For our selection of the week, we start off with a rock album full of promises, then we get to know Assouf, blues from the Tuareg people, and an EP of soft punk that isn’t tender. Flashes.
OOCHYA! – STEREOPHONICS
The first track and single, Hanging On Your Hinges, is a banger. We’re getting wild, the riffs are mind-blowing, the claps are gripping, we sing along, deep into distortion. And then comes the next tracks, quiet. Stereophonics are getting calmer, turning to some acoustic arrangements. It sounds nice, but that introduction keeps us hanging. Oochya! is a lot more pop than expected through this first passionate promise. Too bad. We do enjoy some other tracks like Do Ya Feel My Love? which is the link between the two styles. If all fifteen songs are clean, the whole thing is a touch long. Still, have a listen at least once.
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ABOOGI – IMARHAN
The guitars played by Tuareg band Imarhan are feather-light pens that write beautifully the melodics for lyrics open on the desert. The vocals are enchanting, and the technic is perfect. That’s why we’re in the air, in awe of an underappreciated genre in Europe, Assouf. Like American blues, born from a complex context, the Assouf genre is deeply political as much as it is poetic. It’s a desert blues, the Tuareg’s blues. Imarhan is there, raising their voices for the young generations. If governments aren’t listening, the music is getting the message through with the best of shapes, especially with songs like Achinkad and Assossam. Do not miss this gem.
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YEAR OF THE SNAKE – SOFTCULT
Sofcult has a lot to say, some T-s to cross and I-s to dot. They’re doing it with a dark aesthetic, dream pop meeting emo and punk vibes, and heavy basses from the first track BWBB. They’re giving their take on the phrase Boys will Be Boys, a famous excuse for toxic behaviours. And that’s why we love them: feminists, they’re waving their middle finger to racism and patriarchy differently. Their world turns the other way around, and we agree. If the atmosphere is a touch too dreamy at times, we do get them fully, from the first to the last track, Uzumaki.
Now Playing :
Do Ya Feel My Love? – Stereophonics
Archinkad – Imarhan
Uzumaki – Softcult