Matmatah Hypnagogia

Featuring their modern take on the traditional Breton genre known as Kan ha Diskan, La Ouache is the debut album from French quartet Matmatah. Influenced by Alan Stivell's Again LP, their 1998 debut, which combines Celtic rock with Middle Eastern folk, was produced by Claude Chamboissier and features the hit singles "Lambe an Dro" and "Les Moutons" alongside the rousing instrumental closer "Ribette's" and the hard-hitting "Troglodyte."

While singer and multi-instrumentalist Bonnie Bloomgarden and guitarist Larry Schemel knew their intention for the album before a single note was written, the actual nature and direction of the music was a mystery. The initial inspiration for the record came from the jubilant spirit of Ethiopian funk records the band had been listening to on tour, but once they began to channel the songs it seemed like the music came from somewhere not in the past but in the future. In the weeks leading up to recording, Death Valley Girls relied on their subconscious and effortlessly conjured Under the Spell of Joy’s eleven tracks as if they’d tapped into the Akashic Chronicle and pulled the music from the ether.

Stuart Howard had the kind of alias, as well as a winking debut album title, Nostalchic, that could have had him mistaken for a lounge music revivalist indebted to Esquivel and Les Baxter. With Lustmore, the producer ratchets up the deception potential with kitschy artwork like that of '90s lounge revivalists Combustible Edison or Love Jones. There are no traces of lounge revival revivalism, however, within the grooves and atmospheres of Howard's second album for Flying Lotus' Brainfeeder label. Lustmore does make for slightly easier listening compared to Howard's previous output. Its melodies are relatively starry, and its contours are softer, crafted with the intent to make the listener feel as if she or he is lodged in a state between sleep and consciousness…