Nightswimming #15: 09/19/24-09/26/24
A dancefloor classic! London jazz again! Pure, distilled Folk! And MORE!
Highly Recommend! (best of the week)
Flood - Hippo Campus (Hippo Campus/Psychic Hotline)
St. Paul, Minnesota’s Hippo Campus is the band it is today because of a cycle of devastation and reform.
2015’s Bashful Creatures, featuring the smash hit “Sophie So”, set the band on a breakneck racetrack of touring, television appearances, and interviews that burnt them out quick. They took a break from 2020 to 2022, and since then have made music that serves as proof they’ve matured. Once your dorm hall’s favorite upbeat indie rock outfit, their latest album Flood is gentler, slower, and more thoughtful.
This new grounded sound is due, of course, to the experiences and dedication of the band. But in this case, I must evoke the name of what has quickly become Nightswimming’s favorite Producer: Brad Cook. For those keeping track at home, this is the 3rd Brad Cook-produced album featured on Nightswimming this year, and it’s for good reason—Waxahatchee’s Tigers Blood and Nathaniel Rateliff’s South of Here are both Cook Joints. I’m not in the studio when these records are being made, so I can’t speak with authority. But it seems that Cook is able to bring a warmth and a grounding effect to the groups he works with. Working with Brad Cook seems, to the casual listener, to be like sitting around a bonfire with your loved ones. The comfort and the warmth are immediate hallmarks in the music.
While Hippo Campus brings plenty of the upbeat flavor that fans know and love (on songs like “Tooth Fairy” and “Madman”), they took their time with this one. It has room to breathe. It’s an evolved sound that is both patient and urgent. The album was recorded mostly live in studio, which gives the music an immediacy while elevating the songwriting. Where past works were jam-packed with fun bells and whistles, Flood is stripped back. And that exposure allows for lyrics like, “I’m struggling but I’m not too proud to admit it”.
Highlights: Forget It, Tooth Fairy, Prayer Man
Patchwork - Jesse Welles (Jesse Welles)
One part John Prine, one part Woody Guthrie, and one part Weird Al Yankovic, Jesse Welles is making Folk Americana for a new generation. You may recognize Welles from his many videos on TikTok. Sometimes he’s standing in a cornfield, singing about bugs (“I like grasshoppers cuz frogs eat ‘em. I like bees cuz flowers need ‘em.”). Sometimes he’s standing outside the Fox News station in Manhattan, singing about corporate media (“Ancient lizard dudes with a bug in their ear, feeding you lies and spooning you fear.”). Where foundational American folk singers where perhaps a bit overwrought in their political pleas, musicians like Prine and Bob Dylan struck a healthy balance between the serious and the silly. Welles continues that tradition.
In between laments about belonging, grief, love, and small town poverty, Welles references Voldemort, Steve Irwin, and Frank Herbert’s Dune. And that’s really what Folk music is—it’s the music of the people! The lyrical content is like our lives. In between our jobs and families, our grief and fears, we’re watching movies and reading books. At its core, Folk music is a reflection of the average life.
I can’t constantly be mad about Nancy Pelosi doing insider trading. I have to send 10 e-mails. The single mother deciding between diapers and Clorox wipes at Walmart also just wants to get home and rewatch Prisoner of Azkaban. Of course these aren’t the same thing, but you get what I mean.
Sonically, Welles is relatively new to the folk sound. He has released indie rock music under the name Welles and hardcore music under the name Dead Indian. The Jesse Welles Folk Experience is just the latest persona in the Welles-verse. Although only recently making Folk music, his voice slips perfectly into the tradition. The stripped-down acoustic guitar, occasional harmonica, and even more occasional percussion let Welles’s voice shine. And shine it does! What starts as an almost Dylan-like parody Folk voice on New Moon quickly becomes a real authentic gritty belt that fits perfectly in Folk music.
Acoustic Folk albums are as traditional as apple pie and familial strife. And Patchwork is no exception.
Highlights: Saint Steve Irwin, Fear is the Mind Killer
Worth a Listen! (good to very good)
Odyssey - Nubya Garcia (Nubya Garcia/Concord Jazz)
The London jazz scene has shown us yet again that it is a true powerhouse of the genre.
On her third album, London saxophonist and composer Nubya Garcia brings an eclectic mix of straight-ahead jazz, free verse, and contemporary orchestral movements that are both concentrated and frenetic. The times that Odyssey is a challenging listen are paid off with gorgeous and groovy melodies as the album goes back and forth between ambitious exploration and head-bobbing pocket work. At various stopping-off places, the vocal features of Esperanza Spaulding, Georgia Anne Muldrow, and Kokoroko’s Richie lift the flow of the album to its most upbeat places.
Odyssey is more than just a collection of ideas in jazz—it is a sprawling and expansive concept that keeps one at the edge of their seat, anticipating both film score and Village Vanguard jam session to come next.
Highlights: Set It Free, Dawn
In Waves - Jamie xx (Young)
It’s simple, but it’s layered. It’s totally new, but it feels timeless. It’s an instant dancefloor classic that one legitimately cannot sit still for. Jamie xx’s sophomore solo album, In Waves, is a masterclass in combining frictionless beat production with crate-dug samples.
The beats lead the charge, but the melodic vocal samples are the stars of the show.
Tracks like “Baddy on the Floor” and “Life” have that old-school Studio 54 disco feel, like Daft Punk with a coke hobby. Tracks like “Waited All Night” and “All You Children” are a bit more moody and broody, with a twinkly shooting star overlay and a jungle backbeat.
With samples from The Moody Blues and The Peoples’ Workshop, Jamie xx’s crate-digging bona fides cannot be denied. The samples shine here even more than they did on In Colours, and it makes for a more melodic album all around. In 2024 terms, In Waves is the midpoint between Charli XCX’s brat and L’Imperatrice’s Pulsar—it is a love letter to the club, but melody remains King.
Highlights: Baddy on the Floor, All You Children, Life
Hot Singles in Your Area!
Here are some great singles that dropped in the last week:
Crop Circles - Liquid Mike (having already released a great album this year, Paul Bunyan’s Slingshot, Liquid Mike is enjoying a prolific period! Upbeat indie rock with a great chorus and cool guitars.)
S P E Y S I D E - Bon Iver (while Justin Vernon’s upcoming project is only an EP, this new track is as close to vintage Bon Iver as he’s been in almost a decade. Can’t wait to listen to the whole thing and weep.)
God Gets You Back - Mogwai (one of a few TITANS of post-rock release a new classically trancey single in an announcement of a 2025 World Tour.)
Clueless - Beach Bunny (The leaves start to turn and the perpetrators of SadBoi/SadGurl music crawl out of cupboards. This is a beautiful and fun jaunt about turning 30.)
Run - skirts (wailing guitar over tender vocals and a driving drum beat. Post-rock meets indie!)
Music Moment of the Week
Abso-fucking-lutely that’s the music moment of the week!!!!