Music for 8/29/19!!! Saint Abdullah, Missy Elliott, Silent Vigils

@@@ Saint Abdullah: Mechanical Flirtations (True Aether, 2019) I saw a show with these guys up on the Flavorpill weekly email and saw they’re Muslim (check out that NC The Muslims, you bitches) and thought I would throw it a listen.  This is an electronic record and it’s not gonna be a dancefloor banger if the first tune is any indication.  It opens up with a dark, insistent churn and a free jazz sax not quiet wailing.  I dig it, it’s hefty.  In addition to the electronic bits and the sax there is some percussion going on which breaks the repetition of the electronic component.  It is a bold and strong opener.  Let’s see what else they have going.  The second tune opens up with what I believe to be South Asian devotional singing/chanting before the dark electronics enter again.  I’m only on the second tune but my feeling is this type of music is a no go for lots of folks but it hits hard with non verbal impact.  I haven’t loved every bit of this record but there are some really powerful spots on this 31 minute EP

@@@ Missy Elliot: Throw it Back (Atlantic, 2019)  Big fan, Missy Elliot is super funky and strange and just doing her thing.  That said this tune is not full on Missy to my ears and has a pretty standard arrangement with a trappist beat and some trunk shaking low end thumpin.  She’s got some strange funky garnish in places but it doesn’t (imho) have the other worldly funk of her Timbaland sounds.  Compare this to the classic shit of Work It where she goes off vocally and sonically.  I love Missy Elliott, I guess I was hoping for a bit more weirdness.

@@@ Silent Vigils: Lost Rites (Home Normal, 2019) I can’t remember how I got to this record.  I think it was from a best of ambient music on Bandcamp.  This first tune opens up spaciously with some slow rollers and a cloud of static comin’ on in and some sparse piano action.  Notes not runs and big ass chords.  I lasted about a bit over 5 minutes and knowing that ambient music asks you to take less and enjoy it more I could have used a bit more.  The second tune comes out ringing and with bell like hits and ringing metal you might say it has a classic Asian musical feel to it, but with drones and stretching and shit.  This is just right for me.  Harmonically ringing and manipulated guitars highlight the third track so of the three tracks I felt the second tune (the title track) the most.

YTD recordings listened to: 445
Good music, not list worthy: 270
Not good music: 149

Best: 0
Honorable Mentions: 0

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, 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, Noname, Klara Lewis, Krullur, The Lowest Form, Hard Proof, Yotoco, Jungle Fire, Sandoz, Oddisee, RAM, Fiver, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Criolo, Billy Strings, Flowers of Sulphur, Portal, Lawaii, Etran De L’Air, Ruby Karinto, Elysia Crampton, Parquet Courts, Moskus, Kendl Winter, Tkay Maidza, Barro, Daniel Khan, Tallawit Timbouctou, Sumac, Tropical Fuck Storm, Harriet Tubman, Ammar 808, Anais Maviel, Chaka Khan, Pom Poko, Fried Egg, Horndal, Wyxz, Tarek Atoui, Hawktail, Saicobab, Shannon and the Clams, General Purv, Shipping News, Big Thief, Emma Louise, Andre Bratten, Nathan Corder/Tom Weeks, Oli XL, Buzzherd, Logistic Slaughter, The Muslims, Tobe Nwigwe, Saint Abdullah

Music for 8/28/19!!! Empath, ShittyBoyz BabyTron, Icewear Vezzo

@@@ Empath: Night On Earth (Get Better, 2019) A sexually fluid experimental punk band out of Philadelphia — I think I seen ’em namechecked on the Twatter.  Those of you out there thinking this is gonna be some crusty, guitar punk record, well think again you close minded bitches as this is ’80s synth punk.  It does have a punky edge as well as a Cure-y edge and this first tune is all right.  The second tune, Pure Intent, does ramp up tempo and the rough section cuts and it does indeed have a wild punk stench to it.  I like that the singer who sounds mostly freakish takes the roughest moment to pop out some sweetness, it’s an engaging contrast and they do whip quite a shitty and a unique one at that.  I should amend the review to state that there are some guitar freakouts/noise to be had here, it’s not as extensive as a traditional punk record but it’s up in there.  This is not the kind of record where you talk a lot about the song structures or this sound, it’s an explosion of a certain kind of freak energy that you’re either gonna like or not.  I like it, they’re just losing their shit.

