Hello Music Club, 2021 April

Happy April everybody!
This month is full of some super rad new releases, some bands from our past with new releases which come together to make a GOLDEN playlist!

So here it is…

Hello Music Club, 2021 April

Mathieu Boogaerts
En Anglais
2021

So in 2005 or 2006 I was living in Japan, teaching English, living the life of a young person playing in bands and seeing so many shows. Loved it. One of my students and I would talk music and suggest bands… one day, she told me about Mathieu Boogaerts. His album Super 2 (released 1996) was on repeat for years after that. His album was cool, unapologetically French, saucy and did I say cool. I really think he is where I found my love of French music.

This year, I was searching for new albums and this one dropped on my lap. I was so so so so very excited. En Anglais is an English language album that shows his music works in any language. It is rad, just a super super cool album that shows a mature version of his sound in such subtle and glorious ways that I could listen to the record for years.

So so so happy.

Also, this is his song Ondule from Super 2 that made me go cray cray for him in 2005

Nick Waterhouse
Promenade Blue
2021

This is mature NW. From his first album, he has been a staple of HMC playlists. His last few albums have been good, really good, but this record brings a bit more mature class to his sound. I can’t put my finger on it, but this record sounds like a record by a confident artist who knows how to create his sound and push it just a little. Really really strong album.

Friedberg
YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH
2021

I think I clicked on this thinking it was a new Yeah Yeah Yeahs! EP. It wasn't but I am super happy I listened to it. There are moments of Cut Copy and moments of Tune Yards radness. This is a super rad record.

L’epee
Diabolique
2019

So not sure how this popped up on my desk but I was about to say how they would be rad playing a show with the Dandy Warhols and Brian Jonestown Massacre and GUESS WHAT?!?!?!?! Anton from BJM is IN THE BAND!!!

This is is a super cool record. Listen and dance.

Yu Su
Yellow River Blue
2021

This makes me want to go to shows and dance. DJ Güney Yufsa, who stole MC Unibrow’s name, did not send me this gold… MC Fufu did. It is def on the top list for the year. I just wanna sway all night to this!

This record kinda hits all my buttons… some travelling repetition, soft random vocals, sway, dance, groove chill and yell!

LOVE

The Orb
Abolition of the Royal Familia
2020

I’ve not thought of The Orb for a long time… this is cool and it also made me look up our next album on the playlist.

This just is The Orb… put it on… pretend you are at the Lot in Brooklyn listening to The Lot Radio and chill.

Future Sound Of London
Cascade 2020
2020

Lordy, FSOL will ALWAYS make think of working with An_Gela, Tonio, Dave the Shack Shack Shack, Bwayno and Jules.

Back in the early 2000’s mp3’s were all new and there was no streaming. We setup a computer on the network that had no monitor and nokeyboard. It was in a pile of dead computers in the storage room, but it was switched on. It had a bunch of hard drives in it, all tiny and should have been trashed, but this was our music server. It was a hidden place of gold. Every week, someone would rip a new record or someone would bring in something cool. Tonio was a HUGE FSOL fan and brought in a bunch and we listened to them all the time. This is where I got my love of electronica… why I fell in love with múm and bands like that.

This record feels like that time. Super super nostalgic and love how far advanced FSOL and the 2000’s electronica scene was.

Gyða Valtýsdóttir
Epicycle II
2020

Speaking of múm, this is a beautiful release from Gyða Valtýsdóttir, one of the founding members of múm. This is a record that really blows my mind. I am really not a classical fan, but this record and the music she plays shows me there is a whole world of classical I don’t understand and want to know more about.

Stunning

Sin Fang, Sóley & Örvar Smárason
Team Dreams
2020

Sorry did I not tell you I was going to mention múm in every review today?This record is a collaboration of a bunch of Icelandic artists I’ve loved for years including Örvar Smárason, another founding member of múm.

Perfectly haunting at times… this record reminds me why Icelandic music stole my heart for most of the 2000's.

AJA
Solitaire (& other EPs)
2019

I wanted to end this month with this beautiful set of EPs and singles from Clémence Quelennec. This is her solo project. She is one of the members of La Femme (who are RAD and will be featured very soon on HMC again as they are about to release a new album). This is super chill and rad and is 100% the perfect record for a Wednesday in a pandemic.

Well that is it! April 2021 is wrapped up!
Enjoy dance and send me music!

Yours in rock and/or roll
Waxamillion Dondalinger