Charlotte Cornfield, billy woods and extra new music

Summarize this content material to 540 phrases Thanks for studying the Toronto Star’s Weekend Music Digest, a roundup of recent music, live performance listings and extra.This week’s roundup consists of new music from Charlotte Cornfield, billy woods, SBTRKT, Ken Yates and Fireboy DML.Click on right here to hear alongside to the Spotify playlist.Album of the WeekCharlotte Cornfield: Might Have Carried out Something Like the folks legends of the ’70s, Toronto singer-songwriter Charlotte Cornfield has a present for penning easy however evocative lyrics that carry listeners to a selected time or place. “Economic system’s wild, however the sunsets in Phoenix by no means exit of favor / I watch the colors get actual, the pink and the teal,” she sings over rounded piano chords on “Mild Just like the Medication,” a tune impressed by a current tour by means of the sprawling ranges of the western United States.Cornfield’s fifth album, “Might Have Carried out Something,” is crammed with imagery that convey the serenity of open skies and open areas. “My final report, ‘Highs within the Minuses’ was written and made throughout the pandemic and there was nonetheless a few of that claustrophobia of being inside,” Cornfield instructed me over the cellphone. “However this report was coming from this place of pleasure — of having the ability to be on the street and out on the earth and with individuals once more.”Whereas album feels forward-looking, it’s additionally a doc of reflection. Throughout 9 songs that recall the rootsy, bright-eyed sound of up to date indie-folk artists like Waxahatchee and Hiss Golden Messenger, Cornfield recounts intimate, hyper-specific recollections of friendship, heartbreak and romance — pals beelining to MacGregor Park in the hunt for an open washroom (“Strolling With Rachael”), a messy evening at Montreal’s Corona Theatre (“The Magnetic Fields”), a stolen second of seclusion on the far aspect of Toronto Island (“Might Have Carried out Something”) — every delivered with the form of readability that, if we’re fortunate, bubbles up within the wake of upheaval.Cornfield obtained pregnant shortly after her final recording session and welcomed her first little one in April — she says the brand new album represents the shut of 1 chapter in her life and the start of one other. “It seems like a deep breath,” she defined. “I’m in a distinct place now, however I need to honour these instances: the wildness of them and the way they knowledgeable who I’ve turn out to be now.”It’s a sentiment Cornfield drives dwelling within the album’s closing coda: “I’m grateful / That I’m calmer than I used to be / Stronger than I used to be / … happier than I used to be.” Star Tracks: Extra of the most effective new (and newish) musicbilly woods & Kenny Segal: “Maps”I’ll admit that I’ve barely scratched the floor of “Maps,” the terribly dense new collaboration between New York rapper billy woods and L.A. producer Kenny Segal. An idea album that paperwork life on the street, the 17-track behemoth has all of the hallmarks of an underground traditional: a seasoned MC on the prime of his sport, gritty beats that make radio-rap sound just like the Disney Channel, and a roster of eccentric rappers who present up prepared to depart a mark (Danny Brown’s verse on “12 months Zero” lands like a knock-out left hook).There’s rather a lot to dig by means of, however for now I’d like to easily draw your consideration to “Babylon by Bus,” a bonkers observe that’s as onerous as it’s unsettling; as humorous as it’s darkish. “Lake Michigan a frozen pond / Black swan with the bubble butt,” woods quips within the tune’s first half, which is constructed round a terrifying pattern of Aphex Twin’s notorious “#2” — a darkish swirl of sounds that one would possibly hear at a circus within the decrease depths of hell. Fortuitously, Segal offers a little bit of reduction halfway by means of the observe, introducing a menacing piano loop and teetering drums into the combo, setting the stage for a depraved verse courtesy of the hip-hop duo ShrapKnel. But it surely’s woods with the kicker throughout the observe’s closing moments, simply because the strings arrive to scoop us to security: “What I do can’t be copied / I handle these phrases / Munchausen by proxy.”SBTRKT: “DAYS GO BY” (feat. Toro y Moi)Millennials of a sure classic will bear in mind when SBTRKT dropped “Wildfire” again in 2011. That includes a neoteric beat and unforgettable vocals from Little Dragon, the observe