the MAZE – A Music Review

They come to rest at any kerb:
All streets in time are visited.
–Philip Larkin, “Ambulances”

The first time I heard Her’s was in December 2018 and included their song Harvey in Jam #12: el fin. This is what I wrote then: “Harvey is sweet summer song that just makes me want to roll down my car windows and sing along. Try it.” Only one thing has changed since then. Last week, in the early hours of March 29th, both band members of Her’s, along with their manager, were tragically killed in an automobile accident en route to a gig in Santa Ana, CA.

Stephen Fitzpatrick (24) and Audun Laading (25) were best friends and made up the indie-pop band Her’s. They met at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (founded by Sir Paul McCartney) and bonded over Twin Peaks and cinema before they formed Her’s in 2015. They released their debut full length album ‘Invitation to Her’s’ in 2018 and were on a 19 date tour through the U.S. at the time of their accident. You can read more about them on their website.

I got to know Her’s through their music and by watching their YouTube videos. Her’s did more than just write endlessly playable jams and compose funky arrangements – the sonic expanse of their sound is truly unexpected and mesmerizing. Stephen’s vocal range is so deep and I just cannot get enough of Audun’s fluid bass-lines and hilarious dance moves. Their richly textured music is both cerebral and full of emotion at the same time.

While their journeys have been cut short, their music will resonate through me for a long time. Here is a short playlist that I hope Stephen and Audun can jam to… wherever they are.

Playlist: Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube

1. She Needs Him – Her’s
2. I Don’t Know How To Love – The Drums
3. Huarache Lights – Hot Chip
4. Dancing in the Moonlight – Toploader
5. Drag – Day Wave
6. What Would I Do? – FUR
7. Queen’s Parade – Swimming Tapes
8. Down the Line – Beach Fossils
9. Darling – Real Estate
10. Still Life – The Horrors
11. Feels Like We Only Go Backwards – Tame Impala

A beautiful tribute: Atwood Magazine

My favorite YouTube videos:

It has been one year since I started writing this blog – theMAZE. I don’t consider myself a writer or a music expert but I needed a reason to start listening to music. Subscribing to Spotify and documenting my musical journey seemed like a good starting point.

While it has been incredible to listen to so much new music, this entire experience has been a bit sobering as well. Let me explain.

In my teenage years when I discovered a new band or got a new cassette or CD my life would come to a standstill. I would listen to the same album over and over. I would memorize the words and spend hours figuring out the chords to my favourite songs. I would read album booklets back to back until I knew the names of producers and sound engineers. I especially loved reading the credits as I was always intrigued to see my heroes thank their heroes for the music.

Last week I found myself sitting in a freezing cinema hall watching Captain Marvel and I was instantaneously transported back to the exact moment in time when I first heard No Doubt’s album – Tragic Kingdom. It was autumn of 1995, I was around 12 years old and was sitting with my buddy and fellow band mate Cheeseball (his little brother was called Cheeseling). I recall Cheeseball’s exact words “Ajai, just wait and see, these guys are going to be huge.” No doubt they did go on to become huge and Don’t Speak became The Penguins’ (our band) most requested song that year.

Today music feels force-fed and over-consumed. Spotify and Apple Music algorithms constantly push hundreds of “fresh finds” at us. Countless unfamiliar artists, sounds, instruments and even languages dominate our ear buds at every free moment. In many ways it is incredible to be exposed to so much variety but the quantum has become so large that I, for one, end up skimming. I don’t really listen as much as I used to. I find myself skipping songs after 5 seconds… in some sort of mad hunt for something different.

As a result nothing sticks. I don’t remember when or how I stumbled across the awesome Come Meh Way by Sudan Archives from Jam #2. I definitely never memorised the lyrics to J. Cole’s Intro to “The Fall Off” in Jam #5 like I did 2Pac’s entire All Eyez On Me album.

Sadly, as much as I hate to admit, in many ways it feels like music has become disposable. And while it is concerning that disposable culture seems to perimiate many parts of our lives today, my biggest conern is the upstream effect this may have on artists or creativity in general.

Thankfully, for now at least the creative process lives large and this is evidenced by this sick Jam #14 featuring Leah Dou, Another Sky and I Mean US.

Enjoy.

