© Nina Westervelt for The New York Times
Rich harmonies mix with synth, harp and aquatic grace on the intriguing first single from the New York songwriter’s debut album
From New York, USA
Recommended if you like Jessica Pratt, Minnie Riperton, Cocteau Twins
Up next Debut LP Follow the Light released via Jagjaguwar on 16 October
In Robert Silverberg’s 1973 sci-fi anthology New Dimensions 3, there’s a story by author Terry Carr called They Live on Levels. The simplest outline of this tale is that thanks to a technological breakthrough, humans are able to exist and communicate through different planes of existence. Through musical styles and generational layers, the spectral folk of New York-based songwriter June McDoom expresses this very notion in stunning fashion.
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© Photograph: Ryley Paskal
© Photograph: Ryley Paskal
© Photograph: Ryley Paskal
Their raucous pop music has made Katseye the biggest girl band in two decades. Can they weather toxic fandom, critical pans and a dwindling member count?
Before screenings of their new documentary, the members of Katseye appear in a video message to thank fans for their support. Their followers, Eyekons, have played a critical role in their rise to stardom, so it makes sense that Katseye: Wild Hearts, released in global theaters this month, takes a beat to shout out to them. Perhaps more than many other big music groups today, the group’s rise has depended on their relationship with their devotees who ensure that few corners of the world are safe from Katseye mania.
Katseye’s multinational members – Daniela, Lara, Manon, Megan, Sophia and Yoonchae – were selected through a combination of fan votes and judge scores on the 2023 YouTube reality competition The Debut: Dream Academy. The joint project between the American record label Geffen Records and Korean entertainment company Hybe aimed to create a global girl group, with hopefuls participating in a rigorous bootcamp to test their singing and dancing skills. The following year, Netflix’s docu-series Pop Star Academy: Katseye – which documented the group’s nascent era, behind-the-scenes drama and all – catapulted them to a new level of visibility.
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© Photograph: Eric Acquaye/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock
© Photograph: Eric Acquaye/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock
© Photograph: Eric Acquaye/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock
(ALTER)
The Grammy winner unites former clients including Lamar and Ravyn Lenae for a playful, dazzling voyage through the guitar’s diversity, from alt-rock to Afrobeat
On this long-awaited debut, Grammy-winning hip-hop producer Dahi steps out from the booth and into the spotlight. He’s best known for transforming a dreamy Beach House sample into Kendrick Lamar’s hit Money Trees, alongside chameleonic production work for SZA, Madonna, Drake and many more. Now that Dahi’s got the mic, what does he want to say?
Blending the brittle 90s British rock he loved as a California teen with the west African grooves his father played in the house, Black Boy (Alternative) celebrates the guitar as a transcendent tool that spans genres and continents. No other album this year will boast such starry guest features – Dahi calls up former clients Lamar, Childish Gambino, Vince Staples and Ravyn Lenae alongside experimentalists such as Moses Sumney, Baby Rose and Fousheé – but it’s testament to the strength of his vision that these distinct voices come together like a bedded-in, playful house band. All trust, no ego.
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© Photograph: Marissa Blair
© Photograph: Marissa Blair
© Photograph: Marissa Blair
McCarthy/Waarts/National Symphony Orchestra Ireland/McAdams
(Nonesuch)
Dennehy’s Limina, based on areas of the body, is firmly grounded in the harmonic series, and sparklingly executed here, while Stephen Waarts gives a bravura performance of the Violin Concerto
These two concertos, beautifully paired, again find Donnacha Dennehy writing music that is both firmly grounded – both rhythmically and in his fascination with the harmonic series – and, to the ear at least, joyously unfettered. Limina was written in 2023 for the pianist Eliza McCarthy, who is a powerhouse soloist here with the National Symphony Orchestra Ireland and conductor Ryan McAdams. It’s a serious piece born of a slightly playful idea. Its three movements are each named for a part of the body, staking out one area before moving to the threshold, or limina, of the next. Head starts with synapses firing high up the keyboard in sparks and glitter; it travels downwards, frenetic energy dissipating, towards Chest, which evokes breathing – not with regular rhythms but with gentle palindromic phrases that swell in and out and sigh back towards the same bass pitch. Nervous System begins deep in the gut, with coarser sounds – low piano vamping, and slapped bowing from the strings – but eventually escapes its tether and disperses around the keyboard.
The Violin Concerto, written in 2020, is just as propulsive, and the outer movements especially are a workout for Stephen Waarts, who gives a bravura performance. In the middle movement his violin soars, pushing off from the orchestral support to trace slow, weightless somersaults in the air. The finale has a thrilling sense of motion creating its own gravity: as with so much of Dennehy’s writing, it’s as if the music is held together by centrifugal force.
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© Photograph: Hugh O'Conor
© Photograph: Hugh O'Conor
© Photograph: Hugh O'Conor
© Chandan Khanna/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Across six decades, the late country singer and pop culture icon turned self‑presentation into a flamboyant art form
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Dolly Parton may have had a record 25 US country No 1 singles, released 66 studio albums and earned six Golden Globe nominations, among many other achievements, but the Tennessee-born star also had an incredible number of fashion moments. “It costs a lot of money to look this cheap”, she famously quipped when asked about her style. As we bid her farewell, six Guardian writers reflect on their favourite Dolly looks.
***
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© Photograph: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
© Photograph: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
© Photograph: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
What track gets your feet moving the moment you hear it – and on to the dancefloor? I Feel Love by Donna Summer? Or We Found Love by Rihanna? We’d love to hear what yours is
There are some songs which are guaranteed dancefloor fillers whether it’s at a wedding, a club or a music festival.
We would love to hear from people about the song that always gets them on the dancefloor. Are you throwing shapes to Beyoncé’s Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It) or ABBA’s Dancing Queen? Why is your go-to song for dancing your favourite?
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© Photograph: Posed by models; Maskot/Getty Images
© Photograph: Posed by models; Maskot/Getty Images
© Photograph: Posed by models; Maskot/Getty Images
Ahead of the release of her 13th solo album, the fantastically titled Chakzilla, we rank the best of a sublime catalogue of funk, slow jams and tears-on-the-dancefloor disco
Chaka Khan had harsh words for the “assholes” at her then record company, Warner Bros, who she felt under-promoted 1992’s The Woman I Am, her first album in four years. Listening to Love You All My Lifetime’s cocktail of funk and contemporary R&B, you wonder if she didn’t have a point. There’s no obvious reason why it wasn’t huge hit.
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© Photograph: Michael Putland/Getty Images
© Photograph: Michael Putland/Getty Images
© Photograph: Michael Putland/Getty Images
© Timothy D. Easley/Associated Press
© Victor J. Blue for The New York Times
© Timothy White/AUGUST
© Andrew Harnik/Associated Press
Musicians and performers pay tribute to the country legend who managed to be a generational talent, a formidable entrepreneur, a dedicated philanthropist and a truly kind person
Shirley Collins, singer-songwriter
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© Photograph: Richard E Aaron/Redferns
© Photograph: Richard E Aaron/Redferns
© Photograph: Richard E Aaron/Redferns
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