Music for 2/5/21!!! carolesdaughter, SG Lewis

@@@ carolesdaughter: violent (Sony Music, 2021) I got to what is described as a blend of hip hop and punk rock via Line of Best Fit. To my ears this is more Post Malone with a vagina rather than anything I know to be punk. The vocal hook here is about getting her ring back because it’s a diamond so it’s more on the personal level, than any macro punk level. I don’t enjoy being mismarketed to. Also no mess and not over the top spilly guitars here so maybe somebody with a mohawk drove by but it’s not punk, Imma pretty certain of that.

@@@ SG Lewis: One More (UMG, 2021) A white boy disco savant with a little authentic disco sauce from Nile Rodgers. A little above the warmed over funk/disco of Mark Ronson, but just a notch or two. He’s got a vocal hook about having friends in the bathroom which I think is kind of a stupid ass vocal reference. I like Nile Rodgers funk vamping but the vocals are weak sauce and while there was a one brief moment where the mix opened up and I thought we might head to a better place it’s pretty standard disco down to the cowbell. Fucking love cowbell and think it’s well deployed here but the singer, oy.

Music for 6/25/19!!! Mark Ronson, Jane Weaver

@@@ Mark Ronson: Late Night Feelings (Sony, 2019)  I’m sure most folks didn’t see the NY Times puff piece on him.  I’ve never been a particularly big fan of Ronson as he’s only a couple of notches above the tragic figure of Calvin Harris.  White people trafficking in funk, you must be careful.  That’s reverse racist and shit!!  After a strings/vocal harmonies intro the title track kicks in and I think it’s gonna be an updated disco biscuit.  I wish I was wrong but it is as predicted.  It’s not full on disco but despite the attempt at emotional lyrics it’s disco funk and sad disco funk at that.  I don’t see how this old school dancefloor banger is going to dislodge the current funky club music.  Maybe it’s aimed at the older analog crowd, which I get.  The record is stuffed with guest vocalists, even Alicia Keyes, who appears to be the most well known guest.  It’s not the most terrible music ever, it’s very predictable and it doesn’t sound particularly inspired.  Maybe sad funk is a bit of a dream.  Shake your booty through your tears.

@@@  Jane Weaver: Loops in the Secret Society (Fire, 2019)  Another record off this week’s All Music notable release email.  It opens with tons of vocals, medium processed and stacked.  It morphs into a cosmic electro jam with swirling synths, a percussive clock sound and a buildup.  I tipped a little over halfway through as the buildup was stalled and I felt like I was in a science fiction movie.  I think I’m not super into the beats, they’re far from the funky and more in the video game neighborhood.  When the third tune Arrows comes in we get the crowning touch of the New Age angel voice which revolves around the phrase ‘nothing can hurt you’.  Not really my thing, but check it for yourself.

YTD recordings listened to: 318
Good music, not list worthy: 188
Not good music: 109

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, Horndal, Wyxz, Tarek Atoui, Hawktail, Saicobab, Shannon and the Clams, General Purv, Shipping News, Big Thief, Emma Louise

Music for 4/3/18!!! Basa Basa, Special Interest, Starchild, Portal

@@@ Basa Basa: Homowo (Vintage Voudou, 2018). I got to a page of Bandcamp’s best records of winter 2018 and this reissue is right at the top of the list.  I would call the first tune an African disco groove, laidback with funky dancefloor flourishes.  In addition to the laidback polyrhythms there’s a plethora of slack guitar sounds and space organs.  Mind you this is not white boy slack, this is African motherland slack.  Chill and funky.  I like the fourth tune, African Soul Power, the best but I could have used more uptempo dancefloor bangers and I prefer the guitar shredding over the slow jams.

@@@ Special Interest: Spiraling (N/A, 2018). Queer punk out of New Orleans that I got to via the very same Bandcamp best of winter 18 records.  I can’t help but think of Sleaford Mods and their insane British punk hip hop when I hear this bass sound and the drum machine drumming.  The singer is whipping quite a negative shitty on the second tune, Disco.  Disco, disco, disco we want disco!  Well, not really but I get it…..I’m always up for some lo fi punk aggro but this could use a Red Bull or some hot sauce.  More nihilistic than pissed off, though she tears it pretty good on the sixth song, Nerve.  Shoulda put this tune upfront, it’s the best of the bunch in my dumbass opinion.

