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Jonah Yano performs a Take Away Show for Blogoteque with 'song about the family house' from his latest album portrait of a dog.
The wooden stairs of a house, a friendly dog and an intimate song. Canadian artist Jonah Yano - famous for his jazz-inflected soul-pop - delivers a sweet rendition of 'song about the family house'. This track is a tribute to a place which he holds close to his heart. A house everyone in his immediate family has lived in at one point or another that's about to get torn down. "And how do I keep / The living room intact / Exactly as it was / If I have to commit it and rebuild it in my memory." Lonesome guitar lines and weary vocal melodies sublimate this affecting song we captured just for you.
Accompanied by his bandmates from BADBADNOTGOOD, Leland Whitty performs "Glass Moon" live on Blogoteque. "Glass Moon" is from his recently released debut solo album, Anyhow.
London's own multidisciplinary artist Rarelyalways shares "URGENT," the second single from his forthcoming debut solo album WORK due March 10th via Innovative Leisure. Laced with haunting, swirling synths and brass, "URGENT" arrives with surreal visuals directed and edited by MadeInEden. Self-described as a "shapeshifter," Rarelyalways continues to reveal new sides of his persona with "URGENT," which follows his playful lead single "LET'S" and the jazzy b-side "Voice note 0142," both of which arrived with videos directed by MadeInEden.
Speaking about "URGENT," Rarelyalways says, "I avoid gold plating simple tasks as it's a waste of precious time."
WORK will follow Rarelyalways' collaborative Manic EP with Hanni El Khatib, featuring the stand out single "Lamenting" as well as his 2020 EP Baby Buffalo. His debut EP was described by The FADER as, “a concise exhibition of his minimalist swagger," with Pitchfork adding, "though Rarelyalways comes out of the London jazz scene, his music has its own distinct flavor."
Rarelyalways learned from a young age that music had functions beyond entertainment. Born in London to a West African family, he was raised by his single father, a drummer who played mainly gospel tunes during hours-long services and would bring Rarely along for afternoons in practice spaces where the young musician learned the power of playing for playing's sake. Rarelyalways went on to attend The BRIT School and eventually entered the South London gig circuit where he would play trip hop and heavy rock in the orbit of artists like King Krule, Henry Wu and the Tomorrow's Warriors jazz collective. With his music often taking on a dark, mysterious tone, Rarely is able to roam freely outside the prescribed structures of hip hop, jazz or anything else, by creating a conversational abstract style that can mold according to a song's message.
Check out "URGENT" and pre-order/save WORK and stay tuned for more from Rarelyalways coming soon.
On his sophomore album, Jonah Yano shares the single co-produced by BADBADNOTGOOD. The track, "the ordinary is ordinary because it ordinarily repeats" opens with fleet-footed base notes into a cresendo of jazz prowess from Jonah and the BADBADNOTGOOD crew, with space for each instrument to shine.
Portrait of a Dog includes the previously-released singles "song about the family house," "Leslianne," "always," "the speed of sound!," and "portrait of a dog," which is at the confluence of his love of folk and jazz music. The album is a family affair in every sense, meticulously pieced together by Jonah and frequent collaborators BADBADNOTGOOD, while also deeply rooted and written from Jonah's personal experiences as he rediscovers his Japanese heritage and the importance of archiving family memories.
Beyond the co-production of BADBADNOTGOOD, Portrait of a Dog features additional guest work from Slauson Malone, Sea Oleena, with string arrangements by Eliza Niemi, Leland Whitty, and Yano himself. Yano's forthcoming second album follows his stint supporting Clairo for the last leg of her North American tour and the entirety of her European tour dates, which wrapped up last November. He also closed the live run with a headline show of his own at Servant Jazz Quarters in London.
See Stereogum for more about it.
And NPR's New Music Friday for a featured album piece.
Vocalist and jazz trained pianist Maria Chiara Argirò broke onto the electronic scene last year with her breathtaking, jazz infused album Forest City which earned high acclaim from Pitchfork, BBC, The Fader and garnered comparisons to the likes of Thom Yorke and Kelly Lee Owens. On Forest City, Argirò liberated herself from the structures of jazz while exploring the “duality of nature and city”, where organic sounds and textures seem to flow above the urban sprawl.
Argirò releases a remix package of Forest City singles “Clouds”, “Greenarp” and “Blossom”. For “Clouds” Argirò taps Atlanta's electronic funk wizard Byron the Aquarius. Her ethereal vocal track is given the dancefloor treatment as Byron's influences of classic Chicago and Detroit House are showcased on this midtempo groover.
For “Greenarp”, Terracassette gives a beat driven broadcast with the cosmic purpose of unifying dancefloors. The remix is a futuristic transmission filtering UK dance music through a prism of dusty analogue sounds, scattering a sonic array of eyes-shut ecstasy over dark, reverent basslines.
And finally, Cali’s multi-instrumentalist producer Salami Rose Joe Louis (a signee to Flying Lotus’s independent label Brainfeeder) puts her spin on “Blossom”. Drawing influences from jazz, soul, hip-hop, pop, Shuggie Otis, Captain Beefheart, Stereolab, and R. Stevie Moore, Louis creates a blend of experimental dreamy sounds with jazz influenced vocals and keys. The final product is a blend of dreamy textures, ambient sounds, experimental beats and otherworldly jazz.
Forest City Remixes is available now across all digital platforms.