Music for 9/30/20!!! Kaylee Elizabeth, Nova Twins, For Those I Love, Annika Rose

@@@ Kaylee Elizabeth: Passing Through (Self released, 2020) Today we listen off the Guardian’s fall music preview article which lists a shitload of new music. The best comparison here is Nick Drake — sophisticated and simple guitar playing and beautiful singing. Believe me I’m very skeptical of folks who step to this formula as it requires a lot bravery to put yourself out there so nakedly. She put a massive distorted sound before the second verrse where the full band comes in which changes the vibe bigly. No more Nick Cave, it’s a rock tune now. With about a minute to go the tune brings in some washed ambient horn parts and while I still dig her singing and I like the band playing the first third of the track is my favorite. Very expressive singing without breathiness and cheesy production, I respect that.

@@@ Nova Twins: Bullet (333 Wreckords, 2020) Hard rocking black women you can’t beat that shit with a stick! It comes in with some super muscular guitar sounds and when the chorus hits it’s Rage in the Machine chant ’em down Babylon. Back to a bouncier flow in the verse with more rhythmic rapping and a picked guitar part. I like the chorus as they really release the Krakken. I like the mashing of female MC teasing flavors — towards the end of the track there’s a chant of bitches and hoes that I find entertaining. I let the player keep playing as I finish up this pocket review and there’s something going on here. For me if they went a bit sonically past the retro Rage sounds and into some full meltdown metal sounds it would raise the unhinged quotient and that would really put this over the top for me. As it stands it’s got a one dimensional chaotic feeling and I say go full on. Solid B+.

@@@ For Those I Love: I Have a Love (September Recordings, 2020) A super earnest electronic spoken word/electro thing from a gent out of Ireland. Let me peep that. It’s a bit of a sonic collage with all manner of voices. It’s so serious in its goals it makes me a tad uncomfortable and I don’t know if I’ll make it the full 5+ minutes. About halfway through it morphs into a dancefloor banger with acoustic piano which I find an interesting combination. I made it 3:45 into the track which I think is pretty respectable. It’s not really my cup of tea as it’s kind of sprawling and lyrically too serious for me.

@@@ Annika Rose: Butterflies (TaP Records, 2020) Blurbed as a blend of paranoia and disco that makes perfect sense. Lots of disco lovers snuffle the cocaine and that shit produces paranoia so there ya go, rando yet rational connections. I’m not sure how the paranoia is going to be portrayed in the track as it feels like a breezy lounge disco banger. The lyrics are fairly dark in the verse but the chorus is where the sugar syrup gets poured over the groove which I like. It’s a fairly good track and I like the singer but it’s a case (once again) of misblurbed music. There’s no real paranoia here, none at all.

YTD recordings listened to: 752
Good music, not list worthy: 408
Not good music: 322

Best: 4
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, 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, Pokey LaFarge, Nico Gomez, Nohe and Sus Santos, Tiny Bit of Giant’s Blood, Pole, Naeem, Mekons, Santrofi, DJ Nigga Fox, Flor do Toloache, Alexander Hawkins/Tomeka Reid, Shy One, Protomartyr, Nnamdi, Ekiti Sound, Awa Fall, 25,000 Kittens, Anjimile, Superfonicos

Music for 9/29/20!!! Ace Tee, Ashnikko, Superfonicos, Zazou Bikaye

@@@ Ace Tee: Hunnies (Sony Music, 2020) A German by way of Ghana rapper that I got to via Crack Magazine. Here comes the trap sounds and a lush female MC and breathy exhalations from her background singers. This is some of the more interesting non-American trap music I’ve heard in a long bit. Very trippy sounds that hang out on top of the drum tracks like a cannabis cloud. She’s rocking multiple languages here I believe — a schtickl of German, some French and some English so ya know it’s worldwide. It rocks a thick deep groove, not my favorite shit every but it’s solid.

