Music for 11/30/17!!! Benin City, Poppy Ajudha, Melis

@@@ Benin City: All Smoke, No Fire (Moshi Moshi, 2018)  A pre-release electronic single off the Line of the Best Fit tracks of the week.  Ah, after a somewhat menacing British MC, some hip hop skitter breaks out.  It’s hard to say if this is hip hop or not but I do appreciate that this track is about gentrification.  You’re flat is in my dancehall, you’re parking in my market, that’s a great line.  It’s got a pretty insistent pong keyboard arrangement that drives me a tad crazy and the MC gives way to a singer and then back so it’s got some disorientation built into it, but I dug the spirit.

@@@ Poppy Ajudha: Tepid Soul (Poppy Ajudha, 2017)  Another single off the Line of Best Fit.  More of a chill track than the first firestarter.  Female singer, mellow guitar, trippy keyboard, and a beat that’s a couple of steps above lounge.  Soak your hands in my tepid soul, I can’t really get a handle on what that line means as it’s the hook.  I’m pretty sure using the word tepid in a vocal hook is not the greatest idea.

@@@ Melis: Parallels (Virtuous Sound, 2017) Serious pop off the same Line of Best Fit tracks of the week.  Female singer keeping it trim and together until the exploding slightly kaleidoscopic chorus.  More like pop/adult alternative as the cheese factor is there but it’s lower than mainstream pop.  Let’s peep a bit more.  The second track opens up with piano and more fragile singing.  The third track sinks deeper into the bad relationship feelings.  This one is for the aggrieved ladies.

YTD recordings listened to: 771
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 413
Not good music: 321

Buys: 9
Honorable Mentions: 7

Possibles: Retox, Defeater, Jonwayne, Okkyung Lee, The Ballantynes, Slidhr, The Chewers, Toxic Holocaust, Susie Iberra/Roberto Rodriguez, Lenguas Largas, The Coral, T.O.M.B., Lozen, Erase Errata, Mastery, Leviathan, Hartley C. White, Weed, Cold Water, Janelle Monae, Luther Dickinson, Graeme Barrett, Fast Asleep, Goldlink, Cavanaugh, Gentleman Surfer, Satoko Fuji, Moken, Juan Atkins, Lantern, Twin Peaks, Djelimady Tounkara, The Oh Sees, Denny Zeitlin, MILF, Unfun, De La Soul, Carl Sagan’s Skate Shoes, Magrudergrind, A Tribe Called Quest, Noname, Gouge Away, Anna Hogberg, Klara Lewis, Krullur, The Lowest Form, Hard Proof, James Brandon Lewis, Yotoco, Jungle Fire, Sandoz, J.I.D., Oddisee, Forro in the Dark, RAM, Fiver, Dona Onete, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, American Lips, Sudan Archives, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Benjamin Booker, Irreversible Entanglements, Converge, Boubacare Traore, Les Filles De Illighadad, Curtis Harding

 

Music for 11/29/17!!! Futuro de Hierro, blackbear, Shenandoah Davis, Holy

@@@ Futuro de Herrio: Paso en el Vacio (Majia Rojo, 2017) I was contacted by this small European label about a review of this release.  It opens up with an industrial dance groove, some feedback squalls and a gent somewhat losing it on the microphone.  I’m feeling these random sheets of aggro guitar/guitar-like squeals.  I like this second track called A veces somos uno as the vocals are made more abstract with processing and they are set lower in the mix.  I like the sounds on this record, dark and tough, but I didn’t enjoy the vocal work as much.  Check it for yourself, especially the second tune.

@@@ blackbear: anxiety (Interscope, 2017)  Off the Apple Music hot tracks section this is an electro pop record with tons of hip hop MCs as guest vocalists.  The production is meticulous and occasionally creative but otherwise it surely puts caramel on the rotten apple of any sort of real life anxiety.  Lots of chopped and synthed vocals.  He’s anxious without her love, blah blah blah.

