Out now: music from (l-r) Rory Danger and the Danger Dangers, Mia Borders, Pontchartrain Shakers, The Happy Talk Band, Whisper Party!, and Jackie Blair and the Hot Biscuits
NEW MUSIC FROM NEW ORLEANS: September 2024
reviews by Paul Oswell
A whole lot of great music was recorded and released over the summer in New Orleans. Some of our city's most beloved bands and artists came out with new material, and we've rounded up some of the highlights. Also! We've embedded all the music for you to listen along as you read...for more like this, be sure to sign up for your free weekly newsletter with the city's latest arts and culture...
reviews by Paul Oswell
A whole lot of great music was recorded and released over the summer in New Orleans. Some of our city's most beloved bands and artists came out with new material, and we've rounded up some of the highlights. Also! We've embedded all the music for you to listen along as you read...for more like this, be sure to sign up for your free weekly newsletter with the city's latest arts and culture...
Shocker
Rory Danger and the Danger Dangers, from the album ‘Age of Invention’
One of the city’s best-named bands is charged up and ready to electrify audiences once again with their high-voltage rock operatics. The ambient sounds of spluttering fuses and surging currents underpin this Tesla (the scientist, not the car brand) (I'm pretty sure)-tinged romp, with buzzing electro-puns about “power games” and double entendres (“You’ve got me in your coils”). They even manage to make patent numbers sound sexy. Turn up your transistor for an assault on your batteries. Shockingly good.
Rory Danger and the Danger Dangers, from the album ‘Age of Invention’
One of the city’s best-named bands is charged up and ready to electrify audiences once again with their high-voltage rock operatics. The ambient sounds of spluttering fuses and surging currents underpin this Tesla (the scientist, not the car brand) (I'm pretty sure)-tinged romp, with buzzing electro-puns about “power games” and double entendres (“You’ve got me in your coils”). They even manage to make patent numbers sound sexy. Turn up your transistor for an assault on your batteries. Shockingly good.
Firewalker
Mia Borders and George Porter Jr
An incendiary statement of resilience and strength, this one. Mia Borders is six albums into a fine discography, and this is a beautiful addition: a collaboration with beloved (and I mean this politely) veteran George Porter Jr. (best known as the bassist and singer of the Meters). Border’s signature blend of soul, funk, r&b, and electronica is fully aflame here, all the while retaining a slow, alluring burn. If ‘I Will Survive’ and ‘What’s Going On?’ had a musical offspring, I imagine the result would be something like this powerful theme of independence (and the artwork is nothing less than imperial).
Mia Borders and George Porter Jr
An incendiary statement of resilience and strength, this one. Mia Borders is six albums into a fine discography, and this is a beautiful addition: a collaboration with beloved (and I mean this politely) veteran George Porter Jr. (best known as the bassist and singer of the Meters). Border’s signature blend of soul, funk, r&b, and electronica is fully aflame here, all the while retaining a slow, alluring burn. If ‘I Will Survive’ and ‘What’s Going On?’ had a musical offspring, I imagine the result would be something like this powerful theme of independence (and the artwork is nothing less than imperial).
Hold It On
Happy Talk Band, from the album ‘Low Shoulder’
Luke Spurr Allen and his merry band of Louisianamericana rockers deliver another slice of the kind of charismatic, relatable and eminently whistleable anthems that they’ve made their stock in trade. As always, Allen’s wry, witty lyrics (“Good Goddamn I’ll be Louis you be Superman!”) shine through the panoramically-uplifting guitar hooks and organ-driven melodies. “Are you the girl who lived to tell/In the poppy field by the wishing well” is among a few of the effortlessly evocative lines. The HTB just keep on turning out great tunes. They’re all (happy) talk AND all action. Bonus side quest: check out the great album cover by artist Jamie Chiarello.
Happy Talk Band, from the album ‘Low Shoulder’
Luke Spurr Allen and his merry band of Louisianamericana rockers deliver another slice of the kind of charismatic, relatable and eminently whistleable anthems that they’ve made their stock in trade. As always, Allen’s wry, witty lyrics (“Good Goddamn I’ll be Louis you be Superman!”) shine through the panoramically-uplifting guitar hooks and organ-driven melodies. “Are you the girl who lived to tell/In the poppy field by the wishing well” is among a few of the effortlessly evocative lines. The HTB just keep on turning out great tunes. They’re all (happy) talk AND all action. Bonus side quest: check out the great album cover by artist Jamie Chiarello.