@@@ ShittyBoyz BabyTron: Punch God 2 (N/A, 2019)  This track is featured on the same Pitchfork Detroit hip hop full length.  Thus far these two Detroit tunes share a pleasant roughness that a lot of trap avoids.  Mr. ShittyBoyz pulls a sample from an ’80s tune I can’t put my finger on and he just runs his mouth bigly.  Lots of rhymes about the ladies and how they do him wrong and how they want to marry him but it’s more the energy here that matters.  Using the word street to describe hip hop is a big problem but to say that this lacks a certain corporate shine in favor of big energy and lots of words is an accurate statement.  They said something in Pitchfork about some connection to video games with this artist.  I didn’t hear that but maybe I missed it or maybe Pitchfork is making shit up, it happens yo.

@@@ Icewear Vezzo & Babyface Ray: Champions (Iced Up/Wavy Gang, 2019)  A Detroit hip hop track I got to via the mighty indie sword called Pitchfork.  Recently purchased by Conde Nasty, a huge publishing company, but indie nonetheless and details my neezies, details!  They take a Queen piano and Freddie Mercury from that cheese ass anthem We are the Champions and throw some booty bass under it and hit the rhymes.  It is a boast track mostly about money and ghetto business but the juxtaposition of that and the Freddie Mercury sample is pretty creative.

YTD recordings listened to: 442
Good music, not list worthy: 268
Not good music: 149

Best: 0
Honorable Mentions: 0

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, 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, Noname, Klara Lewis, Krullur, The Lowest Form, Hard Proof, Yotoco, Jungle Fire, Sandoz, Oddisee, RAM, Fiver, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Criolo, Billy Strings, Flowers of Sulphur, Portal, Lawaii, Etran De L’Air, Ruby Karinto, Elysia Crampton, Parquet Courts, Moskus, Kendl Winter, Tkay Maidza, Barro, Daniel Khan, Tallawit Timbouctou, Sumac, Tropical Fuck Storm, Harriet Tubman, Ammar 808, Anais Maviel, Chaka Khan, Pom Poko, Fried Egg, Horndal, Wyxz, Tarek Atoui, Hawktail, Saicobab, Shannon and the Clams, General Purv, Shipping News, Big Thief, Emma Louise, Andre Bratten, Nathan Corder/Tom Weeks, Oli XL, Buzzherd, Logistic Slaughter, The Muslims, Tobe Nwigwe

Music for 8/27/19!!! Nardeydey, Ohtis, Squid

@@@ Nardeydey: Speedial (Lucky Number, 2019)  I got to this genre mashing single via the Line of Best Fit.  A bit of indie, a little No Wave, and some old school rock.  I was gonna denounce the singer as low energy when she went high and clear in an above average manner.  The bass player is laying down some pretty serious low end but it kinda drags the tune down at the same time it provides nice contrast with the singer when she goes high.  It’s got a Talking Heads disguised polyrhythmic feel to it, but I’m not sure I really love this tune and I’m not sure why.  Seems a bit in its own head but check for yourself.  Yeah, as I get to the end I feel it’s overly stuffed with all these different sounds that end up just there.

@@@ Ohtis: Runnin (Full Time Hobby, 2019)  A genre consistent flat alt-country tune from an about to blow up feature in Line of Best Fit.  Reminiscent of a lot of alt-country bands that have been huge in the past 15-20 years (sad whiny Wilco and such) though I’m really feeling the slide guitar here.  It provides such a sweet contrast with the singer’s baritone.  I guess I’m a bit fatigued with what I consider under-rhythmed indie music that is gushing into the ears of the public.  Outside of the slide guitar it’s just too straight an arrangement for me to get down with.  Am I wrong or a bitch to ask for a bit more?  I guess so.