@@@ Ashnikko: Daisy (Parlophone, 2020) Here somebody took some trap beats and a fat bass and put a potty mouth white girl over the top with some raunchy lyrics but a sort of thin ass tone. She’s from North Carolina but she pretending she from deep in the hood as she attempts to smack a bitch up, naimsayin’? I don’t know how Ashnikko would do in a fight with Rico Nasty but if one of those dagger fingernails on Nasty’s hand makes it through she’s gonna get cut like a piece of cheese. It’s hard to think about this track outside of the realm of identity politics as the main point here is she’s trying to project an image and the question is whether other folks buy it or not. So she smacks a bitch up in the verse but then goes kinda poppy in the chorus. It doesn’t work for me but your mileage may vary.

@@@ Superfonicos: El Adios (Public Hi Fi, 2020) Off last week’s WRIR playlist email. It pops right out of the gate funky with African funk flavors and a bit of salsa action as well. The male singer comes in Spanish and I see from Googling up their bandcamp page that they are a Colombian funk outfit. I know from my extensive vinyl record collection that Colombia has historically had a musical connection back to Africa so the Afrobeat flavors are not unexpected. I like this, it’s a thick stew rhythmically, melodically and sonically and the singer blends with the band neither being drowned out by it nor dominating it. Plus there’s an accordion up in this giant band and I love accordion in Latin music, it’s mad flavorful. I’m super bummed this is only a single as I could rock a lot of this.

@@@ Zazou Bikaye: Nostalgie (Crammed Discs, 2020) You gotta peep Crammed Discs, they put out quality business. A collaboration between a Congolese musician and a French composer. Ooh, mama that sounds good. Ah, it’s got a heavily electro feel to it, especially sounds from the 1980’s, not my favorite decade for synth and drum machine sounds. I think it’s a bit misleading to slot this as Afrobeat as Apple Music has it slotted. I know it sounds like the pet peeve of a listener that consumes a ton of music but I really don’t like this gated snare sound and this drum machine sound. I was looking forward to this track and I leave somewhat unsatisfied which is unfortunate but that’s the way it goes.

YTD recordings listened to: 748
Good music, not list worthy: 405
Not good music: 321

Best: 4
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, 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, Pokey LaFarge, Nico Gomez, Nohe and Sus Santos, Tiny Bit of Giant’s Blood, Pole, Naeem, Mekons, Santrofi, DJ Nigga Fox, Flor do Toloache, Alexander Hawkins/Tomeka Reid, Shy One, Protomartyr, Nnamdi, Ekiti Sound, Awa Fall, 25,000 Kittens, Anjimile, Superfonicos

Music for 9/28/20!!! DJ Autopay, Pillow Queens, Nana Adjoa, Rico Nasty

@@@ DJ Autopay/Faux Conee: Keep talking shit (Sublimate, 2020) Off the Twatter! A blend of upbeat techno and street smack talk. Keep talkin’ shit, I’m gonna fuck you up is the vocal hook and at the beginning of the track there’s just the beat and the vocal hook. The tune adds a smooth keyboard vamp and blasts at the end and that’s pretty much it. It’s hard to either love the track nor hate it as there’s not that much there to digest. The B-side is more of a proper tune with a synth bass, additional rhythms and even some background vocals.

@@@ Pillow Queens: Liffey (Self-released, 2020) The next three listens come to us fresh from this week’s Line of Best Fit email. Busting out of the gates with some post rock guitar drama. Female singer with plenty of reverb on her voice proclaiming as she does her thing among some squally guitar playing. Not power chord drama, heavily distorted single note action. I like that guitar sound bigly, I don’t like the background vocals and I’m agnostic on the singer and the drums. I hear tambourine, I hope they gave cowbell a shot at that percussion part. Outside of the guitar player who is towing his/her line they could split a Red Bull for sure.

@@@ Nana Adjoa: No Room (Bloomer Records, 2020) Slotted as indie pop, who doesn’t need more indie pop? This is blue eyed r&b with a pube of quirk. I like the processed voices that sound a bit like an organ, I like the bass sound, I don’t like the nylon guitar part, I like the ambient electric guitar part and I’m agnostic on the female singer. They coulda pared back the background vocals a bit imho. This sounds a bit like Paul Simon with boobs. Smartly popp-ish and high minded in its own mind. If they replaced that nylon guitar part with something more interesting I could see myself feeling it more. Fresh and spacious production.

