Jan 18th, 2023
Some recent reading and listening recommendations + an archival interview with Seth Frightening
Selected Works is a (usually) weekly newsletter by the Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Aotearoa (Wellington, New Zealand) based freelance music journalist, broadcaster, copywriter and sometimes DJ Martyn Pepperell, aka Yours Truly. Generally speaking, Selected Works consists of a recap of what I’ve been doing lately and some of what I’ve been listening to and reading, paired with film photographs I’ve taken + some bonuses. All of that said, sometimes it takes completely different forms.
WHAT I’VE BEEN DOING:
Not much. Nothing to report on. Sleeping in is nice, and so is going to the beach.
Oh wait, I’ve got one thing for you. I’m hosting the Late Late Breakfast Show on Radio Active 88.6 FM in Wellington this weekend. I’ll be on from 1-4 PM New Zealand time on Saturday, the 21st of January, 2023. You can stream the station online here.
Apart from that, I’m thinking about running more interviews through this newsletter this year. Watch this space.
WHAT I’VE BEEN READING:
The Story of Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar in 9 Albums: If you love guitar music and you don’t know slack key, you’re missing out. Shy Thompson for Pitchfork.
The Samplers and Breakbeats Behind '90s Jungle/Drum & Bass: The story of how jungle/drum and bass was born, cultivated, and evolved in the UK—and the racial and class dynamics behind the genre's name—is impossibly rich and complex. Rather than a straight linear sequence of events, the genre's evolution has played out as the result of an interconnected web of social forces and technical innovations that have propelled the music forward. John Morrison for Reverb.
Kali Malone Finds Freedom In Restriction On “Does Spring Hide Its Joy”: “You give all of your trust to the music and let it guide your attention rather than anticipate what’s around every corner,” says composer Kali Malone. Malone creates drone meditations that gradually unfold through layered tones. Her latest project Does Spring Hide Its Joy presents three different versions of the finished piece, each of which blossoms from the same score. Vanessa Ague for Bandcamp Daily.
Yukihiro Takahashi, Neuromantic: Reissued on vinyl for the first time in four decades, the Yellow Magic Orchestra drummer and vocalist’s 1981 solo album isolates his infectious hooks, powerful rhythms, and modern pop sensibility. This is a couple of years old, but in light of Takahashi-san’s very sad recent passing, I had to revisit Shy Thompson’s review of one of his great albums for Pitchfork.
A History of Guaracha in Ten Tracks: Get familiar with the Latin American genre that evolved from its folkloric roots, through radio waves and record shops, to become an international dance sensation. Felipe Maia for Resident Advisor.
Inside The Mind Of Mogwaa, Surfing Genres With The Fast-Rising Korean Creator: When a young Seungyoung Lee first witnessed the commercially-led soundscapes and glittering videos piped into his home via MTV, he had little or no idea of the musical pathway that awaited him. Lee, better known by his Mogwaa production alias, has been turning out stylistically varied and proudly individual music since 2017, with a steady stream of releases arriving via some of the dance underground's most collectable boutique labels. Patrizio Cavaliere for Mixmag Asia.
WHAT I’VE BEEN LISTENING TO:
The Efficient Space x Ghost Riders Cinematic universe continues to expand with the release of this lovely little 7” / digital EP. As the story goes St. Simons Island, Georgia teenager Tresa Leigh snagged an audition with Philly funk and soul imprint Lyndell Records and won them over with folk songs about the heartbreak she hadn’t even experienced yet. That said, it wasn’t smooth sailing from there on in. Decades later, this reissue/release collects four of her evocative recordings. When People talked about the Ghost Riders compilation last year, there were a lot of allusions to David Lynch and that whole Twin Peaks vibe. In terms of actually hitting that weird zone, these songs smash it out of the ballpark. They’re a real vibe.
Ayesha is a brilliant Brooklyn, New York-based DJ and producer who maps out a very percussive and tactile vision for techno, breaks, and bass through the lens of the diaspora. Honed over a decade of considered practice and development, her sonic universe connects underground club music scenes across the globe through movement and dance. 2021’s Potential Energy EP takes the claustrophobia and pent-up pandemic vibes of 2020 and transforms them into a vividly hyper-detailed series of reclamations of the collective magic of the dancefloor. These tracks are intricate, carefully-crafted and most importantly, made with love. DJs! If you haven’t already, get some on your USBs.
