今年5月にリリースされ、好評発売中のアンビエント／ドローン·ミュージシャン、Chihei Hatakeyama（畠山地平）とジャズ・ドラマーの石若駿とのコラボレーション。この共同制作は彼らがラジオ番組で共演したことから始まった。今回、第二弾となる『Magnificent Little Dudes Vol.2』のデジタル・リリースが、10月18日（金）に決定したことが明らかになった。
2006年に前衛音楽専門レーベルとして定評のあるアメリカの<Kranky>より、ファースト・アルバムをリリース。以後、オーストラリア<Room40>、ルクセンブルク<Own Records>、イギリス<Under The Spire>、<hibernate>、日本<Home Normal>など、国内外のレーベルから現在にいたるまで多数の作品を発表している。
2020年当時、コクソンとドーガルは漂流していた。ある夜、ロンドンのジャズ喫茶で行われたチャリティ・ギグの楽屋で出会ったドゥーガルは、一緒に曲を書こうと提案した。レトロ・ポップ・トリオ、ザ・ピペッツのメンバーだったドーガルは、前年に3枚目のソロ・アルバム『A New Illusion』をリリースしており、コヴィッドの襲来と同時にLAからロンドンに戻ってきたコクソンは、流動的な状態にあった。ローズが "一緒に書いてみない？"と言ってくれるまで、いつまた仕事をするのか、また書いてみるのか、わからなかったんだ」とギタリストは言う。
コクソンのギター・プレイもより際立っている。Moth To The Flame」のロボティックなニューウェーブではロバート・フリップのようなグライドを、「Girl Of The Endless Night」ではバート・ヤンシュのような巧みなフィンガー・ピッキングでオールド・ワールド・テイストを、そして至福のフロイド・スライド・ギターでアルバムを地平線の彼方へと送り出している。
Though there’s been little over a year between the two releases, line up The Waeve’s new album City Lights next to their 2023 debut and two very different records emerge. On Graham Coxon and Rose Elinor Dougall’s first record together, the pair conjured up an at times dreamlike world where beauty and tenderness existed under a shadow of disquiet and dread. The pair’s vocals, modular synths and Coxon’s saxophone helping to draw together shades of Broadcast, Talk Talk and 70s folk, while allowing them to get snagged on a knottier undergrowth of prog and post-punk influences.
While those elements are still present on City Lights (witness "Simple Days’" beatific acoustic drift, "You Saw’s" floating motorik pop or the eight-minute progressive rock adventuring within "Druantia,") this time around they’ve solidified into something bolder, more expansive and self-assured.
Co-produced by James Ford, it’s at times spikier and more aggressive, as on the title track’s agitated, art-rock squall or "Broken Boys’" Cabaret Voltaire-like racket, and swaps out the more oblique lyrical imagery of its predecessor for something more personal and direct. Where before they might have projected an emotion or a message through imagery or allegory, here it’s much clearer what, or who, they might be singing about.
“The band had an identity this time around so we had a little bit more of a framework to know how we might operate,” notes Dougall of their differing approaches. “But obviously, the circumstances were quite different…”
Back in 2020, Coxon and Dougall were adrift. When they met backstage at a charity gig at London’s Jazz Café one night, Dougall suggested they write some songs together. Formerly of retro-pop trio The Pipettes, Dougall had released her third solo album A New Illusion the previous year and having relocated from LA back to London just as Covid struck, Coxon was in a state of flux. “I didn’t know when I was going to work again or try writing again until Rose came out and said, ‘How about we try writing together?’” says the guitarist.
“When I listen to the first album, I can hear me and Graham getting to know each other through making the record,” says Dougall today. Through the process of writing and recording together, not only did Coxon and Dougall get to know each other, they fell in love, and in August 2022 welcomed their baby daughter Eliza into the world.
“The first record was a way of escaping the constrictions of what was going on in the world,” says Dougall. “I think this one was a way of railing against the more domestic constraints that we had. That’s partly where some of the urgency of some of the songs come from.”
Domesticity isn’t always the richest of wellsprings when it comes to artistic inspiration, but from the first few bars of the opening title track, it’s clear this isn’t a record of smug contentment. The night out detailed in the song’s Berlin-era Bowie dazzle has scary monsters lurking in its shadows, anxieties always ready to rear their head.
