let it be known: this song is most assuredly not for everyone. In fact, chances are people will likely regard this with contempt and/or laughter and most people will steer clear of this. And sure, it sounds a little silly, but (as always) Sigh opt to create something fresh instead of a retread of past material. Their resolute refusal to be pigeonholed is something that has to be met with admiration. The debate as to what they are rages on, and while they don’t belong to any one particular genre more so than the other, it’s obvious that their sound is comprised of constituent parts black metal, progressive metal, avant-garde metal, symphonic metal, and even some psychedelia. “The Transfiguration” opens with exhilarating percussive instruments and leads from the first verse to a chorus with indistinguishable but fun/playful female vocals contrasted against thudding drums. Featuring both a saxophone solo and what sound like a pan-flute renaissance outro, Sigh have once more shown that they are pushing boundaries and refuse to conform to traditional standards. It’s playful, it’s fun, it’s energetic, and - best of all - it’s excitingly new.
The Knife - Colouring of Pigeons
Stream here
My favourite song of all time. It’s only been out for two years, but Colouring of Pigeons is a perfect encapsulation of everything I look for in music. Focusing the talents of Planningtorock and Mt. Sims, The Knife have created a sound that simply couldn’t be manipulated on their own with an operatic focus and coos emulating those of birds. Detailing Charles Darwin’s time aboard the HMS Beagle for his voyage to chart South Africa, the lyrics fixate on his fascination of the colouring of pigeons, their skeletal structures, feathers, and other such things aside his fancy of pigeons, such as letters to Henslow about Northern forms of vegetation vs. Southern forms. Through the talents of many vocalists and a large array of instruments ranging from wood guiros, carbasas’, tambourine, xylophone, gong, etc., the song effortlessly exudes an organic aura and evokes sensational imagery. It almost has a sense of life to it, sounding as if it were recorded right in the middle of a tropical rainforest. One of the coolest aspects of it is how it almost feels like a rap-passover from the first vocalist to the second when the first verse is concluded with “A strange scene it is, under - over - through”. Songs like these come about once in a lifetime -- make sure you check it out.
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