Alexander Laurence's Blog, page 180
December 16, 2024
DOWN ON THE CORNER Adventures In Busking & Street Music by Cary Baker
by Cary Baker
Available now in print and electronic editions, Cary Baker's acclaimed study of music performed on the streets, in subways, in parks, in schoolyards, on the back of flatbed trucks, and beyond, from the 1920s to the present—an NPR book of the day!
A note from the author
I want to personally thank everybody—the interview sources, my publisher, our foreword writer Dom Flemons, the press, booksellers who have gone above and beyond, and, most of all, the readers—of my first book, Down On The Corner: Adventures In Busking & Street Music, which hit the streets this past November 12.
The book chronicles the history of busking through the 20th and 21st centuries, broken down by genre and geographic region, with profiles on artists varied from Blind Lemon Jefferson and Reverend Gary Davis to The Tokens to Ramblin’ Jack Elliott to Satan & Adam and Ted Hawkins to the present day: Billy Bragg, Peter Case, Fantastic Negrito, Mojo Nixon, Madeleine Peyroux and Lucinda Williams, to name a few.
So far it’s been a great run! I’ve spoken at AmericanaFest in Nashville in September, a music books panel at the Twentynine Palms Book Festival in my present California desert habitat, and two wonderful events in my longtime home of Los Angeles: Book Soup with interviewer Chris Morris and busker Bob Ricketts, and at Stories Books & Café with interviewer Lyndsey Parker and buskers the Highsteppers. Look for more events throughout the US in the new year.
Huge thanks to the press and radio, not the least of which an interview on NPR Morning Edition with host A Martinez, and, days later, a citation as NPR’s Book of the Day.
—Cary Baker
The Highsteppers perform outside Stories in Los AngelesWhat the press is saying
“Down On The Corner sings out the stories of these various buskers robustly, illustrating Cary Baker’s passion and appreciation for the art that happens out on the streets and fills the air with song and, if the musicians have a good evening, the performers’ pockets with a little dough-re-mi.” No Depression
“Baker provides a smart history of street music … for all of the book’s nostalgic pull, which is considerable, it is also of this moment. After reading it, you will never be able to walk past a street performer without tossing a little something into his or her hat, cup, guitar case or other eager receptacle.” Chicago Tribune
“Baker takes us through the history of busking from from 1920 to 2022, beginning with the blues and gospel singers who worked the streets of Dallas, New Orleans, New York and Memphis, including Blind Lemon Jefferson, Reverend Gary Davis and hillbilly artists. A wonderful read about a neglected and important part of music history.” Morning Star
“Cary Baker's first book is a celebration of buskers…Interesting stories are told and many thoughts shared on how singing for dimes can help shape a musical career.” RNR
“The book shines when it highlights how busking brings people together.” Publishers Weekly
“Leave it to Cary Baker to write the Bible of the sonic adventure. In a hypnotic way, this intriguing book makes the endeavor of hitting the street and going for it on the same level of excitement as taking off for the moon. Baker clearly has the boogie woogie of street music and busking in his veins, and the way he has collected and written this fascinating tome seems like an art form in itself. It’s serious business. Wisely divided into chapters by geography, Baker is able to make an exciting sense to what sometimes seems a jumble of geography, and thank goodness for his extremely sharp planning.” Bentley’s Bandstand, Americana Highways
“In the digital age, the ancient art of street singing or busking might seem like an anomaly. But in his new book, Cary Baker makes the case for its continuing vitality–while taking readers through a historical journey and series of delightful vignettes with artists that have braved the elements and navigated city ordinances and public spaces as they have taken their music to the streets.” Americana Highways
“Cary Baker, who spent decades as a music publicist, has long been known in the business for his writing ability, encyclopedic knowledge of the field, and penchant for limiting his client list to artists whose work he admires. It’s no surprise, therefore, that his first post-retirement project is a well-researched, colorfully written, and insightful music book that conveys enthusiasm and resulted from years of research and dozens of interviews.” Americana Highways
