Fresh Tracks: 3/3/23
New music from U.S. Girls, Billie Marten, Algiers, and more
Your music-loving farm cat is back from the hunt.
I’ve returned once again from sleuthing around the barnyard that is the music industry. Please accept these entrails as a sign of gratitude for your dedicated subscription and readership.
We’re all over the sonic map this week. Sweet, salty, rocky, smooth: you can find whatever taste or texture you prefer.
U.S. Girls - “Tux (Your Body Fills Me, Boo)”
Meghan Remy’s latest U.S. Girls album, Bless This Mess, leans into the 1980s to a degree most references to the era shy away from. She isn’t just dabbling into synth sounds, she’s taken on the whole aesthetic—the energetic choirs in the background, the shiny formal wear. Hers is the kind of album that makes you think of specific hair styles.
Another detail that elevates the album from much of the other ‘80s-inspired music from the last few years: its sense of humour. Remy gets the innate ridiculousness of the decade and shows it off perfectly in “Tux (Your Body Fills Me, Boo),” a song written from the perspective of the tailed and bow-tied suit. It’ll make you smile.
Spotify | Apple Music | Bandcamp
James Ellis Ford - “I Never Wanted Anything”
When I heard “I Never Wanted Anything,” the first reference point that came to mind was iconic producer and ambient artist Brian Eno’s songwriting from the ‘70s. Then I looked into this James Ellis Ford guy, and that connection started to make a lot more sense.
The Manchester-born producer has worked with a long list of UK greats, from Arctic Monkeys and Florence and the Machine to Gorillaz and Depeche Mode. I don’t know what it is about producers writing music, but their best work often ends up sounding something like this.
Militarie Gun - “Do It Faster”
Can pop punk/post hardcore sound like this forever? Catchy. Snot-nosed. Noisy. Fun. This three-year-old band from L.A. rails against the “if there’s time to lean, there’s time to clean” ethos driving all that millenial/Gen-Z angst against the 9-5, five-day work week that we hear about all the time in their new single, “Do It Faster.” Or at least that’s what I get from the lyrics and video.
Let’s all agree that their frustration has nothing to do with generational group-think and everything to do with age. My fellow “leaners” from 20 years ago are now PhD-holders, engineers, and house-builders. So put away your tirades and let the kids be. They’ll figure things out eventually. And even if some of them don’t (ie: me), what’s it to you?
Spotify | Apple Music | Bandcamp
Algiers, feat. Zack De La Rocha - “Irreversible Damage”
For a few years there, it felt like everyone forgot about TV On the Radio. Those days are officially gone. You can hear them in the Young Fathers record that dropped earlier this February, and their presence is even more obvious in Shook, the new album from Atlanta band Algiers that arrived last week.
Not that they’ll necessarily get any credit. In fact, the guys in Algiers have made a point to criticize comparisons to TVOTR. But to be honest—that feels a little bit like a troll. Both groups are clearly part of the same musical conversation. (If you look back to this past essay of mine, you might understand what I mean a little better.)
Another progenitor and contributor to that discussion? Rage Against the Machine vocalist Zack De La Rocha, featured here on “Irreversible Damage.” How’s that for a blast from the semi-recent past!
Dry Cleaning - “Swampy”
Talking over rock music is not a new thing. It’s as old as the genre, older even. But there’s something about the way Florence Shaw, Dry Cleaning’s vocalist, does it. It brings back rock’s nihilism in the best way—the way that associates the genre with smoking cigarettes.
Even on a more even-tempoed, laid back track like “Swampy,” Shaw’s disinterested delivery, paired with the sharp guitar tones she monologues over, gives you the feeling that all is not well. You feel the same “pissed-off brit” energy London punk legends Wire offered on tracks like “Lowdown” and “Straight Line,” a sort of things are shit, and that’s exactly what we expected attitude. Sometimes, you need that in life. Or, at least, you need to know that other people feel it, too. That’s what Dry Cleaning can do for you.
Spotify | Apple Music | Bandcamp
Phil Ranelin, Wendell Harrison, Adrian Younge, Ali Shaheed Muhammad - “Fire in Detroit”
I’ve been a casual fan of Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad’s Jazz Is Dead project since I discovered it three years ago. If you’re just being introduced to it now, Muhammad (best known as a member of legendary hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest) joined forces with Younge, a film score composer, in 2017 to bring more awareness to the heroes of jazz still among us by recording new music with them.
A good chunk of the Jazz Is Dead output comes across as a pipe dream that these two had the guts to pursue, but the ethos behind JID016 goes a little deeper than that. Like Muhammad and Younge, trombonist Phil Ranelin and woodwind player Wendell Harrison created their own music business called The Tribe in the ‘70s, starting as a duo and ending as a label and magazine. JID016 makes a direct link to that legacy.
The obvious respect Muhammad and Younge have for these guys could’ve easily made for a dull, careful-sounding record, but the four of them find a groove that keeps all seven tracks afloat. The rhythm flows in and out of the record, making its most emphatic statement on “Fire in Detroit.” Lean back and have a listen.
Billie Marten - “Nothing But Mine”
Billie Marten has more than a few peers, but she’s managed to make her way to the top of the singer/songwriter pile by relying on her strengths: vocal delivery and melody. She’s the kind of artist that can do what you want her to do but couldn’t come up with yourself. She creates comforting surprises that, in many ways, remind me of an artist that gets a lot of love from Ponytail Press—Newfoundland’s current troubadour Tim Baker.
Her skills present themselves perfectly in “Nothing But Mine,” a song that doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel but instead weasles into your brain the old-fashioned way. Part lullaby, part love song, its melody will circle around in your ears long after it’s over. In short: it’s a treat.
Hewie Lou x Snazzy - “Perfect Day”
I’m really happy with this Calgary label I discovered recently, Inner Oceans. Last week, it was neo-soul surprise Danny James. This week it’s this collaborative track from local producer Hewie Lou and his American friend Snazzy.
“Perfect Day” describes itself pretty clearly. You have the day off. It’s warm enough for a light jacket. You’re feeling hip in your favourite outfit as you stroll down the sidewalk. Friends and a cold drink await you at the microbrewery of your choice.