New Mix: Suuns, Autolux, Adult Jazz, More
Clockwise from upper left: Autolux, Adult Jazz, Suuns Courtesy of the artists hide caption
On this week's All Songs Considered, hosts Bob Boilen and Robin Hilton explore some warped musical territory with a little help from one of our friends: producer and musician John Congleton. John turns us on to the deliberate, unrelenting music of Montreal's Suuns, a record he was excited to produce.
Also on the show: Bob can't stop listening to the dark humor of teenage psych-pop duo Let's Eat Grandma, Robin takes us into the fractured world of Autolux and changes things up with the tranquil Zen of Mutual Benefit and closes the show with the searching, deconstructive music of Adult Jazz.
Songs Featured On This Week's Episode
Suuns
- Song: Paralyzer
- from Hold/Still
The members of Suuns are extremely deliberate and forward-thinking. According to John Congleton, who produced the group's new LP, Hold/Still, every note, rhythm and lyric the band composes is 100% intentional. He finds a transcendent quality to its unrelenting sound.
Hold/Still is out now on Secretly Canadian.
Autolux
- Song: Soft Scene
- from Pussy's Dead
Pussy's Dead is only Autolux's third LP in its 15-year history as a band. The music is warped and disjointed by fractured chord progressions and shifting beats. That sound, sculpted by producer BOOTS, revolves around the drums and percussion provided by Carla Azar, a frequent Jack White collaborator.
Pussy's Dead is out now on 30th Century Records.
Cover for I, Gemini Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Let's Eat Grandma
- Song: Rapunzel
- from I, Gemini
Bob cannot stop playing the music of this somewhat creepy teenage duo Let's Eat Grandma. There's a darkness in this music and the stories, but also a real humor embedded in what they do.
I, Gemini is out June 17 on Transgressive Records and available here digitally.
Mutual Benefit
- Song: Hereafter
- from Skip A Sinking Stone
Mutual Benefit's Jordan Lee was inspired to compose "The Hereafter" after stumbling onto a guhzeng, a kind of Chinese zither, at a friend's studio. He builds the song around a simple guhzeng melody that lends itself perfectly to the Zen-like themes about the impermanence of life.
Skip A Sinking Stone is out May 20 on Mom + Pop.
Adult Jazz
- Song: Earrings Off!
- from Earrings Off!
Like Suuns and Autolux, Adult Jazz's new work seeks to break down the familiar: The group takes standard chord progressions, melodies and rhythms and tear the elements apart. Adult Jazz pairs this deconstruction of musical elements with a deconstruction of gender identity on its new concept record Earrings Off. The title track asks the question, "What would you be like if you weren't ever told you were a boy or a girl?"
Earrings Off is out May 20 on Tri Angle Records.