J.R.C.G., “Dogear” (Sub Pop)
It is at all times heart-warming when Sub Pop, Seattle’s most well-known report label, indicators an up-and-coming artist from the area. This the corporate’s finished as soon as extra with Tacoma’s J.R.C.G., the combative band that sprang out of Dreamdecay and which is led by powerhouse drummer/vocalist Justin R. Cruz Gallego.
With 2021’s Ajo Sunshine (on John Dwyer’s Citadel Face label), J.R.C.G. established themselves as an ingenious and intense rock unit, allergic to cliché and radiating a lot nihilistic vitality that it flipped over into an odd type of uplift. That uncommon feat surfaced after they opened for UK buzz band Dry Cleansing at Neptune Theatre three years in the past. In a assessment of that present on Slog, I wrote that Gallego and firm “got here throughout like a mad collab between early-’70s Hawkwind and mid-’80s Swans whereas nonetheless sounding like an pressing response to Twenty first-century crises.”
J.R.C.G.’s new album, Grim Iconic…(Sadistic Mantra) (out August 2), is not any mere retread of previous gory glories. Digital parts play a a lot greater position right here, and there is additionally a stronger emphasis on non-rock rhythms. Within the press launch, Gallego notes, “I grew up in punk and DIY subcultures, however earlier than that I had Latin music taking part in within the background by way of my childhood and each section of adolescence. It was surprisingly pure to include. I noticed I wished to go deeper into these rhythms. I wished to make a report that felt as experimental as a lot because it felt from the angle of a Latino. Once I acquired a glimmer of that risk, it felt thrilling.”
You’ll be able to hear this on the second track, “34,” which contains a type of chunky funk rhythm slapping over piercing synth drones, adopted by a rococo guitar solo Zappa-ing everywhere in the beats. Gallego’s vocals are zoned and distressed, like a Pacific Northwest Thom Yorke, however far much less enervating. A chaotically noisy digital coda caps off this stunning new path for Gallego. Talking of British singers, “Drummy” finds Gallego almost out-glumming Robert Smith, whereas mercifully being a lot much less whiny. Justin’s impact is extra like a shocked resignation.
The surprises proceed on “Liv,” an odd digital fugue with a slowed, muted Apache beat. Then it instantly accelerates and ascends right into a bongo-fueled get together jam, as if Gallego’s MDMA simply kicked in whereas within the studio. A really cool switcheroo. “Cholla Beat”—probably the most straight-ahead rocker right here—could possibly be the album’s second single. It is a pugnacious, dark-hearted growler with thrilling guitar shrapnel and synth surges triggering adrenaline spikes. (“Cholla” means cactus in Spanish and can also be equal to the English slang time period “noggin.”)
Grim Iconic‘s first single, “Dogear,” begins with a steamrolling, dynamite funk rhythm someplace between NYC party-starters Konk and Speaking Heads’ “Life Throughout Wartime.” The melody splits the distinction between lament and celebration; it appears like an anthem’s struggling to emerge from a deep pit of angst. Play it typically sufficient and you will start to really feel invincible.
“World i” is a dazed bruiser shot by way of with aching, arcing synth wails and anchored by a methodical, muscular rhythm not not like that in Can’s “Yoo Doo Proper.” A heroically forlorn sax spirals out of the guttural churn, adopted by anguished guitar suggestions squalls, till all the parts construct right into a frenzied, unstoppable drive—a incredible solution to finish an album.
J.R.C.G. performs August 3 at Clock-Out Lounge.
Louis Cole, “Life” (Brainfeeder)
Conserving with the theme of outstanding drummers, let’s discuss Louis Cole. Recording for Flying Lotus’ Brainfeeder label, Cole has proved himself to be not only a phenomenal timekeeper, but in addition a deft author and arranger of songs that excitingly fuse jazz, funk, and electronica. He additionally possesses one of the crucial compelling falsettos within the biz. Very like his musical polymath brethren Jamie Lidell and Jeremy Ellis, Cole’s acquired soul for days (and nights).
Whereas Cole’s final album, 2022’s High quality Over Opinion, abounds with stripped-down get together bangers that will help you strip down, his fifth album, nothing (out August 9), appears destined to enjoy wonderful symphonic extra, judging by its first two singles. For this report, Cole’s enlisted Metropole Orkest and Grammy-winning composer/conductor Jules Buckley to bulk up his compositions.
The album’s first single, “Issues Will Fall Aside,” affords spacey, orchestral funk with Cole singing in his finest Daryl Corridor voice. The music’s expansive and menacing in that patented “Barry Adamson scoring a faux James Bond movie” manner. Listening to pessimistic lyrics sweetly crooned in a massive-sounding opus akin to this makes for some good cognitive dissonance.
nothing‘s second single, “Life,” begins out with an homage to Bernard Herrmann’s stabbing strings motif from Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho earlier than shifting into an ever-soaring orchestral jazz-funk rave-up for the ages. David Binney’s sax solo lends jazz hearth whereas Sam Wilkes’s fleet-fingered bass channels Jaco Pastorius and Squarepusher for maniacal fusionoid propulsion. All through, Cole doles out lightning-quick, intricate beats whereas buying and selling vocals with a dulcet feminine choir—together with his artistic foil Genevieve Artadi—whose supply is comically stoic. The lyrics seem to have a “seize the day” gist, which enhances the inspirational gush of creativity. Watch the video beneath—during which the musicians put on skeleton fits to drive residence the “be right here now” theme—to actually recognize the stainless timing, tight arranging, and phenomenal musicianship happening right here.