On Heavy Rotation: 5 July 2023
New music by Joanna Sternberg, Tristan Arp, Landstrumm, Keita Sano and James Blake
The reason I make lists is not because I think you’re going to listen to everything on it and say, my goodness, I didn’t know any of this music but now I do and it’s all amazing and you’ve changed my life forever. I mean, that would be awesome and you’re welcome to, but it’s not going to happen and that’s okay. I make lists because otherwise I would forget. I’m not someone who listens to a handful of favourites over and over again. No. There are too many great songs out there that I haven’t heard yet and they’re being released at a fast clip. I want to keep up! But while I’m on to the next thing, I also want to document what stood out to me.
Because there are too many great songs to make annual lists (it would also be too much work to rank them), I started making quarterly lists in 2011. I can tell you my top 129 (or whatever) favourite songs of any quarter of every year since. If I need to look up which songs by which artists I liked best in any period in the last twelve years, I can. Best track of Q3, 2014? “Hey QT” by QT. Favourite rap track from the summer of 2018? A$AP Rocky & Tyler the Creator - “Potato Salad”. I could go on, but you don’t want me to. I have my top 140 songs of Q2, 2023, posted below. Please find something you’ve never heard of and maybe have your life changed forever.
DISQUE POP DE LA SEMAINE
One of my favourite songs from the first quarter of this year was “I’ve Got Me” by Joanna Sternberg. It was my no. 9 (out of 136), in fact. Last weekend the album came out and even though the title track is still the best one, you don’t want to miss it.
The first thing that struck me when I first heard Joanna Sternberg was their voice (the New York artist calls themself gender-neutral in this wonderful 11-minute video portrait). It’s not a ‘pretty’ voice in the conventional sense. Not that it is ugly, absolutely not, but it’s a voice that does not conform to anything. It’s totally its own sound. Sternberg is at ease singing vulnerable, very personal, sometimes self-deprecating, unpretentious songs that hit very directly. You can forget that music can do that. I’ve Got Me is Sternberg’s second album and the first one on which their talent fully blossoms. The record was produced Matt Sweeney, who just two years ago made one of my favourite records of the year with the veteran singer/songwriter Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy. He’s brought out the best in Sternberg, who does almost everything themself here: vocals, songs, instruments, even the cartoon artwork. Their best songs are so good that Sternberg can accompany themself on guitar or piano and that’s all you need. It’s not hard to imagine that people will want to sing them many decades from now. Disarming is perhaps the best way to describe this music. Joanna Sternberg opens her heart in these songs and all you can do is reciprocate.
THREE SONGS
“End of a Line or Part of a Circle?” is the title track from a very percussive 5-track EP by the American-born, Mexico City-based DJ and producer Tristan Arp. It’s his first release on 3024, one of my favourite record labels, known for its adventurous approach to bass-heavy club music. “End of a Line…” starts out as a kind of conga jam, and gradually adds more electronic sounding elements. It’s all about the rhythm throughout, although there are some vocal harmonies (or what sounds like it) in the second minute and towards to end that remind me of Aphex Twin’s famous “Windowlicker”.
The Scottish DJ/producer Neil Landstrumm made his name in the mid-1990s with a series of exciting techno records on connaisseur labels like Peacefrog and Tresor. He’s proven himself to be an adaptable, forward-thinking and playful artist ever since, never resting on his laurels. “Minimoo” is a funky electro pop record that sounds like it could have been made in the early 2000s (I’m thinking FannyPack!) and I wish it had more rapping on it than this female vocal sample. It has an excellent 117 BPM bounce to it though, great for summer parties.
DJ records usually have long intros for mixing them into the previous record. For home listeners, they don’t have much use though. That’s why you sometimes get ‘radio edits’ that go to the good parts faster. “Sweet” by the Japanese producer Keita Sano is nine minutes long and you don’t want to edit any of it. Not the intro anyway, because the pay-off is so good. This is a stripped down beat record, with not a whole lot more than a synth bassline and an irresistible 122 BPM disco beat. And it’s a glorious moment when, after one minute and four seconds, those handclaps first kick in.
