MAX ZUCKERMAN “The Corner Office" C38 (GALTTA)

Max Zuckerman illustrates sparkled, opulent muzak-cartoons of characters expressing “the quiet parts…[sung] out loud”,…& they are, by far, the douchiest grotesques one could possibly imagine walking our scenic boardwalks. 

Imagine the hubris, gaudiness, & libido of Bukowski & Kanye melted together, haughtily toe-tapping on the lift floor of some freak maritime vessel involving a submarine with a mirror-ball lit, translucent elevator shaft rising slowly through the heart of a gilded cruise ship & further skyward, to the top floor of a neon-coated lighthouse, one of three atop said vessel. Over the top much? Yes, but accurate.

MZ’s “The Corner Office” is half a dozen long-form tracks of cocaine-itself-snorting-Tom-Selleck’s-thrice-signed-Miam-Vice-button-ups that have been soaked in pastel smooth-jazz, elevator tone, yacht musk/mildew, and blindingly white, white, white wine. So obnoxious, you might not be able to stop listening, once company finally arrives. Beware, but do not be ashamed. GALTTA sure as shit isn’t.

https://galttamedia.bandcamp.com/album/the-corner-office

—Jacob An Kittenplan

BILLY N’ DAVE “Share My Chaise” (Galtta)

“Billy” is the inimitable Billy G. Robinson, soul singer, and “Dave” is David Lackner, multi-instrumentalist and purveyor of all fine things Galtta. Together they jam – they jam reeeeal good. Like 1970s and 1980s R&B at its finest, Share My Chaise is drenched in innuendo and entendre, perfect for romance and relaxation. Robinson’s tenor floats beautifully over Lackner’s complex arrangements, and the result is like Lionel Richie or Stevie Wonder jamming with Steely Dan at a late-night lounge. They both know their way around a melody – I was going to call out Lackner specifically for his incredible attention to detail on his sax and synth runs, but man, Robinson is just a virtuoso in vocal seduction. This pairing is for reals!

“Change your ways/ share my chaise” goes the title track, and there isn’t a better mission statement you’re going to get as an album opener. The come-ons may be dripping with intention, but there’s a knowingness to them as well, especially in the Me Too era. “What makes me different from all of the others?” Robinson sings. To that end, Share My Chaise serves as an ode to the great romantic records you may have heard when you were a kid, and Lackner and Galtta prove again that they’re at the top of this throwback game. No, not “throwback” – they’re bringing R&B into the future.

https://galttamedia.bandcamp.com/

--Ryan

BILLY N' DAVE “Share My Chaise” C34 (GALTTA)

You are traveling fifty-some-odd floors skyward in an elevator, at a reasonable pace. The sound system is fresh, and the bell-hop/DJ obviously values mortality* less than the average bear. Billy N’ Dave’s “Share My Chaise" is being piped in via bluetooth technology, cz there are (obviously) some unavoidable herkings and jerkings bound to happen, 'twixt landings, due to structural issues, and a proper turntable would be too bulky, anyway… but, really, our devil-may-care bell-hop here, all they Really Want To Do is both exercise the freedom to test your will power for actually not shaking, shimmying, prancing, & otherwise stomping your foot on the floating floor in ecstatic appreciation for this truly undeniable groovage here, and but also (said bellhop) wants to see just how quickly (not the If, but the When) you will question just-what-the-fuck not only are they doing here in the first place but what, exactly, do they (the royal “they") even-like-really Mean by “elevator music”, “cheesiness”, “fusion**”, or “personal space”?!

Which is to say, this is weird and rad and nostalgic and wild and awesome and probably not everybody’s cup of tea; but, if it’s yours, you’re in for a real fucking treat! NYC’s GALTTA Media has a seriously disciplined aesthetic of High/Good Times vibes for daze, and is really an all-around infectious, well, well, well worth checking out tape label! Hop on board…

https://nodeads.bandcamp.com/album/pastoral-death

and/or

https://foreignobjectdamage.bandcamp.com/

—Jacob An Kittenplan

*theirs AND yours

**by 2020, what true musician has NOT been deeply altered to their very core by bearing witness to and, consciously or not, co-opting the countless genres’ charms from myriad regions, amirite? Here, Jazz, Soul, & Funk take precedence in the conscious mix, though New Age & Synth Pop peek in, here & there, for sure.

