May 30th, 2023 9:04pm
“Wild N Sweet” is a bop. It’s a major glorious summertime bop, and I need to tell you that right away because it would be dumb to bury that lede and risk you skimming over the point. Jam City’s arrangement doesn’t reinvent the EDM pop wheel but the craft level is very high, carefully calibrating its joyous energy so every part of it feels like candy, but the peak of the sugar rush of the drop doesn’t come til over two minutes into it. Empress Of’s vocal is pretty sweet too, initially coming off kinda innocent but as the song moves along it’s more like very earnest horniness. The lyrics are basically about hooking up with someone you barely know and feeling extremely alive in the moment, but also feeling a bit of tension as you don’t really know how discrete they want to be. She repeats “can you keep a promise?” several times through the song, but it’s not some anxious thing ruining the fun. She sounds optimistic and trusting more than anything else.
May 25th, 2023 8:42pm
I like that Gorillaz has become so successful in both commercial and creative terms for Damon Albarn that when he occassionally circles back to make Blur records he puts his focus on what’s special about the other three guys in that band, clearly appreciative of their distinctive dynamic and chemistry. One project allows for artistic freedom and endless novelty, and the other is about a bond between four players going back over 30 years. Albarn has it figured out.
“The Narcissist,” the first single from the group’s forthcoming The Ballad of Darren,” feels vaguely like music from different parts of the Blur catalog, but it’s not like any particular song. It’s got the plaintive tone and direct lyrics of the 13 era, a lean arrangement that recalls the less overtly Britpop-ish songs from Modern Life Is Rubbish, and the contrasting vocal with Graham Coxon reminds me of both “Country House” and “M.O.R.” The song feels a lot more sentimental than the old stuff, with Albarn singing about breaking addictive and destructive patterns with a note of real hope in his voice. A lot of his work is an expression of cynicism and pessimism and on this song it sounds as though he’s trying to push beyond that. I don’t think his hopes are too high here, but “connect us to love and keep us peaceful for a while” is a much brighter take on humanity than, say, “The Universal.”
May 23rd, 2023 7:52pm
Cornelius is known for his early music as a crucial part of the colorful Shibuya-kei scene in the 1990s – colorful, kitschy, artfully composed music that was basically a direct result of a vibrant crate-digging subculture. He hasn’t been tremendously prolific through his career but he has changed a lot of over time, to the point that his new single “Sparks” sounds like the kind of indie rock that his own music had served as an alternative to in the late 90s and early 00s. Well, at least on a surface level. “Sparks” is a rock song, but one arranged with Cornelius’ taste for precision and audio novelty. Chords and notes seem to ping-pong diagonally across the mix, or blink out momentarily like a string of lights. There’s a strong melancholy permeating the track, particularly noticeable in the vocal harmonies, but every surface seems like it’s been sterilized as it to keep the sadness from infecting anyone else.
May 23rd, 2023 5:00pm
I did not listen to Rahill’s debut solo album Flowers At Your Feet until after I had made my Late 90s Sophisticate playlist, a collection of songs that exemplified the largely chill and eclectic music made from a DJ mindset that signaled an upscale crate-digging tastefulness at the end of the 20th century. Rahill, intentionally or not, has made a record that fits into that aesthetic perfectly, embodying a few variations on the sound over the course of 14 tracks. Sometimes it’s in the drum programming, sometimes it’s in the chords and arrangement, sometimes it’s in the vocal affect, but it’s always in her combination of excellent taste and low-key songcraft.
It was unusually difficult to choose one song to feature here but I had to go with “Gone Astray” if just because it’s not enough that she made a song that feels remarkably similar to Broadcast circa The Noise Made By People, but that if this was in fact a Broadcast song it would be among their best. This one reminds me specifically of “You Can Fall” and I love the way it takes that thick atmosphere of ominous mysterious and muted resentment in that music and makes that the emotional baseline for a song about knowing that your relationship is about to end, but not really knowing the why of it yet.