 

 

 

 

 

@@@ Shenandoah Davis: The Wings (Plume Records, 2017) An indie recycling of early ’60s dramatic pop.  Davis has a thinnish (not Finnish) voice but the string flourishes are the star here.  They are reverbed and panned wide for epic effect.  There are drums but placed back in the mix so it’s her sweet voice and the strings and maybe some electro garnish tucked back there.  Could be an organ, hard to tell, insert joke here.  I got to this via a music publicist email.

 

 

 

@@@ Holy: Heard Her (Pnkslm, 2017)  A pre-release single I got to via Line of Best Fit’s tracks of the week.  It’s a bombastic, Beatles influenced psychedelic Brit rock track.  I have no idea if they are Brits or not.  Not the tooth grinding psychedelic business — it has plenty of guitar crunch (and some really nice drumming) with spacious organ to balance shit out.  I’m not jumping up and down but it’s a quality tune well put together with really good energy.

YTD recordings listened to: 768
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 411
Not good music: 320

Buys: 9
Honorable Mentions: 7

Possibles: Retox, Defeater, Jonwayne, Okkyung Lee, The Ballantynes, Slidhr, The Chewers, Toxic Holocaust, Susie Iberra/Roberto Rodriguez, Lenguas Largas, The Coral, T.O.M.B., Lozen, Erase Errata, Mastery, Leviathan, Hartley C. White, Weed, Cold Water, Janelle Monae, Luther Dickinson, Graeme Barrett, Fast Asleep, Goldlink, Cavanaugh, Gentleman Surfer, Satoko Fuji, Moken, Juan Atkins, Lantern, Twin Peaks, Djelimady Tounkara, The Oh Sees, Denny Zeitlin, MILF, Unfun, De La Soul, Carl Sagan’s Skate Shoes, Magrudergrind, A Tribe Called Quest, Noname, Gouge Away, Anna Hogberg, Klara Lewis, Krullur, The Lowest Form, Hard Proof, James Brandon Lewis, Yotoco, Jungle Fire, Sandoz, J.I.D., Oddisee, Forro in the Dark, RAM, Fiver, Dona Onete, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, American Lips, Sudan Archives, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Benjamin Booker, Irreversible Entanglements, Converge, Boubacare Traore, Les Filles De Illighadad, Curtis Harding

Music for 11/28/17!!! John Maus, Maximum Mad, Proto Idiot

@@@ John Maus: Screen Memories (Ribbon Memories, 2017)  To me it is a contradiction but this is upbeat krautrock synth rock.  The sounds are kraut-y, a bit industrial with sawtooth synth basses but it’s all served up with a cherry on top.  There is a B horror movie lower register singing doing an accent-less Dracula thing.  It’s all right, I never got synth rock myself, have at if you do.

@@@ Maximum Mad – Dear Enemy (Good to Die, 2017)  Some good old fashioned ass kicking metal/hardcore splatter for your dissatisfied earholes.  This is no epic, classically influenced business, this is set ’em up and grind ’em down with a hardcore singer and drums that are pleasantly perched betwixt metal and punk.  They also have a few stray Pearl Jam sorta pubes going tucked under the pillow.  I prefer the dirty business to the grunge business but it’s mostly in the guitar riffs and my what a pleasantly farty bass in the third tune Active Aggressive.  Peep for yoself.

@@@ Proto Idiot: Leisure Opportunity (Slovenly, 2017)  Classic self-effacing old school Brit punk off this week’s CFUV playlist email.  Do you remember when people weren’t so far up their own asses?  I do!  These guys do too.  It’s 15 songs in 32 minutes so that’s commando style for sure.  Let’s peep a few more nuggets and head out of town.  I’m stupid, you’re stupid let’s do it!  That sounds about right to me.  Big sing a long vocal hooks, the classic simple punk rock playing.  Come and get it you mohawk wearing retards.