@@@ Starchild and the New Romantic: Language (N/A, 2018).  ’80s inspired funk off the very same Bandcamp best of winter list.  I saw Prince namechecked but my first impression is that the guitar playing is not going to be up there with Prince hall of fame fretwork.  He should have been more than namechecked as this is a love letter to the Purple One.  This second tune, Mood, surely evokes him bigly and the singer is doing some inspired falsetto loverboy work in the third tune Only if U Knew.  I like this record as the songs are heartfelt so it doesn’t feel like it’s just biting to get his listeners.  It is a bit uneven as some of the tunes work better than others.  My favorite Prince music is his very earliest work in the mad early ’80s.

@@@ Portal: ION (Profound Lore, 2018) My last listen on Bandcamp’s best of winter 2018 releases.  The Profound Lore releases I’ve check out have been sludgy and slow and while this one doesn’t appeared to be heading in a straight metal direction it is sludgy for sure. Oooh, I was totally wrong as it shifted markedly from a dark swirly looped opening to a sped up freaked out metal shitshow.  Jumpy thrash drums and super Red Bulled guitars that sound like they’re coming out of a giant AM transistor radio.  Painfully static and needly.  The singer is a giant exhaling thing, slowly releasing gravelly clouds of doomy gas.  It’s not particularly inviting but I don’t think this is supposed to be aimed at the Miley Cyrus crowd.  This some of the best metal I’ve heard in a while, Imma have to circle back on this foul brew.  Check it out as the guitar player and the drummer really get into some chaotic spillage.

YTD recordings listened to: 182
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 97
Not good music: 80

Best: 4
Honorable Mentions: 3

Possibles: Retox, Defeater, Jonwayne, Okkyung Lee, The Ballantynes, Slidhr, The Chewers, Toxic Holocaust, Susie Iberra/Roberto Rodriguez, Lenguas Largas, The Coral, T.O.M.B., Lozen, Erase Errata, Mastery, Leviathan, Hartley C. White, Weed, Cold Water, Janelle Monae, Luther Dickinson, Graeme Barrett, Fast Asleep, Goldlink, Cavanaugh, Gentleman Surfer, 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, A Tribe Called Quest, Noname, Gouge Away, Klara Lewis, Krullur, The Lowest Form, Hard Proof, Yotoco, Jungle Fire, Sandoz, Oddisee, Forro in the Dark, RAM, Fiver, Dona Onete, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Irreversible Entanglements, Converge, Open Mike Eagle, Criolo, Billy Strings, Flowers of Sulphur, Tal National, Portal

Music for 10/10/17!!! Como Asesinar A Felipes, Sam Smith, Bottin, HoodRich Pablo Juan

@@@  Como Asesinar A Felipes: Elipse (Koolarrow, 2017)  I got to this concept record by Latin American musicians via a music publicist email.  It consists of two pieces named interior, one named medio, and three with the word exterior in the title.  It is listed as hip hop/rap in the Apple Music slotting system but the intro of the first tune features a long sax blast and some Spanish vocalizing.  When the band comes in it has a slightly rough prog vibe rather than hip hop.  I like the bass tune and the band energy.  I’m peeping the third track and I like the varied instrumentation and the instrumentation and the more exploratory rock stylings.

@@@ Sam Smith: Pray (Capitol, 2017)  Sam Smith returns with a second slice of romantic ballad cheese for the masses!  He’s got the resounding piano chords and the slightly hip skittering high hat.  He’s in a bad way visa vis love and maybe he’s gonna have to pray.  And right on time comes the church choir.  It is building in energy and its cheesy flavors become more pronounced as he becomes more passionate.  This is blue/bleu cheese!  Part of me prays for this to be over soon as it is the sort of cliche serious tune that turns my stomach more than a bit.  My prayers have come true and I survived.  Check it out, it’s awesome!  This album is not out for another month so there’s plenty of time to get some boots for the tsunami of marketing that will commence in the name of sensitive fella Sam Smith.  I pray you all survive.

@@@ Bottin: I Have What I Gave (2MR, 2017)  An indie electronic record inspired by late ’70s Italian disco/funk.  The opening of the first tune does not evoke that era but I will be patient.  I heard the funk on the second half of the first tune but the second tune goes right into it, though it adds a little krautrock vibe, accidentally or not.  The singing is indie style, no divas or funky black folks on the mic here.  No offense to the effort here but I think I prefer the old school disco that inspired this.

@@@ HoodRich Pablo Juan: Do What I Want to Do (Empire, 2017) A hip hop single off the Apple Music hot tracks section.  The lyrics are pretty raw towards the women folk while the arrangement sports a weird kinda good/kinda annoying guitar/harp sample.  There are multiple MCs in various states of stoned.  This may be one of the lowest, flabbiest and fartiest hip hop basses I’ve heard.  The vocals crowd the track and I’m not sure it’s great to have the vocal hook be ‘I do whatever I want do’.  I know that’s what drives Trump’s toilet tweets, but remember the children!  It’s an all right track, C+.

