
#388: Ratboys, “The Window”

This week we’re tagging along with Vanishing Twin on a space trip. The British band’s new album, “Ookii Gekkou”, draws as much from Sun Ra-ish jazz experimentalism as from euro-stamped kosmische, and is our album of the week.
Ada Lea’s debut LP, ‘what we say in private’, was the soundtrack of a big chunk of my summer of 2019. Speak/sung vocals and big melodies reminiscent of recent albums by the likes of Big Thief or Katie von Schleicher. The Canadian singer-songwriter’s new album was just released and it follows up the debut perfectly.
If it wasn’t for the accent, you would think Jade Bird was another southwestern American half-country, half-Stevie Nicks songwriter. You know, the kind we love around here. It’s easy to know where the confusion might come from: in her second album, the English musician is joined by producer Dave Cobb (who else?) to bring us one of the most interesting Americana records of the year so far.
We’re back from Le Guess Who?, one of the few festivals in Europe where we could choose between four or five quality club nights in various venues or a packed Xylouris White gig post-midnight on a Saturday. We were lucky to get in and witness one of the best concerts of the festival, which doubled as a release show, since the duo composed of Greek singer/laouto player George Xylouris and Dirty Three’s Jim White has just released their fourth album in six years, The Sisypheans. Plus: new tracks by Oiseaux-Tempête, 10 000 Russos, Katie Gately, FKA twigs, SebastiAn, Moor Mother, Vanishing Twin, Gus Seyffert, Wolf Parade, Jeffrey Lewis, Jonathan Wilson, Itasca, Mount Eerie & Julie Doiron, The Delines, Twain, Sea Lion, and The Good Ones.