Photay – Waking Hours [Mexican Summer]

Worldwide FM’s album of the week is Photay‘s ‘Waking Hours‘ out on Mexican Summer, chosen by Morning Mari*!

‘Waking Hours ’is rooted in the chaos of modern life, and specifically our incessant need to stay busy, keep up with everything and never stop creating. Living this way can be an exhausting prospect, and it’s what sparked Shornstein’s search for stillness in the first place. On a basic level, the LP is about finding room to occasionally pause and take a breath, but escapism isn’t the end goal here. Shornstein is interested in cultivating the mental headspace to question our hectic status quo and simply ask if there’s a better way to do things. Musically, it’s the most personal and open-minded thing he’s ever created, a genre-agnostic effort that impressively builds upon his electronic chops while simultaneously venturing into pop territory and putting his own vocals centre stage.

Fast-forward to present day and the current pandemic crisis, a vast majority of us have been forced to do just that. Most of our busy lives have been put on hold, forcing us into uninvited stillness. Does this shift our priorities? Our consumption? Does it change the way we think about our lives? How we spend our time … our waking hours?

This record navigates through the times we live in. A response to cultural pressures and social norms. In these controversial times, I am asking questions and creating lyrical reminders. The lyrics are a daily meditation. Sentiments to revisit over and over again as our lives ebb and flow.

This album is about time, stillness and peace within.”
– Evan Shornstein / Photay

Pondering these ideas required stillness, something that’s hard for anyone to come by, and doubly so in New York City. Shornstein hoarded it as best he could, whether he was losing himself in the studio or stealing a few quiet moments at home. The music is still largely electronic, but it follows paths that not even Shornstein expected to take. “When I was writing, I was listening to tons of ambient and club music,” he says. “I remember thinking, ‘Where is this pop-leaning stuff coming from?’ Singing felt like a new thrill, the next big step outside my comfort zone.”

Part of that process also involved inviting more collaborators into his world, as Waking Hours includes guest appearances from Carlos Niño, Michael Lovett (Metronomy) and Gambian kora player Salieu Suso, plus backing vocals from Felicia Douglass and Kristin Slipp. The album also includes an expanded range of instrumentation; aside from the Buchla Music Easel, there’s also live guitar, acoustic piano, and of course, Shornstein’s own live drumming (he’s been playing since elementary school).

Shornstein sees Waking Hours as his most personal effort to date, but it’s by no means an insular album, literally or figuratively. The expanded range and cast of contributors has only strengthened his vision, and even though the album found Shornstein carving out his own corner for quiet reflection, he’s also made that corner big enough that everyone can join him for a mental breather.

Tracklist:
1. Existential Celebration
2. Warmth in the Coldest Acre
3. Is It Right?
4. Fanfare for 7.83 Hz
5. Change in Real Time
6. The People
7. Rhythm Research
8. Pressure
9. EST
10. A Beautiful Silence Prevails

We’ve updated our regular Worldwide FM playlist with upfront and reissued music from around the world. Listen throughout the month on air, or to enjoy on the move, subscribe or follow the playlist on Spotify and Soundcloud.

