Tenci have released the lead single, "Two Cups", from their forthcoming album, A Swollen River, A Well Overflowing, which is due out November 4th, 2022 via Keeled Scale. "Two Cups" is accompanied by the John TerEick directed video below.
This is the Indie Folk group lead by the inventive singer/songwriter Jess Shoman. She is joined by Curtis Oren on saxophone and guitar, Izzy Reidy (Izzy True) on bass, and Joseph Farago (Joey Nebulous) on drums.
Tenci will be touring in November in support of their new album and you can catch them at Sleeping Village on November 19th.
Bonelang have released a new single called "Gladiator Glory". This is the first new music from the duo of Samy. Language and Matt Bones since the released of their May 2022 EP "Nervous Oracle".
"Gladiator Glory" was released in partnership with AWAL, and features contributions from The Game and local emcee Kweku Collins.
They’re ghostly. They’re funky. Their finely-honed-brass-and-woodwind-enhanced musical arrangements are "orchestral."
Of course I’m talking about Ghost Funk Orchestra (GFO) a group that’s one of the leading purveyors of “ghost funk” today and if you think I’m in the habit of making up genres willy-nilly based solely on a band’s name I say to you au contraire, mon square because “ghost funk” has been around since at least the early ‘70s and it’s long been overdue for a revival and an update…
…a revival/update that’s taken off over the past decade with ghost funk group like GOAT, El Michels Affair, 79.5, Say She She, and of course GFO–the latter having just re-released their inaugural pair of "extended play” records (Night Walker and Death Waltz, both released in 2016 on Brooklyn-based King Pizza imprint Ramble Records) in newly remastered form on Loveland, Ohio-based Karma Chief/Colemine Records available for the first time as a single disc.
Fronted by musical polymath Seth Applebaum, GFO started as a auteurist studio project but soon blossomed into a full-on, well, orchestra—a crackerjack live unit who this past Friday melted off most of the faces of those in attendance at their Bowery Ballroom concert opening for Pacific Northwest-based pastoral-psychedelia folk-rock dream-poppers La Luz (we strongly advise you dive into their 2021 eponymous LP asap if you haven’t already).
But what exactly is ghost funk, you may ask, and where did it come from? A classic example of “hey you got your peanut butter in my chocolate!” type amalgamation–given that ghosts are etherial undead creatures inducing dread and fear, while funk is down ’n’ dirty, highly corporal music inducing joy and sexiness–once these two elements were brought into perfect alchemical balance in the early 1970s the result was such post-peace-and-love haunted funk classics such as Sly Stone’s There’s A Riot Goin’ On, James Brown’s The Big Payback, and Lafayette Afro Rock Band’s Malik…
But I digress. The first of the two Ghost Funk Orchestra EPs, Night Walker, opens on a ghostly faded-in ambient soundscape featuring the ghostly sounds of a train entering a station (full of ghosts, no doubt!) joined to a slow-paced, echo-laden ghostly groove that slowly fades out leading up to the next track “Brownout" which serves as a heat-hazed serenade to steamy bedrooms and sleepless nights in the midst of a power outage (always a ghostly experience!) sung in sultry Spanish tones.
But despite the five mentions of "ghosts" in the paragraph above it’s the third track “Dark Passage” which most indelibly gives up the ghost funk with its wet-reverbed, dubbed-out drum groove and rubbery bass and ping-ponged, fuzzed-out electric guitar and Chakachas style “Jungle Fever” stop-start dynamics minus the cowbell and Dutch moaning, all overlain with a John Barry worthy spy theme melody (see also: "Death Waltz") plus a couple funked up solos (on guitar and groovy flute) and if you were to happen across a funky ghost floating down an abandoned late-night side street I’d be surprised if they weren’t listening to this track on their headphones.
And then next we get the noir-drenched shimmering slow-gaited strut of “Night Walker” and then the even more literally noirish “Demon Demon” with its Dashiell Hammett book-on-top style recitation (as shadows lengthen in the asphalt homeland / the city winds down / the once vibrant streets / are now a home for ghosts) over a shimmying rhythm section and ghostly guitars treated with heavy echo and trembling tremolo and it turns out that even in the midst of the metropolisdemons live off from fresh flesh so be careful when you’re out there carousing after midnight looking to get funked up.
And hey I could walk you through every track on Night Walker / Death Waltz and it’d be fun and all. But I got other things to do plus as I was putting the final touches on this writeup Ghost Funk Orchestra went and dropped a brand new song and music video called “Scatter” (video above directed by Greg Hanson of King Pizza Records, see how we’ve come full circle here!) which is the first advance single off their upcoming third full-length A New Kind of Loveslated for release on 10/28 just a few days before Halloween and how ghostly is all of that, zoinks?! (Jason Lee)
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Ghost Funk Orchestra is currently on tour in the Land of the Great Lakes hitting Detroit tonight (8/30) and Grand Rapids on Thursday (9/1) with dates soon thereafter in Burlington, Virginia; Saranac Lake, New York; and Ridgewood, Queens.
The Roof Dogs have released the first single, "Weather", from their forthcoming album, Here You Are, which is due out via Earth Libraries in the Spring of 2023.
This is the work of Andrew Marczak on guitar and synthesizers, Sean Maher on bass guitar, Jack Brereton on the drums, and Jesse Cheshire on guitar.
The group will be returning from a West Coast tour in early September for a free show at The Empty Bottle on September 19th with Free Range and Ted Tyro.
Etzkorn Wong has released his debut EP, "Mobile, Almost". Across the project’s four track Wong blends Synth Pop with elements of Hip Hop, R&B, and darker elements of Pop.
Frances Luke Accord have released their second single, "Friend You’ve Been", of 2022. This follows last month’s "This Morning" which featured Liz Chidester. On "Friend You’ve Been" the duo of Nicholas Gunty and Brian Powers are joined by Katie Van Dusen on violin and Tom Nania on guitar.
You can catch Frances Luke Accord at Golden Dagger on September 22nd with Chris Dupont.
Doom Metal band Unto the Earth have released the lead single, "Awake the Elders", from the forthcoming debut album, The Dawning, which is due out this October.
This is the work of Mike Yoshida, Simeon Papacostas, Jed Jacobs, and Brant Maze.
You can catch Unto the Earth at Reggie’s on September 2nd with Book of Wyrms.
Urbana-band four piece Garage Band Kangaroo Court have released their second single, "Spark Ranger". This follows the band’s debut single, "Something’s Gotta Give", which was released back in June.
This is the work of Jake Luce (Vocals/Rhythm Guitar), Garrett Frank (Lead Guitar), Cody Spiezio (Drums), and Shravan Raghuram (Bass).
Kangaroo Court will be performing as part of Pygmalion 2022 in Urbana September 22nd to the 24th along with Girl K, Soft and Dumb, Victor Internet, and many more.
This is the four-piece LoFi Pop group featuring Nathaniel Herrera (Vocals/Guitar), Japneet Chaabra (Drums), Matthew Agari (Keyboard), and Cole Burrell (Bass).
The group and DJ Chevy Chase documented the band’s performance earlier this month at Bookclub and the video is below.
Black Metal group Warforged recently released the second single, "Sheridan Road", from their forthcoming sophomore album, The Grove | Sundial, which is due out via The Artisan Era on September 9th.
The album’s lead single, "Bliss Joined to the Bane", was released back in May and was accompanied by the video below.
Electronic artist Bounte (aka Dean Dunakin) has teamed up Boston’s Brian Graupner on his latest EP "The Graupner Dichotomy" which is due out on September 1st via Tigersquawk Records.
