Music for 10/8/18!!! Quin Kirchner, Longwave, serpentwithfeet

@@@ Quin Kirchner: The Other Side of Time (Monofonus/Astral, 2018)  A honkin’ big jazz recording (86 minutes!) that I got to via a twat from the twatter by the music blogger Bird is the Worm.  This first tune is an 11 minute banger and thus far I’m feeling some ‘mid ’70s jam/fusion-y jazz with spooky electric organ hanging out on the side of the mix and some down, long tone sax playing.  It comes out of its lengthy intro into a midtempo sax solo.  The second tune, Brainville, is in a funkier more standard place with a descending bass line and a two horn head in melody.  There are a bunch of covers up on this record and I like the drummer, Mr. Kirchner who is the bandleader.  Regular readers know I’m more of a fire jazz/abstract jazz listener but it’s an energetic set.

@@@ Longwave: Stay With Me (Bodan Karma, 2018)  I got to this indie single via a music publicist email.  Opening up the tune employs a muscular 1980’s pop rock formula — a really nice fuzzy bass, a straight beat with that awful gated snare sound, minimal synth, and a singer straight out of the Reagan era.  This dude could be in Simple Minds or to a lesser extent a U2 tribute band.  It gets a shreddy rock solo but it’s really too familiar for me to give much respect to it.

@@@ serpentwithfeet: soil (secretly canadian, 2018) I got to this indie r&b record via Flavorpill.  From the first tune it’s clear it’s gonna be a dramatic love listen.  The singer has plenty of quiver to his voice and he’s forward with the vulnerability and fragility.  I dig him thus far and the arrangement of this first tune is engaging.  I don’t usually go for records like this but I feel the singer and more importantly the focused arrangements that make the songs work.  The sounds are almost exclusively electronic and the vibe is more torchy and as previously stated the singer really sells his songs well.  It’s reminiscent of the artist formerly known as Antony and the Johnsons.

YTD recordings listened to: 568
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 302
Not good music: 230

Best: 9
Honorable Mentions: 6

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, Janelle Monae, 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, A Tribe Called Quest, Noname, Gouge Away, 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, Converge, Open Mike Eagle, Criolo, Billy Strings, Flowers of Sulphur, Tal National, Portal, Hernan Sama & Marcelo von Schultz, Lawaii, Etran De L’Air, Ruby Karinto, Elysia Crampton, Parquet Courts, Orlando Lopez, Moskus, Kendl Winter, Tkay Maidza, Peregoyo y su Combo vacana, serpentwithfeet

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Music for 10/1/18!!! Barrie, Discount Sunset, Tkay Mzaida

@@@ Barrie: Tal Uno (Winspear, 2018) I saw somebody launching a twat on the twatter celebrating that Spotify had put this track up on some ultimate indie list.  Oh boy, back to the ’80s we go with the super puffy synth (and synth bass) sounds and the intimate female vocal sound.  And finger snaps!  Fuck me, finger snaps!  And twinkly guitars!  And  only happy endings!

@@@ Discount Sunset: Slippery (Self-released, 2018) I saw this self-released debut single on a promo email from an Australian online music magazine.  Mopey dude on the microphone, heavily reverbed guitar and straight rock beats.  The synth component of this tune is less than usual for these days.  The arrangement is sinuous and kind of weaves and bobs within a wider range of normal indie pop tunes.  It’s an interesting blend of upbeat and downer sounds but I can’t personally roll with dude’s voice.  Check if for yourself.

@@@ Tkay Maidza: Last Year Was Weird, Vol. 1 (Downtown, 2018)  I saw this Australian black female MC on a promo email from the same Australian online music magazine I mentioned in the review above.  I usually struggle with the non U.S. rap but Maidza is singing and rhyming and she brings a modern but pretty on fleek Caribbean sound to this first tune.  The second tune brings on the straight up quick hip hop with the farty bass and a chanted chorus.  That second tune is clipped below.  Maidza has skills and the arrangements while not revolutionary are fresh.  As far as pop music goes this is pretty solid shit, so if you’re looking for some alternative to the Ariana Grande avalanche check out Maidza.  This is the best of what I heard today.