“Baker writes with a deft balance of reportorial precision, storytelling expertise, a way with evocative phrases that sometimes rivals the great bluesmen, and-perhaps most critically-the dedication of a lifelong music enthusiast. Itself a celebration of busking, Down On The Corner is to be celebrated both for its content and for heralding Cary Baker's welcome return to the world of musical authorship.” Living Blues
“Even if your only relationship with busking is having dropped a quarter in the hat of a street musician who caught your attention, Down On The Corner is a fascinating and incredible journey into the world of music on the street.” Blogcritics
“Cary shares anecdotes and origin stories from Old Crow Medicine Show, Poi Dog Pondering and the late rowdy raconteur Mojo Nixon. He also checks in with heavy-hitters like Lucinda Williams, Elvis Costello, Madeleine Peyroux and Glen Hansard. He navigates a course from coast to coast, as well as the UK and Europe. It’s a thoroughly engaging read.” Coachella Valley Weekly
“This is a fun book. Informative, fly-on-the wall … and full of rather lovely vignette ‘stories’. It’s also a good introduction to many well-loved and less known blues artists, street musos and eccentrics … I immersed myself in the tales, the stories included in the book, and it has led me into researching about a number of the artists, the buskers and street performers included. And you can’t say much better than that!” International Times
“I’m a lifelong crate digger who’s read countless books, articles, and liner notes about music that interests me. Yet I learned much from Baker’s book. Sometimes the knowledge I gleaned from Down On The Corner was about acts I’d never heard of, and other times I got schooled with a deeper understanding of the histories of bands and solo artists whose music and stories I already knew. But my biggest takeaway from the book? It made me want to prowl the outdoor public spaces of my current hometown of Durham, North Carolina, in search of some good street music.” It’s Psychedelic Baby
“Tired of ghost-written music memoirs and fawning bios? Had enough of deep-dive discographies? Bored with overpriced coffee-table tomes? Looking for something new and interesting to read? I have just the thing: Cary Baker’s inspired new non-fiction number.” Tinnitist
“Baker offers a compelling glimpse into the lives of musicians who have turned the streets into their stage.” Strange Brew
“Busking, as Cary Baker notes, has been common in cities ‘as far back as ancient Rome.’ He highlights a wide variety of musicians like Wild Man Fischer, Mary Lou Lord or Ramblin' Jack Elliott, and key locations such as Chicago's blues nexus, Maxwell Street.” MOJO
Cary with fellow author and journalist Chris Morris at Book Soup
The Gits Live at The X-Ray, A New Live Record Is Out Today on All DSPS from Sub Pop
The Gits Live at The X-Ray is a new live album featuring recordings from the band’s June 1993 set featuring 14 tracks recorded at the famed Portland, Oregon nightclub that is out today worldwide Friday, December 13th on all DSPs from Sub Pop. Listen to a new live recording of the song “Whirlwind” now!
On a related note, you can watch a fully restored and remastered live performance of “Wingo Lamo,” filmed live at Seattle’s RKCNDY. The live visual features original film footage courtesy of DC9 and Douglas Pray from his 1993 documentary, Hype!.
Sub Pop recently shared the news that we are the new home of The Gits, the ferocious Seattle punk band fronted by the late Mia Zapata. Their entire discography – Frenching the Bully (1992), Enter: The Conquering Chicken (1994), Kings & Queens (1996), and Seafish Louisville (2000) – features newly designed album cover art by Sub Pop’s VP of Creative Jeff Kleinsmith, and have all been remastered by legendary producer Jack Endino. They are available to hear NOW on all DSPs from Sub Pop.
On January 31, 2025, a physical reissue of Frenching the Bully will also be released, and is available to preorder now from Sub Pop Mega Mart in North America, MegaMart2 in the EU/UK, and independent retailers worldwide.
Revisit Evelyn McDonnell’s interview with The Gits’ band members Andy Kessler and Matt Dresdner in The New York Times (see November 12th story “A New Set of Gits Releases Gives Mia Zapata Her Voice Back”).
You can also read Tim Sommer’s extensive liner notes on The Gits reissues here.
