Episode 4: Reviews of Stereolab's "Instant Holograms On Metal Film," Merzbow's "Sedonis," Herbert's "Clay," and Public Enemy's "Black Sky Over The Projects."

MusicWeek: A Roundtable Review of the Latest Electronic Music Albums

Monty Luke and critics Peter Kirn and Sasha Zakrevska discuss and give analysis of this week’s latest Electronic Music album releases available now in most formats.

Albums:

Stereolab - Instant Holograms On Metal Film (Warp)

Merzbow - Sedonis (Signal Noise)

Matthew Herbert & Momoko Gill - Clay (Strut)

Public Enemy - Black Sky Over The Projects: Apartment 2025 (self-released)

Co-hosts: 

Peter Kirn, journalist and writer from Create Digital Music. @pkirn 

Sasha Zakrevska, Ukrainian artist and owner of Lightronics Records. @poly_chain

Genres: Noise, Pop, Indie Rock, Experimental, Hip-Hop

Monty Luke is a Berlin-based DJ, Electronic Music Producer, Radio Host and owner of record label Black Catalogue. He has remixed and released music on labels like Rekids, Hypercolour, Planet-E, Ostgut Ton and many more.

MusicWeek comes to you live and direct from Berlin, featuring reviews of the latest and best album releases from the spectrum of Electronic Music.

For more information on the MusicWeek podcast:

Monty Luke on Instagram: @monty_luke

Black Catalogue on Bandcamp.

Transcript

Peter Kirn: 0:00

You in love with a bot and mad at it...

Monty Luke: 0:10

Welcome back to Music Week. My name is Monty Luke, your host. And this week joining me will be Peter Kirn, journalist and writer from Create Digital Music, and Sasha Zakrevska, Ukrainian artist and owner of Lightronics Records. Our first album for review this week is the brand new album by Stereolab, Instant Holograms on Metal Film. It is on the Warp label. Peter.

Peter Kirn: 0:40

I'm jealous of Stereolab's ability to be this consistent. It feels like, be this consistent and still be this original. This feels like 15 years did not pass from the last record to this one. And if you haven't been keeping up with Stereolab since the 90s even, you'll feel equally at home. This is a good time to come back to them. This is some of the sharper, some of the sharper songwriting since their debut. I think this kind of funny, weird, Brazilian, French pop synth wave hybrid that they do is working now as well as ever. And there was some kind of maturity to some of the lyrics, too. This melody is a wound, also, I thought might be a kind of sleeper hit out of this one. It's like kind of almost psychedelic elements to that one. But there's some great writing, the same kind of wonderful nonsensical lyric lyricism that always also works um yeah this is a uh this should be a big hit sasha

Sasha Zakrevska: 1:51

yes i really like how you say peter that it feels like home uh i heard the stereo lab for the first time around 15 years ago uh when i used to play in the sugar's band and we've been listening to a bunch of their stuff on the way to gigs and rehearsals uh what with my bandmates and yeah like it just brings me to this teenage teenage shoegaze synth fairy moment. W

Monty Luke: 2:22

What was the name of your shoegaze band?

Sasha Zakrevska: 2:24

Summer God Teachings.

Monty Luke: 2:26

Summer God Teachings?

Sasha Zakrevska: 2:28

Yeah.

Monty Luke: 2:28

Wow. And what did you play?

Sasha Zakrevska: 2:30

Synths. I'm consistent too. Yeah like yeah the consistency is also there the right word and also I remember that we I think we translated one of their tracks because it's like both French and English and in school like in school and this is also a fun thing about learning the languages that you can translate stuff of your favorite bands and yeah I would absolutely love to go to the show

Monty Luke: 3:02

when they come to town if they come to town I'm sure they're going

Peter Kirn: 3:05

to be touring also it depends which town for me

Monty Luke: 3:09

I Great. The new album from Stereolab is entitled Instant Holograms on Metal Film. It is available in all formats on the Warp label. Coming up next, Merzbau, Sedonis, the brand new four-track album on self-release, really, on Signal Noise. Sasha, let's start with you.

