Music for 7/20/21!!! Bonniesongs, Theo Crocker

@@@ Bonniesongs: Ice Cream (Small Pond, 2019) I’m on the mailing list for many non-American music periodicals and I got to this track via an online music magazine out of Australia. This is some modified rock and I believe I hear cowbell — oh glorious cowbell, the perfect hand percussion. Most notable is Bonniesongs’ voice which is almost painfully waif-ish, she sounds less than 10 years old. This is not a put down it’s an observation of the tone of her voice. If you took her out of the track it would be a pretty ordinary. The track is a celebration of ice cream, and both ironically and fittingly she’ll have vanilla! That about concludes the review right there. Straight rock beat with a schmear of cowbell, a fair amount of electric guitar and the waif voice! Will you have vanilla??? It’s up to you.

@@@ Theo Croker: (Sony Music, 2021) I saw this jazz trumpeter shouted out on the Twatter. Love the Twatter! Wow, this is a trip. Snippets of what sounds like an indigenous drum circle opens the track and then is played along with by the musicians on the track at the same tempo. I’m not sure what to think of that. Otherwise it’s a bottom heavy straight jazz/jazz fusion-y type formula. The drum circle is brought in again and I don’t think I like the effect it produces. Croker is the trumpeter here and he’s all right, it’s hard to compete with how much is going on this track but it’s more of an ensemble piece with the solo laid over it. Like the bass player, don’t love the snare sound, and the trumpet sounds a bit weird and kinda cool at the same time.

Music for 7/19/21!!! Quantic and Nidia Gongora, Dag Tenere, Celia Wa

@@@ QUANTIC AND NIDIA GONGORA: Balada Borracha (Tru Thoughts, 2021) I got to all three of today’s listens from WRIR’s weekly playlist email. A Latin music track fully realized with a large ensemble and multiple voices, percussion, the whole schlemiel. Even an electric guitar with fx for a modern feel! This is a stew and one that I have very few if any objections. I like that the singer is not the most epic and soaring performer — she has a bit of gravel and real world in her voice. They do an interesting thing where it sounds as if they slow the track down en masse and slightly and then bring it back up to speed. Check this out and I hope the rest of the record is as good as this.

@@@ DAG TENERE: Tihoussay Tenere (Nomada, 2021) Some west African guitar centered music presented in a pretty intimate manner. This style is centered around long serpentine guitar lines and call and response vocal lines. Hand drumming too! All of these features are on display here with at least three electric guitar tracks and brisk hand drumming. Ooh, in addition there’s some subtle showing off turned in by the bass player and I hear you doing that and I am enjoying it. The tune goes out with the distortion box on and plenty of energy. The player clicked through while I looked up my last listen and a female singer gets the microphone really changing up the energy and vibe of this track.

@@@ Celia Wa: Over (Heavenly Sweetness, 2021) Opening up with shaker, flute and a large stack of vocal tracks. Ms. Wa hails originally from Guadalupe but she lives in Paris mixing up all manner of sounds into a world music dancefloor style. This is another stew similar to the first track but mostly all electro sounds. I appreciate how this track (to my ears) is evenly split between electro and world music elements so that lack of tilt really yields something fresher because it’s neither this with a splash of that nore that with a splash of this. I like it.

Music for 7/17/21!!! Okute, Vince Staples

@@@ Okute: Quiere La Rumba (Chulo, 2021) Some old school rumba with rock guitar tones pimped out with very stylish production values. Hand drumming high in the mix, you gotta appreciate that. These guys are establishing a massive groove and the daylight between the Latin music and African music is thin indeed. Somebody unleashes a massive keyboard solo in complete rock star fashion. There’s a lot of really good shit going on here and I”m going to check out more of this record when I get a chance. I suggest you do the same. I’m checking out the opening track sporting a female singer and the feels are just as sticky and awesome.

@@@ Vince Staples: Are You With That? (Motown/UMG, 2021) Staples looks like he’s gonna enter this tune into the track of the summer with this lilting hip hop funky nugget. Whoever chose that circus type keyboard sound that sort of breathes and is murky and chewy should get a bonus as it really separates the track from the crowd. Staples is relaxed and reflective on the microphone, I can see this placing in the sweepstakes.

Music for 7/16/21!!! Aaron Lewis, Sam Fender, John Mayer

@@@ Aaron Lewis: Am I the Only One (N/A, 2021) It’s only fitting that a dude who fronted a band called Staind wrote a track bemoaning Confederate statue removal. It’s a country ditty with dual acoustic guitars and soaring vocal lines defending what is commonly known as the ‘white’ way of life, fighting fighting fighting was this prick at the Capitol riot. I would be more sympathetic if he didn’t repeatedly shout out Confederate monuments being removed. Ah, there’s a sad fiddle tucked in at the end. Look man, the fuckers commemorated in those statues fought to own humans, so just fuck off. You are one of the only ones so go be sad with your friends.