YTD recordings listened to: 764
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 409
Not good music: 318

Buys: 9
Honorable Mentions: 7

Possibles: Retox, Defeater, Jonwayne, Okkyung Lee, The Ballantynes, Slidhr, The Chewers, Toxic Holocaust, Susie Iberra/Roberto Rodriguez, Lenguas Largas, The Coral, T.O.M.B., Lozen, Erase Errata, Mastery, Leviathan, Hartley C. White, Weed, Cold Water, Janelle Monae, Luther Dickinson, Graeme Barrett, Fast Asleep, Goldlink, Cavanaugh, Gentleman Surfer, Satoko Fuji, Moken, Juan Atkins, Lantern, Twin Peaks, Djelimady Tounkara, The Oh Sees, Denny Zeitlin, MILF, Unfun, De La Soul, Carl Sagan’s Skate Shoes, Magrudergrind, A Tribe Called Quest, Noname, Gouge Away, Anna Hogberg, Klara Lewis, Krullur, The Lowest Form, Hard Proof, James Brandon Lewis, Yotoco, Jungle Fire, Sandoz, J.I.D., Oddisee, Forro in the Dark, RAM, Fiver, Dona Onete, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, American Lips, Sudan Archives, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Benjamin Booker, Irreversible Entanglements, Converge, Boubacare Traore, Les Filles De Illighadad, Curtis Harding

Music for 11/27/17!!! James Arthur, Neck of the Woods, Blank Range

@@@  James Arthur: Naked (Sony Germany, 2017)  Having half of you is not enough, he’s standing naked!  He’s not really saying why he’s naked — he’s got relationship problems in this electro pop tune.  He’s giving all he can for chrissakes!  It’s building like a stock market rally though his voice is kinda doughy.  I see from his Apple Music discography that he’s a tattooed bitch so that’s the marketing sell.  He’s a rough boy going pop loverboy.  I can’t really figure out how he’s going to give her everything when he’s standing there naked.  Maybe he has the world stuffed up his ass.  It’s possible, he’s keestering the world.  A lyric video, Christmas is early bitches!

@@@ Neck of the Woods: The Passenger (Self-released, 2017) Some hard rock/heavy music off this week’s CFUV playlist email.  Oh my the singer is pissed — his vocal cords turning to fiberglass threads with a rough but not crazy metal band behind him.  I feel bad the singer is so out of sorts — it’s the holidays and the stock market is at record highs!  I prefer my metal much messier and crushed but check this out for yourself.

@@@ Blank Range: Marooned with the Treasure (Sturdy Girls, 2017)  Classic roots rock off this week’s CFUV playlist email.  Shades of the Band, Blues Traveller with a twangy singer, a lot of guitars and a little hippie looseness to get you over the hump.  You also get some old school organ to go with the duel guitar attack. I’m not particularly in the mood for this but it’s all right.

YTD recordings listened to: 761
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 407
Not good music: 317

Buys: 9
Honorable Mentions: 7

Possibles: Retox, Defeater, Jonwayne, Okkyung Lee, The Ballantynes, Slidhr, The Chewers, Toxic Holocaust, Susie Iberra/Roberto Rodriguez, Lenguas Largas, The Coral, T.O.M.B., Lozen, Erase Errata, Mastery, Leviathan, Hartley C. White, Weed, Cold Water, Janelle Monae, Luther Dickinson, Graeme Barrett, Fast Asleep, Goldlink, Cavanaugh, Gentleman Surfer, Satoko Fuji, Moken, Juan Atkins, Lantern, Twin Peaks, Djelimady Tounkara, The Oh Sees, Denny Zeitlin, MILF, Unfun, De La Soul, Carl Sagan’s Skate Shoes, Magrudergrind, A Tribe Called Quest, Noname, Gouge Away, Anna Hogberg, Klara Lewis, Krullur, The Lowest Form, Hard Proof, James Brandon Lewis, Yotoco, Jungle Fire, Sandoz, J.I.D., Oddisee, Forro in the Dark, RAM, Fiver, Dona Onete, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, American Lips, Sudan Archives, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Benjamin Booker, Irreversible Entanglements, Converge, Boubacare Traore, Les Filles De Illighadad, Curtis Harding

