Music for 3/31/18!!! Kadhja Bonet, Magnar Am, La Mecanica Popular

@@@ Kadhja Bonet: Mother Maybe (Fat Possum, 2018)  I was into Bonet’s debut and it made my year end list the year it came out.  She’s switching gears to a more mainstream/old school disco era r&b sound.  She’s traded in ethereal and intricate for smooth and funky.  Her singing is all right but I wanted more of what she was dealing on her debut.  I went back to her debut and checked out the track ‘Honeycomb’ on her debut and she’s much more in a Curtis Mayfield ’60s orchestrated soul vibe.  I prefer that to this pre-release single, but a lot of people can’t get their heads around Curtis Mayfield.

@@@ Magnar Am: The Broken Vessel (Parma, 2018)  I’m on the mailing list for this multi-genre label that if I remember correctly is located in New Hampshire, a hotbed of musical culture.  The first piece is very ambient with a spacious and loping trumpet solo.  Some marimba type action is slowly appearing and the pace is slow but engaging.  There is at least one percussionist here and the playing is good but I would refer listeners to a classic Bill Dixon record if you want some ambient jazz.

@@@ La Mecanica Popular: Roza Cruz (names You Can Trust, 2018) I got to this experimental/progressive Latin recording via a music publicist email.  You can only sample one track from the record at the bandcamp page displayed below and my first impression is they’ve mashed together Latin percussion with Bitches Brew era jazz keyboard playing.  It’s proggy and nerdy and out there but funky and rhythmically powerful at the same time.  There is some electric guitar garnish/freakout to go with it.  The big jam evolves over time but there’s not quite enough to keep me engaged for the whole 13+ minutes.  Solid B+ and folks who like this should check out Thelonious Monk and Charles Mingus.

YTD recordings listened to: 175
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 93
Not good music: 78

Best: 4
Honorable Mentions: 3

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, A Tribe Called Quest, Noname, Gouge Away, Klara Lewis, Krullur, The Lowest Form, Hard Proof, Yotoco, Jungle Fire, Sandoz, Oddisee, Forro in the Dark, RAM, Fiver, Dona Onete, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Irreversible Entanglements, Converge, Open Mike Eagle, Criolo, Billy Strings, Flowers of Sulphur, Tal National

Music for 3/29/18!!! Ben Frost, Brother JT, Jakob Bro

@@@ Ben Frost: All that You Love Will be Eviscerated (Mute, 2018) Some what I presume to be dark electronica off last week’s All Music notable release email.  It is both dark and tinkly with some static tension building, some metallic tinkling and some dark slashing synths.  The second piece is a well crafted arpeggiated synth with some dark under rumbling and then some steaming hiss.  It seems designed to be dark but not completely dark.  The sounds are really well crafted, the arrangements are solid and I like the compositions while not being knocked out by them.  I like my darkness super dark so I dig the bleak, industrial slow aggro but I understand that’s not for everyone.  Check for yourself.

@@@ Brother J.T.: Tornado Juice (Thrill Jockey, 2018) Dirty noisy guitar indie with a gutbucket singer sort of staggering around inside the tune.  Gravelly voice, this is the music the word shambolic was made for.  He’s kinda growing on me though the rhythm guitar I find to be a little childish and too standard.  The tone of J.T.’s voice is the star here and the lyrics are purposely mundane.  The second tune has a repeated line about potato chips and the third tune is the somewhat simple sentiment, Take me back to the ’90s.  No thanks.  You could probably drink a lot of beer to this record.

@@@ Jakob Bro: Returnings (ECM, 2018)  Some ECM jazz off last week’s All Music notable release email.  All three of my listens are from that promo email.  ECM jazz tends to be very ambient and a blend of straight and free depending on who is being featured.  This is no exception as the production is extremely spacious.  The trumpet sounds a bit like theme from Homeland — that bitch is crazy in that show!  She’s not a bitch but she’s crazy.  The instrumentation is guitar, upright bass, trumpet and drums.  The drums are very light in this first tune.  Let’s peep a little more but quietly so as not to disturb the vibe.  The playing here is somewhat conservative and aiming to please.  Nobody is going to get their feelings hurt here.  The drums and all the playing is very light which doesn’t work great for me.  I’m like Lady Facebook as I like to hear a motherfucker lean in and let it out.

