LISTEN: GIHE on Soho Radio – Highlights of 2021 (15.12.21)

Tash, Kate & Mari were back on the Soho Radio airwaves for their final show of 2021, playing their new music highlights, some of their favourite tracks of the year and a sprinkling of festive tunes from female, non-binary and LGBTQ+ artists.

Big thanks & love to everyone who’s tuned in to our shows. We’ll be back on air in January 2022! xx

Listen back below:

 

Tracklist
The Big Moon – Carol Of The Bells
November Ultra – le manége
Solaja – Vision
VERO – Beg
Momma – Medicine
Salt Ashes – Body Says
Crisp&Classy – SML4U
KIN – The Runaways
MEMA – Estou Bem
Elodie Gervaise – Free Babe
Sans Soucis – I’m On
Noga Erez – End of the Road
Maria Uzor – Innocence
SOPHIE – BIPP (Autechre Mx)
Tirzah – Tectonic
Fears – Fabric
Brimheim – poison fizzing on a tongue
Pixie Cut Rhythm Orchestra – Empty Envelope
Planningtorock – Gay Dreams Do Come True
Saint Etienne – Pond house
Wet Leg – Chaise Longue
Fraulein – Belly
Cherym – Listening To My Head
Bitch Hunt – Shapeshifter
ARXX – DEEP
Blonde Maze – Being Pulled
Jenny Moore’s Mystic Business – He Earns Enough
Pongo – Wegue Wegue
Death Hags – Frozen Santa
Gemma Cullingford – Walking In The Air
Poly Styrene – Black Christmas

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FIVE FAVOURITES: LALA LALA

Following the release of her latest album, I Want The Door To Open via Hardly Art earlier this year, Chicago-based musician Lillie West aka LALA LALA is preparing to take her altruistic electronic sounds on tour across Europe and the UK in February 2022. Choosing to look beyond herself for themes and inspirations when creating this record, West co-produced the album with Yoni Wolf of WHY?, and had contributions from poet Kara Jackson, OHMME, Gia Margaret and her former tour mate Ben Gibbard.

We think one of the best ways to get to know an artist is by asking what music inspired them to write in the first place. We caught up with LALA LALA to ask her about her “Five Favourites” – five songs that have inspired her song-writing techniques. Check out her choices below and scroll down to watch her video for her ‘DIVER’ at the end of this post.

 

1. Hildegaard – ‘Jour 8’
Hildegaard was introduced to me by my friend Pascal (Fashion Club) when I asked her what I should listen to on a bike ride. This whole album is a masterpiece. I think the production is perfect, it’s sparse but very intentional. This song in particular I’m truly obsessed with – the vocal loop, the bass line, the intertwining voices, the lyrics, the beat coming in half way through. I’m very inspired by Hildegaard, their music is restrained but super impactful. Enchanting.

2. John Carroll Kilby – ‘Walking Through A House Where A Family Has Lived’
I’ve been really into piano music lately and John Carrol Kilby is a beautiful contemporary pianist. I find this record to be very emotional. I don’t know how to play piano really at all, but I aspire to make a piano record and I listen to this all the time for inspiration. It makes me think of… wind? Wind moving leaves. Looking out a window peeling an orange.

3. FPA – ‘Baby’
I listened to this song for the first time walking down the street in the morning in Chinatown in NYC. My friend Andrew sent me the record because he worked on it some. I think it’s so incredible. I love this song. “My body pure, have I not paid it forward? My heart, she beats, did I not lay her on you?” The record is a story she wrote about Princess Wiko. I really want to collaborate with her.