December 15, 2024
Christopher Zeischegg Interview 2024
Christopher Zeischegg is an American writer, musician, filmmaker, and former pornographic actor. He has published three full-length novels, Come to My Brother (2013), The Wolves That Live in Skin and Space (2015), and The Magician (2024). He also released a collection of writings, Body to Job, in 2018. #TPII47Instagram:
/ chriszeischegg WHITE FENCE @ Teragram Ballroom Thursday December 12, 2024
All photos taken by Joey Clark
MEMO PST @ Teragram Ballroom Thursday December 12, 2024
All photos taken by Joey Clark
December 13, 2024
Amid Wife's Brain Cancer Battle, LA Indie Singer-Songwriter Fiji Blue Shares Long-Awaited Debut LP 'Glide'
FIJI BLUE
LA-VIA-PHOENIX INDIE SINGER/SONGWRITER
SHARES LONG-AWAITED DEBUT ALBUM
GLIDE
SHARES VIDEO FOR FOCUS TRACK “BEAUTIFUL,”
DEDICATED TO HIS WIFE NATASHA
RESCHEDULED NORTH AMERICAN TOUR DATES ON SALE NOW
LISTEN TO ALBUM HERE | WATCH “BEAUTIFUL” VIDEO HERE
December 13, 2024 (CHICAGO, IL) — Today, indie pop singer-songwriter and “bittersweet optimist” Fiji Blue (aka Trevor Dering) shares his long-awaited debut album Glide. The 11-track project is rich with achingly personal yet universally relatable anecdotes on love and loss, both platonic and romantic.
“This album was written during a period of personal transition,” he explains. “There’s a lot of adjustment that comes with dealing with the end of relationships, feeling stuck in the middle trying to process all these intense feelings at the same time…It was like starting from scratch, both emotionally and in terms of writing songs themselves.”
Born Trevor Dering, Fiji Blue finds creative solitude in the mixture of guitar-heavy storytelling, drawing inspiration from artists like Stevie Ray Vaughan & John Mayer. After accumulating over 300 million streams across three EPs—Reasons You Should Care (2021), Goodbye (2021) and I Loved You, What Happened? (2022)—Glide is Fiji Blue’s first proper album.
To tell the stories on Glide, Dering decamped to Topanga for a weeklong writing retreat, penning a song a day and getting lost in lush production – an ascendant helium balloon of synths, skittering electronics, and widescreen harmonies cut with the warm humanity of more organic instrumentation like piano and acoustic guitar. Notable features on the album include Conrad of Public Library Commute & Colin of Surfaces, who helped write & produce “One Last Time.”
After postponing his North American tour to be with his wife Natasha while she recovered from brain surgery, Fiji Blue will bring Glide across the US and Canada this coming February and March. The GIide tour kicks off Feb 4 in Washington, DC, and includes stops at Beat Kitchen in Chicago, Gramercy Theatre in New York and The Independent in San Francisco. Exclusive merchandise will be available at these shows, with 100% of the proceeds going towards brain cancer research.
Glide is available at all digital retailers now: https://fiji-blue.ffm.to/glide
Glide Tracklist
Angel
Adjust
Start Over
June
Peppermint
Where Do I Begin?
Shadow of You
One Last Time
Never Get Old
Pink
Beautiful
Photo Credit: Joe Hunt
ABOUT FIJI BLUE
The story of Fiji Blue owes a debt to both coasts, but his genre-spanning sound is truly global. After graduating Berklee College of Music in 2019 with a major in songwriting, Phoenix-raised Trevor Dering relocated to Los Angeles. There, the Southern California cool of Fiji Blue became fully realized, swirling bedroom pop, indie, house, easy listening and R&B into a sun-kissed daydream.
A stamp of approval from BTS’s Jungkook elevated the single “It Takes Two” to the global stage in 2022, while tours in Southeast Asia, an appearance on Spotify’s New Music Friday and features by Ones To Watch (who hailed the “incredibly orchestrated” songs) introduced Fiji Blue to millions of new listeners. Now, more than 300 million Spotify streams and 20 million YouTube views later, Fiji Blue’s long-awaited debut album Glide (Nettwerk) is Dering’s strongest artistic statement to date, mourning endings and practicing love and gratitude for what remains with potent lyricism and a reassuring voice listeners won’t soon forget.
