SZA

I am thrilled to have discovered SZA (pronounced "SIZZ-ah"), a new recording artist from New Jersey. She is a phenomenal cross between Chaka Khan and Björk (whom she greatly admires) and I can't get enough of her unique sound, which she has named "Glitter Trap." I am absolutely smitten.

For days now, I have been listening to her song "Aftermath" from her most recent EP "S." Take a listen and see if you don't feel something amazingly special about her and her music...

The lyrics are tangential, stream of consciousness, a little fearless:

Aftermath

I apologize for waiting to tell you for so long I am not human
I am made of bacon,
Fairy tales, pixie dust
I don't feel
I hung myself, I didn't die
I'm omnipotent, I'm alive
Not real--I'm alive

You leave me careless, I like it
I like it

Caught up in the blast, caught up in the action
Caught up in the bursting flame, there's comfort in dying
Comfort in burning

Maybe we should burn

Doubt I'll ever be anyone's baby
Livin' as a unicorn gets so lonely
I have no answers, I have no questions, stuck in your tandem
Heat that's worth standing
I like it

Caught up in the blast, caught up in the action, caught up in the bursting flame
There's comfort in dying, comfort in burning

Maybe we should burn

I can feel the accidents happening slowly
Falling for the rapture ever so boldly
I will go willingly
You don't have to kidnap, I like to be kidnapped
You leave me careless
I like it
I like it

Maybe we should burn

Doubt I'll ever be anyone's baby

Wow.
And I must share two more songs from the same EP.

"Castles" is a lovely, shimmering slice of heaven that uses a sample from Fleetwood Mac's song "Everywhere."
"Tell me if it's easier for you... tell me it gets easier for me."
*sigh*

And "Ice Moon" is...well, it's a stunning, dreamy gem.

"S" and her previous EP "See.SZA.Run" are both available for download at her Soundcloud.
http://soundcloud.com/justsza

http://www.justsza.com/
http://seeszarun.tumblr.com/
https://www.facebook.com/justsza

"The Ghost"--Efterklang

So. Lovely.

http://efterklang.net/home/

Fryars

I have just stumbled upon Fryars, and wow, am I glad I did! Listen to this pop-electronic-R&B-ambient-dance... oh never mind, just listen.

http://fryars.co.uk/

"We Can Be Ghosts Now"--Hiatus

"Meet me in the dust cloud... Meet me in the white light."
By Hiatus featuring Shura.

The video is lovely but the song has really snuck up on me... shimmering, tender, bittersweet, powerful. The golden, glittering combination of the chimes and mandolin as a backdrop for Shura's murmurings is just...just...oh... *swoon.*

UPDATE 4/1/13:
I just can't let this song go. It is moving me to my core, and after finding out more about it, I can finally feel why. The artist Hiatus, whose real name is Cyrus Shahrad, wrote the lyrics with the tragedy of 9/11 in mind.

“I’ve been returning to the subject of September 11th in my writing and my music since the event itself,” he says. “Trying to artistically represent the scale of that day’s destruction is futile given the wealth of documentary footage, which is too powerful to allow for creative interpretation. But I do think there’s a place for exploring the human stories that unfolded in the dust cloud, especially those guided by love on a day remembered largely as an act of overwhelming hate.”

Vocalist Shura remarks, “I remember when Cyrus first played me the 20-second loop that eventually became the track,” she says. “Even then I was haunted by this hypnotic beat and the sense of something altogether more mournful at its core. It’s a song as sparse as it is rich, and the imagery of those two former lovers, now leading separate lives, finding each other again amid the chaos and collapse of everything they once knew… that’s something I find irrevocably moving.”

The lines "Meet me in the dust cloud" and "Meet me in the white light" are all the more shattering with this knowledge. Stunningly powerful and moving.

Wow.


Bury everything you own
On a hill in Peckham Rye
Say a prayer for those you’ve known
As tracer fire scars the sky

A heaven of abandoned stars
River running black and red
Fight your way through crowds and cars
As rockets flower overhead

Meet me in the dust cloud
As The Towers topple over ground
We can be ghosts now
We don’t ever have to make a sound

Meet me in the white light
As the city slowly lifts away
We can be a ghost now
With the memory of another day

Meet me in the white light,
in the white light now…


http://soundcloud.com/hiatus

Woodkid: WOW!

French video director-turned recording artist Woodkid (Yoann Lemoine) makes robust, powerful music. These two debut videos, "Iron" and "Run Boy Run," directed by him are simply thrilling! The second one picks up where the first one leaves off...

http://www.woodkid.com/

Currently listening to...

...the arresting, desperate "The Lightning Strike (What If This Storm Ends?)" by Snow Patrol. There is an urgent, pleading current that seems to careen toward inevitable loss that rips me up and makes me put this on repeat, as if it allows one to see ahead to the end, and one finally, regrettably, gloriously understands that there is no other ending to be had. We know how it ends: as Rumi said, "Enough of these phrases/ Conceit and metaphors/ I want burning, burning, burning." Do you know what I mean? Do you know what this song means? Do you know what your song means? It's important that you do...

What if this storm ends?
And I don't see you
As you are now
Ever again

The perfect halo
Of gold hair and lightning
Sets you off against
The planet's last dance

Just for a minute
The silver forked sky
Lit you up like a star
That I will follow

Now it's found us
Like I have found you
I don't want to run
Just overwhelm me

What if this storm ends?
And leaves us nothing
Except a memory
A distant echo

I want pinned down
I want unsettled
Rattle cage after cage
Until my blood boils

I want to see you
As you are now
Every single day
That I am living

Painted in flames
All peeling thunder
Be the lightning in me
That strikes relentless

http://www.snowpatrol.com/

London Grammar

I have been listening to these two songs on repeat for an hour or more now... can't get enough of this young English trio, fronted by one Hannah with an absolutely swoon-worthy voice.
Gorgeous.
*sigh*

Their EP "Metal and Dust" is available on the UK iTunes only... for now. I predict big things for these three.

http://www.londongrammar.com/

"Ingenue" by Atoms For Peace

Atoms for Peace is a side project for Radiohead's Thom Yorke.

