Suffering Jukebox

This morning's episode features an interview with Yuta Matsumura whi has played in the bands Oily Boys, Low Life, Orion, The Lewers and Th Blisks; he also released music under his own name. Yuta is Keanu Nelson's primary collaborator, providing the musical compositions that accompany Nelson's poetry. On Friday 25th April, Efficient Space Records released the Place Where I Go/Kapi Ngalyananni 7" and they recently reissued Nelson's 2023 album Wilurarrakutu.  Find out more about Yuta Matsumura and Keanu Nelson here https://yutamatsumura.bandcamp.com/album/red-ribbon and https://keanunelson.bandcamp.com/music

Nick's Pick of the Week is SUMAC & Moor Mother's The Film. You can hear the whole album in all the usual places, or purchase it here  https://sumac.bandcamp.com/album/the-film and my review can be read below.

SUMAC & Moor Mother: The Film (Thrill Jockey)

Released April 25th 2025

The Film is a powerful, genre-defying collaboration between SUMAC (Aaron Turner on guitar and vocals, Nick Yashyn on drums and Brian Cook on bass) and Moor Mother (the musical alias of Camae Ayewa) two artists who have both built a reputation upon their bold and uncompromising sonic visions. Their artistry embraces the unorthodox and bristles against convention —SUMAC with their esoteric mix of avant-garde and heavy metal, whilst Moor Mother explores the experimental outer reaches of hip-hop and jazz. 

Cinematic in name and scope, The Film is a monumental artistic statement that defies characterisation. SUMAC’s musical accompaniment to Moor Mother’s vocals —occasionally sung, sometimes shouted, often manipulated— showcase the group’s more experimental leanings, owing more to noise and free jazz than metal. Meanwhile, Ayewa’s lyrics address a gamut of socio-political concerns, traversing the Palestinian Genocide and the Black Lives Matter movement, alongside the continuing impacts of colonisation and the internet’s impact on human connection. Needless to say it’s a heavy listen; in more ways than one.

Structurally, The Film is assembled around five tracks, titled Scene 1 through Scene 5: Breathing Fire, some with sub-titles, others without. Generally, these “scenes” are longer compositions —both Scene 2: The Run and Scene 5: Breathing Fire exceed ten minutes— that formulate the album’s key narratives. Interspersing the narrative songs are three tracks, each with individual titles: Hard Truth, Camera and The Truth Is Out There. Camera is the outlier here, whereas the other two songs are little more than instrumental vignettes, Camera contains vocals that expound upon the ideas expressed in Scene 1 through Scene 5: Breathing Fire; albeit in a more deconstructed, cut-up/collage kind of way.

Powerfully confronting, but deeply exhilarating, The Film offers precisely what one would expect from a SUMAC/Moor Mother collaboration. An album for and about the current state of the world, art in defiance of and in response to the fear and uncertainty that typifies the current human experience. It’s far too early to call album of the year, but I’ll be shocked if The Film doesn’t end up in my top ten.

Nick Stephan