YTD recordings listened to: 656
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 352
Not good music: 278

Buys: 8
Honorable Mentions: 6

Possibles: Chris McGregor, Retox, Defeater, Jonwayne, Okkyung Lee, The Ballantynes, Slidhr, The Chewers, Toxic Holocaust, Susie Iberra/Roberto Rodriguez, Lenguas Largas, The Coral, T.O.M.B., Lozen, Erase Errata, Mastery, Leviathan, Hartley C. White, Weed, Cold Water, Janelle Monae, Luther Dickinson, Graeme Barrett, Fast Asleep, Goldlink, Cavanaugh, Gentleman Surfer, 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, Magrudergrind, A Tribe Called Quest, Noname, Gouge Away, Anna Hogberg, Klara Lewis, Krullur, The Lowest Form, Hard Proof, James Brandon Lewis, Yotoco, Jungle Fire, Sandoz, J.I.D., Oddisee, Forro in the Dark, RAM, Fiver, Dona Onete, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, American Lips, Sudan Archives, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Benjamin Booker

Active Music Listening Thursday May 15, 2014

YTD recordings listened to: 350
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 228
Not good music: 103

Honorable Mentions: 1
Buys: 2

Possibles: Boyd Rivers, Chris McGregor, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Dave Arner Trio, Trap Them, Bill Horist, MAKU Soundsystem, Zomby, Retox, Owiny Sigoma Band, About Group, Jello Biafra, Fat Freddy’s Drop, Jessie Mae Hemphill, Kendl Winter, Shigeto, Bone Dance, Defeater, Sidi Toure, Lindi Ortega, Jonwayne, Christian Kjellvander, Okkyung Lee, Tiger Hatchery, The Ballantynes, Debruit and Aljawal, Slidhr, The Whammies, The Chewers, La Misa Negra, Melingo, Alexander Hawkins, Cheryl Pyle, Mexican Dubwiser, Toxic Holocaust, Equal Stones, Comeback Kid, Nat Baldwin

@@@ Chromeo: White Women (Big Beat/Atlantic, 2014).  These guys got a huge writeup/PR puff piece over here on Huffington Post.  The two attempts to make this record more substantial than it really is involves saying that the record is rooted in the past but ‘it couldn’t possibly sound more like the present.’  I tell you as one adult to another that I have no clue what sounds current and ‘present’ in this recording.  It bites Prince’s 1999 pretty hard but without the provocative lyrics of that record.  There’s not a single sound that is post 1980’s in this record — not drum ‘n bass stutter beats, no ambient electronica, no industrial agit punk.  Secondly, the article sticks up for the history of disco saying that homophobia and racism kept the music down.  Anybody with any knowledge of the public relations industry knows it’s a classic technique to align oneself with the underdog — of course, funded posts on the huffington post don’t really qualify as having the budget of an underdog but let’s not have reality rear its ugly head.

The record itself a recycled 1980’s Prince record with a bit of Lionel Richie thrown in, some Chic influences.  It’s an okay record — the funkiness of it is somewhat cancelled out by various cheesy sounds.  The beats are pretty underwhelming but the arrangements are above average and the white boy singer has good flow on the mic.

@@@ Incognito: Amplified Soul (Shanachie, 2014).  A dollop of Sade swilred in with some Maxwell on a record I found on the All Music weekly email.  The production is layered and slick.  I guess Daft Punk really brought out the disco/funk/nu r&b lovers as this record is not as partyistic as the Chromeo record but it is doing an above quiet storm funk thing to be sure.

@@@ Lonesome Shack: More Primitive (Alive Naturalsound, 2014).  A swamp blues record I got to via a music publicist email.  I’m checking it out because I dig Left Lane Cruiser and they’re on this same label.  The guitar sound is clean, very clean and maybe a bit too clean for my taste.  The singer has a strange voice which I dig and the tunes are solid.  It’s not as hot as Left Lane Cruiser, but this is all personal taste so check them out.

https://soundcloud.com/alivenaturalsound/lonesome-shack-wrecks

@@@ The Capsules: Super Symmetry (Saint Marie, 2014).  A detached female voice over a minimalist beat and widely panned cricket like synths.  Very sci-fi movie sounding.  Kinda boring so if you’re into kinda boring this will work for you.

@@@ Cheerleader: Waiting Waiting (Young and Lost/Bright Antenna, 2014)  Off a music publicist email.  These guys are rocking a sweet and trippy vibe on this track.  The vocals are very non-threatening, the beat is accessible and the guitar is where the trippy lives.  Sounds like songs fit for summer are starting to come out.  I dig the sounds, the tune is all right.