1. Neon Me Out – Sego
2. Ordinary Pleasure – Toro y Moi
3. Money – Leikeli47
4. Miracle – Caravan Palace
5. Le cannibale – Juniore
6. About the Light – Steve Mason
7. Alligator Girl – Langhorne Slim
8. A swim in the love that you give me – Leah Dou
9. Balera De Mar – Opez
10. Let’s Go Trippin’ – Dick Dale
11. Sorry – Hala
12. Apple Tree – Another Sky
13. Seen My Aura – Helado Negro
14. EYヨ – I Mean Us
15. Take Me for a Little While – Dave Edmunds

Playlist: Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube

A piercing track from L.A. indie rockers Sego, Neon Me Out sounds like a mix of a Beck and Kasabian track…. but different. I can imagine this would sound huge live in a stadium. A good way to start the morning… and this jam.

Ordinary Pleasure is the first single off of Toro y Moi’s latest album Outer Peace. I love the congos in the beginning and the playful funky rhythm throughout the song.

Who is Leikeli47? Thanks to her mask, nobody really knows. Something about mysterious rappers (Spark Master Tape from Jam #3) hooks me. The tight and clean bass line in Money is simple but complete. This isn’t just another track about dollar bills, models and bottles… Leikeli47 says it best: “Money’ isn’t about currency, it’s about the work. The phrase ‘I’m money’ or ‘I got money’ means I practice, it means I study, I’m confident, I’m that action and I’m results. Real money don’t complain, we make it happen. Hard work and sacrifice can and will eventually lead you to whatever your version of the ‘good life’ is, but you gotta be money before you can see money.”

Miracle is a sprawling hot and sweaty dance song takes me back to Air’s Moon Safari days. I love the soft bass, twangy banjo, house-like build ups and the french horns towards the end. This is the first single of Parisian big band Caravan Palace’s album due to be released later this year.

Sticking with the French theme, Juniore the sublime indie-pop quartet from France makes its second appearance on theMAZE. Le cannibale is a period track which takes me back to Francoise Hardy days. Just a nice tune to have on while you get along with your day.

Steve Mason, from The Beta Band cult fame, has hit the spot in his latest song About the Light. While the album reviews are not entirely favourable, this soulful ballad’s poetic lyrics are deep and raw – “Found a piece of bad luck lying by the side of the road. I had a chance to put it in my pocket but I’m wiser, now I’m getting old.”

Langhorne Slim’s voice is mesmerizing and sensitive at the same time. At first, Alligator Girl may sound like a simple blues number, but as the song progresses the guitar alternates between clean and overdrive producing a very unique sound scape. To add to this the backing vocals and synths also come as a surprise.

Pardon my ignorance, but Leah Dou is the first Chinese electronic musician I have ever heard and damn am I floored! I don’t even know where to start with this track – her voice is intoxicating, the music and production is highly sophisticated. The track takes twists and turns every minute and the entire composition is fiercely original.

On Bandcamp Opez describe it’s music as latin desert or funeral party music – seriously. Multi-instrumentalist Massi Amadori is the force behind Opez and his music is lush and beautifully hypnotic, but not morbid. When listening to Balera De Mar I am immediately transported to a pristine Kerala beach, not a soul in sight to the left and a surf board to my right.

Let’s Go Trippin’ is my tribute to the legendary Dick Dale who passed away last week. Fondly remembered as the “King of Surf Guitar”, his tunes really brightened my days during my summer in California circa 2003.

Sorry by Detroit based Hala is just a fun pop rock song… nothing more.

Apple Tree is my favourite song off this playlist… I have had it on repeat (unusual). Catrin Vincent’s voice is seductive and soars throughout the song. I cannot wait to hear them live.

Roberto Carlos Lange, also known as Helado Negro (literally translates to black ice-cream), has received rave reviews across the board for his latest album “This Is How You Smile” and it’s quite clear why. There are so many songs to choose from but for some reason this one sticks out. Pitchfork has a great interview with him where he breaks down every song on this album. I love the effects on the guitar and especially how they change throughout the song. But most of all, I really dig the complexity of the percussion arrangement which reminds me of Paul McCartney’s bass-line on Something, which is a song on in its own right.

The band I Mean Us from Taiwan are incredible. EYヨ is not just another dream-pop track… it builds up beautifully and if I was a music director for a film (one of my dream jobs) I would choose this song for a scene of triumph where a battle is won or a summit is reached.

Dave Edmunds’s cover of Take Me for a Little While just popped up on my Discover Weekly playlist on Spotify (evidence of force-feeding haha). I love it because it sounds different enough from the original to stand alone as a superb recording.

Playlist: Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube

I have been procrastinating over this jam for months… Between the beaches of Tangalle and the slopes of Gulmarg, my life has been in flux over the past few months. But music has been a constant. It has centred me.

My process for discovering new music is not at all well defined. I read blogs and newsletters, follow artists, listen to podcasts and of course, get lost in Spotify’s labyrinth of curated playlists.

