While it is not quite NEW MUSIC FRIDAY, we thought we put a little adventurous music into your week.
The music releases may be slowing down, but TBONES continues excavating the best new music hidden gems from around the world for you!
BAD NERVES [LP](Suburban/The Orchard)
Contrary to prior statements in the press, Rock N'Roll continues to live on. For every head-bobbing DJ or keyboard puncher, there have to be ten grungy kids who want the visceral force of slicing into a guitar. Bad Nerves is a new London band whose Power-Pop songs elevate their Punk sensibility to a higher plane. The helium lead vocals of Bobby Nerves and rock bottom slam leave a lot of room for guitar invention. "Can't Be Mine" is huge, "Baby Drummer" is a mile-a-second with a walloping chorus, and "Palace" is a huge middle finger to everything - but Ramones-catchy. "Bad Nerves" races by at blinding speed with their mixture of high-octane Rock N'Roll, punk punch, and highly melodic songwriting. You can't miss this one.
PUMICE - Table [LP](Soft Abuse/The Orchard)
The duo Stefan Neville and Jade Farley make music that should stop your clock. Their slow-evolving pieces are collections of vocal samples, droning instruments, and natural buzzing sounds. "Table" is like one long chant where your mind roams to other objects that are in the same frequency. The songs they write are delicate and beautiful. The downward progression of "Necklace on a Necklace" is almost Celtic. Farley's lo-fi violin on "Marie" sounds like the notes are emerging from a dream and "Gride" is endlessly majestic. There is a ghostly beauty about "Table" where the lo-fi middle frequencies-sweep of their recording and the interplay between violin and organ stop the clocks where you are.
DOMENIQUE DUMONT - People on Sunday [LP](Leaf Label UK)
Composed as a soundtrack to the 1930 German silent film of the same name, "People On Sunday" works so well because it avoids the trappings of its compositions becoming episodic and looks to reflect a certain lightness not associated with instrumental synth music. "People" is mostly bright and bubbly filling you with whimsy and curiosity as you listen. Leaving you wanting to see this lost canister of film.
MARTIN BRUGGER - Music For Video Stores [LP](Squama GER)
Brugger, the co-founder of Squama (who was also on the brilliant Runden earlier this year) has some interesting ideas about where Ambient music should be going. Rather than hide in the distance or envelope you with warm synths, Brugger plays with the placement using congas, distant pianos, and synths that gradually take their place like characters coming on stage. "Music For Video Stores" is experimental, but never feels that way. If anything, his textures are very "Another Green World" as tracks drift into one another. The meditative "E.79th" is a highlight with its streams of bells and percussion. "Music For Video Stores" shows Brugger to have something more in mind than putting you in an aquarium of his own sound, instead he seems to want to show us all there is always music in play in our living world.
GRATIEN MIDONET - A Cosmic Poet from Martinique 1979-1989 [LP](Time Capsule UK)
Culled from his work in France in the late Seventies/Eighties, Midonet's highly melodic take on African polyrhythmic music may be an unknowing precursor to Paul Simon's "Graceland." Midonet's songs feel epic in scope while still so intimate you leave singing the notes (the protest anthem "Van An Leve".) As the violins enter and the sound shifts more Dance club-oriented music, Midonet's vocals keep the whole experience earthy and real. This is high-caliber Folk music, where stories are passed in these songs and where Midonet's crucial sense of melody helps them both live on.
There will be a small sampling of music reviews here next week. So stay tuned!
Our weekly playlist for your pleasure. Think of it as a travelogue. We will take that boarding pass now and show you to your seat. Buckle up and get comfortable.
T-BONES Records and Cafe is a full-service fast-casual restaurant and record store in Hattiesburg, MS. We are a member of the Coalition of Independent Music Stores and are the longest-running record store in the state of Mississippi. If you have questions - we have answers … and probably a lot more information waiting for you at:
tbone@tbonescafe.com
Visit our website for more information and shop in our ONLINE store if you wish. T-BONES ships the best music all over the United States daily. We also specialize in Special Orders.