YTD recordings listened to: 550
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 294
Not good music: 227

Best: 9
Honorable Mentions: 6

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, Janelle Monae, 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, A Tribe Called Quest, Noname, Gouge Away, 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, Converge, Open Mike Eagle, Criolo, Billy Strings, Flowers of Sulphur, Tal National, Portal, Hernan Sama & Marcelo von Schultz, Lawaii, Etran De L’Air, Ruby Karinto, Elysia Crampton, Parquet Courts, Orlando Lopez, Moskus, Kendl Winter, Tkay Maidza

Music for 9/28/18!!! Fay Victor’s SoundNoiseFUNK, James Supercave, Sarah Hahn

@@@ Fay Victor’s SoundNoiseFunk: Wet Robots (ESP Disk, 2018) I saw this free jazz funk record shouted on the Twatter.  I know some of the players on this recording and when you click on the first track set aside any expectations that this might be a variant of a George Clinton/Funkadelic record.  It’s funky but not in a typically funky manner.  Victor is entertaining with quasi-mental hospital vocal style and she is accompanied by drums, guitar, and a sax player.  I’m super into Victor’s singing — she appears to be emulating any number of other instruments, most notably sax.  I do think with a band name such as SoundNoiseFUNK that a bassist would be standard issue.  I’m very much enjoying what’s here but some thump would really take it places, in my opinion.

@@@ James Supercave: Come Alone (Self-released, 2018) I got to this mainstream indie pop rock tune via a music publicist email.  The arrangement sounds pretty familiar with a few fresh bits thrown in, but the singer, what can we say about the singer?  He’s not super interesting in the verse but he does a better job with his falsetto in the chorus.  There is some nice sonic rotation through the tune where some sounds drop and others show up but it sounds like slinky ear candy and not much more than that to me.

@@@ Sarah Hahn: I Close My Eyes to See (Parma, 2018)  I’m on the mailing list of this small New Hampshire modern classical/sometimes jazz label.  They do pretty cool stuff.  The track opens with an extended flute/piano jam.  I thought there were vocals on this record, but maybe I’m on the crack again and misread as we’re almost half way through and it’s a very nice flute/piano duo piece.  It sits inside what I know to be classical music while pushing through a lot of energy and passion in places.  I like it.

YTD recordings listened to: 547
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 290
Not good music: 226

Best: 9
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, Janelle Monae, 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, 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, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Converge, Open Mike Eagle, Criolo, Billy Strings, Flowers of Sulphur, Tal National, Portal, Hernan Sama & Marcelo von Schultz, Jean Grae and Quelle Chris, Lawaii, Etran De L’Air, Ruby Karinto, Elysia Crampton, Parquet Courts, Orlando Lopez, Moskus, Kendl Winter, KEN mode, Automatisme

Music for 9/21/18!!! Lil Uzi Vert, Lana Del Rey, Mariah Carey

@@@ Lil Uzi Vert: New Patek (Atlantic, 2018)  I don’t know when hip hop started using a background singer as an instrument with various uhs and gunshot mimicry and yeahs but when employed it comes across as disposable music.  It happens on this track as well.  Lil Uzi is quick on the mic with solid rhythmic skills but it’s a pretty standard trap arrangement with throbbing fat bass and beats.  Lyrics revolve around the new Patek watch on his wrist and the various romantic situations that arise from the milly in the bank.  He’s got a girl with a fat ass that barely fits in his whip!  He also asks one girl to take a show so she don’t stink.  It’s an almost five minute track that shouldn’t have broken three minutes.

@@@ Lana Del Rey: Mariners Apartment Complex (Polydor, 2018)  Is it sexist to say that 70% of Lana Del Rey’s is due to her movie starlet’s lips?  To flip it away from the human body, her success is not embedded in transformative music that takes you to another place.  She traffics in pretty basic rock star blah.  My guess is Lana is gonna be sad and dour on this track but gorgeously so.  You took my sadness out of context at the Mariners Apartment Complex.  That’s the first line so I get a gold star!  The lyrics are pretty standard word salad but there are some nice moments.  Why is Lana so sad?  I’m not sure I care except she keeps foisting her existential issues on America.  The vocal hook is when she says ‘I’m your man!’ which turns all the femme centered lyrics on their head with that statement.