But much of what I tend to listen to over and over again, reflects my mood or how I am feeling at the time. So music that resonates today may not necessarily be what I would chose to listen to tomorrow. Or next week.

This particular selection of songs is a good example. The songs are probably not for everyone, but for me, at this unique moment in time, they express where I am at.

After dark, this is music I like to watch stars by.

1. Cherry Blossom – ALA.NI
2. Tomb – Angelo De Augustine
3. Lebanon – J. S. Ondara
4. Mere Saath – Lifafa
5. Him and Her – FUR
6. On Ice – Michael Nau
7. Stag – Goat Mumbles
8. Just Like Honey – The Jesus and Mary Chain
9. My Narrow Road – Roo Panes
10. The Novelist – Richard Swift
11. Back, Baby – Jessica Pratt
12. The Bug Collector – Haley Heynderickx
13. Shedding Skin – Mutual Benefit
14. Float On – Mark Kozelek
15. I’ll Come Too – James Blake

Playlists: Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube

ALA.NI’s Cherry Blossom is just a stunningly beautiful song. Her style is reminiscent of the Billie Holiday era but her voice is her own. ALA.NI says it best: “This song is about friendship, trust, and lust which are the key elements for any true love story.”

I am blown away by Angelo De Augustine. His voice. His lyrics. Tomb is the deepest but most delicate love song I have heard in a very long time.

J. S. Ondara has the most unique voice and his song Lebanon is powerful, folky and inspiring. His life story is as unique as his music. He was born to a poor family in Nairobi, grew up obsessed with GN’R, won a green card in a lottery and today is signed recording artist. He expresses his life full of struggle and eventual success through his music.

Lifafa has gotten a lot of press lately in India and for good reason. His music is in a word… incomparable. The production is exceptionally complex with intelligent beats, sounds and heartfelt lyrics. You must listen to his album Jaago which is full of great tracks. Mere Saath resonates with me though… especially the lyrics in the chorus “Come with me… and forget.”

Him and Her by FUR (yes.. it rhymes) is a fun indi-pop song. We all need these don’t we? Front man Murray says the song is: “about trust and distrust in a relationship. Trying to tell if someone trusts in you and how that can lead to you seeing them in a completely new light. Then, ultimately, the battle of deciding whether you want to be with them anymore.”

I guess this is the fun section of this playlist… ha! Michael Nau’s On Ice is just a carefree song which makes me want to tap along and feel good.

Here comes the twist. Stag by Goat Mumbles is dark and mysterious song that defies genre. In the movie of my mind, this song is playing while a kid is on the dancefloor looking for a partner while the club spins around him. Lights flash.

On a bored night home I decided to re-watch Lost in Translation and became obsessed with the song Just Like Honey which closes out the movie. Bill Murray leaves Scarlett Johansson (my 20s crush) on the streets of Tokyo after whispering something inaudible in her ear. In a recent interview Sofia Coppola said: “That thing Bill whispers to Scarlett was never intended to be anything. I was going to figure out later what to say and add it in and then we never did. It was between them. Just acknowledging that week meant something to both of them and it affects them going back to their lives. People always ask me what’s said. I always like Bill’s answer: that it’s between lovers – so I’ll leave it at that.” Perfect.

Somebody very close to me introduced me to singer songwriter Andrew ‘Roo’ Panes and I just cannot stop listening to him. Andrew wrote that My Narrow Road is about: “the way people work and the journey of relationship. It’s a beautiful but tough road to love someone other than yourself.” So true.

The Novelist is a piercing song by the late Richard Swift. It leaves me with a feeling of desperation and incompleteness.

Something about Jessica Pratt’s voice makes me believe her. Back, Baby is a sad song which is underscored by her repeating “Sometimes, I pray for the rain” over and over.

I love the horns at the end of Haley Heynderickx’s cute song The Bug Collector.

Sticking with the insect theme, Mutual Benefit’s song Shedding Skin is about the transformation of cicadas. Fun fact, a friend and I produced some (pretty awful) psytrance tracks back in 2003 under the name Psycada, a play on cicada.

Ω

Mark Kozelek’s cover of Modest Mouse’s Float On is raw and enigmatic and brought back memories of what now seems to me like a different life.

I’ll Come Too is an unexpected song by James Blake that speaks for so many people who struggle with opening up and just being themselves. It is a reminder that you need to be true to and love yourself before you can be true to and love others.