@@@ Rico Nasty: Own it (Atlantic, 2020) I’m guessing this is gonna be some in yer face dancefloor bangin’ hip hop. Partyistic stacks of vocals, straight drum machine beat, a nice spacious bouncy synthesizer, and some medium phat bass that pumps the jam. I was looking up Rico Nasty on the ol’ GooglePimpTube and it says: she rose to prominence in 2018 with singles such as “Smack a Bitch”. That’s hilarious and definitely a sign of a collapsing society. Not that the collape of American society is caused by Rico Nasty. I enjoy a nice cat fight as much as the next dude but she should be nicer to the ladies around her cuz she’s handing out verbal beatdowns on this track as well. It’s an all right track that feels a bit disposable — if they put another hook with that synth I think she would outperfom her previous high which was ‘smack a bitch’. Yeah, that’s right.

YTD recordings listened to: 744
Good music, not list worthy: 402
Not good music: 320

Best: 4
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, 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, Pokey LaFarge, Nico Gomez, Nohe and Sus Santos, Tiny Bit of Giant’s Blood, Pole, Naeem, Mekons, Santrofi, DJ Nigga Fox, Flor do Toloache, Alexander Hawkins/Tomeka Reid, Shy One, Protomartyr, Nnamdi, Ekiti Sound, Awa Fall, 25,000 Kittens, Anjimile

Music for 9/25/20!!! Eric Revis, Butcher Brown, Osees, Dan Weiss STAREBABY

@@@ Eric Revis: Baby Renfro (Pyroclastic Records, 2020) I got to this jazz bassist’s track after seeing a review of his new record up on the twatter. The kickoff track on Revis’ records comes out sharply funky with some very nice piano key percussive mangling that gives the track an African feel. Revis’ tone is thick and muscular. My least favorite part of the tune is the horn playing, I’m feeling the off kilter playing of the majority of players. I’m really enjoying the rhythm section and the piano player here. I been doing a bit of surfing as this record plays and I’m enjoying the second and third tunes more than the kickoff jam.

@@@ Butcher Brown: #KingButch (Concord, 2020) More jazz, this time from Concord whose jazz I usually don’t enjoy a ton. An MC kicks the tune off with a microphone check before we slip into a late night half booty jam/half hip hop/third smooth jazz flow. The MC returns for more after the intro. I feel my attention is split between the band and the MC and I end up enjoying each of them less. It’s not my favorite style of jazz and I tend to like the art hop or the grizzy business so it doesn’t work for me there either. I don’t buy the mash but I get that others might find it interesting.

@@@ Osees: Red Study (Castle Face, 2020) Avant-garage punk is what last week’s All Music notable release email says. We shall see! This is the fourth track on the record and it comes out rocking but not guitar rocking, a rock groove with a world-ish horn blast before a strange, Golem-y vocalist comes in. It’s a fresh mix for sure. It’s got a darkness to it that one wouldn’t find in an art school type of project and it is unabashedly strange. I feel like this track is a Led Zeppelin send up, it’s pretty spot on in parodying the Zep state of mind. I could be totally wrong on this but it has the big drums, the rock groove bass, some jagged guitar playing and the singer works that vein. The player clicked forward and it’s a full fuzz-fest bringing the drums and some wild ass surf guitar all served over a bed of fuzz guitar and fuzz bass. I might have to circle back on this biscuit as there’s some content in here. I peeped four of the tracks here and while they jump around all over the place they seem coherently and authentically nutty. I always appreciate the people who color outside the lines.

