Top of The Drop
By Daniel J. Springer
This is the latest installment of the most recent column addition to the Gwangju News: “Top of The Drop,” by Daniel Springer of the Gwangju Foreign Language Network (GFN). Each month, “Danno” picks his favorite newly released tunes that you may have missed, along with some upcoming albums and EPs that you might want to keep on your radar. — Ed.
SAULT – “Lion”
The semi-mysterious and still unconfirmed funk and soul juggernaut has pretty much blown everyone’s minds the past few years with both the quantity and quality of output, averaging two or three albums per annum. Well, that was then, and we now live in a different era, with the group featuring (only allegedly) Cleo Sol and Michael Kiwanuka dropping FIVE stellar LPs (yes, as in 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) available free of charge for only five days at the end of October, but you can still catch the albums via their Bandcamp. While it feels like the ensemble mystérieux need (or maybe even want) to come out of the ever-receding shadows for their big reveal, we’ll still have to wait on that, but at least there’s an incredible amount of fascinating music to keep us company in the meantime.
Ghost Funk Orchestra – “Your Man’s No Good”
The morphing and ever-expanding project of Seth Applebaum, started years ago as a solo bedroom project, has just released their latest studio album A New Kind of Love. While their last two albums have been absolutely superlative, the evolution of sound to this release culminated in an audioscape that is so cinematic and crystal clear that you imagine even David Axelrod marveling in tears at how Applebaum wound this album’s arrangements up as tightly as he did while maintaining the fun, daring, and fluid dark spirit it exhibits.
Weyes Blood – “It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody”
Another candidate for album of the year, And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow is the fifth album from the solo project of Natalie Mering, whose output just seems to get more and more poetic, elegant, and heartbreaking with each new record. The music washes by like a series of secular hymns passing under a bridge, somehow cleansing the listener in the process without touching the flow underfoot.
Honey Dijon – “La Femme Fantastique”
For those that like to get down, one of our Sweet Home queer favorites just returned with their second career LP Black Girl Magic. While it’s no surprise given Dijon’s Chicago roots that this LP is awash in cutting-edge yet old-school house music vibery, the record is nonetheless a statement of powerful love and freedom that still burns amongst the LGBTQ+ community and people of color therein. Also, do yourself a favor and check out Miss Honey Dijon’s DJ sets, they are bumpin’!
Sharon Van Etten – “When I Die”
Earlier this year, Sharon Van Etten dropped her sixth studio album We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong via Jagjaguwar. November 11 saw the deluxe version of the album drop, with this as another brooding departure from Van Etten’s previous albums, and one that ostensibly was left on the cutting room floor for initial release of the record. Whatever the mood, Van Etten remains one of the most captivating singer-songwriters out there, and this is just another brilliant testament to that fact.
Katie Ferrara – “Wolf Cry”
November 1 saw the latest single from the LA-based Ferrara, whose very clean and sunny sound is sure to start garnering attention from bigger places in the business. With a finalist spot at the recent Gwangju Buskers World Cup secured, it seems that process has already begun over on this side of the ocean, and this tune should be part of a larger project coming next year.
Connie Constance – “Kamikaze”
This joint drops like a concussion on the artist’s sophomore LP Miss Power, which honestly could have been a gigantic mess given the breadth and scope of the twists and turns it takes stylistically. However, with the deft touch the London-based artist had in the arrangement and ordering, it instead turns into one of the most thrilling albums of this year, with this punk-based fuel-injector being a prime, acute-angle turn in the endorphin release.
Caroline Rose – “Love/Lover/Friend”
It’s hard not to feel for Caroline Rose, as the artist back in 2020 released a righteous stomper of an album called Superstar that was set up perfectly to light the globe with its pulsating dance-friendly tunes, cheeky sarcasm, and endless fun. Right after appearing on Late Night with Seth Meyers, however, the Covid-19 thing that ruined everything kicked in everywhere, and that was that. On this single, the tension and release are just excruciating at times, reflecting the growth process that’s happened for Rose (and honestly for all of us) in the past three years’ time.
Miss Grit – “Follow The Cyborg”
This is the solo project of NYC-based Korean-American Margaret Sohn and the title track to the artist’s upcoming debut album, due out in late February. If you slept on the Impostor EP, released early in 2021, do check it out, as it’s one of the fiercest little records of the year. Think Stereolab’s Laetetia Sadier leading a group with a bit more of a hard rock leading edge, and the electronic and synth elements more incidental to the sound but still a key component.
ABOUT & Hemo (feat. HWI YOUNG) – “Burn”
For our local spotlight, we head up to Seoul and get into a new album called Omnibus, which dropped independently on October 23. About and Hemo have been doing their thing on the production duo collab tip since about 2018, but the dynamics have only really swung fully into motion since 2020. This tune features SF9 vocalist Hwi Young, and the rest of the album is spiced with several other names you’ll need to know moving forward if looking to familiarize with Korean indie.
November Releases
- Cavetown – Worm Food (Nov 4)
- Connie Constance – Miss Power (Nov 4
- First Aid Kit – Palomino (Nov 4)
- Phoenix – Alpha Zulu (Nov 4)
- Christian Leave – Superstar (Nov 11)
- Hyd – Clearing (Nov 11)
- Run the Jewels – RTJ CU4TRO (Nov 11)
- WizKid – More Love, Less Ego (Nov 11)
- Weyes Blood – And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow (Nov 18)
- Cautious Clay – Thin Ice on the Cake (Nov 18)
- Stormzy – This Is What I Mean (Nov 25)
December Upcoming (Watch Out!)
- Half Alive – Conditions of a Punk (Dec 4)
- Brakence – Hypochondriac (Dec 4)
- A Boogie wit da Hoodie – Me vs. Myself (Dec 11)
- Ab-soul – Herbert (Dec 16)
- Weezer – SZNS: Winter (Dec 21)
The Author
Daniel J. Springer (aka “Danno”) is the creator, host, writer, editor, and producer of “The Drop with Danno,” broadcasting nightly on GFN 98.7 FM in Gwangju and 93.7 FM in Yeosu from 8–10 p.m. Prior to this, he was a contributor to several shows on TBS eFM in Seoul, along with being the creator and co-host of “Spacious” and “White Label Radio” on WNUR in Chicago. You can find “The Damyang Drop,” his monthly collaborative playlist with The Damyang House, on YouTube and Spotify.
Instagram, Twitter, Facebook: @gfnthedrop
Show RSS Feed: https://feeds.transistor.fm/the-drop-with-danno
Featured image: Alphacolor on Unsplash