Leor Galil, Reader music critic
Mamaleek’s Kurdaitcha: Here’s something I never expected to hear from a pair of San Francisco bedroom musicians: a moving, visceral concoction of black metal, jazz, shoegaze, hip-hop, experimental, and world music rolled into one intense record. The sheer power and beauty of songs like “The White Marble Stone” continue to knock me out weeks after discovering the pay-what-you-want album.
Lil P-Nut’s YouTube videos: Memphis MC Lil P-Nut spits like a pro at the tender age of seven. His main Web presence is on YouTube in the form of live performances, official music spots, and TV interviews, all of which showcase his magnetic hip-hop persona.
Summer Camp’s last show, May 14: Four local punk acts and more than 100 kids packed a tiny space called Summer Camp for the venue’s last hurrah. The unruly weather couldn’t stop DIY heavyweights Raw Nerve and Cloud Mouth from tearing it up.
Why does the founder of CHIRP Radio think Soothing Sounds for Baby is a masterpiece?
Shawn Campbell, CHIRP Radio founder and president
Whosampled.com: Thanks to this site I no longer have to be plagued by questions like “What is that second sample in Kool Moe Dee’s ‘I Go to Work’?” And having the original track alongside the cuts that sampled it has led me down the Web rabbit hole many a time.
Raymond Scott’s Soothing Sounds for Baby series: Scott did more than make Bugs Bunny classy; he also pioneered experimental electronic music in the form of three odd, hypnotic records intended to put your kids to sleep. If these had come out 15 years earlier, you’d wonder if Brian Eno’s parents had taken advantage of them.
Ringo Deathstarr’s “So High”: This shoegaze-y track could’ve been birthed in the sunny alternative summer of 1992; at an economical 2:17 run time and with fuzzy, jangling guitars and boy-girl vocals, it’s a little slice of pure pop perfection for any era. I play it on repeat and know that warmer weather is coming.
See what makes the man behind Zapruder Point feels like he’s underwater…
Dan Phillips, Zapruder Point
Julianna Barwick’s “Envelop”: This is the first song on her current album, and I can’t seem to get past it; I hear it fading out, and I automatically hit the back button. A two-note “oh-ah” floats through the whole thing, backed by a gauzy but steady buildup of additional voices, strings, and piano. Crazy ethereal. It makes me feel like I’m underwater, even when I’m just walking the dog.
Arthur Russell’s World of Echo: This is like a gorgeous, haunting painting that’s been ripped apart and pieced back together again. The rough edges and Scotch tape only make things more lifelike.
Bill Fox’s Transit Byzantium and Shelter From the Smoke: These have been in heavy rotation ever since I got to play with Mr. Fox about a year ago. Fully formed, instant-classic folk tunes, almost shocking in their complete purity. Dylanesque, but to my ears the voice and melodies are far easier to love, all recorded in heartbreaking four-track.
Zapruder Point plays at Transistor on Fri 5/27.