FULLSCREEN
Why make things difficult when they can be easy? This group of friends does everything by car: eating out, getting an ice cream, going to the club and… robbing a bank. James Blake’s new track is called “Big Hammer” (and inexplicably doesn’t credit a great vocal performance by UK rave pioneers The Ragga Twins) and so these four people simply ram their car into every wall. The law is paying attention to their tactics though. A mad video for a mad track.
As ever, please subscribe to the Heavy Rotation playlist on Spotify and follow my Disque Pop de la Semaine and Fullscreen Instagram accounts to stay updated throughout the week. Find me on Twitter for as long as it holds. Tell a friend about this newsletter if you like it! And now…
HEY Q2
My favourite songs from April, May and June of 2023—ranked! Yes, it’s a long list, but this is just the cream of the crop. They are all great. There’s a playlist too!
DrummeRTee924 - “Quantum Nkwarii”
Martyn x Om Unit - “Basilisk”
Irreversible Entanglements - “Nuclear War”
Anz - “Clearly Rushing”
Caterina Barbieri - “Math of You”
Jaimie Branch - “Take Over the World”
Moses Sumney - “Get it B4”
Israel Fernández featuring Diego del Morao - “Soleá de Mi Casa”
Kieran Hebden & William Tyler - “Darkness, Darkness”
DrummeRTee924 - “86 Drums (Salutation to 2wobunnies x Major League DJz)”
Alabaster DePlume featuring Momoko Gill - “Did You Know”
Christine and the Queens - “Aimer, Puis Vivre”
Ligeti Quartet & Anna Meredith - “Tuggemo”
Josh Wink - “Higher State of Consciousness (Alter Ego Remix)”
Kassa Overall featuring Danny Brown & Wiki - “Clock Ticking”
Bernice - “Barbara, it’s Your Tree”
Decisive Pink - “Dopamine”
Joanna Sternberg - “Mountains High”
Toumba - “Back of the Hand”
Colleen - “Conditional”
Peder Mannerfelt - “The Great Stink”
Metrist - “Leven Lever Liver Love”
Lil Keed featuring Karlae - “Betty Boop”
Asher Gamedze - “Locomotion”
Call Super & Eden Samara - “Sapling”
GloRilla - “Lick or Sum”
Al Wootton - “All the World is a Hospital”
Ligeti Quartet & Anna Meredith - “Nautilus”
Four Tet - “Three Drums”
Arthur Russell - “In the Light of a Miracle”
Beyoncé & Kendrick Lamar - “America Has a Problem”
Sweeping Promises - “Eraser”
Asher Gamedze - “Alibama”
Call Super & Julia Holter - “Illumina”
Matt Espy - “Loon”
Decisive Pink - “Ode to Boy”
Caterina Barbieri - “Sufyosowirl”
James Blake featuring The Ragga Twins - “Big Hammer”
Rezzett - “Hevvy”
Khanyisa featuring Ceeka RSA, Nandipha808 & Tyler ICU - “Suka”
Rosalía - “Tuya”
Toumba - “Bouquet of Kicks”
Karenn - “Happy Birthday”
Rezzett - “Dots”
Loopsel - “Det Vi Inte Får”
Nathan Fake - “Hawk”
Will Hofbauer - “The Shovel is a Shovel Was a Shovel”
Loopsel - “Spit Three Times”
Rich the Kid featuring Fivio Foreign & Jay Critch - “Still Movin’”
Papa Nugs - “Tea Time”
Anika - “Ticket Collection”
Jorja Smith - “Little Things”
Bruce - “Cala Mastella”
Neana - “Cyberia (Hagan Remix)”
Matt Espy - “Dexlark”
LCY - “Heartbreaker”
Caterina Barbieri - “Myuthafoo”
Avalon Emerson & The Charm - “A Vision”
Asher Gamedze - “Wynter Time”
