"Material Flats"
Bethany Thomas & Tawny Newsome
Fine Alpinist Records
Bethany Thomas and Tawny Newsome have been singing together for 15 years, and are released "Material Flats," their debut(ish) album together, on Oct. 9. Blending garage-punk, soulfully sung folk and influences as diverse as Talking Heads, The Pixies, Bonnie Raitt and Billy Preston, the album is a now-or-never plunge into the unknown with two performers who've been everywhere else. Born out of the pandemic, protests and a fierce desire to learn to do things for themselves, "Material Flats" is a chance for them to lead together.
The album's eight tracks explore themes of isolation, unrest, self-realization and reassessing one's surroundings, which are certainly prevalent during any era but were not ignorable and easily synthesized while Newsome and Thomas wrote/recorded. The duo note, "'Material Flats' is an album that had to happen but couldn't have worked out in any other timeline -- the time, the space, the energy and the inspiration all finally came together the summer of the pandemic. The process was swift, maybe a bit more rudimentary than we're used to, but I think that served us as we were not able to overthink anything."
"Heritage of the Invisible II"
Aquiles Navarro
International Anthem
Telepathic Afro-Caribbean improvisational trumpet-and-percussion duo Aquiles Navarro and Tcheser Holmes are longtime friends, collaborators and tireless hustlers of New York City's creative music scenes. Their new album, "Heritage of the Invisible II," dropped Oct. 23 and follows the pair's rise to prominence as members of the free jazz collective Irreversible Entanglements. The revolutionary ethos that drives Irreversible Entanglements is no less present in Navarro and Holmes's duo work, although the duo finds them much more wholeheartedly and jubilantly embracing their Latin and Afro-Caribbean foundations.
"Each tune has a compositional background to it, but improvisation and the telepathy between us remains the main catalyst," notes Navarro. From this open map, the duo layered samples and electronic elements from Juno 106 and Moog Grandmother synths over their acoustic improvisations, overdubbed contributions from vocalist and instrumentalist friends, and added field recordings of themselves in conversation. Additionally featured are Spanish poet Marcos de la Fuente, pianist Nick Sanders, Panamanian mejoranero Ricardo de León, and vocalist Brigitte Zozula. The resulting album reveals Navarro and Holmes stepping firmly into the limelight of progressive music-making.
"Wolf Song"
Melody Duncan
Atlanta-based singer-songwriter/violinist/multi-instrumentalist Melody Duncan released her debut solo album, "Wolf Song," on March 12. With hints of Americana, indie-pop, chamber-pop and folk woven together into a compelling mix, the songs on the album also feature Duncan's unique vocals, a slightly gravelly beckoning into the depths of her music. With a clear vision and focus, "Wolf Song" was entirely written, performed, recorded and produced by Duncan.
True to her upbringing, her original music is a mix of genres, a taste all its own. Accompanying her unique musical vision, Duncan has begun to create what she calls her "Wolf Pack," a community of people and music fans who gather together in person, in spirit, or both. "I think wolves are amazing creatures," Duncan says. "They run strongest in packs, and they need community to be their best. They also connect through song, howling together in harmony despite any distance between them. Music is our universal language, and I love connecting to other people. ... I want to encourage people, connect with people, and share light and love through music. We all need more light."
"Dream Violence"
Michael Beach
Goner Records
Michael Beach is an architect of a sound that's both well-built and ramshackle, straightforward and indeterminably complex, out of the norm yet familiar in all the best ways. The Australian sing-songwriter released new album, "Dream Violence," March 19, which explores the duality of the human condition. It encapsulates human futility, passion, desire, anger, frustration and the struggle to maintain hope in a somewhat hopeless time.
"Dream Violence" unfolds like a revelation, filled with sonic tumbleweeds that reference Neil Young's "On the Beach," Bruce Springsteen's "Nebraska," the Velvet Underground's "Loaded" and the Go Betweens' "Before Hollywood." Influences ranging from the enigmatic outlier Megira to Glenn Branca to the Oblivians are combined to create a new, exhilarating sound, part of the path that Beach has been on since 2008's "Blood Courses." A veteran of year-end indie rock round ups beginning with "Golden Theft" in 2013 and continuing with "Gravity/Repulsion," released in 2017, Beach distills the best of those early albums and adds sharpened intent.