@@@ Dan Weiss STAREBABY: Episode 18 (Pi, 2020) A jazz drummer’s shout out to metal and electronica music. Episode 18 is the 13 minute opening track to the record and my initial impression is that you need to use some version of metal production if you’re going for metal otherwise your heavy music is going to sound mad proggy, which this does. I don’t mind prog music but I love me a full on head crusher of a metal track. I would say this music needs to get compressed and roughed up as it stands right now it’s quite downtown NYC prog wannabe metal. Instrumentation here is guitar, drums and bass as well as electronics either rocked during tracking or during mixing. When they get to the crescendo it doesn’t crush as it should.

YTD recordings listened to: 740
Good music, not list worthy: 399
Not good music: 319

Best: 3
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, 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, Pokey LaFarge, Nico Gomez, Nohe and Sus Santos, Tiny Bit of Giant’s Blood, Pole, Naeem, Mekons, Santrofi, DJ Nigga Fox, Flor do Toloache, Alexander Hawkins/Tomeka Reid, Shy One, Protomartyr, Nnamdi, Ekiti Sound, Awa Fall, 25,000 Kittens, Anjimile, Oh Sees

Music for 9/24/20!!! Ela Minus, Pottery, Pa Salieu, Year of the Knife

@@@ Ela Minus: megapunk (Domino, 2020) Today we listen off a fall music preview article on the Guardian. The Guardian’s music writing is better than the New York Times’ music coverge but that’s not saying much. Yup I said it, NYT’s music writing is straight up ass. Here is the Guardian description — “the Colombian-born, Brooklyn-based producer makes her presence felt with buzzing hardware.” It opens up pretty kraut-y and tamer than I expected, I guess when it mentioned buzzing hardware it meant…I don’t know what it meant. The very lushly presented vocals detract from the energy/impact of the song though it’s an interesting sonic contrast. There are a couple of percussion layers on top of the classic techno kick-snare. There’s also a slow chainsaw synth and a few other electronic goodies. The reverb on the vocals also make it harder to hear the lyrics. I was expecting more of a freakout, it’s pretty straightforward. Also the title megapunk — outside of a bit of talk about rights in the lyrics there’s not a lot of punk to it from what I can hear.

@@@ Pottery: Hot Heater (Partisan, 2020) Description — “the debut album by Montreal art-rock quintet Pottery packs a lot into its 40 minutes.” The Apple blurb compares these gents to both James Brown and the Talking Heads. I hear the Talking Heads, the singer especially sounds like David Byrne. I don’t hear the polyrhythms of either the Talking Heads or James Brown so either I’m confused or this is shitty music marketing. It’s more of a mash of classic rock with a schmear of Talking Heads. The funk here is most def frat boy style and not the slinky ass virtuosity of the Parliament tracks I was listening to this morning. There is a cowbell in this track and regular readers know I’m absolutely batchit crazy for cowbell. Vive le cowbell!

@@@ Pa Salieu: My Family (Warner UK, 2020) British rap, jump up and down! The track opens up qiute murky, then a stutter-y beat and I hear a bit of Caribbean business both rhythmically and in the accents though I think this MC has connections to Gambia. Yes, yes he does, Gambia. There is a stacked vocal choir bit you might hear in Game of Thrones which I don’t love, but I do dig the various half menacing MCs that hit the microphone. Their foreign accents mixed with their UK accents makes it less like a hip hop show at Kensington Palace. Strawberryies and cream mate? Beats are jumpy and not American hip hop sounding. I have no idea what this track is about, that’s how thick the accents are.

@@@ Year of the Knife: Virtual Narcotic (Pure Noisce, 2020) Description — “pitched between punk, metal, and a particularly raw in-your-face brand of electronica, the racket they make is righteously pissed off.” I’m not sure where they’re gonna put the electronics because when the play button kicks off it is a pretty unholy shitstorm of guitars, battering drums and a quite angry singer. Good for him, let that shit out and you’ll feel better. I let the player click through to the next track because this record contains 13 less than 3 minute bangers totalling 32 minutes which is a focused blast of bile and a commando style I respect. They get a little hopped up and even more anti-social in the track Stay Away. I think some head scraping aggro metal is just what the doctor ordered for our completely fucked society. These guys crank the metal energy, it’s off the hook in terms of aggressive energy, a lot of which is due to the singer. I don’t hear electronics in here, maybe in some of the other songs?

