Music for 5/18/24!!! Billie Eilish

@@@ Billie Eilish: Hit Me Hard and Soft (Interscope, 2024) The first red flag is the Apple Music blurb where somebody wrote that making this record took guts, the same was said about Olivio Rodrigo’s latest watered down pop record. The first tune here is a pretty standard tearjerker, mostly just clean electric guitar and torchy lyrics. I can’t say the production super helps the tune out, they’ve made it so soft and pillowy sonically that it has less impact. Is it more musical and adventurous than Tay Tay’s latest effort?? Oh yeah. Is it really gutsy and pushing boundaries, hmmm we’ll see but I’m not holding my breath. The second tune is notable mostly for its girl on girl theme which I’m all for but is that gutsy? I’m not really in a position to say one way or the other. ‘I could eat that girl for lunch….’ it’s a hooky line. The formula here is pretty clear — some rock type basslines, reverbed out mope-y sounding singing that occasionally breaks out of that, and mostly light club beats. It sounds pretty stylish when it first hits and I’m on the third tune and it sounds a bit tired. I don’t know why so much mainstream music is soft and pillowy, it ends up sounding really washed out and not impactful. The way her voice is presented here could use a big rethink. I want to like this record but it could be a much bolder sounding and powerful record, just dial the reverb way the fuck back for a start.

Music for 5/17/24!!! Maryam Gendron

@@@ Maryam Gendron: Mayday (Thrill Jockey, 2024). I got to this record off this week’s WRIR playlist email. I also try to check out Thrill Jockey releases as they release some cool music. It’s a folk record but I’m guessing its appearance on the WRIR playlist email is about some sort of traditional UK/Ireland influences? We shall see and thus far the opener has been a chill solo acoustic guitar intro. This could be an instrumental record and the playing is quite nice, the vibe is pretty but the playing doesn’t have enough sophistication for me to sit back and listen to it as a solo folk guitar record, it’s a tad boring in that way. Oh the second track has vocalizing and it’s similar to the guitar, pretty and simple. Now we’re getting a full band and it’s less of a folk record and more of a hipster indie folk record. it has the plainness of a lot of indie record. The third track is in French which makes me wonder if she is French Canadian, I guess I could Google. I don’t know if it’s that I’m in the mood for something else, or if the record is just a wee bit on the too simple side, I don’t think I’m obsessed with overly sophisticated music but this record isn’t doing it for me. It’s not an awful record by any means and I am guessing that a lot of normal folks with jobs would be satisfied with it.

Music for 5/16/24!!! Mighty Joshua

@@@ Mighty Joseph: Dreaducation (Mighty Music, 2024). A big full modern recording of concious roots reggae. The first tune sports some huge cracking drums, thick ass bass definitely not a murky Lee Perry thing but Mr. Joseph comes with the righteous and spiritual vocal style. I’m super feeling the third piece, Sometimes, with a nice clean guitar solo and that thumping rhythm section. Mr. Mighty sounds a whole bunch like Peter Tosh and exudes an old school vibe which I dig. The lyrics on this track are very good and the playing and vibes are very very good, he brings the roots to roots reggae.

Music for 5/14/24!!! Sam Gendel and Sam Wilkes

@@@ Sam Gendel/Sam Wilkes: The Doober (Leaving Records, 2024) A record of jazz covers I got to via the Pitchfork 10 most reviewed albums of the week. I made a typo and originally typed the record as The Goober and let’s hope not! It’s a saxophone and bass guitar record and they’re doing covers of Joni Mitchell etc. The insturmentation is sax, bass guitar often played up high on the neck to simulate a guitar and a little bit of percussion, at least on this first track. It looks like there might be some multi-tracking going on here, which is fine it doesn’t super feel like a fully improvised record. I don’t recognize the covers here and I don’t think I’ll be looking them up. The vibe here is just shy of super chill so this will work for folks with jobs who throw brunches and what not. My ear has been caught by the bass player more often than by the sax player, that’s just how the game works it’s up to the player to stake a claim and fill the space in front of the listener.

Music for 5/13/24!!! Les Savy Fav, Conrad Schnitzler

@@@ Les Savy Fav: OUI, LSF (Frenchkiss, 2024) Some medium bombastic rock that revolves around the male singer who has attitude but not so much that you want to slap him. Big rock drummer and a maelstrom of rock guitars. Not grunge, not super punk-y nor super classic rock either, just loud and I guess mostly punk/post punk. They have a lot of energy and I appreciate that. It all hinges on the singer, I like him, I’m not shitting my pants but he’s working hard. I like it more the more I listen to it but rock is a hard sell for me these days.

