Denver-based indie rock trio Hello, Mountain — Stephen Pamas, Jack Falk and Patrick Smith — formed in back in 2014. And since their formation, the Denver-based trio have specials in what the act describes as glossy indie rock with sincerity.
Hello, Mountain recently released their sophomore album Swim. The album’s latest single “Talk To You” is centered around shimmering guitars, plaintive vocals and a rousingly anthemic hook within an alternating loud verse, even louder chorus/hook song structure. While sonically bearing a resemblance to Radiohead and Massive Context EP-era Hands, “Talk To You” is a swooning and earnest love song written with a pop leaning accessibility.
Sneaker Pimps — currently founding members Liam Howe (production) and Chris Corner (guitar, vocals) with newly recruited Simonne Jones (vocals) — can trace their origins back to their formation in Hartlepool, UK back in 1994: The act’s initial lineup of Howe, Corner, Kelli Ali (née Dayton), Joe Wilson and Dave Westlake quickly established themselves as one of the pioneers of trip hop with their critically applauded and commercially successful, full-length debut, 1996’s Becoming X, which featured their signature track “6 Underground.”
Ali left the band after the release of Becoming X. Corner took over on vocal duties and the band went on to release two more albums, 1999’s Splinter and 2002’s Bloodsport. Wilson and Westlake left the band in 2002. Shortly after, Sneaker Pimps’ founding members made a mutual decision to explore other creative avenues: Corner and Howe went on to their own highly successful individual ventures in music and film, collaborating with the likes of Gary Numan, Lana del Rey and others with IAMX (Corner) and AMP (Howe). During their initial seven-year run, Sneaker Pimps had five UK Top 40 singles — the aforementioned “Six Underground,” “Spin Spin Sugar,” “Low Five,” and “Bloodsport.”
Sneaker Pimps’ founding members, who are currently split between London and Los Angeles ended a lengthy 14 year hiatus back in 2016 with hints of new music. Since then, the act’s fans have been desperately waiting for new material. Five years have passed but earlier this year Howe and Corner announced that they’d be releasing a new album, their highly anticipated fourth album, Squaring the Circle in the fall. Recently, Corner and Howe, along with their newest member Simonne Jones released a double single of album material, “Squaring the Circle” and “Fighter.”
Album title track “Squaring the Circle” is a yearning duet between Corner and Jones centered around a hauntingly sparse arrangement of twinkling piano, atmospheric electronics and layered backing vocals. Sonically, the track is a decided departure from their commercially successful initial run with the cinematic track reminding me quite a bit of Tales of Us-era Goldfrapp. “Fighter” finds the legendary trip hop pioneers crafting a remarkably contemporary sound centered around wobbling synth arpeggios, skittering beats paired with Jones’ sultry vocals and a rousingly anthemic hook. While clearly being wildly different, the tracks are thematically related with both tracks being tales of survival — in desperate and uncertain times.
“After 18 years of dormancy and deliberation we (Sneaker Pimps) are releasing not one, but two new tracks,” Sneaker Pimps’ Liam Howe explains. “‘Fighter’ is a plea for courage and strength against prevailing mental health crises. ‘Squaring the Circle’ (via Nietzsche) is a heartfelt ode to eternal returns of love, in the face of desperate adversity. Contrasting in nature, hopefully these songs describe the diversity and essence of the new album.
“It’s taken many yearsand many false starts to get Sneaker Pimps back in the game,” Sneaker Pimps’ Chris Corner said on Twitter. “Sometimes [you] need to back the fuck off and let the universe take control. I’m proud and relieved to say that it is finally happening. We officially have new music.”
Perry, GA-born, Athens, GA-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Ernest Greene is creative mastermind behind the acclaimed synth pop/chillwave, JOVM mainstay act Washed Out. Started in earnest in 2009, Greene posted material on MySpace, which caught the attention of a nubmer of influential blogs who championed him, while comparing his work to JOVM mainstay Neon Indian and Memory Tapes.
Building upon a rapidly growing profile, Greene released his first two Washed Out EP in August and September 2009. The Perry-born, Athens-based JOVM mainstay supported his early efforts with his first New York area show at the now, long shuttered Santos Party House. He continued upon that momentum with a set at 2010’s Pitchfork Music Festival. And “Feel It All Around” was chosen for the acclaimed, smash-hit TV series Portlanadia.
