Gorillaz's Cosmopolitan Wake and the New Indie [Stereo Current]
In today’s episode of Stereo Current, we dive into a week defined by legacy and liberation. We lead with the sprawling cosmopolitanism of the new Gorillaz album, 'The Mountain', which serves as a vibrant wake for departed legends like Mark E. Smith, Trugoy the Dove, and Bobby Womack. We also examine the sudden solo surge from the indie frontline, specifically Sunflower Bean’s Julia Cumming announcing her debut solo record 'Julia', and black midi’s Cameron Picton emerging from a fever dream with his new project, My New Band Believe. The conversation shifts toward the intersection of tradition and technology with Bei Bei’s ambient-fusion masterpiece 'Two Moons' and the disco-western stylings of Jessie Ware’s Morricone-sampling single 'Ride'. Finally, we tackle the existential debate currently rippling through the UK scene: could Universal Basic Income rewire the industry’s broken economic model? From the claymation nightmares of Fur Trapper to the wry, cinematic pop of Eugene McGuinness, we map the latest ripples in the indie zeitgeist.
This week on Stereo Current, Sloane Rivera and Julian Vance navigate a landscape of high-concept returns and radical shifts in the indie music ecosystem. We explore the poignant, utopian spirit of Gorillaz's latest LP, 'The Mountain', and the liberation found in the solo debuts of scene staples like Julia Cumming. The episode traverses global sounds, from Bei Bei's 2,500-year-old Chinese instrumental fusion to Jessie Ware's Morricone-inspired dance floors, while also questioning the financial future of the arts through a deep dive into the Universal Basic Income debate currently heating up in the UK.
Topics Covered
- 🌌 Gorillaz's The Mountain: A cosmopolitan celebration of lost collaborators that bridges genre lines with help from Bizarrap and Johnny Marr.
- 🎸 Julia Cumming's Solo Shift: The Sunflower Bean frontwoman announces her debut album with an Edgar Wright-directed video for 'My Life'.
- 🏯 Bei Bei & Paul Elliott: Bridging Chinese tradition with analog electronics on the cinematic ambient-fusion project 'Two Moons'.
- 🎡 My New Band Believe: Cameron Picton of black midi fame reveals a new project born from a delirious stay in a Chinese hotel.
- 💰 The UBI Debate: Analyzing the proposal for Universal Basic Income as a tool to end the 'creative handbrake' of survival anxiety in the UK music scene.
- 🎞️ Fur Trapper's Baroque Pop: Lisa Rieffel’s twisted claymation universe in the new single 'Rot for Spite'.
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