YTD recordings listened to: 172
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 91
Not good music: 77

Best: 4
Honorable Mentions: 3

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, A Tribe Called Quest, Noname, Gouge Away, Klara Lewis, Krullur, The Lowest Form, Hard Proof, Yotoco, Jungle Fire, Sandoz, Oddisee, Forro in the Dark, RAM, Fiver, Dona Onete, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Irreversible Entanglements, Converge, Open Mike Eagle, Criolo, Billy Strings, Flowers of Sulphur, Tal National

Music for 3/28/18!!! Bonny Doon, Ajani Jones, Mark Pritchard

@@@ Bonny Doon: Long Wave (Woodsist, 2018) Some country spiced indie I got to via this week’s All Music notable release email.  Plenty of slack to go around and satisfy all you slackers.  Maybe a whole wheelbarrow or two of slack too much.  Little bit of Wilco (more than a little bit), some Velvet Underground and some My Morning Jacket pubes over the whole deal.  Whoa, this second tune slacks out even more with those faded indie lyrics that Pavement used to traffic in.  I have shit to do so I can’t be rocking sleepytime tea right now but if you have the afternoon free for some naps this will send you off really well.

@@@ Ajani Jones: Cocoons EP (Closed Sessions, 2018)  A hipster that I reluctantly follow on the Twatter twatted a picture of this young hip hop musician with some radio station white fella.  I love the Twatter and I love typing the word twatter, it just feels right.  I believe this is intended to be concious rhymes with pretty mainstreams sounds making up the arrangement.  It’s not trap nasty but it has skitter and some stoned out synth delays blossoming in the background of this first tune.  The cover photo shows Jones as African American but either Eminem sounds a lot like him or he sounds a whole bunch like Eminem when he leans in.  I find myself more interested in the sounds instead of the rhymes though he has a sharp, incisive style on the microphone.

@@@ Mark Pritchard: The Four Worlds (Warp, 2018) Some ambient techno off last week’s All Music notable release email.  It opens up straight and titchy as you would expect from a techno banger.   This first tune is 11 minutes long so it unfurls slowly with synths entering and changed at a modest pace.  I’m going to skip ahead as I find it a bit snoozy.   The second tune is a three minute nugget in comparison and it opens up with delayed piano that starts to trip itself up and throw your ears off.  It is clipped below and thus far I like its off kilteredness.  I also like made up mutations of words.  The third tune is interesting — it has a spoken word lyric that is looped but interrupted by various other vocal glitches and a droning keyboard.  The whole piece sounds a bit church-y and a little sci-fi and a bit whacko and it was most likely intended to go that way.  It’s techno but with some other added flourishes.

YTD recordings listened to: 169
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 88
Not good music: 77

Best: 4
Honorable Mentions: 3

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, A Tribe Called Quest, Noname, Gouge Away, Klara Lewis, Krullur, The Lowest Form, Hard Proof, Yotoco, Jungle Fire, Sandoz, Oddisee, Forro in the Dark, RAM, Fiver, Dona Onete, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Irreversible Entanglements, Converge, Open Mike Eagle, Criolo, Billy Strings, Flowers of Sulphur, Tal National

Music for 3/27/18!!! LCMDF, Kississippi, Yamantaka/Sonic Titan, Black Milk

@@@ LCMDF: Another Sucker (Playground Music Oy, 2018)  A bouncy empowering pro female dance floor banger off this week’s Line of Best Fit tracks of the week.  These girls are not having your antics, gentlemen and they’re doing it with a four on the floor beat and some classic EDM drum fills.  There’s not a lot to discuss with this track — if you feel you been wronged by a man and you like EDM music then well this could work for you!  If not you might want to look elsewhere.