4hero & Ursula Rucker – The Awakening [Raw Canvas Records]
79rs Gang – Stop The Water [Sinking City Records]
Aksak Maboul – Silhouettes [Crammed Discs]
Angel Bat Dawid – Transition East [International Anthem]
ARTHUR – Biz [HoneyMoon]
Bab L’Bluz – Ila Mata [Real World Records]
Bandejas Espaciales – Duberman [MamboNegroRecords]
Borrowed CS – Mystic Shuffle [Planet Trip Records]
Buscabulla – NTE [Domino]
Caiiro – Drummotions (The Mike Dunn Movement Mix) [NuLu Music]
Candido – Jingoism ™Shall I Bruk It boogie flip [™Shall I Bruk It]
Compro Oro with Murat Ertel & Esma Ertel – Murwur [Sdban Records]
Cosmonection & Tour-Maubourg – Voyage Cosmique [Pont Neuf Records]
D.A.N. – Elephant (Foodman Remix) [SSWB / Bayon Production]
Dego – 31 Losses 31 Wins [Neroli]
DRB LasGidi feat. Teezee, Fresh L. & Tems – Trouble [Zero Label Records]
Dreems – An Ancient Eddiitt [self released]
Edikanfo – Moonlight Africa [Editions EG]
Ego Ella May – Give A Little [self released]
Falle Nioke & Ghost Culture – Barké [PRAH Recordings]
Fati Niger – Girma Girma [Sahel Sounds]
Flying Lotus – My Chippy [Warp Records]
fryadlus – Hirahira [p*dis]
Gaby Duran – Is That So? [Aquabunny Record Company]
Hania Rani – Zero Hour [Gondwana Records]
Hector Plimmer – Wall Street feat. Andrew Ashong (Matthew Herbert’s Street Dub) [Albert’s Favourites]
Hiatt Db – 6 O’Clock Rock [Rhythm Section International]
Hiro Ama – Broken Satellite [PRAH Recordings]
Hiroshi Yoshimura – Sheep [AIR Records Inc.]
jahjaylee – Right, Right. Right? [Fantastic Voyage]
Jazztronik – Beat Hopper [self released]
J-Felix feat. Sol Goodman – Be Thankful for What You Got [Tru Thoughts]
Jitwam – Back To My Place [Darker Than Wax Recs]
Joe Downard – Aguri [Ubuntu Music]
Julianna Barwick – Inspirit [Ninja Tune]
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith – The Spine Is Quiet In The Center [Ghostly International]
Kamaal Williams – One More Time [Black Focus Records]
Khruangbin – So We Won’t Forget [Dead Oceans]
Kikagaku Moyo – Ouchi Time [Looking Glass]
Kutiman – Copasavana [Siyal]
Lady Leshurr ft. Busy Signal – Quaranting [Unleshed Records]
Laik – Rosedrops [Mandarin Dreams]
Little Simz – you should call mum [AGE 101]
Liv.e – LazyEaterBetsOnHerLikeness [In Real Life Music]
Logic System – Be Yourself [EMI]
Los Bitchos – The Link Is About To Die [self released]
Marihiko Hara – Vibe [Beat Records]
MC Palakata & Tom Blip – Singeli Jungles [On The Corner]
Michal Turtle – On a Canvas Lived a Baby [Planisphere]
Mildlife – Rare Air [Heavenly Recordings]
Moodymann – I’m Already Hi [Mahogani Music]
MX7 – Eskrima [Bokeh Versions]
Natalie Slade – Gimme Ya Love [Eglo Records]
Nelson Of The East – Burning Palm (Saudade) [Tartelet Records]
Nubya Garcia – Pace [Concord Records]
Nuff Pedals ft. Segilola – Where You Are [GutterFunk]
Numa Gama – Entre 1/2 [voodoohop]
Ohnesty – Need You (Happa Remix) [Highball]
Pepin feat. Sauce81 – 85 [Star Creature Universal Vibrations]
Phenomenal Handclap Band – Travelers Prayer (EU Version) [Toy Tonics]
Phoebs & Maxwell Owin – Come With The Ragga [Síbín]
Photay – The People [Mexican Summer]
Poison Zcora – The Godmother Of Resistance [Five Miles]
Policeman – Power Unit [Termina]
Psykhomantus – Spell on you ™Shall I Bruk It flip [™Shall I Bruk It]
Ralph Weeks – Now That You’re Mine (1989 Demo) [Names You Can Trust]
ROSALÍA & Travis Scott – TKN [Columbia]
Sarathy Korwar – Raga Disco Beat (Live Session)
SATO – OOZE [self released]
Secret Night Gang – Wanna Be With You [self released]
SHADEEMUS – Shaku [self released]
Sharhabil Ahmed – Argos Farfish [Habibi Funk Records]
Simon Jefferis – White Rabbit [DeepMatter Records]
Siti Muharam – Ashikabaya [On The Corner]
Soft Boi feat. Nastychong – Fais Moi La Guerre [Climate of Fear]
Spoort – Britannia Blues [House Anxiety]
Steve Arrington – The Joys Of Love [Stones Throw Records]
Sven Wunder – Wabi Sabi [Light In The Attic Records]
Tenesha The Wordsmith feat. Daniel B. Summerhill – I Dream So Loud [Beats In Space]
The Colours That Rise – Deep Space [Rhythm Section International]
TootArd – Emotional Twist [Glitterbeat Records]
TYSON – Second Nature [self released]
Vague Imaginaires – Mais Qu’est-ce Que [12th Isle]
Zara McFarlane – Black Treasure [Brownswood Recordings]

79rs Gang – Expect The Unexpected [Sinking City Records]

Worldwide FM’s album of the week for this week is 79rs Gang‘s “Expect The Unexpected” out on Sinking City Records, chosen by Morning Mari*.

