@@@ Beyonce & Jay Z: Apeshit (Sony Music, 2018) The second tune off the new Beyonce/Jay Z surprise record. It’s an attempt at a trap tune with hip hop sounds. Beyonce rhymes on the mic and it’s all right but she does bust it impressively two thirds of the way through the tune. Jay has a brief rap and it’s notable for dissing the Grammys. The sounds are all right but honestly a little disappointing by virtue of the sounds not being very interesting. I guess if you don’t believe that Beyonce and Jay Z don’t stand for anything, which is my position, it makes their music a lot less appealing. I think they’re both masterful business people but I think as musicians they’re overrated.
@@@ The Greatest Showman: The Greatest Showman (Atlantic, 2018) Music biz blogger/bigmouth Bob Lefsetz posted about this movie soundtrack record. He usually drifts towards cheese and this is no exception. If you take Imagine Dragons and have a love baby with Disney shit and a little bit of Queen you get this over the top first track. I feel the cheesy epic-ness forcing itself into every orifice of my body and I don’t like it. If you’re not up for that you can enjoy the power ballad cheese of the second tune, A Million Dreams. A young boy and his dreams, good for him but he’s gonna have to pursue them without me. This shit is awful as far as I’m concerned as it further disconnects white people from reality. And I say this as a reluctant white person.
@@@ Onyx Collective: Lower East Side Part Three (Big Dada, 2018) I saw this experimental jazz record featured on the front page of the New York Times, which is not usually a positive as I rarely find great records (if ever!) in the New York Times. But I persevere and I like experimental jazz. It’s not as great as the Greatest Cheeseman reviewed above, but it’s trying! The first piece is a drone with some tinkly metal percussion and toms, electric bass (?), and some interesting sax work. It is supposed to be a dark record and I get that but it’s not full of classic free jazz skronk/frustration so it has a downer pretty vibe thus far. I wish the recording sounded a bit better (especially the bass sound) but it’s a good record with the fourth track ‘There Goes the Neighborhood’ being my favorite of what I heard with it’s classic sax forlorn wail.
YTD recordings listened to: 339
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 178
Not good music: 153
Best: 6
Honorable Mentions: 4
Possibles: Retox, Defeater, Jonwayne, Okkyung Lee, 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, 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, Converge, Open Mike Eagle, Criolo, Billy Strings, Flowers of Sulphur, Tal National, Portal, Hernan Sama & Marcelo von Schultz, Jean Grae and Quelle Chris, Lawaii, Etran De L’Air, Ruby Karinto
Deep In the Music 