Israel Fernández - “Seré Silencio”
Ace Of Base - “All That She Wants (Axel Boman x Off The Meds Extended Remix)”
Photonz - “Can a MF Live”
Decisive Pink - “Cosmic Dancer”
N∆eon Te∆rdrops - “Outbound (Lindstrøm Remix)”
Nondi_ - “Orchid Juke”
Photonz - “Stay Cool & Dance”
Loopsel - “Poison Tree”
Nora Stanley & Benny Bock - “Maurice”
Israel Fernández - “Ni Príncipe Ni Rey”
Billy Woods & Kenny Segal - “The Layover”
rRoxymore - “We Can Do”
Toumba - “Eqla3”
Kodak Lemonade - “Dedela”
Dogpatrol & Nasty King Kurl - “Creepin”
Keita Sano - “Sweet”
Peder Mannerfelt - “Floppy Size”
Matt Espy - “Grey Winged Blackbird”
Photonz - “Orpheus (Kara Konchar Remix)”
Al Wootton - “A Pox Cast”
Dave & Central Cee - “Sprinter”
Anika - “Jane Goes Gently”
Al Wootton - “May Your Angels of Light Accept Him”
Tristan Arp - “Branching Streams”
Tyler ICU & Tumelo_ZA featuring DJ Maphorisa, Nandipha808, Ceeka RSA & Tyron Dee - “Mnike”
Myztro featuring Xduppy, ShaunMusiQ & Ftears - “Myztro Ah Ah”
Sampha - “Spirit 2.0”
Etch - “Sunbeam”
Piezo - “Zing Zang”
Aphex Twin - “Black Box Recorder 21f”
Alison Goldfrapp - “So Hard So Hot”
Joanna Sternberg - “Drifting on a Cloud”
Spinvis - “Icarus”
Artwork Sounds featuring Roctonic - “We Lift Our Hands”
Sister Zo - “The Tower”
Rezzett - “Ladbroke”
Feist - “Martyr Moves”
Cable Ties - “Thoughts Back”
Slackk - “Ooh Ooh”
Loopsel - “Time Machine”
Space Dimension Controller - “Gib 3000”
L-Vis 1990 - “Ballad 4D (Estoc’s Dredging the Seafloor Edit)”
DJ Melzi, Moukz & Spitjo 88 - “Cowboy V”
ChopLife SoundSystem featuring Moonchild Sanelly & Linda Kim - “Oh Yes”
Felo Le Tee & Mellow & Sleazy featuring Keynote - “Back 2 Basics”
Mellow & Sleazy featuring Chley & QuayR Musiq - “Ba Bize 2”
SayFar x Cyfred x 2woBunnies - “AK-47”
Al Xapo, Mzu M & Boontle RSA - “Tambula”
KayGee the Vibe & Pronic de Muziq featuring Njelic - “Knight Rider”
Officixl Rsa x TNR Musiq x BiggieLow x DJ Niki - “Skatu (Salutation to 2wo Bunnies)”
Al Wootton - “Remelino”
Leal Neale - “T-Shirt”
Olof Dreijer - “Rosa Rugosa”
Nondi_ - “Nostalgic Vision”
Tristan Arp - “Panspecies Rights”
Loopsel - “Tiden”
Toumba - “Rashash”
Billy Woods & Kenny Segal - “Hangman”
Asher Gamedze - “Can’t See the Sun”
Nicki Minaj & Ice Spice - “Barbie World”
Jonny From Space - “Never the Right Time”
Róisín Murphy - “Fader”
Billy Woods & Kenny Segal featuring Danny Brown - “Year Zero”
DrummeRTee924 featuring Drugger Boyz - “Tambula (Sgija Mix)”
Special Request x Mumdance - “Exotic Golfcourse”
Karenn - “When Lutes Were a Thing”
Ligeti Quartet & Anna Meredith - “Shill”
Alison Goldfrapp - “Gatto Gelato”
Nondi_ - “Long Ago”
Decisive Pink - “Rodeo”
Joanna Sternberg - “The Love I Give”
Badlands - “Bury You Whole (Cooly G Remix)”
Ligeti Quartet & Anna Meredith - “Chorale”
Decisive Pink - “Destiny”
Elijah & Jammz - “Too Much”
YoungBoy Never Broke Again - “Cold Killers”
DJ Melzi, Moukz & Spitjo 88 - “Cowboy XIII”
Kai Campos - “Quartz (Forest Drive West Remix)”
Christine and the Queens - “Big Eye”
Ido Plumes - “And Back Again”
Speaker Music - “Jes’ Gre”