Dustin Wong: Fluid World Building 101 With Shaman Bambu
Yes, it’s hard to believe, but it’s time to pack our bags for a little journey. I just checked and my passport is still good for at least one more trip around this globe, so let’s do it … let’s go around the world and see what music we can find. We’ll start east and head east, starting in Tokyo which is where longtime RecommNed’er Dustin Wong now lives. The guitarist/electronic-experimentalist is back with a new cassette release on Hausu Mountain Records. The album, Fluid World Building 101 With Shaman Bambu is as packed with ideas and imagery as the title and album cover. World-building indeed. Perhaps as big of an instrumental concept album, Wong creates a musical universe with a language all his own that’s easy to get lost in. Lots of fun and surprises await, so get going!
Holydrug Couple: Hyper Super Mega
Our next stop is in Chile, where we find a familiar musical friend in The Holydrug Couple. We’ve been following these guys around here for several years now and it’s always a treat to see a band evolve and mature. Needless to say, their just-released newest record, Hyper Super Mega, finds the band in fine form … hyper, super, mega fine form. They’ve taken their dreamy psych-pop roots and massaged them into songs and a sound that is all their own. Like the best ones often do, this album does best after repeated listens, so marinate for a while in the music of Holydrug Couple and see where it takes you.
Luca Nieri: Alchemy
As we make our way from South America to England, here’s a musician who is new to the RecommNeds. Well, actually, that’s not quite true, he appeared several years ago as a member of the band The Monk’s Kitchen (check that one out if you missed it the first time around). Luca Nieri returns, then, with a solo album called Alchemy. Like that Monk’s Kitchen record, this one caught me off guard. The tracks are without titles, just the number and the album kind of eases into it a little. But pretty soon you realize that these innocent no-title tracks are each their own self-contained instrumental masterpiece, two or three minutes long each. The music is cinematic, soundtrack to movie scenes that may or may not exist, but you can see them nonetheless. Like some new international exotic folk, Nieri creates new worlds –- quiet, haunting, beautiful — that you don’t want to leave. Highly recommended.
Nicolas Godin: Au Service De La France
You never know what may or may not be on people’s radar, so it’s possible you’re already aware of Au Service De La France, the solo release from Nicolas Godin, one half of the French group Air. But, friends, if you aren’t, let this be your call-to-arms to get involved with this one. Like a couple other albums in this week’s lot, Godin tells a story with his music. In fact, this is the soundtrack to a TV show about spies and there’s no doubt it works well in that regard. It also works quite well as standalone music, it’s groovy and sexy and mysterious and a throwback to spy films of the golden age decades ago. Lots to enjoy on multiple levels, you should check it out if you haven’t already. And I think that about does it for this trip, until the next time!
