On Heavy Rotation: 2 August 2023
New music by Jessy Lanza, Lapili, El Kontessa, Carlos Truly and Marina Satti
In the first edition of this newsletter, which I sent eight weeks ago, I explained that one of the reasons for me to start Heavy Rotation was because I had become unemployed. I needed to do something with my time, and sharing new music that I love is just about one of my favourite things to do. I’m pleased to have finally found a new job, but it’s also throwing the future of this newsletter in doubt. I will of course continue updating my Heavy Rotation playlist and the Disque Pop de la Semaine and Fullscreen Instagram accounts that I have maintained for a several years now will also definitely remain operational. And maybe, hopefully, I will find the energy to keep sending these newsletters out. The idea of having a (tiny) international audience here is really fun.
DISQUE POP DE LA SEMAINE
Singers on dance records (usually women) are often hired hands, a vehicle to attach a human feel to a piece of machine music. It’s something the Canadian artist Jessy Lanza has done (successfully) in the past as well—although quite sporadically. Instead, she is one of the few singers in electronic music who, as a performer, songwriter and co-producer, has built a very fine body of work all of her own. Love Hallucination is her fourth excellent album in a decade. With Pearson Sound, Jacques Greene and Tensnake, she has brought in some fresh outside production input, even if she made most of the album with her regular musical partner Jeremy Greenspan, alongside whose group Junior Boys she debuted in 2011. Getting those new guys on board immediately delivers some dance pop highlights here: singles “Don’t Leave Me Now” and “Limbo” are easily among Lanza’s best and catchiest work. She explores her R&B side—an important part of her repertoire from the start—more on the songs with Greenspan. Think Janet Jackson, but also Prince, especially the ballads and midtempo songs. Having relocated to Los Angeles since her previous record, Jessy Lanza often navigates disappointments and dilemmas (mostly in love) in her songwriting. It’s the purposefulness with which she does so that makes her such a stand-out artist for me.
THREE SONGS
The Spanish rapper Lapili is not only a musician, she’s also—and maybe even moreso—a fashion designer and entrepreneur. The title of her new single “La Moda Soy Yo” translates as ‘fashion is me’. The track was made by the Dominican dembow master Leo RD, who has produced several outstanding singles for the foulmouthed sensation Tokischa, including “Linda”, a duet with Rosalía. Although her lyrics are more radio-friendly, Lapili is just as fast on the mic as Tokischa. Leo RD’s lean and mean rhythms serve them both equally well.
A few weeks ago I was raving about the Jordanian producer Toumba in this newsletter, and here is another excellent (electronic) debut album from the Arab world. El Kontessa is from Cairo, and Nos Habet Karamel is a high-powered mix of different drum sounds, samples, synths and vocals snippets. Early highlight “Bingo” injects injects a South African gqom rhythm into Kontessa’s festive mahraganat percussion. Out of breath in three-and-a-half minutes.
One of my favourite unsung bands of the past decade-and-a-half is Ava Luna from Brooklyn, who should have been as famous as that other avantgarde indie-R&B band from Brooklyn, Dirty Projectors. Ava Luna’s frontman Carlos Truly released an excellent solo album last year, and his new single “Much 2 Much” sees him ‘stuck on the way to the station’, overwhelmed by… life. An angsty midtempo funk song built on scratchy guitar and a cool bassline, it would feel right at home on Beck’s Odelay, another reference to someone else more famous, I know.
FULLSCREEN
The Greek pop singer Marina Satti has been booked for a festivity of some kind, and gains at least one new fan over the course of the day in “Tucutum”. Even before her performance at the community centre reaches its climax with the raffle of a goat, all of the local men have been worn out from drinking ouzo and arm wrestling each other. German director Katharina Hingst (part-Greek herself) captures an exhilarating day in just over four minutes.
Enjoy your summer!