Music for 8/29/18!!! Nick Jonas/Robin Schulz, Logic, Disclosure

@@@ Nick Jonas and Robin Schulz: Right Now (Island, 2018). A Drake/Bieber style panty quaker off the Apple Music hot tracks section.  Breathy vocals and he needs you in his bed.  A slightly Caribbean beat, some synth melodies, hottie on the mic, boom!  That’s money yo.

@@@ Logic: The Return (Def Jam, 2018) Logic goes roughneck as he moves off the dance floor.  The beats are retro, there’s no trap grit in the house and there’s a surprisingly sweet bit of melody to go with the beat.  The MC is all right, no great shakes.  No Pusha T on the mic for sure.  I made it about 2.5 minutes which is pretty good from where I’m sitting.

@@@ Disclosure: Where Angels Fear to Tread (Island, 2018).  Let’s stay mainstream in the Apple Music hot tracks section.  Opens up lounge-y with a stacked vocal melody over a breezy unt-sss.  This is for women in big high heels and their men who are stuffed into their blazers and leisure pants.  Maybe on a boat ride with a drink with an umbrella.  Or maybe a good soundtrack to torture innocent Iraqis at Abu Ghraib.  I kid, I kid, let’s keep it light.  A few spaceship bleeps, some filtering, a string arrangement and hand claps.  Put the meat on the barbie, the handclaps are out!

YTD recordings listened to: 498
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 261
Not good music: 208

Best: 9
Honorable Mentions: 5

Possibles: Retox, Defeater, Jonwayne, Okkyung Lee, Slidhr, The Chewers, Susie Iberra/Roberto Rodriguez, The Coral, T.O.M.B., Lozen, Erase Errata, Mastery, 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, 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, Elysia Crampton, Parquet Courts, Orlando Lopez, Moskus, Kendl Winter

 

Music for 8/28/16!!! Interpol, Nothing, Tunng

@@@ Interpol: Marauder (Matador, 2018). Angular rock from standbys Interpol off this week’s All Music notable release email.  A little bit of Devo, a little bit of U2 with a lot of energy and high end sounds.  The singer is nasal, the songs don’t make a huge impression on me, and it’s pretty standard corporate rock for this decade.

@@@ Nothing: Dance on the Blacktop (Relapse, 2018).  Not the usual fare from Relapse but not super unrelated.  More on the shoe gaze, hard rocking dreamy tip.  It’s like the Smashing Pumpkins without that annoying bald fuck/self proclaimed genius Corgan.  It’s a wall of finely manicured guitars with epic sounds and arena rock drumming.  Custom aimed at the sensitive and lonely suburbanites.  Stay off the opioids kiddies!  I wish I could say things are gonna get better.

@@@ Tunng: Songs You Make at Night (Songs You Make at Night, 2018) All Music has this slotted as indie electronic while the Apple Music has it as folk so we will see who wins this genre battle.  It opens up all mellow and dreamy and then the electronics and the samples kick in and it’s still mellow and dreamy.  I think Apple Music must be smoking crack as this is indie electronic for sure.  The singer has a British accent and he sounds a whole bunch like Peter Gabriel with a literate, New Age-y upliftingness.  The title is correct — these are comforting, intimate songs made at night for headphone people.

YTD recordings listened to: 495
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 260
Not good music: 206

Best: 9
Honorable Mentions: 5

Possibles: Retox, Defeater, Jonwayne, Okkyung Lee, Slidhr, The Chewers, Susie Iberra/Roberto Rodriguez, The Coral, T.O.M.B., Lozen, Erase Errata, Mastery, 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, 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, Elysia Crampton, Parquet Courts, Orlando Lopez, Moskus, Kendl Winter

Music for 8/27/18!! Alba Griot Ensemble, Teeklef, Doctor Nativo

@@@ Alba Griot Ensemble: Darkness Between the Leaves (Rough Guide, 2018)  A mash of African string playing and Scottish folks players and singers.  It’s a sad ballad-y track that does a good job of blending the various sounds they’ve put together.  It’s almost 6 minutes so they take their time on this tune.  There’s not much to say after describing the sonic combination, check it out.

@@@ Teeklef: Apart (HipNavi, 2018)  A world loverboy single that’s in the Apple Music world hot tracks section.  When you hear a track like this you realize what a huge influence Drake has been in combining loverboy singing and world music sounds.  Teeklef is from Nigeria and there’s some African flavors but this is essentially a Drake song.  Multiple percussion tracks, lots of vocal tracks and a mildly poppy electro sounds — that’s the formula.

@@@ Doctor Nativo: Guatemaya (Stonetree, 2017) Last track of the day, also off the WRIR weekly playlist email, and also a mash of world music sounds and electronic sounds.  After the marimba intro it widens out into a full large ensemble track with guitars, horns, and big drums.  The singer gets into reggae stylings though not copycat and sung in Spanish.   It’s a pretty fat laidback summer track, well put together with interesting sounds.  I’ve done some Google pimping and I think the tune is about recognizing the indigenous Maya by changing Guatemala to Guatemaya.  I can’t really disagree with that and heightens my respect for the track.