When you know a bit about the Naarm/Melbourne DJ and producer scene, the idea of an Australian musician making an EP of lush instrumental UK street soul tracks is profoundly unsurprising and very much expected. Some of you might be reading this expecting a neg or kick after that, but you know what, I’ve got nothing for you. With the Hydrosphere EP, Ryan Hunter aka Midnight Tenderness makes a few things very clear. 1: He’s done his UK Street Soul listening. 2: He’s put the time in to really learn how to make this sort of music. 3: Homage is good and all, but you still have to bring your own musical voice to the table. This wasn’t a lovely surprise, but it also was a lovely surprise. It’s complicated.
For those unfamiliar, Paul Bowles was an acclaimed American composer, author, and translator who spent well over half of his 88 years on Earth living in the Moroccan city of Tangier. I was first exposed to Paul through his well-loved novels The Sheltering Sky and Let It Come Down, both of which made me want to visit the Sahara like nothing else. Between 1994 and 1995, Paul spent some time recording an ambient spoken-word album with the eccentric New York bassist and record producer Bill Laswell. Baptism of Solitude is just one of those albums that sneaks up on you. It’s subtle, but I can listen to it over and over again.
Fancy a spot of 90's R&B, Gospel and G-Funk retooled for the late 2010s? Florida-raised Singer, songwriter, and composer Devin Morrison calls himself “The King of Dreamsoul”, and after listening to his 2019 album Bussin’, you won’t catch me disagreeing. This guy is just so smooth. Some Take 6 & Commissioned here, a bit of Daz Dillinger there. It’s just that good.
THROWBACK FILES: SETH FRIGHTENING
In 2010, I wrote a regular new music column for the now-defunct New Zealand music magazine Rip It Up. Titled “Who’s Next”, it was generally a collection of 4-8 featurette profiles of emerging New Zealand musicians. For a while, the column was even sponsored by the Footlocker shoestore chain. That year, a profiled an exciting experimental folk musician known as Seth Frightening. Thirteen years on, I’ve realised his early works have become a seminal influence on a new generation of New Zealand musicians. With all of that said, here’s my 2010 interview with Seth.
A born and bred Wellingtonian, Sean Kelly grew up in swampy Miramar, surrounded by his father’s psychedelic record collection, which, as he notes, “[Didn’t include] much Neil Young, which I was kind of disappointed in.” Even without the godfather of grunge’s records to marinate in, Kelly had ample opportunity to enjoy the sonic thrills of Pink Floyd, David Bowie, Television and the like. Having been the kind of guy who, as he recalls, “probably would have loved to be in bands,” Kelly’s father left a battered old Yamaha guitar lying around the house. It was on this guitar, which he still owns, that at age fourteen, while attending Wellington College, Kelly discovered he could play the guitar; and, even more surprisingly – sing.
Forced into the vocalist role in a high school band, by fifth form, Kelly was recording his own lo-fi laptop folk at home via a budget piece of software called Audacity. Concurrent with this, he discovered his musical alias, Seth Frightening. “It was pretty much a clown mask really; a silly name for all my intense music,” he giggles. Equipped with falsetto vocal capabilities and a dynamic understanding of guitar that allows him to move effortlessly between ambient bliss and distorted noise, as Seth Frightening, Kelly constructs weightless pieces that take the New Weird Americana of the likes of Mount Eerie and thrash it into a place even stranger, and best seen on his lauded debut album The Prince & His Madness.
Still based in Wellington and now in his early twenties, Kelly works as a cleaner at the hospital in the evenings, returning home in the early hours of the morning to write and record music under moonlight skies. A key member of Trans-Tasman musical collective Sonorous Circle, he will soon be making his first forays into the Australian market. Describing himself as “shy, reserved…and a bit nervous,” interacting with the music industry isn’t the easiest thing for Kelly. However, as long as he keeps making some of the best weird emotive folk music to come out of Wellington in years, there is no hurdle his art won’t overcome.
ONE LAST THING.
Before I go, I just want to recommend one more album.
Immersive, glossy and environmental. Like slipping into clear, calm and most importantly warm ocean waters. Sunlight sparkles on the surface and the depths below team with life. It's a whole ecosystem in a set of songs. I say all that to say this, Nurture by marine eyes + IKSRE is a lovely ambient work.