YTD recordings listened to: 736
Good music, not list worthy: 396
Not good music: 318

Best: 2
Honorable Mentions: 4

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, Pokey LaFarge, Nico Gomez, Nohe and Sus Santos, schroothoop, Tiny Bit of Giant’s Blood, Pole, Naeem, Mekons, Santrofi, DJ Nigga Fox, Flor do Toloache, Alexander Hawkins/Tomeka Reid, Chezidek, Shy One, Protomartyr, Nnamdi, Ekiti Sound, Awa Fall, 25,000 Kittens

Music for 9/23/20!!! Holly Humberstone, Saunder Jurrians, Salarymen, Jon Lake

@@@ Holly Humberstone: Vanilla (Holly Humberstone, 2020) The first two listens today are from last week’s Line of Best Fit. So I guess we’re not expecting some hardcore funk here with a title like vanilla. It’s highly manicured pop with performative confessional lyrics. I like the ambient synth floating in the back of the mix, the beats are a bit cutesy, and it does halfway explode into a pop cheese bomb in the chorus. She has her best nights without you, that’s not a good sign. Let me go back and denounce the background vocals as so extra. I’m not how the flavor or the word vanilla fits into this track. I hear the lyrics because they’re right up in yer face and she does sing the word vanilla. I like vanilla, I also like chocolate. Is her half assed boyfriend boring like vanilla? Ah, spending my time trying to make sense of word salad, fuck that.

@@@ Saunder Jurriaans: Easy Now (Decca, 2020) Meaningful major label alternative music? Oh boy somebody owns Simon and Garfunkel records and they’ve been spinning them. There’s an egg shaker here in this track that could easily be replaced with an urgent cowbell, right? In our times of need we turned on each other like beasts, that’s a good line and indicative of the spirit of this easy going, mid ’70s re-hippie track. There’s a breakdown with a violin and a electric guitar that I give respect to, that’s pretty fresh to go with that. Regular readers know that I’m an all over the place listener — I will listen to dogs fornicate if they’re interesting dogs. I think this is a great track for cubicle dwellers and people who have jobs as it squeezes out some genuine feelings within a certain set of rules that I don’t adhere to but aforementioned cubicle dwellers do. It’s got a wee bit of pretension to it but hey, that appeals to many listeners.

@@@ Gus Dapperton: Palms (AWAL Records, 2020) Here we have some friendly pop music with mid 70’s FM soft rock feels. Dapperton has a smooth voice with a little whinge in it, and as the tune expands into a full band formula it skips to the next decade and adds some ’80s synth rock and chorused guitar to the mid ’70s feels. There’s been a lot of work to make this atmosphere but I don’t get the lyrics til the acoustic guitar take the tempo down breakdown. It’s a lot of words and as near as I can tell he didn’t help a friend of his that needed help. I think they put the parts they wanted loudest and that’s the friendly guitars, the strummed acoustics, and the wide panned background vocals. So maybe the lyrics are meant to be a garnish not the meal. I get the feeling it’s trying to evoke but I could have used some lyrics to deepen that feeling.

@@@ John Lake: The Bet (Outside in Music, 2020) I got to this jazz trumpeter’s debut single via the Twatter. Go Twatter! This is the first track off this musician’s debut and it is a 2 horn attack with piano, bass and drums. Right off the bat I’m hearing the piano player sticking out all over the place which I like. Drums high in the mix, I like that. The drummer has plenty of energy and I like that. I’m agnostic on the horn playing so there you have my view on all the players here which with a coupla bucks you could get yerself a cup of coffee. It’s straight jazz and it’s not called straight for no reason! Very nice production that is cleaner than a nun’s taint!