Music for 11/25/17!!! The Light Wires, The Body and Full of Hell

@@@ The Light Wires: The Invisible Hand (Sofaburn, 2017)  I dug Jeremy Pinnell’s first solo record so I wanted to listen to the band he had before he went solo.  This is a reissue of previously released music.  This first tune sports a heavy Replacements vibe (including his voice) which I dig.  Big American guitars.  The second tune is a couple notches above a ballad still with the big ass guitars.  It’s more rocking and less lonesome than his first solo — more classic American rock and I like it.  It’s crazy how much he sounds like Paul Westerberg on these tracks.  I’m going to swing back on this record but fans of Tom Petty, the Replacements (obviously), and Soul Asylum should check this.

@@@ The Body and Full of Hell: Ascending a Mountain of Heavy Light (Thrill Jockey, 2017)  Some death metal/black metal off this week’s CFUV playlist email.  I would say this definitely has some art school noise blended into this black metal.  It’s full on but with art sauce.  I like it.  The second tune does the same thing as it presents a little electronic intro before diving deep into the mosh pit.  A mosh pit whose overlord is an orc.  The guitars are noiser and less slab like than a typical metal record so there are most definitely variations to the formula going on here.  I usually don’t like to mix electronic elements with my heavy metal but this works for me.  Check for yourselves.

YTD recordings listened to: 758
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 405
Not good music: 315

Buys: 9
Honorable Mentions: 7

Possibles: Retox, Defeater, Jonwayne, Okkyung Lee, The Ballantynes, Slidhr, The Chewers, Toxic Holocaust, Susie Iberra/Roberto Rodriguez, Lenguas Largas, The Coral, T.O.M.B., Lozen, Erase Errata, Mastery, Leviathan, Hartley C. White, Weed, Cold Water, Janelle Monae, Luther Dickinson, Graeme Barrett, Fast Asleep, Goldlink, Cavanaugh, Gentleman Surfer, Satoko Fuji, Moken, Juan Atkins, Lantern, Twin Peaks, Djelimady Tounkara, The Oh Sees, Denny Zeitlin, MILF, Unfun, De La Soul, Carl Sagan’s Skate Shoes, Magrudergrind, A Tribe Called Quest, Noname, Gouge Away, Anna Hogberg, Klara Lewis, Krullur, The Lowest Form, Hard Proof, James Brandon Lewis, Yotoco, Jungle Fire, Sandoz, J.I.D., Oddisee, Forro in the Dark, RAM, Fiver, Dona Onete, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, American Lips, Sudan Archives, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Benjamin Booker, Irreversible Entanglements, Converge, Boubacare Traore, Les Filles De Illighadad, Curtis Harding

Music for 11/23/17!!! Wand, Quicksand, Faith Hill/Tim McGraw

@@@ Wand: Plum (Drag City, 2017)  Some indie rock off this week’s CFUV weekly playlist record.  Many Thanksgiving references in these reviews both to humor and annoy.  After a gastrointestinal feedbacky opening it goes into a piano driven midtempo adult alternative rocker.  Let me check the bio, Imma guessing these Wand folks are British.  Nope they’re from L.A. but Imma guessing they own mad brit rock records.  Let’s peep more.  They get the guitars out on this third track Bee Karma, and it’s riffy still with strong Blur/Radiohead vibes.  The singer especially, he’s especially fish and chippy.  They go full on space rock on the fourth tune Charles De Gaulle.  The playing is pretty tight and fresh, the singer is not to my taste but that’s just my personal preference.