“This album was written during a period of personal transition,” he explains. “There’s a lot of adjustment that comes with dealing with the end of relationships, feeling stuck in the middle trying to process all these intense feelings at the same time.”
There’s palatable emotion reverberating through every note, chord, and melody of Glide, balancing both the pain and affection that inspired them. At its most heartbreaking, it’s a rumination on those who never really leave us, the faint imprints that linger long after lives go their separate ways; at its most uplifting – the emotions Dering prefers to focus on – it’s rich with gratitude for his friends and family, a future full of hope and possibility.
“I love sad music, and if I could only write sad music, I would,” he says with a laugh. “The thing I really love about Fiji Blue is having uplifting harmonic and production elements alongside lyrics that sit more in that melancholy world. Sometimes it’s nice to find that middle ground.”
NORTH AMERICAN TOUR DATES
Tuesday, February 4th - Washington, DC - DC9
Wednesday, February 5th - New York, NY - Gramercy Theatre
Sunday, February 9th - Boston, MA - Brighton Music Hall
Wednesday, February 12th - Toronto, ON - Velvet Underground
Thursday, February 13th - Chicago, IL - Beat Kitchen
Friday, February 21st - Vancouver, BC - Fortune
Sunday, February 23rd - Seattle, WA - Neumos
Tuesday, February 25th - Portland, OR - Polaris Hall
Sunday, March 2nd - San Francisco, CA - The Independent
Friday, March 7th - Phoenix, AZ - Crescent Ballroom
Keep Up with Fiji Blue
Instagram | X | TikTok | Website
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Laibach's 'Opus Dei Revisited' Is Out Today On Mute
LAIBACH
OPUS DEI REVISITED IS OUT TODAY ON MUTE
TOURING IN EUROPE & UK CONTINUES IN 2025
Photo courtesy of Laibach
Today Slovenian collective LAIBACH have released Opus Dei Revisited, a collection of new versions which radically interrogate the source material, on vinyl and digitally (with the CD following on Feb 14, 2025), completing a series of releases that celebrates their classic 1987 album Opus Dei. This salute to an album described by MOJO as “audacious” continues into 2025 with a series of European dates that includes London, Manchester, Southampton and Bristol in February. Full details are listed below.
Purchase or stream Opus Dei Revisited HERE.
Opus Dei (translation: God’s Work) was the band’s first album for Mute, garnering acclaim and throwing a worldwide spotlight on the unique collective. Opus Dei Revisited presents two distinct new versions of the work, allowing the band to challenge perceptions and expectations, in keeping with the original.
The first disc of the Double LP / CD is a reworking by Laibach themselves which was initially crafted, and then refined, for their current Opus Dei Revisited Tour. Never a band to take an easy route to any destination, the challenge to re-evaluate, reinterpret and rebuild the tracks was an artistic imperative. The band were so pleased with the results they entered the studio immediately after Phase 1 of the Opus Dei Revisited Tour was completed to capture the results.
For the second disc they invited Rico Conning (Wire, Pere Ubu, Swans, Front 242, William Orbit), who produced and mixed the 1987 version, to also revisit the material. Conning was given an open brief to explore new territories with what was on the original master tapes. The results emphasize and eviscerate in equal measure, bringing wide-ranging new perspectives and a strident aural attitude. While many expected elements of the artistic masterpiece remain, they sit in exciting new landscapes and frames, which are anything but expected.
