Golden Vessel & Filous - Great Big Warm House
We begin by heading down to beautiful Bondi Beach where the dedicated crew at Mammal Sounds work 24/7 to release exceptional work, here we have top-rated Australian artist Golden Vessel who has teamed up with Austrian artist Filousfor their new single Great Big Warm House, the first cut from their collaborative EP scheduled for release in August.This one delivers a little twist toward the end. Most enjoyable.
Apologies to Ms. Uzor if I completely messed up the pronunciation of her name. It would seem that after all these years of living in the USofA I manage to scramble my Englishness into American speak, which results in a hybrid that’s almost a language of its own. Norwich-based Maria Uzor says this about Ventolin, "This was actually the first song I wrote for the album back in November 2022, it came together really quickly, like 10 minutes or something, and the final version isn’t much different from the demo, just with added guitars. It’s a playful tongue-in-cheek nod to my fellow asthmatics."Fair enough. Maria’s debut album, Soft Cuts should be investigated.
Pittsburgh Slim and The Bawl Slant - Lonely Boy Sunday
Down on England’s Southern Coast, Brighton to be exact, there you could bump into Nico, the energetic chap behind Shoredive Records. His latest venture is the intriguing collaboration between Pittsburgh Slim a rapper from NYC, formerly signed to Jay-Z's Def Jam recordings and self-proclaimed Swedish Grunge band, The Bawl Slant. The result is a healthy take on some recognizable riffs completing the much-too-be admired, Lonely Boy Sunday, from the lad’s Falling album. Smartly conceived.
This is the work of Rye Thomas out of Washington DC, working under the very apt moniker of, Soft Punch. Rye knows his way around at producing carefully crafted music. There’s a lot going on here on Here / Now, not least of all Rye’sintelligent overdubbing his voice to full effect. Recommended.
Vhinz - Le Passage (ft. Margot Ferro)
Ever since Serge Gainsborough and Jane Birkin pretended to copulate in front of a microphone for Je T'aime,...Moi Non Plus, whispering in French over a rhythm track has definitely been a way to capture my attention. Here, producer Vhinz and Margot Ferro on vocals go further, after all the lyrics on Le Passage are more interesting. Vhinz shows off his production skills with some quirky electronics on the LP, Belvedere, where you’ll find additional vocalists. This one is available on Citizen Records by way of Dijon, France. Spicy!
Occasionally I discover an instrumental that fits into the mix, here is Nevaris, a percussionist, keyboardist, vocalist, composer and visual artist who teamed up with legendary bassist-producer Bill Laswell for the album, Reverberation. Combining dub, funk, Afro-Latin rhythms, turntablism and extended improvisation, Nevaris and Laswell have created an album that would work well in any manner of situations. Surprise your dinner guests with this one. Disruption is an excellent place to start.