That combination of light and shade is what makes City Lights such a rewarding listen. For every moment of serenity – "I Belong To's" wonky pop declaration of devotion or the pastoral splendour of "Sunrise", which began life as chords Coxon strummed to their daughter one morning - there’s a bump of reality, some discord and grit in the oyster.
“This album is definitely more neurotic and more grumpy - and that comes from me!” laughs Coxon. “I’ve always liked to be pretty straightforward about feelings, whether they’re ugly or beautiful, and I’ve always approached sound in the same way. I don’t always think that sound needs to be comfortable to listen to. That dynamic of putting discomfort next to something that is really lovely is something that I’ve always been interested in.”
"Song For Eliza May" is undoubtedly one of the album’s highlights. A mandolin strummed ode to their daughter during which a surging Fairport/Led Zeppelin III folk rock storm begins to build as Dougall starts to detail dangers and difficulties the person they’ve brought into the world might face.
For Dougall, the decision to write quite frankly about the birth of their daughter was initially a difficult one. “I was really resistant for a while to even consider referencing it," she says. “But actually, when I realized that I could use that experience to explore bigger themes - watching what’s happening in the news, all these terrible atrocities and the world falling apart. And in tandem with that, thinking about how life evolves and how my own sense of self has developed. It became a really good vehicle for the song-writing process.”
Coxon’s guitar playing is more prominent, too. Not overtly, it’s more deconstructed to help build up layers - a Robert Fripp-like glide in "Moth To The Flame’s" robotic new wave, some deft finger picking a lá Bert Jansch to really dredge up an olde worlde feel for "Girl Of The Endless Night," or some blissful Floydian slide guitar to help send the album off over the horizon.
Even more so than on the tentative steps of their first album, City Lights is a true representation of Graham Coxon and Rose Elinor Dougall. Who they are as musicians and who they are as people. As the journey from the first song to the last comes to an end, you realize that it’s also a record that tells their story, the story of where making music together has taken them. -Transgressive
The WAEVEの音楽には表向きに聞こえるものよりも、かなり深甚な文化性が内包されている。それは、先日、ラフ・トレードが公開した大掛かりなロンドンの音楽の数十年の歩みを収めたプレイリストを見ると分かる通り、７０年代から２０年代にかけてのUKミュージックの５０年の流れを現代人としてあらためて俯瞰するかのようである。１９７０年代頃、一大的なムーヴメントとなったロンドン・パンクというジャンルは、三大バンドを始め、無数のサブジャンルとフォロワーを輩出したが、他方、ジョニー・ロットンのバンドがメジャーレーベルと契約した頃から、急速に最初のウェイブは衰退していくことになった。それは、簡単に言えば、パンクバンドが次々とメジャーレーベルと契約を交わしたことに大きな原因があった。パンクバンドが商業的な成功を収めていく中、音楽性そのものに精神性が失われていったことが要因であった。
ポストパンク・ユニットとしての性質は、「3-Moth To The Flame」においてひとまず発揮される。ゴツゴツとしたオーバードライブのかかったベースラインに、グラハム・コクソンは、拡張器のようなボーカルのエフェクトを掛け、「声明代わり」と言わんばかりにふてぶてしいボーカルを披露し、この曲を牽引していく。求心力がある曲で、ライブではかなり盛り上がりそうだ。しかし、ルート進行のベースに対して歌われるコクソンのボーカルは、意外なことにかなり迫力があり、そして精細感もある。いわばコクソンさんが現代のミュージシャン/ボーカリストであることを実証するようなパンクサウンドである。
アルバムの音楽的な性質は収録曲ごとに変化し、スムーズでゆるやかな変遷をたどる。UKの７０年代のフォーク・ミュージックの受け継いだ「7-Song For Eliza May」では、再び、ローズ・ドーガルがメインボーカルを取り、コクソンのバンジョーの巧みな演奏に合わせて、スコットランドのケルト民謡のテイストを作り出す。６/８のワルツの形式を踏まえ、バンジョー、ギター、ピアノの演奏が舞楽的な音楽的な効果を生み出し、ドーガルのボーカルは、優雅さや開放的な空気感、ケルト民謡の持つ牧歌的なアトモスフィアを醸成する。ひとつひとつのアコースティック楽器の演奏がきわめて精妙に演奏、録音されているため、比較的自由な歌い方をしても、曲全体の構成が崩れることがない。これらの卓越した演奏力と録音技術に合わせて、実際的にボーカルの夢想的な感覚は、実際的に聞き手をイギリスの中世的な世界の奥底へと優しく誘う。
The Waeveの音楽はロンドンのカルチャーを反映させるかのように多彩で、一定の音楽の中に収まることはない。それは、二人がどれだけ音楽を愛しているかを表し、同時に深い信頼関係で結ばれていることを表すかのようである。音楽的なバリエーションやイマジネーションは、その後の収録曲でも衰えることはなく、少しずつ広がりを増していくような感覚がある。「8-Druantia」では再び、ニューウェイブサウンドに回帰し、ユニークなサクソフォンの演奏を取り入れて、フュージョン・ジャズとポスト・パンクの中間にあるダンサンブルなサウンドを生み出す。かと思えば、続く「9-Girl Of The Endless Night」では、Lankumのようなダブリナーズのアイルランド民謡をベースに、現代的なイギリスのフォーク・ミュージックの理想的な形を示す。
・Second album by Graham Coxon and Rose Elinor Dougal. The depth of London's musical culture.