Sasha Zakrevska: 3:40

Yeah, Merzbow is like wasabi. Yeah, as you previously said. So I have a story about Merzbow. I have a very personal, deep psychedelic experience with Merzbow. Also, Like 2015, Warsaw, 21 or 22 years old me, not professionally, musically deprivated. I went to Merzbow show just with my friends. I didn't know what to expect. I never listened to him before. Where? It was in Warsaw in some Soho kind of concert hall. It was not a festival. It was just like one day gig. Of course, I forgot that I have to... bring ear protection but together yeah together with my best friend we had absolutely best time and we went out from the show like after i don't know i can compare it with the sauna that you you are cleaned by noise like all your emotions is just like it's not there absolutely cosmic psychedelic experience and yeah this is this four tracks um EP, it just also brings me to that moment that, wow, I was surprised by music.

Peter Kirn: 5:03

Peter. Yeah, Akita-san is the master. This is a really important release, actually. Why? There's a ton of detail here. So the kind of precision of everything that's happening for me is really extraordinarily developed here. You get all these... Lots and lots of layers. It's not just about a wash of noise. There's all of these organic kind of dissonant life forms, sort of synthesizer life forms moving around. Sometimes you get these kind of more mechanical like alien transmissions that's coming out of the drum machines and sort of sequence patterns. But then other things become totally alive and you get this topography of sharp edges, soft edges.

Unknown: 5:54

Um,

Peter Kirn: 5:55

There's a great mix of different elements, as I understand it. There's the kind of computer stuff, there's sort of outboard hardware gear, and then there are these homemade instruments, too. So he has this guitar string koto that he's playing with the violin bow. So some of that organicism, all these kind of layers of performance, there's an interplay of more mechanical sequenced elements, then those sequences becoming so complicated that they become like these microorganisms moving around, and then just stuff that's totally natural and gestural, like the violin bow. But what's impressive is that those layers never compete. They all have a space to live in. So I think Merzbow is even underestimated or underappreciated a bit as a composer, right? Because we sort of think of this high art but also kind of popular— world of electronic music as being independent from the world of composition, people might miss it. This is where all that stuff has led, right? I think this is as sophisticated a composition as the stuff that was coming out of the so-called concert music scene and all that.

Monty Luke: 7:12

How would you describe Merzbow to someone who has never heard Merzbow?

Peter Kirn: 7:18

I would just say come live on this alien planet of noise and see what happens inside your ears.

Sasha Zakrevska: 7:25

Don't forget ear protection.

Peter Kirn: 7:27

Well, you'll need the ear protection for the live show. But the album doesn't feel like an assault, right? The album may be, for all of the intensity of it, the album, everything is very precise and spatially placed in it. It's just as intense at a lower listening volume as a higher listening volume. So that tells you something about the kind of level of detail that he's hearing, I think. Not to get too excited and carried away, but no, there's a the difference is that a lot of noise is not at that level, right? So it's really easy to kind of, I mean, there's an appeal to that too. That's the kind of punk element, right? Let's just turn on some machines and make a bunch of noise and distortion, and that has its own special place too. This is actually more refined. It should stand up to repeated listenings.

Monty Luke: 8:19

The name of the album is Sedonis. By the way, I read that he actually just made that up. I thought Maybe he was naming it after a place or something. He made that word up, Sedona. It's like a

Peter Kirn: 8:31

Sedona if it were a planet. Exactly,

Monty Luke: 8:33

exactly. So the name of the album is Sedonis by Merzbow and it is on the Signal Noise label and it is available in all formats. Our next album is Matthew Herbert and Momoko Gill. The album is called Clay. It is on the Strut label. Sasha.

Sasha Zakrevska: 8:54

It reminds me a lot of early Kelela I would say because like there's a lot of Dubby elements and this like the way Momoko sing her like voice modulation it also feels a little bit nostalgic and cute but I'm not sure I would come back to this work I would totally enjoy the live show I wonder how she sings live sorry I'm a little bit like I'm not singing myself but I'm a little bit snob in terms of vocals in general. My younger sister, she's a singer, and I know how hard it is to sing in notes in general, especially if you have a lot of shows coming up. Did you like her voice? I like her voice in the record, and I wonder how does it sound in a live situation.

Monty Luke: 9:49

Was it just me, or did she also sound a bit like the Stereolab vocalist?

