Don’t Miss A Beat is here to recommend five tracks a week. Rather than being a standard ‘five new tracks you must hear’ it will comprise a selection of music that fall into five categories.
There will be a new track and older track in some way related to the new track, a track from a recently released album, a track somewhat related to the week just past, and a track by an artist playing in Manchester in the coming week.
New Track: Gwenno – Patriarchaeth
Gwenno makes lovely welsh-language electronic music. Her critically acclaimed album Y Dydd Olaf came out in July on Heavenly Recordings.
The video for this particular track – an album highlight – came to my attention this week after hearing the song getting frequent radio rotation.
It’s well worth a watch, providing an excellent introduction to the artist as well as an excuse to re-listen if you are already familiar.
The video was directed by Ian Watson, and was created using physical manipulation of VHS tapes and the random deletion of digital memory.
Old Track: Y Niwl – Undegpedwar
Sticking with the Welsh, Y Niwl – meaning The Fog – is a Welsh-language instrumental surf rock band.
Welsh-language in the sense that their name is Welsh, and that they can speak Welsh.
They make surf music of the classic variety, with reverb-laden guitars and riffs to spare, ensuring that the lack of vocalist does not feel at all like a bad thing.
This track is from their eponymous 2010 album which was released by Welsh Label Aderyn Papur.
Track from an album out this week: Wavves – Heavy Metal Detox
California’s Wavves released the fifth album V on October 2 via Ghost Ramp. This track is the opener and was released as a single in the summer.
It’s a classic example of Wavves’ raucous surf punk and shows a more communal approach to songwriting from the band.
This album sees bass player Stephen Pope and Guitarist Alex Gates contributing songs to the album alongside usual songwriter and frontman Nathan Williams.
Relevant track to this week: Furry Lewis – Judge Harsh Blues
In light of the issues in America regarding the planned execution of the potentially innocent Richard Glossip, this old blues track from Furry Lewis seems appropriate.
The legendary blues musician contemplates the death penalty with the kind of storytelling synonymous with the blues from this era.
Gigs to see: Quadrupéde – Rhododendron
This progressive French outfit released their album TOGOBAN in 2014 on Black Basset Records.
Their songs are a chaotic combination of sounds and rhythms, yet all falls into place perfectly proving the band’s significant talent for arranging music of complexity.
For fans of Battles, early Foals and Foals members Yannis Philippakis and Jack Bevan’s earlier band Edmund Fitzgerald, Quadrupéde successfully mess around with time signatures and polyrhythms for the fun of it.
They play The Eagle Inn in Salford on October 8.
Tickets can be found here.
Image courtesy of Matt Clark, with thanks.
