Selective listening | Johnathan Blake, Taxi Girls and Killjei

Every week, our music journalists add songs to the playlist of The Press on Spotify. Here are three recent titles that are in our selection.

Johnathan Blake, Passage

The Montreal Jazz Festival is over, of course, but our ears want more. Here we discover this piece of the American drummer-percussionist. Nine minutes where the changes in tempo and the complex interconnections between sonorities – think of the work of the great Kamasi Washington – are heard, developed and enriched. The jazz heritage of Johnathan – son of cellist John Blake Jr. – is very audible, he who favors the construction of a common air between the musicians who work with him within the Pentad group. Vibraphone, piano, alto sax, double bass and, of course, drums are on the menu of the structured piece that leaves improvisation aside. This composition announces the release of a second opus on the Blue Note label, in mid-August.

Philippe Beauchemin, The Press

Taxi girls, sunshine

look for the boy. Fans of dance evenings in French will remember the poisonous romantico-new-wave hit of Taxi Girl, the French group directed by the late Daniel Darc. You will be looking for him for a long time, the boy, within Taxi Girls (with an “s”, this time), a new Montreal trio straight out of the Rock ‘n’ Roll High School des Ramones, who recently launched his first EP, Coming Up Roses. Lasting 1 minute 24 seconds, the frantic sunshine alone would earn them all the flowers in the world, so much does the fire respond to a formula as irrefutable as it is jubilant: a heady ball of rubber melody, smiling harmonies and a blitzkrieg rhythm. Like what minimalism remains the most effective of maximalisms. Hey ho, let’s go!

Dominic Tardif, The Press

Killjei, Phone Home

A week ago, Montreal rapper Killjei launched Endworld, his first album under that name since dropping Jei Bandit’s. The 28-year-old artist, who has been recording since 2015, has experimented a lot over the years and this exploration of styles can be heard on Endworld. Like Kanye West, he recruited several collaborators to realize his creative vision, which he fully orchestrated. The base is trap, but the work is imbued with jazz, alternative, electro and R&B. There is a depth and a refinement that one only observes in the greatest of the genre. On the piece Phone Home, Killjei is accompanied by Quebec City rapper Lewis Dice. The two bounce off a soaring beat that evolves over the track’s two minutes. We will soon talk about Killjei, who is preparing to bring Endworld on the scene.

Pascal LeBlanc, The Press