New Tunes 10.2.2023

Hello music lovers! 🎵

How are you? Have you heard anything new this week that has thrilled your ears and is still resonating?
If you haven't had time because you have more important things on your mind (like surviving...), don't worry, here are #newtunes, music suggestions for the weekend, fresh releases from well-known and not-so-well-known artists, and maybe you'll find something for yourself and explore further.

But if any of this is too much for you, don't panic, don't worry, just skip it. Life goes on!

Music4life!

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Depeche Mode - Ghosts Again

Depeche Mode will released a new album "Memento Mori" in March this year (after five years) and they started with the first single "Ghost Again". According to lead singer Dave, the decision to make this album came after the death of founding member Andy Fletcher. They're sure that he would have supported them going forward and that he would certainly have liked the new songs too.
Otherwise, there are no particular surprises in the band's sound. Everything is as it was. The fans will be happy.

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Ari Joshua - Meeting of The Minds

Ari Joshua is a guitarist, composer and educator with a broad musical background. Known as the founder of the band Big High, he is involved in experimental jazz and sometimes underground rock. He recently released the single "Meeting of the Minds P4", which is the prelude to an album of 27 improvisations supported by attractive colour visuals.
He was assisted by keyboardist John Medeski, drummer Billy Martin and bassist John Fraticelli. Very interesting, it strikes me as something fresh and new. I recommend it.

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The Drin - Mozart On The Wing

The Drin, a Cincinnati post-punk band, has released a new album "Today My Friend You Drunk the Venom". This is their fourth solo album. Melodic and rhythmic, it's hard hitting pop with touches of garage rock, noise, krautrock and sometimes dub.
This song "Mozart On The Wing" is a good example of that mix, enhanced by intense distortions of acid guitar riffs, insistent drumming and new-age vocals.

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Yo La Tengo - Sinatra Drive Breakdown

Yo La Tengo have been on the music scene for almost forty years and with the release of their new album "The Stupid World", there is no doubt that they will continue their musical creativity. The album has already been widely praised by music critics.
Introductory single "Sinatra Drive Breakdown" is driven by a hypnotic rhythm and spontaneous guitar riffs, while the band intones:

I see clearly how it ends / I see the moon rise as the sun descends.
Only someone who has seen many things and wasn't born yesterday can say that.

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Algiers - 73%

I've mentioned Algiers a few times recently, especially with the collaboration of various well-known artists (Billy Woods, Backxwash, Zack de la Rocha, Samuel T. Herring) on the new album "Shook", which will be released later this month.
Well, no one else is involved in this song but themselves. This single '73%' is a propulsive blend that seamlessly combines dazzling electronica, punk, spoken word and soul. I highly recommend the whole album, not just this song. They're playing a show near me in 10 days (Ljubljana), quite possible I'll go see them.

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Sleaford Mods ft. Florence Shaw - Force 10 From Navarone

British duo Sleaford Mods have released an ominous new single "Force 10 From Navarone", a collaboration with rising star Florence Shaw, lead singer of London's Dry Cleaning.
As you've heard from them before, the minimalist electronic pulsating rhythm is just the basis for a meditation on the difficulties of life in the 21st century, and an ironic examination of social conventions and the disappearance of activism in the UK.

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Lankum - Go Dig My Grave

Lankum, an Irish quartet from Dublin, is a new name for me. They are known for their ambient folk music, and have announced their new album "False Lankum".
This song is an adaptation of the traditional Irish song 'Go Dig My Grave', focusing on the emotion of grief - all-pervading, unbearable and absolute, and inspired by the Irish tradition of keening (from the Irish caoinead) - a traditional form of mourning for the dead. Since the 17th century, this practice has been strongly condemned by the Catholic Church in Ireland because it is believed to open 'dangerous channels of communication with the dead'. Worth listening to.

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Evita Manji - Body/Prison

Evita Manji is a DJ, producer, and vocalist from Athens who released her debut album "Spandrel?" at the end of January this year. She is a member of the contemporary new electronic wave, fusing pop, rave, and ambient. With an eclectic methodology, Manji explores the relationship between cyber ornaments with deconstructed club rhythms, and ambient spots, recognizable by distinctive bass, autotune, cyber effects, deconstruction of pop melodies, science fiction, and ambient elements. She combines all this with her melodic vocals and brings it to a kind of philosophical level of creativity that can be experienced today as an alternative, subliminal concert, and tomorrow as a performance in a contemporary art gallery.