@@@ Aubrey Haddard: Processing Power (Beverly Martel, 2022) Line of Best Fit!!! If you take some electro bits and layer them over a grunge guitar sound, a gated 80s snare sound and pop lyrics, well then you get the formula for this single. It’s currenly clean guitar in the verse and Imma guessing and putting money on the crunch in the chorus. Whoops, there it is, grunge lives on. I like her voice but as for lyrics I’m not sure what the hook revolving around the words ‘processing power’ means. The most interesting thing here is the use of non-use of rock beats here, followed by the smashing of the electro and the electric guitar. Overall, it’s more a technical thing than an explosive feel something thing.
@@@ Static Dress: fleahouse (Static Dress, 2022) More rawk people, more rawk people!!! This times it’s much more punky, post-punk, post rock with a jump around vibe and a big stack of vocals over slashing guitars and aforementioned octopus drumming. Maybe I didn’t mention the spray style drumming but it is a core component of the track. It’s a lotta lotta (that’s two lottas) energy and a lotta young person angst.
@@@ Nicole Bus: Rain (Roc Nation, 2019) All three of today’s listens are off a 2019 All Music notable release email that’s been in my email box. Nicole bus is a Dutch r&b singer which will change the proceedings for sure. This is the 8th track of the record and it’s a lush piano driven midtempo sad banger. The player clicked through to the next track With You which has a decidedly retro feel which I’m torn about. I will give the opener ‘Mr. Big Shot’ a peep and when I hear that late ’90s/early oughts drum beat it’s clear where this music is rooted. Bus is an above average singer but overall I find the tracks lacking spark and a bit of flavor. Again that’s just me.
@@@ Jim Noir: Deep Blue View (Dook, 2019) Opens with what I would call a indie hippie flavor and strong California faded vibes. Super comforting sounds with just a schmear of weird up in there. The first tune Good Mood is a feel good jam with obvious intentions so I thought I would skip to the next one which I like more. I find the combination of indie rock sounds and electronic sounds well done here. I prefer a bit more growl or muscle but that’s just me. I’m not a huge fan of the third tune Hexagons but I have a sense a sliver of the listening public might like this formula.
@@@ Eddy Current Suppression Ring: Vicariously Living (Castle Face, 2020) Post punk heroes from Australia. Nice punky guitar squall, not Sonic Youth more rocking than feedback. There’s a straight up approach up here that I appreciate — set ’em up and knock ’em down without. The sounds are good but no epic production values here. The tempos here are not the manic Dead Kennedys about to lose your mind. I do crave a little more energy but I appreciate this outfit and feel I’ve described them accurately. I checked out the next song ‘Future Self’ and I like it even more than the one clipped below.
@@@ Andy Stott: Hard to Tell (Modern Love, 2021) All three of today’s listens are off this week’s All Music notable release email. This track is slotted as electronic on Apple Music but to me it sounds like spaghetti western guitar music and now a female singer. As my definition goes this is stretching the definition. I’ve been duped, this is indie music, lemme check another track and see if it’s instrumental. 5 tracks have a singer, this singer, and four don’t and I will give a quick peep to the third track ‘Repetitive Strain’. The intro here is a repeating phrase that allows the metronome like rhythm to start, pause, and then the huge multi-octave arpeggio with a pipe like synth patch. I’m not sure what he’s going for here, it’s a bit dancefloor, a bit funky, a bit abstract so for me it’s not gelling. Plus I don’t know how to reconcile this track with the last one. As I finish up here here, he’s expanded the rhythmic components and is offering up an undercover dancefloor banger. I like it all right but I remain a bit befuddled but not in a snobby way.
@@@ Unschooling: Social Chameleon (Howlin’ Banana Records, 2021) Angular, nerdy return of Devo style rock with more guitar energy. The band is mixed super high while the singer is stuffed in the middle like the jelly of the donut. In this case more dough and less jelly which is fine, it’s got just enough jelly. The downside of the low vocalist is that I don’t really know what the song is about besides the title and I consume the track as almost instrumental music which is fine as their strength is in band playing.
