Deep Voices 132

Crocodile shoes

Deep Voices 132 on Spotify
Deep Voices 132 on Apple Music

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Because of some life changes (I had to get a job), Deep Voices has been on an unplanned hiatus. But I am back with a new playlist, one that is (uncharacteristically?) catchy. The idea behind this one was to start with dub, in this case a track by African Head Charge, and spiral outward. A friend I sent this one to said it’s great for the gym. Apologies for the break. If you have a paid subscription and want to cancel or pause, please do. I should be back to routine posting after the summer. Any questions, please just email me by responding to this newsletter.

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Playlist notes:

• James T. Cotton’s “Press Your Body” is unquestionably the gnarliest song on here, a post-acid-house demolition derby. Cotton is one of many aliases of Michigan electronic music shapeshifter Tadd Mullinix (Dabrye is likely his most-well known persona) and with “Press Your Body” it’s as though he wanted to see how far into the red he could push his production. The drums and keys are just fully fried, like a comet’s tail burning as it sails through the sky. The whispered vocals are a soft contrast, and eventually even those turn into a choppy chaos. Twenty-one years old and sounds timeless. An all-time debauched track that’s cheap pick-up on vinyl, too.
  

• Edja Kungali was a new discovery to me, a jazz group led by trombonist Adolf Winkler. While Winkler’s presence is certainly felt strongly throughout this three-track LP, African Roots in Music Presents Ramadolf, the main attraction on the opening track I included is the drums. There’s a whole bunch of them opening the song. It feels like a drum circle welcoming you to an initiation rite. I love songs where the layers of percussion beat you into submission. This is more of a mollification than a pummeling, but it’s a thin line. Once the piano and the trombone kicks in, though, the song is rowdy, somewhere between Professor Longhair and Philip Cohran. Brassy, celebratory jazz that, to me, has somehow flown under the radar.

• Ian Mills’ “yayarave” is pure candy. With crisp garage drums and an incomprehensible vocal sample, it has a lo-fi techno vibe, not quite hitting Jamie xx territory, but poppy and sweet like he can be at his best. But it’s quick, simple, not overwrought, like he knew he was playing with fire making such a perfect little song and shouldn’t overdo it. The song comes from a particularly charming 2023 album, gg.
  

• Every couple of years I go through an African Head Charge phase and marvel at how this music is real. The long-running duo of Bonjo Iyabinghi Noah and Adrian Sherwood, AHC takes dub as its foundation, the genre of echoed, deep drumwork, and adds a post-punk gruffness, a proto-house rhythm, and an inky splash of goth energy. Their debut album, 1981’s darkly titled, My Life In a Hole in the Ground, is an indisputable classic, with “Stebeni’s Theme” a fully mesmerizing song. But “Crocodile Shoes” is perhaps my favorite on the record. It’s freaky, with faux-animal sounds battling it out with the drums. I’d say it’s a journey, but instead of traveling, it sounds like you’re getting backed into a wall by an elephant. It only sounds like music if you want it to.