This week, new releases from Lil Nas X, Wilco guitarist Nels Cline, and English art-rockers These New Puritans. Also, Ben Frost and Rizwan-Muazzam Qawwali.
Lil Nas X Ends A Week Of Releases With “Hotbox”
Lil Nas X has spent the week releasing a series of singles, culminating in today’s “Hotbox,” a song and video (because this is Lil Nas X, you can’t talk about one without the other) that is a pink swirl of nods, allusions, and in-jokes. It’s tempting to call “Hotbox” the rapper’s “I’m Ken” moment, except that he probably skews closer to Barbie, and in this song, even closer to the early 00s popmasters like Pharrell and Outkast. So it has a catchy chorus, just-barely-double entendre lyrics, and pop music’s resident imp cavorting through a series of pink sets and costumes.
Wilco Guitarist Nels Cline Shows His Range With Consentrik Quartet
Long before he became the secret weapon in the rock band Wilco, Nels Cline had built a reputation as a guitarist who moved seamlessly between jazz, punk, and experimental music. (His album of acoustic guitar and double bass duos with Eric Von Essen was one of the first albums to be played on New Sounds back in 1982.) His latest project is the Consentrik Quartet, featuring sax player Ingrid Laubrock, bassist Chris Lightcap, and drummer Tom Rainey – all noted jazz players with similarly catholic approaches to music. And so the self-titled album includes melancholy ballads like “Allende” alongside a track that is clearly a tribute to the left-field rock band Deerhoof (the title, “Satomi,” refers to that band’s lead singer). This piece, “House of Steam,” simmers with anticipation for a minute or so before finally settling into a groove (though not necessarily the one you were expecting), and features Cline’s shapeshifting guitar solos and Laubrock’s sax playing rings around each other.
Ben Frost’s Sonic Artifact From Ukraine
Australian-born, Iceland-based composer Ben Frost creates dark sonic landscapes as inspired by avant-garde classical as they are by black metal. He’s preparing to release a new album, Under Certain Light and Atmospheric Conditions, on May 16, but the first “single,” if that’s the right word, is out now. It actually is part of what seems to be a single uninterrupted flow of music, as is usual for Frost. Built on improvisations from his live shows and field recordings, the album is “a 38-minute dreamspace of jetlag, melatonin supplements, roaring crowds and failing technology.” This track, "Permcat, Ки́їв," comes from a 2024 performance in Kyiv, Ukraine, and features brooding electronics which move slowly – each change hitting with an almost physical force.
The Bells Toll For These New Puritans
The British art-rockers These New Puritans released two singles this week – a moody collaboration with Caroline Polachek called “Industrial Love Song” and a tintinnabulary, post-minimalist gem called “Bells.” Jack Barnett’s lead vocals are offset by chiming, bell-like patterns that recall the New York minimalist composer Steve Reich, and the influence of two other New York music legends, Philip Glass and Meredith Monk, can be heard in the interlocking backing vocals. The weaving of contrapuntal lines has always been a feature of this whip-smart band, but rarely has their love of the American Minimalists been this obvious.
TNPs, as they’re known for short, will be releasing Crooked Wing, their first new album in six years on May 23.
An Ecstatic Sufi Tradition Continues
In the 1990s, the great Pakistani singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan brought the sounds of qawwali, the ecstatic Sufi songs that go back to medieval times, to contemporary Western ears. Peter Gabriel was a crucial figure, but Nusrat’s other high profile fans included Pete Townsend of The Who, Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam, and Jeff Buckley. Nusrat died in 1997, but two of his nephews, Rizwan and Muazzam Ali Khan, have kept that tradition alive in their band Rizwan-Muazzam Qawwali; and today they released a new LP called At The Feet Of The Beloved. It’s on Peter Gabriel’s Real World Records, the same label their uncle recorded for. These are longform prayers, but with their irresistible rhythms and soaring vocals, it’s easy to see why qawwali would appeal to arena rockers and their fans. This song, “Saqi Ik Jaam,” follows the brothers as they reach almost delirious heights.