Music for 2/13/19!!! Analea Brown, Xiu Xiu

@@@ Analea Brown: Lie To Me (Mensch House Records, 2019)  I got to this reggae track via a music publicist email.  It doesn’t matter that the singer is from Tonga, it’s just to say that this is not straight out of the Caribbean.  It’s a slow, buttery reggae ballad with both old school sounds (bassline) and more modern vocal stylings and turntable scratching.  I don’t think it particularly stands out but I like it.  Big ups to the bass player for holding it down.

@@@ Xiu Xiu: Girl With the Basket of Fruit (Polyvinyl, 2019)  We switch gears to some abrasive indie that I got to via this week’s All Music notable release email.  It opens up with a fast non rocking spoken word track with a lot of rhythm and a singer losing in a nest/kluster of laser shots.  While not trafficking in standard punk sounds it does have a classic in your face attitude with not many fucks given to the listener and what they want.  I git that.  I hear a drummer and maybe a cello player, or an upright bass player, there’s some bowing going on here in the third tune which has switched gears to a slow, innward looking, desperate kind of feeling.  Though I don’t love this record, it is growing on me as it moves through its tunes.  It’s an artsty noise record and believe me I hear a lot of great first songs followed by a lot of dross.  This guy is on a trip and while not one for the shiny, happy people, he’s got some energy and passion going for him.  I dig the upright bass and the tribal drumming and the up in yer grillness of the singer.

YTD recordings listened to: 83
Good music, not list worthy: 46
Not good music: 33

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, A Tribe Called Quest, 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, Converge, 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

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Music for 2/11/19!!! Jonathan Finlayson, The Black Drumset, Combo Chimbita

@@@ Jonathan Finlayson: 3 Times Around (Pi, 2019) Blurbed as dense and elastic jazz music on the Apple Music this jazz record sports two horns, a pianist, bassist and drummer.  I’m feeling the drummer and his energy for sure.  I have reviewed this label before and have said critical things of records and have had musicians get up in my face so you know Lord knows I don’t want to stir the shit pot again.  It’s well played jazz if not a tad on the conservative side.  I prefer more fire and exploration but these are just personal preferences.

@@@ The Black Drumset: There’s a Shark in the Boat (N/A, 2019) A pre-release indie single that I got to via a music publicist email.  I hear this as a synth rocker, coming out  with a rolling and rocking tom beat, an accompanying synth line and some intimate kinda shoegaze vocals.  After the initial rollout it gets kinda jammy which lends a proggy feeling to the track.  Oh, I see from the video that there are two drummers, I get it.  An updated hippie Grateful Dead kinda thing.  It never really breaks itself out of its initial statement but it’s a cool vibe for the hipsters.

@@@ Combo Chimbita: Testigo (ANTI-, 2019) A pre-release single that I got to via the WRIR weekly playlist email.  Opening up with a hypnotic delayed guitar line, followed by a midetempo shuffle beat, this Latin rock single combines a lot of sounds.  A little African, some electronic sounds, and a bit of rock as the singer sounds a bit like overrated Patty Smyth.  I like this singer, she has weight.  Besides the singer I’m enjoying the simple yet powerfully propulsive bassline and I give props for flying the freak flag.  I like it a bunch without jumping up and down.

YTD recordings listened to: 79
Good music, not list worthy: 44
Not good music: 31

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, A Tribe Called Quest, 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, Converge, 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

Music for 1/29/19!!! Eerie Wanda, White Fence

@@@ Eerie Wanda: Pet Town (Joyful Noise, 2019) I got to both of the records today via this week’s All Music notable release email.   Anytime you get finger snaps in the first tune, well you’re getting finger snaps in the first tune.  I was going to say it’s most likely going to be a poppy record and thus far this has proven correct.  The singer is super friendly– horribly friendly in fact.  I bet she had some sort of stable and happy childhood — one of those people!  I don’t know if the female singer is named Wanda but if she’s named Wanda she’s not super eerie.  She’s a singer that you might have heard on an early ’60s pop rock type of record.  Handclaps on the third tune.  You know what that means?  Handclaps on the third tune, that’s what it means.  Indie pop with a fair amount of reverb on the singer’s voice people, come and get it!

@@@ White Fence: I Have to Feed Larry’s Hawk (Drag City, 2019) Pleasantly off kilter bedroom indie with guitars and other ambient goodies packed in.  Boy, he’s king of a tiny strange world.  Lots of organ type patches (or an organ itself) so it gives the proceedings an the worldly, churchy vibe.  You’re not going to tune into this for the rocking or the swinging, it’s about witnessing this vibe.  I get it and appreciate it in its way but it’s not really go to music for me.  This is for hardcore indie listeners.

YTD recordings listened to: 60
Good music, not list worthy: 34
Not good music: 23

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, A Tribe Called Quest, 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, Converge, 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

Music for 1/22/19!!! Deerhunter, Sharon Van Etten, The Killers

@@@ Deerhunter: Why hasn’t everything already disappeared? (4AD, 2019)  It’s indie Tuesday so get your flavored coffee and tight jeans out.  I have actually enjoyed Deerhunter records in the past though that may not be the case as I get them confused with Deer tick, and Deer Hoof.  Oy, those indie confuzinators.  I think I’m thinking of a different Deer band, I don’t think this is going to go well for me.  It’s better than Taylor Swift’s last record, I’ll give them that.  This first tune appears to be an uplifting rock thing with a crushed drum sound and a quasi-Beatleesque vocal melody.  There’s a raucous outro with a big sounding guitar solo which I’m enjoying.  The second tune continues the bright rock theme and I think we’re onto the formula for the record.  It’s all right music, I’m not super in the mood for it, but I guess people like the comforting arms of something like this.  I would rather go burn someone’s house down.