@@@ Quicksand: Interiors (Epitaph, 2017)  The first record for these gents in 22 years.  It’s a piquant blend of riff and noise with touches of hardcore and an emo urgency.  The band turns on the contrast between the singer and the churning band underneath.  The drums are very high in the mix which is a plus for my ears.  I’m really falling down on the Thanksgiving related jokes but I’m sure I can annoy if I try.  I have to try harder and then it comes naturally.  The production here is very polished but not epic with tasty bass, guitar and drum sounds.  These guys are pretty serious about their rock so there’s little to jest about unfortunately.  Check it out if you’re up for some heady post-hardcore groomed guitar rock.

@@@ Tim McGraw and Faith Hill: The Rest of our Life (Sony, 2017)  Oh my, let’s switch gears to some super earnest new country music.  Fuck, this is cheesy, dramatic-ness that must be checked out.  The lyrics especially, but the piano is epic and lends a certain pungent odor to the song..  I can’t take much more of this that’s how painful and awesome this is.  If you’ve had a massive Thanksgiving you might want to lay off this high calorie sugary treat as it will make your teeth hurt.  We’ll be young when we’re old!  Fucking awesome.  Let’s check another track, I rocked no turkey today.  The second tune is a rocker and Imma guessing there’s gonna be a pickup truck or a faded blue jeans reference in the first thirty seconds.  I almost made it, he picked her up in a beat up Cutlass in the first line.  She let down her blue bandana and let her blond hair down — that’s a clothes reference — I’m almost good here.  This third tune, The Bed We Made, could be mad hot due to the title of course.  It’s PG rated but it is as I suspected.  Their clothes are trailed down the hall to the bedroom and the sheets are tangled and there’s candlewax on the dresser, and probably a ball gag and a gimp suit for late night freakshows.  The great thing about new country for me as well as new country folks is how predictable the tunes are.  You can see ’em coming from 10 miles away — like an Oklahoma tornado, you dig?

YTD recordings listened to: 756
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 403
Not good music: 315

Buys: 9
Honorable Mentions: 7

Possibles: Retox, Defeater, Jonwayne, Okkyung Lee, The Ballantynes, Slidhr, The Chewers, Toxic Holocaust, Susie Iberra/Roberto Rodriguez, Lenguas Largas, The Coral, T.O.M.B., Lozen, Erase Errata, Mastery, Leviathan, Hartley C. White, Weed, Cold Water, Janelle Monae, Luther Dickinson, Graeme Barrett, Fast Asleep, Goldlink, Cavanaugh, Gentleman Surfer, Satoko Fuji, Moken, Juan Atkins, Lantern, Twin Peaks, Djelimady Tounkara, The Oh Sees, Denny Zeitlin, MILF, Unfun, De La Soul, Carl Sagan’s Skate Shoes, Magrudergrind, A Tribe Called Quest, Noname, Gouge Away, Anna Hogberg, Klara Lewis, Krullur, The Lowest Form, Hard Proof, James Brandon Lewis, Yotoco, Jungle Fire, Sandoz, J.I.D., Oddisee, Forro in the Dark, RAM, Fiver, Dona Onete, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, American Lips, Sudan Archives, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Benjamin Booker, Irreversible Entanglements, Converge, Boubacare Traore, Les Filles De Illighadad, Curtis Harding

Music for 11/22/17!!! Kweku Collins, Diplo, The Diplomats

@@@ Kweku Collins: Grey (Closed Sessions, 2017)  I saw this hip hop artist on the Twatter giving notice of a tour so that triggered this peep.  I like the sounds here, very fresh and  well put together, especially the marimba solo at the end of the track.  Very creative.  It’s kinda left field without trying to be oddball.  I’m on the fifth tune and the opener remains my favorite of what I’ve heard.  I peeped Collins’ bio and he’s doing all right for 20 years old.  He could really develop into something and this is more than solid.

