Devo
Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!

Mick Strauss - Southern WaveL’album Southern Wave de Mick Strauss s’écoute comme un carnet de bord dont les pages se sont envolées et mélangées. On peut l’écouter en entier du début à la fin, ou y entrer par n’importe quelle chanson au hasard, se laisser séduire par ses étranges alliages musicaux, hypnotiser par ses histoires. Au début de l’album, il chante comme une rock-star du début des années 70, un contemporain de Lou Reed et Neil Young avec aussi des inflexions de Bowie. Puis la basse se durcit, les guitares crissent, Mick stresse, il entre dans les années 80 par la zone industrielle, l’ère du post-punk, des rythmiques martiales et des synthés mélancoliques. Et à travers le bitume déchiré réapparaissent les racines du blues. Mick Strauss et sa guitare bivouaquaient au pied du Musée de l’Histoire du Rock, quand l’appel du Sud s’est fait entendre. Il reprend la route, en zigzags. Ça se passe comme ça, mais pas forcément dans cet ordre. Ses alliages musicaux bipolaires, entre songwriting et field recordings, hypnotisent tendrement. Les chansons de Mick Strauss semblent venues d’ailleurs, arrivées sur Terre par le Sud des Etats-Unis, sorties du swamp à la lueur de la pleine lune. La nuit est chaude et les sueurs froides. Mais qui est Mick Strauss ? Arthur B. Gillette, guitariste de Moriarty, le décrit comme un dandy aux semelles de vent, inadapté social charismatique, malin et drôle, faux-monnayeur et myope. Ses chansons sont le récit de ses aventures ou des lettres envoyées à ses amis.

Sorang, the debut album of Yalta native Wulffius, represents his work over the last eight years. The playful creature on the cover, Stone Eater, is based on childhood sketches of the producer's father. The album's name alludes to the first collection of his father's poems, which took its name from a short story by Konstantin Paustovsky, a master of nature writing in Russian prose. Sorang is the name of the south wind that "blows once in centuries," and you can hear its unique warmth in these tracks. There is a sense of wholeness here, a palpable style and atmosphere that permeates the individual pieces.Wulffius creates what he refers to as "B-sides": something too strange to be danceable, with "complex ease" and rhythmical variety. The music has a charming serenity and beauty thanks to Wulffius' intuitive approach, which is childlike and whimsical in the best possible sense. By the way, Paustovsky wrote Sorang in an hour and a half at a speed writing competition. You can hear a similar spontaneity here, but make no mistake, this is the work of a master that has been crafted over a period of years. It all comes from experience.

Radiant melodies interwoven with slippery polyrhythms are the order for the day on the first Kimochi Sound release for 2021. Shielding shows a mastery beyond genre borders, incorporating shades of highlife, bass, drone, djembe, and triphop. It's a challenging & rewarding 32 minute journey. Essential.

Savage pulsating drone-rock from FranceFrance is the trio of Jeremie Sauvage on electric bass, Mathieu Tilly on drums and Yann Gourdon on amplified hurdy-gurdy. They play one note / one rhythm producing energetic performances reminiscent of the early collaborations between Faust and Tony Conrad. Creativly recycled influences result in intense shows with pounding overtones and repetitive pulsing rhythms. Loud straight and trance-inducing.The pertinency of the recordings only slowly appear On “Occitanie" in the mass of sound, the rhythmic repetition and the elongated drones. The hurdy-gurdy forces you deeper, highlighting points of microtonal flux, cracking open the single note, the nodding rhythm, to imply the presence of every note, every sound, inside it. The insensible evolution, lurks in a corner of noise and finally imposes itself slowly on careful listening.The band members of France perform in various other projects: Tanz Mein Herz, Toad and Jérico, all are member of the collective La Novià, an organisation based in Haute-Loire which brings together professional musicians and is a place for reflection and experimentation around traditional and / or experimental music.

Two of the acts boldly leading Texas music into the future have now delivered a second chapter of their groundbreaking collaboration, further extending the region’s sonic possibilities. Singer/songwriter Leon Bridges, from Ft. Worth, and trailblazing Houston trio Khruangbin have joined forces for the Texas Moon EP, a follow-up to 2020’s acclaimed Texas Sun project. While the five new songs are clearly a continuation of the first EP, they also have an identity all their own—Bridges calls it “more introspective,” while Khruangbin bassist Laura Lee says it “feels more night time.”When Texas Sun was released, AllMusic called the results “intoxicating” and Paste noted that “their talents and character go together so well.” Now comes the next stage—a set of songs that touch on themes like love, faith, and death while exploring new dimensions of inventive, hypnotic grooves.Significantly, both parties’ musical directions were clearly affected by their time working together. Khruangbin’s most recent album, Mordechai, moved their own vocals much further forward, a change they readily admit was a direct result of working with Bridges. Meanwhile, since these recordings began, in addition to his genre-defying album Gold-Digger’s Sound, Bridges has put out several other challenging, shared tracks, including work with John Mayer, Lucky Daye, and Jazmine Sullivan.Texas Moon represents a genuine and rare achievement, with two of the most respected and innovative acts of their generation truly collaborating to create something new. “As far as an essentially instrumental band, these guys are kind of the top for me,” says Bridges. “I’m honored to have been the first singer that they’ve incorporated in their music.”“It feels really special to me,” says Lee. “It’s not Khruangbin, it’s not Leon, it’s this world we created together.”