Music For Your Weekend

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This week features three recommendations that couldn’t be more different from one another. What can I say? I like a lot of different kind of music and the fact that you’re reading this probably means you do too. Let me know what you think!

NVDES – “Turning Heads”

NVDES is pronounced “Nudes” and is a “world I created,” says producer and de-facto frontman Josh Ocean. He describes this Los Angeles collective as an ongoing art project and one that builds songs around random moments. Ocean creates this world of creative spontaneity by inviting a wide range of musicians to his living room (which he calls “Vibe City, Utah”), to jam. They record whatever music or lyrics may transpire. Ocean then makes sense of snippets of those recordings by producing songs on his computer. If this process sounds exciting, raw and fun then you can already imagine what the resulting music sounds like. “Turning Heads” is a perfect example of this organized chaos. If you like LCD Soundsystem & Death from Above 1979, chances are you’ll like this song.

Gabriel Garzón-Montano – “Sour Mango (Seven Davis Jr Sticky Rice Remix)”

Gabriel Garzón-Montano is a talented multi-instrumentalist who has quickly become a KCRW staple since he released “Sour Mango” last November. GGM’s full length “Jardín” has captured our imaginations and will no doubt be on several of our top ten lists of 2017. I’ve been a fan of Seven Davis Jr’s for several years now. He has a unique ability to fuse atmospheric soundscapes with head-nodding beats that you usually only get from Dilla and Dre with church melodies. Put these two together and you get this…

*Don’t forget* Gabriel Garzón-Montano will be performing live alongside Miguel and DJ Stretch Armstrong as part of Sound In Focus on Sat, July 15. It will be happening at The Annenberg Space for Photography and is FREE! All you need to do is RSVP here.

Jeb Loy Nichols – “Don’t Drop Me”

Alright, I’ll admit. This album isn’t exactly new, it came out in March but I just discovered it myself about a week ago and it is definitely worth checking out this weekend! To say Jeb Loy Nichols is an interesting dude would be an understatement.

To start, Nichols was born in Wyoming and raised in Missouri and says the first music he felt was “southern soul.” He says growing up, “I used to listen to the radio at night and fell in love with Bobby Womack and Al Green, The Staples Singers and Joe Simon – that whole Nashville/Memphis/Muscle Shoals thing.” At 15 he heard his first punk record, God Saved the Queen by The Sex Pistols. Nichols declares that, and The Ramones completely changed him. He moved to New York in 1980 after receiving a scholarship to attend art school. That was at the birth of hip-hop which he became “obsessed” with. After college he moved around in Europe (which included living with Adrian Sherwood and Neneh Cherry) and now lives on a farm in Wales. As I said, JLN is beyond interesting.

This colorful amalgamation of experiences defines his recent full length Country Hustle. It’s a mix of southern soul, country, blues, folk, dub, with touches of hip-hop and his vocals sound like something from the early 70s or 80s. My favorite song on the album is “Don’t Drop Me”, I just love this groove!

(GGM photo c/o: Dustin Downing)