| We were in this crazy, intense friendship [before we became a band], where we thought that the exact same stuff was so cool—we were sending each other old videos, reading Kim Gordon's book religiously, and becoming obsessed with all this music. | |  |  | | Kitchen cabinet rock: Penelope Lowenstein, Gigi Reece and Nora Cheng of Horsegirl. | | (Cheryl Dunn/Pitch Perfect PR) | | | | quote of the day | | | rantnrave:// | It's Friday
And here's to the achievable goals of high school rock bands. "If we could just blow up before college," HORSEGIRL singer/guitarist NORA CHENG wished out loud in that first pandemic fall of 2020, when she and her two bandmates were all in high school in Chicago. They signed their record deal with Matador in spring 2021, shortly before Cheng and drummer GIGI REECE graduated, and their debut album, VERSIONS OF MODERN PERFORMANCE, arrives today, two days before singer/guitarist PENELOPE LOWENSTEIN becomes the last of the three to get her high school diploma (the other two are in college in New York). Give them partial credit, at the very least, for that goal. Lowenstein will celebrate her graduation night at the band's album release show at Chicago's Thalia Hall. A US and European tour, for which they've already sold out multiple shows, will follow. The trio, which bonded over a mutual love of tunefully fractured '90s underground guitar rock, is part of a seemingly anachronistic (or maybe it's not?) scene of teen-centric Chicago bands who call themselves "Hallogallo kids" (a reference to a song by the '70s Krautrock band Neu!, who a lot of those '90s bands worshipped); there is, needless to say, a zine, also called Hallogallo, that chronicles it. There's a pastiche feel to what Horsegirl does, but there's good pastiche and bad pastiche and "Versions of Modern Performance" is very much the former. It could be a long lost album from that era, one that probably would have been released on Matador, too. Speaking of achievable goals: "I want it to be a thing where like teens in 40 years go on Spotify and search through a bunch of related artists and they find Horsegirl. Like, 'It's crazy. I love this. Whatever happened to Horsegirl?'" Cheng also wished aloud way back in 2020. There's still time, obviously, for that one to come true, but consider the music for that wish hereby delivered.
Also today, Black Pumas guitarist/producer ADRIAN QUESADA pays homage to Latin balada music of the '60s and '70s on BOLEROS PSICODÉLICOS, with guests including iLe, Gabriel Garzón-Montano, Girl Ultra and Marc Ribot... Singer/songwriter ANGEL OLSEN goes country on BIG TIME... POST MALONE explores "the ups and downs and the disarray and the bipolar aspect of being an artist in the mainstream" on his fourth album, TWELVE CARAT TOOTHACHE... And three albums from rappers (and/or rapper/singers) with Kanye West collabs on their resumes. New Jersey's 070 SHAKE, who first came to the world's attention with guest spots on Kanye's "Ye" album and other G.O.O.D. Music releases, and who's more recently teamed up with Madonna, releases YOU CAN'T KILL ME (working title: "You Can't Kill Me Because I Don't Exist"), her second full-length. It's "a behemoth of flashy synths, vocal stacking, and in-your-face emotion," with "unexpected but recurring tempo changes [and] heart-wrenching melodies," Complex's Brenton Blanchett reports. "I don't like when things don't change," Shake tells him. Fresh off his appearances on Kanye's "Donda," Louisville's (via Houston) VORY releases his debut album, LOST SOULS. Kanye returns the favor on the fantastic "Daylight," a song that was originally, in fact, intended for "Donda." Another voice from "Donda," Auto-tune singer/rapper KAYCYY, gets a vocal assist from 070 Shake on his mixtape GET USED TO IT.