Laibach formed in the industrial town of Trbovlje (in what was then Yugoslavia). Founded in the year that the country’s founding father Tito died, the band rose to fame to become one of the most internationally acclaimed bands to have come out of the former Communist countries of Eastern and Central Europe. Before the release of their third studio album, Opus Dei, the band had been censored and banned in Yugoslavia, had embarked on the Occupied Europe Tour (which included 16 dates in 8 Eastern and Western Bloc countries), appeared as extras in Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket, recorded a Peel Session for the BBC and performed in Michael Clark’s dance company production, No Fire Escape from Hell. With no compromise, the band have continued to carve a singular presence with performances, albums, scores and, in 2017, a documentary about their ground-breaking performances in North Korea in 2015 was released. In 2019 they launched their interpretation of The Sound of Music, conceived during their trip to North Korea and in 2020 celebrated four decades with Laibach Revisited. An album of music from the acclaimed theatrical production Wir sind das Volk (ein Musical aus Deutschland) based on the writings of Heiner Müller (1929 -1995) followed in 2022. The band also announced recently that diplomatic negotiations are underway for a performance in Tehran of Alamut, an original symphonic work composed in collaboration with Iranian composers and performers. This year Laibach performed their score to a new theatrical production of Bertolt Brecht’s Saint Joan of the Stockyards, by ErosAntEros, with five performances of the show scheduled for November. The University of Salerno in Italy also recently announced a course, See You in Hell - The Laibachs between three Dissolutions: Yugoslavia, Europe, the World, which will delve into the history of Laibach.
Opus Dei Revisited is a companion work to the LP/2CD Opus Dei (Remastered) album, released in May 2024 by Mute, and The John Peel Sessions, which was recently released for the first time on vinyl.
Opus Dei Revisited is out now on double vinyl and digitally, with the double CD edition following on February 14, 2025. Purchase it HERE.
LAIBACH – OPUS DEI TOUR:
2025:2/7/2025 - Ljubljana, Kino Šiška, SI
2/16/2025 - Krakow, Kwadrat, PL
2/18/2025- Ostrava, Barrak, CZ
2/19/2025 - Vienna, Arena, AT
2/20/2025 - Jena, F-Haus, DE
2/21/2025 - Sittard, Poppodium Volt, NL
2/22/2025 - London, Islington Assembly Hall, UK
2/23/2025 - Manchester, Ritz, UK
2/24/2025 - Southampton, The 1865, UK
2/25/2025 - Bristol, Trinity Centre, UK
2/27/2025 - Lausanne, Les Docks, CH
2/28/2025 – Bologna, Link, IT
3/1/2025 - Nova Gorica, SNG Nova Gorica, SI
3/4/2025 - Skopje, Macedonian Philharmonic, MK
3/5/2025 - Athens, Gazarte, GR
3/6/2025 - Sofia, Pirotska 5, BG
3/7/2025 - Bucharest, Quantic Club, RO
3/8/2025 - Beograd, Dom Omladine, RS
3/21/2025 - Maribor, Narodni dom, SI
Tickets and further information: https://www.laibach.org/future-events/
Track listing:
VINYL:
Opus Dei Revisited 2024
A1. Leben heißt Leben RE
A2. Geburt einer Nation RE
A3. Leben-Tod RE
A4. F.I.A.T. RE
B1. Transnational RE
B2. How the West Was Won RE
B3. The Great Seal RE
B4. Opus Dei RE
Rico Conning’s Inner Ear RMX 2024
C1. Leben heißt Leben RMX
C2. Geburt einer Nation RMX
C3. Leben-Tod RMX
C4. F.I.A.T. RMX
D1. Opus Dei RMX
D2. Transnational RMX
D3. How the West Was Won RMX
D4. The Great Seal RMX
CD:
CD 1 – Opus Dei Revisited 2024
1. Leben heißt Leben RE
2. Geburt einer Nation RE
3. Leben-Tod RE
4. F.I.A.T. RE
5. Transnational RE
6. How the West Was Won RE
7. The Great Seal RE
8. Opus Dei RE
CD 2 – Rico Conning’s Inner Ear RMX
1. Leben heißt Leben RMX
2. Geburt einer Nation RMX
3. Leben-Tod RMX
4. F.I.A.T. RMX
5. Opus Dei RMX
6. Transnational RMX
7. How the West Was Won RMX
8. The Great Seal RMX
RECENT RELEASES
“White Christmas”: https://mute.ffm.to/laibach-silence-wc
“Strange Fruit”: https://mute.ffm.to/laibach-sf
Opus Dei (Remastered): https://mute.ffm.to/laibach-od24
The Engine of Survival: https://mute.ffm.to/laibach_teos
Love is Still Alive EP: https://mute.ffm.to/lb-lisa
The Future: https://mute.ffm.to/laibach-tf
Love Is Still Alive I (Moon, Euphoria): https://youtu.be/lQSqCvpAVQQ
CONNECT WITH MUTE:
FACEBOOK | BLUESKY | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | WEB
FACEBOOK | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | WEB
Angélique Kidjo shares new version of hit “AGOLO” with DJ AMÉMÉ
ANGÉLIQUE KIDJO ENLISTS AFRO-HOUSE DJ AMÉMÉ FOR NEW VERSION OF HIT “AGOLO”
“AGOLO” Artwork
AGOLO (Next Gen)
LISTEN: http://angeliquekidjoameme.lnk.to/AgoloNextGen
(December 13th, 2024) - Today, 5x-Grammy-Award winner and 2023 Polar Music Prize recipient Angélique Kidjo enlists rising Afro-house DJ and fellow Beninese countryman AMÉMÉ for an exhilarating version of Angélique's seminal hit “AGOLO” entitled “AGOLO (Next Gen).”