In early 2011, Greene signed with Sub Pop Records, who released his critically applauded and commercially successful full-length Within and Without: the album peaked at #26 on Billboard 200 and #89 on the UK Albums Chart. 2013’s sophomore album Paracosm was a radical change in sonic direction that featured a warmer, tropical-inspired sound — but while retaining the ethereal quality of his previously released material. 2017’s third album, the Cole M.G.N. co-produced Mister Mellow was released through Stone’s Throw Records, and featured a beatmaker-inspired aesthetic.
Greene’s fourth Washed Out album, last year’s Purple Noon was written and recorded by the JOVM mainstay with production following a brief stint of writing with other artists — mostly notable with Sudan Archives on her debut Athena. Those collaborations found their way into Purple Noon‘s material with the album sonically drawing from R&B and modern pop. While arguably being among the brightest and more robust sounding material he’s released to date, the album is also a big leap forward: Greene’s vocals are placed front and center of the entire mix with the production featuring harder hitting beats.
Deriving its name from Rene Clement’s 1960 film Purple Noon, which was based on Patricia Highsmith’s novel The Talented MisterRipley, Greene’s fourth Washed Out album is inspired by the Mediterranean coastline — with Greene paying tribute to the region’s island-based cultures, elegance and old-world charm. The surroundings serve as a gorgeous backdrop to stories of passion, love, loss and longing. Purple Noon‘s first single “Too Late” can be descried as a bit of a return to form: it’s swooning synth pop featuring skittering beats, glistening bass synth arpeggios, Greene’s lush vocals, a rousingly anthemic hook and a decidedly Caribbean/Mediterranean Island meets Quiet Storm air. Just under the hook-driven, breezy surface, the song is full of desperately aching longing.
Earlier this month, Green released a remix of “Too Late” by Puerto Rican pop duo Buscabulla. Buscabulla ‘s remix retains Greene’s achingly plaintive and lush vocals and pairs them with a funky and blissed out, New Jack Swing-inspired production featuring a strutting bass line, skittering beats and squiggling synths.
Along with the remix, Greene announced that he’ll finally be hitting the road to support Purple Noon during Winter 2022. The tour includes a February 7, 2022 stop at Brooklyn Bowl. The rest of the tour dates are below. And you can check out the following — https://washedout.net/tour for ticket information and more.
Mon. Jan. 10 – Asheville, NC – Orange Peel Tue. Jan. 11 – Nashville, TN – Brooklyn Bowl Thu. Jan. 13 – Houston, TX – Stereo Live Fri. Jan. 14 – Austin, TX – Empire Sat. Jan. 15 – Dallas, TX – The Granada Theatre Mon. Jan. 17 – Phoenix, AZ – The Van Buren Tue. Jan. 18 – San Diego, CA – The Observatory Thu. Jan. 20 – Los Angeles, CA – The Wiltern Theatre Fri. Jan. 21 – Santa Ana, CA – The Observatory Sat. Jan. 22 – San Francisco, CA – The Regency Mon. Jan. 24 – Portland, OR – Wonder Ballroom Tue. Jan. 25 – Seattle, WA – Showbox at the Market Fri. Jan. 28 – Salt Lake City, UT – Metro Gallery Sat. Jan. 29 – Denver, CO – The Gothic Theatre Mon. Jan. 31 – Minneapolis, MN – USA – Fine Line Tue. Feb. 01 – Chicago, IL – Metro Thu. Feb. 03 – Toronto, ON – The Danforth Theatre Fri. Feb. 04 – Montreal, QC – L’Astral Sat. Feb. 05 – Boston, MA – Paradise Mon. Feb. 07 – Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Steel Wed. Feb. 09 – Washington, DC – 9:30 Club Thu. Feb. 10 – Philadelphia, PA – Underground Arts Fri. Feb. 11 – Chapel Hill, NC – Cat’s Cradle Sat. Feb. 12 – Atlanta GA – The Eastern
There are few artists I’ve written about as much over the past 18-20 months than the frenetically prolific French electronic music producer and JOVM mainstay LutchamaK. During that same 18-20 month period, LutchamaK has released an increasingly eclectic array of material — through EPs, albums and standalone singles — that have found him bouncing around effortlessly between different electronic music styles, genres and sub-genres.
career: he started the year with Pi, a full-length album written and recorded in a three-month inspired burst that resulted in some of the darkest and heaviest material he has released to date. He followed that up with Quest EP, which featured experimental yet melodic material. A few months later, he dropped the four-song EP Rapscallion. which featured the Radioactivity-era Kraftwerk meets 90s techno-like “James Blitz 007.”
