GFN Radio

Top of The Drop

Gwangju News

By Daniel J. Springer.

This is the third 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.

Czarface & MF Doom – “Mando Calirissian”
In only the second release and first full-length since the untimely death of Daniel “MF Doom” Dumile was announced on December 31 of last year (he’d passed exactly two months before, true to his supervillain style, on Halloween), Super What? just dropped on May 7 in collaboration with Czarface. The latter is a supergroup project formed in 2013 between Wu Tang’s Inspectah Deck and Brooklyn-based underground duo 7L & Esoteric. True to that ethic and the general penchant hip-hop artists have for albums full of collabs, Super What? features a bevy of old-school heavies on the LP, with features from Del The Funky Homosapien, DMC, and more up-and-coming artists like Kendra Morris and Godforbid. Not a mind-blowing album but a fun and quality listen.

St. Vincent – Daddy’s Home
For those of you looking for that album of the year, St. Vincent’s (true name: Annie Clark) sixth career studio LP is both a departure for the artist stylistically and surely one for those that love the power of the human voice. It’s a mellow, funky journey through some quite dark memories for the Bowiesque shapeshifting chameleon, and an album that surely reflects its own meticulous construction in illuminating ways. However, it’s the vocal arrangements and the power of Clark’s voice that stands out above all the other qualities, with wicked shrieks, howls, and very long carries that make this album a must high in the running for album of the year.

Porter Robinson – “Unfold” feat. Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs
Known mainly as a dance music producer since his debut seven years ago, the North Carolina-based producer and DJ’s previous work has been an interesting meld of ebullient escapism and cinematic pop, with the confidence of youth shining through. On his latest album Nurture, we see the artist taking a bit of a different track, at least thematically, exploring the difficulties of finding any kind of positive permanence, most notably tranquility and closure.

Yazmin Williams – “Sunshowers”
In a tremendous slept-on LP from late January that has gotten rave reviews from the likes of Pitchfork and a feature piece in The New York Times, the artist’s latest Urban Driftwood has been a delightful sneaky surprise in the first half of the year. This is the 24-year-old guitarist’s sophomore LP, and while 2018’s Unwind felt a bit like a technical skills showpiece, Urban Driftwood has much more of a progression and overall narrative than that, culminating in a blissful final piece that features for the only time a bit of rhythm from some koras and hand drums that punches the end to this fantastic album.

Paul McCartney – “Find My Way” (Beck remix)
The Beatles veteran, now 78, has been a very active presence in the last handful of years, and it seems he finally hit his stride last year with his latest LP III. Well, to show that the old man still knows who’s hot stuff on the modern scene, he released McCartney III Imagined, a remix compilation and showcase of some of the established vets and young artists he’s been enjoying. Remixes and covers from the aforementioned St. Vincent, along with Phoebe Bridgers, Anderson.Paak, Khruangbin, and Radiohead’s Ed O’Brien make for an album that’s not to be missed.

Lord Huron – “Long Lost”
The Los Angeles-based band that was originally the solo project of Michigan native Ben Schneider had long been hinting that their fourth LP was in the works, but fans were kind of left in the dark as to what exactly was going down. However, with the release of this languid, glorious bit of strings and desert soul, the band released this, the title track to their latest full-length. “Long Lost” dropped on May 21 via Whispering Pines/Republic Records.

Tony Allen – “Stumbling Down” feat. Sampa the Great
It’s hard to fully emphasize and describe the forward-thinking eminence of the man who created the afrobeat sound in the early 70s as the main percussion behind Fela Kuti’s Africa 70 band. Unfortunately, the great spirit called him back last year, but There Is No End defies even the almighty with 45 minutes of scintillating collabs.

Kowloon – “Hollywood Is Under Water”
In what might be the most on-the-nose of the deluge of post-Covid prognoses to be commercially released, this one muses on the not-so-hypothetical of what might happen when Hollywood reaches irrelevance with a dreamy, funky accompaniment that has become the singer’s trademark.

Brijs – “Stay Up, Stephanie”

This is the solo project of Hugo Alexander Brijs (pronounce “Bryce”) Goggin, who hails from Southeast England, and this brilliant cut appeared on his debut album Glitra, which deservedly garnered a lot of praise in the lead-up due to the outstanding nature of the three singles released previously, most notably “Mol y Sol” and the above.

LOCAL FOCUS

Sanchez. – “Don’t Go Wasting My Time (No More)”
In the latest single from Gwangju-based (supervilain) Oisin Magee, we finally get an irreverent video shot at Daein Market along with a look at the young maven of mystery for those of us that aren’t super local. Produced and arranged by Gwangju’s percussion master Dan Lloyd, the song itself is a perfect bit of sun-splashed rock for a summer drive or barbecue.

Lizz Kalo – “Shoot Me”
It could be interpreted as kind of weird to muse (even effusively) how lucky we are in Gwangju to have Johannesburg, South Africa, native Lizz Kalo gracing our scene, but it’s not off the mark. The artist, who made her solo debut last year in November with Y.O.U., is making a big mark on the local scene with a tremendous new monthly event in “Creative Social.” Check out the second “Creative Social” monthly on June 5 and moving forward as this is a landmark event not to be missed!

Andrew Vlasblom – “Windmills of Iowa”
If you’re talking about the local expat music scene here in Gwangju, Andrew Vlasblom is surely one of the men in the middle. Vlasblom has released a follow-up LP to 2019’s Boardwalk City Blues with another quality mix of folk, soul, and jazz in Hitchhiking for Love, a semi-autobiographical album about his travels across North America as a young man.

May Releases

  • Nancy Wilson – You and Me (May 7)
  • Sons of Kemet – Black to the Future (May 14)
  • St. Vincent – Daddy’s Home (May 14)
  • Jorja Smith – Be Right Back (May 14)
  • The Black Keys – Delta Kream (May 14)
  • Lord Huron – Long Lost (May 21)
  • Black Midi – Cavalcade (May 28)
  • k.d. lang – Makeover (May 28)

Watch Out for These

  • Lana Del Rey – Baptize (June 1)
  • Japanese Breakfast – Jubilee (June 4)
  • Black Pumas – Capitol Cuts: Live from Studio A (June 4)
  • Garbage – No Gods No Masters (June 11)
  • V/A – Truth to Power (June 12)
  • Kings of Convenience – Peace or Love (June 18)
  • Lucy Dacus – Home Video (June 25)
  • Faye Webster – I Know I’m Funny haha (June 25)

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

Main photograph by Fringer Cat on Unsplash.