Under the Stars is a quasi-weekly column that presents new music releases, upcoming shows, opinions, and a number of other adjacent items. We keep moving with the changes, thinking outside the margins, just realizing … guess what, chicken butt: it’s the holidays.
First and foremost, greetings and salutations. Happy Hanukkah! Merry Christmas and Happy Kwanzaa! I think we can all agree that whether you formally acknowledge the season, or just use it as an excuse to get your serious drink and eat on (I’m not mad at you), it’s a great time for continuing to be grateful.
In that regard: Brittney Griner, welcome home.
And the music continues …
VARIOUS ARTISTS, SHOUTS 2022 (RHYTHM SECTION INTERNATIONAL)
Let me tell it off-top. Bradley Zero, label boss for Peckham’s Rhythm Section International, doesn’t futz with the balderdash. His third installment of SHOUTS, this one spanning a massive 29 tracks, covers varying frequencies of bump from contemporary R&B to club-focused cuts. It is loaded front to back with mashers.
Let me clarify. This compilation plays tribute to things that go bump under the Christmas tree, in a dark club where everything moves with a lot of jiggles, or on a hot beach in the shade that complements your plastic cup setup—the one with ice, a lime wedge, and whatever else is available at the beach’s makeshift bar. That’s how it is.
My man Rejoicer is on here, laying down that baby-making music, with the cool and calm tropics blowing all through his drop of heaven “Da Wall Destroy.” One must also consider Ian DPM’s “Overheard by the Birds,” an inner-knocking ornithology get-down.
While some end-of-the-year label comps serve as a computer hard drive dump for digital junkies, Mr. Zero is coming for that ass AND the end-of-the-year party. Pay attention.
“SHOUTS was only ever intended to be a one-off project to celebrate five years of the label, but the process of hitting up artists we respect and admire to contribute a track to a compilation ended up being a game changer for us as a label,” Zero stated by way of press release.
“It turns out we have so much to shout about,” he continued. “In this world of oversubscribed pressing plants, six-month lead times, and increasing production costs, it makes more and more sense to transition this project into the digital realm …”
Grab your SHOUTS 2022 here.
TRIP SHOW, “THIS TOUCH”
John Keaka Friend, better known as Trip Show, has new music on the way.
Earlier this month, the producer, a former San Francisco resident who now resides in Hawaii, released a single on Bandcamp with no hype, press sheet, or rah-rah.
“This Touch,” an eight-minute burner with squiggly basslines, persistent chunk, and a neck-snapping melody, is the right type of incitement to keep us waiting for new heat, which is expected in the first part of next year.
Friend’s 2021 long player The Far East Is The Near West And The Wild West Is The Far East, released by the local imprint Broken Clover Records, featured eight tracks that weaved through house, dub, and ambient sensations.
Single “This Touch” is available for purchase here.
DAVE AJU & THE INVISIBLE ART TRIO, GLOSSOLALIA (BROKEN CLOVER RECORDS)
Dave Aju, a Bay Area-raised, LA-based techno disrupter, has been funnin’ with the rules for over two decades. The man stays opening hip-hop DJ gigs with Band Of Gypsys’ “Who Knows,” perfecting sleight-of-hand eccentric house hits like “Be Like The Sun,” werking dance floors with uncanny polyrhythms, and then dropping it on ’em with visionary brass sounds that would make a duck fly. You may be wondering about his death blow? It’s weirdo house, P-funk undressed, and bossed up breaks—all on a Tuesday, no less. Aju’s received love and props from the likes of Gilles Peterson, Pitchfork, Resident Advisor, Sweater Funk, Vinyl Dreams, Amoeba, Housepitality, As You Like It … the list is long and just as trustworthy.
Glossolalia, Aju’s new album due out on Valentine’s Day, was recorded in the final days of the legendary G-Son Studios in Atwater Village, Los Angeles. That’s correct. The same four/five walls and vocal booth that gave birth to the Beasties’ iconic Check Your Head and Hello Nasty.
As a longtime listener and fan of the producer, I was excited to hear the return of The Invisible Art Trio, his formidable, not-seen-in-a-minute musical team.
There’s a dedication on Glossolalia to a heavy groove, the like of which hasn’t been heard from Aju in a long time. Alas, we are living in dense and hefty times, no matter how much we try to slap a smile on it. This music articulates a response to those circumstances with proper low-end drop.
The single “Aquamarine Dream” featuring The Rennix Sisters has already been released, and the album can be pre-ordered here.
MIKE “AGENT X” CLARK AND RENO KA, “BLESSING” (FATSOULS RECORDS)
With Motorcity DJ Tools Vol.1, the first edition of the DJ Tools run for the Fatsouls imprint, helmed by Detroit’s own Mike “Agent X” Clark this past spring, the label’s commitment to the preservation of house music’s purity was on full display.
Now the label sees Clark return with a divine arrangement featuring Spain-based vocalist ReNo ka. The project delivers several versions of spectral bump featuring butter-soft vocals from Reno Ka, and several mixes provided by Japanese master engineer Hideo Kobayashi. Fatsouls continues to push and reflect the culture with technique.
Pre-order here.
