August’s new music for Te Awe: Part 3

Here is part two of our new music picks for August. You can catch up with Part 1 here, and Part 2 here. Do we actually know anything about new music? Or, are we just too old to understand what most of this is banging on about? Read on to find out…

A fistful of peaches / Black Honey
Mark says: ‘A Fistful of Peaches’ is the third album by UK band Black Honey. They released a self-titled debut in 2018, and have been steady figures in the UK indie scene since then, with 2nd album, 2021’s Written & Directed cracking the UK top 10. Their latest album has been hailed as their most consistent yet. While arguably there’s nothing really new here musically, lead singer Izzy Bee Phillips manages to inveigh their propulsive, anthemic, 90s styled indie pop-rock, with a surprising degree of emotional shades, from upbeat, to melancholic and malicious. And the catchy tracks often hide pointed lyrics the dig into the mental health struggles and unhappiness that plague her generation.

Sam says: Having formed in 2014, Black Honey is a four-piece indie rock band originating from Brighton, UK, and ‘A Fistful of Peaches’ is their third album. Featuring infectiously fuzzy guitar lines, thumping drums and evocative, yet somewhat reserved vocals, the music pulls together ‘90s-flavoured post-grunge swagger with a more contemporary sense of grandeur. The guitar-driven nature of the music provides a rough edge to the music, which is nicely balanced and smoothed out by the subtle synth and keyboard parts. There is a sense of friction between the infectious and upbeat musical parts and the emotionally troubled lyrical content, which in turn provides an atmosphere that feels both playful and introspective. Those looking for infectious power-pop hooks will find plenty to love here.

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The Musical Legacy of Gillian Bibby MNZM

The pianist, composer, teacher, and scholar Gillian Bibby who passed away in Wellington on 7 August 2023, was integral to Wellington’s musical world for several decades. While countless numbers of young musicians in Wellington and beyond benefitted from Gillian’s work — whether through piano or music theory lessons, chamber music coaching, the Institute of Registered Music Teachers, the New Zealand Suzuki Institute, or by learning pieces from her edited collections of piano music — her legacy as a composer and performer is less well-known than it should be.

Bibby’s career took her from a childhood in Lower Hutt and Greymouth to university in Dunedin, and then postgraduate study in Germany, where her teachers included Karlheinz Stockhausen. She was the recipient of prestigious awards, including the Kranichsteiner Music Prize (1972), and she was a Mozart Fellow at Otago University (1976-77). After returning to Wellington, Bibby established a flourishing teaching studio in Roseneath and became heavily involved in Suzuki Talent Education, receiving in 1992 a Churchill Fellowship to pursue further study in Suzuki teaching training in North America.

It is impossible to do justice to Gillian Bibby’s career here, but something of the scale of her achievements can be seen in Bibby’s 70th birthday concert in 2015. Many eminent members of the music profession, including friends, family, and former pupils, came together to perform her music in Wellington’s Adam Concert Room. SOUNZ recorded these performances, which you can view here, alongside a fascinating interview with Bibby, and short introductions to the pieces. This collection of performances and discussions provides a rich portrait of Bibby’s work as a composer: eclectic, drawing on avant-garde techniques, diverse in instrumentation, and encompassing a wide variety of influences. A more extensive catalogue of her compositions can again be accessed via SOUNZ, while additional recordings and scores are available at the Alexander Turnbull Library.

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August’s New Music for Te Awe: Part 2

Here is part two of our new music picks for August. You can catch up with Part 1 here. Do we actually know anything about new music? Or, are we just too old to understand what most of this is banging on about? Read on to find out…

On the romance of being / Marea, Desire
Mark says: The second album from this queer South African musician is a huge leap forward from 2021 debut Desire. That album was a solo excursion into club beats, but his sophomore effort strikes out for broader musical regions, with a 13 piece band featuring stalwarts of the Durban and Johannesburg jazz circles, and key members of South Africa’s experimental scene. The resulting ensemble creates a swirling mix of orchestral sounds, spiritual jazz and searching vocals. In last two years, Desire trained as Sangoma, a traditional Nguni spiritual healer, and you can feel that reflected outward in the music, a sense of communal strength and healing. Standout track is perhaps ‘Rah’, a powerful 9-minute duet with South African singer and songwriter Zoë Modiga.

Sam says: With the incorporation of a wide variety of musical styles into a single melting pot, Desire Marea’s sophomore full length effort ‘On the Romance of Being’ is difficult to classify, confidently existing within its own world. There are several flavours and moods covered over the space of the record, with jazz, soul, electronic, classical and various louder forms of rock music creating a sound-world that is keenly experimental, yet powerfully immersive and coherent. Dynamic variation is a key force, with intimate instrumentals and sensitive vocal passages building up to chaotic, densely orchestrated crescendos that are truly bombastic in nature. There is a strong spiritual undertone that runs through the record, with Marea’s evocative and often pained vocals being an ever-present force of nature. If you enjoy music with an overarching sense of power and beauty, ‘On the Romance of Being’ is worth a listen.

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August’s New Music for Te Awe: Part 1


via GIPHY

Statler: Well, it was good.
Waldorf: Ah, it was very bad.
Statler: Well, it was average.
Waldorf: Ah, it was in the middle there.
Statler: Ah, it wasn’t that great.
Waldorf: I kind of liked it.”
-‘The Muppet Show’.