@@@ Binker Golding: Lunar Wind (Byrd Out, 2021) Slotted as avant garde jazz the instrumentation here looks set to be sax, acoustic bass and drums, possibly more but we just got started. It’s a 15 minute free jazz banger that opens scruffy and stays scruffy and I like scruffy as it builds tension in this first third of the track. I could use a slightly thicker bass sound and a little thinness chopped off the horn as when I listen to long pieces with abstract playing I want that lushness, it adds to my experience. I’m not going to peep this whole piece but I’m going to check in on a couple of other pieces — I like the horn and the sound of the trio on the second track Reflection. I’m enjoying the braying and the energy of the trio here.
@@@ Berwyn: Vinyl (Sony, 2020) A slow torch-y sad ballad with major label production and modern flourishes particular from the bass. He’s from the UK so his delivery is bit different but he’s got those ringing piano chords and a rhymed section. I like the spaciousness and uncluttered nature of the mix, I like the background vocals, but I don’t like the vocal hook and it doesn’t succeed trying to marry pop sensibility with more retro soul/jazz ballads.
@@@ Shame: Drunk Tank Pink (Dead Oceans, 2020) I’ve seen this post punk yet punky effort namechecked in a coupla locations. They do a really good putting across a shambolic band energy and then come in for some big singalong vocal hooks. The opening track storms out and then settles into a more angular rock thing in the second track Nigel Hitter. I think there are more than a few Fugazi records floating around in this band’s collection and the singer sounds eerily similar to Ian Mackaye from said band Fugazi. I like the energy of the tunes and I like the guitar tones but I didn’t feel a great impact from the tunes themselves.
@@@ Samora Pinderhughes: Process (Gray Area, 2020) I checked out a Pinderhughes song at the height of the beginning of the pandemic and I loved it so when I got this publicist email he earned an automatic peep from this blog which is really quite rare. I don’t usually go for these types of songs about super dark internal feelings because I find them superficial and a bit depressing but Pinderhughes is pretty raw. It’s just him and a piano and you really have to focus on his lyrics if you’re going to get anything out of it as it’s close to a stream of conciousness. I don’t love hearing the line ‘one day a time’ over and over as it’s sort of a cliche but I really like the piano playing here, the retro loose feel of the tune, and Pinderhughes’ singing which I find honest and authentic.
@@@ Narrow Head: Hard to Swallow (Run for Cover, 2020) I got to this post punk/post rock track via a music publicist email. Do y’all out there know about the music publicist scene and its effect on what you see and hear?? Prolly not. Opens up with a guitar riff that sits between familiar and off kilter. The singer is placed well inside the mix and I think if you’re going to name check Bad Brains in your promo email the listener should hear a bit of the Brains in your tune. I haven’t heard that quite yet as it doesn’t have either that manic punk splash nor that hard to define rhythmic looseness. I think the next time they shouldn’t split the cans of Red Bull so everybody can rock a whole one.
@@@ David Toop: For a Language to Come (Room 40, 2016) I got to this track via a Stranded Records email. I could not find the specific track I was looking for on Apple Music (this musician has an extended discography going back to the late ’70s) so I chose a track from a few years ago and it is slotted as electronic music but I think there’s a significant improvised component at work here. A bubbling organic rhythm anchors the track and he’s got some twanging as well as some occasional pluck action going. Around 3:45 more rhythms get added as well as some oscilliscope tones. My feeling listening to this is that I’m at an insect doctor’s office getting an ekg and am a bit bugged out. No pun intended, you can’t make this shit up! Well, you can make it up. I like this track without being completely enthralled by it. However, I was letting the player keep going while I scanned the Twatter for some business and I did get quite enthralled by a track called Sea Slug so good for that.
@@@ Another Sky: Fell in Love with the City (UMG, 2020) Another Line of Best Fit listen. Major label rock which I tend to view skeptically but I go in with an open mind. Ah, the piano chords ringing out, what a bad thing to hear in a rock song. Signifying meaning without actually doing so. The most interesting thing here is the singer who is doing a sorta freaky, non loverboy falsetto thing which I’m agnostic on. Around halfway through is a take down the energy section and I’m guessing it’s to cleanse the sonic palette before they go out in a finely manicured rock throwdown. There are those power chords, right on time! And some crash cymbals puncuating the beats right there with guitar. He fell in love with the city as he fell out of love with a human, man or woman or let’s not get hung up on that gender thing. He might be milking that hook a bit hard.