Plus new music from Drive-By Truckers, Fantastic Negrito (with an accompanying film), S.G. Goodman, Big Moochie Grape, Lil Tracy, Eli Young Band, the Suffers, Arin Ray, Coastcity, Daniel Carter/Matthew Shipp/William Parker/Gerald Cleaver, RedGreenBlue, Bryan Carter, Kresten Osgood, Sub Urban, Purity Ring, Erica Dawn Lyle & Vice Cooler (benefit album for the Northeast Farmers of Color Landtrust, featuring Kim Gordon, Kathleen Hanna, the Linda Lindas and others), Fyfe & Iskra Strings, iamamiwhoami, Poliça, Jasmyn (of Weaves), Andrew Bird, Tedeschi Trucks Band (first part of a four-album set to be gradually released over the next several months), Nicki Bluhm, Editrix, Merzbow & Lawrence English, Nine of Swords, Artificial Brain, Memphis May Fire, Druids, Gwar, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Namir Blade, Big Sad 1900, MC Ren, Nataly Dawn (of Pomplamoose), Al Riggs, Lettuce, Crobot, Charlie Musselwhite, Mary Gauthier, the Sheepdogs, Tove Styrke, Joe Bouchard, the Fixx... And "Prince and the Revolution: Live," documenting a classic March 1985 show on the "Purple Rain" tour in Syracuse, N.Y.
Programming Note
MusicREDEF will be on a Tuesday – Friday schedule for the foreseeable future. Our Twitter will continue to flow seven days a week.
Rest in Peace
Experimental composer/performer INGRAM MARSHALL, whose toolbox included elements of minimalism, electronics, environmental sounds, tape loops, classical orchestral instrumentation, Indonesian gamelan and much more. Or, as the NY Times once suggested, "he is one of the most unclassifiable composers of his generation"... DEBORAH MCCRARY of Nashville gospel group (and in-demand session singers) the McCrary Sisters... Memphis hip-hop engineer LEO GOFF III.
| | - Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator | |
| | | |  | | Song Exploder |
| | Song Exploder: Rick Astley – 'Never Gonna Give You Up' | | By Hrishikesh Hirway, Rick Astley and Mike Stock | | "Never Gonna Give You Up" came out in July 1987 and won the BRIT Award for British Single of the Year. It hit number one in 25 countries, and Rick Astley was nominated for a Grammy for Best New Artist. For this episode, Rick Astley and songwriter and producer Mike Stock tell the story of how "Never Gonna Give You Up" was made. | | |  | | Hollywood Reporter |
| | Live Concerts Are Back, But Small Venues Face Longer Road to Recovery | | By Caitlin Huston | | While ticketing giants offer bullish forecasts for the return of concertgoers this year, indie operators who have relied on federal grants to stay afloat amid COVID-19 are more measured: "There's so much more to do, and the pain is very real." | | |  | | MetalSucks |
| | The Inconveniences of Going to Concerts in Your 60s | | By Ryan Dyer | | Just because you're reaching your elder years doesn't mean the effect of hearing live metal music has lessened its impact. But there are some annoyances regarding going to concerts when you're an older rocker I want to tell you about. | | |  | | Complex |
| | Life According to 070 Shake | | By Brenton Blanchet | | 070 Shake is the sound-shifting musical acrobat, responsible for 2020's critically-applauded "Modus Viviendi" and stand-out features on G.O.O.D. Music releases near the end of the 2010s, including "Ghost Town," "Santeria," and "Violent Crimes." With co-signs from Kanye West and now Madonna, Shake is becoming Jersey royalty. | | | | | |  | | The New Yorker |
| | James Blake Pivots to Background Music | | By Sheldon Pearce | | The sounds recorded on the artist's new A.I.-assisted album aren't songs, per se, but they possess surprising glints of melodic elegance. | | | | | | |  | | The Line of Best Fit |
| | Fantastic Negrito: Keeping it in the family | | By Steven Loftin | | Fantastic Negrito's new album is his most personal to date, driven by a love story taken straight from family's history. Best Fit learns about the process of making art that respects the past with its creator. | | | | | | | | |  | | interdependence.fm |
| | Headless Bands and Lore with Songcamp | | By Holly Herndon, Mat Dryhurst, Mark Redito... | | Excited to chat with one of the most exciting projects in the music and crypto field, Songcamp, and the world's first headless band, Chaos! | | | | | what we're into |  | | Music of the day | | "Billy" | | Horsegirl | | From "Versions of Modern Performance." | | |
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| | Music | Media | | | | | | Suggest a link  | | "REDEF is dedicated to my mother, who nurtured and encouraged my interest in everything and slightly regrets the day she taught me to always ask 'why?'" |
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