Weekly Music Roundup: A One Man British Invasion

Week of May 30: This week, a musical preview of a major Martin Creed exhibit, Mumford & Sons go to South Africa and back, and a Norwegian "female vampire."

A One-Man British Invasion

The Turner Prize-winning artist Martin Creed is about to have a major New York moment. The Park Avenue Armory is devoting its many spaces, including the vast, dramatic drill hall, to the largest installation of Creed’s art yet to occur in the US. It runs from June 8 to August 7. Creed’s art is not bound by genre or medium – he uses paint, sculpture, film, dance, and music. Last week Creed issued a music video for his new song “Understanding,” which will be on the artist’s next album, Thoughts Lined Up (due in July). His music, like the rest of his art, has a slightly loopy, witty quality, built around a reduction of things (ideas, materials, words, musical notes) to their most elemental level. “Understanding” is also directly tied to Martin Creed’s current NYC piece, a neon-light sculpture of the word Understanding which is currently installed in Brooklyn. It’s 25-feet tall; it rotates; you can stand under it. (Get it? You can stand under understanding?) Creed admits his initial idea was to create a trilogy of “Peace,” Love,” and “Understanding,” but he had to face the harsh reality that the world was only ready for one of those big ideas – or maybe it was just that three pieces were too expensive – and ended up choosing “Understanding” as the subject of the sculpture and its attendant song and video.

Martin Creed and his band will be playing his music as part of the Park Avenue Armory exhibition from June 8 to June 11.

Mumford & Sons Offer Souvenirs From Their African Adventure

Hugely popular folk-rockers Mumford & Sons enjoyed their trip to South Africa earlier this year so much that they are bringing a bit of South Africa to New York. The band is about to release a new EP done in Johannesburg with legendary Senegalese singer Baaba Maal and musicians from South Africa and Malawi; they’re also presenting a free pop-up exhibition in Okayafrica’s Okay Space on North 7 Street in Brooklyn. While full details haven’t been released yet, the band is promising their own photos of the trip, a South African wine tasting, live music by Cape Town guitar band Beatenberg (who played with Mumford & Sons in South Africa), and a curated series of South African films. The exhibition will run from June 14 to June 19, encompassing the band’s two sold-out shows at Forest Hills Stadium in Queens. Guest performers at Forest Hills will include Beatenberg and Baaba Maal, who are also on the new EP, called Johannesburg. Baaba Maal is one of the great voices in the world music arena. But don’t take my word for it; watch him performing with Mumford & Sons in Pretoria in this video, which also includes the fun UK/Malawi duo The Very Best. The song, “There Will Be Time,” is the leadoff track from Johannesburg, which comes out on June 17.

Jenny Hval’s Nordic-Goth-Vampire Tale

Norwegian singer, keyboardist, and provocateur Jenny Hval will release her next album, Blood Bitch, on September 30, and the first single, “Female Vampire,” is out now. Hval’s previous albums have made for compelling but uncomfortable listening, as she’s explored gender politics and sexuality in often graphic songs that blur the line between art, pop, and porn. Sonically, she uses ambient washes of electronics, disquieting bursts of noise, and layers of her own ethereal voice to good effect. The forthcoming album will, according to Hval’s own press release, follow the intertwined tales of a time-traveling, shapeshifting vampire and a 35-year old Norwegian singer, keyboardist, and provocateur. “Female Vampire” is propelled by a throbbing electronic rhythm, and Hval’s voice floats over waves of keyboards that might recall the goth/drone/metal scene she initially came from.

Electronic Duo Plaid’s Eerie New Video

The British duo known as Plaid makes a kind of cinematic electronic music, often echoing dance music without actually becoming dance music itself. Their new album The Digging Remedy comes out on June 10, but the track “Do Matter” and its video have just been released. It is built on a keyboard pattern that will remind Philip Glass fans of his Powaqqatsi film score. Accumulating layers of sound add a sense of suspense, and the video, featuring an unidentifiable flying object over the Arizona wilderness, plays off that quite nicely.