@@@ Squid: The Dial (Manata, 2018)  Some angular, retro rock a la Devo from that same Line of Best Fit.  Oops, it switches out of that into a quasi-aggro rock thing with a disgruntled singer on about quite mundane matters.  It grows in energy with a guitar solo and some flavorful synth playing.  I don’t usually typed the words flavorful synth playing but it’s the singer who’s putting this tune over the top with his schtick.  I don’t mean schtick in negative way.  Just shy of three minutes the rock falls away to a more dreamy space rock kind of thing so maybe the whole thing has been some sort of prog joke/symphony as it hasn’t stayed in one particular place for very long.  He goes back to his hook/rant about the dial doesn’t change, the dial stays the same which is fine and good to see he’s committed to sounding like a mental patient for the whole tune.  This is the best of what I heard today.

YTD recordings listened to: 439
Good music, not list worthy: 265
Not good music: 149

Best: 0
Honorable Mentions: 0

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, 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, Noname, Klara Lewis, Krullur, The Lowest Form, Hard Proof, Yotoco, Jungle Fire, Sandoz, Oddisee, RAM, Fiver, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Criolo, Billy Strings, Flowers of Sulphur, Portal, Lawaii, Etran De L’Air, Ruby Karinto, Elysia Crampton, Parquet Courts, Moskus, Kendl Winter, Tkay Maidza, Barro, Daniel Khan, Tallawit Timbouctou, Sumac, Tropical Fuck Storm, Harriet Tubman, Ammar 808, Anais Maviel, Chaka Khan, Pom Poko, Fried Egg, Horndal, Wyxz, Tarek Atoui, Hawktail, Saicobab, Shannon and the Clams, General Purv, Shipping News, Big Thief, Emma Louise, Andre Bratten, Nathan Corder/Tom Weeks, Oli XL, Buzzherd, Logistic Slaughter, The Muslims, Tobe Nwigwe

 

Music for 8/26/19!!! Holly Herndon, The Endangered Species, Everyone You Know

@@@ Holly Herndon: PROTO (4AD, 2019)  I got to this electronic record via a feature in Crack magazine where the artist has a discussion with some leading thinker regarding AI and the future and other topics that signify high intelligence (ha).  I’m not usually a fan of 4AD releases as I find them to art school and not visceral enough but in this first piece I hear a pleasantly rough glitch component to the tune.  Though that may not hold as the second tune brings forth a clunky beat and a lot of synth drama.  It’s a wall of synth indie and female voices roughly chopped, that’s the formula here.  You hear her voice but to say that she’s front in center in a traditional sense of  a singer is a bit misplaced.  The third tune, Canaan (live training) is an acapella piece that I clicked past and the fourth is a lot of vocals again roughly chopped and I don’t hear as much creativity at work here as I would like.  To my ears it’s pretty mediocre beats with a lot of vocal sauce.  I get that some art school types might find this compelling but I’m not one of them.

@@@ The Endangered Species: World Gone Mad (N/A, 2019)  I got to this hard rocking tune via a music publicist email.  The lead singer is serious and the lyrics are relevant and dramatical.  Big arena drum sounds with lots of toms and plenty of guitar riffage.  I think one of the main vocal hooks is ‘I’m not the only one insane’.  Yeah, that makes sense, we got mad crazy people up in here.  Big quasi-metal guitar solo with wah wah.  Not a big fan of the singer and consequently am not listening closely to the lyrics but check it for yourself.