@@@ Diplo: Get it Right (Mad Decent, 2017)  A single off the hot tracks section on Apple Music.  From what I’ve read Diplo’s shit doesn’t ever smell, he’s just that good.  This is an uplifting, slow EDM banger with a breathy female singer.  After the verse it goes into a Brazilian waxed bush hyper-manicured section with vocal synth actions and a pick up in energy.  The vocals are barely coherent but at the meta level it’s a vow that she or the male singer or Diplo is gonna get it right.  I can appreciate the technicals involved in the Brazilian waxed chorus but the verse is a tad over-syruped.

@@@ The Diplomats: Once Upon a Time (Diplomats, 2017)  A filmtracky hip hop single also off the Apple Music hot music section.  They got a kinda soft instrumentation but the MCs hit the mic medium hard putting down other MCs and even throwing a shout out to Harvey Weinstein so this tune might be hot off the hard drive.  The gospel choir vocal sample that runs the whole way is an interesting backdrop for the MCs to smack talk over.  I don’t love it or hate it, I think it’s weird.

YTD recordings listened to: 753
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 402
Not good music: 313

Buys: 9
Honorable Mentions: 7

Possibles: Retox, Defeater, Jonwayne, Okkyung Lee, The Ballantynes, Slidhr, The Chewers, Toxic Holocaust, Susie Iberra/Roberto Rodriguez, Lenguas Largas, The Coral, T.O.M.B., Lozen, Erase Errata, Mastery, Leviathan, Hartley C. White, Weed, Cold Water, Janelle Monae, Luther Dickinson, Graeme Barrett, Fast Asleep, Goldlink, Cavanaugh, Gentleman Surfer, Satoko Fuji, Moken, Juan Atkins, Lantern, Twin Peaks, Djelimady Tounkara, The Oh Sees, Denny Zeitlin, MILF, Unfun, De La Soul, Carl Sagan’s Skate Shoes, Magrudergrind, A Tribe Called Quest, Noname, Gouge Away, Anna Hogberg, Klara Lewis, Krullur, The Lowest Form, Hard Proof, James Brandon Lewis, Yotoco, Jungle Fire, Sandoz, J.I.D., Oddisee, Forro in the Dark, RAM, Fiver, Dona Onete, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, American Lips, Sudan Archives, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Benjamin Booker, Irreversible Entanglements, Converge, Boubacare Traore, Les Filles De Illighadad, Curtis Harding

Music for 11/21/17!!! Tishmal, Kelsey Bulkin, Hatchie

Just a quick note before we begin.  I’m out of town (and not even in America) for the next three weeks so music reviewing might be sporadic.  Internet infrastructure in Europe is shit, everything in Europe is shit.  I know my readers are extremely devoted to my daily musings so it will happen for you but not quite as steady.  You are free to like my shit and let all your friends know that my reviews are more entertaining (as a rule) than the music I’m reviewing.  Not always the highest bar to get over, but I do actually give a shit.

@@@  Tishmal: Underneath (Tishmal, 2017)  Electro pop off the Flavorpill.  Nice synth bass pulse, female singer, tasteful arrangement (thus far).  I’m hearing bits of dumbass lyrics and I don’t like this guitar part but it’s mostly the singer that I have issues with.  As the song progresses the mix gets more crowded.  Ooh, we’re getting to the cheesy climax, tell me how we’re going to make it she implores.  I’m not sure how to answer that.  This song doesn’t make it for me, but that’s just me.

@@@ Kelsey Bulkin: West Coast Drama (Alone in the Sky, 2017)  Also off the Pill of the Flavor.  Electro arrangement with big synth blankets for the female singer to croon over.  I hear the phrase, there is no escape when we’re together which we should send out to Harvey Weinstein, that raping fuck.  There is a section where they strip away the pillow synths and she sings over a nice energetic bass pulse but that’s just a moment as the synths return to pull you down into sleepytime tea land.  It’s a love song West Coast drama where a gent is creeping on his lady.  So there are two sections of the track that are really good and then the other two with the synths that I don’t like as much so it’s a mixed bag.  Peep for yourself as I know what I like but you should check it for yourself.

