Our songs this week!!
Shesharazaad – Dhund Lo Mujhe
T Bone Burnett – Waiting For You
Nobro – Better Each Day
Billie Eilish – Diner
Yolanda Be Cool, D Cup – We No Speak Americano (Radio edit)
Fantastic Cat – The Hammer and the Nail
Butcher Brown, Bruce Hornsby – Secret House
Packs – 89 Days
Aqyila – Most Wanted
Shesharazaad – Dhund Lo Mujhe
Sheherazaad
Sheherazaad is an American performer-composer, whose contemporary folk-pop synthesis joins the new wave of South Asian diasporic soundscapes.
Native to the San Francisco Bay Area and brought up second-generation in an immigrant household, Sheherazaad gleans from Western classical and South Asian sonic lineages. Her contemporary voicing, though inherently genre-defiant, may be described as alternative folk or experimental ballad. Sheherazaad’s original lyricism modernises certain existing Hindi-Urdu poetic forms, channelling questions of displacement, mother tongue, imagined homelands, and beyond. Currently, she allows the experience of shifting between India and Brooklyn, NYC to shape her eccentric and hyphenated musical aesthetic.
Today she announces her new mini-album Qasr, produced by Aroof Aftab, and shares a second single.
Produced by Grammy-winning Pakistani singer-composer Arooj Aftab, the song is among the album’s five melodies being released under independent record label Erased Tapes. The first one, titled ‘Mashoor’, was belted out last year. It explored the frailty of fame. This one expands on the model minority myth — a reference to the stereotyping of American minority groups, particularly those from Asia, as successful and well-adjusted, demonstrating no or little need for social or economic assistance. “Perhaps there was an aspiration to create a kind of neo-folklore that strips down mythology which has been imposed upon my people. ‘Dhund Lo Mujhe’ has threads of this,”shares Sheherazaad.
Artwork of the album Qasr | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Born in what she describes a “fanatically art-centred, Asian-American household”, Sheherazaad absorbed the life portfolios of Lata Mangeshkar and RD Burman, while beginning formal voice education in jazz and American Songbook from the age of six. She later trained with Hindustani classical guru Madhuvanti Bhide, and studied Arabic, Hindi, and Urdu in the late 2010s.
‘Dhund Lo Mujhe’ was born out of Sheherazaad’s visit to India during Covid, when her paternal grandfather was dying.
Sheherazaad | Photo Credit: Zayira Ray
The desire to break away and create a more radical, queer dreamscapepropelled the idea to adopt an artiste name. “Scheherazade (as commonly spelled in the West) has been my favourite character since childhood for her ferocious storytelling ability that saves lives. Also, in Hindi and Urdu, Sheherazaad translates to ‘free city’. I love the idea of a person, especially a woman, being a ‘city’ entity in and of themselves,” she says.
Nobro – Better Each Day
Nobro is a Canadian garage punk band based in Montreal, Quebec.[1][2] The band was formed by vocalist and bass guitarist Kathryn McCaughey (formerly of Uncle Bad Touch),[3] vocalist and guitarist Marianna Florczyk, and vocalist and drummer Martha Rodriguez in mid-2014.[4][5][6] Sarah Dion replaced Rodriguez in 2015, and Florczyk departed in May 2017 to be replaced by Gabrielle La Rue, who joined at the same time as keyboardist and percussionist Lisandre Bourdages.[7][8][9] Karolane Carbonneau replaced La Rue in November 2018.[7][8][9]
Montreal’s NOBRO have shared a brand new single, ‘Better Each Day’.
“I was experiencing some kind of crisis at the time of writing ‘Better Each Day’ and if I remember correctly, it was a ‘writing music’ one,” reflects vocalist and bassist Kathryn McCaughey on the track. “There are times when songs come streaming out of you as though they wrote themselves into existence, and other times it can be as challenging as getting two purebred Persian cats to mate. I was sitting in our producer’s studio when he suggested I might like a little jingle he wrote for a commercial that never got used. I thought it was dope and voila, this song was born. One day you’re punk as fuck and then next you’re playing old unused car commercial jingles.”
Signed to Big Scary Monsters, the track is mixed by double GRAMMY Award-winning engineer Dave Schiffman (Vampire Weekend, Adele). You can stream it below.
Yolanda Be Cool, D Cup – We No Speak Americano (Radio edit)
Yolanda Be Cool – The name is a reference to the scene in the film Pulp Fiction, where the character Jules (played by Samuel L. Jackson) tells an armed robber named Yolanda (played by Amanda Plummer) “Be cool!” Yolanda Be Cool received two 2010 ARIA Music Awards nominations which include, “Best Dance Release” and “Most Popular Australian Single” for “We No Speak Americano”.[3](Wikipedia)
This must be a reissue, Spotify says 2020, but Wikipedia says 2010
“We No Speak Americano” sold over 5 million copies and amassed over 200 million YouTube views worldwide. It topped the British, Spanish, German, Mexican, Argentinian, Swedish, Danish, Swiss, and Ecuadorian charts,[2] and reached the Top 5 in Australia, France, Italy, Spain and Norway. It was also a chart hit in Colombia, New Zealand, Mexico, Peru, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Venezuela, Honduras, Costa Rica and several other countries. The video was directed by Andy Hylton. Prior to the hit, they had collaborated with DCUP when he remixed their hit “Afro Nuts” in 2009.
