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Carolina Oliveros, ‘Oye Camina’
Carolina Oliveros, the singer in the Colombian-rooted New York City rock band Combo Chimbita, will release her solo debut album, “Ya Rompimos el Silencio” (“We Have Already Broken the Silence”) in November. “Oye Camina” (“Listen, Keep Going”) calls for cherishing every moment, because “Beautiful things are always fleeting.” An Afro-Caribbean guaguanco meshes with rhythm guitars hinting at Afrobeat and funk, as Oliveros layers vocals and instruments into ever more urgent, accelerating choruses.
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Blood Lotus, ‘Middle of the Night’
Wordless vocal lines, sparse electronic percussion and gaping silences accompany Hannah Wu in “Middle of the Night” as she sings about a sudden phone call. Wu, who records as Blood Lotus and is based in Melbourne, sketches a strained relationship: “Now I think about all the things we never did / And now I think about all the things we never said,” she sings, in phrases that make pentatonic scales sound bluesy. Increasingly agitated electronic motifs swarm around her as she approaches an uneasy realization: “I just want you to change.”
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Maya Ongaku, ‘Astral Echoes’
The Japanese band Maya Ongaku offers a soothing blend of minimalism, psychedelia and ambient music in “Astral Echoes” from its new album, “Nothing Space Music.” Gentle vocals, shimmering bell tones and a serene colloquy of recurring motifs among keyboards, woodwinds, bass and guitar create a quietly undulating track, matching the tone of lyrics like “Keeping your breath hushed, eyes closed, swaying beside me like a pair of stars.”
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What’s Climbing the Charts
Temper City, ‘Self Aware’
Propelled by hundreds of thousands of TikTok clips, Temper City’s debut single, “Self Aware,” reached No. 37 on this week’s Hot 100. Temper City is an alliance of three Israeli musicians and producers now based in Los Angeles; they recorded the song when a client missed a session. “God you look so pretty when you tell me that you love me,” Eytan Peled sings, mixing a compliment and a humblebrag while he insists on lowering expectations: “I wish that I could lie.” The production starts out sparse, with just drums, bass and low piano notes and it feels wavery and lo-fi even as it expands — as shaky as the singer’s situationship.
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What’s New in Jazz
Somi, ‘Sometimes Love’
Somi, a jazz singer who has embraced African roots, collaborated with the Cavemen, a Nigerian highlife band, on “Sometimes Love” from her new album, “What Does It Take to Bloom?” The song celebrates the capriciousness of love with musical transformations. The meter keeps shifting, the Cavemen toss in vocals and horns, and Somi toys with vocal tones and turns herself into a contrapuntal chorus, all with a knowing ease.
