11/27/20: Girls In Airports, Tokyo Dreaming, Rachel Palmer and more
Welcome to the November 27th edition of First Listen Friday!
Danish jazz band Girls In Airports released their new album Dive today. The band has been one of my favorite modern jazz discoveries and I’ve really enjoyed some of their past work, particularly 2013’s Kaikoura. The new album is as good as anything they’ve produced in the past and they continue to pleasantly push into new directions. “Weaver” for example stood out here with its percussion, near constant keys/synth chords hanging in the background throughout the track, and slightly distorted lead. The track felt like the band but also sounded quite new. Other favorites of mine on the album were “Broke” and “Lin”. If you’re interested in exploring modern jazz this would be a great place to start.
Nick Luscombe presents TOKYO DREAMING is a great new compilation album that was released today. The compilation is a representation of 80’s sounds selected by radio presenter and DJ Nick Luscombe comprised of tracks from the Nippon Columbia label and its Better Days imprint, some of which had never been released outside of Japan. There’s some good variety in the sounds here but they largely fall within the city-pop realm. Two of the more engaging tracks are from Ryuichi Sakamoto (well-known for his solo work such as 2017’s excellent async as well as being a member of Yellow Magic Orchestra). I definitely recommend giving this a listen.
Musician and visual artist Rachel Palmer released Antecedent today. I really enjoyed this album, great new electronic music from an artist I was previously unfamiliar with. There’s some quality tracks here like “Recurrent Construct” which woudn’t sound entirely out of place among Thom Yorke’s solo material (I think it’s the drum machine in particular that gives it that feel). Another favorite was “Within Our Current” which is very cinematic (as is much of the album), especially as it hits its stride halfway through the track. I really enjoyed the album as well as the visuals that accompany the music and I’m looking forward to hearing and seeing Rachel’s future projects.
Robohands released their new single “Ikigai” today. Really digging the guitar playing on this track.
Nils Frahm released a new track “Fundamental Values” along with a video today. The release followed the announcement of his forthcoming live album and concert film Tripping with Nils Frahm which should arrive December 3rd.
Great new KEXP at Home featuring Future Islands whose new album I really enjoyed.
New Tiny Desk (Home) Concert from NPR featuring Don Bryant (whose newest album I featured on the newsletter earlier in this year).
That’s it for this week, here’s the Spotify playlist featuring some tunes from this edition. Enjoy!