French producer and JOVM adds another release to a wildly prolific year, the 11 song album Seven Hybrids. A few hours ago, I wrote about the hypnotic club banger “Moonbright.” The album’s second and latest single “Davaï” is a straightforward yet crowd pleasing and hypnotic banger that’s deeply indebted to Larry Levan-era house music: skittering tweeter and woofer rocking beats and a sultry mantra-like vocal sample are paired with dense layers of wobbling synth arpeggios.
There are few artists I’ve written about as much over the past 18-20 months than the frenetically prolific French electronic music producer and JOVM mainstay LutchamaK. During that same 18-20 month period, LutchamaK has released an increasingly eclectic array of material — through EPs, albums and standalone singles — that have found him bouncing around effortlessly between different electronic music styles, genres and sub-genres.
far, 2021 has been among the most productive and prolific of the JOVM mainstay’s career: he started the year with Pi, a full-length album written and recorded in a three-month inspired burst that resulted in some of the darkest and heaviest material he has released to date. He followed that up with Quest EP, which featured experimental yet melodic material. A few months later, he dropped the four-song EP Rapscallion. which featured the Radioactivity-era Kraftwerk meets 90s techno-like “James Blitz 007.”
The French producer and JOVM adds another release to a wildly prolific year, the 11 song album Seven Hybrids. The album’s first single “Moonbright” is a hypnotic and expansive 90s-inspired deep house banger centered around skittering, tweeter and woofer rocking beats, glistening synth arpeggios, atmospheric electronics and a melodic, almost pop-leaning sensibility.
Toxiq is an emerging French electro pop act featuring two long-term friends: Les Matchboxx’s Claire Deligny and Yul, a producer who specializes in a subtle yet percussive sound. Their collaborative project together draws from their 20+ year friendship and the years they’ve spent dancing, eating and crying together. Because of the pandemic, the project’s earliest batches of material were written and recorded at a distance — both physical and temporal.
Building upon a growing profile in the Francophone music world, the duo’s latest single finds the tackling Bernard Lavillers’ 1983 hit “Idées Noires” with Catherine Ringer. Interestingly, the Toxiq version of the song retains the alternating boy-girl verses and melody of the original but paired with an infectious, club banging production centered around layers of arpeggiated synths, and tweeter and woofer rocking beats.
Lesser Care is an emerging West Texas-based shoegaze act. While they’re currently putting the finishing touches on their Chris Common-produced full-length debut, they released the “Palm”/”Acquired Taste” 7 inch:
A-Side single “Palm’ is a stormy song centered around thunderous and propulsive drumming, angular bursts of shimmering and delay pedaled guitar, atmospheric synths and brooding Ian Curtis-like baritone vocals that sonically builds up to a towering and catharsis before gently fading out.
B-Side single “Acquired Taste” is a slow-burning and forceful track centered around a classic grunge rock song structure — rousingly anthemic choruses featuring scorching guitars and thunderous drumming and dreamy verses featuring shimmering guitars and atmospheric synths paired with brooding baritone vocals.
Thematically, both tracks tracks loss, grief, loneliness, and acceptance. Considering the past 16 months, those themes are all too relevant with all of us figuring out how to maneuver a world transformed by fear, death, political instability and inequality. And in some way, the song captures and evokes the overall sense of uneasiness, dread and begrudging acceptance that many of us have felt — and will feel for some time.
