Top of The Drop November 2021

By Daniel J. Springer

This is the latest installment of the most recent column added 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.

Adele – “Easy On Me”
And the world’s females screamed “Finally!” in unison, and all was well. Adele dropped this in the middle of October, her first single to come out in nearly six years. On top of that, this massive single announced her next LP called simply 30, which is due out November 12. This single is really so subtle and artful; one could easily slip up and not hear any of the deft percussion and other instrumental touches in the arrangement. The LP is not lacking on deep meaning either, as the singer explained, it is her way of explaining divorce to her young son. Just over a decade on, and Adele seems ready to take it to the next level.

Michael Kiwanuka – “Beautiful Life”
The Mercury Prize winner for 2020 is back in a big way with this single. Filmmaker Orlando von Einseidel released Convergence: Courage in a Crisis via Netflix on October 19, and this emotive new tune was put out the previous weekend as part of a seven-minute single, which is the title tune to the film. While anyone who listened to 2019’s Kiwanuka knows that the man has no problems at any speed, this tune has a sleight of hand that finds the artist digging deeper for meaning in a world that lacks righteous courage.

BadBadNotGood (feat. Arthur Verocai) – “Love Proceeding”
Another band that has not been heard from in a while in a full-length format is the Toronto-based BadBadNotGood. Their last album IV, seems to have taken a bit of the creative juice for the studio out of the band, as they openly admitted they needed time for some headspace to get back. Now that they are back, the results are very strong, and while Talk Memory does not have the collaborative features that the previous chapter does, the cinematic trademarks are still there and very strong.

Robert Glasper (feat. D Smoke & Tiffany Gouche) – “Shine”
One of the best singles to come out in October is also hailed as the latest chapter in the Black Radio album series from the Houston virtuoso. While we already heard a beautiful single way back in summer 2020 with Meshell Ndegeocello and H.E.R. in “Better Than I Imagined,” this one is of a more generalized hope for humanity in the lyrics and content. Black Radio 3 drops next year in 2022 via Loma Vista.

Dragonfruit – “Exhale”
Another debut album that really had some people turning heads this past month was Dragonfruit’s Gears of the Giant Machine. The Dutch quartet out of Rotterdam were “born out of a love for sample hip hop and neo-soul,” and it shows both in the texture and general positivity of the finished product. Keep an eye on this crew for the future.

Magdalena Bay – “Hysterical Us”
The band here is the duo of Mica Tenenbaum and Matthew Lewin, who have been both making music together since high school and releasing a steady stream of singles and EPs since 2017. Well, the flight to infinity is finally here with their debut album called Mercurial World. A collection of synth pop and dance cuts that are both otherworldly and disarmingly familiar, this is an album to throw on and give a full listen immediately.

Darius (feat. Benny Sings) – “Rise”
For almost a decade now, the artist calling himself Darius has been doing an amazing balancing act stylistically between the filtered house music that inspired him coming up and the dreamy beats that he finds intriguing now. A good example of this endeavor is his latest tune “Rise,” done with LA-based Dutchman Benny Sings, which has a spacey, downtempo simplicity to it but only reveals its complexity with close, determined listening.

Serpentwithfeet – “Down Nuh River”
After the debut success of Serpentwithfeet’s Deacon in March of this year, it seemed that the only thing to do was for the artist to put out a companion EP of items left on the cutting room floor that can give the artist a look into their creative process for what is a solid album. Deacon’s Groove drops on November 5.

Pond – “Take Me Avalon I’m Young”
The veteran band out of Perth, Australia, are back with their ninth studio album as of October 1, and while 9 is a generally solid rock album, this particular single takes the listener for a ride with a multilayered, highly soulful instrumental that is not only powerful but highly emotional. The song is just one of those that you throw on and it seems to still be in the air long after playing.

LOCAL SPOTLIGHT

Runrummer – “Cosmic Love”
Livi Morris, our favorite Brummie now based in London, made her second appearance on The Drop with Danno this past month on the same day she released her Outer Space EP and shared some of her favorite tracks. Born out of an impromptu synth session that morphed into five tracks, this is an interesting and diverse bit of music that spans from 1980s-inspired dance music to gravity-defying dream pop and back. Another lovely young artist to keep an eye on, especially with an album already in the works.

Kamen Ross – “Wildest Dreams”
It may seem like the Jeju-based soloist and member of Banana Moon is in this column every month, and that has been literally true for the last couple of issues, but the quality just keeps coming from Kamen Ross. This is far different from the piano solos of the previously released I Dreamt We Fell in Love, with the artist here opting for a floating, elegant, and airy bit of dream pop that has a feel of brooding and darkness lying just below the surface.

OCTOBER RELEASES

Hovvdy – True Love (October 1)
Pond – 9 (October 1)
Lala Lala – I Want the Door to Open (October 8)
Finneas – Optimist (October 15)
Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes – Sticky (October 15)
Bedouine – Waysides (October 15)
Parquet Courts – Sympathy for Life (October 22)
Duran Duran – Future Past (October 22)
Hand Habits – Fun House (October 22)
Helado Negro – Far In (October 22)
Lana Del Rey – Blue Bannisters (October 22)
My Morning Jacket – S/T (October 22)
The War on Drugs – I Don’t Live Here Anymore (October 29)

WATCH OUT FOR THESE

Curtis Harding – If Words Were Flowers (November 5)
Joan as Police Woman – The Solution Is Restless (November 5)
Hana Vu – Public Storage (November 5)
Neal Francis – In Plain Sight (November 5)
Courtney Barnett – Things Take Time, Take Time (November 12)
Damon Albarn – The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows (November 12)
IDLES – Crawler (November 12)
Pip Blom – Welcome Break (November 12)
Adele – 30 (November 19)
Sting – The Bridge (November 19)

Photo by Amr Taha™ on Unsplash

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.
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter @gfnthedrop
Show RSS Feed: https://feeds.transistor.fm/the-drop-with-danno