@@@ RP Boo: All My Life (Planet Mu, 2021). I think I got to today’s listens via last week’s All Music notable release email. This is an electronic release from a Chicago veteran of the scene and the track clipped below is the opening track of the record. He’s got multiple layers of percussion going, some straight and some working against that straightness making everything crooked even as other parts are presented straight. I really like the rhythms but I’d like more from the rest of the mix, oh here it comes. Part of the reason I checked this record out is it’s the same label that released Jana Rush’s Painful Enlightenment record earlier in the year. That album just bangs and bangs and bangs. This is a more polite affair focused more on the dancefloor than the darker vibes of Rush’s record. I do like how Mr. Boo threads his rhythms and brings hip hop flavors into his tracks.
@@@ Matthew E. White: Let’s Ball (Domino, 2021) Some white boy disco funk faithfully recreated in a late ’70s/early ’80s fashion. Extensive use of the cowbell, which is a huge plus, you can’t fuck with the cowbell. It’s a full mix with some nice guitar work, a fair amount of percussion and some weird/not weird singing stylings from I’m guessing Matthew E. White. The perception that maybe the mix is too full and that it detracts from the song’s mission is a personal one and if it’s over the line and just a bit extra, it’s not by much and there are a lot of sounds here that I like. If I liked the singer more I would dig the track more. I’m giving a quick peep to the opening track, Genuine Hesitation and given that the record is out on Domino everything’s gonna have a twist on it. This opener is part rock, part dance rock with some retro synths but less overtly funky than the video clipped below.
Deep In the Music 