It’s always a good idea to sign up for band mailing lists. If I hadn’t added my info to Zoot Woman’s mailing list, I wouldn’t have known that the band dropped a new album, Maxidrama, this month.
For the few of you who do regularly follow along here, I’ve been a Zoot Woman fan for a long time. If you have no idea what I’m talking about right now, please refer to the story below.
“WHY I KEEP LIVING IN A MAGAZINE BY ZOOT WOMAN IN MY DJ CRATE”
Anyhow, Maxidrama is beautiful. A few of the songs, notably “Live and Learn,” hark back to the period now referred to as indie sleaze, but it’s a fairly eclectic mix of sounds from dark synthpop (“Blind”) to disco (“Never Felt This Way”). At the time of writing this, I’ve only had the album for few hours, but, so far, I am really into Maxidrama.
Back in the mid-to-late ‘aughts’ ’00s, there was an indie band from Chile called Teleradio Donoso. I was unfamiliar with them at the time. In fact, I don’t recall hearing the band until they started popping up as YouTube recommendations for me, which was relatively recently. I guess algorithms are good for something, although I wish I could remember what it was that actually turned up a recommendation that I liked. Anyhow, I fell down a Teleradio Donoso rabbit hole, which led me to the solo albums from the band’s former lead singer, Alex Anwandter, who, coincidently, released a new album, Dime Precioso, in late May.
“Gaucho,” with its early ‘90s house sound and captivating video, grabbed my attention first, but I quickly flipped for the whole album. “Tu Nueva Obsesión” is my current favorite on the album. I love how the beat slows down and very jazzy horns take over in the last 40 seconds of the song. It’s a twist you don’t really hear in dance music anymore. Even cooler is how the horns reappear at the start of the following track, “QTDE,” before that song gets all ‘80s. I love that Dime Precioso doesn’t follow a formula; there are a lot of unexpected, clever surprises throughout it.
If you’re interested in finding out more about the album, there’s an interview (in Spanish) with Anwandter up on La Tercera, the Chilean news site.
Model Child is L.A.-based Danny Parker, who as a songwriter, has worked extensively with Jessie Ware and has credits on jams like “Ooh La La,” “Hot n Heavy,” “Please” and her duet with Kylie Minogue, “Kiss of Life.” On his new album, Get There!, which is out today, Parker’s vibe is more indie dance than disco. There’s a lot in here that reminds me of going to shows in L.A. in the early ‘00s and seeing loads of bands— too many to name here— play dance music live inside super grimy venues. Parker’s sound has that kind of raw energy to it, particularly on songs like “My Angel,” “In Your Blood” and “Hotter n’ Hotter.” Model Child’s record release show is Saturday night at Permanent Roadhouse and should be worth seeing.
L’Impératrice released Pulsar early in June and has become the album I’ve listened to most this month. It’s so energetic and really captures the vibe of their live shows. I already posted a full review of the album, so click on the link below to read it.
“PULSAR, THE NEW ALBUM FROM L’IMPÉRATRICE, IS OUT NOW”
Honestly, I’ve been listening mostly to new singles this month and there have been some good ones. Chelsea Wolfe’s song, “House of Self-Undoing,” as remixed by Boy Harsher is by far my favorite track of the month. I immediately added it to my stockpile of club tracks and played it out in sets at Nocturno and Underground in June. Hopefully, it will stick around for a while because I love the moody dance floor energy it brings. Plus, Chelsea Wolfe is one of those artists who I’ve listened to a lot over the years, but never really have had the chance to play in club sets.
Back in May, Xeno & Oaklander released a single called “Magic of the Manifold,” which I forgot to mention last month, but it’s a stellar dance track with heavy early ‘00s vibes. I played it in my guest set for Larry G.’s Dublab show “The Programme, which you can still hear if you click on this link. The song will probably pop up in my club sets soon.
After releasing quite a few singles over the past few years, Leathers (Shannon Hemmett from Actors) will finally be releasing debut full-length, Ultraviolet, in August. She dropped “Mary,” a lovely, emotional song that will close-out the album, earlier this month. On a related note, Actors released the single “Dead Inside” this month and that’s been getting stuck in my head lately.
Meanwhile, Geneva Jacuzzi dropped a jam with “Art Is Dangerous.” I have a feeling that I’ll be playing this song out a lot because the lyrics are spot on for this moment in time. Can’t wait until her new full-length comes out later this summer.
Finally, right before I was going to post this, I noticed that Channel Tres’ debut album, Head Rush, just dropped. I’m still on my first listen, but it’s got my attention.
Follow this link to listen to these songs and more on my 2024 Beatique Spotify playlist.
Liz O. is an L.A.-based writer and DJ. Read her recently published work and check out her upcoming gigs.