79rs Gang originally formed in 2013 when Big Chief Romeo Bougere of the 9th Ward Hunters and Big Chief Jermaine Bossier of the 7th Ward Creole Hunters put their differences aside and came together to build a bridge with music, releasing a traditional Mardi Gras Indian music album (Fire On The Bayou) in 2014. Today, Jermaine and Romeo – working alongside writer/ producer Eric Heigle (Arcade Fire, The Soul Rebels, Lost Bayou Ramblers) – have created an album that is rooted in the unique traditions of New Orleans Mardi Gras Indian culture, while launching that culture forward, bringing each track to dance floors and block parties around the world.

“Romeo and Jermaine are two of the baddest Indian singers out there, not to mention Romeo can play tambourine as well as anyone I’ve ever seen,” Said Heigle. “That along with the concept of solidarity that is embedded within the 79rs Gang concept makes this project super unique. They worked really hard on this music and I couldn’t be prouder of 79rs Gang for Expect the Unexpected.”

Additional collaborators in Expect the Unexpected include Arcade Fire’s Win Butler, LCD Soundsystem’s Korey Richey, Grammy Award Winning trumpeter Nicholas Payton, American percussionist and vocalist Cyril Neville, Haitian music collective Lakou Mizik and many more notable musicians. Album artwork was created by New Orleans artist Ceaux Young.

“In the 1970s, Bo Dollis and Monk Boudreaux opened the door and took Mardi Gras Indian music and culture around the world using New Orleans funk. On Expect the Unexpected, we bring this culture into the future,” Says Bossier. “We take this music around the world using a beat machine, using the sounds of hip hop and dance music. This is music for young people and old people, for the people of New Orleans, and for people who know nothing about this culture. This is music for the whole world.”

Mardi Gras Indian culture is endemic to New Orleans. For well over 100 years, men, women, and children have masked in elaborate feathered and beaded suits painstakingly hand sewn over an entire year. While sewing these suits (which they debut on Mardi Gras morning), they chant call and response lyrics – which interplay with the sounds of bass drum, snare, bottles, cowbell, cymbals and handclaps – to call on their ancestors and warn contemporaries to stay out of the way. Mardi Gras Indians tell the stories of their origins where escaped African slaves found refuge and intermarried with the Native Americans of South Louisiana. The beaded suits glorify resistance to slavery, cowboys and the ethnic cleansing of native people. Each year during Mardi Gras, both of these Big Chiefs lead their own gang out on the streets of New Orleans.

This is the duo’s second album on Louisiana focused and vinyl-centric label Sinking City Records.

Tracklist:
1. 79rs Bout To Blow
2. Culture Vulture
3. Brand New Day
4. 79rs Gang and Vela Vada- War Cry (Way Downtown Mix)
5. Stop The Water
6. History
7. 79rs Gang and Lakou Mizik- Iko Kreyòl (79rs Version)
8. Shot That Signal
9. Trouble
10. Needle Don’t Lie
11. Pretty Big Chief

Credits:

All tracks Produced by Eric Heigle
Recorded by Eric Heigle and Emily Eck
at Wixmix Productions
Mastered by Jeremy Lubsey
at Vlado Meller Mastering
Photograph by Jamal Barnes & Ceaux
Cover art by Ceaux
Executive Produced by Scott Borne and Brice White

Moodymann – TAKEN AWAY / KDJ-49 [KDJ Records]

Our album of the week chosen by Morning Mari* for this week is Moodymann’s TAKEN AWAY / KDJ-49 out on KDJ Records.

This album is recorded and produced in Detroit, mastered by Witt at Sick Notes.
Artwork by Richard Wilson.

Tracklist:

1. Do Wrong
2. Taken Away
3. Let Me In
4. Goodbye Everybody
5. Slow Down
6. I’m Already Hi
7. Just Stay A While
8. Let Me Show You Love
9. I Need Another ____

Aksak Maboul – Figures [Crammed Discs]

Worldwide FM’s album of the week chosen by Morning Mari* is Aksak Maboul’s ‘Figures‘ out on Crammed Discs.

The legendary experimental pop outfit returns with a brand-new record entitled Figures, written, conceived and produced over the last couple of years by Marc Hollander (founder of Aksak Maboul and of the Crammed label) and Véronique Vincent (former singer with The Honeymoon Killers).