In fact, even before Blur was relaunched, Graham Coxon had launched a new project, The Weave. It largely coincided with the release of Blur drummer Dave Rowntree's solo album The Waeve began as a duo between Graham Coxsone and his wife Rose Dougal.
Graham Coxon's remarkable success on the British music scene needs no brief description. As for Rose Dougal, she was active in a girl group called Rose Pippet. The chemistry of different talents, the musicality of The WAEVE, a unit of two men and two women with similar qualities, is intended to follow the popular music of the late 70s new wave, the 80s and 90s, and then bring in the nuances and context of contemporary popular music.
As you can tell from listening to the first album, The WAEVE, the unit is not just a side project for fun. The WAEVE takes the art-rock side of Blur, so to speak, and then, from the nuances of new wave and no wave, absorbs the chamber pop of the Beatles era, the Brit-pop of Oasis in the 90s and the experimental pop of the 2010s and beyond, and sublimates them into a contemporary popular music. The aim is to sublimate them as contemporary popular music.
The style of the songs is wide-ranging, as if to reflect the depth of the duo's musical insight. The austerity of Graham Coxon's vocals and the contrasting nature of Rose Dougal's voice, which is mainly characterised by clear, clean, high tones, produce popular songs that are highly enjoyable to listen to. There is a defiance in them that modern punk bands are losing. However, Graham Coxon has chosen this form of new wave output, perhaps because the genre still has untapped potential, and because it is the most dreamy music of all.
The WAEVE's music encompasses a considerably more profound cultural nature than what it sounds like on the surface. It's as if we, as modern-day people, have a bird's eye view of 50 years of UK music from the 1970s to the ‘20s, as evidenced by the recent Rough Trade playlist that chronicles decades of music in London on a grand scale. The London punk genre, which became a huge movement around the 1970s, produced three major bands and countless sub-genres and followers, but on the other hand, the first wave rapidly began to decline from the time John Lydon's band signed to a major label.
This was largely due to the fact that, simply put, punk bands signed to major labels one after the other. This was due to the fact that as punk bands became more and more commercially successful, the musicality itself lost its spirituality.
However, as this first London punk wave was on the wane, another genre emerged in tandem with New York. This was the wave now known as ‘Post Punk’, which gave rise to movements including Crass, The Fall, 1/2 Japanese and Public Image LTD.. Its final form was Manchester's Joy Division, led by Ian Curtis, who at the time was both a civil servant and a indipendent musician, and whose new wave sound was distinctive, combining European experimental electronic music such as Kraftwerk and NEU, popular music and the punk rock that had preceded it. The idea is to link the three contexts. Even more precisely, it contained an ‘art-rock’ musicality.
This took its first form in the club culture of Manchester's "Hacienda" (the birthplace of catalogue-style release numbers) from the late 1980s onwards, and The Stone Roses and The Smith, who emerged as the inheritors of Northern Soul in the USA, and subsequently, in the early 1990s, as the sum total of these The Brit-pop boom was booming.
