Junk rocket take me to the moon
Mix 39: A few friends point me toward Suriname and Spain, plus Say She She clicks, Japanese amapiano, and the Japanese "boogie boom"
Each week I skim through about 2,500 songs mostly from Spotify's company-curated New Music Friday playlists. Whenever I find 80 minutes worth of music I like, I make a CD-length mix and write a newsletter about it.
This might have been my roughest mix week all year (aside from the one week I gave up and did a newsletter for my 1985 mix). I only had six or seven songs I was confident about after my 2,500 song speed dating.
Went through lots of music critic lists of songs of the year so far, figuring there’d be a lot I missed, but it was all over the map and yielded only a reassessment Liv.e (pronounced “Liv”). Next stop: the incredible monthly reports from indefatigable Bandcamp staff that just got unceremoniously laid off. Finally asked some People’s Pop friends and fellow travelers and rounded out the mix—including a mystery People’s Pop contributor who has a 2023 track in the NEW SEASON OF THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY TRACKS, which you should be following!
Anyway, teamwork once again made the dream work. Thanks to everyone; I imagine I’ll be doing a lot of list-hopping in November and December and will try whenever possible to credit folks when I find something interesting.
Mix 1 // Mix 2 // Mix 3 // Mix 4 // Mix 5 // Mix 6 // Mix 7 // Mix 8 // Mix 9 // Mix 10 // Mix 11 // Mix 12 // Mix 13 // Mix 14 // Mix 15 // Mix 16 // Mix 17 // Mix 18 // Mix 19 // Mix 20 // Mix 21 // Mix 22 // Mix 23 // Mix 24 // Mix 25 // Mix 26 // Mix 27 // Mix 28 // Mix 29 // Mix 30 // Mix 31 // Mix 32 // Mix 33 // Mix 34 // Mix 35 // Mix 36 // Mix 37 // Mix 38
MIX 39: JUNK ROCKET TAKE ME TO THE MOON
1. Say She She: Bleeding Heart
I’ve been intrigued by but reluctant to go all in with Say She She, a US/UK group whose last album got a proper trumpeting from Alexis Petridis with a five-star review in the Guardian. But it turns out that polite mutant disco is dime-a-dozen in my Spotify-trawling world, whereas singer Piya Malik finding a melodic midpoint between raga and Danny Elfman is not. Sold!
2. Cydnee with a C: Jealous
One of several Bandcamp editorial tips this week. Bandcamp’s writers are a regular source of new music that I fear soon won’t be what until recently has been. I was disappointed to see that so many great writers and editors were let go from Bandcamp last week, and unsurprised to then learn that they all just so happened to be the bargaining team for the Bandcamp staff union. Anyway, they led me to the first of two dRum&B songs. More info on Bandcamp (for now).
3. Liv.e: Ghost [2022]
I’ve skipped all of the Liv.e songs I’ve come across this year, but this one — technically released in late 2022 but included on the 2023 album — hit the spot, in part because it barely tries to be a song, just a fuzzed-out Erykah Badu-like vocal solo in the middle of the clatter of the dRum&B (yes I am now trying to make this happen…I can’t be the first person to have done that, though, right?).
4. Little Dragon & April + VISTA: Rebels
Ack, missed Little Dragon in Philly the other week (it was sold out), would have been fun. This is a collab with a duo that does electronic music with a mildly orchestral bent, out on Ninja Tune.
5. xiangyu & Gimgigam: 道端にネギ [“Michibata ni negi”]
Japanese amapiano! I’ve heard very few direct crossovers outside of various African subgenres (there’s lots of amapiano in Naija pop by now, e.g.). More please!
6. KING MZAIZA MUSIC: Sithi Sithi
Interestingly, this was a Bandcamp recommendation from Joe Muggs that replaced an existing King Mzaiza Music track whose provenance I couldn’t really verify (and which I liked less). I didn’t even realize I had two King Mzaiza Music tracks on the mix—in fact had never heard of King Mzaiza Music, a South African umbhoqo dance music collective, before this week’s haul.
7. Psycho Maadnbad f. Zepek: 00:00
Suriname goes Naija pop going amapiano from Lokpolokpo, whose finger is much closer to the pulse than my haphazard sampling methods allow. (This is the first of two of his Suriname recommendations.)