Playlists: Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube

 

In many ways 2018 has been a year of awakening for me. For ages now, my music discovery journey has been stubbornly stuck in neutral. The truth is I got lazy and was caught within the comfort zone of my dated iTunes library. I needed something to push me to expand my horizons and this blog did just that.

theMAZE has been a gift. It has introduced me to sonic geniuses such as Frank Ocean, Kamasi Washington and Julian Lage; rekindled by love for hip-hop with A$AP Rocky, J. Cole and Prabh Deep; and taken me back to my indie roots with bands like TOLEDO, Bahamas and The Helio Sequence. Just to name a few…

This blog, for me, has been more than just a series of curated playlists. The music I listened to cushioned blows and prolonged highs in a year full of change. It woke me up each morning, accompanied me to work and back, pushed me to climb harder and calmed me to sleep every single night. Music has been the only thing that could have ever filled a tiny corner of the immense void in my life. I am thankful that it did.

Music is an expression of my inner self. I hope by sharing some of what I am listening to, followers of theMAZE discover a few pieces of music that speak to them as well.

And so it ends… here is my final jam of the year.

1. Garden – Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs
2. Is There a Place I Can Go – Trudy and the Romance
3. Lonely Man of Winter (Doveman Mix) – Sufjan Stevens feat. Melissa Mary Ahem
4. Boss – Little Simz
5. Lovers Rock – TV Girl
6. Ramble On – Led Zeppelin
7. Icicle Tusk – Fleet Foxes
8. Gallipoli – Beirut
9. Lady Boston – The Good, The Bad & The Queen
10. New Moon – Steve Gunn
11. Harvey – Her’s
12. Love in the Time of Socialism – Yellow House
13. Goodbye L.A. – Blah Blah Blah
14. My Love – Bahamas
15. We Are Fine – Sharon Van Etten
16. Yeh Duniya Agar Mil Bhi Jaye To – Mohammed Rafi

Playlists: Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube

I cannot believe I have missed TEED’s music. I have been a Disclosure fan from day one and TEED has exactly the same vibe. I was intrigued to learn about his love for Indian music. If you want to hear super funky remixes of A.R. Rahman and Bapi Lahiri songs check out TEED’s Boiler Room set – SUPER! I love the bouncy bass line in his song Garden. Hope you caught them in Mumbai a few weeks ago!

Finally, another genre defying band emerges – Trudy and the Romance (there is no Trudy in the band), is absolutely refreshing. The band describe their song Is There a Place I Can Go as “a love song about family, friends and coming of age in the new world. It’s a juvenile ballad using all the spank & tools we had to make the biggest bang.”

Everything that Sufjan Steven’s touches turns to gold. The story behind Lonely Man of Winter is lovely. As a marketing campaign for his Christmas boxset, Sufjan wrote this song in 2007 and transferred ownership of the song to the winner of a promotional contest. The winner did not release the song but instead gifted the rights back to Sufjan. Perfect.

Little Simz is anything but little. Boss is a prolific and provocative in your face rap that stings. In a stark contrast to much of the over produced hip hop out there, Little Simz’s instrumentation is minimal but piercing.

We all need a little bit of indie-pop in our lives. TV Girl is just that. Loud synths, melodies stuck in minor keys, lovers who cannot connect and unexpected samples from noir films.

Led Zeppelin’s music dominated my disc-man as a teenager. Strangely, I never paid attention to the lyrics of Ramble On which is set in Page and Plant’s version of Middle Earth! Sauron and Gollum are fighting over a girl rather than the Ring. Hilarious and incredible at the same time. I always default to Led Zeppelin when I need a shot of rock.

Icicle Tusk is a single off of Fleet Foxes debut self-titled EP from 2006. They released less than 200 copies! A lost gem of a song that was finally re-released in November this year. The harmonies are raw and lush at the same time.

Oh Beirut, I have missed thee. The story behind their latest single is classic and best told by Zach Condon –

“We were seeing signs for a city called Gallipoli. We get out of the car and we just decided to go for a walk and in that moment we happened to hit a procession. We happened to walk in at the exact moment as the Saint was leaving the church, carried by a bunch of priests. Behind them was this frenetic kind of brass band.

Sound was bouncing off the walls, and simultaneously every church bell in town was ringing, which just made for utter chaos. And the city is just claustrophobic, streets winding —you would have to live there your whole life to know where you’re going. We just got lost with it for an entire night. The next day, I wrote the song I ended up calling ‘Gallipoli,’ entirely in one sitting, pausing only to eat.”

I have just one word to describe Gallipoli – transcendent.

The Good, the Bad and the Queen reunited after eleven years. The supergroup consists of Blur/Gorillaz Damon Albarn, the Clash bassist Paul Simonon, the Verve’s Simon Tong, and Afrobeat drummer Tony Allen. Their album is described as a concept album of what it means to be British. And nothing depicts this better than the haunting Welsh choir in Lady Boston.