It was the bands of the 1990s that brought the genealogy of British music, both mainstream and underground, to fruition, and it also mirrored the chamber pop aspect of the The Beatles and The Rolling Stones of the 1960s. However, it should be pointed out again that the wave also contained a promotional aspect, as the music industry was at its most prolific. Since then, a number of new music acts have emerged, but they have inevitably had to deal with the perennial problem of not being able to escape the category of ‘music for publicity’. This is also a problem facing the music industry today. This is because of the aspect of corporate profitability that it is forced to focus on.
In a sense, British music has updated itself by absorbing or crossovering into some other genre, rather than looking back and nostalgically remembering the past. This is symbolic of the typically British disposition to create new forms of expression, rather than affirming the past in its entirety, but half-negating it. In this respect, there was a tendency to link up with the "No Wave" movement in New York, produced and led by Brian Eno. This simply means that there were a certain number of musicians who thought that falling into anachronism was a matter of good name as a modern man.
The WAEVE is a unit that belongs to these groups, half-denying the past and creating a new form of expression. Of course, while following and paying homage to the music of yesteryear, there is something in it that refuses to bury itself in the past. This is, perhaps, what Graham Coxon wants to show, and it reveals something of the real image of another musician, ostensibly different from that of a guitarist in a popular band.
On ‘1-City Light’, which opens the second album, dissonant sounds from the New Wave or New York no-wave lineage shimmer over a contemporary post-punk sound. It seems to rise to the noisy side of electric guitar, or avant-garde like saxophonist John Zorn, who replaces the guitar solo in the middle part of the song.
On the contrary, ‘2-You Saw’, in which Coxson's wife Rose Dougal takes the main vocals, is a track that is completely opposite to the first one. Dougal's plaintive vocals, and musicality, bring a joyful musical flair that can be associated with the girl groups of the 80s.
These progress around the multiple musical forms of the X-Rey Specs of the 70s, the glitz and glamour of the American disco sound of later years, and art rock. Overall, the song is in a major key, but like the first track on the album, it weaves together partially monotonous melodic progressions and dissonances, drawing on a variety of scales and chord progressions. It seems to wander through abstract spaces that arise in reality, and it can be said to contain a surrealistic musicality.
However, if these musicalities are somewhat manic, Dougal's vocals, like Graham Coxon's songs, give them a populist quality. Even if dissonance and strange transpositions are introduced, the song can still be enjoyed as a catchy pop song on the whole. Then, around the 3:06 minute mark, the tone suddenly changes and elements of chamber pop/baroque pop appear. The atmosphere of the song changes drastically when Graham Coxon's gentlemanly vocals enter the song.
The intro to ‘You Saw’ leads one to believe that the music is based on new wave or disco sounds of the same era, but in the second half of the song, it transitions into a contemporary pop song of epic proportions. Then the main vocals are smoothly taken over by Graham Coxon, with Dougal's dreamy chorus work in the background, and the music turns into abstract music crossed with New York proto-punk represented by Televison and Talking Heads, and eventually Dougal's vocals form the impression of a contemporary pop song. It is a wonderful piece of music, as if one were to water a seed and watch the seedling slowly grow and blossom into a beautiful flower.
The nature of the band as a post-punk unit is momentarily demonstrated on ‘3-Moth To The Flame’. Over a lumbering, overdriven bassline, Graham Coxon drives the song along with augmented vocal effects and a swaggering vocal delivery that is a ‘statement replacement’. The song has a centripetal force and would be quite exciting live. However, Coxson's vocals, sung against a root-progressed bass, are surprisingly quite powerful and detailed. It is, so to speak, a punk sound that demonstrates that Coxson is a modern musician/vocalist.
Above all, the smooth legato of the saxophone, which, like the first track on the album, reflects free jazz and fusion influences, adds a dancelike impression and a joyful air to the song.The synthesiser homophonic progression, which is essential in unravelling the new wave genre, cleverly enhances the energy of the song.
Coxson's vocals are also very powerful, and it's surprising that the words don't go over the top or end up in catchphrases. This is a sign that The WAEVE's musical expression is pointed, and in no small part a rebellion against the ideas and temperaments of the establishment. This is not a superficial rebellion, but an inward reflection of the inexhaustible thoughts and feelings that have been cultivated over the years.