@@@ Sam Fender: Seventeen Going Under (Polydor, 2021) Another track from music biz honcho Bob Lefsetz who has shockingly bad taste but somehow I keep listening to the tracks he suggests. This is a retro rock banger out of the UK area with a beat straight as an arrow, some big major label whoa hos and a Springsteen-esque saxophone tucked in the back. The beat morphs into a rolling march beat on the snare which I like but this really is a trip back in the time machine to resurrect the spirit of big big rawk. I was never a fan but if you are here’s a shiny nugget of big big rawk for ya earholes.

@@@ John Mayer: Shot in the Dark (Columbia, 2021) Oy, I think we should pass the hat to collect a little bread in an effort to get John Mayer to retire. Regular readers know how I struggle with the comfort music, the music that almost wipes your ass for you, the macaroni and cheese that will rot your mind. This is an album devoted to sounds from the 1980s and this track is a loverboy thing with long Covid energy. Sleepy, slow with an occasioanl electric guitar melody. God I gotta get out of here. Oy, I recommend folks steer clear, this is a dangerous corporate biscuit.

Music for 7/18/21!!! Bicentennial Drug Lord, Sofi Tukker

@@@ Bicentennial Drug Lord: Confessed the Sheets (N/A, 2021) Music publicist email people! This is a pre-release track from a record out at the end of August and it’s not up on the Apple Music and I don’t usually do this but you’ll have to listen to the GooglePimpTube video below. Unfortunately as Google and YouTube blow chunks, both spiritually and sonically. It opens up pretty retro rock with folk feels with some big acoustic guitar strums and chill vocal melodies. There is an analog synth in there and a machine drum rhythm so it might explode into an updated Friends themed television show theme. I kid I kid!!! The chorus is massive but it’s not Friends. See my face when you’re walking around, that’s the vocal hook. Meh. It’s got a quaint heartfelt rock feel I appreciate but rock is in a tough place right now so I appreciate them running up the hill.

@@@ Sofi Tukker and Amadou and Miriam: Mon Cheri (Red Hot, 2021) I can’t remember how I got to this but Imma Amadou and Mariam fan. We get some vocals autotuned and processed into a pleasant robot-y sound as the dancefloor banging beats build in the background. I certainly hope Amadou and Miriam bring their funk and don’t participate in this space age robot jam but I”m not hopeful. I like it more when the vocals die back and the beat shows up with Amadou and Miriam (I think) singing long tones mixed too low over a massive wall of beats. About 2/3s of the way through Amadou is audible and overall it’s a bit of a jumble here. Either I’m confused or the tune is but check for yourself and email me.

Music for 7/15/21!!! Jennifer Lopez, Snoh Alaegra

@@@ Jennifer Lopez: Cambia el Paso ( , 2021) Swimsuit queen, Puerto Rican MILF goddess has really turned into more of a singer than an actress. I’ve checked out her tracks before and I appreciate she sings in Spanish but this track is a bit less dynamic than other ones I”ve checked out. Maybe she has to dumb down the beats for her super blanco boyfriend Ben Affleck!!! We kid, we kid. The repeating synth melody gets a bit tiresome, I like the beat, and I’m agnostic on her singing, it’s a bit repetitive the vibe of the track that is.

@@@ Snoh Aalegra: Neon Peach (Roc Nation, 2021) Wow, somebody took the Michael Jackson pop funk style and ran with it. I never really loved the formula in the first place but Tyler the Creator guests on this track and his last record is fire. It’s a straight beat spiced up with some percussion, a fair amount of melody all wrapped up in a chill feel. Tyler definitely elevates the track with his rhyming, he’s quite skilled and shit and I should not finish up this review without mentioning that my mild disdain for the funk pop formula is a personal preference and that tens of millions and even billions love the Michael Jackson jam sauce!

Music for 7/14/21!!! backxwash, DJ Shub

@@@ Backxwash: I LIE HERE BURIED WITH MY RINGS and DRESSES (Ugly Hag, 2021) Slotted as hip hop on the Apple Music to my ears it’s more of a rhythmic metal smashed into hip hop. It’s a very crunchy mix, super compressed which is not uncommon but I don’t love it. Lots of guest vocalists so I’m guessing Backxwash is the producer and she/he/they have tons of guests as sprinkles on the ice cream cone. Let me peep another track. If the beats were funkier I would be more into these arrangements, the beats are pretty straight and tilt it white for loss of a better word. Shit does get funkier on the fourth tune, Terror Packets, where the lyrics revolve around a person transitioning from one gender to another. I like this best of what I heard and I got to this via a music festival announcement where Backxwash will be appearing.

