Tuesday Tracks: Your Weekly New Music Discovery – July 27
Clockwise from top left: Snotty Nose Rez Kids, Pokey LaFarge, The Ballroom Thieves, DijahSB, Caleb Landry Jones and Piroshka.
The freak-folk and neo-garage rock of Caleb Landry Jones, the hyphy vibes of Snotty Nose Rez Kids, the risk-taking of Pokey LaFarge, grownup feelings of Piroshka, hard-hitting message of DijahSB and lush sound of The Ballroom Thieves tops this week’s collection of Tuesday Tracks.
Caleb Landry Jones, “Bogie” — Caleb Landry Jones is shaping up to be the Crispin Glover of his generation. An interdisciplinary creative who made his name as a character actor in iconic productions—he’s best known for his turn as the creepy white kid in “Get Out,” as well as and appearances in the likes of “Twin Peaks: The Return” and “No Country for Old Men.” But he’s also been a productive musical artist housed with the appropriately dark, eclectic and cinematically inclined label Sacred Bones, where he fits right in by resembling nothing else on the label. “Bogie” lands somewhere between the freak-folk of the early aughts and the neo-garage rock stylings of Ty Segall. But it’s the cryptic, half-cracked persona you take the ride for, as Jones sounds something like a hallucinating, late incarnation of Syd Barrett.
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Snotty Nose Rez Kids, “Uncle Rico” — Maybe it’s just me, but “Uncle Rico” from the Snotty Nose Rez Kids sounds kind of hyphy. Clearly, the group that coined “indigenous trap” to describe its music is in a genre of its own; but the big energy, fun and bravado on this summer tribute to that shady family legend at the barbecue feels like it falls in the same stream as Mac Dre, E-40 and other Bay Area hip-hop.
The Rez Kids, after all, are a West Coast group—just way up the coast, past the border in Canada (the duo hails from Kitimat, B.C. and is now based in Vancouver). Whoever these guys are listening to, I think a lot of fans of rap from the Bay would dig them. It’s tightly produced funk with a loose, experimental edge you find both in the busy wordplay and the details of the sound—and in that long, cool breakdown at the end of the track.
Piroshka, “Loveable” — A video that suggests making friends with darkness is the way forward is fitting for Piroshka’s haunting “Loveable.” This song is a whole mood: one that moves from dread and fear of loss to something more like joy. Yet it does it all with subtlety and doesn’t make the shift anything more than temporary. There’s no shortage of grown-up music meant to describe grown-up feelings, but it almost never sounds quite so rich, layered and bittersweet. It makes sense that every member of Piroshka has been at this for a while: from vocalist-guitarist Miki Berenyi (formerly of Lush) to her band of all-stars of English shoegaze and pop from Elastica, Moose and Modern English.
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Pokey LaFarge, “Rotterdam” — Pokey LaFarge and his band make unique and beautiful music—an unplaceable mashup of retro styles from classic soul and R&B to country and antique crooner music from old 45s. Horns, bass and reverb feature heavily, with LaFarge’s ancient warble sounding simultaneously young and old. “Rotterdam” sounds as good as usual.
The lyrics on this one have the potential to misfire. While a yearning for the comforts of Scandinavian social democracy and an escape from the violence of America are totally understandable, “I’m gonna watch it burn from in another land,” feels too much like a yearning for apathy. Still, “Rotterdam” is worth the attention just to figure out what it’s doing: it takes risks, something at which this artist is often very good. As Pokey LaFarge has said, “Rotterdam” isn’t really about the Netherlands as a real place—it’s about a utopia from which we’re all too distant.
DijahSB, “New Balance” — There’s something in the water in Toronto. DijahSB, hailing from the hometown of Drake and The Weeknd, has earned praise from the likes of Kid Cudi. Like him, DijahB has a knack for delivering the personal in a hard-hitting way. “New Balance” finds the rapper (making a return to Tuesday Tracks for the second time in 2021) rising above grudges while dismissing the haters: “I don’t do revenge, I just pray for the guys/ You be puddle-deep while I be taking a dive.” DijahSB (who is nonbinary and prefers they/them pronouns) has a confident flow and voice that sounds battle-tested but not jaded, and that’s matched well with the crisp production from Cheap Limousine. Uptempo and lo-fi, “New Balance” keeps it short and sweet.
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The Ballroom Thieves and Lady Lamb, “Woman” — The latest from The Ballroom Thieves starts with the lazy solemnity of a slow, acoustic breakup song but over a minute in, opens into something lusher, with a bigger mood. If the first bars call to mind the gothic country sounds of Cowboy Junkies, the rest of the song comes closer to Camera Obscura’s more orchestral, baroque pop moments. Putting cellist Calin “Callie” Peters’ voice at the center of this song was a good idea, and the subtle backing harmonies offered by guest artist Lady Lamb adds depth.
Justin’s pick — My first thought on picking a favorite was to say this week’s two Canadian hip-hop acts combined are my pick: I listened a lot to the tracks from DijahSB and the Snotty Nose Rez Kids and found myself reflecting on how maybe Americans should pay more attention generally to music from up north. But I have to say I listened the most to Piroshka’s “Loveable” and then, to the rest of this group’s catalog. A day trip into Michigan found me driving through a thunderstorm, and the play of light and shadow found a perfect soundtrack in Piroshka.
Follow writer Justin Allen at Twitter.com/_justinallen_.