@@@ Mariah Carey: GTFO (Sony, 2018)  Mariah goes full batshit crazy with her new song about her hair Get The Frizz Out which should result in a solid tie in with some sort of hair product company.  It opens up with a sort of glitched up Prince keyboard centered arrangement.  Oh my, it’s not about getting the frizz out she wants him to get the fuck out!  Mariah, yo go girl standing up for yourself.  It’s an interesting blend of intimate, ballad-y sounds and a defiant sentiment.  I didn’t watch the video but it looks like she’s not wearing a lot of clothes.

YTD recordings listened to: 539
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 284
Not good music: 224

Best: 9
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, Janelle Monae, 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, 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, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Converge, Open Mike Eagle, Criolo, Billy Strings, Flowers of Sulphur, Tal National, Portal, Hernan Sama & Marcelo von Schultz, Jean Grae and Quelle Chris, Lawaii, Etran De L’Air, Ruby Karinto, Elysia Crampton, Parquet Courts, Orlando Lopez, Moskus, Kendl Winter, KEN mode, Automatisme

Music for 8/22/18!!! Mitski, Odetta Hartman, Uniform

@@@ Mitski: Be the Cowboy (Dead Oceans, 2018).  Indie rock off this week’s All Music notable release email which we will be rocking for this whole day’s listen.  And shit.  A Japanese-American transplant doing torch songs, at least the opener.  These are finely crafted indie tunes, not fully downer-y but than a bit of melancholy.  Mitski’s voice is great, the lyrics are better than average but well I’m not super into the indie conceit.

@@@ Odetta Hartman: Old Rockhounds Never Die (Memphis Industries, 2018). I got to this alt country/indie thing via last week’s All Music.  It sports redneck sounds as well as indie sounds and Hartman comes off as a Jack White but with a vagina.  I’m assuming she has a vagina, it’s not a primary concern of mine.  Actually it does make you wonder if  Jack White might have a tickle muff betwixt his gams.  Back to the music!  I expected more redneck as the record is out on Memphis industries but besides a stray banjo and what not it’s pretty indie.  Not particularly noisy, they’re pleasantly coffee shop.  She’s got a ‘I want to run to the edge of the earth with you’ vocal hook going on this third tune.  There’s even a drum machine on this fourth tune.

@@@ Uniform: The Long Walk (Sacred Bones, 2018).  This is in the Nine Inch Nail industrial rock tradition though I haven’t heard any synths yet.  A lot of distorted guitars and bass, a distorted voice that sounds like it’s coming up a clogged drain.  I skipped to the second song, not usually a good sign if I can’t make it through the opener.  The guitarist and the drum probably own a fair amount of heavy metal records and they straddle metal, punk, and noise and industrial music but I’m not finding it a super satisfying listen.  You, dear listener, might feel very differently so check for yourself.  There never were any synths, the vocals were Nine Inch Nail-esque, but it’s a heavy rock record, just want to clear that up.

YTD recordings listened to: 486
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 253
Not good music: 204

Best: 8
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, Janelle Monae, 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, 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, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Converge, Open Mike Eagle, Criolo, Billy Strings, Flowers of Sulphur, Tal National, Portal, Hernan Sama & Marcelo von Schultz, Jean Grae and Quelle Chris, Lawaii, Etran De L’Air, Ruby Karinto, Elysia Crampton, Parquet Courts, Orlando Lopez, Moskus, Kendl Winter, 700 Bliss

Music for 8/7/18!!! Clau Aniz, Out of Nations, Death Cab for Cutie

@@@ CLAU ANIZ: Filha de mil Mulheres (Minty Fresh, 2018) This is some Brazilian music with indie flavorings that I got to via the WRIR weekly playlist email.  There is also a Latin Jazz vibe up in here as well so it’s a somewhat wide mash of influences here.  The trumpet is holding down that mellow jazz thing while there’s delayed and slack rock guitar sound floating around.  This is a 63 minute record where the tunes average around 6 minutes so the pace is measured and mellow.  Female singer, slow tempos, plenty of hand drumming and space rock guitar — that’s the formula.  It’s a bit adult alternative to me.

@@@ OUT OF NATIONS: Quest (Riverboat, 2018) I try to check out Riverboat releases of African music as I think they’re a solid imprint.  There is only a pre-release single up on the Apple Music and it’s a mash of ‘early ‘80s disco funk and smooth jazz.  Wow, not your typical thing these days.  I’m gonna google this outfit as the cover is showing mostly white musicians and I’m thinking this is a North African/French thing.  Be right back…oh boy these folks are from all over.  NYC, Cairo, Beirut, Berlin, it’s a basket of folks.  I wish I liked smooth jazz more but I dig the hand drumming and the aspirations of this pre-release track.