UNZITE allowed the duo the ability to merge their mind and missions with a sound that blends psychedelia with beat-heavy electronic production and live, organic instrumentation.
e duo’s debut effort, 2018’s Birds Don’t Fly was written and recorded mostly through email. But their forthcoming sophomore album VISUALS, which will be released through Lowly/Wilder Records on August 29, 2021 sees the duo writing and recording material together — in the same space and at the same time. During the recording process, the duo realized that they sounded best when they harmonized. Interestingly, VISUALS’ third single “FROSTY” saw the duo changing things up a bit with KUNZITE’s Stroud takes cup lead vocal duties. Sonically, the track is a summery/beach friendly jam centered around a trippy and cosmic groove, easy-going bass line, shimmering synths and Stroud’s laid-back vocals.
VISUALS’ fourth and latest single “LEMON SWAYZE” was recorded between Stroud’s upstate New York barn-based studio and White’s Oregon-based domed shaped studio. Sonically, the track is a decidedly dance floor friendly jam, centered around rapid-fire, four-on-the-floor, buzzing guitars, a sinuous, motorik groove and a rousingly anthemic, euphoria-inducing hook — with a playful nod at Cyndi Lauper. As the story goes while recording the song Agustin stood in the middle of his Oregon-based domed studio and felt a channel of energy through the line that came through the studio, and began singing the first thing that came out of his mouth — which are heard on the final track.
“‘LEMON SWAYZE’ was created with the mission of bringing listeners to their feet, dancing in exaltation while on a crazy joyride,” the members of KUNZITE explain. “The track’s title was inspired by a vision Agustin had of lemons as spaceships, induced by the consumption of a favorite cannabis strain, Lemon Cake.”
Houston-based post-punk/darkwave act Victorian Death Photos are purposely shrouded in a cloak of mystery: Featuring two anonymous artists, a man and a woman, who publicly go by He and She, the mysterious duo’s latest project can trace its origins back to their previous multimedia collaborations together. Interestingly, Victorian Death Photos was initially meant to be a metal album — but the best laid plans of mice and men, and they say.
Once they started working on original material together, they wound up zeroing in on a “haunted synthy post-punk electronic sound,” which wound up comprising their Victorian Death Photos debut, The Basement Tapes EP released earlier this year. “We went with it,” She says in press notes. Interestingly, the mysterious Houston-based duo’s latest single “RadIum Girls” is the first batch of new material since the release of The Basement Tapes EP. And as the duo explain “Radium Girls” is based on a true story: In the early 1920s, female workers in watch factories, painted watch dials with radium paint. The women were repeatedly told that the paint was harmful. But after being around and ingesting massive amounts of radium, the female factory workers wound up contracting severe radiation poisoning: the end result was teeth failing out; bone deterioration in the jaw — to the point that they’d have to have bones removed.; stillborn babies and eventually death.
Centered around thumping boom bap-like drumming, buzzing bass synths and guitars fed through reverb and delay pedal, She’s ethereal vocals and a rousingly anthemic hook, “Radium Girls” evokes a slow-burning and creeping sense of unease and dread, while sonically bearing a resemblance to Garbage‘s self-titled debut and Version 2.0.
Based in the Kingdom of Fife region of Scotland, the rising shoegazer act Sunstinger — Taylor Wright, Scott Gourlay, Bill Anderson and Nick Hernandez — features some of the region’s most accomplished musicians collaborating together with individual members playing as touring members in Oasis and The Fratellis, as well as stints with Scottish acts like Sergeant, Tomas Bird & The Blonde Spirit and Rioteers.
Sunstinger’s recently released EP Beyond the Frame was written and recorded over a three day period with Magnus Collie during the end of last year. “It was put together very quickly. We went into the studio with about 50 percent of the lyrics and no guitar parts,” the band’s Taylor Wright recalls in press notes. “We actually wrote ‘All My Friends Are High’ at the rehearsal the night before and Scott, our guitarist, hadn’t even heard it until he arrived at the studio the next day. For some reason the process just worked for us. We experimented with a lot of different guitar sounds as we wanted it to sound as loud as possible. We’ve left no space in the songs at all and Magnus was a big part in that too.”
Taylor goes on to explain that the EP for the band is “the sound we’ve been searching for these last few years. If it was 10 years ago, everything before this would have been a learning process towards this EP. And the EP would probably be the first thing release. In this day and age though, the way social media works, and the band bands can release material, it’s like the audience or fans come on the journey from the beginning.”