@@@ Everyone You Know: Look After Your Pennies (Sony, 2019)  A British hip hop EP I got to via the Line of Best Fit weekly email.  It’s a double MC outfit and the record opens up with some nice guitar playing and my favorite thing, British people rhyming.  It straightens out into a disco beat and the head dude lamenting that she don’t dance no more so he doesn’t anymore as well.  Poor bloke!  Maybe this is a r&b record and not a hip hop outing.  Let’s peep a bit more.  They do a bit of rhyming but it’s not a hip hop record, they’re doing tunes and it’s a full band.  The production is full major label and I don’t like the tunes.  On the fourth tune, Money, they do go full hip hop with a distortion plugin on the MC’s voice but I don’t really feel this.  I have seen it suggested that British people should not do hip hop and I don’t go that far but I struggle with hearing it and liking it.

YTD recordings listened to: 436
Good music, not list worthy: 263
Not good music: 148

Best: 0
Honorable Mentions: 0

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, 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, Noname, Klara Lewis, Krullur, The Lowest Form, Hard Proof, Yotoco, Jungle Fire, Sandoz, Oddisee, RAM, Fiver, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Criolo, Billy Strings, Flowers of Sulphur, Portal, Lawaii, Etran De L’Air, Ruby Karinto, Elysia Crampton, Parquet Courts, Moskus, Kendl Winter, Tkay Maidza, Barro, Daniel Khan, Tallawit Timbouctou, Sumac, Tropical Fuck Storm, Harriet Tubman, Ammar 808, Anais Maviel, Chaka Khan, Pom Poko, Fried Egg, Horndal, Wyxz, Tarek Atoui, Hawktail, Saicobab, Shannon and the Clams, General Purv, Shipping News, Big Thief, Emma Louise, Andre Bratten, Nathan Corder/Tom Weeks, Oli XL, Buzzherd, Logistic Slaughter, The Muslims, Tobe Nwigwe

Music for 8/23/19!!! J.T.C., SAMMUS, Taylor Swift

@@@ J.T.C.: Indigo, Flesh and Fire (Spectral/Ghostly, 2019)  I got to this dance EP via a twat on the Twatter.  It opens up briskly with drum machine hi hats slicing over that four on the floor kick drum.  It drops out for a bit then comes back ginsu knife style.  A very small piece of chopped up sample vocal sits underneath the drums.  Lots of filtering eq thickening and sharpening the groove.  I like the energy, I could use a bit more and call me a slut I don’t care.  The second tune, Varastride, mixes in a high action (and delayed) keyboard part that drives and enhances the rhythm.  This tune I feel a lot more, it’s pumpin’!  If you’re looking for some high octane, quietly trippy techno this EP will mess with your head and get yer feets movin’.

@@@ Sammus: Pieces in Space (Don Giovanni, 2016) I got to this hip hop record via a gig announcement email from an upstate NY media collective.  Put out by an independent label, I give props to them for putting out an indie hip hop label.  It’s headed by an Afro-American female MC and she’s working with somewhat retro beats and sounds.  Lyrics are concious and uplifting with moderate levels of verbal jousting.  This second tune, Comments Disabled, has some really sweet spaced out sounds to go with her rhymes about gamergate where male gamers were threatening and harassing female video game players.  It’s a cool topic for a track.  I like the sounds, the beats are okay (could be a bit funkier if you ask me and nobody is), and she’s good MC.  I would think old school hip hop fans could really groove on this.

@@@ Taylor Swift: Lover (UMG, 2019)  Oh boy, the day is upon us as Tay Tay drops another full length biscuit on the masses.  This is a pre-release single, though it’s pre release only by a few days.  It’s a lush ballad with very little, if any, original elements in the composition.  Sorry little Tay Tay lovers it’s just true.  It’s clear that Swift is much more comfortable with this cheesed out balladry than she was on her last outing which I found cringe worthy club music trying way too hard.  A sophisticated listener would have to find these lyrics somehow interesting as the music is high end cliche.  Swift’s core skill remains, in my humble opinion, her ability to remain bonded with her fans.  Her music, well that’s not nearly as sophisticated as her star-fan relationship skills.  The same could be said for Beyonce.