@@@ Hatchie: Sure (Ivy League Records, 2017)  Big jangly indie guitars open up this tune from the Flavorpill tracks of the week.  Either a multi-tracked female or a couple of females hit the mic and they’re nestled in that bouncy strummed guitar like two white people in an old refrigerator cardboard box.  Straight rock drumming.  I’m not sure what this tune is about — I hear something about is it ever really over.  It’s over when you’re dead, but that’s not the business of this song.  I appreciate the contrast of the guitars with the darker vocals but I read they use this guitar sound down at Guantanamo Bay to get confessions.

YTD recordings listened to: 750
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 400
Not good music: 312

Buys: 9
Honorable Mentions: 7

Possibles: Retox, Defeater, Jonwayne, Okkyung Lee, The Ballantynes, Slidhr, The Chewers, Toxic Holocaust, Susie Iberra/Roberto Rodriguez, Lenguas Largas, The Coral, T.O.M.B., Lozen, Erase Errata, Mastery, Leviathan, Hartley C. White, Weed, Cold Water, Janelle Monae, Luther Dickinson, Graeme Barrett, Fast Asleep, Goldlink, Cavanaugh, Gentleman Surfer, Satoko Fuji, Moken, Juan Atkins, Lantern, Twin Peaks, Djelimady Tounkara, The Oh Sees, Denny Zeitlin, MILF, Unfun, De La Soul, Carl Sagan’s Skate Shoes, Magrudergrind, A Tribe Called Quest, Noname, Gouge Away, Anna Hogberg, Klara Lewis, Krullur, The Lowest Form, Hard Proof, James Brandon Lewis, Yotoco, Jungle Fire, Sandoz, J.I.D., Oddisee, Forro in the Dark, RAM, Fiver, Dona Onete, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, American Lips, Sudan Archives, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Benjamin Booker, Irreversible Entanglements, Converge, Boubacare Traore, Les Filles De Illighadad, Curtis Harding

Music for 11/20/17!!! Yung Lean, Marcioz, Orchin

@@@ Yung Lean: Stranger (Year 0001, 2017)  This white boy hip hop record got record of the week at the Flavorpill which isn’t a place I’ve found righteously awesome music.  Mr. Lean is slack and Oxy on the mic with trippy tinkle sounds in the arrangement.  He’s singing on this second track but it’s mad low energy and he keeps the plinky sounds coming.  His beats are both skittery and downtempo.  Solid B beats, some nice sounds but muthafucka needs a Red Bull.

@@@ Marcioz:  The Very, Very Shy $earl (Bitbird, 2017)  This track is off last week’s Flavorpill tracks of the week.  It starts out as minimalist dreamy folk rock and then gets a repeating string figure and tinkling triangle (glockenspiel maybe?) that is a little Curtis Mayfield-y.  It’s going for dreamy and pretty and it gets there.  I could do with fewer female vocalists with huge reverb patches on their voices but that’s just me.  I’m a contrarian.

@@@ Orchin: Arrow’s Song (Orchin, 2017) Also off the Flavorpill and it opens up indie shoegaze-y but I think they might have bitten a few chords from Guns ‘n Roses Paradise city.  It’s jangly and math-y and the singer comes in on a cloud, soft and vaporous.  I wouldn’t be surprised if he offered me a mint right before the chorus.  This dude is definitely using conditioner when he’s in the shower and he’s not farting in elevators.  That would hurt the other elevator passengers’ feelings and he’s not about that.  I prefer the stormier shoegaze vibes but that’s just me.