 

Active Music Listening Wednesday January 22, 2014

YTD recordings listened to: 49
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 27
Not good music: 20

Honorable Mentions: 0
Buys: 0

Possibles: Boyd Rivers, Abdoulaye Alhassane Toure, Cryptopsy, Chris McGregor, Brother Ali (2009), Alvin Youngblood Hart, Dave Arner Trio, Trap Them, Bill Horist, MAKU Soundsystem, Zomby, Retox, Owiny Sigoma Band, About Group, Andrew Cedermark, Jello Biafra, Fat Freddy’s Drop, Jessie Mae Hemphill, All Pigs Must Die, Kendl Winter, Shigeto, Bone Dance, Cage the Elephant, Defeater, Sidi Toure, Lindi Ortega, Jonwayne, Christian Kjellvander, Okkyung Lee, Tiger Hatchery, Xiu Xiu, The Ballantynes, Debruit and Aljawal

@@@ Against Me!: Transgender Dysphoria (Total Treble, 2014).  Off the MOG new release page and the heavy metal newsletter I get each week.  Opens up with the shuffling rock, slight rockabilly tilt of the titled track.  With track 6 titled ‘Osama Bin Laden as the Crucified Christ’ these guys are looking to boost blood pressures all over the USA.  I wish the playing was as incendiary as the song titles, but we live in buttoned down times and the tunes are solid rockers but nothing too explosive.  Think of this as Green Day but less adolescent and more lyrically offensive.

@@@ Broken Bells: After the Disco (Columbia, 2014).  I saw this tune on the MOG new release page.  I thought it meant what music comes after this disco phase fades, but it’s more about what happens after the disco closes.  And surprise of surprises, there’s more disco after the disco closes.  I should have known better.  Does not have the strut of prime Bee Gees disco but it does have the wet towl synth thing down pretty pat.

@@@ Kris Gruen: How Long Will I Wait?  (Not sure, 2013?).  Some soft folk-rock I got to via a music publicist email.  I like the melancholic violin melodies and the use of the trumpet is unusual and ear catching, and I like the stacked vocal harmonies less.  The intimate sound of the verses is very well done.

@@@ Los Lonely Boys: Revelation (Playing in Traffic)  A piquant blend of Jimmy Buffett feel good rock and anthemic shopping mall rock that I found on the MOG new release page.  Not sure what else to say here except not my cup of tea.

@@@ I Break Horses: Chiascuro (PIAS, 2014).  Some  spaced out, New Age tinged electronica from the MOG new release page.  Focus here is more on the synths and the dreamy female voice rather than the beats.  It’s pretty much cotton candy for your ears — sweet as shit and not very good for your long term development.

 

Active Music Listening Saturday September 1, 2012

YTD recordings listened to: 560
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 326
Not good music:201
Buys: 19 (not all 2012 releases)
Possibles: Left Lane Cruiser/James Leg, Dennis Bovell, Seluah, Donnie and Joe Emerson,  Zani Diabate, Isaiah Toothtaker (2011), Ondatropica, Lianne Le Havas, Sidsel Endresen & Stan Westerhus, The Ones to Blame, Boyd Rivers, Abdoulaye Alhassane Toure, The Semi-Colons, Cryptopsy

@@@ Azealia Banks: Succubi (2012).  Low energy foul mouthed female MC over a West Coast style beat with a nice percussion hook tucked up in there.

@@@ Indoor Voices: So Smart.  Found this over here at IndieMusicFilter.  Oh boy, the gated snare sound is making a comeback, how regrettable.  Above average synth-y with a nice echo guitar tucked back in there with far away/reverbed out male/female dual vocals.  It’s okay.

@@@ Goat: World Music (2012)  Found these guys on the Aquarius Records weekly email.  Described as a heavy Afro-psych outfit but I I hear more of a small dollop of North African/Middle Eastern rhythms mixed in with classic rock beats thing going on.  It does have a righteous buzzed out guitar sound.  I would call this white tribal music with some mushrooms mixed in.  I think it’s a bit too repetitive for my taste.  I can see why this would work out in San Francisco, but I’m not super into it.

@@@ Darius: Maliblue (2012)  Found this over here at Newdust.  It’s a club track, fingers poppin’, synths vampin;.  Oh, we’re out of the intro into a full blown slow disco jam.  Righteous,  you go boys and girls.  Kind of a bunch of synths comin in and out over the four on the floor with a little phaser action on some portions of the mix.  Nice bassline, I’ll give ’em that.