YTD recordings listened to: 433
Good music, not list worthy: 262
Not good music: 146

Best: 0
Honorable Mentions: 0

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, 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, Noname, Klara Lewis, Krullur, The Lowest Form, Hard Proof, Yotoco, Jungle Fire, Sandoz, Oddisee, RAM, Fiver, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Criolo, Billy Strings, Flowers of Sulphur, Portal, Lawaii, Etran De L’Air, Ruby Karinto, Elysia Crampton, Parquet Courts, Moskus, Kendl Winter, Tkay Maidza, Barro, Daniel Khan, Tallawit Timbouctou, Sumac, Tropical Fuck Storm, Harriet Tubman, Ammar 808, Anais Maviel, Chaka Khan, Pom Poko, Fried Egg, Horndal, Wyxz, Tarek Atoui, Hawktail, Saicobab, Shannon and the Clams, General Purv, Shipping News, Big Thief, Emma Louise, Andre Bratten, Nathan Corder/Tom Weeks, Oli XL, Buzzherd, Logistic Slaughter, The Muslims, Tobe Nwigwe

Music for 8/22/19!!! Noiseshaper, Desi Sub Culture, Mauro

@@@ Noiseshaper – King Sized Dub Special (Echo Beach) I got to all these recordings via the CFUV weekly playlist email.   Not strictly old school dub, more modern dancefloor dub with dubwise echo effects thought the singer in this first tune sounds genuine dread.  The second tune, Evil E, is more dubbed out with a piece of a dancefloor beat (hi hat) and some thick ass bass dubbing out.  In addition to the echoes which are well done, the use of some EDM filtering techniques and other production flourishes makes the combination of dub and dancefloor techniques mesh well.  It’s not making me jump up and down but a few passages do and it’s a well put together, funky record.

@@@ Desi Sub Culture – Donkey Kong (Snakes x Ladders) Another mash of world music and electronic dancefloor business, this time from South Asia.  It comes out of the gate firing hard with the track Con Man, and we’re looking right at you Orange Hitler!  It’s a four track EP and while you get some really nice Indian melodic phrases on various instruments they bring the rhythms bigly and with variety.  Hand drums, drum machines, they give not a fuck.  Really good shit.  Whichever way they go with the melodic bits you know it’s gonna pump a lot of rhythm.

@@@ Mauno – Really Well (Tin Angel, 2019)  Quirky indie guitar rock with some nice guitar playing and a dreamy female on the microphone.  It’s not my favorite type of rock but they have some interesting stuff going on in the arrangements that brings it up a few notches.  You’ve heard a lot of records like this before from Yo La Tengo to older ’70s weird classic rock records, especially Brit ones.  I guess you could say there are a few bits of prog sprinkled through here and that explains the more sophisto arrangements and weird spots here and there.  Check it for yourself.

YTD recordings listened to: 430
Good music, not list worthy: 260
Not good music: 145

Best: 0
Honorable Mentions: 0

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, 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, Noname, Klara Lewis, Krullur, The Lowest Form, Hard Proof, Yotoco, Jungle Fire, Sandoz, Oddisee, RAM, Fiver, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Criolo, Billy Strings, Flowers of Sulphur, Portal, Lawaii, Etran De L’Air, Ruby Karinto, Elysia Crampton, Parquet Courts, Moskus, Kendl Winter, Tkay Maidza, Barro, Daniel Khan, Tallawit Timbouctou, Sumac, Tropical Fuck Storm, Harriet Tubman, Ammar 808, Anais Maviel, Chaka Khan, Pom Poko, Fried Egg, Horndal, Wyxz, Tarek Atoui, Hawktail, Saicobab, Shannon and the Clams, General Purv, Shipping News, Big Thief, Emma Louise, Andre Bratten, Nathan Corder/Tom Weeks, Oli XL, Buzzherd, Logistic Slaughter, The Muslims, Tobe Nwigwe