Figures is a double album containing 22 tracks and interludes, resulting from the flow of creative ideas which arose after a gap of over thirty years (see the Aksak story overleaf). Drawing again from the multiple sources which have always inspired the band (from electronic music and pop to experimentation, jazz, minimalism, contemporary classical etc), Aksak Maboul transcends and reconfigures them with its inimitable style, to create an impressive, rich and unclassifiable piece of work.

Seamlessly weaving electronic and acoustic instrumentation, improvisation and programming, songs, beats, found objects and sound collages, the album works as a labyrinth, full of secret passages and interconnections. Figures clocks in at 75 minutes, thus deliberately shunning the laws of instant gratification and the myth of today’s reduced attention span: the Aksak Maboul aficionados will surely be happy to engage in an immersive session of deep listening (in two halves), in order to enjoy the album’s many layers and details.

Véronique Vincent & Marc Hollander wrote the album together, by following parallel courses with their own respective internal logic, while remaining closely connected. Enigmatic and finely chiseled, feeding on her love for painting and literature, Véronique’s texts form a dense fabric which mirrors the sonic kaleidoscope assembled by Marc, who wrote and arranged all the music (aside from a track co-written and sung by Véronique and Julien Gasc). Véronique also made the drawings and paintings which illustrate the cover and inserts.

The two protagonists recorded most of the album in their own studio, with contributions by the young members of Aksak Maboul’s current live line-up: Faustine Hollander (bass, vocals, co-production), guitarist Lucien Fraipont and drummer Erik Heestermans. Also featured are performances by several friends and guests, including revered improvisor Fred Frith, Tuxedomoon’s Steven Brown, members of Aquaserge (Julien Gasc, Audrey Ginestet & Benjamin Glibert), former band members (including Michel Berckmans and Sebastiaan Van den Branden), and several others.

Tracklist:

1. Among The Naeporu
2. C’est Charles
3. Taciturne
4. Silhouettes
5. True, False, Fictive
6. Histoires de fous
7. Sophie La Bévue
8. Formerly Known As Défilé
9. How Should One Read a Book?
10. Spleenétique
11. Sgraffites
12. The Untranslatable
13. Retour chez A.
14. Dramuscule
15. Excerpt from Uccellini
16. Un Caïd
17. Martial Arts for Boys
18. Un certain M.
19. Ins Bleistiftgebiet
20. Fatrasie pulvérisée
21. Qu’est-ce que c’est “mot”?
22. Tout a une fin

Wilma Archer – A Western Circular [Domino Recording Co.]

Worldwide FM’s album of the week for the last week of May 2020 is Wilma Archer‘s ‘A Western Circular‘ out on Domino Recording Co. We’re also more than happy to announce that he is joining the Worldwide FM family with his monthly show!

A Western Circular is Will Archer’s debut under his new nom-de-plume, following early EPs and an album under the now-retired Slime moniker. On A Western Circular, Archer has uncovered new depths and forged an invigorating singular sound – supple and multi-layered, honouring his acoustic heritage and influence, while building a sonic universe that commands contemporary references to everything from Frank Zappa to Yasuaki Shimuzu, Robert Wyatt to Arthur Russell.

An album that’s been in the works for the past half-decade, A Western Circular is a bold, reflective piece that directly relates to Archer’s personal experiences of life and death, centered on one particular week where they breathed with equal intensity. The record’s themes of greed, love and loyalty all relate back to that specific time. Inspired by author John Fante, A Western Circular is a spiritual voyage through life’s pushing and pulling: finding beauty in the rough, sadness in the bright. Ostensibly, it’s a poignant reflection on the duality of the human condition.

Within A Western Circular lies an exciting and varied crew of guest artists including MF DOOM, Samuel T. Herring (Future Islands), Sudan Archives, and Laura Groves, all contributing vocals to his rich, dextrous compositions. These collaborations are the by-product of several years of writing and producing. Recently, he’s appeared extensively on the debut albums by Sudan Archives (writing the lead single, ‘Confessions’, no less) and Nilüfer Yanya (contributing seven songs), alongside work with Celeste, and another writer and production credit on Jessie Ware’s Devotion.

Tracklist:

1. Western Circular
2. Scarecrow
3. Last Sniff (feat. MF DOOM)
4. Killing Crab
5. The Boon (feat. Samuel T. Herring)
6. Cheater (feat. Sudan Archives)
7. Cures & Wounds
8. Decades (feat. Laura Groves & Samuel T. Herring)
9. Ugly Feelings (Again)
10. Worse Off West