Beyond the Frame‘s latest single “All My Friends Are High” sonically is a swaggering and self-assured mix of Phil Spector Wall of Sound-like production, classic shoegaze and 90s Brit Pop featuring dense layers of towering and swirling guitars, thunderous drumming, an enormous and rousingly anthemic hook, a chugging rhythm section serving as a lush bed for plaintive vocals. The song — to my ears — manages to evoke the thoughts and sensations you’d have while tripping on hallucinogens, while being the sort of soundtrack to post-party conversations that continue into sunrise.
Reykjavik-based post-punk/industrial act and JOVM mainstays Kælan Mikla — Sólveig Matthildur, Margrét Rósa, and Laufey Soffía — had a breakthrough year back in 2018: The Cure’s Robert Smith championed the Icelandic trio, and handpicked them to open for the legendary British act’s festival stops through the UK and US. Adding to a big year, Kælan Mikla played at that year’s Roadburn Festival. And they toured with King Dude. Interestingly enough, all of that happened before the release of their critically applauded third album Nótt eftir nott.
Undir Köldum Norðumljósum, the Reykjavik-based trio’s upcoming, Barði Jóhannsson-produced fourth album is slated for an October 15, 2021 release through their longtime label home Artoffact Records. Undir Köldum Norðumljósum reportedly sees the trio crafting lush and cinematic material centered around shimmering synth arpeggios, ethereal vocals sung in their native Icelandic, spine-chilling background screams, relentless motorik grooves and programmed drums while pulling the listener into their unique world full of folklore, fairytales, magic, spells and mysticism. The album will also feature a guest spot from Alcest, who toured with the trio across the European Union before the pandemic.
So far I’ve written about “Sólstöður,” a brooding and cinematic track centered around droning and shimmering synths, nightmarish screams and an ethereal and gorgeous vocal melody. Sonically, “Sólstöður,” evokes horror soundtracks — especially those featuring witches and demons slinking out into the night to perform ancient rituals involving human or animal sacrifices. “’Sólstöður’ is an ode to the darkest night of the year, when witches summon winter spirits in the frozen vastness of Icelandic landscapes,” the members of the Icelandic trio explain in press notes. “The song represents the strength of unity, Kælan Mikla in its truest form, fueled by the power of harsh and raw nature.”
Undir Köldum Norðumljósum‘s second and latest single “Ósýnileg” originally premiered as part of Adult Swim’s Singles series. Continuing a run of remarkably cinematic singles, Ósýnileg” centered around shimmering and atmospheric synth arpeggios, relentless motorik grooves and rapid-fire four-on-the-floor beats, blood-curdling screams and the trio’s equally ethereal vocals Undir Köldum Norðumljósum‘s latest single may be the most dance floor friendly of the singles released off the album so far — while evoking howling wintry winds and unexplained phenomena.
Holy Hive is a Brooklyn-based JOVM mainstay act featuring:
Paul Spring, a St. Cloud, MN-born, Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter and guitarist, who spent his formative years studying ancient languages, poetry and classical guitar before making a name for himself as a folk artist, who self-released seven albums, including a well-received children’s album Home of Song.
Interestingly, Holy Hive can trace its origins to when Spring and Steinweiss met on a Minnesota farm through their respective girlfriends, who are cousins. The duo began a long-distance friendship, which over time developed into a folk-based recording project. Back in 2016, Spring relocated to New York. Shortly after, the duo were invited to tour with fellow JOVM mainstay Lee Fields. That tour dramatically changed their approach and sound: after the tour they began exploring the relationships between the traditions and lyricism of folk and the aesthetics and rhythms of soul music — seamlessly meshing them into something anachronistic yet uniquely theirs. And with a new sound, they began honing their sound with a year-long monthly resident at Red Hook, Brooklyn-based dive bar Sunny’s with a rotating cast of collaborators.