This latest release concludes a busy year for both international artists. Angélique recently performed a new arrangement of the international hit “Jerusalema" at the grand reopening of the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, and released a recorded version of it with arrangements from her African Symphony collaborator, Derrick Hodge, featuring the Fame’s Project Orchestra, conducted by Sasho Tatarcevski. Earlier this year she received her 15th Grammy nomination; this time in the Best Global Music Performance category for “Sunlight To My Soul,” a Diane Warren collaboration with the Soweto Gospel Choir. Prior to her most recent nomination, she joined forces with Afrobeats superstar Davido on their smash single “JOY”, which he joined her on stage to perform at Carnegie Hall in November.
Afro House champion AMÉMÉ is equally busy, touring all over the world with his One Tribe movement. He will champion the track during his upcoming 22 high-energy concerts, making stops in Johannesburg, New York, Mexico and London, all leading to his Coachella debut in April 2025.
Listen to “AGOLO (Next Gen)” and stay tuned for more from Angélique Kidjo coming soon.
Upcoming Angélique Kidjo Tour Dates
Feb-13/2025 - Manchester, UK @ Bridgewater Hall (Philip Glass Festival)
Feb-15/2025 - Paris, France @ Philharmonie de Paris
Feb-28/2025 - Somerville, MA @ Somerville Theater
Mar-2/2025 - Fairfax, VA @ George Mason University Center for the Arts
Mar-19/2025 - Montreal, QC, Canada @ Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal
Mar-20/2025 - Montreal, QC, Canada @ Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal
Mar-22/2025 - Philadelphia, PA @ Zellerbach Theatre
Mar-25/2025 - Toronto, Ontario @ Koerner Hall
Mar-29/2025 - Savannah, GA @ Lucas Theatre
Mar-30/2025 - Atlanta, GA @ Symphony Hall
Apr-01/2025 - Jacksonville, FL @ Florida Theatre
About Angélique Kidjo:
Noted by TIME Magazine as one of the most influential people in the world, Kidjo’s striking voice, stage presence and fluency in multiple cultures and languages have earned respect from her peers and expanded her following across national borders. Kidjo has cross-pollinated the West African traditions of her childhood in Benin with elements of American R&B, funk and jazz, as well as influences from Europe and Latin America. Her 2021 album, Mother Nature, features collaborations with young creators of West African music, Afrobeats, Afro-pop, dancehall, hip-hop, and alt-R&B, such as Burna Boy, Sampa The Great, Yemi Alade, and Earthgang. Showing off the range in her music, other recent collaborations include works with Jimmy Buffett, Philip Glass, and Yo-Yo Ma, as well as her new African Symphony project with famed arranger Derrick Hodge, which had its US debut at the Kennedy Center earlier this year. No matter what type of collaboration she is exploring, her visionary work always marries deep musical tradition with forward-thinking innovation.
Kidjo’s illustrious career includes the Grammy-winning albums Mother Nature (2021), Celia (2019), Sings with the Orchestre Philharmonique Du Luxembourg (2015), EVE (2014), and DJIN DJIN (2007). As well as her other 11 albums, including her acclaimed 2018 interpretation of The Talking Heads’ Remain in Light and her memoir, Spirit Rising: My Life, My Music, which also garnered widespread critical acclaim.
