What’s going on in the underbelly of the New Orleans music scene? A diverse canon of inventive tunes, that’s what. Let’s dip our shrimping net into the rockpool of creativity on Bandcamp, with a look at some recently-released music from local bands and musicians (reviewed by Paul Oswell).
Rathbone - Endless War
Making melodies about the global military-industrial complex isn’t an easy route to take as a musician, and very few people put doomscrolling to a memorable tune. Bands like Stereolab are a notable exception - check out Ping Pong to hear genocidal headlines set to catchy jazz noodling. Endless War is poppier but just as punchy, starting with a 8-bit electronic hook, like a video game starting up. It evolves into a straightforward rundown of modern horrors, like We Didn’t Start the Fire but exclusively a list of US war crimes. It’s lyrically very bleak but you’ll be whistling the tune for days.
Rathbone - Endless War
Making melodies about the global military-industrial complex isn’t an easy route to take as a musician, and very few people put doomscrolling to a memorable tune. Bands like Stereolab are a notable exception - check out Ping Pong to hear genocidal headlines set to catchy jazz noodling. Endless War is poppier but just as punchy, starting with a 8-bit electronic hook, like a video game starting up. It evolves into a straightforward rundown of modern horrors, like We Didn’t Start the Fire but exclusively a list of US war crimes. It’s lyrically very bleak but you’ll be whistling the tune for days.
Feelin You Feelin Me - Quickweave
This feet-on-the-floor classic house takes me back to the early 90s, but in a way that blessedly ignores my unfortunate fashion choices. It’s one of the two tracks by local producer Quickweave that make up ‘Wet Ink’, a diptych of bangers “that's so new the ink is still wet.” The record sleeve lays it out: raw bass, swung drums, and hot hats. If you’re of a certain age then this will stir up memories and aesthetics that you likely haven’t thought about in around 30 years. I’m all for the revival, though.
Faded - Filling Company
This feels like the last song of the night by an ethereal band in a post-apocalyptic nightclub. There are warm hints of Goldfrapp in the lush, meandering vocals, which alternate with fuzzy guitar riffs and swirling synth effects. You’re just being engulfed by the atmospherics when the song (which clocks in at just over 2 minutes) decides not to overstay its welcome. The lights come up and you’re left considering your options. Go for another whiskey? Catch a ride home? Or you could always just replay the song.
Lately Part III (They Hated Jesus) - Tay Miles
(note: lyrics NSFW)
Taken from the phenomenally-named album They Hated Jesus, They’ll Never Love You. Holy crap that’s an album title so good I feel like Ye would pay good money just to license that specific succession of words alone. Slow, soulful chords, introduced by a sinisterly-gargled bible verse, provide the backing to a man verbally shaking off constraints, recalibrating his priorities, seeing clearly for the first time in a while. It’s a powerfully stark manifesto and a gut punch of an opening track. The lush production is utterly seductive. They may have hated Jesus, but I’ll wager they’ll love this.
La Luna Amara - Parsely
Translating as ‘The Bitter Moon’, this is a meditative, pagan chant that wouldn’t be out of place at the climax of an A24 folk horror film. The plaintive tones are near-monastic, and even if the words are unfamiliar, the earthy, spookily pastoral tones are hypnotic. I recently watched the TV show Yellowjackets and one of the characters was described as being in “a psychogenic fugue”, and this could easily be the soundtrack to that state of mind. Alluring, but sinister at the same time. I really like it, to be clear.
Bad - Starman Jr.
I couldn’t help but tilt my head to lean into the detuned harmonies, some portions of this song sounding as if it’s being played on a slightly faulty turntable, but…in a good way? If I had to take a stab at any influences, I’d maybe poke at Teenage Fanclub, or The Byrds if they’d been downing a jug of moonshine a little too enthusiastically. It’s a woozily melodic, swaying kind of lo-fi ballad, which translates into a not-unpleasant couple of minutes.
Stubborn Ghost - Rose Vaughn
Unless I’m hanging around all the wrong music venues, alt-country isn’t a particularly fashionable genre in New Orleans. On this showing, it deserves more of a profile. “I can go outside and have myself a good time/Or I can go on out there and really lose my mind” sings Rose Vaughn in charmingly mellifluous tones, though, and if that doesn’t seem like a mantra for a night on Lower Decatur, then I don’t know what does. A lilting autoharp chirrups behind a pleasing dose of dulcet melancholy, and you’re right there hoping good decisions are made.
I Never Asked You For Perfect - The Canarys
The stabbing introductory chords here are almost reminiscent of The Time Warp, but we dodge any instructions to jump or step. What we get instead is a steadily more fierce anthem that swerves closer to the Hive’s ‘Hate To Say I Told You So’ with some White Stripes and Queens of the Stone Age thrown in for good measure. It’s kind of a bouncing whirl through four decades of indie rock bangers, distilling the hooks from each and creating a timeless update.
Be Bayou - Bon Bon Vivant
Carnival season may be over, but from the opening frenzy of brass and tambourines, you’re transported to your porch as you step out into Mardi Gras with a head full of magic and next to no idea of what the day might bring. Yes, you can relive that manic energy, thanks to a dizzying cocktail of trumpets, skiffle beats and reggae rhythms. I’m a sucker for a pun-laden title, and Be Bayou/Be By You is no exception. An energy-forward slice of euphoria that conjures up the colors, sights and smells of a parade.