@@@ Conrad Schnitlzer: Slow Motion (Bureau B, 2024) Both listens today are off All Music’s notable releases of the week. This may be too slow motion for me at least the first track. It’s a noodling keyboard synth player doing his thing over a super simple beat with a short delay sound on it. It’s got Eastern flavors to it and the beat picks up a bit on the second track. I think it’s a synth redo of a classical Indian music record but with a drum machine and a keyboard. It’s not really my cup of tea.

Music for 5/12/24!!! Dettinger

@@@ Dettinger: Intershop (Kompakt, 2024) This an ambient album from 1999 freshly through the mastering rig and back at your earholes for this fantastic fucking election year. The opening track is pretty staid with some up top droning ambient type wave sounds supported by a stripped down funk-ish beat, while the second track gets more into a swirling ambient cloud with a simple stick rhythm, at least in the beginning. I think a lot of records that get remastered are easily digested by normies and music obsessives alike, I get that with this record. It has a simple appeal to it but it’s not supposed to be empty sounding music while most definitely keeping things simple. I would start with Intershop 3, the third track, as it the best and funkiest of what I heard and it is the best example of the formula being used here. The fourth track moves from the straight funkiness to a bit more delayed flavors and I’m gonna tip during this fifth track but it’s got a nice multilayered ambient opening. Check this out

Music for 5/10/24!!! Dehd, Pokey LaFarge

@@@ Dehd: Poetry (Fat Possum, 2024). If you smashed up the Beach Boys with the dudes who did the Friends with a pubic hair of The Strokes you’d get close to this record. At least the opener ah there goes the second one into the pantheon of white American friendly rock. Little Springsteen in the vocalist on this track, so there’s a whole lotta bands up in this record. It’s not bad by any means, it’s just not where I’m at.

@@@ Pokey LaFarge: Rhumba Country (New West, 2024). Another very ‘American’ sounding record. I’m a long running Pokey Lafarge fan cuz I think he has the style to do this sound tongue in cheek. Mr. LaFarge’s sonic references go further back to the ’50s and 60s, he doesn’t really traffic in many hipster sounds like recycled hippie sounds, psych business, and my least favorite faded ’70s California rock. I don’t super have the time to compare this record with previous LaFarge efforts but this one feels a bit more adult in energy, some of his earlier work I remember as ironic cornball. The corn has been toned down and the sophisticated flavors have been upped. I would start with his 2020 record Rock Bottom Rhapsody but normies and mainstream listeners should know about Pokey LaFarge, he’s a hoot.

Music for 5/9/24!!! Knocked Loose

@@@ Knocked Loose: You Won’t Leave Before You’re Supposed To (Pure Noise, 2024) I don’t usually find many great records from the Guardian or the New York Times, but the odds are higher with the Guardian than the lame ass NYT. The Guradian is giving this Kentucky metal outfit 5 stars and the first tune is absolutely a face ripper — the singer sounds absolutely at the end of his rope with the occasional help of a female singer, the arrangements are herky jerky and jumping around which I love. The drums are cranked and tasty, rough and sizzly with static but it for sure adds to the proceedings. Yowsa these guys are no hidden gem as this video has over a million streams in just two weeks, so all you fucking metal dirtballs and shitheads have found this cookie pretty quickly, good for you. If the rest of this record rips at this level I’ll be on it like stink on a monkey. Check it out.

Music for 5/8/24!!! Facta

@@@ Facta: Emeline EP (Incienso, 2023) I got to this smooth R2D2 blippety house music via the UK electronic music mag Crack. There are some high end basslines up in this four song banger and the up top garnish is minimal but tasty. It sure appears that it’s summertime and the new music is starting to heat up or it’s all in my head as this record was released in 2023 but it I found it right around now. It takes time for records to circulate and percolate. This is some stylish ass house music business, it’s got patterns but it has plenty of spiking tones and breaks on the grooves to entertain all the dirty peasants out there. Check this out.

Music for 5/6/24!!! Karate Boogaloo

@@@ Karate Boogaloo: Hold Your Horses (Colemine, 2024) I got to this record via a music publicist email and I usually don’t find interesting music in this manner but for an instrumental funk/soul/Meters type record this is some pretty fresh business. The players are all very very good but the bass player is really catching my ear melodically with an almost non stop flow of interesting playing. I don’t know the history of this band but they sound quite seasoned and really have crafted some tightly knit arrangements here, I’m feeling it, check it out.