L&Q Weekly
Lael Neale weekend listening, Richard Dawson live in London, Kae Tempest samples himself, BAMBII collaborates with Jessy Lanza and Yaeji, and have we loved the music industry to death?
Weekend Listening
If over the weekend you listen to one album released today, make is Altogether Stranger by Lael Neale. In another world, perhaps Neale becomes Lana Del Rey. They share a magnetic vocal tone and phrasing, but you can actually imagine Neale hanging out with with the cult leaders that LDR has long romanticised. I imagine they’d be more into Neale’s frazzled lo-fi than the big money sheen of Blue Banisters, say, however many Instagram filters have been applied to dirty it up. Neale uses a limited set of instruments to make her garage rock nursery rhymes: a little guitar and tambourine, and a lot of Omnichord, including its tinpot drum machine. It’s given here a sound of her own, that I’m happy to say she’s stuck to on this, her fourth album. Minimal yet symphonic, a little bit gospel, a little bit psychedelic, it’s quite astonishing what she can do with so little. Stuart Stubbs
Song of the Week
There was a clamour for Toronto-based Caribbean producer BAMBII after she released her Infinity Club EP in 2023. Because Music won out and now Infinity Club II is on the way (20 June), featuring ‘Mirror’, which, quite perfectly for club musician who appears to have no prejudice when it comes to dance music (2-step, jungle, RnB, Caribbean rhythms – it’s all mined for a good night out), it features Jessy Lanza and verse from Yaeji that demands further listening. And how about that bassline, itself reminiscent of Because alumni Metronomy!? Listen here
Album News
Albums for your diary announced this week
Debby Friday – The Starrr Of The Queen Of Life (1 August, Sub Pop): The Nigerian-Canadian electronic producer’s follow up to her 2023 Polaris Prize-winning debut GOOD LUCK. This one is inspired by ancient astrology and, perhaps, the real girl pop of Charli XCX.
Kae Tempest – Self Titled (4 July, Island): Including features from Neil Tennant and Young Fathers, Tempest’s fifth album has been announced with a track that’s a stroke of genius: ‘Know Yourself’ samples a younger Tempest talking to an imagined even younger version of himself, on a song that celebrates his journey as a member of the trans community.
Lower Slaughter – Deep Living (6 June, Human Worth): Six years on from their last, excellent album of doomy grunge rock, the Sussex band have reshuffled their pack – including a change in singer, from Sinead Young to ex-bassist Barney Wakefield – for a more dynamic record that’s not so constantly sludgy.
3 Sentence Live Review
Richard Dawson in London, UK
CLAPHAM GRAND, 30 APRIL: There’s just nobody doing it like Richard Dawson, is there? His set tonight at the stately Clapham Grand draws heavily on his subtly devastating new album End of the Middle, but throws in older material like The Magic Bridge’s breathtaking opening duet of ‘Juniper Berries Float Down The Stream’ and ‘Black Dog In The Sky’ along with a raggedly gorgeous cover of the late Michael Hurley’s ‘Wildegeeses’ to create a genuinely overwhelming emotional experience (as my minor meltdown on the train home was shortly to attest). From the first bone-dry one-liner to the last cathartic guitar squall, via every minute percussive detail and perfectly-rendered observation, this is songwriting that gets closer to the essence of anxious contemporary life than anything else I can recall, performed with wit, humility and masterful skill. Luke Cartledge
Essays & Opinion
Have we loved the music industry to death?
Eight months after I left university, someway into an aggressive campaign to become NME’s first ever full time work experience ghoul, I signed a lucrative contract with the magazine that allowed me to be paid for my services to filing and sourcing photographs of Russell from Bloc Party. ‘Refusal to fuck off’ had become my most recent way of gaining employment, in the one industry I was aiming for. Continue reading
Podcast
Patrick Wolf: Part 2
In the second part of my conversation with Patrick Wolf, the London-born musician who I met at his new home on the east Kent coast looked back at his previous major label record deals that took him from a life of DIY creation to a world where he suddenly had £250k to spend on a music video. What did he make of those days, and how does he feel about returning to music as an independent artist in a new world of hyper-self-marketing and content creation? Listen now