Whisper Party
Heartless
I had my head firmly but welcomingly turned by WP after hearing their Spring release, the flawlessly-titled ‘Opus for the Hopeless’ (reviewed here), and this new single delivers yet more of the reverb and synth-clouded dreamscapes that the band apparently love to musically frolic around in. Sorry, in which the band apparently like to frolic around (wait, how does that sentence also end on a preposition? Writing is hard). Anyway. The delicate but striking vocals cut through the military, Franz Ferdinand-y snare fills and chiming guitars, and all is good in the world, even in a heartless one. Think Metronomy meet Broadcast over opioid martinis in a space-station cocktail bar - at least that’s what I think when their insistently warm and fuzzy pop hooks sink slowly into my brain. Ain’t no party like a Whisper Party because a Whisper Party is...shhhhh, I'm trying to listen to this a hundred more times.
Heartless
I had my head firmly but welcomingly turned by WP after hearing their Spring release, the flawlessly-titled ‘Opus for the Hopeless’ (reviewed here), and this new single delivers yet more of the reverb and synth-clouded dreamscapes that the band apparently love to musically frolic around in. Sorry, in which the band apparently like to frolic around (wait, how does that sentence also end on a preposition? Writing is hard). Anyway. The delicate but striking vocals cut through the military, Franz Ferdinand-y snare fills and chiming guitars, and all is good in the world, even in a heartless one. Think Metronomy meet Broadcast over opioid martinis in a space-station cocktail bar - at least that’s what I think when their insistently warm and fuzzy pop hooks sink slowly into my brain. Ain’t no party like a Whisper Party because a Whisper Party is...shhhhh, I'm trying to listen to this a hundred more times.
When Did You Leave Heaven?
Jacky Blaire & The Hot Biscuits, from the album ‘When Did You Leave Heaven?’
Another fabulously-named local outfit, made up of a musical breadbasket of incredibly talented musicians. A couple of years ago, I produced a micro-music festival in a hotel courtyard over French Quarter Fest weekend, and both Jacky and multi-instrumentalist bandmate Nathan Rivera charmed and beguiled the crowd. They serve up freshly baked trad jazz and swing, and this nonchalantly moving number is so easy to love. Lyrical simplicity (“I used to dream of angels/But I never knew/How to meet one, such a sweet one/’Til I met you”) and Hippolyte Fèvre's laconic, doleful trumpet line make for a truly lovely three minutes. Let the Hot Biscuits butter you up.
Jacky Blaire & The Hot Biscuits, from the album ‘When Did You Leave Heaven?’
Another fabulously-named local outfit, made up of a musical breadbasket of incredibly talented musicians. A couple of years ago, I produced a micro-music festival in a hotel courtyard over French Quarter Fest weekend, and both Jacky and multi-instrumentalist bandmate Nathan Rivera charmed and beguiled the crowd. They serve up freshly baked trad jazz and swing, and this nonchalantly moving number is so easy to love. Lyrical simplicity (“I used to dream of angels/But I never knew/How to meet one, such a sweet one/’Til I met you”) and Hippolyte Fèvre's laconic, doleful trumpet line make for a truly lovely three minutes. Let the Hot Biscuits butter you up.
Time to Make a Change
Pontchartrain Shakers, from the album ‘Pontchartrain Shakers’
“I got a leak in my roof, but you can blame it on the rain” is a sentiment that would usually be metaphorical, but given our state’s worsening climate, perhaps the Shakers also mean it literally. They (Amedee Frederick and Jojjo Wight) have long been one of South-east Louisiana’s favorite live bands, and this smooth, beautifully-produced blues track is as good a calling card as any of their recorded material. Bask in the virtuoso guitar playing, whichever side of the lake you’re on.
Pontchartrain Shakers, from the album ‘Pontchartrain Shakers’
“I got a leak in my roof, but you can blame it on the rain” is a sentiment that would usually be metaphorical, but given our state’s worsening climate, perhaps the Shakers also mean it literally. They (Amedee Frederick and Jojjo Wight) have long been one of South-east Louisiana’s favorite live bands, and this smooth, beautifully-produced blues track is as good a calling card as any of their recorded material. Bask in the virtuoso guitar playing, whichever side of the lake you’re on.
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