I will be honest, New Moon speaks to me because it sounds like a song by The Verve. Steve Gunn has masterfully captured Nick McCabe’s soundscape especially towards the end of the song.

Harvey is sweet summer song that just makes me want to roll down my car windows and sing along. Try it.

Love in the Time of Socialism is a wholesome love song, It reminds me of how much brighter the world looks when you experience it with somebody you love.

A friend of mine just left the city and moved to the beach to get away from the madness that is Mumbai. Goodbye L.A. captures that familiar feeling of being trapped in a chaotic and careless city. The more I listen to this song, the more I question when I will drop out of the rat race of Mumbai and start living.

An age old question – should we care what other people think about us? I have come to realise at bit late in life that I most certainly do not. My Love is a song off the soundtrack of the film Tribes of Palos Verdes which questions just this.

An oldie for most people, but for me Sharon Van Etten’s We Are Fine is a new discovery. It is a duet with Zach Condon of Beirut that describes Sharon’s experiences with anxiety and panic attacks. It is a reminder to all people who face anxiety that you are not alone and reaching out to people that love you is the best way to get through it.

Guru Dutt’s Pyaasa is one the most moving films I have ever watched. It is story about the despair, isolation, selfishness and materialism of modern society. Yeh Duniya agar mil bhi jaye translates to “What is this World to me, even if I can have it?” and is a beautifully tragic song sung by the legendary Mohammed Rafi.

Playlists: Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube

 

 

A few weeks ago I was in a taxi and the driver had a peacock feather stuck in his visor. I thought it unusual and I asked him what it was all about. He said peacocks represent happiness, so the feather is a reminder to always be happy. A friend once told me when you find a feather, you find a trace of an angel. Lovely right? This playlist is very close to my heart . Just like the feather, these songs are full of little things with big stories.

1. Ulenflucht – Niklas Paschburg
2. Casual Encounters – James Tillman
3. Midnight, The Stars and You – Deerhoof
4. Sketches of Summer – Roo Panes
5. Forget Forgive – Someone
6. All These Things – The Helio Sequence
7. Eyes – Rogue Wave
8. First Flower – Molly Burch
9. (No One Knows Me) Like the Piano – Sampha
10. As Long as I Have You – Elvis Presley
11. Sanctify – St. Paul & The Broken Bones
12. Blaxploitation – Noname
13. House of the Rising Sun (feat. Tuka) – alt-J
14. CAN’T GET OVER YOU (feat. Clams Casino) – Joji
15. Alger la blanche – Nicolas Godin
16. Resolve – Alfa Mist
17. Sometimes – Goth Babe

Playlist: Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube

Sometimes we just need to pause. Pablo Neruda expresses this best when he asks us to slow down and be in each other’s presence in the midst of the chaos that life throws at us from time to time.

Keeping Quiet
by Pablo Neruda

Now we will count to twelve
and we will all keep still.

For once on the face of the earth,
let’s not speak in any language;
let’s stop for one second,
and not move our arms so much.

It would be an exotic moment
without rush, without engines;
we would all be together
in a sudden strangeness.

Fisherman in the cold sea
would not harm whales
and the man gathering salt
would not look at his hurt hands.

Those who prepare green wars,
wars with gas, wars with fire,
victories with no survivors,
would put on clean clothes
and walk about with their brothers
in the shade, doing nothing.

What I want should not be confused
with total inactivity.
Life is what it is about;
I want no truck with death.

If we were not so single-minded
about keeping our lives moving,
and for once could do nothing,
perhaps a huge silence
might interrupt this sadness
of never understanding ourselves
and of threatening ourselves with death.
Perhaps the earth can teach us
as when everything seems dead
and later proves to be alive.

Now I’ll count up to twelve
and you keep quiet and I will go.

This playlist reminds me to pause and be still…

1. Tomato Day – Kelpe
2. Little Love – Gabriel Kahane
3. cradle – Adrianne Lenker
4. Try Tho We Might To – Francis and the Lights
5. Knights Of Cydonia – Darlingside
6. Hot Heavy Summer (feat. Sylvan Esso) – Ben Howard
7. Faking – DYAN
8. ekki hugsa – Olafur Arnalds
9. Sail on Through – Spiritualized
10. Forever – Pete Drake
11. Needles – BAD WITH PHONES
12. Stevie (feat. Anna Wise) – Jon Bap
13. Livin’ In a Dream (feat. Nipsey Hussle) – The Neighbourhood
14. Getaway – Roosevelt

Playlists: Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube