THE PORTABLE INFINITE: 11/2024

11/01/2024

Ethel Cain confirms new project Perverts due 1/8, "Punish" debuts today with video

ETHEL CAIN CONFIRMS
NEW PROJECT PERVERTS
SET FOR RELEASE JANUARY 8, 2025

“PUNISH” DEBUTS TODAY WITH MUSIC VIDEO

Photo credit Silken Weinberg;

“Punish” debuts today—listen here and watch the music video, directed by Cain and Silken Weinberg, here.

“I wonder how deep shame can run, and how unforgivable an act could be that I may still justify it in some bent way to make carrying it more bearable,” says Cain. “Would I tell myself it’s not my fault and I couldn’t help myself? Would anyone truly believe that? Would I?”

Cain’s first body of work since her groundbreaking debut album Preacher’s Daughter, the 90 minutes of music on Perverts explores Cain’s furthest afield inspirations and sonic negative space, mining drone, noise, slowcore, ambient and beyond. Cain wrote, produced and recorded the project between Coraopolis, PA and Tallahassee, FL over the past year.

Cain writes of the project:

The Consequence of Audience

As I went there through the long, long wood, I felt no-thing and I was no-thing and I was at ease. The grey ash trees and their mottled plumage were as one with each other, curving and branching to form a ceiling overhead. There was wide separation between trunks, creating vast corridors stretching off in all directions before me, behind me, all around me. O, what praise I could sing of that never-ending dusk fall I spent between those oaks! None came with me, none came upon me, for I was alone and I was at ease. Yet came the day the trees broke, the corridor ended, and I was thrust upon the rocky expanse that was the Great Dark. There I saw first face and heard footstep, few and far between, but I was no longer alone. It was a shameful deed to carry these two naked hands as they clenched hotly, now in full display for all to see. I had never noticed them in the wood, for I was at ease. Here, the taut skin seemed to stretch and sweat, almost glowing, as if exasperated of their own grip. For as I wandered the Great Dark, there was not but grey, barren rock as far as any eye could see. It did make a passerby out of an observer. I saw them trudge by, fingers dipped into their open mouths desperate for wetness, the lolled tongue. There, in the wood, I was the watcher, but here I am nothing but displacing air. Yet, within the smothering toil of my apathy, I had heard the bell. Murmur of God between their slick, bent fingers ruffled the hair on the back of my neck. My muscles groaned against the weight of the skin around them, aching to be set loose.

All at once, I saw, from where I stood, there rose a great dome atop a hill on the horizon before me. Yes, I saw it there with mine own two eyes! The white exterior peered at me with flat orifices obscured through the mist, barely distinguishable from the dark sky behind it, as though all the world beyond the dome was cut from the same slab, only slightly effaced. The convex roof sat atop a disk, held up by great ionic pillars circling the temple. Steps radiated out and down the slope, like ripples in a pond escaping a dropped stone. It was greater than life, greater than the wood, greater than all else which filled this dark, and my gullible delight was that it was all mine. Yes, all mine! One could follow me to it but they could not follow me in. My hands stretched outwards with an audible cracking in the bone as I crept forward there.

I could not tell you the rest. I would not even attempt, for it would change no-thing. To know if I did go completely naked into the theater of the divine. If I did need for no-thing, want for no-thing. If I was then full to the brim, cylindrical pull slid through my gaping jaw into my endless throat. If I saw it there, shimmering through the veil like pearlescent oil over crystal water. If it heard me singing with every atom that formed me, through every orifice and wound I had, polytonal in my begging for it to complete me with the fifth. If it looked into me, saw how I needed to know what God knows and to be with him. If it spoke back to me in flat dissonance, “how couldn’t ye?”

It would be of no good to speak these things to you. In what way I was still returned to the ground, even if beneath it, intact with my puerile need to repeat my-self and my mistakes. Who would not climb the wall for a peer over the edge? The cautionary tale is the fool’s errand, and I am no fool. I am as my hands are; twisting in on themselves and bursting at the seams. I can-not contain the ache for sensation, just as I could not contain the grief as I fell, nor the agony as I crawled my way back to this rocky countryside, and lo! I am on my way there again now. I am, I am, I am! But I will not tell you the visceral details, as you already know them. You all do.

It’s happening to every-body.

Ethel Cain is the creation of Florida-born multidisciplinary artist Hayden Anhedönia. After years spent teaching herself to produce at home in the Florida panhandle and releasing various projects, Cain moved to Indiana and singlehandedly wrote, produced and mixed her acclaimed 2021 EP Inbred from the basement of the old church where she lived.

Cain’s debut album Preacher’s Daughter, a multimedia work that took more than four years to assemble, was released in May 2022 to praise from The New York Times, NPR, Vogue, W Magazine, V Magazine and more, with many critics naming the album one of the best of the year. Cain has spent the years since playing sold out shows and packed festival sets around the world; walking in New York and Paris fashion weeks and collaborating with Givenchy, Miu Miu and Calvin Klein; and collaborating and sharing stages with Florence + the Machine, Mitski and more.

“Punish” single artwork. Artwork by Ethel Cain, photo credit Silken Weinberg;

TEHYA RELEASES “TRAP DOOR” ON NEON GOLD RECORDS, AT THE START OF NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH

AT THE START OF NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH, TEHYA RELEASES “TRAP DOOR” ON NEON GOLD RECORDS HERE
+ MUSIC VIDEO HERE

DEBUT “CROWD PLEASER” HERE

TEHYA - artist photo credit: Dallas Thomley

Today, Filipino-Native American singer-songwriter TEHYA celebrates the start of Native American Heritage Month by releasing her new single “trap door”, the latest she’s co-written and produced with Cam Hale (Fletcher, Khalid etc). The single comes with an official Clair Bishara-directed music video here.

Hailing from LA via Seattle, the 24-year-old singer-songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist released her debut single “crowd pleaser” (produced with Rence and Contradash) in March, followed by “biscuits & gravy” a R&B-tinged track produced by TEHYA, Contradash and Doc Daniel (Natalie Jane, Rei Ami) and most recently, “peach pit” as part of the Bose x NME: C24 mixtape compilation alongside Teddy Swims, Laufey, Royal Otis and more.

TEHYA adds: “Like a good portion of songs being released in this era of my artist project, “trap door” takes on the process of accepting the demonization and defamation of my character by a person whose perspective of me I held in high regard. It’s natural to want to hurt the ones we lose in a breakup, to take them down however far we can to cope and inflate our egos. “trap door” is basically me embracing these derogatory takes. If he needs me to be the villain in his story in order to move forward, then I’ll be the villain, but there’s no reason I can’t have fun doing it, and I think the high energy of this song reflects that.”

TEHYA becomes the latest superstar-in-waiting to join the lengthy lineage of alt-pop artists at Neon Gold Records, the celebrated independent label that first put out Charli XCX, Tove Lo, MARINA, Christine and the Queens, and many more.

Growing up in the Pacific Northwest in the crosshairs of her ancestral cultures; Cherokee, Filipino and Scotch-Irish, Tehya was heavily influenced by music and took after her father, a local legend funk drummer, from a young age. After leaving home at 16, she found her community in a Capitol Hill artist compound frequented by some of the biggest names in the Seattle underground rap scene. It was here she picked up production via osmosis, sitting in on sessions and teaching herself Pro Tools and FL whenever a room was going spare. She is self-taught across the board – playing guitar, keys, drums, and writing 100% of her toplines and lyrics – a self-made DIY popstar unbound by genre and ready for the spotlight.

https://www.instagram.com/oktehya/
https://neon.gold/
https://friendsatwork.com/

SHEER MAG Release NPR Tiny Desk Concert. Touring 2025 w/ Amyl and the Sniffers

SHEER MAG RELEASE NPR TINY DESK CONCERT - WATCH

TOURING 2025 WITH AMYL AND THE SNIFFERS

PLAYING FAVORITES OUT NOW ON THIRD MAN RECORDS

Photo By Elizabeth Gillis / NPR

Sheer Mag swung by NPR headquarters this fall to play their classic hits “Nobody’s Baby”, “Steel Sharpens Steel”, “Need To Feel Your Love”, “Fan The Flames” and this year’s “Don’t Come Lookin’” off their highly lauded album and Third Man debut, Playing Favorites. Watch as the Philly five deliver a powerful performance including a show stopping collaboration with local bagpipe player, Tim Carey.

For over a decade now, Sheer Mag have labored to carve out a discernibly singular position within the canon of contemporary rock - their sound is unmistakably and immediately recognizable as theirs alone. Playing Favorites is a devotion to their own collective spirit—a spirit refined in both the sweaty trenches of punk warehouses and the glamour of concert halls—emerging with a dense work of gripping emotions, massive hooks and masterfully constructed power-pop anthems all lead by frontwoman Tina Halladay’s earth shattering vocals.

Following extensive worldwide touring in support of Playing Favorites, Sheer Mag hit the road next March, April, May supporting Amyl and the Sniffers. See below for a full list of dates, tickets and more.

Praise For Playing Favorites:

“It’s always playful, it’s always really fun…A lot of these songs are just so, so catchy” NPR

"no one sounds like this" The New York Times

“‘Playing Favorites’ has some of catchiest street-rock they’ve ever put on record, all driven home by powerhouse singer Tina Halladay, who balances toughness and empathy in a way that would make both D. Boon and Phil Lynott proud. The Philly band stretches out in less expected ways too, like the disco-rock highlight “All Lined Up.” Rolling Stone

“[Sheer Mag] knows well the virtues of short, punchy, effective songs that seem designed for a corner bar’s jukebox. The band’s singer, Tina Halladay, shines on ‘Playing Favorites’” The Wall Street Journal

“euphoric expansion by one of today’s great American bands” The Guardian

“a blast... a burst of energy to get through the week, if not the month” Consequence

“raw and melancholic” The FADER

“a Revivifying Jolt… anthemic '70s rock and defiant choruses are proof of life” SPIN

“Philly rock heroes Sheer Mag had a singular mission for their new song: to make a straight up rock banger. They succeeded!” NYLON

“If They Aren’t Already A Fav They Will Be!” BUST

“In any just universe, Playing Favorites would dominate the world’s FM stations for two years straight.” MOJO

“Camaro-rocking... full of the rollicking Thin Lizzy riffs and raw, howling vocals” Stereogum

“a major level up that is jam-packed with bangers of all shapes and sizes.” Brooklyn Vegan

“The acclaimed Philly outfit enter their 10th year with a sound that’s more defined than ever… guitarist Kyle Seely is dialed into his band’s beguiling breadth of boogie, southern rock, ‘80s metal, and power pop sounds like never before.” Guitar World (Read Feature)

“Sheer Mag are one of the best pure rock ‘n’ roll bands in America right now” Treble

“Rejoice, rock and roll true believers: Philly four-piece Sheer Mag has new music on the way.” WXPN

Photo By Natalie Piserchio

L-R Tina Halladay (Vocals), Kyle Seely (Guitar), Matt Palmer (Guitar), Hart Seely (Bass)

PURCHASE / LISTEN / SHARE PLAYING FAVORITES HERE

WATCH PLAYING FAVORITES OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEOS:
“PLAYING FAVORITES”
“ALL LINED UP”
“MOONSTRUCK”

Sheer Mag - Instagram

Kokoroko releases new EP 'Get The Message'

KOKOROKO RELEASES NEW EP GET THE MESSAGE

Kokoroko by Liz Johnson Artur

What the press is saying about Kokoroko:

“a beauty that draws in a casual listener with a catchy, heartfelt harmony or memorable riff, but also provides a rich melange of inspirations for a trained ear, from afrobeat to jazz, soul, funk, and beyond.”

Hypebeast

"an entrancing, groove-rooted concoction informed equally by jazz, Fela Kuti’s Afrobeat and the larger Black music diaspora"

SPIN Magazine

“a vital example of not only jazz’s new form but the shape of things to come for British music.”

The Guardian

“Kokoroko are harnessing the transformative nature of Afrobeat for a new generation”

CRACK Magazine

Get The Message EP

LISTEN: https://kokoroko.lnk.to/getthemessage

(November 1st, 2024) - Kokoroko, the London-based band, share their new EP Get The Message. Conceptualized as a project to give fans a sense of what's to come from their forthcoming second studio album due next year, Get The Message is a 4-track opus that positions the band in a more introspective and meditative space from their previous music. Eschewing the brassy and exuberant sound of their last body of work, the new EP notably beholds more of a minimalist slant.

Gentler in mood, Get The Message finds the band experimenting with new sonic territories via modes of psychedelic soul, Afro-rock, dub and funk; sonically taking cues from the likes of Solange, Blood Orange, Sun Ra, Cymande and the 1970s Nigerian psych-rock band Ofege. Remarking on the band’s musical growth and evolution the last few years, Onome Edgeworth, the band’s percussionist shares, “Our tastes are richer and more developed. We’re now creating from a completely different viewpoint and it's been quite freeing.”

Created under the guise of functioning as an intentional vessel for joy, the heart of Get The Message is concerned about the need for community, connection and relationships of all forms. Speaking further on the humanizing motivations behind the EP which was largely borne from its opening track “Higher,” the band’s co-founder and trumpeter, Sheila Maurice-Grey says:

“That song is a mantra. With the repeated lyrics, we were setting the intention and the tone of what we wanted to do with the EP which is to be a balm for people. Being a voice of hope, comfort in a time where the world isn’t always promoting positive energy, unity and togetherness”.

The arrival of the EP comes on the heels of its previously-released lead single “Three Piece Suit” featuring Nigerian-born UK artist Azekel. Inspired by a conversation between Onome Edgeworth and Azekel about their grandfathers, both of whom landed in London from Nigeria in the 1960s, palpable throughout are spiritual echoes resonating with ideas of home, lineage and ancestry.

Get The Message marks Kokoroko’s first project since the release of Could We Be More Remixes. The experimental and kaleidoscopic sister project to their 2022 debut album Could We Be More, which upon initial release earned critical plaudits from the likes of The Guardian, The Telegraph, Financial Times, Jazzwise, CRACK Magazine and Downbeat Magazine. Enlisting some of contemporary music’s most forward-thinking artists like KeiyaA, Ash Lauryn, Stefan Ringer and Hagan to re-imagine the original album through a club-focused lens, Could We Be More Remixes marked the beginning of the band being cast beyond spaces related to the jazz sphere. A signal of their incoming next phase.

Listen to Get The Message and stay tuned for more from Kokoroko coming soon.

Get The Message EP artwork by Luci Pina

Kokoroko

Get The Message

November 1, 2024

Brownswood Recordings

1. Higher

2. Sweeter Than

3. My Prayer

4. Three Piece Suit (Feat. Azekel)

Kokoroko Full Band Personnel:

Sheila Maurice-Grey (co-bandleader, trumpet, flugelhorn, vocals)

Onome Edgeworth (co-bandleader, percussion)

Anoushka Nanguy ( trombone, vocals)

Tobi Adenaike (guitar, vocals)

Yohan Kebede (keyboards, synthesizers, vocals)

Duane Atherley (bass, vocals)

Ayo Salawu (drums, vocals)

Additional Personnel:

Chelsea Carmichael (tenor saxophone, bass clarinet, flute on "My Prayer"