May 11th, 2023 7:24pm
It isn’t hard to reverse engineer Bruiser & Bicycle’s aesthetics, at least not if you were paying attention to indie rock in the mid to late 2000s. This sounds like the work of musicians who were steeped in very specific records at a formative age – The Shins, Girls, Modest Mouse, The Flaming Lips, and most especially Animal Collective. I try not to overemphasize “this sounds like that” here as it can be lazy and unfair to artists, but there’s just no getting around the degree to which the vocals in most of their songs sound like Avey Tare. It’s in the contours of the melodies, it’s in the specificity of the cadence, it’s in the timbre of the voice. If I heard this without context I probably would have just thought it was a new Avey Tare band, albeit one considerably more normal than his other bands.
But this is no complaint. I have long admired Avey Tare’s gift for melody and it’s nice to see that become an influential aspect of Animal Collective rather than the surface elements of their work. Also, the scramble of influences – however identifiable – is what makes Bruiser & Bicycle stand out as something fun, distinctive, and little wild. “Aerial Shipyards” is full of playful twists and turns, a song with the structure of an epic but played scrappy enough that it comes off as more like a low-key whimsical lark. The lyrics are wordy but very vivid in laying out what I interpret as a metaphor about how all of life is graceful and fascinating but doomed to eventually crash one way or another.
May 9th, 2023 9:16pm
“Sandrail Silhouette” has a lot of familiar elements of shoegaze – the guitar rhythm and tone and the vocal melody and delivery suggest this is the work of someone who’s heard My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless so many times that Kevin Shields and Belinda Butcher’s mannerism have been fully internalized. Avalon Emerson could’ve stopped there and had a pretty good song, but she went a little further by adding a string section and horns and ended up with something sublime. I love the way the hook played by the string section feels slightly separate, as though the shoegaze elements are something superimposed over a more “solid” musical structure. The vocal part is also foregrounded in a way that goes against shoegaze convention, drawing on the context of how these sounds are arranged in other songs to imply that in this one you’re getting a crisp and clear image of something that’s typically obscured by clouds.
May 8th, 2023 7:52pm
“It’s Goin Bad” is a dark synthpop song along the lines of Crystal Castles’ or Ladytron’s best work but the sound is pushed into the red like a shoegaze song, blaring over the vocal to the point that the lyrics are barely intelligible but the despondent mood is still perfectly legible. If anything, that bleak mood is more clear this way. She sounds overwhelmed and defeated in a way that feels very particular to being in one’s late teens to mid 20s, kinda glib about it all and more than a little bit in love with their sadness. The music is a little overbearing in just the right way, pushing everything towards pure sensation in a way that makes the song as a whole this dreary and grim thing that feels absolutely amazing.
May 4th, 2023 8:17pm
I was surprised to learn that “The Dream” began as a poem written as part of an esoteric literature workshop. Not so much for the content of the writing, but in that Jana Horn’s melody sounds so lovely and natural that it doesn’t have that awkward “words forced into a song” quality common to music where the words come first. But the lyrics are indeed a cut above, a meditation on perspective and perception that contrasts the natural world with an inner world observed by her mind’s eye. The music sounds like overcast skies and the overall mood of the song feels like a mix of physical peace and intellectual restlessness. The lead guitar parts are particularly good and evocative, communicating a lot of the tension in the song without undermining the more serene aspects of the piece.
May 3rd, 2023 9:11pm
“Holy Hell” is a pastiche of slow-burn disco ballads in the vein of Boz Scaggs, but one so elegantly composed and well executed that I think a lot of people could be tricked into believing it’s actually from 1980. A lot of this comes down to the use of a vintage Fender Rhodes and producer John Carroll Kirby keeping the arrangement in constant motion while keeping it all feeling uncluttered and loose. He and Chacon know the power of abundant negative space and an unhurried groove. Chacon’s vocal is understated but conveys some warmth, but not a lot, like he’s trying to hold back the full intensity of his feelings. Everything about the song feels pensive and circumspect, like they’re building an ice wall around a fire, and it’s only a matter of time before it melts away.
