What I've Been Listening To: Winter 2018
There's never been an easier time to discover music than right now. Apps like Shazam identify tunes on the spot, which makes going down the musical rabbit hole much easier and all-consuming. I’m guilty of Shazaming my life away, whether at work or at a store or restaurant with a catchy soundtrack. While I could spend less time on my phone, Shazaming is a process of discovery. Instead of having to spend hours looking for a song that caught my ear, I can find it in five seconds, ten seconds tops. Smartphones are indeed addicting, but when used for purposes of discovery, I’m all for them.
Here’s a little taste of what I’ve discovered recently. You won’t need to Shazam it yourself, since the albums and links are right here. Put down your phone. Kick back, relax, and let the grooves float through your soul.
Nils Frahm’s All Melody and Miles Davis’ Ascenseur l’échafaud: All Melody is Nils Frahm’s latest release, and the contemporary composer brings his music beyond niche status. Most of Frahm’s work to this point consists of alienating solo piano compositions that — while beautiful — were esoteric unless you religiously read Wire or nerd out over contemporary composition. All Melody is accessible because Frahm’s fuller framework (he incorporates trumpet, percussion and cello on the album) builds his minimalism beyond one instrument. The expanded lineup creates a cohesive album that falls in line with the industry’s trending toward spacy loops and moody orchestration. Afterward, listen to Miles Davis’ 1958 soundtrack for the Louis Malle film Ascenseur l’échafaud. Frahm included Davis’ “Générique” on the Late Night Tales compilation he curated three years ago, and while the two albums share little in common beside introspective lilting melodies, hearing the connection is inevitable because they both distill avant garde sounds and formats into an accessible package.
Mulatu Astatke’s Mulatu of Ethiopia: African jazz, funk and R&B are woefully underappreciated, not least the music of Ethiopian bandleader and vibraphonist Mulatu Astatke. Astatke is the father of Ethio-jazz, which blends jazz’s horn-heavy hits and conceptual hooks with funk’s in-the-pocket groove and repetitive melodies. The genre is on full display on Astatke’s 1972 tour de force Mulatu of Ethiopia. Listen closely, and the repetitious, catchy melodies evoke current jazz composition, recalling Kamasi Washington and Terrace Martin’s concise yet creative refrains. Also like Washington and Martin, Astatke centers his compositions around a set of recurring motifs, causing many to sound near identical. Thing is, Astatke released Mulatu of Ethiopia 46 years ago, further proof the past has come full circle.
The Brotherhood of Lizards’ Lizardland: I once lived with a roommate who claimed he was part of the lizard people. I told one of my coworkers about him, and he replied by saying “I’m a lizard, too,” and playing this album. There’s nothing reptilian about Lizardland, rather it’s exemplary of the polished New Wave that came out of England in the late 1980s (think XTC). Comprised of Cleaners From Venus’ Martin Newell and a bassist named Nelson, the small brotherhood’s forte were songs like “Market Day” and “It Could Have Been Cheryl.” They’re infectious, and their catchy hooks and whimsical wordplay make them obscure singalong favorites.
Khruangbin’s Con Todo El Mundo: Named after the Thai colloquialism for “airplane,” Khruangbin’s instrumentals fly across genres in a journey from Thai funk to psychedelica and classic R&B. While the portmanteau causes several head scratches on the Texas-based band’s latest release, Con Todo El Mundo (which debuted late last month), they make sense once the disparate influences are sorted out. Tracks like “Evan Finds The Third Room” and “Friday Morning” offer a modern reimagining of R&B better for an intimate gathering of friends than a hazy trap house basement. Other tracks — namely the opening “Cómo Me Quieres” — sound like Thai funk distorted through the trippy jangle of Caetano Veloso. After a complete listen, everything comes together thanks to the soothing guitar that ties together each genre with finesse.