@@@ Black Milk: Fever (Mass Appeal, 2018) ‘Midwest rap’ off last week’s All Music notable release email.  I put Midwest Rap in quotation marks because I’ve never seen that genre marker before.  The first tune opens with old school quiet storm flavors and a little George Clinton squirgly synthesizer action.  When Mr. Milk starts in on the mic he is quick and sharp, contrasting nicely with the laidback sound.  The second tune is more familiar hip hop but still with some laidback-ness.   This album is notable for some quietly engaging guitar work and the mixture of sounds — the beats are solid but the funk flavors and other sonic goodies make it more distinctive.  This tune clipped below is the best of what I heard and a pretty smoking tune to boot.

@@@ Kississippi: Easier to Love (Bug Crusher, 2018) A pre release single off an upcoming full length that I got to via Line of Best Fit.  I was unclear what this song would be but after a little intro it’s an indie electronic ballad with a bittersweet female singer, a few layers of guitar plinking and a white funky drum machine and a little synth candy for your indie listening pleasure.  It’s okay, the vocal line and the chord progression sound very familiar to my ear but a lot of folks like that.

@@@ Yamantaka/Sonic Titan: Dirt (Paper Bag Records, 2018) This record is slotted as heavy metal on last week’s All Music notable release email but this first track is more noisy and a wee bit proggy than metallic.  It segues out of that intro into a pretty straight indie thing but with a still substantial math-y guitar component.  The third tune, Dark Waters, has an epic metal feel but it also sounds a bunch like Queen and has straight rock ‘n roll in it.  The singer, I believe, is a Japanese woman so that changes the vibe of the whole affair moving it away from hard and aggro to trippier.  They sound a bunch like an indie version of the German band the Scorpions but with no testicles and less guitar power.

YTD recordings listened to: 166
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 86
Not good music: 76

Best: 4
Honorable Mentions: 3

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, A Tribe Called Quest, Noname, Gouge Away, Klara Lewis, Krullur, The Lowest Form, Hard Proof, Yotoco, Jungle Fire, Sandoz, Oddisee, Forro in the Dark, RAM, Fiver, Dona Onete, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Irreversible Entanglements, Converge, Open Mike Eagle, Criolo, Billy Strings, Flowers of Sulphur, Tal National

Music for 3/26/18!!! BCUC, Panic! At the Disco, Cavern of Anti-Matter

@@@ BCUC: Emakhosini (Nyami Nyami, 2018)  Some afrobeat off this week’s WRIR playlist email.  It’s a three track EP with two 10+ minute tracks and a shortie.  This is not classic Fela style afrobeat as the first track opens up with hand drumming and some extended singing/vocal improv.  While slotted as Afrobeat on the Apple Music I haven’t heard a single swaggering horn line yet, no conscious African lyrics, and no power funk. I don’t know the bio of this outfit but I it’s mostly an African drum and vocal record with an electric bass.  The tunes are long but there is a lot of impassioned singing and drumming going on here.

@@@ Panic! At the Disco: Amen (Fueled by Ramen, 2018) Over compressed corporate power pop rock bullshit.  If you like over the top circus sounds, a drama queen vocalist, stupid vocal hooks and a generally vomitous blend of cliches and nonsense you should jism your trousers over this biscuit.  This is music meant to catch the attention of twitchy humans that can’t focus on anything.  The saddest bit regarding this tune is that somebody spent a fair amount of time and money sculpting this dog turd.

@@@ Cavern of Anti-Matter: Hormone Lemonade (Duophonic, 2018)  I got to what sounds like it will be a proggy indie kind of affair via last week’s All Music notable release email.  This first tune sounds like the gay love baby of Devo and Yes but with no guitars (yet).  Yes, this is quite Kraut-y — angular and completely non funky which is fine and loads of folks love it, but…..a guitar makes an appearance in the third tune and it’s sort of a nerdy funk they have going.  I’m agnostic on the music but if it sounds like you want to pop designer programming drugs and get your coding on this might be a good soundtrack to woof your Soylent to.