YTD recordings listened to: 607
Good music, not list worthy: 304
Not good music: 272
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, Tarek Atoui, Saicobab, General Purv, Shipping News, Big Thief, Mariachi El Bronx, Pour Me a Grog, Sudan Archives, Lakou Mizik, Moodymann, Pharmakon, Alefa Madagascar, Janjao, Luge, Wiki, Mick Jenkins, Jeremiah Jae, Fera, Gambian Griot Kora Duets, Drama, Beatrice Dillon, Mass Worship, mmmonika, Les Deuxluxes, Tony Allen, Fra Fra, Nihiloxica, Hailu Mergia, Pokey LaFarge, Nico Gomez, Nohe and Sus Santos, schroothoop, Tiny Bit of Giant’s Blood, Pole, Naeem, Mekons, Santrofi, DJ Nigga Fox, Flor do Toloache, Alexander Hawkins/Tomeka Reid, STORMLIGHT, Venomous Concept, Chezidek
@@@ French Mouth: Paper Tiger (Frank Haus, 2020) A post-punk hard rocker I got to via a music publicist email. Has a bit of At the Drive In wildness to it with jumpy sections to the song and fresh guitar sounds and vocal stylings. I’m looking at the promo photo and I see non-white faces and I hear it a bit in the playing. Hard to put into words but it’s subtle. I like this and would listen to more though I would mention that I could take even more chaos.
@@@ Gregory Allen Lisher: Three Kings (N/A, 2020) I got to this pre-release track from a Camper Van Beethoven guitarist via a music publicist email. It’s an interesting blend of sounds — a little folk, a little proggy, a little hippie business and a little rock all swirled up. There’s a shaker in the track but no drums and a supporting cello part I really like. Now when we are discussing the shaker we should mention the idea that maybe the tune could be remixed with a cowbell. Nothing would be finer than more cowbell up in this pastoral track. I was not expecting to dig this but I like it.
@@@ Teyana Taylor: Boomin’ (Def Jam, 2020) Missy Elliott is always a good thing, Future not so much. Taylor comes on thick and sensuous on this slow booty jam. Very sultry voice, occasionally skittering beats, fat ol’ bass. The keyboard sounds and arrangement is a perfect layer of trippy frosting that glues this piece of cake together. Future is a bit of a distraction to my ears, I would much rather listen to Taylor and the sounds that aren’t him that surround her. There’s not a lot of Missy Elliott to be had here which is fine.
@@@ John Legend: Bigger Love (Columbia, 2020) I think John Legend is a high quality human being who makes pretty cheesy music. Those two things can co-exist as bad humans can make great music, music quality and human being quality are not connected! Looks like John Legend had a medium sized glass of Drake loverboy business and Imma little scared. Oh, he drops the Drake business in the chorus and goes for the full cheesebomb. It’s a big chorus for a tune called Bigger Love. I associate Legend with Disney style sounds and he does retain some of that but the tame dancehall beats is unexpected. You can think of this as big ol’ Chipotle/Disney burrito with a plantain on the side. Yikes that was a rough listen.
YTD recordings listened to: 492
Good music, not list worthy: 2250
Not good music: 219
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, Tarek Atoui, Saicobab, General Purv, Shipping News, Big Thief, Mariachi El Bronx, Pour Me a Grog, Sudan Archives, Lakou Mizik, Moodymann, Pharmakon, Alefa Madagascar, Janjao, Luge, Wiki, Mick Jenkins, Jeremiah Jae, Fera, Gambian Griot Kora Duets, Drama, Beatrice Dillon, Mass Worship, mmmonika, Les Deuxluxes, Tony Allen, Fra Fra, Nihiloxica, Hailu Mergia, Pokey LaFarge, Nico Gomez, Nohe and Sus Santos, schroothoop, Tiny Bit of Giant’s Blood, Pole, Naeem
FRIGS: Basic Behavior (Arts & Crafts, 2018) Patty Smyth with less poetry and more aggro. Out of Toronto. I like the singer and the angular guitar playing. They get into some classic dirge rock on the third track, Waste. Through the first three tunes they never fully melt down which is a slight negative for me. I love to hear people lose their shit.
Helena Deland: Altogether Unaccompanied Vol. 1 & 2 (Luminelle, 2018) Faded downer electronic indie on the Volume 2 single. Spacious, mopey, what I would imagine a depressed PJ Harvey would sound like. Not a crowded arrangement with an emphasis on vocal melodies. She has a very nice voice and they don’t reverb her out too much.
