Tom Misch | Shields | Sevdaliza | Jupiter & Okwess | Many Rooms

Episode Three of 45rpm selections

1. The ‘Charm Offensive’ – Tom Misch: “Water Baby”

Overview:
I love this kid. He’s massively funky and I kinda relate to the lyrics about being a Dad etc delivered in his London drawl. Also, his sister, Laura (who, I’m pretty sure, contributes the horns on this) is also super-talented, which is nice. This is the second cut I’ve heard from an upcoming album and I’m extremely excited to hear the rest of it.

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2. The ‘Military Coup’ – Shields: “It’s Killing Me”

Overview:
I’m just a sucker for this kind of proper heavy metal; especially when the singer really gets guttural in his growling and the rhythm gets all twitchy around 1:30. I just can’t help turning this up loud and unleashing my mid-90s 15 year old boy, while singing along to the Lost Prophets-style chorus (are we still allowed to talk about them without our skin crawling?) Plus, they’re from London. Which shouldn’t gain bonus points but kinda does.

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3. The ‘Peaceful Protest’ – Sevdaliza: “Soul Syncable”

Overview:
This girl’s proper mad as biscuits! Iranian-born Dutch artist Sevdaliza released this track to co-incide with the super blue blood moon and released a statement about it in the third person (example quote: “These are glimpses of her supernatural realm, where she is a vessel”.) None of that is any concern of mine. I just love the Bjork-style orchestration, the Arca-style vocal manipulation and the Massive Attack-depth bass.

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4. ‘Guerilla Warfare’ – Jupiter & Okwess: “Musonsu”

Overview:
Having read about the Congo recently in the Prisoners of Geography book (Tim Marshall) and what a melting pot it is of cultures and people, I’m sort of not surprised Kinshasa has – for me – one of the most vibrant, inventive music scenes going. Like the band Mbongwana Star, who posted one of the albums of the year for me a couple of years ago, Jupiter and Okwess play a mix of traditional African good-time vibes with electronica. Good on record. Even better on video (check this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9_kjS8kuhE) Definitely a live show goal for me!

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5. The ‘Quiet Riot’ – Many Rooms: “Danielle”

Overview:
Many Rooms is really just singer / guitar player Brianna Hunt. I like the weightlessness of her music, the spaciousness of it, the inertia. She reminds me a bit of Grouper (check out her Ruins album from 2014 if you like this) in that respect. Not sure I really want to know the story behind it (chorus lyrics: Mother, I’d like to think when I weep, you weep. Does he haunt you like he haunts me, every night when you fall asleep?) but I’m sure it’s not nearly as creepy as it sounds. Hopefully.

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The Outro:
And so we reach a cease-fire for this week. Click here to listen to the 45 RPM Spotify Playlist in full.

If you like what you hear (or even if you don’t), feel free to engage in dialogue with me @45rpmPodcasts on Twitter.

The silence is broken again next week when I’ll return with five more selections for your consideration. Until then, thank you and go in peace.