@@@ Sharon Van Etten: Remind Me Tomorrow (Jagjaguwar, 2019) Also off this week’s All Music notable release email.  Apple Music has this blurbed as spooky maximalism which I don’t think I have a frickin’ clue about.  This first tune has to be inspired by John Lennon’s first solo record.  Piano, detached voice, alienation, etc.  The sounds are pretty engaging but part of me is not attached to it.  The second tune moves into a higher tempo and a more rocking vibe.  I don’t think I’ve ever really enjoyed Van Etten’s voice — I can’t say anything specifically about it but I don’t connect with it.  I’m getting a sense of what spooky maximalism might sound like.  There are a lot of little flourishes and background melodies that give the tunes a more orchestral feel.  Not overtly necessarily but it’s hyperproduced in a way.  And in the middle of it sits her low energy voice, I guess that’s it.

@@@ The Killers: Land of the Free (Island/UMG, 2019)  I briefly cruised a blog post about this track so peep I will.  It starts out all Bruce Hornsby and shit.  Piano and meaningful.  Oh boy, here’s the giant choir in the back.  I appreciate the sentiments here but it’s like getting a good veggie burger but the shit is just drowning in so much shitty cheese you can’t appreciate the burger.  Naimsayin’?  Power chords, climax, rockin’ it, choirs, blech and phooey.  I am certainly no defining voice of woke, but woke folks (imho) don’t need to be pandered to in this manner.  The sounds work against the sentiments.

YTD recordings listened to: 47
Good music, not list worthy: 28
Not good music: 18

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, A Tribe Called Quest, 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, Converge, 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

Music for 1/12/19!!! boygenius, George Fitzgerald

@@@ boygenius: boygenius EP (Matador, 2018)  There are solid reasons to hesitate before peeping an indie guitar superband called boygenius on Matador to boot!!!  I think the first tune says it all about my view:  I can’t love it as it wants me to.  This EP is by three female indie bigwigs and overall I find indie musicians overrated and underaccountable for the thousands of naps their records have brought on.  There are some really nice vocal harmonies going here, I’m a bit surprised the production is so mainstream sounding.  It’s a bit caveman-ish to say this one is for the clam bake, but it’s a mad estrogen-y vibe.

@@@ George Fitzgerald: All that Must be (Domino, 2018)  A dancefloor producer that is making the jump to ambient and songs.  I like the first tune, it’s still got plenty of groove, but it has some vocal structure to it as well.  Sporting un updated unt-sss beat it’s got synth swirl and some chopped vox that create the feel of tunes/songs.  Let’s peep more.  I got to this via the Esquire best of 2018 list by the way.  I like this record but it’s not ambient enough for me.  The tempos are brisk, which is fine, but if you’re gonna call it ambient and not an updated dancefloor record then well….that’s not really true.

YTD recordings listened to: 24
Good music, not list worthy: 18
Not good music: 5

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, A Tribe Called Quest, 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, Converge, 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

Music for 1/11/19!!! Superorganism, Pistol Annies

@@@ Superorganism: Superorganism  (Domino, 2018) #14 on NPR’s best of 2018 list.  We’re chewing through this badboy.  I predict this is going to be a pop/funk white people party kind of thing.  A little Beck, a little some other guy with blue eyes, and some frat boy vibes.  There’s some energy in the jumping around arrangement but past that?  Multiple singers male and female, vinyl static, a little hip hop scratch action, eh it’s all too cute for my ears.  I urge NPR listeners to go for the full funk and listen to some hip hop, that’s why black folks make it.  To express funkiness.  This is funk-a-fied Flaming Lips and not worth much time as it’s sonic baby food.

@@@ Pistol Annies: Interstate Gospel (Sony Music, 2018) #13 on the NPR best of 2018.  This is on Sony so I’m expecting only a small amount of deviation from the major label country formula.  They are packaging their three part female harmony as a kind of gospel to go with standard new Nashville which includes power chords and arena rock, which I continue to find entertaining and stupid-ocious at the same time.  The hook here are the lyrics — they are wry, humorous and a female expression of what a pain in the ass it is to be a woman.  I get that for sure.  It would be cooler to my ears if the music was a little less tight assed but this is new country and that’s a core component of the sauce.

YTD recordings listened to: 22
Good music, not list worthy: 17
Not good music: 4

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, A Tribe Called Quest, 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, Converge, 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

Music for 1/2/19!!! The Beths, Thou

@@@ The Beths: The Future Hates Me (Carpark Records, 2018) #41 on the NPR best of 2018 list so it’s gonna be soft and intimate, right?  The first tune actually comes out with uptempo energy and a little Queens of the Stone Age guitar grind but toned back for the NPR people.  Oh my, she’s comforting and friendly but they’re actually rockin’ it by 2018 rock standards.  Melodic and hooky it’s an updated Breeders thing with a less acidic and ironic singer and it’s all right.  Reminiscent of the Weezer, of the Superdrag, of the ’90s hooky power rock.

@@@ Thou: Magus (Sacred Bones, 2018)  #43 on the very same NPR list and it’s spieled as gloom folk.  Good stuff.  It’s not folk, I’m an idiot, it’s a metal record.  Oh my somebody has been in the kitchen cooking up the guitar sludge and pouring it all over the listener and I think that special somebody is an orc.  Or somebody with laryngitis.  Oh my, this is quite slow and syrupy and stoned out.  The second tune dabbles in a sci fi drum machine kind of thing but I think it’s just a palette cleanser before they bring out, you guessed it, another pot of high end guitar asphalt.  Right on time, the monster is up and stomping around.  I’m a bit too caffeinated at this point of time to get pulled down in the mud like this but they’re executing this quite well.

YTD recordings listened to: 4
Good music, not list worthy: 2
Not good music: 0

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, 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, 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, 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