@@@ Vamos: 123 (Maximum Pelt, 2018)  Noisy punk with a few experimental threads thrown in for good measure.  I got to this record via a music publicist in the Windy City area.  Punk is a simple musical style that requires a certain state of mind and these guys have an unrestrained energy with a bit of a I could give a fuck without being completely musically useless.  I could never listen to the Sex Pistols as it was like listening to a bunch of mohawked babies in diapers farting into microphones.  The singer in here is adequately tuneful and capable of melody.  There are a lot of power chords here as one would expect from a guitar punk record.  Bashing drums, plain vanilla bass playing, ya know the classics.  I hear a little Meatloaf in this third tune clipped here.  It’s weird to type a sentence that says you hear meatloaf but it’s an interesting concept.

YTD recordings listened to: 162
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 84
Not good music: 74

Best: 4
Honorable Mentions: 3

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, A Tribe Called Quest, Noname, Gouge Away, Klara Lewis, Krullur, The Lowest Form, Hard Proof, Yotoco, Jungle Fire, Sandoz, Oddisee, Forro in the Dark, RAM, Fiver, Dona Onete, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Irreversible Entanglements, Converge, Open Mike Eagle, Criolo, Billy Strings, Flowers of Sulphur, Tal National

Wow, check out Eagles of Death Metal PTSD/Gooch! #rocknrollfascistfuck

From CNBC here:

In a separate posting, Hughes displayed a cartoon in which a woman says she turned her gun in to “do my part in ending violence” and a man replies that he cut off his penis “to stop rape.”

And in another that has since disappeared from his social media, Hughes posted a drawing of a medicine bottle on which it says “Pills That Are Hard To Swallow” and a hand holding three pills.

The pills refer to “our guns aren’t going anywhere”, “there are only 2 genders,” and “Donald Trump will be your president for 7 more years,” according to the blog Consequence of Sound.

This is Jess Hughes, frontman for the Eagles of Death Metal!

A Trumpkin, a gun toting transphobic piece of shit.  It’s possible that this ‘star’ was traumatized as a result of the terrorist attack he was involved in, but that’s no excuse for being such a hateful fucking retard about other recently traumatized people.

I hope these brilliant social media posts end up torpedoing his career, this is ill shit.

Music for 3/22/18!!! Stanford Prison Experiment, Tal National

@@@ Stanford Prison Experiment: The Gato Hunch (Records DK, 2018).  I was surprised to see this band on Apple Music’s new release section.  I wore out Wrecreation from back in the day, the 00s, oughts or whatnot.  They don’t seem like they got all flabby and moody or changed much — they offer a pretty aggro but not hardcore punk experience to those like it.  Really good singer and a very good drummer.   Their young men playing vibe is there because this is a reissue of a 1995 record which was a pretty long ass time ago and they were younger as we all were if you were even here.  This tune below gets a nice grind going, check it out.

@@@ Tal National: Tantabara (Fat Cat, 2018). I had to get a new Mac mini for some live sound work that I’m doing and the version of iTunes it has on it has a new feature where it will make recommendations based on what I have in my ‘library’.  So it coughed up this new record by Tal National, which is an outfit that I’m all over.  They take a classic African guitar centered style and shoot Red Bull up its ass.  Speed up the tempo, stack up the melodies and push push push.  There is so much guitar in these tracks, also off the last record as well, it’s almost post apocalyptic.  This gorgeous spaghetti mess of an arrangement I find to be delicious.  When I hear this band I think that most indie rock musicians can’t even conceive of playing in this quirky, hyper stimulating manner, never mind do it.  These guys can actually record this shit, it’s amazing and I don’t use the word amazing lightly.  Imma circle back on this record but it’s gonna end up on my year end list.  I’m on the third tune and it sounds like an over caffeinated Frank Zappa track, layered with weird melodies and shot through with polyrhythm.  If you think you can handle it check it out, it’s a joy.