8. Gotts Street Park f. Olive Jones: Tell Me Why
It’s the brief neo-soul section! This one’s a British neo-soul combo working with vocalist Olive Jones.
9. JaRon Marshall f. Paul Grant & Amahla: Sunseekers
And here’s some jazz that maintains the neo-soul vibes, from producer JaRon Marshall, with guitarist Pual Grant and Amalha on vocals.
10. Shizuko Kasagi: Boogie Woogie Age (Dynamite.jp Re-Edit) [“Tokyo Boogie Woogie,” 1947]
Not sure if this is a particularly clean-sounding remaster or a contemporary reimagining of Shizuko Kasagi’s original, “Tokyo Boogie Woogie,” from 1947, but I learned a bit about the Japanese postwar “boogie boom” (and listened to a bit of it) though Shizuko Kasagi herself seems pretty far ahead of the pack.
11. RUBI & Shirts: DM
Brazilian pop that reminds me of the day-glo strands of mid-aughts baile funk, the sort of stuff all us indie kids imported via Bonde do Rolê. Fun!
12. shego f. DRUMMIE: steak tar tar
One of two recommendations from People’s Pop Pal Dan Bright Amaya over on Bluesky. (I have a bunch of invites if you want one.) Spanish, banger.
13. CENT: 決心 [“Jué Xīn”]
Japanese sugar guitar rock from the new League of Extraordinary Tracks. I highly recommend you listen to the full slate if you’ve read all the way down to track 13 of Mix 39 of this newsletter, as you too may have a voracious appetite for music you have likely never heard before!
14. Jarreau Vandal & SIRENE: Ede Weri (Srananpiano)
The second Surinamese-adjacent track (by way of Dutch producer Jarreau Vandal) from Lokpolokpo. This one bills itself as “Srananpiano” and plays out like amapiano’s impish and possibly evil cousin, emits a foreboding vibe from the standard amapiano groove, not common in that genre’s emotional palette as far as I can tell.
15. 3Phaz: Phlutes
Another Bandcamp editorial recommendation from jj skolnik (have I mentioned I’m extremely bummed about what’s happening at Bandcamp?), a Cairo-based artist who calls their work a “new take on Mahraganat/Shaabi,” and uses the portmanteau “shabber” (shaabi and gabber).
16. Joy Oladokun: Black Car
Have heard a couple of Joy Oladokun songs through Spotify and landed on this one, a pretty guitar ballad about good old-fashioned rambling to combat existential restlessness. But time-limited—she tells the dog she’ll be back in a hundred days.
17. Frankie Rose: Sixteen Ways
Another one, like Liv.e and Say She She, that I’ve been skipping but gave a fairer listen to, or found the right track. Vocals remind me a bit of School of Seven Bells but the arrangement doesn’t really pull its weight.
18. Анастимоза: Загорни Мене [Anastimoza: Zagorni Mene]
Ukrainian goth pop finds its life (death?) in low, portentous piano tones. You get the feeling they found an old upright collecting dust in an abandoned house and built the rest of the song from there.
19. Hermanos Gutiérrez f. Jensine Benitez: Los Chicos Tristes (El Michels Affair Remix)
El Michels Affair adds a drummer and guest vocalist to the somber guitar-centric original, making it more or less a new (and better, to my tastes) song.
20. Maria Hein: LA DAMA DE MALLORCA
Catalan pop entry from Dan Bright Amaya, vocals start nearly unadorned save a couple of flutes, then the instruments all tip-toe in, careful not to get in her way. Eventually the flamenco claps assert themselves.
21. Agélica Garcia: El Que
The sole representative from what felt like twenty or thirty dips into Spotify’s recommendation algorithm in a desperate scramble for a final tune. This mix was a real bear to put together — but I’m pleased with what emerged from that process, though: this disjointed, heavily reverbed plod-pop is from one of my favorite discoveries of 2020. If you haven’t heard her “Karma the Knife” from 2019, you should treat yourself.
***
Unlike Angélica Garcia, I do not call karma the knife. When my mom found a good parking space, rather than “parking karma,” she would yell “parking charisma!” — a practice I carry on. So I guess charisma’s the knife.
—Dave Moore (the other one)
Title translated from CENT’s “決心” (“ガラクタロケット / 月まで乗せておくれ”)