About AMÉMÉ:
Supported by high profile fellows from Black Coffee to Major Lazer DJ's and fueled by an innate determination, drive and passion, with attuned intuition applied to both his music and life, West African native AMÉMÉ channels his cultural roots and ancestry into everything he does.
Born and raised in Benin, AMÉMÉ (Hubert Sodogandji) helms One Tribe, a global community and brand identity centered on unity and a positive outlook. His visionary capabilities and unwavering dedication have been the catalyst behind the rapid growth and proliferation of both his musical endeavors and One Tribe as a whole.
Specializing in Afro-leaning electronic music, with flourishes of tribal percussion and spiritual vocals built upon a foundation of contemporary deep house and tech, AMÉMÉ’s DJ sets are eclectic, energetic and nourishing for the soul.
Connect with Angélique Kidjo:
Maya Vik Shares "C.N.B. (Cold Norwegian Babe)" (Initial Talk Remix) Out Today | Read V13 and Vents Features | 'Hustlebot' LP Out Now via Oslo Records
(Initial Talk Remix) Out Today
Read V13 and Vents Features
Hustlebot LP Out Now via Oslo Records
LISTEN & SHARE: Maya Vik - "C.N.B. (Cold Norwegian Babe)" (Initial Talk Remix)Stream
LISTEN & SHARE: Maya Vik - Hustlebot
Stream
LISTEN & SHARE: Maya Vik - "Body Language" Feat. Bernhoft
Stream | YouTube
LISTEN & SHARE: Maya Vik - "Hustlebot (Initial Talk Remix)"
Stream | YouTube
LISTEN & SHARE: Maya Vik - "C.N.B. (Cold Norwegian Babe)"
Stream | YouTube“It’s really great, upbeat electro-funk that gets in your head and stays there”
- Vice/Noisey
“On-point band-leading bass player that would make Bootsy proud”
- Okayplayer
“Summoning the 1980s Minneapolis funk of Prince and Janet Jackson”
- The New York Times
“We love it! Prepare to be transported to a more carefree and fab time!”
- Perez Hilton
“Will leave a smile on your face or bump your workout mix to overgrind ”
– Revolt TV
Hustlebot, Maya Vik's first album since 2015, was released on June 7th, and here comes the remix of "C.N.B. (Cold Norwegian Babe)," one of Maya Vik's most acclaimed tracks from the album. Initial Talk is known for his stylish, nostalgic remixes of artists like Dua Lipa and Kylie Minogue.
Maya on the track, "‘Cold Norwegian Babe’ is a tribute to the ‘cold’ attitude often associated with Norwegian girls – as in strong and independent. With Initial Talk’s irresistible New Jack Swing-G-Funk-hybrid production, the remix blends warmth and coolness perfectly, taking you on a dreamy journey to longer, brighter days."
"C.N.B.(Cold Norwegian Babe)" album version, was just used for the famous Pirelli Calendar.
Maya Vik – "C.N.B. (Cold Norwegian Babe)" (Initial Talk Remix)
"C.N.B. (Cold Norwegian Babe)" (Initial Talk Remix) Single Cover
Hustlebot - TRACKLISTING
01. Change Your Mind
02. C.Y.M. (Let It Go)
03. Hustlebot
04. Body Language (feat. Bernhoft)
05. C.N.B. (Cold Norwegian Babe)
06. Revire
07. Win-Win- Thing (feat. Clark Moon)
08. Swipe
09. Me, Myself, & I
10. Friction Addiction
11. Hustlebot – Initial Talk Remix Maya Vik Bio:
Hustlebot is Maya Vik's first album since 2015. Her unique blend of funk and R&B has been featured in media outlets such as The New York Times, Vibe, Complex, and Vice. She has toured the world and opened for artists like Lenny Kravitz and Dâm-Funk. The album was launched with a visual aesthetic that combines nostalgia with futuristic surrealism. Vik began her career as a bassist in various bands (Furia, Montée, Savoy, among others) before launching a successful international solo career.Maya Vik LINKS
Instagram | Spotify | Apple Music | Facebook | Twitter
Coffin Prick announces new LP on Temporal Drift, shares "Loose Enchantment"
Coffin Prick announces new LP on Temporal Drift, shares "Loose Enchantment"
FFO: Latin Playboys, Yellow Magic Orchestra, Scott Walker, Chris & Cosey
STREAM: "Loose Enchantment" -
Streaming Services / Bandcamp
Today Temporal Drift is pleased to officially add LA artist Coffin Prick to its roster and to announce the new album, Loose Enchantment, which will be released on April 4, 2025 - you can stream the title track from the LP now.