May 2nd, 2023 7:08pm
One of the most charming things about Magdalena Bay to me is that they love to write odd little jokes into “normal” sounding pop songs and then play it so straight that it’s easy to miss the joke entirely. They have their priorities straight – elegant songwriting first, subversive humor second. In the case of “Top Dog” the joke is a little tribute to film icon Laura Dern:
The joke can be as simple as noting that Laura Dern is the female lead in both Wild At Heart and Jurassic Park, but the funny part is more that in the context of the lines preceding the “girl in Jurassic Park” line are ambiguous enough to make you question whether she actually means Laura Dern’s character, the young girl Lex, or the “clever girl” velociraptor. Given Magdalena Bay’s history of writing literally predatory themes into pop music, it really could be the dinosaur.
April 28th, 2023 2:39pm
“The Musical” is a song in which Avey Tare reflects on his life as a musician, with the emphasis placed on the act of creation and singing, but zooming out to consider his role as part of a band, and his relationship with an audience. It sounds more like he’s trying to understand his own life rather than explain it to someone else, like he’s hoping to reconnect with something innocent and pure in making music. The lyrics are fairly literal first person, but he’s mostly fixated on the ways music allows him to express things beyond words: “Do you know how it feels, and not what it means, this song?” The song itself is one of the most warm and melodic pieces of music he’s ever written, mostly built around a gorgeous bass line that conveys a serene vibe as it circles through the track. There’s also a guitar solo about two thirds of the way in that’s a surprise in how rarely such a thing comes up in Avey Tare or Animal Collective music, but makes total sense in how he channels Robert Fripp in its pinched electronic tone.
April 27th, 2023 8:19pm
Dijon has an extremely raspy but soulful voice, the kind where I think part of what makes it so appealing is feeling like they’re pushing hard through limitations to sound as expressive as they can. Little details in inflection and tone seem even more intentional with a voice like this, and the weathered and gravelly sound of it implies a lot of hard living. “Coogie” is a well built showcase for Dijon’s voice – it feels a little loose and impromptu, and there’s plenty of negative space that allows your ear to focus in on the nuances of his phrasing. The minimalism also makes the hook, in which Dijon vows “I’ll do my best to bear it,” hit a bit harder as there’s nothing to get in the way of his rising and emphatic voice, but enough to support and underline it.
April 26th, 2023 8:08pm
“Disco’s Main Squeeze” is essentially a radical remix of the London band Pinky Ann Rihal’s “Jabse Dekha Hai,” a peculiar South Asian country/new wave hybrid from 1985 that was reissued by Naya Beat last year. Cornershop take the melodic core of the song and give it a disco makeover complete with cheeky laser sounds and ample groovy drum fills. This is an impeccable vibe – super laid back and joyful, crisp yet loose. It’s a perfect spring/summer sort of song, the kind of thing I promise if you play it in a group setting at least one person will stop and be like “what is THAT?”
April 25th, 2023 7:28pm
Squid songs always seem like they’re moving through space, traveling across some implied distance through sound. This makes sense for a band led by a drummer, since if a band is a car they’re usually the driver. Many of the songs on Squid’s first proper album felt like long distance journeys, and not necessarily because they were on the long side. The imaginary space on that record felt like zooming on long highway miles of nothing in particular, whereas the new song “Undergrowth” sounds like a more eventful journey as a fairly steady central groove is the connecting thread through a few changes of scenery. It’s a musically adventurous song that feels like an actual adventure, with moments of tension and danger balanced out by thrilling dynamic shifts and a playful spirit.
April 21st, 2023 11:37am
“Deep End” basically sounds like it should be a heavy dance remix of an Adele hit that’s never come out, a banger-ballad hybrid with serious vocal firepower. Whyte Fang is another name for the Australian musician better known as Alison Wonderland, an artist who has typically placed the emphasis of her work on DJing and production with the vocal aspect of things not necessarily downplayed, but not exactly foregrounded either. Which is kinda funny when you consider how few star EDM DJs can credibly serve as their own house diva. “Deep End” is a dynamic and incredibly earnest song about trying to live to your fullest potential, it’s all sung as though “becoming what I want to be” is a life or death circumstance, which it often is. That do-or-die intensity is what pushes this song from good to great – if this was merely “inspirational” it would feel more narcissistic and less dramatic.