NICK STEVENS “The New Age” (Galtta Media)

Nick Stevens and self-professed “jazz / minimalism / outsider pop” label Galtta Media are a perfect match for each other. Not only does Stevens do the crooning electronic art pop thing like label stalwart Adrian Knight, he enlists Adrian himself, fellow Galtta showrunner David Lackner, and Galtta satellite artist Alice Cohen as his backing band here on “The New Age.” What ensues are eight buoyant, generously jazz-inflected jams that fall somewhere on the spectrum between Jens Lekman and Stephin Merritt.

Perfect for the evening getting later and later; glasses of wine as the evening gets later and later; stepping out onto the balcony of the penthouse; light-colored suits; excellent hair; romance; the evening getting later and later – gosh, is it midnight already? Love and loss, life on the breeze, and the sax solo takes us away. Somehow Stevens specifically and Galtta in general tap into an incredibly universal suaveness, but one with a dark secret, one that isn’t for general audiences. Nick Cave as a lounge singer? Not crazy. Not a bad idea either.

Let’s see where we’re all going with this. … Back to my place?

https://galttamedia.bandcamp.com/

--Ryan

ENERGY STAR “Self Titled" C42 (Galtta Media)

Camilla Padgitt-Coles & Bryce Hackford (each of them having been absolutely brilliant minimalist/ambient/drone innovators fresh off the Perfect Wave roster!) join forces and venture into techno-beat territory here with their safari-grade collaboration, “Energy Star”, on GALTTA.

It is a ruse. Do not believe your ears for the first five minutes.

With bleating metronome employed as their only anchor, ES casts a stormy mirage of synthesized haze (and its accompanying amphibious shuffles & communiqué) that warbles juuust beneath the downbeat, giving the ol’ temporal lobe a serious work out, with all that auditory processing & parsing to execute. Polyrhythmic and upbeat in rhythm, but nervously melancholic in mood, Energy Star have laid out a psychoacoustic treatise of which the terms of won’t be come to at any time in any near future. Though relatively C-H-I-L-L, this ain’t for the easily irritable or faint of heart. Get ready for some bewilderings!

Perhaps a new sub-genre needs penning; Sleight-of-Ear?

https://galttamedia.bandcamp.com/album/energy

— Jacob An Kittenplan

PURELLE “Gotta Have It” C45 (Galtta Media)

My partner says she’s not sure if she likes this, but it sounds like 80’s porn. 

Purelle’s “Gotta Have It” is an outright aural assault of righteous, unapologetically commercial, old school New Age sax, flute, & synth jamz. It is howl-at-the-moon sexy. It is constipatingly cheesy. It is equally as spine-taxingly laid back as it is a creche of poised-for-the-camera spray-tan and bleach-tooth. 

So glib it is sincere; so sincere, it is glib, Purelle’s “Gotta Have It” is the perfect tape to pop in if you wanna weird the shit out of your neighbors or in-laws in the most plausibly deniable way possible. 

My partner says she’s not sure if she likes it, but it definitely makes her think of 80’s porn. I do concur. 

https://galttamedia.bandcamp.com/album/gotta-have-it

and/or

http://www.adrian-knight.com/

— Jacob An Kittenplan

NICK STEVENS "The New Age" (Galtta Media)

Not gonna lie here, I loveeeeeee sophistipop. Be it Scritti or Tears for Fear or Prefab Sprout. Producer and multi-instrumentalist Adrian Knight seemingly has a license to print sophisti-pop gold and this new Galtta Media release by Nick Stevens is noooooo exception. Steven's hypnotizingly deep voice lends to the intricate songsmithing and unique arrangements but this is really pressing on something deeper and more realized than much of what I've heard in a while from pop music in general.

Reliablely steering clear of 80s pastiche, there is a unique smoothness, especially in David Lackner's saxophone solos and the crisp drum machine accented by hand percussion. Knight's keyboard playing is unbelievable and hard to define in its uniqueness and the chord changes are jazzy, sweeping, and unpredictable throughout.

"Inviting You (Into My Life)" is a truly remarkable track. At almost seven minutes long, it borders on Steely Dan grooves, Paul McCartney melodies, Beach Boys harmonies, and Yellow Magic Orchestra timbres. There are lots of exciting harmonic jazz jumps in the chord progressions on this album. Every song has finally tuned keyboard and guitar hooks. "(Beyond)The Law" is a smoove grooving instrumental with almost a tinge of the Residents in Alice Cohen's airy background vocals.

"Colors of the Sunset" could draw comparisons to "I'm Your Man"-era Leonard Cohen not only in the baritone vocal delivery but the deep hues of lyrical content. "All Night Messiah" is a serious take on pop with a convincingly deceptive melody and funky bassline. The title track is another standout with its strikingly complex counterpoint and icy synth parts. The final track, "Motorcycle" is almost suitably Abba-esque in its grace and mesmerizing pop-disco drum & bass groove.

All and all, every Galtta Media release I've heard thus far strikes me as fantastic (especially Knight's solo album "On The Prowl Again" and Blue Jazz TV featuring Billy G. Robinson's two releases on the label). If you like pop, old or new, this is for you!!

https://galttamedia.bandcamp.com/album/the-new-age

--"Jamband" Josh Brown

ANTHONY VINE “Remnants” C64 (Galtta Media)

You’re an idiot. It’s nothing you can help, I understand that. You just don’t have the vision that someone like Anthony Vine does. REMNANTS is a brilliant encapsulation of Vine’s collaboration with a variety of musicians, from soprano saxophonist David Lackner on the vast, twenty-minute opener “Duo” to the six-piece fourteen-minute piece “North.” These sounds are fully contemplated, fully realized, and the result is a modern classical/modern jazz/ambient slow burn that requires your undivided attention to fully suss the whole thing out. The tension inherent in the four tracks is almost unbearable, as Vine and cohorts stretch their sessions to the breaking point, and you’re left wondering, hoping, that they’ll resolve into something you can wrap your head around. But remember, you’re stupid, you’re an idiot! No resolution for you. And this is how it should be, your breathing and your circulation tied explicitly to REMNANTS. You’ll need an EKG machine to monitor whether you’re able to handle the deep, subtle changes Vine and crew hit you with throughout this tape. In fact, are you even breathing? Or is it Anthony Vine’s guitar doing the breathing for you? I wouldn’t open your eyes, you’re in an iron lung, and REMNANTS is guiding you toward the light. Go toward it. You have no purchase here on this plane of existence any longer. You’ve suggested, in your will, that your descendants should buy this tape, though, right? If not, I’ll tell em.

Galtta Media

--Ryan Masteller

ADRIAN KNIGHT “On the Prowl Again” (Galtta Media)

This Adrian Knight fella’s pulled it off. He’s got everything stacked against him, pretty much, from a stylistic perspective. Optics are straight from the Har Mar Superstar sleaze wallow, the all-in look, the feel, not giving any wiggle room for interpretation of whether he’s sending himself up or 100 percent serious. Yeah, Adrian Knight acts cool, but in a Doogie Howser kind of way, ill-fitting blazer over white mock turtleneck on the cover, khaki slacks, turn-of-the-1990s sunglasses. The cool rocked is of the junior-high variety. And weirdly – that’s OK. The music is a soft-rock/synth-pop hybrid, somewhere between Tears for Fears and Hall & Oates, but with a few Jens Lekman touches thrown into the mix as well. And here’s how Knight has accomplished something worthwhile – he sells this sound, this lifestyle, way better than he probably has a right to. (That’s where the Har Mar comparison comes in, not remotely in the music itself.) Normally, I’d look at this cassette and not give it a second thought, but it would be a mistake to do so. Yeah, it may seem like Knight’s a kid playing grown-up crooner to the lucky ladies in the audience, he pulls it off nicely. The ladies in the audience truly are lucky, because Adrian Knight gets them – he’s sensitive, and he’s oh-so-clearly a grownup. That’s the key. Be a grownup.

Galtta Media

--Ryan Masteller