***
Over and through the hot cement of North East L.A., an almost-dry riverbed winds like a snake through the city. Coyotes lap at its trickling stream by moonlight, as pedestrians rush past it by day without a second glance, their thoughts tangled up in the distractions of life in a sprawling metropolis. Here, amongst the many avenues and gentle hills, we find Coffin Prick (alias: Ryan Weinstein).
Loose Enchantment, this latest Coffin Prick record, is music conceived of in a different frame of mind for humans living in a world nearly-disenchanted with itself. The album consists of eleven new pieces of music recorded by Coffin Prick himself at his home in Los Angeles, a great city of quicksand-like commitments and those who love them enough to uphold the ends of their collective bargains. A record as much about the confusion of modern life as it is endeavored to expose the lusts in the very loins of creation. Sounds enchanting enough for you? Let’s look a little more closely…
Coffin Prick primarily records on his own, though occasionally receives great collaborative assistance from a sometimes-silent and shadowy partner, Pancho. When the time is right, he leans on a host of harmonically sympathetic luminaries that exist in and out of his immediate musical community. These musical endeavors implement elements of the technologically advanced and the undeniably broken. Equally informed by the not-so-distant past as imaginary future scenarios, his ongoing recorded life continues to mine this deep well. Not so much a “solo” performer as an idea, Coffin Prick is a malleable form whose potential is concurrently cemented and unknown.
On the heels of 2023’s Laughing (Sophomore Lounge), Coffin Prick got busy. And fast. Playing shows into the year with a newly minted live band, while simultaneously working day and night in his home studio laying the ground for what would become Loose Enchantment. Whereas he was essentially a recording know-nothing at the inception of his last LP, he’d learned a thing or two about better capturing his ideas by this point, taking the sidesteps and victories born of the experience Laughing provided and turning the bright lights on them. As many of Los Angeles’s drivers choose to do, it was time to take some surface roads. Odes to self-delusion, the mysteries of creation, cleanliness, and the secrets in other people’s lives.
A little Loose Enchantment for everyone, basically.
Ryan Weinstein gives more context for the song:
“This is one of the first tunes written when this record began to take shape as a collection that made some sort of sense as a whole. Recorded by my lonesome here in the ever quixotic city of Los Angeles, the song’s meaning to me is as allusive as most of the ideas that drift in and out of my mind. They come, they go. And sometimes they stick around long enough to crystallize into something worth remembering. The best of those that do end up in some form or another on my records. “Loose Enchantment” is an allusion to the modern (mis)communication and the allure of locale. Palm trees and likes, the crashing waves of intentionally and unintentionally missed connections. In the name of Love…and otherwise. We’ve all got to hang loose when we’re out on a ledge.”
About Coffin Prick:
Coffin Prick is currently based in Los Angeles, CA. He records on his own, though occasionally receives great collaborative assistance from a sometimes-silent and shadowy partner, Pancho. When the time is right, he leans on a host of harmonically sympathetic luminaries that exist in and out of his immediate musical community. These musical endeavors implement elements of the technologically advanced and the undeniably broken. Equally informed by the not-so-distant past as imaginary future scenarios, his ongoing recorded life continues to mine this deep well. Not so much a “solo” performer as an idea, Coffin Prick is a malleable form whose potential is concurrently cemented and unknown.
Coffin Prick
"Loose Enchantment"
(Temporal Drift)
Street Date: Dec. 13, 2024
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