 |
| Roz and the Rice Cakes |
LISTEN THE PLAYLIST ON DEEZER.COM
Roz and the Rice Cakes
Slow Motion 2:22
Open Eyes 3:02
from Devotion
Led by Roz Raskin, a nimble vocalist who counts Gwen Stefani among her biggest influences (and she sounds a little like her, too), Rhode Island's Roz and the Rice Cakes released a debut in 2014 that introduced an intricate yet catchy experimental indie pop. Three years later, they strengthen those same qualities on their more vivid follow-up, Devotion. A track like "Open Eyes" starts with a muscular vocal melody over an exposed rhythm section that quickly establishes irregular time signatures before adding melodic, syncopated guitar. Despite lengthy instrumental passages, amorphous forms, and shifting rhythms, it lands like an uptempo dance-pop tune due to the band's ability to keep the big picture simple and accommodate tapping feet... Roz and the Rice Cakes apart from many pop, electronic, and indie rock acts -- as they juggle elements of all three.
Maya Jane Coles
Don't Leave 5:17
Waves & Whirlwinds 3:33
from Waves & Whirlwinds
Waves & Whirlwinds is a brief, EP-length follow-up to Maya Jane Coles' expansive double-album Take Flight, offering a similar blend of tech-house rhythms and pop instincts. Coles excels at producing sensuous dance tracks which float and bubble yet have a steady drive to them. "Don't Leave" has cloudy, pitch-shifted vocal fragments and loose guitars which levitate over a chunky breakbeat, punctuated by samples commanding the listener to "get yo hands up!"... Her vocals, again, are looped murmurings and intonations rather than coherent thoughts, expressing dark, vulnerable feelings rather than spelling them out.
Dr. Dog
Golden Hind 3:12
Swampedelic Pop 3:42
from The Psychedelic Swamp
Back in 2001, The Psychedelic Swamp seemed an appropriate name for the debut cassette from psychedelic pranksters Dr. Dog, but some 15 years later the title seems even more fitting given that the band decided to revisit, rework, and re-jigger the entirety of the album to create a brand-new album for 2016. It's not quite right to say Dr. Dog cover themselves here. Rather, they reconnect with the ideas originally essayed in 2001 and approach those ideas with the skill and panache they've developed in the ensuing 15 years. Because Dr. Dog rely on texture and feel as much as they do songs, this isn't a bad idea at all: they're able to execute ideas they were only able to hint at when they were a young band...
Ibeyi
Deathless feat. Kamasi Washington (Lisa Kainde Diaz) 3:11
Transmission/Michaelion feat. Meshell Ndegeocello, (Maya Dagnino / Lisa Kainde Diaz / Claudia Rankine / Richard Russell) 6:30
from Ash
Ibeyi's stellar self-titled debut album was a flashpoint that steeped itself in brittle electro-drenched R&B and roots Yoruban percussion and openly engaged the saints of Santeria: its introduction was an invocation to Elegua (the gatekeeper between worlds) and the goddess of wind and storms in "Oya." On the French/Cuban sibling duo's sophomore effort, Lisa-Kaindé and Naomi Diaz address matters more corporeal and rooted in lived experience. The spiritual here is an inspirational tool for understanding and confronting suffering and injustice. Ash is an album directly affected by the tension of the times. Its songs address female empowerment, racial injustice, loneliness, and love in a brittle yet warm mix less frenetic than its predecessor. Singing again in mixed French, English, and Yoruba...