4. Alabaster DePlume – ‘Whisky Story Time’
Wonderful saxophone player, very reminiscent of Mulatu Astatke. Introduced to me by my partner via the label he is a part of – International Anthem, which I highly recommend, everything they release is special. I love this style of saxophone playing, very loose, fluid? Sam Gendel is another sax player I love. Lately I’ve been mostly drawn to instrumental music, maybe because I’ve been stressed… Sometimes it’s just too much to hear other people’s words all the time. Anyway I love this record and Gus is also British, like me…

5. Dua Saleh, Amaarae – ‘fitt’
Two artists I love collaborating. Amaarae was introduced to me by my bandmate Yasmine who is a longtime super fan of her. I listened on our flight together to California. I love the panning on the distorted blown out beat. I love dancing to this song. It just moves around in a really satisfying way. I also love a pitched down vocal. Produced by Dua and Psymum.

Thanks to LALA LALA for sharing her favourite songs with us.
Watch her video for ‘DIVER’ below.

LALA LALA UK Tour Dates 2022
Feb 20 – The Green Door Store – Brighton, United Kingdom
Feb 21 – Moth Club – London, United Kingdom
Feb 23 – Hyde Park Book Club – Leeds, United Kingdom
Feb 24 – Nice N Sleazy – Glasgow, United Kingdom
Feb 25 – YES – Manchester, United Kingdom
Feb 26 – Strange Brew – Bristol, United Kingdom

Follow LALA LALA on bandcamp, Spotify, Twitter, Instagram & Facebook

Photo Credit: Miwah Lee

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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Track Of The Day: Sea Change – ‘Never Felt’

An intoxicating blur of soft vocals, lush beats and ambient electronics, Norwegian artist & producer Sea Change has shared her latest single ‘Never Felt’. Taken from her upcoming album Mutual Dreaming, which is set for release on 11th February via Shapes Recordings, the track is a heady extension of an improvisation the musician originally created whilst performing live.

“This was the very first song I wrote for the album,” Sea Change aka Ellen A. W. Sunde explains. “It started as an improvised live version first performed at the Oslo release show, but it was in Luft Studio last fall that it really came to life and became what it is now. This slow-paced, feverish track.” This natural evolution and attention to the detail of the moment is mirrored in many tracks on Sea Change’s upcoming record.

Equally as inspired by the club music of LA and Berlin as she is by her current quieter surroundings in the southern coastal town of Kristiansand in Norway, Sea Change’s sounds ebb and flow with a tranquil, yet deeply primal desire to move through an intensity of feeling that sometimes escapes verbal or written articulation. Previous single ‘Night Eyes’ explored the need to separate the body from the mind, but on ‘Never Felt’ the two feel connected, and the result is an altruistic, captivating soundscape.

Listen to ‘Never Felt’ below.

Follow Sea Change on bandcamp, Spotify, Twitter, Instagram & Facebook

Photo Credit: Victoria Nevland

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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LISTEN: Blue Loop – ‘Kodama / Pan’

Inspired by the conflicting states of mind she experienced during 2020’s winter lockdown, London-based producer Blue Loop has shared two new singles, ‘Kodama’ and ‘Pan’. Following on from her debut single ‘Before It Begins‘, the double A-side marks a progression in Blue Loop’s sound, venturing into new sonic territory but retaining her polished and considered approach. Both tracks were mixed by Omni Collective’s Joy Stacey and mastered by Stephen Kerrison at Tall Trees Audio Mastering.

Named after the forest spirits of the Studio Ghibli film Princess Mononoke, ‘Kodama’ is a soothing, graceful composition. The track fuses electronic and orchestral elements together – including clarinet improvisations by Rose Ford – to provide a tranquil tonic for tired minds. Second track ‘Pan’ is designed to awaken and distract, with its Jungle/Drum & Bass inspired beats and choppy, techno synths. Opening with samples of street drummers and cathedral bells which Blue Loop collected in France and Portugal in autumn 2020, the track’s pulsing, driving rhythm is complimented by her use of intermittent atmospheric synth patterns.

Together, ‘Kodama’ and ‘Pan’ represent the duality of experience. Blue Loop explores the space in between “light and dark, motion and stillness, tension and release” through these new soundscapes, and she does so with effortless flair.

Listen to ‘Kodama’ and ‘Pan’ below.

 

Follow Blue Loop on bandcamp, Spotify, Twitter, Facebook & Instagram

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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