YTD recordings listened to: 158
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 82
Not good music: 72

Best: 4
Honorable Mentions: 3

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, A Tribe Called Quest, Noname, Gouge Away, Klara Lewis, Krullur, The Lowest Form, Hard Proof, Yotoco, Jungle Fire, Sandoz, Oddisee, Forro in the Dark, RAM, Fiver, Dona Onete, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Irreversible Entanglements, Converge, Open Mike Eagle, Criolo, Billy Strings, Flowers of Sulphur, Tal National

Music for 3/21/18!!! Post Louis, Thyla, DJ Devastate

@@@ Post Louis: Little Jack (Post Louis, 2018) A downer indie track with a female singer with tons of delay on her voice.  It gets a bit PJ Harvey in the chorus with some buzzing guitars and more active singing.  Once the song gets past the intro I like it.  I’m not shitting my diaper but it’s firm and a bit weird.  Oh, it’s starting to repeat and a bit tiresome.  I like the singer and the arrangement, the guitars could be more interesting.  Listen for yourself.  The tune is too long, they would have benefitted from shortening.  Not butter but shortening.

@@@ THYLA: I Was Biting (REX Records, 2018). Fuckin’ A, more indie, this time retro ’90s flavored.  Breeders, Nirvana stylings such as for good examples and whatnot.  Both of these tunes are off the Tracks of the Week at Line of Best Fit (the track previous and on top of this one).  I know, people be dying to hear the tracks of the week! Female singer, big guitars, Grohl-y drums.  Nothing that makes it stand out too much but sugar sweet and medium crunch.  Good for a cereal, okay for a track.

@@@ DJ Devastate: Movement/Silence (BBE, 2009) I got to this independent hip hop release via an email obituary that was sent out by a firm whose mailing list I subscribe to.  Jazz inflected, but not solely jazz inflected (instrumental?) hip hop.  Not a hip hop expert over here but I eat a fair amount of it — this has a ’90s feel to the beats.  Not Wu-ey per se but of that era.  The vibe is firm beats and mostly minimal vibe — a little funky, a little smooth and fusion-y with very few vocal samples injected.  Some harp samples, some vibes/marimba, smooth keyboards, lounge-y and shit.  I like it all right.

YTD recordings listened to: 156
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 81
Not good music: 72

Best: 4
Honorable Mentions: 3

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, A Tribe Called Quest, Noname, Gouge Away, Klara Lewis, Krullur, The Lowest Form, Hard Proof, Yotoco, Jungle Fire, Sandoz, Oddisee, Forro in the Dark, RAM, Fiver, Dona Onete, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Irreversible Entanglements, Converge, Open Mike Eagle, Criolo, Billy Strings, Flowers of Sulphur

Music for 3/20/18!!! Rich Homie Quan, The Decembrists

@@@ Rich Homie Quan: Rich as in Spirit (Motown, 2018). When you read the Apple Music, well let’s check it — Rich Homie Quan has reached an epiphany.  Rich as in Spirit shows that elevating your mind is just as important as elevating your bank account.  The first tune is called ‘Reflecting’ and there’s not a single spiritual word in the track.  Whassup wit dat?  It’s all about money and his accomplishments and getting back up after being knocked down.  The falling down and getting back up metaphor is back in the spiritual anthem he has in the second slot: Fuck Wit Me.  I won’t go on and on here but it’s this sort of marketing and deception that shows the music business to be completely full of shit.  I was expecting some KRS-One action and there’s this money chasing, gun popping motherfucker.