YTD recordings listened to: 732
Good music, not list worthy: 393
Not good music: 317

Best: 2
Honorable Mentions: 4

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, Pokey LaFarge, Nico Gomez, Nohe and Sus Santos, schroothoop, Tiny Bit of Giant’s Blood, Pole, Naeem, Mekons, Santrofi, DJ Nigga Fox, Flor do Toloache, Alexander Hawkins/Tomeka Reid, Chezidek, Shy One, Protomartyr, Nnamdi, Ekiti Sound, Awa Fall, 25,000 Kittens

Music for 9/22/20!! Agallah and Sadat X, PUP, Laura Veirs, Anjimile

@@@ Agallah & Sadat X: The Boppers (Propain Campain, 2020) I’m on the mailing list for a lot of independent hip hop and this is from an email from these guys at Diamond 360. I love the marketing for this as it was described as an absolute heater and a hard bodied banger. Excellent, I love it. It opens with an old school radio announcer before it kicks off into what sounds like a retro ’90s Wu Tang-y type jam. The MC is sandy voiced, not gravelly and he smacks the microphone into submission. There are frequent synth orchestral one note blasts that I usually don’t like but I like it here as it contrasts with the uber street flavor and the MC’s tone. Another MC comes on the mic and he brings a sharper tone and little more energy. There’s a spinning sample that kinda drills itself into your brain pan but that’s pretty much the whole thing. The lyrics are tough without being particularly nasty towards women or crazy violent. I appreciate that.

@@@ PUP: Rot ( , 2020) I’m sure this Toronto outfit is getting plenty of reviews having titled their latest recording This Place Sucks Ass but I’ll go for it. This is a pre-release track so you’ll have to wait til October 23 for the full This Place Sucks Ass but I’m not sure how much more ass this place could suck consider what’s going on in this ass right now. Fuck. This track does not appear on Apple Music so we’re stuck with the assholes over at GooglePimpTube (fuck them). It’s got a shaggy old school low self esteem punk flavor with some muscular guitars and more than a bit of Cali three chord business. These guys left themselves wide for a reviewer to say ‘this shit sucks ass’ but it doesn’t. I like the shambolic verse more than the focused Green Day-ish chorus. I like the hook in the chorus and it centers the track but I could use some more wreckage, you know color outside the lines a bit. If you’re going for This Place Sucks Ass, lose your shit. That’s what makes this place suck major ass is how everybody is losing their shit. Just a thought as to how to bring the music in line with the sentiment.

@@@ Laura Veirs: Turquoise Walls (Raven Marching Band, 2020) I saw a feature on this musician in the Guardian. This is a pre-release track from an upcoming full length out at the end of October. This is the third track on the record so it occupies a prime position. It’s quite indie with a little ’70s singer songwriter and a bit of indie electronic drum machine and electro flavoring. She’s mourning a relationship that’s over and she’s staring at the turquoise walls. I like the descending synth melody tucked into the chorus, and I’m least a fan of the strummed acoustic guitars on each channel. It’s well executed and it’s not really my style but for hipster coffee shop dwellers putting on their sweaters for the first blast of autumn chill I can see it working for them.

@@@ Anjimile: Maker (Father/Daughter Records, 2020) From last week’s All Music’s notable release email. A young black dude does a bit of a Nick Cave intimate type thing and he does it all right. He’s got a mad regal voice with flavors. That’s the intro before the full band comes in and it pushes an upbeat flavor while not completely abandoning the opening tone so that’s cool to my ears. He’s got a very cool vocal hook in the chorus — I’m not just a boy I’m a man, I’m not just a man I’m a god, I’m not just a god I’m a maker. It’s a bit inflated to be sure but it does make sense which these days is something to hold on to. I see from a quick GooglePimp that this gent Anjimile is from Boston but he sounds like he has some connection to an African type culture at least on the margins. Or somebody producing/helping out on this record likes African music. I don’t usually dig this style but this young man has a convincing voice and he deploys it very well.