Spring and Steinwess then spent the next couple of years working on folk and soul inspired material that thematically focused on love and loss. The end result was teh duo’s full-length debut, last year’s Float Back to You. Recorded at Steinwess’ Diamond Mind Studios, the album was produced by Steinwess and consists of 10 originals, a cover of Honeybus’ “Be Thou By My Side” and a re-working of the old Irish folk standard “Red is the Rose.” The album also featured an impressive array of guest stars including Mary Lattimore (harp), El Michels Affair’s Leon Michels (sax, keys), The Shacks‘ Shannon Wise (backing vocals), The Roots’ Dave Guy (trumpet), Nick Movshon (bass) and Spring’s wife Sophia Heymans (piano).
The duo’s self-titled sophomore album is slated for a September 24, 2021 release through their longtime label home Big Crown Records. The album reportedly reviews a natural but subtle evolution for the duo: while still largely centered around the old-school soul and folk that has won them attention and praise, the Spring and Steinweiss push their sound and songwriting approach in new directions with narrative-driven Mexican ballads, Turkish funk and even a bit of Chicano Soul being added to the mix.
“We wanted this album to be a blending of our musical personalities – a continuation of our Folk Soul experiment,” Holy Hive’s Paul Spring explains. “We started the album together on tour, staying in Air BnBs with small mobile recording rigs. Then the pandemic forced us to work on it separately from our own quarantined homes. And finally, months later and reunited in New York, we finished it together in the Diamond Mine Studio.” Steinweiss continues, “I think we achieved something new and exciting on this album. We went deeper into ourselves to find inspiration, and we did a lot of self-reflection to find the words and themes that we wanted to express. There is a sadness to the album as a whole, but it was finished during a sad time for the world so I think it reflects a lot of what we have been going through.” Unsurprisingly, their self-titled sophomore album may the most personal of their growing catalog with the album’s material thematically touching upon the joys of partnership and love, and the fact that sadly no matter how hard you may try, all things end. So you dust yourself off, maybe figure it all out and (hopefully) try to start over again with some level of perspective.
The self-titled album’s first single “Ain’t That The Way” is a woozy and uneasy stomp featuring a persistent rhythm punctuated by handclaps, a looping and twinkling keys, a soaring hook and achingly plaintive vocals. And while displaying a breezy and infectious craft, the song is centered around the fact that all things good and bad end. Heartbreak is a part of our lives — and so is what you do with it.
Miller has decided to step out into the limelight as a solo artist with his latest project Josie Lockhart. Interestingly, Josie Lockhart is a sonic departure from Miller’s best known work with the project finding the Austin-based singer/songwriter crafting a sound that draws from indie rock, psychedelia and Americana. Miller’s Josie Lockhart full-length debut Santa Rosa is forthcoming — but in the meantime, the album’s third and latest single “If There’s A Heaven” is centered around shimmering guitars, a propulsive rhythm section and a soaring hook. The end result is a song that sonically sounds like a synthesis of 80s New Wave and Psychic Ills‘ gorgeous and jangling Inner Journey Out.
The song’s verses and vocal hook points out that much of life’s beautiful and important moments are fleeting while the chorus finds its narrator wondering if there’s an afterlife that where we can reunite with our loved ones.
Mackenzie Leighton is a rising San Diego-born, Paris-based indie folk singer/songwriter and musician. Leighton’s family moved to a small, seaside town in Maine, where she grew up. The San Diego-born, Paris-based artist can trace much of the origins of her music career to her father taking her to classical piano lessons as a young girl. When Leighton turned 18, she attended my alma mater, New York University — and while in New York, she played in several jazz and folk inspired bands.
Upon graduation, Leighton relocated to Paris. She landed a day job as a florist and launched a solo career with the release of 2017’s self-titled EP, a singer/songwriter folk effort that was released to praise and comparisons to Phoebe Bridgers and Julia Jacklin. Leighton’s sophomore EP, last year’s Tourist(e) was a decided change in sonic direction that found the rising American-born, French-based artist working with French musicians and producers while pairing folk-inspired songwriting with lush yet contemporary instrumentation and production. Leighton has supported both of her recorded efforts with shows in and around Paris, as well as with tours in Italy, Belgium and here in the States.
