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.
Go visit your local record store merchant….they are waiting.
Let’s Get IT!
JAYDA G, GUY (NINJA TUNE)
I told ya awhile back. Jayda Guy is smart. Like nerdy, goofy, love the environment, NASA scientist-type intelligence. No joke. She’s got the marine biologist paperwork to prove it.
Born and raised in the small town of Grand Forks, British Columbia—a half day’s ride outside Vancouver—Jayda G, the moniker she produces and DJs under, grew up surrounded by nature. We’re talking about mountains, forests, rivers, and lakes. Growing up around that fresh air and water, the natural greens and blues—one can assume it serves the personality, providing a certain grounding.
Respect. Empathy for living, breathing creatures … a sensibility to care outside oneself. Mindfulness.
On her second album Guy, she peels a layer back and adds a personal story to her trademark house-disco arrangements, interspersing them with archival recordings of her late father, the eponymous William Richard Guy.
With songwriting that veers delicately into pop territory, Guy unveils another level of sophisticated production from the Grammy-nominated artist. It’s a record full of “storytelling about the African-American experience, death, grief, and understanding,” according to the artist. There are both moving and somber moments. Akin to Black life. Everyday.
Jayda G gets all the hues into focus.
Purchase here or at a record store.
T4T LUV NRG LABEL
So, it all started for me and T4T with Eris Drew’s Raving Disco Breaks Vol. 1 mixtape.
It was insanely good. Bonkers. Thunking bass, raucous hip-house loops, horn snippets, and diva-type vocal samples all run into the red. There is no middle ground in this frenetic vibrancy for listeners: you are either down or you aren’t.
Turns out that since 2019, its trans-centric boutique label, which run by loving partners Drew and Octo Octa, has released a slew of high-quality projects—some would call them bangers—hit differently but maintain singularity.
Electronic music that feels breakneck, like it was made with gear. That old majestic hardware.
The label’s catalogue includes the 70-plus minutes of ecclesiastical breaks—it’s a gospel rave y’all—from Beige on the Amen! Vol. 1 mixtape to four bass-heavy and powerfully emotional tracks by Oakland-based artist Bored Lord on The Last Illusion, bringing a “proper hardcore house” feel. Other must-plays include Introspekt’s Yoda bass moves and Glasgow-based Gynoid 74‘s cool and uproarious Chicago-to-Detroit sonic connections.
Listen up, if you are not checking for this platform, ya faking the funk.
Add T4T to your rotation or keep playing yourself.
SWEEPING PROMISES, “ERASER” (FEEL IT RECORDS)
Lira Mondal and Caufield Schnug are a punk duo from Lawrence, Kansas. Their lineage is similar to some previous new traditionalists—you can follow their flow from Devo, to that famous Athens movement from the 1980s, up to a lil red-and-white-clad duo outta Detroit with a way-underrated drummer and a guitarist named Jack.
“Eraser,” Sweeping Promises’ lead single from the upcoming Feel It Records-released album Good Living Is Coming For You, is a screaming ripper of a tune in which you can hear the influences of the aforementioned greats, as well as the group’s loud-as-all-hell future.
Isn’t it shining?
Get your tickets before they’re gone to see them on September 19 at The Chapel.
LOW PRAISE, DRESSING (MEDIUM FRIENDS)
Low Praise’s debut full-length DRESSING reminds anyone with a discerning ear of seminal bands from the 1970’s such as The Fall and Wire. But you’d also be correct in accepting their offerings as a more punk-ish version of the SF indie-jangle happening right now.
Purchase the release here and consult your fave independent record store for the vinyl.