YTD recordings listened to: 728
Good music, not list worthy: 390
Not good music: 316

Best: 2
Honorable Mentions: 4

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, Pokey LaFarge, Nico Gomez, Nohe and Sus Santos, schroothoop, Tiny Bit of Giant’s Blood, Pole, Naeem, Mekons, Santrofi, DJ Nigga Fox, Flor do Toloache, Alexander Hawkins/Tomeka Reid, Chezidek, Shy One, Protomartyr, Nnamdi, Ekiti Sound, Awa Fall, 25,000 Kittens

Music for 9/21/20!!! 25,000 Kittens, Ellen Andrea Wang, Matt Berninger, Glasseye Parlor

@@@ 25,000 Kittens by 25,000 Kittens ( , 2014) I got to these two ambient drone pieces by and for cats via a shout out on the Twatter. Love that Twatter stew, the chaos, the fake news the bitching and moaning. Good stuff. This Japanese ambient artist and cat lover makes a couple of big pieces for his cats. Given the inspiration and the slow nature of these pieces this is not music for quick hit Instagrammers, this is mournful (and hopeful) ambient for folks to maybe reflect on their dead pets which sounds a bit crazy but it’s not. I’ve only had one pet my whole life and it was a stray cat I bought to kill rats in my Chinatown studio. That cut fucking blew at hunting NYC rats but she was the most loving little kitty you could dream of. I never took that cat to the vet and we fed it salty ass cheap ghetto kibble but me and then my kids loved the shit out of that cat and she almost made it to 18 years. So that’s my dead cat story and I’m sticking with it and this is really not just a great idea for an ambient piece it’s also really beautiful ambient music. Check it out.

@@@ Ellen Andrea Wang: Erasmus (Ropeadope, 2020) From the London Jazz Blog weekly email. A trio track with guitar, bass, and hand drums on this track. I’m not a huge fan of the guitar tone but I have that issue with almost all jazz guitarists. Lots of arpeggios out of the guitar and overall it has a flightier/New Age vibe that is also enhanced by occasional delay pedal action. I like the bass tone and the bass playing which is pretty thick as well as minimalist. About a third of the way the drummer switches from hand drums to full kit which I like. The production is extremely polished and what I call brunch style. Oh no, the guitar player has switched flavors and brought on the long grizzly tones. Shoulda started with this for Jesus Sake. Shredding commences and the whole track is percolatin’ pretty good. Pretty good for straight jazz, we’re not talking Converge here. Like the drummer here best, followed by the bass player, and the guitar playing is not to my taste.

@@@ Matt Berninger: Distant Axis (Concord, 2020) I love listening to all National and National related projects to shit on them. I think the National is a completely hyped and soulless projection of ‘art’. So I go in with that attitude but if it makes me shit my pants I will wave the diaper in the air with utter joy! Nice image. It opens as expected with an acoustic guitar strum and a huge ambient guitar (I think) sound. And then the deep voice and I won’t quite go so far as to say wake me when it’s over but somebody get me a pillow as it’s early snoozytime tea today. Don’t listen to this if you’re driving, yikers. About 1:45 the drums come in and by drums I mean it’s not a standard kit or not a kit at all. A piano comes in and I must say I haven’t heard a good piano in a rock song since Quadrophenia. Am I right people? It’s just so meaningful it makes my sphincter pucker, I can barely sit down that’s how tight my ass is. I apologize for the graphic nature of my critique but c’mon put some mustard on this bitch.

@@@ Glasseye Parlour: Riot (Glasseye Parlor, 2020) I got to what I think is going to be Australian rawk via Happy magazine in Australia. And it is updated post grunge hard rock from Australia where they still believe in rock. It’s about starting a riot, but I’m not sure if it’s starting a riot due to politicial difference or just for shits and giggles. You know whipping a shitty and starting a drunken riot and fighting and shit. I like the drums high up in the mix, the guitars could use a bit more freakshow, and the vocalist is a star, just ask him! Bass players in rock bands have pretty boring jobs, sorry dude or dudette. The drums are my favorite thing, the singer annoys me a bit. He’s probably a super nice horny guy but he sounds like he might have caught the vapors.

