@@@ Kilo: Still Here (N/A, 2020) #TwatterListen!!! I think I hear Flavor Flav (or a bit of young Flav from back in the day) in the mix, a pumping retro dance beat, and a romantical female singer slathering a bit of sentimental cheese over the top. I like the contrast between the beat and the vocal melody but it’s too cheesy. I like a slice of pizza with some proper crunch and not too much cheese. Too much cheese is hard to stomach, it’s hard to digest. If this were a cooking show and I was the judge (and that would be a banging cooking show) I would want more crunch or more tang.
@@@ Grankhan: Jilguero (Nacional, 2020) The next three listens are off this week’s WRIR playlist email. They are a premier world music radio outlet in Virginia, USA. Slotted as urban latino I’m expecting some Latin loverboy with a little Caribbean flavoring. Thank Mr. Grankhan doesn’t bring the swoll tongue of J. Balvin and he’s wearing a hat; those J. Balvin haircuts are rough. This is a full band track (at least to my ears) including a horn section so the difference between an electro loverboy jam and a full band jam is significant. Grankhan has had a strong ass cup of coffee cuz he’s smashing the microphone with his energy. I have no idea what he’s half singing/half rhyming about but he’s feeling it. A super well executed mix — clear and wide and full.
@@@ Drake: Toosie Slide (OVO/UMG, 2020) I had a track up that I had heard before so I replaced it with Drake. You can always count on a Drake nugget as he shits them out quite frequently cuz he has to pay for that plane! It’s a slow dance track with loverboy feels. Drake has so much broccoli he doesn’t know what to do with it so he’s got extraordinarily manicured sounds. I don’t know how he combines a slack vibe and a dancefloor feel at the same time, but it’s Drake and how does he head out into public with that facial hair? At this point most folks are just living vicariously through this brother and his loot cuz the music is professional but it’s not passionate or compelling. Maybe he was jacked up on cold medicine when he did this.
@@@ Hailu Mergia: Yene Mircha (Awesome Tapes From Africa, 2020) Some Ethiopian old school business I got to via WRIR as noted above. Awesome Tapes usually rocks some re-issue lo fi business but this is a recording made very recently — it’s full range with a large ensemble. It has that precision and the looseness you often find in African music that I find very entertaining. This is not a West African guitar blazer, this is a kickback and chill on a sunny day. The musicians here play their asses off without breaking a sweat. I would recommend this to folks with jobs, those folks who think music should only be beautiful (no metal or hardcore need apply) but want something super well played.
YTD recordings listened to: 261
Good music, not list worthy: 141
Not good music: 114
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, Tarek Atoui, Saicobab, General Purv, Shipping News, Big Thief, Mariachi El Bronx, Pour Me a Grog, Sudan Archives, Lakou Mizik, Moodymann, Pharmakon, Alefa Madagascar, Janjao, Luge, Wiki, Mick Jenkins, Jeremiah Jae, Fera, Gambian Griot Kora Duets, Drama, Beatrice Dillon, Mass Worship, mmmonika, Les Deuxluxes, Tony Allen, Fra Fra, Nihiloxica, Hailu Mergia
Deep In the Music 