Just cool.

http://atomsforpeace.info/

BEAUTY: Man--Stephan Stephensen, a.k.a President Bongo

Regular readers know that I have quite a thing for Stephan Stephensen, the Icelandic musician who is one of the core members of Gus Gus. Also known as President Bongo, or sometimes President Penis (I could get used to calling him that), his newest musical project is Gluteus Maximus, a remix/DJ/band with fellow DJ Margeir. Here they are strutting their stuff... and the President has so much to strut. They bill themselves as "the big guns. An arsenal of rotating musical mass." I mean, really, for crying out loud, this man's sheer beauty is gonna kill me someday...

Here is their original song "Everlasting" featuring mellifluous vocals by fellow Icelander Högni Egilsson.

http://www.gluteus-maximus.com/#_

Currently listening to...

... the classic "Love Is A Stranger" from Eurythmics' first domestic release "Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)" THIRTY YEARS AGO! Amazing song and amazing lyrics... and Annie is so gorgeous.

Love is a stranger in an open car
To tempt you in and drive you far away
Love is a stranger in an open car
To tempt you in and drive you far away

And I want you, and I want you, and I want you so, it's an obsession
And I want you, and I want you, and I want you so, it's an obsession

Love is a danger of a different kind
To take you away and leave you far behind
And love, love, love is a dangerous drug
You have to receive it and you still can't get enough of the stuff

It's savage and it's cruel and it shines like destruction
Comes in like a flood and it seems like religion
It's noble and it's brutal, it distorts and deranges
And it wrenches you up and you're left like a zombie

And I want you, and I want you, and I want you so, it's an obsession

It's gilt-edged, glamorous and sleek by design
You know it's jealous by nature, false and unkind
It's hard and restrained and it's totally cool
It touches and it teases as you stumble in the debris

And I want you, and I want you, and I want you so, it's an obsession

http://www.eurythmics.me.uk/
http://www.annielennox.com/
http://www.davestewart.com/

"Line Of Fire" by Junip

Oh, I am absolutely thrilled that there is a new Junip song (I love it), and a new release on the way! It is so good to hear José's gorgeous voice on some new material. On my recent trip to France, I got into a José González groove and listened only to his solo music the entire time I was there...which worked out really well...

The new release drops at the end of April.

http://www.junip.net/

Currenlty listening to...

... "New Day" by The Present Moment. I love me some synth-pop and this recent band from L.A. honors the legacy of Depeche Mode.

http://thepresentmoment.bandcamp.com/


And here is the inspiration:

The Evolution of Love by The Irrepressibles

"New World," "Arrow," and "Two Men In Love" by The Irrepressibles, from "Nude."
It's the last song that slays me...turn it up...

http://www.theirrepressibles.com

Currently listening to...

...a live version of the gorgeous "Cycling Trivialities" by José González with The Göteborg String Theory.
I am back from France now, and I was on an exclusive José González kick the entire time I was there...
His music touches the deepest part of me. It is vital, meaningful, and poignant...and makes me weep.

Too blind to know your best
Hurrying through the forks without regrets
Different now, every step feels like a mile
All the lights seem to flash and pass you by

So how's it gonna be
When it all comes down you're cycling trivialities

Don't know which way to turn
Every trifle becoming big concerns
All this time you were chasing dreams,
without knowing what you wanted them to mean

So how's it gonna be
When it all comes down you're cycling trivialities
So how's it gonna be
When it all comes down you're cycling trivialities

Who cares in a hundred years from now
All your small steps, all your shitty clouds
Who cares in a hundred years from now
Who'll remember all the players
Who'll remember all the clowns

So how's it gonna be
When it all comes down you're cycling trivialities

So what does this really mean
When it all comes down you're cycling trivialities
Cycling trivialities
Cycling trivialities

http://www.jose-gonzalez.com/

Currently listening to...

... the achingly beautiful "Sensing Owls" by the amazingly talented José González. I am in Paris right now. It is currently grey and cold and romantic and this is the sound of the city for me. I wonder if there are owls in Paris. There must be...



You're not using a designated driver
To show you around
The folders are a bit too ordered
The sailors seem a bit too bored
Mountain tops seem nice from a distance
Close: rough and not so smooth
So these streets have been walked upon for centuries
I'm sensing owls, aren't you? Aren't you?

Come on, come out from where ever you are

http://www.jose-gonzalez.com/

Currently listening to...

... the sinister, sinuous, hard dance sound of "Let Go" by The Japanese Popstars.

"You're trying too hard to keep control.
Just relax and let go."



http://www.thejapanesepopstars.co.uk/

Currently listening to...

...the haunting, hushed song "Southbound" by Sea Oleena. Just lovely...

Everything she does is floating, expansive, and echoing...
http://seaoleena.bandcamp.com/

"Taking Down The Tree" by Tracey Thorn and Green

We are taking down our own Christmas tree today...
Anyone else?

http://www.traceythorn.com/

Currently listening to...

...the darkly hypnotic "Zikir" by Bauhaus, with vocals by the great Peter Murphy, Godfather of Goth. Exotic, ominous, and delicious...

Vagrant held my master's secret art
Oh, look at you

Loves me, loves me not
Loves me, loves me not
Loves me, loves me not

http://www.bauhausmusik.com/

Currently listening to...

..."Ice Age" by How To Destroy Angels.

Sublime.
Perfection.
Just... wow.

http://www.howtodestroyangels.com/