Null Command: Logical Product (Deterrent Industries, 2018) Ambient music, I’m feeling the ambient music vibes lately. It’s like craving Thai food. First tune comes out with a video game sound and a bit of glitchy techno business and a processed voice. Second tune, more pong action plus other sounds. Not my favorite synth sounds, nice voice processing and solid basslines.
Charlotte Day Wilson: Stone Woman (Self released, 2018) White girl r&b/soul. Opens with some nice floaty, electro garnish before the music commences in earnest. Very nice production here, a bit too breathless for me. However, she’s not over singing which is a big deal for my listening experience and this is all right for mainstream music. I’m not shitting my pants over it but for cubicle dwellers who like to color inside the lines this could work.
YTD recordings listened to: 78
Good music, not list worthy: 44
Not good music: 34
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, Tarek Atoui, Saicobab, General Purv, Shipping News, Big Thief, Mariachi El Bronx, Pour Me a Grog, Sudan Archives, Lakou Mizik, Moodymann, Pharmakon, Alefa Madagascar, Janjao, Luge
@@@ KinZie: Dead Eyes (Self-released, 2019) I got to this rock record via a music publicist email. These guys hail from the fine state of Alabama — say hi to Roy Moore for me, I love that horny Christian dude, he’s awesome. This is some old school R.E.M. style indie guitar music. It’s got a bit of firehose mixed in there as well. The record hasn’t been compressed a bunch so it could use a little volume to get that rocking vibe over to the listener’s ears more clearly. It’s not really a style I can get excited about much anymore but it’s awfully difficult to shit on the singer as he’s just so earnest in his delivery. I’m on the third song and Imma gonna tip now as I’ve seen this show and this is a show for other folks.
@@@ Viagra Boys: Street Worms (Year0001, 2018) Trashy glam punk from the Line of Best Fit weekly email. It’s part Prodigy and a dollop of Nine Inch Nails without the synth. This first tune, Down in the Basement, is high energy with a quasi ranting singer who I kinda dig, a distorted bass and a blasting chorus when it hits. It does straddle both straight rock and punk and it would be better served it was one or the other. If it was some super dirty punk I could get with it more as I love that filth.
YTD recordings listened to: 366
Good music, not list worthy: 218
Not good music: 126
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, Andre Bratten, Nathan Corder/Tom Weeks
@@@ Bodywash: Eye to Eye (Luminelle, 2019) I saw this self described lush indie single mentioned on the Twatter. A cloud of synthesizers float in with a twinkly one panning back and forth in the stereo field to open up the tune. I guess there’s a thin line between lush and soft. Or maybe something can be lush and firm but if it’s too lush it can be soft. Regardless of the linguistics of this point this is soft synth rock firmly anchored in the fabulous 1980’s. I would be more open to these sounds if the singer wasn’t quite so laze. That’s a cross between lazy and gaze, f’real. At around 3 minutes it does firm up but I’m already deep in chamomile tea mode and not engaged, thinking about the difference between lush and soft.
@@@ Esperanza Spalding: 12 Little Spells (Concord, 2019) I saw her new music namechecked on the Twatter. I’m not a huge fan of Spalding’s but I do listen and can change my mind. I believe this is a concept album with 12 tunes with body parts in parentheses after each title. 12 Little Spells (Thoracic Spine) for example. The music here is a prog/jazz fusion mash. I like Spalding’s singing, and her bass playing is pretty restrained here. What I hear is the fevered work of music nerds lacking in passion. The arrangements are trick and the vocal melodies are impressively serpentine but there’s a difference between listening with one’s intellect and just listening as an emotionally engaged experience. I feel like I’m at the circus watching acrobats.
@@@ Eljuri: Resiste (Cecilia Villar, 2019) I got to this reggae single via the music blog Indiepulse. Female reggae, I can get with that! It opens with a reggae/rock blend and a rocking wah guitar intro. The female singer, I’m guessing her name is Eljuri, works in Spanish which changes the vibe of the tune. I like her singing but I prefer not to have too much rock in my reggae, I like the fully ganja-tized reggae. Murky sounding, polyrhythmic, etc. This is more for frat boys, maybe Spanish frat boys. It’s also a bit weird but not bad to hear someone going for the rock guitar shredding in a reggae context. Not to be disallowed but not my first choice unless the shredding is more interesting.
YTD recordings listened to: 261
Good music, not list worthy: 151
Not good music: 93
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
Deep In the Music 