@@@ Death Cab for Cutie: Autumn Love (N/A, 2018). A mainstream rock single masquerading as indie rock.  This is a version of a Yes, Hootie and the Blowfish, or even a Justin Bieber tune.  I’m now remembering why Death Cab for Cutie has been one of my least favorite indie bands.  It’s so discretely saccharine it makes your teeth hurt.  You get some peppy drumming, some oh oh oh ohs, some intricate Dirty Projectors’ guitar work but alas this is for others and not me.

YTD recordings listened to: 458
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 234
Not good music: 192

Best: 8
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, Janelle Monae, 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, 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, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Converge, Open Mike Eagle, Criolo, Billy Strings, Flowers of Sulphur, Tal National, Portal, Hernan Sama & Marcelo von Schultz, Jean Grae and Quelle Chris, Lawaii, Etran De L’Air, Ruby Karinto, Elysia Crampton, Parquet Courts, Orlando Lopez, Moskus, Kendl Winter

Music for 8/1/18!!! Nef the Pharoah, Jungle, Bellini, Khaled and Co.

@@@ Nef the Pharoah: Big Boss Chang (Empire, 2018)  A pre-release hip hop single off the Apple Music hot tracks section.  Act like a pussy, you get fucked like one, that’s how this track is rolling.  It’s standard trap rhythm with fat bass and a trippy synth patch in the back of the mix to contrast with the skitter.  It’s B+ for anti-social vibes — he’s explicit, he’s into guns but not crazy so, and most of all he’s a self made n-word.  He tells you that many times.  Maybe a few too many times.  I’m happy he’s a self made n-word but I don’t need to hear that ten times.

@@@ Jungle: Cherry (XL, 2018)  A pre-release electronic track also from the Apple Music hot tracks section.  It’s a luscious slow funk track with falsetto singing.  The sounds are manicured and really well done.  There’s a slow rotation or introduction of small sonic elements in the mix that you can groove on for ear candy points.  The singer is above average — if he put in a superstar performance with over the top creativity I would be jumping up at the combination of great sounds and great singing but to my ears he maxes out at B+.

@@@ Bellini: Before the Day has Done (N/A, 2018)  Album of the day over at the Bandcamp.  They’re blurbing it as math rock but to me it has more of a punky feel with mathy bits swirled in.  The female singer has a PJ Harvey wail going on and the guitars are noisier and wilder than what I associate with math rock.  Despite its high energy and intentions it sounds to me like it has a certain predictability baked into it.  I’d take anything unexpected up in here.  The playing here is pretty high level but me personally there are a million ways to whip a shitty.  Look at Trump — whatever you think of that piece of shit that bitchass knows how to whip a shitty.

https://bellini.bandcamp.com/album/before-the-day-has-gone

@@@ DJ Khaled/Justin Bieber/Chance the Rapper/Quavo: No Brainer (Sony, 2018)  Another attempt at track of the summer.  Personally I can’t believe Chance the Rapper would be down with insipid little puke Justin Bieber.  I know they had a track recently.  I know, I pay attention.  It’s a sophisticated arrangement sonically but they should have cut back Bieber’s part.   They wear the shit out of his vocal hook and it’s not worthy of the repetition.  Sounds like Chance got coffee for everybody and then got a couple of seconds on the track.  It’s spray cheese, that’s what this is.  They got the party nozzle on that bitch and they’re just spraying it around.  Not track of the summer.

YTD recordings listened to: 449
Good music, not recommended for purchase: 229
Not good music: 198

Best: 8
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, Janelle Monae, 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, 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, Succumb Succumb, Gloom, Priests, Propaganda, This is the Kit, Roberto Gonzalez, Integrity, Tuba Skinny, The Expanders, Converge, Open Mike Eagle, Criolo, Billy Strings, Flowers of Sulphur, Tal National, Portal, Hernan Sama & Marcelo von Schultz, Jean Grae and Quelle Chris, Lawaii, Etran De L’Air, Ruby Karinto, Elysia Crampton, Parquet Courts, Orlando Lopez, Moskus