#36: Very clever with maracas
Four new albums, surprise comedy, a vintage mix, 2025 playlist updates
Every March is the Tournament of Books, which means every March is a total wash for me, but there are some records I have to talk about, so I’ll stop talking here and talk below.
This week’s albums
Rattle, Encircle
This is one of my absolute favorite records so far this month. Two drummer/vocalists is all it takes, apparently, to commandeer my complete attention. And it’s anything but a gimmick—it’s shofting the groove centerstage. And when that happens, so many more unexpected moments arrive: twists and turns, mind-bending syncopation, and the realization of how many moods time signatures can evoke. / Bandcamp, Bleep, Apple Music, Spotify
WavingMyMind
Actress, Grey Interiors
There’s so much to poke around and investigate inside this spatial 20-minute sprawl, where no two moments are ever alike, even as it all fits together in a seamlessness that’s more than a little breathtaking when you stop and really consider it. The craft on display here is just astounding. / Bandcamp, Bleep, Boomkat, Apple Music, Spotify
EstesMindead
All Seeing Dolls, Parallel
Here’s one I didn’t see coming: Dot Allison (of One Dove) paired with Anton Newcombe (of the Brain Jonestown Massacre) and it works so perfectly in a very tantric pop kind of way, like the soundtrack to a midsommar afterparty. It’s vintage-y, but not overtly, and it’s a marvel to hear how well Allison’s breathy vocals stand up amid this wall of dirge-y rock. / Apple Music, Spotify
David Grubbs, Whistle From Above
Last year’s surprise compilation of unreleased material by Gastr del Sol was a solid reminder of the truly standout music David Grubbs and Jim O’Rourke created under the Gastr del Sol moniker. And apparently it also reminded David Grubbs of that too, given how—at least according to the liner notes—it also inspired this new record, and that same spirit of unrelenting experimentation is loud (and soft, depending) and clear on this new album as well. As with Gastr del Sol, this spans a lot of different styles, and is a little impossible to pin down, except to say that there’s total commitment to a piece, no matter how unplaceable the music itself may be. / Bandcamp, Bleep, Boomkat, Apple Music, Spotify
feraldo
A little comedy
Here, punk legends Alice Bag and Kid Congo Powers team up as Juanita and Juan for an evil-lounge duet that’s hard not to love—and surely there’s no way they can make it all the way through performing the song without succumbing to laughter.
Also, only after I said the band name aloud did I realize it’s a reference to Brian Eno’s “Baby’s on Fire” (“Juanita and Juan, very clever with maracas”). So add this to the pantheon of bands named after Eno lyrics, e.g., A Certain Ratio (“The True Wheel”), A Roman Scandal (“The Fat Lady of Limbourg”), Burning Airlines (“Burning Airlines Give You So Much More”), and of course, the 801, a band named in the chorus of “The True Wheel” (“We are the 801, we are the central shaft”) and one Eno was in for the whole three shows of its existence.
A vintage mix
News of Warp’s 30th-anniversary reissue of Red Snapper’s Reeled and Skinned reminded me how the band’s track “Wesley Don’t Surf” featured on a mix that remains a favorite, some 29 years after it was first released: the Chemical Brothers’ live set at the Heavenly Social (Mixcloud, YouTube), the centerpiece of which is Eric B. and Rakim’s “Juice (Know the Ledge),” where every song, every sample ahead of it primes the listener for the moment that double bass track hits.
2025, the songs
There are updates over in the playlists for the year (Spotify, Apple Music), including occult folk from Milkweed, BASIC’s latest thumping prog freakout, new Water Damage, and more.