April 20th, 2023 6:15pm
I like the lyrical idea of writing about a search for love, lust, and joy and having it personified by slugs, a humble and kinda gross creature that it’s hard for humans to relate to in terms of biology. It’s easy to imagine being a dog, a cat, a monkey, or a bird, but a slug? There’s not a lot of shared attributes there. But in the context of this song focusing on the humble and the gross is part of the idea, to bring it down to earth so much that you’re just this slimy thing crawling around, devoid of any majesty or grandeur. But that’s the freedom of being weird and silly, right? It’s a very childlike and playful song, one that bounces on a punky groove and adds a little bit of dubby echo to bits of the vocal for a little style and spice.
April 18th, 2023 2:34pm
I like how Archy Marshall’s lyrics often grasp at romanticism while grounded in a dingy reality of blank walls, low ceilings, bad lighting, train stations, mini-markets, and other assorted liminal spaces. He’s always yearning for something transcendent and seeking it out anywhere he can, and finding it in the bleak or mundane only makes the feeling more profound. “Seaforth,” named for a largely derelict waterfront in England, is one of Marshall’s lightest and most relaxed songs. It’s a breezy jangle-pop song that trades sunny clear skies for a more overcast vibe, perfectly evoking the sort of spring or summer day when the weather is technically nice out but the light is so grey it puts a damper on your energy. The dazed, languid feeling suits the sentiment of the song, in which Marshall reflects on small moments of love and connection in the midst of a “world that falls apart.” Their love is more precious for serving as an anchor amidst chaos and decay, it’s basically “I Melt With You” for a world that’s already halfway melted. At its core, it’s a song about how love and connection make material conditions bearable, or even something to be ignored in the background while you engage with something that makes you feel truly alive.
April 17th, 2023 12:51am
“Uzumaki” is a song set in awkward stage of a break up when it’s clear that things are getting close to ending but there’s still some good will and kind feelings in the mix to keep things from tipping fully into acrimony. The song does get there, but on a swirling tangental path. There’s only a matter of seconds between Liz Lehman singing “all I want to do is be your friend” and “God, I hope I never see you again” and as the song shifts into its finale she’s settling into chanting “no forgiveness” and embracing her rage. The arrangement reminds me a bit of the more recent No Joy material in the way Lehman harmonizes with herself over a very late 90s beat and riff combination. The distorted guitar has a nice ambiguity to it – a little aggressive, a little cathartic, but mostly signaling exasperated frustration.
April 14th, 2023 12:51pm
“Bad Mouth” is very funky and groovy but gives off a lot of bad vibes, coming off like a very flashy and stylized soundtrack for someone running to the bathroom to puke because they’re so nervous. Gina Birch takes on a few different voices in the track, laying out a scenario in which rampant gossip has made everyone involved miserable. It’s all played as dark comedy, particularly when the song breaks down midway through and Birch takes on a righteous and prim tone as her voice is digitally warped into something sounding like C-3PO’s peevish grandmother.
April 13th, 2023 2:45pm
The lyrics of “Crushxd” are about feeling guilty for accidentally running over a turtle on the road. It’s a potent and relatable feeling, but also a small and kinda funny story. Crumb head in the opposite direction with the arrangement, pushing everything towards a cinematic grandiosity while retaining their slightly aloof and mildly jazzy aesthetic. They pull off a tricky balance here – a little nod towards the surreal and silly aspects of the story, but mostly taking the death of this turtle very, very seriously. The main line that’s repeated and cuts through the haze of the mix is “I’ll never see you again,” and while that sentiment matches the scenario, there’s something deeper to it, some sense that Lila Ramani is singing about someone else or something much bigger than just this turtle.