In addition to these punk qualities, the songs also include orchestral and electronic music in the form of popular songs. ‘4-I Belong To’ brings something from the dreamy days of the 1970s back to the present day and updates it anew. And it shows a multifaceted take on hard rock, progressive, electronic and even Brit-pop music, accurately absorbing the mod-rock of The Who and The Jam, and even the rock opera epitomised by ‘Tommy’.
It is true that they are entering deep musical territory, but what is most important is that the unit has accurately captured the musicality at the heart of rock opera. What is missing from this music is a form of vocalism that is now losing its contemporary Britishness, its gentlemanliness, its near-spoken-word form of gentry versification, so to speak. It is discernible that at the heart of rock opera, it was not incendiary, but the gentlemanly expression symbolised by classical theatre.
In particular, the two following tracks are the finest on the album. ‘5-Simple Days’ combines dreamy and restful sensations, wrapping bossa nova-like South American world music and fusion jazz with a nostalgic 80s popular sensibility. The acoustic/electric guitar playing is excellent, but it is Rose Dougal's vocals and the pleasant textures of the synthesizers that aptly capture the heavenly atmosphere of the song. The abstract slide-guitar-led guitar and Ennio Morricone's whistling macaroni western motifs embody the open splendour and celebratory feel of the music.
It is framed by a magical beauty, like coming on a brief holiday to a tropical country and catching the afterglow of the sun setting behind palm trees and the sea out of the corner of your eye. These aesthetic sensations culminate in the outro guitar arpeggio. This song can be seen as Coxson and Dougal's paean to the beauty of this world. It is also, and perhaps more importantly, a compassionate look at the wonders of nature and the landscape that led to the creation of these heavenly atmospheric songs.
The following track, ‘6-Broken Boys’, was praised by ”UNCUT magazine” and reflects the post-punk side of the unit. These transitions from heavenly music to songs that frame the realistic aspect with some thought may surprise the listener with their targeted impression and have a significant impact. Practically, Dougal's vocals, sung against the caustic image of guitar and bass, show that the singer brings a girl-group quality to The Waeve's sound. Their coolest side rises to the surface and it oozes with the feeling of wind whipping across an urban city on your shoulders.
The musical nature of the album changes from track to track, with a smooth and gradual transition: on ‘7-Song For Eliza May’, a legacy of UK 70s folk music, Rose Dougal once again takes the main vocals, accompanied by Coxson's deft banjo playing. Building on the 6/8 waltz form, the banjo, guitar and piano create a dancelike musical effect, while Dougal's vocals foster the elegance, openness and pastoral atmospheres of Celtic folk music. The individual acoustic instruments are played and recorded extremely exquisitely, so that even when the singing is relatively free, the overall structure of the song is not disrupted. In conjunction with these outstanding musicianship and recording techniques, the dreamy sense of the vocals in practical terms gently takes the listener deep into the medieval world of England.
There are also images rising from the song itself, evoking soundscapes, but these are ultimately linked to the kind of solitude and classical rockiness that The Smith's Morrissey portrayed in the late 80s, once the strings enter. The second half of the song takes on a white-hot air with a guitar solo. Interrupted by a clever bass line, the song transitions into big, theatrical music.
The second half of the song also contains elements of 70s British hard rock and LA's psychedelic rock such as The Doors(Jim Morrison). The band has thoroughly read the rock textbooks, so to speak, and sublimated them in such a way that they sound great live. An innovative piece of music that places them in the next generation of rock opera.
The WAEVE's music is as diverse as it is reflective of London's culture, and it never fits within a certain musical category. It is an expression of how much they love music, but also of their deep trust in each other.
The musical variations and imagination do not diminish in the subsequent recordings, and there is a sense of gradual expansion. ‘8-Druantia’ once again returns to the new wave sound, incorporating unique saxophone playing to create a danceable sound somewhere between fusion jazz and post-punk. On the other hand, the following ‘9-Girl Of The Endless Night’ demonstrates the ideal form of contemporary British folk music, based on Dubliners' Irish folk songs such as Lankum.
The album's climax, ‘10-Sunrise’, is based on the pop songs of the 60s and 70s, where Graham Coxon's talent as a songwriter flourishes in a spectacular way. He adds an austere vocal, akin to Tom Waits or M.Ward, and a touch of saxophone jazz, before handing over the main vocal to his partner Rose Dougal in the chorus. This not only demonstrated a new duet form that could only be achieved in the form of a duo, but also how to connect them to a contemporary style, taking into account classical popular music. This is the greatest result of the insatiable inquisitiveness of both musicians.