Music for 8/20/19!!! Toby Nwigwe, Kim Gordon, Pet Fangs

@@@ Toby Nwigwe: The Originals (Self-released, 2018) I found this Nigerian American hip hop record via a twat by an African musician I follow on the Twatter.  He busts out into a smooth dancehall thing in this first tune.  Nwigwe is loose and agile on the microphone, I like it.  The sounds are a bit above minimal and focused.  Tight.  His sounds get more familiar in the third tune, THE BLUES, with a trap bass and some skitter.  Those sounds sit under his butter smooth flow — he sounds look he could rhyme with one tongue behind his back.  I like this and am actually paying attention to the lyrics.  I think this record deserves more listening.  Check it if you have a phone and some access and can spare a few swipes.

@@@ Kim Gordon: Sketch Artist (Matador, 2019)  A pre release single from Gordon’s first solo record.  I’ve always been agnostic on Sonic Youth, digging Daydream Nation while not fully understanding the hype surrounding their music.  She was my favorite member of the band.  I think it’s interesting that she’s gone for a dirty electronic sound — a spiky bass sound, some glitched beats that sound like a loop and her detached, tired voice which has always been her calling card.  The tune morphs into a slow space jam with acoustic guitar and feedback.  I like the sounds here while the lyrics aren’t really having an impact with me as I don’t understand how they relate to the title.  A tune called Sketch Artist can be loose, I get that.  Overall more unexpected and interesting than what I thought would happen.

@@@ Pet Fangs: Barbarella (Pet Fangs, 2019)  I got to this punk pop track via a music publicist.  It’s rooted in the ’80s though it has a lot in common with Urge Overkill from the ’90s (though not as biting).  I dislike the snare sound, I like the energy and the singer could have used a large coffee and not a medium.  To my ears they are trying to ride the fine line between rocking out and appealing to casual listeners which is always a difficult mission.  They do all right with it.

YTD recordings listened to: 427
Good music, not list worthy: 258
Not good music: 145

Best: 0
Honorable Mentions: 0

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, 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, Noname, Klara Lewis, Krullur, The Lowest Form, Hard Proof, Yotoco, Jungle Fire, Sandoz, Oddisee, RAM, Fiver, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Criolo, Billy Strings, Flowers of Sulphur, Portal, Lawaii, Etran De L’Air, Ruby Karinto, Elysia Crampton, Parquet Courts, Moskus, Kendl Winter, Tkay Maidza, Barro, Daniel Khan, Tallawit Timbouctou, Sumac, Tropical Fuck Storm, Harriet Tubman, Ammar 808, Anais Maviel, Chaka Khan, Pom Poko, Fried Egg, Horndal, Wyxz, Tarek Atoui, Hawktail, Saicobab, Shannon and the Clams, General Purv, Shipping News, Big Thief, Emma Louise, Andre Bratten, Nathan Corder/Tom Weeks, Oli XL, Buzzherd, Logistic Slaughter, The Muslims, Tobe Nwigwe

Music for 8/19/19!!! Guttermilk, Cuco, Shura

@@@ The Bobby Lees: Guttermilk (N/A, 2019)  I got to this garage punk tune via a music publicist email.  The musical formuala is standard and I love me my punk blues/garage shit and the video is pretty standard, but I really like the drummer and the fractured keyboard part.  I think if they wanted full garage punk they could ramp the tempo 50bpm and get a case of Red Bull for the singer so she can fully lose her shit.

@@@ Cuco: Para Mi (Interscope, 2019) I saw this artist listed as performing on at a Selena tribute concert and I like all the flavors of music out there.  A Latin bedroom r&b/hip hop flavored record with threads of Open Mike Eagle.  He’s a loverboy, possibly tongue in cheek as he really puts some odd vocalizing to this second tune, keeping tabs.  He might be smoking a lot of weed what do we really know.  I like his humor and the ease of his style.  He’s just having a good time though he’s hating on his girl pretty hard in the third tune, Bossa No Se.  I find some of the keyboard patches to be a bit cheesy but that could be part of the light/jokey aspect to the record.  I dig it.

