Notes From The Record Room: 1/16 — Tuesday morning at 10:06AM (or, check out Eva Novoa, Erika Angell, Sensor Ghost)
There’s an inch of snow on the ground and a perpetual gray looming over every home and parked vehicle in view. Monochromatic Tuesday. I was up with the dog at 6:00 this morning, kind of enjoying the familiar crunch of firmly packed snow underneath my feet while the dog trotted, stopping long enough to bury her nose in powder while looking for a suitable place to pee.
Half a cup of coffee into my workday and I’ve been listening to the following:
“Rocket Man” by Barcelona-based pianist Eva Novoa is apparently an improvised piece? If so, the players involved know each other well. The tempo is studied and patient. The keys are sharp and sometime abruptly pressed, but elude discordance. A faint electronic whine gently radiates in the background, simply filling space but not to a suffocating degree. The elements are nicely placed.
Novoa’s upcoming collaboration NOVOA / GRESS / GRAY TRIO - VOL. 1 is releasing 3/1/24 via 577 Records.
Music, links, and info are courtesy of 577 Records:
Brooklyn-based pianist Eva Novoa delivers a masterfully executed trio album of melodic themes replete with touches of swing, grooves and exquisite electronic landscapes. Novoa’s articulated playing flows with plenty of room gifting the band full freedom of improvisation.
On the track ‘Rocket Man’ you can hear the possibilities of the traditional jazz trio format as it projects into the future, combining the acoustic beauty of the piano with the electronic tapestry of modular synthesizer. The group nimbly celebrates the tradition of jazz while positing that legacy against the backdrop of contemporary culture.
This is the second album on 577 Records for the Spanish pianist Novoa. It will be available on vinyl, digitally and as a CD on March 1st, 2024, and will be followed by a planned second volume.
Links:
577 Records — Instagram / Facebook / Twitter
Eva Novoa — Instagram
Pre-Order — Bandcamp / Pre-Order Label
Constellation Records is issuing a new album from Thus Owls singer Erika Angell titled, The Obsession With Her Voice. Release date is 3/8/24. The fidgety synthesizer-driven “Dress Of Silliness” and free-form percussion-laden spoken word piece “One” both surfaced today with visuals, shadowy disposition evocative of Suicide and Patti Smith though with the intent to intensify.
Links:
Constellation Records — Official site
Music, links, and info courtesy of Rarely Unable / Constellation Records:
The Montréal-based Swedish singer/composer presents the first album under her own name, following two decades as a poetic and audacious force in genre-defying music in Stockholm and Montréal with projects including Josef & Erika, The Moth, Patrick Watson, and her acclaimed art-rock group Thus Owls.
The Obsession With Her Voice is an eloquent work of experimental exploration and feminist power that shimmers, cracks and shatters as it gathers the strands of one woman’s musical life: commanded by Angell's unbound, virtuosic vocal performances and enrobed in avant-electronics, with string arrangements by Jonathan Cayer and acoustic percussion by Mili Hong on select tracks.
Sensor Ghost was a Bandcamp find. The track “Psychic Robots” is an art-rock oddity, geeky and paranoid in tone and exposition. 3 Songs is Sensor Ghost’s upcoming new 7”, which is a split release being issued by Dischord and Lovitt Records. 3 Songs was recorded by Don Zientara and Ian MacKaye.
Link:
Sensor Ghost — Bandcamp
Sincerely,
Letters From A Tapehead