Connect with Kokoroko

Instagram | X (Twitter) | Website

ROBERT GLASPER RELEASES HOLIDAY ALBUM 'IN DECEMBER' ON ALL PLATFORMS

ROBERT GLASPER RELEASES HOLIDAY ALBUM IN DECEMBER ON ALL PLATFORMS

FEATURING ANDRA DAY, PJ MORTON, SEVYN STREETER, CYNTHIA ERVO, TARRIONA TANK BALL, ALEX ISLEY, AND THE BAYLOR PROJECT

OUT NOW VIA LOMA VISTA RECORDINGS; COLORED VINYL ON SALE HERE

WORLD RENOWNED ROBTOBER RESIDENCY LIVE AT THE BLUE NOTE NYC UNTIL NOVEMBER 3

PRESS PRAISE FOR IN DECEMBER

Robert Glasper is an expert in both abstruse jazz harmonies and sleek hip-hop grooves; he’s also a well-connected collaborator. He brings all those skills to Christmas songs on “In December”, a musicianly rumination on the season. - THE NEW YORK TIMES

Jazzed up holiday classics. - VARIETY

December is for Robert Glasper! - PEOPLE

Today, five-time Grammy award-winning pianist and composer Robert Glasper releases his celebrated first holiday album, In December, across all major streaming platforms, on festive gold and red vinyl, and on CD. Featuring an esteemed roster of frequent collaborators—PJ Morton, Sevyn Streeter, Cynthia Ervo, Tarriona Tank Ball, Alex Isley, Andra Day, Doobie Powell, and The Baylor Project—the eight track project, initially released as an Apple Music exclusive, is an evocative and moving addition to Glasper’s critically lauded catalog. The wide release of In December is accompanied by an additional track, a swanky rendition of “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” featuring acclaimed gospel artist Doobie Powell.

In December finds Glasper’s unique approach to contemporary R&B and jazz, encapsulated in his famed Black Radio series, applied to what is a sonically unique take on holiday music. This non-traditional holiday release brings a weight and musical funkiness to a genre and time of year that is often seeped in campy or classic holiday motifs. Speaking on In December, Robert Glasper says, “I’m excited to drop my first holiday record. I hope it brings as much joy as I had making it. Sip some eggnog and enjoy.”

Arriving as a bookend to another monumental year for Glasper, In December precedes the November 3rd closing of the 6th year of the exceptional artist’s world renowned Robtober residency at Blue Note in NYC, featuring special guest performances by Raye, Questlove, Common, Andra Day, Marsha Ambrosius, Doobie Powell, Little Brother, Chris Dave, Derrick Hodge, DJ Jahi Sundance, Stokley, and more.

Glasper also recently released his third project of 2024, the Apple Music exclusive Keys to the City: Volume 1. A monumental testament to the magic of collaboration and improvisation, the album finds Glasper in his element featuring live recordings from his annual residency, providing listeners with a glimpse of the magic that audiences have come to cherish over the last six years. In October, Robert Glasper launched his new Apple Music radio show, "In My Element,” on Apple Music’s global live-streaming radio station, giving fans an opportunity to explore the inner workings of the acclaimed pianist and composer.

Earlier this year, Robert released two more Apple Music exclusive projects. In June, he shared Let Go, a serene 13-track listening experience that emerged from fans sharing their different uses for his music. In August, he followed up with Code Derivation, a sonic experimentation splitting the difference between jazz and hip-hop, and emphasizing their shared genetics. Code Derivation is largely composed of two versions of the same track, one played live in studio by Glasper’s band and a version “flipped” by a producer of his choosing. Over the summer, Glasper joined Blue Note Entertainment Group and Black Radio Productions as Artist in Residence at The Black Radio Experience at The Meritage Resort & Spa in Napa Valley, CA. Inspired by Glasper’s annual Robtober residency at the Blue Note in NYC, The Black Radio Experience was an immersive journey into the soul of music, transcending boundaries and celebrating the rich tapestry of Black culture. Headliners across the 3 day weekend event included John Legend, Jill Scott and Andre 3000, and performances by Andra Day, Common, Nile Rodgers, Ledisi, Terrace Martin and more including daily performances from Glasper himself.