The band absorbs all the good music - chamber pop, AOR, later urban contemporary, Scandinavian pop like ABBA - and sublimates it into theatrical pop music in the vein of Florence Welch.
At the end of this song, the sensations that had been suppressed for so long come pouring out, as if in an outburst. Theatrical musical expression is combined with a magnificent orchestral string run up and down to create a popular music full of originality. As the title suggests, it seems to embody the moment of "sunrise". The climax of the final piece is nothing short of spectacular, and allows the listener to experience "the splendour of the music". It's great!!
* The Waeve's second album, City Lights, is out this weekend (20 September) on Transgressive.
The coming together of two musicians who, through working together have formed a new, singular, sonic identity. A powerful elixir of cinematic British folk-rock, post-punk, organic song-writing and freefall jamming. Themes of oblivion and surrender are juxtaposed with suggestions of hopefulness and light. Against a brutal global backdrop of impending apocalypse and despair, Graham Coxon and Rose Elinor Dougall strive to free themselves through the defiant optimism of making music.
With the release of their acclaimed eponymous debut album in February 2023, The WAEVE established themselves as a songwriting partnership to watch, with a body of work that was “...ambitiously structured, lovingly arranged… unhurriedly crafted songs full of bona fide thrills, unexpected twists, and an elegant but never gratuitous grandeur.” (UNCUT); a collection of tracks… ”Cinematic in scope, often luscious in its arrangements, it’s a singular gem.” (DIY).
Now, after a year of touring and studio sessions, The WAEVE are back with their sophomore studio album City Lights, 10 brand new tracks that illustrate the evolution of their collaborative musicianship, allowing this meeting of musical minds to further push the boundaries of their individual creativity.
Respectively, Graham Coxon and Rose Elinor Dougall are titans of UK rock music. Coxon made a name for himself as a founding member of Blur, while Dougall came up playing in alternative girl group The Pipettes. In recent years, the duo have teamed up in the project The WAEVE. This Friday, September 20th, 2024, they'll release their second album, City Lights, via Transgressive Records.
To celebrate the release of City Lights, The WAEVE will play four very special live performances at Rough Trade, as follows: Rough Trade Liverpool on 20th September;Rough Trade Nottingham (SOLD OUT); Rough Trade Bristol (SOLD OUT), and Rough Trade East, London. The band will return to London later this year for a sold out performance - and their largest headline show to date - at the Village Underground in late October.
The Rough Trade shows follow an extensive summer tour which has seen The WAEVE play to 100,000 plus fans across a run of festival and show dates including a headline slot atLatitude's Sunrise Arena, Green Man Festival; eight dates with Elbow including a performance at Audley End; plus a high profile show at Warwick Castle with Noel Gallagher.
A year on from their acclaimed eponymous debut album, The WAEVE is back with City Lights, a collection of 10 songs that illustrate the evolution of their collaborative musicianship and sees the band’s sound solidified into something bolder, more expansive and self-assured. Written by Graham Coxon and Rose Elinor Dougall, and produced once again by James Ford, the album features Graham and Rose on vocals, as well as keyboards, guitar, bass guitar, drums and saxophone.
