Weekly Music Roundup: New Music From the Purple One, Meg Baird's Stately Voice, and the Revenant

Rescue your Tuesdays with our weekly roundup of music news, videos, and songs that just might help you get through the rest of the week. This week, a Prince-ly surprise, an audio peek at The Revenant, and Adele’s NY residency.

Prince Offers A Weekend Surprise

Earlier this year, Prince released an album. It was called Hit N Run Phase One. Did you miss it?  So did most people: it got pretty dreadful reviews, and in terms of sales numbers, well, let’s just say it did not cast the world in a Purple Glow. The title promised a second phase, and on Saturday the other shoe dropped, without any preamble – and apparently without any of Phase One’s unpleasantness stuck to its sole. Hit N Run Phase Two, it must be said, is a kind of Odds and Sods collection; some of these songs were released separately and others have been kicking around for many years in demo or live performance versions. But it is a refreshing return to form – full of soulful funk with a big honkin’ brass band; slow jams that offer glimpses of naughtiness without getting as raunchy as the younger Prince; and ballads featuring his falsetto croon. You can hear excerpts on the online streaming service Tidal; Tidal subscribers can hear (and of course buy) the whole thing.

That English Singer That Everyone Loves – What’s Her Name Again? – Is Coming Back To NY

Yesterday, the announcement swept through the universe: human beings would have a chance to see a member of their species, Adele by name, in a live performance setting.  Several major landmasses on the planet Earth will be swept clean of the doubting and the ignorant as this Adele makes her way to Madison Square Garden in New York for a run of six shows in one week. Dates are: September 19, 20, 22, 23, 25 and 26. The announcement promised that tickets would go on sale this Thursday. Possibly for as long as three minutes.  Here’s a link – good luck!

First Look At The Revenant – Well, Its Music At Least

We haven’t even seen The Revenant yet and already it’s up for a bunch of Golden Globe Awards, including one for its brooding soundtrack. Japanese composer/producer/pianist (and occasional actor) Ryuichi Sakamoto did most of the score with his longtime collaborator Alva Noto, the German electronic artist. Bryce Dessner of The National also contributes several pieces to the film. The dominant sounds of the forthcoming album are sweeping vistas of strings and electronics, often combined in a way that makes it difficult to determine just what you’re listening to. A number of eerie rhythmic passages occur, like the rustling that occurs about two minutes into this excerpt. I’m told “Killing Hawk” is from a key scene in the movie; it is certainly a good indication of what you can expect from the full album, due on Christmas Day. The film’s release date is January 8.

Ghostpoet’s New Video Evokes MC Escher

I am a big fan of the London songwriter Obaro Ejimiwe, who goes by the name Ghostpoet.  His vocal style is in some gray area between singing and rapping, and his lyrics are a distinctive blend of the reflective and the socially conscious. Two of his three albums, including this year’s Shedding Skin, have been shortlisted for Britain’s prestigious Mercury Prize, and now Ghostpoet has released a video for the song “Be Right Back, Moving House.”  It’s an elliptical, elusive tale built around the image of a never-ending staircase. It has just the right touch of MC Escher surrealism and claustrophobia to underscore, and perhaps undermine, the song’s slow-and-steady “one day at a time” progress. 

EDM Meets Classical Music in Anna Meredith’s New Song

Anna Meredith is an English clarinetist and composer whose music ranges from works for full symphony orchestra to pieces like “R-Type,” a kind of Electronic Dance Chamber Music.  Already a notable figure on the English music scene, she’ll be releasing her first full-length, Varmints, on March 4^th, but this piece is available now. The video shows her idiosyncratic use of not only her clarinet, but cello (a regular part of her band), French horn, and more conventional band instruments like electric guitar and percussion. Like These New Puritans, with whom she’s toured, Meredith has carved out a fascinating niche for herself in the music world – somewhere halfway between contemporary classical music and rock. 

Meg Baird Tries To Go Home Again

Psych-folk singer and songwriter Meg Baird first came to our attention as a member of the Philadelphia band Espers, but in recent years she’s focused on her solo work and moved to San Francisco. There, she released her album Don’t Weigh Down the Light earlier this year; but only now has she released a video for the album’s title track. Shot back in Philly, it is slow and pensive look at the weight of memory and nostalgia… and perhaps a subtle statement about urban neglect and those small, human touches that bind a neighborhood together. By the end, shots of simple signs on the street acquire a surprising poignance and power, aided by the emotional heft that has always anchored Baird’s songs.