I’m Mark, the Music & Film Specialist at Wellington City Libraries. I buy music for the CD & Vinyl collections, and also run the Libraries’ Wellington Music Facebook page). My Music Specialist colleague Sam, and Fiction Specialist (and avid music fan) Neil, join me every month to cast an eye over the new material we have been buying for the music collection at our CBD Te Awe library. We pick out some interesting titles across a range of music genres, and try to limit our reviews to a few lines only. Can we encapsulate an entire album in just a couple of lines? [Ed. This is probably unlikely at this point]. Do we actually know anything about new music? Or, are we just too old to understand what most of this is banging on about? [Ed. This is more than likely]. Read on to find out…

Voice notes / Lacey, Yazmin
Mark says: Yazmin Lacey is a Nottingham based London singer, part of the new wave of Black female UK singers fusing soul, jazz and beats. Having released three EPs since 2017, this is her debut album. Comparisons have ranged from Erykah Badu and Arlo Parks, to Lauryn Hill and Jill Scott. Breezy, vibey neo-soul mixes comfortable with dub, lovers rock & electronic touches, while the lyrics focus on self-confidence, self-examination and finding peace in tough times. A great late-night mood prevails through out this reflective album that’s sure to take her career to the next level.

Sam says: Voice Notes, the debut album by London-born singer Yazmin Lacey, is an eclectic and accomplished work that teems with ambition. Stylistically it offers a wide smorgasbord of musical flavours, featuring elements of soul, R&B, funk, jazz and electronica. The instrumentation is rich and nuanced, with the music having been composed via studio jam sessions featuring a number of collaborators. Imperfections were embraced in the recording and production process, resulting in a raw and honest work. Lacey’s tender voice is the star of the show, brimming with emotional weight in its portrayal of her impressionistic and soliloquy-like lyrics. These things are brought together to provide a delicate yet powerful listening experience.

Neil says: Voice notes is Yazmin Lacey’s debut album. It was written over two years, but it displays such an assured confidence in its aims that you would never know. It is an album seeped in the past without ever feeling beholden to the legacy it so clearly celebrates. Voice notes is a cool jazz, nu-soul release with carefully woven in electronica. The ultra-smooth production is used to accentuate a dreamy late night café vibe, though the album does have a fun and ebullient side too. Yazmin’s voice is subtle and perfectly accompanies the music nestling seamlessly into the overall sound.

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Bach’s Suites for Solo Cello — Recordings and Books

Bach’s Six Suites for Solo Violoncello (BWV1007-1012) form one of his greatest musical monuments.  The suites, and their constituent preludes and dances are essential to every cellist, and the moment when a cello student learns their first Minuet, Gigue, or Allemande, is the start of a long, challenging journey. In his biography of Bach from 1802 Johann Nikolaus Forkel noted that:

There are few instruments for which Bach has not composed something. In his time, it was usual to play in the church, during communion, a concerto or solo upon some instrument. He often wrote such pieces himself, and always contrived them so that his performers could, by their means, improve upon their instruments. Most of these pieces, however, are lost. But, on the other hand, two principal works of another kind have been preserved, which, in all probability, richly indemnify us for the loss of the others. For a long series of years, the Violin Solos were universally considered by the greatest performers on the violin as the best means to make an ambitious student a perfect master of his instrument. The solos of the violoncello are, in this respect, of equal value.”  Nikolaus Forkel, Johann Sebastian Bach: his life, art, and work 

It is unclear when Bach wrote the cello suites; there is much debate about whether they pre- or post-date the solo violin sonatas and partitas. Similarly, we do not know whether he composed all six suites consecutively, or whether they were a project Bach completed over time. The same uncertainty applies to the solo violin works, although in their case there exists a fair copy in Bach’s hand, dated 1720.  Bach’s second wife, Anne Magdelene made another copy between 1727 and 1731, for which Bach’s pupil Schwanenberg wrote the frontispieces. It appears that Anne Magdelene’s copy of the suites for cello dates from the same time, possibly intended to be one volume with the violin solos, but Schwanenberg later wrote another frontispiece for them: 6 Suites, a Violoncello Solo senza Basso composes par Sr. J. S. Bach, Maitre de Chapelle. Other copies of the violin and cello solos were made by Bach’s associate, Johann Peter Kellner. 

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Staff picks: CDs

Here are some music titles that library staff have recently been listening to and enjoying.

Martin P’s Picks:
Sunshine hit me / Bees (Musical group)
Debut album by a British band, came out in 2002, described by Wikipedia as “eclectic and summery, with a range of influences that include psychedelia, Jamaican dub, reggae, indie, 1960s rock and others”. It’s a lovely, melodic bunch of pop songs. They made several further albums, but none as good as this. Great summer record.

 

Miss America / O’Hara, Mary Margaret
Came out in 1988. The debut (and so far only) album by this Canadian artist. Came and went almost without trace at the time, but subsequently lavished with praise by musicians such as Michael Stipe and Tanya Donelly, as well as having its songs covered by bands from Cowboy Junkies to Perfume Genius. Her idiosyncratic vocals are unlike anyone else, and the album sounds like it could have been made last week rather than 35 years ago. Try Body’s In Trouble for a taste.

Heavy heavy / Young Fathers
Released Feb ’23, this new album from the Scottish trio sees them further developing their unique mix of tribal music, rap and singalong choruses. The production is a little less raw now perhaps, than on their early releases, but their ear for hooks and thought-provoking lyrics is better than ever.

 

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