What I’m Listening To This Week–February 26th
Newer Music:
Cassandra Jenkins : An Overview on Phenomenal Nature
New York musician Cassandra Jenkins has been releasing music and playing in indie rock bands in
relative obscurity for over a decade. With her latest fantastic record just released last week, Jenkins will
almost certainly deservedly raise her profile substantially.
An Overview on Phenomenal Nature is a beautiful collection of six delicate folk songs and one
instrumental. The unquestioned highlight is the single Hard Drive, a stunning track melding spoken
word, recorded dialogue from real-life interactions, and an instrumental buildup that culminates with a
goosebump-inducing final two minutes that doesn’t lose any of its impact even after repeated listens.
This record features production and instrumental work by sought-after producer and musician Josh
Kaufman. Kaufman is quickly gaining notoriety as one of the most influential producers in indie music.
He was a bandmember and producer on strong 2020 records of TWO supergroups, Bonny Light
Horseman and Muzz, and has played with Josh Ritter, The National, and The War on Drugs.
Standout Tracks: Hard Drive; Michelangelo; Crosshairs; Hailey; The Ramble
Mogwai : As The Love Continues
Depending on how and what you count, the Scottish experimental rock band Mogwai released their 16th
(?) album this month. The prolific band has released so many extended play releases, remix albums, and
movie soundtrack scores in addition to their official full-length albums that it is genuinely difficult to
keep track of it all.
Like most of their discography, nearly all of the tracks on As The Love Continues are instrumentals with
no vocals. The exception is one of the standout tracks on the record, entitled Ritchie Sacramento. Over
the course of their career, Mogwai has gone from a heavy, distorted guitar-focused sound to more of an
electronic approach and now back full circle to an alt-rock, almost grunge rock, vibe on many of these
tracks.
My personal favorite Mogwai project was when they accepted a commission to provide the score to a
movie documentary on the great French soccer player Zinedine Zidane in 2006. The documentary,
Zidane—A 21 st Century Portrait, is literally just multiple cameras following Zidane around the field during
a match as Mogwai plays instrumental music. The subject, the soundtrack, and resulting images are pure
genius all the way around.
Standout Tracks: Dry Fantasy; Ritchie Sacramento; Ceiling Granny; To The Bin My Friend, Tonight We
Vacate Earth; Drive The Nail
Another Michael : New Music and Big Pop
One of my favorite experiences in life is listening to a new song or two from a band I’ve never heard of
and immediately knowing that I am going to love these songs (and probably the upcoming debut album
and possibly the band and all of their future output!) forever and ever. That happened again a month or
so ago when I stumbled onto the first two tracks from the debut album of newish indie rock trio Another
Michael, from Philadelphia by way of upstate New York. I’ve been looking forward to this full debut
since I heard those intoxicating lead singles and it delivers.
Lead singer and guitarist Michael Doherty has gobs of rock star aura and his vocal performance is top
quality. New Music and Big Pop is filled with more than enough well-written prototypical poppy indie
rock gems that we should expect a lot more from Another Michael in the future.
Standout Tracks: I Know You’re Wrong; New Music; Shaky Cam; Big Pop; My Day
Bicep: Isles
Critically-acclaimed Northern Ireland electronic duo Bicep released their long-awaited sophomore full
album last month. They released lead single Atlas in March of last year just as COVID took over, delaying
the release of Isles to this year.
This album was put out by Ninja Tune, the London-based label well-known for releasing much of the
best and most interesting electronic and dance music each year.
Standout Tracks: Atlas; Sundial; Rever; Saku; Apricots
Throwback Selection of The Week:
Daft Punk : Selected Tracks from Homework, Discovery, and Random Access Memories
This week, legendary electronic artists and producers Daft Punk announced their retirement ending a 28
year career as one of the most influential and boundary-pushing “bands” in the world. The French duo
spent the late 90s and early 00s further popularizing dance and electronic music, culminating in a
memorable 2006 performance at Coachella. However, the likely peak of their cultural influence occurred
with the release of the final full LP Random Access Memories. I remember hearing the opening notes of
lead single Get Lucky for the first time waiting at the main stage at Coachella in 2013 when a video
trailer for the upcoming album was broadcast just before one the headline acts. The buzz of excitement
in the crowd was overwhelming and that single and album may have been one of the last examples of
cross-generational, widely-shared pop culture with our ever-splintering media consumption habits.
Standout Tracks: Da Funk; Around The World; One More Time; Get Lucky; Doin’ It Right (featuring
Panda Bear); Music Sounds Better With You by Stardust side project
More Related Music You Should Also Check Out: MGMT : Little Dark Age; Bonny Light Horseman :
Bonny Light Horsemen; Muzz : Muzz; Mogwai : Zidane—A 21 st Century Portrait
