New music

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This article was published 28/06/2023 (1171 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

ROCK/POP

Billy Nomates
Cacti (Invada)

Music discovery often happens by accident. Last weekend, BBC 6 Music DJ (and former bassist for the Fall) Marc Riley called out the “sad whelks” abusing Billy Nomates on Twitter and other platforms for performing solo, to backing tracks, at Glastonbury. I’d heard of Billy Nomates (whose real name is Tor Maries) but never really listened to her music, so I dialed up her Glasto performance of Blue Bone (Deathwish) and was transfixed as she threw herself about the stage, lost in the intensity of a song about depression as her sharp, minimalist, post-punk/’80s synth-pop propelled her forward. A deeper dive ensued, starting with this album, which was released in January.

The basic argument of Maries’ detractors is that she doesn’t play “real music” because she doesn’t perform with a band (other idiots veered into hateful, misogynistic territory), but the naysayers couldn’t be more wrong. Taking her cues from the DIY approach of ’80s forebears such as Echo and the Bunnymen (look up what the “Echo” meant) or Big Black, Maries (who picked up her stage name after attending a Sleaford Mods gig on her own) chooses to make music by herself, underpinning her melodies with a drum machine, then adding guitars, synthesizers, organ and more. She doesn’t need a band, especially when her take on post-punk rock and pop is so vital and the essence of her songs is so honest, so wryly witty and so bittersweetly wistful.

Opening song Balance Is Gone sees Maries set out her stall, bringing her sound to fruition with a fully realized take on the unsettling nature of loneliness and isolation. Blue Bone (Deathwish) is perhaps the most tuneful song about despair you’ll ever hear, and later in this 12-song outing, the title track and the brilliant Spite explore Maries’ singer-songwriter roots and her penchant for leaning into Americana when she can. So, yeah… this is real music, you sad whelks. ★★★★ out of five

STREAM THESE: Balance Is Gone, Blue Bone (Deathwish), Spite

— John Kendle

 

POP

Peter Lewis
Imagination (OMAD Records)

Peter Lewis bridges the past and future on Imagination, his music evoking the 1960s as his lyrics look toward eternity.

Lewis, 77, was a founding member of Moby Grape, the supremely talented San Francisco band that was cursed by bad decisions, bad habits and bad luck but did release a classic album in 1967 during the Summer of Love.

Lewis had the most elegant voice in a group with four fine singers, and on Imagination his gentle tenor turns back the clock. It’s frayed but arresting, and his flair for melody remains intact. “Remember how it was back in the day,” Lewis sings, and he also ponders the universe, the meaning of life, what’s to come and beer shampoo.

Co-producer John DeNicola helps find a common thread in the album’s wide range of musical styles. Just Like Sunshine benefits from Lewis’ 12-string guitar, and If I Just Had You features Dion-esque doo-wop vocals. The trippy Frank Zappa’s Ghost and stacked harmonies of La Mujer echo Lewis’ former band, as does the sweet country ballad When You Come Back to Me, and the earnest, bluesy benediction Saying Goodbye.

“We’ve got to love each other,” Lewis sings, “while we still can.” Time is relentless, but for a moment it sounds like 1967. ★★★★ out of five

STREAM THESE: Frank Zappa’s Ghost, La Mujer

— Steven Wine, The Associated Press

 

JAZZ

James Brandon Lewis
Eye of I (Anti)

James Brandon Lewis is on the very top of the list of current jazz saxophone leaders. As a player and composer he is growing from strength to strength. This album continues his development, perhaps building on his award-winning album from several years ago that was an amazing tribute to George Washington Carver. Lewis is quoted as not subscribing to the “nothing new under the sun” belief. He sees his restless musical journey as always seeking the new.

This album has a core trio with Christopher Hoffman on cello and pedals and Max Jaffe on drums. The trio is augmented at times with Kirk Knuffke on cornet and on the final track with the post-punk trio Messthetics. Always expressive and intense, Lewis’ tenor can swirl and explode in a Coltrane-like way, as in the title track. He also has a wonderfully warm and gentle side, seen in tracks like Within You Are Answers and The Blues Still Blossom. His constantly striving creativity displays surprising grooves on every track. The sun is indeed new.

The album has three brief (under a minute) interlude tracks that are wildly dissonant and separate longer and more exploratory tunes. Womb Water adapts a Cecil Taylor tune, and Send Seraphic Beings shifts from edgy to melodic seamlessly. Knuffke’s cornet returns for Even the Sparrow, a gospel-tinged tune with a powerful rhythmic base. The final track with Messthetics, Fear Not, is a totally in-your-face rock track with a neat repeated riff and a gentle resolution.

The message of this artist and album is that confident exploratory jazz that can shift from “easy” to “hard” in a moment, is exciting and fun. Lewis is a torchbearer for the continuing evolution of this wonderful genre. Listen and enjoy. ★★★★1/2 out of five

STREAM THESE: Someday We’ll All Be Free, Within You Are Answers

— Keith Black

 

CLASSICAL

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra with conductor Andrew Manze
Vaughan Williams’ Job, a Masque for Dancing; Old King Cole; Orchestral Ballet; The Running Set (Onyx Classics)

Following its critically acclaimed cycle of Vaughan Williams’ nine symphonies, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, led by Andrew Manze, performs that same composer’s Job, a Masque for Dancing recorded live at Liverpool’s Philharmonic Hall.

been turned down by fabled choreographer Serge Diaghilev to create a ballet of his music — based on William Blake’s watercolour illustrations, then engravings for The Book of Job — Williams re-envisioned the piece in 1931 as a nine-part concert work.

Manze skilfully leads the players through the works’ often taut, dissonant musical language influenced by the horrors of the First World War; in turn mirroring the Biblical Job and his own deadly perils. Particular highlights include the driving II: Satan’s Dance of Triumph, its jagged, rhythmic theme propelled by crisply executed percussive accents, as well as the pulsing V: Dance of the Three Messengers, now highlighting the orchestra’s closely knit winds. Finally, IX: Epilogue brings the listener full circle, with its triumphant close performed with staunch conviction.

The recording also includes the composer’s orchestral ballet Old King Cole (1923), its series of nine narrative-based dances ranging from the Royal Fanfare: King Enter, followed by several short dances: III: Pipe Dance, Bowl Dance and V: 1st Fiddler Enters Dancing. A memorable highlight is VII: Entry of the 3rd Fiddler, Followed by Grotesque and Little Boys, before a final IX: Fiddler Moves Across the Stage, with the string player given the last, eloquent word.

The album caps off with The Running Set, (1933) based on four traditional folk songs and teeming with charm. It proves a fitting finale for this dance-themed program, so clearly reflecting the idiosyncratic style of this beloved English composer. ★★★★ out of five

STREAM THIS: The Running Set

— Holly Harris