1. Blood Feathers – “Gunpowder”
Alright, this band is based in Philly and also they broke up last year. There’s no getting around that. But, and I don’t think this is irrelevant, the band was mostly Little Rock people — e.g. Clay Simmons, Ben Dickey and Sam Murphy — and this album, their third, is only now getting released next week (Oct. 8) via Little Rock’s own Max Recordings. Rest in peace, Blood Feathers, you made a great record.
2. Rino El Camino – “Green Light (Drive-By)”
Rino El Camino, a truly great rapper-name, likes Fiji water and trains and Zelda, and this song is from a tape called “1947.” It’s pure dream-mode wish fulfillment, with Rino “psychedelic tripping” while he robs somebody’s grandmother and dodges the cops. Watch this space, as David Thomson once said.
3. Charlie Virgo – “Searching For A Cramp”
Here’s something from this self-titled EP by Little Rock’s Charlie Virgo, which may or may not be strictly new, but it did just appear on the internet, which is close enough.
4. Doc Casino – “TRAVELRR”
Anyone interested in immersive, oceanic rap full of Vangelis-like ambience and unmotivated French language samples should have a look at this new mixtape “AIVST” by Little Rock’s Doc Casino, of the collective Owlmerica. The album art is a 1983 period piece, and the whole thing is impressive, confessional and consistent. This song is about vampires and poverty and optimism.
5. Mothwind – “Sunbender”
Mothwind‘s new album is called “In The Clutches of the Novae” and comes out officially on Saturday Oct. 4. The release show will be that night at White Water, with Peckerwolf and Jab Jab Suckerpunch. It’s a concept album, or as they put it, “a science fiction narrative of other worlds and other beings shrouding personal, real-world introspection.” They quote the German mathematician Hermann Minkowski: “…henceforth, space by itself, and time by itself, are doomed to fade away into mere shadows, and only a kind of union between the two will preserve an independent reality.”