20/09 - Liverpool, UK @ Rough Trade 21/09 - Nottingham, UK @Rough Trade - SOLD OUT 23/09- Bristol, UK @ Rough Trade - SOLD OUT 24/09 - London, UK @ Rough Trade East 29/10 – London, UK @ Village Underground - SOLD OUT
ボン・イヴェールは、jagujaguwarから10月18日にリリースされるEP『SABLE』を発表した。アルバムに収録される今週初めに発表した新曲「S P E Y S I D E」のビデオも同時に公開されている。Erinn Springerが監督した「S P E Y S I D E」のビデオクリップは以下をチェック。
Indigo De Souza（インディゴ・デ・ソーザ）が新作EP『Wholesome Evil Fantasy』をサプライズ・リリースした。このEPは、ノースカロライナ州アッシュヴィルのシンガー・ソングライターが2023年に発表したフルアルバム『All Of This Will End』に続く作品である。
ライプツィヒ市立図書館の公式の声明によると、「Ganz kleine Nachtmusik(ガンツ・クライネ・ナハトムジーク)」と呼ばれる12分に及ぶ曲は、1760年代半ばから後半に制作されたと見られ、弦楽三重奏のための7つの小楽章で構成されているという。さらにライプツィヒ市立図書館の発表によると、研究者がこの曲をライプツィヒの音楽図書館で発見したのは、いわゆる「ケッヘル」カタログの最新版を編集している時だったという。
一般的には、このジャンルは、アンダーグラウンドに属するもの好きのための音楽と見なされてきた。これらは、ワシントンDCのイアン・マッケイのDISCHORDと連動するようにして、ポスト・ハードコアというジャンルを内包させていた。これらのバンドは、最初期のエモコアバンドがそうであるように、Embrace、One Last Wish、そして、Husker Duと同じように、パンクの文脈をより先鋭的にさせることを目的としていた。その延長線上には、Sunny Day Real Estate，Jawbox、Jets To Brazilなどもいる。
上記のような原始的なオルタナティヴロックバンドの要素と合わせて、次世代のポスト・ロックバンドの性質は続く一曲に表れ出ている。「7-I Feel It All」は、イントロの幻想的なサウンドを基にして、MOGWAIを彷彿とさせるスコットランドのポスト・ロックを素朴なソングライティングで縁取っている。内的な苦悩を吐露するかのようなシリアスな音の運びは、やはり、このバンドの司令塔であるシブウチのダイナミックなスネアとタム、そしてシンバルによって凄みと迫力を増していく。また、一瞬、ダイナミクスの頂点を迎えたかと思うと、そのとたんに静かなポスト・ロックサウンドに舞い戻り、まるでドーヴァー海峡の荒波を乗り越えるかのような寂寞としたギターロックが立ち現れる。ボーカルそのものは暗澹とし、また、霧のようにおぼろげでぼんやりとしているが、音楽的な表現として弱々しくなることはない。バンドとしてのサウンドは強固であり、そして強度のあるリズム構造が強いインスピレーションをもたらす。何かこの曲には最もハニーグレイズの頼もしさがはっきりと表れ出ているような気がする。
セリエリズムの不協和音という側面では、Rodan、June of 44には遠く及ばないかもしれない。しかし、それは、このアルバムが一部の人のためだけではなく、広く聞かれるために制作された事実を見ると明らかではないか。 前曲の若さと無謀さを凝縮させたアヴァンギャルドなアウトロが終わると、ストームが過ぎ去った後のように、静かで重厚感のあるサウンドが展開される。
ロンドンとマンチェスターのヒップホップの異なるタレントの融合を楽しめるのが、今作『Stick Fork in It』である。CLYDE/Algernon Corneliusは、両者ともお世辞にもオーバーグラウンドな存在とは言えず、アンダーグラウンド・ヒップホップの次世代を担うMC／プロデューサーである。コラボレーション・アルバムというのは、２つの異なる才覚や音楽的な性質が掛け合わされて、それまで全く考えも及ばなかったような化学反応を起こすという利点がある。ある意味、『Stick a Fork in It』はそんなコラボレーションの醍醐味が凝縮された作品となっている。