YTD recordings listened to: 492
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 257
Not good music: 206

Best: 9
Honorable Mentions: 5

Possibles: Retox, Defeater, Jonwayne, Okkyung Lee, Slidhr, The Chewers, Susie Iberra/Roberto Rodriguez, The Coral, T.O.M.B., Lozen, Erase Errata, Mastery, 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, 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, Elysia Crampton, Parquet Courts, Orlando Lopez, Moskus, Kendl Winter

Best of 2018 Pick 9

700 Bliss: Spa 700 (Don Giovanni, 2018)

Organic electronic production and a pleasantly confrontational African American female MC/singer/spoken word artist headline this EP.  It is rough without being overly fast and aggro with more than one mention of slave ships and other racial references.  I dig that and think the way the lyrics and the sounds go together is great.  The beats are more sci fi than funky with a lot of thick, grizzled bass pulses and frequent high end blasts, whistles or creepy ring outs.

It’s 13 minutes of trippy, pissed off computer music.  Excellent and unique work.

Do you think record companies are run by scumbags????

From the Guardian here:

Michael Jackson’s record label Sony has been caught up in a legal battle over whether the singer really performed the lead vocals on three songs in a posthumous album released under his name.

In a US court this week, in attempting to persuade a judge that it should not be a defendant in a lawsuit over the songs, Sony hypothesised that Jackson was not the main singer on Breaking News, Keep Your Head Up and Monster – but argued that such a scenario would not mean it had no legal right to sell the music under his name.

Music for 8/23/18!!! Tony Molina, Alloys, FOXTROTT

@@@ Tony Molina: Kill the Lights (Slumberland, 2018). Oh my, somebody owns all the Big Star records.  Maybe they’re not taking all the same pills that Alex Chilton was taking but they’re playing the same melodic guitar driven rock with vocal harmonies.  These are all very short tunes which is great as they don’t fuck around and are focused little shots of sound.  The playing is not as weird and speeded out as Big Star, but this has a million indie bands stuffed into it for extra indie goodness.

@@@ Alloys: Alloys EP (Bart, 2018).  More rock!  Do you wanna rock!  Most of the time I don’t want to rock!  These guys have brisk opening tune with lots of tom drumming and fiercely strummed yet clean guitars.  Not super slack which I appreciate.  It is a trio of guitar and bass and drums and they’re not super rocking — it’s a little slack and a little sharp.  No sleepy time Wilco tea — thank Christ! — but no full on rocking either.  The singer is on the lower energy part of the spectrum.  I’m sensing there’s some R.E.M. records in the band collection.

@@@ FOXTROTT: Meditations II (One Little Indian, 2018).  Some electronic music I got to somehow, it’s been a busy week.  This is electronic music with a singer which immediately gets slotted as indie electronic.  It’s a relaxed tempo with white people’s funk sauce on it.  The sounds are all solid.  It’s a three song biscuit so I’ll give it another track.  The sounds on this second track are pretty high end with some glitch and circular motion going on but if you don’t dig your electronic music with vocals it’s not gonna fly.  Me personally I enjoy a break from the humans more than once in a while.

YTD recordings listened to: 489
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 255
Not good music: 205

Best: 8
Honorable Mentions: 5

Possibles: Retox, Defeater, Jonwayne, Okkyung Lee, Slidhr, The Chewers, Susie Iberra/Roberto Rodriguez, The Coral, T.O.M.B., Lozen, Erase Errata, Mastery, 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, 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, Elysia Crampton, Parquet Courts, Orlando Lopez, Moskus, Kendl Winter, 700 Bliss

Music for 8/22/18!!! Mitski, Odetta Hartman, Uniform

@@@ Mitski: Be the Cowboy (Dead Oceans, 2018).  Indie rock off this week’s All Music notable release email which we will be rocking for this whole day’s listen.  And shit.  A Japanese-American transplant doing torch songs, at least the opener.  These are finely crafted indie tunes, not fully downer-y but than a bit of melancholy.  Mitski’s voice is great, the lyrics are better than average but well I’m not super into the indie conceit.

@@@ Odetta Hartman: Old Rockhounds Never Die (Memphis Industries, 2018). I got to this alt country/indie thing via last week’s All Music.  It sports redneck sounds as well as indie sounds and Hartman comes off as a Jack White but with a vagina.  I’m assuming she has a vagina, it’s not a primary concern of mine.  Actually it does make you wonder if  Jack White might have a tickle muff betwixt his gams.  Back to the music!  I expected more redneck as the record is out on Memphis industries but besides a stray banjo and what not it’s pretty indie.  Not particularly noisy, they’re pleasantly coffee shop.  She’s got a ‘I want to run to the edge of the earth with you’ vocal hook going on this third tune.  There’s even a drum machine on this fourth tune.

@@@ Uniform: The Long Walk (Sacred Bones, 2018).  This is in the Nine Inch Nail industrial rock tradition though I haven’t heard any synths yet.  A lot of distorted guitars and bass, a distorted voice that sounds like it’s coming up a clogged drain.  I skipped to the second song, not usually a good sign if I can’t make it through the opener.  The guitarist and the drum probably own a fair amount of heavy metal records and they straddle metal, punk, and noise and industrial music but I’m not finding it a super satisfying listen.  You, dear listener, might feel very differently so check for yourself.  There never were any synths, the vocals were Nine Inch Nail-esque, but it’s a heavy rock record, just want to clear that up.