exploded among the many hipsters and the jocks, promising to usher in a golden period of futuristic, big-tent digital pop music (even Drake hopped on an OVO Sound remix of the tune). That by no means actually performed out — by 2013, Daft Punk was already seeking to the ’70s and ’80s for inspiration — however the oft-masked English producer has remained on the fringes of the scene, releasing a gradual drip of recent music all through the 2010s.On the sprawling “RAT ON THE ROAD” — his first new album in seven years — SBKTRKT dabbles in a broad vary of digital sounds and kinds, however he sounds most at dwelling when he faucets into early 2010s nostalgia. That includes laidback vocals from chillwave singer Toro y Moi, “DAYS GO BY” is a glimmering slice of festival-ready electro-pop, geared up with velcro synth strains and a nasty bass groove that can have those self same millennials digging up their neon Wayfarers.Fireboy DML: “Somebody”Final summer time, Fireboy DML sang about his suave romantic pursuits on “Playboy.” On his new single, “Somebody,” the Nigerian Afropop celebrity doubles down on his lover boy persona, whereas peeling again the layers and displaying vulnerability by means of sultry, soulful vocals: “However in case you depart / What occurs to me / The place do I discover somebody, somebody / Somebody to like me.” The observe showcases Fireboy’s versatility as an artist and, by fusing the standard African rhythms his followers adore with modern sounds, the energetic, club-ready beat is an ideal intro to summer time 2023. — Madi WongMore new releases London, Ont., people singer Ken Yates has launched an acoustic model of “The Future Is Useless,” a standout from final yr’s glorious “Cerulean.” The stripped again tune options pretty harmonies from the indie-folk trio Tiny Habits.Celine Dion followers will get some new music within the type of the “Love Once more (Soundtrack From the Movement Image).” The soundtrack for the romantic comedy, which stars Priyanka Chopra, Sam Heughan and Dion herself, marks the primary new music from the Canadian celebrity since a uncommon neurological dysfunction pressured her to cancel or postpone live shows to focus on her well being.Rock titans Queens of the Stone Age launched the riff-heavy “Emotion Illness,” their first tune in six years this week. New album coming in June.Miscellanea from across the music worldRIP Rob Laakso, guitarist and producer who recorded with Kurt Vile and performed as a multi-insturmentalist in Vile’s backing band the Violators. Laakso died of cholangiocarcinoma, a uncommon and aggressive type of bile duct most cancers on the age of 44. Vile paid tribute to Laakso on Instagram this week:100 gecs-heads rejoice! The hyperpop weirdos have a model new video for the “The Most Needed Individual in the USA.” Unsurprisingly, it’s fully weird and creepy, and incorporates a very random cameo from ’90s hearthrob Ryan Phillippe. Alternative quote from the YouTube feedback: “This was probably the most music video of all time.”Think about Dragons: UnpluggedNaomi Klein on AI-generated artwork (her argument is related to AI-generated music, I imagine):“Why ought to a for-profit firm be permitted to feed the work, drawings and pictures of dwelling artists right into a program like Secure Diffusion or Dall-E 2 so it will possibly then be used to generate doppelganger variations of these very artists’ work, with the advantages flowing to everybody however the artists themselves?The painter and illustrator Molly Crabapple helps lead a motion of artists difficult this theft. “AI artwork mills are skilled on monumental datasets, containing hundreds of thousands upon hundreds of thousands of copyrighted pictures, harvested with out their creator’s information, not to mention compensation or consent. That is successfully the best artwork heist in historical past. Perpetrated by respectable-seeming company entities backed by Silicon Valley enterprise capital. It’s daylight theft,” a brand new open letter she co-drafted states.TFW you take heed to The 1975: Newly introduced live shows Toronto-born, New Zealand-based singer Tami Neilson made a splash final summer time together with her nation/blues report “Kingmaker.” She units out on tour this spring, kicking issues off with a present on the Longboat Corridor in Toronto on June 1. Tickets on sale now.Toronto rock band Seashores is embarking on a tour of 18 Canadian cities, together with two exhibits at Massey Corridor on Nov. 1 and a couple of. Tickets on sale now.Toronto Live performance Calendar:…