YTD recordings listened to: 747
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 398
Not good music: 311

Buys: 9
Honorable Mentions: 7

Possibles: Retox, Defeater, Jonwayne, Okkyung Lee, The Ballantynes, Slidhr, The Chewers, Toxic Holocaust, Susie Iberra/Roberto Rodriguez, Lenguas Largas, The Coral, T.O.M.B., Lozen, Erase Errata, Mastery, Leviathan, Hartley C. White, Weed, Cold Water, Janelle Monae, Luther Dickinson, Graeme Barrett, Fast Asleep, Goldlink, Cavanaugh, Gentleman Surfer, Satoko Fuji, Moken, Juan Atkins, Lantern, Twin Peaks, Djelimady Tounkara, The Oh Sees, Denny Zeitlin, MILF, Unfun, De La Soul, Carl Sagan’s Skate Shoes, Magrudergrind, A Tribe Called Quest, Noname, Gouge Away, Anna Hogberg, Klara Lewis, Krullur, The Lowest Form, Hard Proof, James Brandon Lewis, Yotoco, Jungle Fire, Sandoz, J.I.D., Oddisee, Forro in the Dark, RAM, Fiver, Dona Onete, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, American Lips, Sudan Archives, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Benjamin Booker, Irreversible Entanglements, Converge, Boubacare Traore, Les Filles De Illighadad, Curtis Harding

Music for 11/17/17!!! Mauno Turning, Maraudeur, DRAM and Playboy Carti

@@@ Mauno: Turning (Idee Fixe, 2017)  Guitar indie off this week’s CFUV playlist email.  This is a classic formula — strummed clean electric guitar, slip slidey vocals.  They also sport a bit of math rock action on this second tune.  That was the third tune with the math.  I’m not going to hang for much longer as I’ve heard this record a bunch.  They do all right with it but indie is a tough sell for me.

@@@ Maraudeur: Marauder (Bruit Direct Disques, 2017) More rock, yippy!  This time in the electro/Devo neighborhood.  Angular non-rock rock with some synth half blasts, female singers, squiggles/video game sounds.  I want to wear a flower pot as a hat!  Things get a little more no wave detached in the second tune and the third tune goes for an angular ’80s half punk thing.  Or a Breeders type of thing without the humor and the rock blasts.  I don’t have much to say to this — it’s krauty so if you like krautrock you’ll feel this.

@@@ DRAM and Playboy Carti: Crumbs (Atlantic, 2017)  I had to tip out on the white folks’ music and I saw this tune Crumbs which seems appropriate for what the upcoming tax ‘reform’ bill gives.  The beats are slick and skittery with some high end Lexus synth bass that goes down smooth.  DRAM is all right, I like his style and I’ve not encountered Playboy Carti before but his rhymes are all right.  All I got is crumbs for you that’s the vocal hook.  Which sounds very of the moment as DRAM is blowing 100k on the weekend and our fantastic Republicans are pimpin’ it pretty hard and blowing hard as well.  It’s a good track, I don’t think it’s destined to be a classic but it’s got a smooth and relentless groove.

YTD recordings listened to: 744
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 396
Not good music: 310

Buys: 9
Honorable Mentions: 7

Possibles: Retox, Defeater, Jonwayne, Okkyung Lee, The Ballantynes, Slidhr, The Chewers, Toxic Holocaust, Susie Iberra/Roberto Rodriguez, Lenguas Largas, The Coral, T.O.M.B., Lozen, Erase Errata, Mastery, Leviathan, Hartley C. White, Weed, Cold Water, Janelle Monae, Luther Dickinson, Graeme Barrett, Fast Asleep, Goldlink, Cavanaugh, Gentleman Surfer, Satoko Fuji, Moken, Juan Atkins, Lantern, Twin Peaks, Djelimady Tounkara, The Oh Sees, Denny Zeitlin, MILF, Unfun, De La Soul, Carl Sagan’s Skate Shoes, Magrudergrind, A Tribe Called Quest, Noname, Gouge Away, Anna Hogberg, Klara Lewis, Krullur, The Lowest Form, Hard Proof, James Brandon Lewis, Yotoco, Jungle Fire, Sandoz, J.I.D., Oddisee, Forro in the Dark, RAM, Fiver, Dona Onete, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, American Lips, Sudan Archives, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Benjamin Booker, Irreversible Entanglements, Converge, Boubacare Traore, Les Filles De Illighadad, Curtis Harding