YTD recordings listened to: 486
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 253
Not good music: 204

Best: 8
Honorable Mentions: 5

Possibles: Retox, Defeater, Jonwayne, Okkyung Lee, Slidhr, The Chewers, Susie Iberra/Roberto Rodriguez, The Coral, T.O.M.B., Lozen, Erase Errata, Mastery, 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, 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, Elysia Crampton, Parquet Courts, Orlando Lopez, Moskus, Kendl Winter, 700 Bliss

Music for 8/20/18!!! The Freaky Baby Daddies, Howling Star, Black Arkade

@@@ The Freaky Baby Daddies: Feed Your Ego (N/A, 2018)  I saw on the Line of Best Fit there is another black punk festival besides Afropunk.  It’s called, simply enough, Black Punk, and these guys are the first band listed.  There is most definitely some rocking going on here but I’m not sure how punky fresh it is.  There’s a lot of melody, and higher end production, and guitar shredding but I will not be a genre bitch.  This is more like Living Colour than Bad Brains.  Very high energy power trio playing even comes with tambourine at the end of the tune when it blows out.

@@@ Howling Star: GIN (North Elements, 2016)  Another track from the black punk festival.  This is punkier for sure with some metal sounds thrown in.  Black female singer which I’m totally into, and a thick wall of guitars blasting away.  The tune is about gentrification and she’s giving gentrifiers what they deserve.  This outfit is from Atlanta but it could be Brooklyn of San Francisco getting the shout out.  I like the energy, the topic and the singer does really solid work here.

@@@ Red Arkade: We don’t sing too Pretty EP (N/A, 2018)  Here we go some straight up pogo punk out of Queens NY.  Singer sounds like Ice T and I’m sure Donald Trump flings his pumpkinhead hair to this kinda shit.  After he burns a cross out on the White House lawn.  The second tune is called ‘Fuck that Shit’ and I don’t think they could be more direct or straight ahead in their sentiment.  The production is not super shiny by any means but it’s not dirty crusty punk style either.  The longest tune is 2:44 so it’s get in and get out commando style anti social punk.  I dig the drummer, you get a walloping bucket of distorted guitars and plenty of sing along hooks.  If you’re looking for a blast of hostility to get your week started turn away from the Trump Toilet Tweet Tirade and get some from Queens.

YTD recordings listened to: 483
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 251
Not good music: 202

Best: 8
Honorable Mentions: 5

Possibles: Retox, Defeater, Jonwayne, Okkyung Lee, Slidhr, The Chewers, Susie Iberra/Roberto Rodriguez, The Coral, T.O.M.B., Lozen, Erase Errata, Mastery, 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, 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, Elysia Crampton, Parquet Courts, Orlando Lopez, Moskus, Kendl Winter, 700 Bliss

Tracks for the weekend!

Music for 8/17/18!!! Janet Jackson, 6Lack, Calvin Harris/Sam Smith

@@@ Janet Jackson & Daddy Yankee: Made for Now (Rhythm Nation, 2018)  The #1 track in the hot tracks section at the Apple Music.  It’s got a breezy Caribbean beat, what could be a Haitian of African guitar line, a little Spanish background vocal action and she sounds eerily like her brother Michael’s falsetto.  Swearsies realsies.  It’s a multilayered groove for sure but the vocal hook ‘not tomorrow, made for now does wear a tad.  I’m glad she is still making music.

@@@ 6Lack: Nonchalant (LVRN/Interscope, 2018)  6Lack has turned into a confessional mope in the a series of singles after his first full length.  This track is less about his female relationship/s but his work and his approach to it and his stress in following up a huge first record.  This track I like more than most of the other singles and his sonics are really trippy and high end.  He does a good job building these dark hazy productions that form the backdrop for his rhymes.  It’s cool that he’s a unique artist thematically and really puts out introspective sentiments you don’t hear often in mainstream r&b.

@@@ Calvin Harris and Sam Smith: Promises (Sony Music, 2018)  Two of my least favorite mainstream ‘artists’ team up for a biscuit!  Let’s go on this.  It’s a combination of Smith’s overwrought sentiments and Harris’ simulated funk done at a midtempo pace and focused on love and promises.  Harris is a straight up disco/funk/electro copy machine — his first child should be named Xerox!  He made no promises, he can’t do no golden rings, but he’s gonna give you everything.  I don’t buy it cuz I would like to hear some soulful and original music and I’m not getting that.

YTD recordings listened to: 480
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 248
Not good music: 202

Best: 8
Honorable Mentions: 5

Possibles: Retox, Defeater, Jonwayne, Okkyung Lee, Slidhr, The Chewers, Susie Iberra/Roberto Rodriguez, The Coral, T.O.M.B., Lozen, Erase Errata, Mastery, 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, 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, Elysia Crampton, Parquet Courts, Orlando Lopez, Moskus, Kendl Winter, 700 Bliss