As a sort of reprise of the question-and-answer lying at the end of the track James Jamerson Used One Finger (Were you able to follow that? – No), from his last album Vulfnik (click here to read our review), Vulfmon is back with this short and emotional electric piano ballad, sung by the amazing Evangeline (who impersonated the journalist in the above mentioned, delirious spoken word song). Letting Things Go, this is the title, is a sparkling example of what Jack Stratton is able to do with only an electric piano, a drum kit and a talented singer: a mesmerizing piece of art, that seems to be part of an upcoming new album by Vulfmon, actually called Dot (if the YouTube description of the video is true). In any case, listen to this song because it will be worth it!
The march towards Djesse Vol. 4, expected for February 29, continues with Mi Corazón, a collaboration between Jacob Collier and the Colombian artist Camilo (already heard, last year, on Jon Batiste‘s beautiful World Music Radio, and here you can read more in case you missed it). Mi Corazón is a sort of weird hybrid between Latin American sounds and dance/club deviations, featuring lyrics in both Spanish and English: the song is built on the guitar (as you can see at the end of the official video, where you can have a taste of a sort of “backstage” of the composition process) and is enriched with a series of percussive and electronic elements manifesting a marked and irresistible pop spirit, combined with Collier‘s well-known taste for vocal harmonizations and unusual chord progressions.
Fabiana Palladino has announced her debut, self-titled LP for the next April 5, to be published via Paul Institute and XL Recordings. As anyone who knows a little about music can imagine, the surname Palladino says a lot about the artist’s familiarity with the great music of the last forty years: Fabiana Palladino is in fact the daughter of Pino Palladino, who collaborates on bass and production for her first LP (accompanied also by his other son, Fabiana‘s brother and also amazing bass player, Rocco). The list of contributors to Fabiana Palladino’s debut album includes also Jai Paul (who collaborated on her previous single I Care, featuring the great Pino on bass), Rob Moose and drummer Steve Ferrone. On January 24, Fabiana Palladino released the second single from her upcoming album, Stay With Me Through The Night: the song is an irresistible blend of pop-music and R’n’B grooves, produced by Fabiana Palladino with Jai Paul and Pino Palladino (who plays bass and guitar). It’s classic pop, which winks at the contemporary music without being swallowed up by it: very classy music, which is a pleasure to listen to. Can’t wait to hear the whole album!
At the same time as the release of their second studio LP, Wall of Eyes (official published on January 26), The Smile (Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood and Tom Skinner) released Friend of a Friend, the second single from the album (which follows the title-track, first published during last November with a supporting video by Paul Thomas Anderson). Friend of a Friend also comes with a video realized by the director of Magnolia and There Will Be Blood, depicting the band playing the song in front of a peculiar audience made of children from elementary school (including Skinner’s son). The contrast between the band’s calm performance (the audio is that of the studio version) and the dramatic reactions of the children sitting in the audience (between caricatural screams, big yawns and questioning looks, not to mention the child who, when the band leaves the stage, stands up to scream a dramatic boo) creates a sort of mysterious limbo above which Friend of a Friend floats as suspended, magical and fascinating. Musically speaking, Friend of a Friend is an extremely complex piece: placed on an electric bass line that is both rhythmic and melodic, beaten more by the piano played by Greenwood than by Skinner‘s delicate and muted drums, the piece is mutable and iridescent, it transforms several times over the course of its five minutes, taking breaks and speeding up, changing pace and perspective and stringing together absolutely unusual and profoundly fascinating harmonic sequences. I will publish very soon my review of The Smile’s new album, but in the meanwhile you can begin to listen from this piece, and you will not be disappointed.
The title of this post cites a verse of a beautiful poem by Allen Ginbserg, A Vision in Hollywood (taken from the 1968 collection Planet News), also named A Methedrine Vision in Hollywood as included in a recent Italian edition (La Caduta dell’America, ed. Il Saggiatore, 2014).