このアルバムはシンプルに言えば、サンプリングの楽しさを徹底的に追求したアルバムである。ブレイクビーツのリズムを元にして、チョップ的な音飛びを作り、その合間にどのようなサンプリングを挿入するのか、そのアイディアの豊富さには瞠目すべきものがある。CLYDEとCorneliusのサンプリングの考えは、De La Soul、Dr.Dreの系譜に属し、古典的な内容でありながらも、楽しさと遊び心に満ちあふれている。二人のプロデューサーの手に掛かると、驚くべきことに、どのような素材もサンプリングのネタになってしまう。昔のTV番組や映画のオープニングや挿入歌や、エキゾチックなインドや中東のポップス、ボーカルのダビング録音など、あらゆる題材が彼らの音楽的なアイディアになってしまう。つまり、本来、音楽と見なされないものまでヒップホップのサンプリングやトラックメイクのテーマになってしまうのだ。あらためて、サンプリングの持つ楽しみや面白さが本作の随所に散りばめられている。それは子供の遊びのような純粋さと音楽的な興味を介して、彼らのオルタネイトなヒップホップが繰り広げられる。
そして、もうひとつ、厳密に言うなら、両者のうち、どちらがこの要素をもたらしたのかは不明なのだが、エキゾチックな音楽が彼らのヒップホップには織り交ぜられていることがわかる。パキスタンやインドの中東のポピュラー音楽がブレイクビーツやトラップの流れの中を変幻自在に揺らめく。どことなくいかがわしげで、不思議な感覚を持つそれらのエキゾチズムは、彼らの都会的な空気を吸い込んだマイルドなリリック、フロウ、そしてラップバトルのように白熱したマイク捌きにより、それらのエキゾチズムは中和される。さらに、そこにより深みをもたらすのが、De La SoulやDreの系譜にある古典的なソウルからの引用であり、全体的に聞くと、サイケ・ソウルや、アフロ・ソウルのような極彩色のR&Bのように聞こえなくもない。
そういった側面では、『Stick a Fork in It』は、ヒップホップが未だ主流派ではなかった時代のマニア性、いかがわしさが体現されている。本作においては、「Lemons」のように、サイケ・ソウルのサンプリングを背後に繰り広げられる前のめりなフロウ、サンプリングの楽しさをアナログ時代のダブと結びつけ、さらにUKベース等のアンダーグラウンドのクラブミュージックと融合させた「Mudd」をはじめ、JUNGLEのような音楽性を見出すことができる。特に、逆再生とテープディレイを掛けたボーカルが、これらの古典的なソウルを基底にしたクラブミュージックの最中を駆け抜ける。両者の音楽は、ローファイな感覚に縁取られているのは事実だが、本作のクローズ「Fathers」を聞くと、スコットランドのYoung Fathersのようなスター性の片鱗も捉えられるかも知れない。両者はUKヒップホップの注目の存在であることは疑いがないようだ。
CLYDEは、友人が家に置いていったRoland MC-307でエレクトロニックとサンプル・ベースの音楽を作り始めて約6年になる。ジャズやメタル・ドラムの経験もあり、パーカッションは彼の音楽において重く確固たる位置を占めている。2016年初めにDome Of Doom Recordsに加入し、同レーベルの唯一の英国人メンバーであるCLYDEから初のフルレングス・テープをリリースして以来、CLYDEはライブ・アプリケーションで小さな成長を遂げている。DaedelusとSamiyamのサポート（本当に夢が叶った）やヘッドライナーを務めるなど、ライブへの出演が少しずつ増えている。
コンピレーション、ミックステープ、EP、インストゥルメンタル・ビート・テープ、サイド・プロジェクト、分身アルバムなどをリリースしてきたが、この12ヶ月で「Neither Gloaming Nor Argent」、ラップ・シングルのコンピレーション・アルバム『Both Before And After The Dark』と、"公式 "デビュー・ラップ・アルバム『The Miraculous Weapons of Clarkus_Dark』をリリースした。アルジャーノンのスタイルは「冷酷でエモーショナル」（Exposed Magazine）と評されている。「アルジャーノン・コーネリアスは、今ヒップホップで最も興味深いアーティストの一人だ」（Focus Hip Hop誌）
ニューヨークのアートポップデュオ、Fievel Is Glauque（フィーヴィル・イズ・グラスク）が、ニューシングル「Love Weapon」を公開した。リード・シングル「As Above So Below」に続く作品で、2ndフルアルバム『Rong Weicknes』に収録される。以下からチェックしてみてください。
Sophie Jamieson(ソフィー・ジェイミーソン)がニューアルバム『I still want to share』を発表した。ベラ・ユニオンから2025年1月17日にリリースする予定ロンドンを拠点に活動するこのソングライターは、2022年のデビュー作『Choosing』に続く作品をガイ・マッセイと共同プロデュースした。
本日、彼女は新曲「I don't know what to save」とそれに伴うビデオを公開した。以下よりチェックしてみよう。
ガイ・マッセイ（スピリチュアライズド、ザ・ディヴァイン・コメディ、カイリー）とソフィー・ジェイミソンの共同プロデュースによるアルバム『I still want to share』は、不安な愛着の押し合いへし合い、メリーゴーラウンドのような性質と、それが家族関係や恋愛関係の中でどのように織りなされ、切り刻まれ、盗まれていくのかを探求している。