@@@ Shura: Forevhr (Secretly Canadian, 2019)  I saw this musician on a weekly Line of Best Fit email.  I’m very suspicious of musicians wearing hats, it’s not a good signifier.  Most records by musicians who incorporate hats into their marketing campaigns do not fit my likes.  The behatted young white gal pictured below is going hard at African American r&b sounds.  Is it effective?  Depends on your ears and preferences I guess.  If you want some blue eyed black singing and need a few indie signposts in a record to feel good about her vocalizing then it’s effective.  It’s a bleached Prince record with a few pubic hairs of funk and swing.  Myself, I find the vibe to be a tad light but she can sing for sure.  There’s a lot of white disco like the third tune, religion (clipped below).  I like it all right but I could use more energy and more stank.

YTD recordings listened to: 424
Good music, not list worthy: 256
Not good music: 144

Best: 0
Honorable Mentions: 0

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, 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, Noname, Klara Lewis, Krullur, The Lowest Form, Hard Proof, Yotoco, Jungle Fire, Sandoz, Oddisee, RAM, Fiver, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Criolo, Billy Strings, Flowers of Sulphur, Portal, Lawaii, Etran De L’Air, Ruby Karinto, Elysia Crampton, Parquet Courts, Moskus, Kendl Winter, Tkay Maidza, Barro, Daniel Khan, Tallawit Timbouctou, Sumac, Tropical Fuck Storm, Harriet Tubman, Ammar 808, Anais Maviel, Chaka Khan, Pom Poko, Fried Egg, Horndal, Wyxz, Tarek Atoui, Hawktail, Saicobab, Shannon and the Clams, General Purv, Shipping News, Big Thief, Emma Louise, Andre Bratten, Nathan Corder/Tom Weeks, Oli XL, Buzzherd, Logistic Slaughter, The Muslims

Music for 8/18/19!!! Molly Tuttle, Miley Cyrus

@@@ Molly Tuttle: When You’re Ready (Compass, 2019)  I got to this mainstream American record via a music publicist email.  I fear this music is gonna have too much coffee shop upbeat melancholy and not enough substance.  Very smooth production with touches of classic soft FM rock.  This first tune Million Miles has no bite to it, it’s a mushy slice of apple pie and it would be accused of having a soggy bottom if it was a contestant on the Great British Bake Off.  I almost made it through the first tune.  I don’t want to be too mercenary but this music is aimed to peel off some listeners from mindless new country music by being more serious and is anchored by suburban female listeners.  I say this as the second tune, Take the Journey, implores listeners to take the journey, no matter where it starts or where it ends, take the journey you’ll make it back home again.  That’s some undercover New Age bullshit right there.  Tuttle sure can play guitar.

@@@ Miley Cyrus: Slide Away (RCA, 2019)  The whole idea of Miley Cyrus coordinating a new single to coincide with her PR announcement that her marriage is over is pretty sickening.  A not quite surreal three dimensional soap opera life designed to put more coin in Ms. Cyrus’ bank account.  And let us not shit ourselves Ms. Cyrus is all about the coin, she don’t stand for shit.  I’m expecting a power cheese ballad — once upon a time it was paradise, ooh not a great line.  By the time the tune reaches the chorus there have been many mixed metaphors — somebody shoulda tried to make more sense of these lyrics.  She’s gonna go back to the ocean and to the city lights at the same time, that makes no sense to me.  Just shy of three minutes the strings come in and the cheese sandwich is complete.  #drama #cliche #lovelost #moneymade #stupidlyrics #nonsense.  I feel like I wish I hadn’t put .007 in her pocket there are no feelings here.  There were probably no feelings in her marriage.