@@@ The Decembrists: I’ll Be Your Girl (Capitol, 2018). Off last week’s All Music notable release email.  This first tune, Once in My Life, is acoustic guitar driven anthem with strong Coldplay flavors.  Not as wet cardboard-y but it’s in the neighborhood.  The chorus explodes, and frankly I think this is ass.  Coffee shop fake sentiment horse shit.  Let’s peep more but we’re not off to a good start.  The second tune is closer to a traditional British folk tune but I can’t imagine they’re going to leave it alone.  Oh no, I got that right as we have the full band including a fluffy arpeggiated synth that smells out of place.  Ah, video game synths open up the third tune, followed by an indie surf guitar line and I do think I would rather listen to Devo and enjoy the warped darkness of their music instead of this marshmallow sandwich.

YTD recordings listened to: 153
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 79
Not good music: 71

Best: 4
Honorable Mentions: 3

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, A Tribe Called Quest, Noname, Gouge Away, Klara Lewis, Krullur, The Lowest Form, Hard Proof, Yotoco, Jungle Fire, Sandoz, Oddisee, Forro in the Dark, RAM, Fiver, Dona Onete, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Irreversible Entanglements, Converge, Open Mike Eagle, Criolo, Billy Strings, Flowers of Sulphur

Music for 3/19/18!!! Hailu Mergia, Fyahbwoy, Leon Bridges, Jason Aldean

@@@ Hailu Mergia: Lala Belu (Awesome Tapes from Africa, 2018). I got to this African record via the WRIR playlist email.  I don’t find that much jazz in this first tune, it’s more of a soul tune with a little improvised accordion over it.  The instrumentation here is drums, bass, organ, accordion and percussion.  I like it, and I promise I won’t be a genre bitch. I like the accordion player but I want more than mostly straight jazz grooves — I want more funk or more outside playing or both.  It’s pleasant and the sounds are good.

@@@ Fyahbwoy: Cadenas De Oro | (Nacional, 2018).  An urban Latin single that I saw on the very same WRIR playlist email.  Keyboards, guitar, drum machine and a loverboy singer/MC.  I can’t tell if this is a drummer or a drum machine but does it matter that much.  He’s got some pretty nice Spanish dancehall toasting going on.  I prefer that to his loverboy routine.  It’s a solid track, if you don’t like the singer you’re not gonna like the tune.  I’m agnostic on the singer.

@@@ Leon Bridges: Bad Bad News (Sony, 2018). I’ve heard Bridges before and like his music but I’m a little surprised to see such fusion-y track on the Apple Music hot tracks section.  When Bridges starts singing I get why, he really can carry a song.  There is a little blues swirled up in the fusion but it’s pretty mid to late ’70s fusion jazz sounds.  If it had different sounds I would be up on this big time.  The bass sound is great but I can’t abide by the guitar sound.  Listen for yourself.

@@@ Jason Aldean: Rearview Town (Macon/Broken Bow, 2018).  That’s right Aldean is leaving town, probably because of a woman.  God damn, girl what did you do to my man Jason?  Broken hearts and rusted plows so he’s mixing his personal plight with the decay of rural America.  This is going to be a short review as I’m on the verge of tears.  Someone get me a Kleenex!  Power chords, a guitar solo that would make Bon Jovi proud.  I’ve attached the lyric video so you can get your heart torn out.  I have to break away and shed a few tears for Facebook as America discovers what an ill bitch spying machine it is.  Lots of tears over here so make sure you got some self-care lined up, the world is full of sadness.  Ya know, broken hearts and rusted plows!

YTD recordings listened to: 151
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 79
Not good music: 69

Best: 4
Honorable Mentions: 3

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, A Tribe Called Quest, Noname, Gouge Away, Klara Lewis, Krullur, The Lowest Form, Hard Proof, Yotoco, Jungle Fire, Sandoz, Oddisee, Forro in the Dark, RAM, Fiver, Dona Onete, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Irreversible Entanglements, Converge, Open Mike Eagle, Criolo, Billy Strings, Flowers of Sulphur