and yes, there is a Youtube video
Butcher Brown, Bruce Hornsby – Secret House
Butcher Brown is a jazz quintet founded in 2009[1] and based in Richmond, Virginia. Their members are Marcus Tenney (trumpet and saxophone), Morgan Burrs (guitar), Corey Fonville (percussion), Andrew Randazzo (bass), and DJ Harrison (keyboards).[2][3][4]
Here they announce their collaboration with Bruce Hornsby
info about this is hard to find, this is what I have about the release
Limited Edition 12” vinyl single release of “Secret House,” a never-before-heard collaboration between music veteran Bruce Hornsby and Concord Jazz artist Butcher Brown. Also featured is the Butcher Brown track, “Thirty One.” Pressed on metallic copper vinyl. Record Store Day 2023.
Aqyila – Most Wanted
Aqyila took home her first Juno Award in March for traditional R&B/soul recording of the year. “It was really cool and very surreal,” she told The Block‘s host Angeline Tetteh-Wayoe about winning for her self-love anthem, “Hello.”
When she released the track in 2023, it caught fire on TikTok and racked up thousands of likes. It currently has more than 25 million streams on Spotify.
About Aqyila’s Tik Tok viral release (18 seconds)
Sometimes it’s life’s seemingly mundane acts, moments of little significance, that have the most life-changing impact. It’s November 2023. Aqyila (pronounced A-key-la) is in her hotel room, drained from a day full of recording. She’s on the final leg of her month-long stint in LA and is itching to fly back home to Toronto. “I never got the feeling like, omg I would totally live here [LA]”. On a whim, as she does her daily TikTok scroll, she decides to post a video. “What is it you see in me? Tell me why do you believe in me” she lip syncs in the mirror, almost to serenade herself and her audience. She posts, closes the app and continues with her evening.
As it stands, there are 440,000 user generated videos to her sound, and counting. There are videos with people appreciating their friendships, partners doting on their romantic love and Christians in awe of God’s love for them. For many listening, the song implied a religious connotation, but that wasn’t Aqyila intention when she penned it last year.
Aqyila: A Career in Full Bloom
T Bone Burnett – “Waiting For You” from The Other Side (feat. Lucius)
T Bone” Burnett is a long time musician, performer and producer. I first became aware of Burnett as a sideman in Bob Dylan’s 1978 Rolling Thunder revue in the late 70’s. He was the extremely tall guy playing guitar. A few years later one of his solo albums Proof Through the Night received some airplay. This song seemed to be favoured at CHEZ106 in Ottawa .
In the early 80’s, as the Coward Brothers with Elvis Costello he released this gem.
Burnett went on to become a pretty famous producer and arranger. He has won several Grammy Awards for his work on film soundtracks, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Cold Mountain, Walk the Line , and Crazy Heart. He has worked with a wide variety of artists including Alison Krauss, Robert Plant, Los Lobos, Gillian Welch, Gregg Allman and Roy Orbison. Taken from his 11th solo album “Waiting For You “ is a nice laid back tune featuring the group Lucius on backing vocals.
Billie Eilish – “Diner” from Hit Me Hard and Soft
Billie Eilish of course is at this point in time, one of the most famous performers on Planet Earth. When you get to compose and perform the the title song to a James Bond movie, you have truly arrived.
In 2024 she released her 3rd full length album Hit Me Hard and Soft. “Diner” is a creepy little number possibly inspired by a a stalking incident Eilish experienced. The video is rather unsettling as well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKkObvtycq8
I am not sure who these guys are, but it’s some Young Fellas with Tattoos breaking down this song for the young folk. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdXOuPbqrEo
Pitchfork chimes in: https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/billie-eilish-hit-me-hard-and-soft/
Fantastic Cat – “The Hammer and the Nail” from Now That’s What I Call Fantastic Cat
Fantastic Cat is considered an indie music “supergroup” although all the members are unknown to me. Lacking a name before their first recording session, the four asked a waitress at a local New York City bar what they should call themselves. Without hesitation, she replied, “Fantastic Cat,” and the name stuck. As a result, the band wears cat masks in all of their photos and videos. Apparently, Fantastic Cat is fun.
The good ole reliable Burning Wood blog made me aware of the guys.
https://burnwoodtonite.blogspot.com/2024/07/thank-you-fantastic-cat.html
Packs – “89 Days” from Melted Honey
Packs is a band from Toronto. Melted Honey is their third album. Unusually, Packs spent three weeks rehearsing and recording the album at Casa Pulp in Xalapa, Mexico in March 2023. Singer Madeline Link had previously done an artist residency in the country and her writing was influenced by being in a relationship and moving in with her partner.
Here are 2 versions of the featured song “89 Days”. The “Official Visualizer” version isn’t particularly visually interesting so I included a rough live one as well.
Back in January, Post Trash made Melted Honey album of the week.
https://post-trash.com/news/2024/1/18/packs-melt-the-honey-album-review
Whole-Hearted 
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