Sasha Zakrevska: 9:55

For me, it's more to Kelela direction, I don't know.

Monty Luke: 10:01

Kelela? Yeah. R&B? Yeah. Okay.

Sasha Zakrevska: 10:04

Yeah. I mean, I just really see some similarities in a few tracks. Okay. Yeah.

Peter Kirn: 10:13

Okay. Peter? Wait, I'm still curious about the snob comment. So you're preemptively being a snob about the performance you haven't heard yet.

Sasha Zakrevska: 10:23

No, not really. Like, for example... Caroline Palachuk I absolutely love the recording I absolutely hate the live shows sorry like she can't sing you know what I mean

Peter Kirn: 10:35

yeah yeah I mean there's a there's a lot of it's not it's not about like some really obvious pitch correction or something there's a ton of stuff that you can do in the studio that that can make people sound different than they sound live without without really knowing until you see the live show I think that didn't used to be as true I think you could kind of listen to to a recording and get a sense of what they were probably going to be like live but now it's you can cheat

Monty Luke: 11:00

but we're not saying that about this particular no no

Peter Kirn: 11:02

I've heard live I think she's fine so no I really like this collaboration I thought it worked I thought it she kind of nicely softens some of Matthew Herbert's musical voice a little bit you know it gives it this kind of additional intimacy it it sensitivity. They're a great pair. And the songwriting, her songwriting is really different from Matthew's, and yeah, I think I would actually come back to this release. There's some connections, weirdly, with the Merzbo, which maybe you didn't think about. Really? Yeah, there's some sampled Cotto and stuff, and Herbert's production. And there's also, I think, some kind of homemade instrument. He's doing a lot of samples. I don't know if he's doing homemade instruments. Well, I mean, it's Herbert, so obviously he's going to be doing some samples. It's apparently a sampled basketball, this Koto. I guess the Koto is the only connection. We can't say sampling is the selection. Sampling can't be the connection because then I would be saying like sound is the connection. They are both productions and sound. But if you wanted something a little lyrical after the Matthew Herbert, I mean after the Merzbo, you can go to Matthew Herbert.

Monty Luke: 12:20

The name of the album is Clay by Matthew Herbert and Momoko Gill. It is on the Strut label and it is available in all formats, including vinyl. And it is out now. Our last album for review this week, Public Enemy, Black Sky, Over the Projects, Apartment 2025. It is a self-released surprise release. It came out in the previous week and they announced that for the first 72 hours, the release will be available available as a pay-what-you-want-for-it on Bandcamp. I think we're actually outside of that window, or maybe today's the last day of that. You

Peter Kirn: 13:03

gotta pay. Give them some money. I think they deserve some money for this one. I'm glad that they didn't put it on streaming. Sasha, let's start with you.

Sasha Zakrevska: 13:10

Oh, actually, let's end it very quickly. I mean, I think Public Enemy is legendary, but consider current circumstances. When someone, none were affected, think something about... 2026, the world is getting sick. What do you know about the world getting sick? Did you been bombed? No. Let's end it. I will give it a try.

Monty Luke: 13:37

Can I just interject here? These are Black Americans that live under the Trump regime.

Sasha Zakrevska: 13:43

I mean, of course. It's fucking terrible. But, well, I didn't sleep three days because I've been listening to sounds of explosions let's not I mean I'm in solidarity with all oppressed people but this is like too heavy I

Monty Luke: 14:03

feel you

Sasha Zakrevska: 14:04

yeah I would probably come back to this album with less emotional state that I'm right now and it comes only from my opinion it's not it's very subjective it's not objective of course but I just can't do it right now