Earlier this week, I wrote about EP track “Un jour la vie.” Centered around Leighton’s coquettish vocals, a sinuous yet propulsive bass line, thumping beats and shimmering guitars, “Un jour la vie” is a playful and infectious invitation to dream of an escape to Italy, to drink endless Aperol Spritzes and to dance the night away without a care in the world. A wondrous dream considering the last 18 months, eh? The EP’s third and latest single, EP title track “Flueriste” is a hook-driven pop confection featuring shimmering synths, a buoyant bass line and Leighton singing the song’s lyrics in a gorgeous and breezy English. The song manages to address the plight of contemporary musicians unable to work — but hoping for a bright future of live shows, and all of things we missed so very much.
Acclaimed Malian-born, Paris-based kora player Ballaké Sissoko comes from an equally acclaimed and deeply musical family: Sissoko is the song of the late, legendary kora master Djelimady Sissoko, best known for his work with Ensemble Instrumental Du Mali. Drawn to the kora at at a very young age, the younger Sissoko was taught the instrument by his father.
Tragicaally, Djelmady died while his children were very young — and Ballaké stepped up to take on the role of the family breadwinner, eventually taking his father’s place in Ensemble Instrumental Du Mail.
Interestingly, Ballakè Sissoko has had a long-held fascination with genres and sounds outside of the scope the Mandika people — i.e., flamenco guitar, sitar and others — which has inspired and led to a series of critically applauded collaborations with a diverse and eclectic array of musicians across the globe including Vincent Segal, Toumani Diabaté, legendary bluesman Taj Mahal and Ludovic Einaudi.
Now, as you may recall Nø Førmat Records released Sissoko’s 11th album Djourou earlier this year. The album features solo compositions while continuing upon his long-held reputation for collaborating with a cast of diverse and unexpected artists including Nouvelle Vague’s Camille, African legend Salif Keita, young, leading female kora player Sona Jobareth, the aforementioned Vincent Segal and Malian-born, French emcee Oxmo Puccino among others.
Deriving its name from the Bambara word for string Djourou can trace its origins to when Sissoko approached Nø Førmat label head Laurent Bizot with the proposition of blending solo kora pieces with unexpected collaborations. Interestingly, the label and Sissoko mutually agreed that he taake teh time to confirm enriching and challenging parternships with artists, who were also fans of Sissoko’s work. The album took a painstaking yet fruitful two years to write and record.
Over the past couple of months I’ve written about three of Djourou‘s released singles:
“Frotter Les Mains:” Deriving its title from the French phrase for “rub hands,” the mediative track is centered around the simple percussive element of Sissoko rubbing his hands back and forth, shimmering plucked kora and Malian-born, French-based emcee Oxmo Puccino’s dexterous and heady bars in French. While being a much-needed bit of peace, thoughtfulness and empathetic connection in a world that’s often batshit insane, the two artists make a vital connection between the ancient and the modern, the West and Africa — with an important reminder that hip hop is the lingua franca of post-modern life.
Album title track “Djourou,” which sees Sissoko collaborating with leading Gambian-born, female kora player Sona Jobarteh. Centered around the duo holding a musical conversation by trading expressive and shimmering, melodic kora lines paired with ethereal interwoven vocals, the track finds its collaborations making connections with across both contemporary African borders and through time. Interestingly, Sissoko sought out Jobarteh with a specific wish to connect with the younger generation of kora players — to rejoin with their common forebears, to weave a connective thread across borders that were unknown and unimagined to the griots of the Malian Empire’s presence over much of West Africa.
“Kora,” a collaboration with Nouveau Vague’s Camille centered around the electric and playful interplay between Camille’s coquettish vocals and Sissoko’s expressive yet melodic bursts of kora. The song itself is a love letter to the kora that suggests that the instrument holds an ancient, mystical power.
Djourou‘s latest single “Jeu Sur La Symphonie Fantasique 2” is an album bonus track that features Patrick Messina (clarinet) and frequent collaborator Vincent Segal (cello). This particular collaboration can trace its origins back to when the trio were all playing at the annual Berlioz Festival held in France: The trio were invited to create a piece to mark the 150th anniversary of Hector Berlioz’s death. The end result is a gorgeous re-imagining of “Symphonie Fantasique” that focuses on the composition’s “March To The Scaffold” segment that manages to draw parallels between the martial themes of the original composition and the historic battles of Sissoko’s Mandinka people. Interestingly, while being breathtakingly gorgeous, the track feels like a witty and playful conversation between three masters of their craft.