YTD recordings listened to: 421
Good music, not list worthy: 253
Not good music: 144

Best: 0
Honorable Mentions: 0

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, 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, Noname, Klara Lewis, Krullur, The Lowest Form, Hard Proof, Yotoco, Jungle Fire, Sandoz, Oddisee, RAM, Fiver, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Criolo, Billy Strings, Flowers of Sulphur, Portal, Lawaii, Etran De L’Air, Ruby Karinto, Elysia Crampton, Parquet Courts, Moskus, Kendl Winter, Tkay Maidza, Barro, Daniel Khan, Tallawit Timbouctou, Sumac, Tropical Fuck Storm, Harriet Tubman, Ammar 808, Anais Maviel, Chaka Khan, Pom Poko, Fried Egg, Horndal, Wyxz, Tarek Atoui, Hawktail, Saicobab, Shannon and the Clams, General Purv, Shipping News, Big Thief, Emma Louise, Andre Bratten, Nathan Corder/Tom Weeks, Oli XL, Buzzherd, Logistic Slaughter, The Muslims

Music for 8/16/19!!! Meet Me @ the Altar, The Muslims, MAAFA

@@@ Meet Me @ the Altar: Bigger than Me EP (Self-released, 2019)  All of today’s listens are from a profile in the Guardian about the black punk scene in the wake of Afropunk.  I started today’s listen with the Muslims record below so when we compare the sounds of the two this record is a polished Southern Comfort emo sound with big production, catchy choruses.  It’s not a criticism it’s just an observation that not all punk records sound the same.  The lyrical focus here is on emotional dynamics, relationships and shit.  The whole band plays hard with a lot of energy and though it’s not my favorite style of punk they rock it.  The singer has a great voice really dwarfing standard Cali dude on the mic.

@@@ The Muslims: Mayo Supreme (Don’t Panic, 2019) Oh man, what’s sweeter than three dark people in North Carolina starting a punk band called the Muslims?  They open up classic and abrasive punk with smart and cutting lyrics.  I’m feeling this bigly.  Female on the mic with a sharp tongue, let it all out we’ll all feel much better!  The first line of F**k the Cistem is why are men such fucking trash?  Yes.  I’m gonna peep a little more to get pumped up before I go burn Whitey’s house down but this record will be on my year end list.  I’m tipping out at track 4, the title track, but thus far all four tracks have been bursting with obscenity and righteous disdain for general cocksuckery out there.

@@@ MAAFA: Demo 2017 (Self-released, 2017)  I could not find these guys up on Apple Music which is a shame as they combine punk nihilism and sonics with traditional Afro rhythms and sporting a black female vocalist.  When they get to the chorus they bring it and they bring it hard and classic.  I like this a whole bunch, the lyrics, the sounds, and the playing, it’s music with substance.  I’m guessin there are some Bad Brains records in this band’s collection.  On their bandcamp page they say they’re working on their first full length — let’s hope they get on it and finish soon.   Really heartfelt and high quality music to get you pumped up, check it out!

YTD recordings listened to: 419
Good music, not list worthy: 253
Not good music: 142

Best: 0
Honorable Mentions: 0

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, 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, Noname, Klara Lewis, Krullur, The Lowest Form, Hard Proof, Yotoco, Jungle Fire, Sandoz, Oddisee, RAM, Fiver, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Criolo, Billy Strings, Flowers of Sulphur, Portal, Lawaii, Etran De L’Air, Ruby Karinto, Elysia Crampton, Parquet Courts, Moskus, Kendl Winter, Tkay Maidza, Barro, Daniel Khan, Tallawit Timbouctou, Sumac, Tropical Fuck Storm, Harriet Tubman, Ammar 808, Anais Maviel, Chaka Khan, Pom Poko, Fried Egg, Horndal, Wyxz, Tarek Atoui, Hawktail, Saicobab, Shannon and the Clams, General Purv, Shipping News, Big Thief, Emma Louise, Andre Bratten, Nathan Corder/Tom Weeks, Oli XL, Buzzherd, Logistic Slaughter, The Muslims