New Music Reviews (3/15)

Each week, KEXP’s Music Director Don Yates (joined this week by DJ Alex) shares brief insights on new and upcoming releases. See what's coming up this week below, including reviews for new releases from Marinah, Arab Strap, Genesis Owusu, and more.

Marinah – Heroínas (Nacional)
This impressive fourth solo album from the former frontwoman for the Catalon band Ojos De Brujo is a seamless blend of traditional folk elements with hip hop and electronic beats and textures. — DY

Arab Strap – As Days Get Dark (Rock Action)
This Scottish duo’s seventh album (and first in 16 years) is a strong set of bleak post-punk with atmospheric guitars, occasional synths, violin and sax, hypnotic drum-machine beats, spoken/sung vocals and sordid, unflinchingly honest lyrics revolving around addiction, sex, aging and death. — DY

Genesis Owusu – Smiling With No Teeth (House Anxiety/Ourness)
This Ghanaian-born, Australian-based artist’s debut album is an expansive blend of hip hop, future funk, R&B, New Wave, post-punk and more, combining hard-hitting beats and buzzing synths, guitars and occasional horns with lyrics revolving around identity, depression and racism. — DY

Painted Shrines – Heaven and Holy (Woodsist)
Painted Shrines is the new San Francisco-based duo comprised of Jeremy Earl of Woods and Glenn Donaldson of Skygreen Leopards and The Reds, Pinks & Purples. Their debut album under that name is a beautifully crafted set of jangly, folk-tinged psych-pop, featuring a warm sound combining acoustic and electric guitars, shimmering keyboards and relaxed rhythms with glowing harmonies and wistful melodies. — DY

Wau Wau Collectif – Yaral Sa Doom (Sahel Sounds)
Yaral Sa Doom is the stunning debut album from Wau Wau Collectif, a gathering of musicians from Toubab Dialaw, Senegal, a small fishing village turned hub of Senegal’s bohemian art scene. Based around improvised recordings done by Swedish music archeologist Karl Jonas Winqvist in 2018 with the village's local musicians, percussionists, poets, and beat makers, the album was then stitched together between Sweden and Senegal as Winqvist traded recordings over WhatsApp with Senegal-based collaborator and studio engineer Arouna Kane. A Wolof phrase that means “educate the young,” Yaral Sa Doom lyrically touches upon themes of education and social issues facing contemporary Senegal while sonically revealing a rich tapestry of universally soulful music inspired by West African tradition, Sufi praise songs, spiritual jazz, and dub rhythms. — AR

Charles Lloyd & The Marvels – Tone Poem (Blue Note)
The third album from this quintet led by the veteran saxophonist (and also featuring guitarist Bill Frisell, steel guitarist Greg Leisz, bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer Eric Harland) is a vibrant mix of covers and originals offering an expansive blend of jazz with folk, country, blues, rock and more. — DY

Esther Rose – How Many Times (Father/Daughter)
This New Orleans-based artist’s third album is a well-crafted set of wistful country-folk with a warm sound combining acoustic and electric guitars, fiddle and lap steel with lyrics of lost love and new beginnings. — DY

Israel Nash – Topaz (Loose Music)
This Dripping Springs, TX-based artist’s sixth album is a well-crafted set of soul-steeped folk-rock with a warm sound combining shimmering guitars, soaring horns, harmonica, pedal steel and more with lyrics reflecting on division, family and home. — DY

Lava La Rue – Butter-Fly EP (Marathon Artists)
The third release from rising West London rapper, singer, and founder of the NiNE8 collective Lava La Rue (aka Ava Laurel) finds her continuing to expand upon her fresh UK-steeped sound that taps into R&B, pop, and hip-hop by adding some dreamy psych-pop and trip-hop flourishes to her expansive palette. “A collection of queer love songs in various guises,” Butter-Fly features appearances from Clairo, Deb Never, and Karma Kid, as well as production from Vegyn and Foster the People's Isom Innis. — AR

Kiazi Malonga – Tembo Kia Ngoma (Redtone)
This Oakland-based percussionist’s debut album is a vibrant, mostly instrumental set steeped in traditional Congolese music, featuring percolating Ngoma drums, ringing guitars and occasional horns. — DY

Lorenzo Wolff – Down Where the Valley Are Low: Another Otherworld for Judee Sill (StorySound)
This New York producer/multi-instrumentalist’s latest release is a mini-album tribute to the late California singer-songwriter Judee Sill, interpreting Sill’s songs by combining brooding, richly textured rock soundscapes with a variety of guest vocalists, including Bartees Strange on album highlight “The Pearl.” — DY

Barbarossa – Let Love Listen (Memphis Industries)
The sixth album from this British artist (aka James Mathé) is a solid set of warm, airy electro-pop with bright synths, propulsive rhythms, breezy melodies and lyrics revolving around inner growth and acceptance. — DY

Raiza Biza – A Summer In Retrograde (PANGEA/Low Key Source)
Based in Hamilton, New Zealand, Raiza Biza is a Rwandan-Kiwi rapper that has been plugging away on his craft since debuting in 2012 and he's collaborated with Oddisee, Black Milk, REMI, SoulChef, and many others along the way. His latest album is a nice showcase of his laidback hip-hop sound that's infused with a breezy R&B touch and carries a blunted West Coast boom-bap vibe. — AR

Mindy Meng Wang & Tim Shiel – Nervous Energy EP (Music In Exile)
Both based in Melbourne, this debut collaborative EP between Chinese/Australian avant-garde composer Mindy Meng Wang and Australian electronic producer Tim Shiel is a fantastic set of transportive electronic grooves that pairs Tim's rhythmically diverse beats with Mindy's masterful talents on the guzheng, a traditional Chinese plucked zither instrument, that yields a dynamic, cinematic, and whimsical sound. The kinetic opening track and early single "Sleeping Tiger On The Bund" is a stunner. — AR

araabMUZIK – SOULFUL VOCALS EP (Genre Defying Entertainment)
The latest solo release from singular East Coast producer and MPC wizard araabMUZIK (aka Abraham Orellana) finds him flexing the latest evolution to his distinctively melodic, emotionally-rich, bass-heavy trap beats. While it starts off with the menacing "ELITES" and often contains his slightly ominous undercurrents, SOULFUL VOCALS is largely dominated by a dreamy and ethereal vibe that continues to prove his magnetic beats deserve their own spotlight. — AR

Tuzeint – 23 EP (Bludot Recordings)
Reminiscent of Steve Lacy, D'Angelo, and Mayer Hawthorne, the debut EP from this Mexico City-based musician is a promising set of woozy, soulful, jazzy R&B jams. — AR

She/Beast – This Too Shall Pass EP (PNKSLM)
She/Beast is the solo project of Katja Nielsen, frontwoman for the Swedish band Arre! Arre! Her second EP under that name is a solid five-song set combining a moody, atmospheric post-punk sound with hypnotic song hooks and lyrics revolving around mental illness. — DY