@@@ DJ Shub: War Club (Shub Music, 2020) On the same festival announcement DJ Shub, inventor of an electronic subgenre that combines indigenous business with electronic music. I’m intrigued by the first tune intro, where the keyboard could be something off a 1970’s Who record while trap beats and big drums thunder. Also some turntablism. Yowsa, the second tune (clipped below) hits and it’s bombastic and overwhelming with gigantic synth patches, MCs, and an overall pumped feel. I didn’t want to reflexively compare this music to that of a Tribe Called Red, but there are personnel connections between the two projects so I will give a shout to that outfit as they really dropped some fire. There’s a lot of sound stuffed into these tracks and it is its own special brand of funky. I will be checking it out more deeply when I have a chance and if you like super rhythmic music you might find a home with this record.

Music for 7/13/21!!! Daniel Bernard Roumain, Lambchop

@@@ Daniel Bernard Roumain: Metamorphosis (N/A, 2021) Sometimes I put together posts that I don’t end up listening to and this post today is from a post I started over a month ago and I don’t remember how I got to these two listens today. After a night of sleep my hard drive still works — I got to this track via an email from BK club National Sawdust and as an aside this track is not available on the Apple Music. As the video image describes this is an etude for violin and electronics and I’m up for it. Thus far it’s just violin and piano and I like it but where’s my electronix? I feel a bit misled as the electronix never appeared and all I got was a standard classical etude. Well recorded, composed, very anti-chaos, there ya go.

@@@ Lambchop: A Chef’s Kiss (Merge, 2021) The opening track off a record from Merge and it doth open churchy and heavy. Then a super deep voiced gent and it looks like it’s gonna be an updated Leonard Cohen literate lyrics with more fleshed out arrangements. I like the rhythmically janky feel to the piano and I like the bass though I would like to hear it more and I’m agnostic on the dude’s voice and the lyrics. He’s not going out of his way to pump the literate drama but he doesn’t have a lot of contrast to his formula. Say he did the same thing but put a trap beat underneath the track? Now that’s what I’m talking about. Also I don’t love the synth horns and the impression they leave.

Music for 7/12/21!!! DE’WAYNE, The Kid LAROI, Meggie Lennon

@@@ De’Wayne: Super 8 (Hopeless, 2021) All three of today’s listens are off this week’s Line of Best Fit. This is some slicked out rock, with traces of pop and a little bit of black music mostly in areas of the vocals. It blows out in the chorus with maximum panning and pop injection. Very nice and standard buzzy bass, straight beat so the action is in the vocals. It’s less funky than old school Prince rock tunes but it’s definitely using that template. Big ups on the bass sound, less so on the guitar tones, and maybe I don’t need quite so many vocal tracks.

@@@ The Kid LAROI: Without You (Sony, 2021) A white MC on Sony opening up with strummed acoustic guitars and no beats. This, I believe, is going to travel a very predictable road. It’s a Most Palone move, but yet to flex its hip hop beats. Might there be no beats and it’s just this doofus doin’ in on the microphone? Oy it’s looking that way, so not predictable but not good. He’s scared to be alone that’s one of the vocal lines and I don’t care, this stinks. I’m sure he’s a great guy and I don’t wish him any ill will it’s just not for me. I don’t think I can get with any aspect of this, it’s just not where I’m at.

@@@ Meggie Lennon: Lost in the Plot (Mothland, 2021) Slotted as indie pop on Apple Music I see this as Beatle-y/Oasis-y UK pop rock with synthesizers. There’s a guitar and it has rock feels but it’s not primarily set to be that. It’s a bit orchestral and a bit kaleidoscopic and maybe could use a bit more energy. Not necessarily rock energy but maybe a little brisker on the tempo. Very nice arrangement, really like the bass player, and maybe wrap it up a bit sooner.

Music for 7/11/21!!! FLOHIO, Brian Nasty

@@@ Flohio: Stuck in a Dances (ColorsXStudios, 2021) I got to these two listens today via the UK electronic music magazine, Crack. The most obvious question here is this MC from Ohio and her name is a shout out to that great stae? Noop. She’s got a UK accent and she’s rocking both rhymes and half sung mode. The arrangement consists mostly of skittering hats, cloudy synths and background vocals. Let us not neglect the bass here, which is a bit more restrained than some recent trap examples. It’s an all right track, I’m not jumping up and down but it’s all right. I like the second song of this single more than the opener.

@@@ Brian Nasty: Heart Emoji (Self-released, 2020) More hip hop off the Crack Magazine weekly shout. Solid arrangement that focuses more on self-empowerment and love than it does on og lifestylez. I really like the lo-fi buzzy synth keyboard patch chosen for this tune. It wheezes and punches through the mix really well. Bright funky beats and optimistic energy on the microphone. Love that synth, solid arrangment, little too upbeat on the microphone for me personally.