SWEEP FREQUENCY #417: Voodoo Down
New tunes by Maria Somerville, Triathalon, Emma-Jean Thackray, Luvcat, Factory Floor, and more...
OPENING RIFF: "What a crazy world. Sure you didn’t make it all up?" -- Steve Cannon, Groove, Bang and Jive Around
SMALL TALK: There was a time shortly before COVID lockdown where I'd gotten really into psychedelic, late era-Miles Davis, an era I hadn't been super-familiar with until I saw Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool in theaters during a boring weekend back in 2019. It felt like a revelation for a jazz novice such as myself. More recently, I've been trying to watch more concert films now that show-going has slowly been phased out of my life, and I was recently tipped to a full-length set of Davis and his "Lost Quintet" performing at the Tivoli Concert Hall in Copenhagen in 1969. Given the name because they never recorded in the studio, this group features Wayne Shorter on sax and a young-ish Chick Corea absolutely killing it on keys, not to mention Miles rocking an extremely loud and cool outfit. The main draw of watching something like this is getting to witness an actual moment of transition, these moments where you can start to hear an entirely new sound and aesthetic creep in to someone whose career was both already both storied and stagnant, which is extremely cool whether you know much about the genre or not. Beyond that, any free time I had this week was devoted to bingeing the final mini-season of Cobra Kai. I still find it astounding how emotionally enriching I've found a show about something as stupid as teenagers in karate tournaments, but I'll miss it dearly. Let's get to this week's new music.
Nearly Every Song From Every 2025 Newsletter Will Be Available in Playlist Form: SPOTIFY | APPLE MUSIC
1. MARIA SOMERVILLE - "GARDEN": After a beautiful single a few months back, Maria Somerville has announced her first album in five years with an even lovelier tune. "Garden" finds the NTS Early Bird Show host singing over a very dreamy if slightly gloomy backdrop, the kind of song that just makes sense for repeated listens as we get stir-crazy indoors this time of year.
2. TRIATHALON - "RIP": I've been following Triathalon's music ever since I heard a funky, soulful jam of theirs called "Couch," many years ago, and their sound has undergone a lot of transformations in the time since. Their latest iteration, "RIP," is self-described funeral music that has a heavy shoegaze bent to it, loud and noisy and, above all, absolutely shredding in all the right ways.
3. EMMA-JEAN THACKRAY FEAT. KASSA OVERALL - "IT'S OKAY": I was a massive fan of Emma-Jean Thackray's debut album, which felt like a nice encapsulation of where London's jazz and dance scenes converged. "It's Okay" is a nice preview of her second album, one that moves towards spaced-out soul on top of her jazzy repertoire, all with a great vocal assist from fellow newsletter fav Kassa Overall.
4. LUVCAT - "LOVE AND MONEY": Luvcat's backstory is extremely cool and involves a stroke of luck busking in front of the Waterboys on top of the usual TikTok fame, and she's definitely one of the most interesting pop voices out there. Her latest track, "Love and Money" has a lot of great instrumental layers and a better bass line, and she has a great ode to those sorts of late night, spur-of-the-moment romances one still thinks about many years down the line.
5. FACTORY FLOOR - "BETWEEN YOU": It's been seven years since we last had a proper release from Factory Floor, and their return is the kind of dark, chugging synth-pop I've been craving these days. The band's industrial sound really plays into these dystopian times, but "Between You" has a layer of sentiment to it that makes things feel extra special to me.
PARTING SHOTS: The Garbage Day newsletter has turned into essential reading lately, and this missive in particular on the right's control of social media and what comes next for the left is one of the best pieces of post-election analysis I've read so far. Speaking of essays about our current hellscape, there's also a great new one from Osita Nwanevu out there. I'm an aging white dude, so of course I'm interested in what makes spy fiction "authentic" given the political implications. Everyone's favorite stray dog was sadly captured here in New Orleans, but the drama surrounding Scrim has gotten even more bizarre somehow.
ENCORE: "THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT"