@@@ Kaskade: Automatic (Warner Bros, 2015). Super New Age cornball techno rock. There’s a bit of grit to the bassline but no fear the lyrics are full on fluffy pants about we don’t stop for no one. What a flattering untruth for most folks who are easily stopped. And here’s your big club/shopping mall chorus-gasm. Now in my world there is cheese, corniness, and sugar. This is a medium sized cob of corn with a sprinkled hard cheese after you butter that cob up. It’s not full on gooey yellow Kraft cheese sauce, but it’s cheesy and corny and buttery. Next tune! Us is the title — I don’t know how folks can retain their dignity listening to these lyrics. I want to reach the sky with you? Woof, tell me how brave you want me to be like that awful Sarah Bareilles person. Further song titles like Phoenix (we’re gonna rise from the ashes!) and Mercy (I have no joke here) and Tear Down the Walls (a title that has been rocked so hard it’s like a tired Times Square hooker facing retirement). This music stinks and will ensure that your adulthood will be just like your childhood just with a job. Don’t grow up.
@@@ Casey Veggies: Live & Grow (Epic/Vested In Culture, 2015). Some major label West Coast hip hop off the Beats highlights page. I made the mistake of thinking with a last name of ‘veggies’ this would be a record it would be a hippie hop record. But while Mr. Veggies is not full gangsta he’s plenty tough with a solid aggressive approach to the microphone, pretty hot beats and a focus on uplifting oneself. Snoop Dogg makes a quick appearance at the end of the second track and says Veggies is his cousin. The production sounds pretty blunted — bumptious bass, lots of little tinkling percussion sounds tossed in. Solid B.
@@@ CHVRCHES: Every Open Eye (Glassnote, 2015). More electro, just what the world needs. This time with an ’80s drum sound, synth bass and more of a rock tune structure than a club banger. Still plenty of synth sauce for your sausage (or clam, depending on where your junk is at). The female singer has a quite a bit of spunk, she sounds a bunch like Gwen Stefani (overrated!) but without the wacky Cali vibe. The second tune is another updated ’80s rock tune so I fear it’s gonna be a long record for you and a short listen for me. God bless the stop button. Off the Beats highlights page.
@@@ Maiden Radio: Wolvering (OK Recordings, 2015). A tune off an alt-folk record coming out the middle of October. It’s a simple arrangement with banjo, dirty harmonica and harmonizing females. It’s only two minutes long so it’s hard to get a good feel for what these women can do, but it’s simple and tasteful and that’s a good sign going forward. I got to this tune via a music publicist email.
You can check out the one tune here.
YTD recordings listened to: 781
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 447
Not good music: 270
Honorable Mentions: 20
Buys: 13
Possibles: Chris McGregor, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Dave Arner Trio, MAKU Soundsystem, Zomby, Retox, About Group, Jessie Mae Hemphill, Bone Dance, Defeater, Jonwayne, Okkyung Lee, The Ballantynes, Debruit, Slidhr, The Whammies, The Chewers, Alexander Hawkins, Toxic Holocaust, Equal Stones, Comeback Kid, Susie Iberra/Roberto Rodriguez, Lenguas Largas, The Coral, Spacesuits, T.O.M.B., Fofoulah, Lozen, Erase Errata, Mohamed Abozekry, Dawn Richard, Leo Welch, Mastery, Leviathan, Xibalba, Hartley C. White, Weed, Cold Water, Ellen Jewell, Akitsa, Richard Thompson, Jeremy Pinnell, Pat Thomas, Janelle Monae, The Alchemist, Luther Dickinson, Andra Day, Frog Eyes, Ruby Amanfu, Madd Again!, Fuck the Facts, Shannon and the Clams, Destruction Unit, Rim Kwaku Obeng
Deep In the Music 