YTD recordings listened to: 724
Good music, not list worthy: 387
Not good music: 315

Best: 2
Honorable Mentions: 4

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, Pokey LaFarge, Nico Gomez, Nohe and Sus Santos, schroothoop, Tiny Bit of Giant’s Blood, Pole, Naeem, Mekons, Santrofi, DJ Nigga Fox, Flor do Toloache, Alexander Hawkins/Tomeka Reid, Chezidek, Shy One, Protomartyr, Nnamdi, Ekiti Sound, Awa Fall, 25,000 Kittens

Track of the week!

Music for 9/18/20!!! Gillian Mapp, Kenny Chesney, Luba Mason, Laurence Brownlee

@@@ Gillian Mapp: Orange Bitters (Lekker Collective, 2020) I’m on this label’s mailing list and I got to this r&b track from an email from them. I don’t think the folks who made this could make it any more lush and intimate if they tried. Super chill keyboard organ patch and Ms. Mapp’s framed vocals, they are going for dessert style r&b. It’s about sensations and feeling those sensations and the lyrics are about time and space, kisses on the lips, and other slideshow, stream of conciousness lyrical images. A tasteful delay on her voice and intimate reverb feels end up making a minimal set of sounds evoke a much larger feeling.

@@@ Kenny Chesney: You Don’t Get To (Warner Nashville, 2020) I saw this track shouted on Bob Lefsetz’s music industry blog+. I haven’t been keeping up with my new country listening, I love the new country tracks. This is a ballad with those ringing piano chords you find all over today’s music. #blech. The emphasis here is on the lyrics where he just straight up tells his ex what she can’t do so he can protect himself and stay unhurt by this awful person. She doesn’t get to swing by with that look in her eye, naimsayin’? He does a good job delivering the lyrics but the lyrics are a bit dramatical. Maybe if he stripped back the sounds and didn’t have a closet arena rock sound packed in here. I’m sure duder is still hurtin’ but it’s still mad shiny and poppy sounds so that’s a bit tough to reconcile those two concepts.

@@@ Luba Mason: In Walked Bud (Blue Canoe, 2020) I seen it on the Twatter, who doesn’t love the twatter. I don’t see this record up on Apple Music so we’re stuck with GooglePimpTube. Regular readers know of my conflicted relationship with straight jazz. I dig the vibes intro, and then comes the upright bass and Ms. Mason. It’s a live track which maybe gives the performance a bit more punch as there are humans there to interact with (pre covid obviously). I’m not sure what to say here I like the vibes player a lot, then the bass player. I don’t think I’m a fan of straight jazz vocalizing, it doesn’t work for me. Check out this trio track if you’re a fan of the formula.

@@@ Lawrence Brownlee: Barbieri di Saviglia (Warner, 2020) I got to this piece via the email from National Sawdust in Brooklyn. I’ve gotten a bit into classical music via my cello playing son but my most notable connection to the Barber of Seville is the Looney Tunes classic the Rabbit of Seville where Bugs Bunny prepares a salad on Elmer Fudd’s bald head. Good times! Let’s not go down the Looney Tunes rabbit hole (no pun!) To say these motherfuckers can sing is a tad simplistic. Are they more skilled than a talented MC? Well classical music is an established form and hip hop allows for more variation. This is an incredibly rich recording and a lush headphone listen and while most folks aren’t rocking this old school Italian opera style they should check it out to see how many different ways there are to victimize a microphone. Also check out the rabbit of seville. When Bugs is cranking the barber chair up into the theater higher and higher and elmer fudd has shaving foam on his head, oh that’s good times.

YTD recordings listened to: 720
Good music, not list worthy: 384
Not good music: 314

Best: 2
Honorable Mentions: 4

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, Pokey LaFarge, Nico Gomez, Nohe and Sus Santos, schroothoop, Tiny Bit of Giant’s Blood, Pole, Naeem, Mekons, Santrofi, DJ Nigga Fox, Flor do Toloache, Alexander Hawkins/Tomeka Reid, Chezidek, Shy One, Protomartyr, Nnamdi, Ekiti Sound, Awa Fall