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Thanks for reading the Toronto Star’s Weekend Music Digest, a roundup of new music, concert listings and more.
This week’s roundup includes new music from Kaytranada and Aminé, ANOHNI and the Johnsons, DijahSB, Tinariwen and more.
Click here to listen along to the Spotify playlist.
Album of the Week
KAYTRAMINÉ: KAYTRAMINÉ
Montreal producer Kaytranada has built a career crafting crisp, bass-heavy house music that fills clubs around the world. But he’s also become a secret weapon among rappers hoping to cash in on hip hop’s recent drift toward dance-oriented beats. On Kaytraminé, Kaytranada joins forces with Portland rapper Aminé (hence the endearingly clunky portmanteau) for pristine new hip house that goes down like an Arnold Palmer on a humid afternoon.
Indeed, the two artists make their intention crystal clear in the song’s opening seconds, waving off anyone who wants to stand still, “looking cool and shi—.” What follows is a “good vibes only” party record that acts as a showcase for Aminé’s nimble charisma, and which features a diverse roster of contributors — Pharrell hops on the bouncy single “4EVA,” Afro-pop breakout star Amaarae steals the show on the acid house-inflected “Sossaup,” and even Snoop Dogg shows up to lend the record a bit of West Coast cred on “Eye.” But Kaytra remains the true star here, building beats that elevate his collaborators and exhibiting an impressive stylistic range that makes “Honestly, Nevermind” — Drake’s experimental house record from last summer — sound a bit like nails on a chalkboard.
Star Tracks: More of the best new (and newish) music
ANOHNI and the Johnsons: It Must Change
On 2016’s “Hopelessness,” ANOHNI offered listeners with a mournful but unflinching look at the ongoing ravages of war and the imminent environmental apocalypse. The shockingly beautiful album, which set the English singer’s remarkably human vibrato against futuristic digital soundscapes produced by electronic artists Oneohtrix Point Never and Hudson Mohawke, marked a major reinvention for an artist best known as a the leader of the chamber pop group Antony and the Johnsons.
This week — to my barely suppressible delight — ANOHNI announced “My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross,” her first new album since “Hopelessness,” and her first LP with the group of collaborators known as the Johnsons since 2010s “Swanlights.”
On the album’s first single “It Must Change,” ANOHNI returns to the softer, more intricate sound of her earlier work, but her concerns as a lyricist are no less urgent or radical. “Your God is failing you (things must change) / Giving you hell,” she sings over understated percussion and sweeping strings inspired by Marvin Gaye’s classic protest album “What’s Going On.” The accompanying video, which stars British model/activist Munroe Bergdorf and opens with images of devastating wildfire, hammers home the song’s critique of late capitalism, without undermining the its quiet sense of hope: “The truth is that our love / Will ricochet through eternity.”
“My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross” is out July 9.
DijahSB, veggi: Lisa Leslie
Toronto’s got women’s basketball fever.
Last weekend, nearly 20,000 enthusiastic fans crammed into Scotiabank Arena to watch the first ever WNBA game played in Canada. The event’s electric atmosphere — and the fact that all the merch was reportedly sold out by halftime — raises the prospect of the city being selected for the league’s first international expansion team.
Right on time, Toronto rapper (and one of the funniest people on Twitter) DijahSB released “Lisa Leslie,” an ode to the WNBA great a self-proclaimed contender for song of the summer. “I’m not from this world, won’t keep pretending / Ball on these h — s like Lisa Leslie ,” Dijah spits with characteristic humour over a vibrant house beat from L.A. producer veggi.
“I just wanted to give a shout to one of the greatest basketball players, regardless of genders, to ever touch the court,” they told the Star. “People are really loving it as the weather starts to warm up. Also great timing because we are trying to push for a WBNA team — Toronto deserves it.”
Tinariwen (feat. Fats Kaplin): Anemouhagh
For over four decades, Tinariwen — a collective of Tuareg musicians from the Sahara region of northern Mali — have captured the world’s attention with their gritty assouf, or “desert blues,” a style of music that fuses traditional West African and Arab music with guitar-driven blues and folk. The band’s ninth studio album, “Amatssou,” was recorded in a makeshift tent studio in an oasis in the desert of southern Algeria, and features contributions from Canadian producer and musician Daniel Lanois, and a handful of other country and folk musicians.
Tinariwen is in top form on “Anemouhagh,” a spellbinding track that naturally integrates twangy banjo and steel guitar parts into the band’s lightly psychedelic grooves and call-and-response vocals. In under four minutes, the band manages to transport the listener to the sublime landscape of the desert, amid endless skies, rolling sand dunes and gallant rock formations.
More new releases
- Lana Del Rey has officially released “Say Yes to Heaven,” a loosie from the “Ultraviolence” era that has circulated online for years.
- English prog-rock titans Yes, now well into their sixth decade as a band, released their 23rd studio album on Friday, titled “Mirror to the Sky.”
- Paul Simon has released, “Seven Psalms,” a conceptual album that he says is meant to be listened to as one 33-minute piece of work, containing seven distinct but interlinked songs, or “movements.” It’s his first album of new music since 2018.
- If you’re looking to be whisked away musically while conjuring scenic images of historic Europe, look no further than the debut album from Galen & Paul, titled “Can We Do Tomorrow Another Day?” The Galen in question is French-born singer-songwriter Galen Ayers, complemented by Paul Simonon of The Clash, The Good the Bad & the Queen and Gorillaz. Just don’t expect any smashed guitars like on the cover of London Calling. — Gilles LeBlanc
Miscellanea from around the music world
- My Bloody Valentine albums as Doritos flavours:
- When you’re as cool as Lana Del Rey, you don’t have to do much to whip your fans into a frenzy.
- 100 gecs inexplicably got a shout out on Fox News this week:
- Songs > Vibes?
Newly announced concerts
- My Morning Jacket is celebrating the upcoming 20th anniversary of their indie rock classic “It Still Moves” with a North American tour, which kicks off with a show at Massey Hall on Oct. 17. Visit the band’s website for presale access.
- New York indie rock band The Walkmen are reuniting for a North American tour that will conclude at History in Toronto on Oct. 11. The band’s last album, “Heaven” came out way back in 2012. Tickets are on sale now.
- The Hives are also back? The Swedish garage rock outfit recently announced their first album in over a decade, “The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons.” They’ll play Lee’s Palace on Nov. 3. Tickets on sale now.
Toronto Concert Calendar: A selection of upcoming shows across the city
SATURDAY, MAY 20
The American-Brazilian indie rocker is on tour in support of her third LP, “All of This Will End,” which arrived in April.
SUNDAY, MAY 21
Ahead of his concert at Budweiser Stage in September, the Irish blues/folk singer is playing a “pop-up” concert at The Danforth Music Hall with support from Deanna Petcoff.
TUESDAY, MAY 23
With support from Ludacris, the pop superstar will grace Bud Stage for the lone Canadian stop on her massive “Together Again” tour. The last time Janet was in Toronto was way back in 2017, so this one should be special.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 24
The Chinese rapper — who is part of the Higher Brothers, a hip hop collective from Chengdu — will play the Opera House with New Jersey artist Spence Lee.
THURSDAY, MAY 25
The Halifax-based musician and producer brings his high-intensity electro-rock sound to the Velvet Underground in support of his quadruple-LP project titled “SYNTHETIC: A SYNTH ODYSSEY.”
The Toronto singer and producer will be joined by unannounced special guests.
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