Monty Luke: 14:22

I feel you and I understand you I see you Peter

Peter Kirn: 14:26

Well, first I'm going to say I hope that we can recruit someone out of the Public Enemy organization can be recruited over the pro-Ukrainian side. I have faith. Absolutely. I think there's potential there. Absolutely. I think we should reach out. I mean, Public Enemy is all about the underdog. Yeah, absolutely. I think it's important just to switch a little bit to the U.S. the perspective of folks in the U.S., I think it's important that this album came out when it did. It's important that there are a lot of messages on this record that the U.S. audience needs to hear right now. Not even right now in 2025, but maybe even right now in this part of June, like this week. Today. Today is the day. Even if you missed the Pay What You Will, then pay or whatever they're charging for it. No, because, well, Johnny Juice isn't on this album, but I remember I talked to, this is already, even that's already almost 15 years ago. Johnny Juice was going into the park in the Bronx and just like emceeing in the park. And nobody knew who he was, right? Because it's just all kids. They weren't around when he was a name. But that was important to him just to reach that audience And that's what this sounds like, right? I mean, Chuck openly says, hey, I'm 65, I'm blind in one eye, but here's what I have to say. And you have the feeling of like, if you ever watch an older boxer, right? They don't have the speed that they had when they were younger. But

Speaker 00: 16:19

they have an experience.

Peter Kirn: 16:21

Yeah, and the punches land. And they often land, there are fewer of them, but they often land harder And the rhymes here are a little slower, right? But they're not just slower, they're stripped down. They're not as complicated, right? And he even raps about that at one point, that they're not as complicated. But the message is direct. And it's sort of like, it's a trip. You get a trip to, I mean, it's a sermon, then sometimes it's a trip to the shrink, then sometimes it's a trip to the physicians uh like uh chuck is there to also talk to you about your diabetes i mean he's he's really he's really ready for every message and it really struck me that he says that he thought ageism is now worse than racism

Monty Luke: 17:10

i found that song really interesting i found it interesting that he would i mean i think it's in in some way it's like the obvious um elephant in the room with a lot of these guys from that era who are still working you know it's like are they still vital can they still be considered um in the same regard they were when they're at the height of their powers quote unquote in the 90s you know so i thought it was really super interesting that he would you know have a track called ageism

Peter Kirn: 17:41

yeah well i mean he's it seems like he's able to open up about that because they are at the same level of like if if you hadn't if you had missed the last few decades if you pick them up in the uh end of the 80s beginning of the 90s and just pick them up here yeah he's clearly at the same uh level of power and energy and it's a really high energy album. It sounds like a live show at a lot of times, right? Even though it's still a studio record, mostly apart from some live samples, it feels like you could be at a live show. It's not hard to imagine them doing the same numbers in front of a crowd. So I thought it was, you know, it's a strong message. And yeah, I hope that they pick up You Ukrainian cause too

Monty Luke: 18:28

I'm sure that they I'm sure that they have already and I'm sure that it's interesting that they would like you said decide to release this album now and I think that there's probably a reason for that you know considering what the hell's going on right now in the US well if DJ Pierre is playing

Peter Kirn: 18:46

Moscow then somebody's got to get Public Enemy to Kyiv is he? I think Pierre is playing Moscow isn't that right?

Sasha Zakrevska: 18:53

I don't know I can't I can't risk all of them. Sorry. No, no, I'm not saying

Peter Kirn: 19:00

that. I'm saying let's invite these guys to Kyiv.

Sasha Zakrevska: 19:03

But yeah, I absolutely agree. Let's invite these guys to Kyiv. This is actually the common strategy of Ukrainian team that if people don't have still a clear position, let's invite them and show them what's going on. I think it's also a nice strategy to work with.

Monty Luke: 19:24

Did they self- this because they could or because they no longer are on Columbia Def Jam or do we know? Oh,

Peter Kirn: 19:33

good question. Oh, I think they're long gone from Columbia. Done with that. Yeah, I mean, they did this compilation with everybody, what, like 2020? Okay. Where they brought a ton of the OG, like, hip-hop, like, kind of who's who on some big compilation. I think that was also self-released. I mean, I think these guys are all done with the record industry,

Monty Luke: 19:56

right? Yeah, yeah. for some reason I could see that I could see that yeah the name of the album from Public Enemy is Black Sky Over the Projects Apartment 2025 it is a self-released it is sort of a surprise self-release album it is available on all formats and if you were lucky you were able to get it for a very very low price within the first 72 hours of its release on Bandcamp thank you Sasha and Peter for joining me this week on Music Week. Be sure to tune in next time for more weird albums, weird perspectives, and weird sound problems. You in

Peter Kirn: 20:39

love with the bot and mad at it.

Sasha Zakrevska: 20:42

Thanks.