#Cassandra jenkins

[knightofleo]

Cassandra Jenkins | Omakase

Want you to see who I am? I want to see who I am Pull me apart Put me back together again Oh, one look is all it takes My lover, my light, my destroyer, my meteorite I dreamt you fed me Omakase berries I dreamt we were coyotes Licking the seeds off our teeth And I woke up in the heat of Phoenix Wish you could've seen it Baby, I can't sleep when we're not together

[ruiditos]

Hard Drive - Cassandra Jenkins (2021)

She said, "Oh, dear, I can see you've had a rough few months But this year, it's gonna be a good one I'll count to three and tap your shoulder We're gonna put your heart back together So all those little pieces they took from you They're coming back now They'll miss 'em too So close your eyes I'll count to three Take a deep breath Count with me"

[albiclalepsza]

NEW CASSANDRA JENKINS SONG NEW CASSANDRA JENKINS SONG NEW CASSANDRA JENKINS SONG

[musicforthegirlies]

Some music suggestions for fans of Weyes Blood

The Plastic Cherries: especially their new album The Plastic Cherries on the Moon

Fonteyn

Leah Senior: especially her album The Passing Scene

Cassandra Jenkins

Luluc

Mikaela Davis

[dustedmagazine]

Cassandra Jenkins — My Light My Destroyer (Dead Oceans)

By all accounts, the gestation of My Light My Destroyer, Cassandra Jenkins’ third full length recording, was fraught. In 2022, a nasty case of Covid forced her to leave a tour midstream and quarantine in a hotel room. It yielded the demo for “Aurora, Il.,” a slow song with an indelible arrangement that builds to a roar from multi-tracked electric guitars but keeps understated vocals throughout. It feels like the usurping nature of the disease meets its victim, weakened but undaunted.

“Devotion” opens with acoustic guitar, harmonica, and vibraphone accompanying Jenkins’ sultry alto voice. The feel may be laidback, but the lyric is anything but; the first sentence sets the tone, “I think you’ve mistaken my desperation for devotion,” and later, “Don’t mistake my breaking open for being broken.” Despite the powerful statements made by Jenkins, a subdued arrangement persists, and finally a soft trumpet plays a syncopated riff that serves as the song’s coda.

“Clams Casino” is an obscure dish both to Jenkins and the character in her song who orders it at the hotel bar; they seem to order it to find out what it is. The joke is in the midst of a song about loneliness, exemplified by the torn suit Jenkins wears in the video and the repeated refrain, “I don’t wanna laugh alone anymore.” It is being given the single treatment, and one can well hear why; the compelling lyrics are buoyed by exuberant electric guitar and a tight rhythm section. “Delphinium Blue” has a prominent bass guitar line, loping drums, and a high vocalized synth patch accompanying Jenkins’  melodious verse vocal and spoken word chorus. The song is about a game of phone tag, with Jenkins taking the role of the woman at work who picks up a voicemail at the end of an extra shift. Is it a character study, or an implicit critique of who needs to work harder in a relationship?

“Petco” is another song about loneliness, with the refrain “I’m trying to be less alone,” serving as a mantra for the protagonist, who visits the pet store just to wander the aisles and be among people. The topic is circumvented by a testy guitar riff and rollicking solo that suggest indomitability amidst uncertainty.

“Omakase” features the album title, “My Light My Destroyer,” as a lyric that is sung and, between choruses, spoken as if it is a poem. Jenkins sings in a higher register, still with a detachment that suggests surrender. After all, the words, “Pull me apart, put me back together again,” could easily be set with a scream. Jenkins prefers to intone the important things, like the way a lover can change you, in a soft voice. “Tape and Tissue” has an elliptical lyric and ornate arrangement, with multiple keyboards - acoustic piano, electric piano, and jazz organ as well as a guitar harmonics solo on the bridge, in subtle yet intricate layering.

The incorporation of spoken word and field recordings has become nearly de rigueur in rock circles. “Shatner’s Theme” is a brief combination of cricket chirps and a UFO landing with an angular whistling tune. There is nothing commonplace about the dialogue in “Betelgeuse,” in which Cassandra’s mom talks to her about celestial bodies during their adventure looking at the night sky through a telescope. It is accompanied by piano and saxophone and needs no singing to express its touching nature.

The last song on My Light My Destroyer is “Only One,” in which the desire for a particular partner causes distress and hope in equal measure, a juxtaposition that expresses the recording’s overarching conflict. A brief instrumental, “Hayley,” (a respelling of her previous hit) for sustained strings with a bit of electronic treatment, is an enigmatic minor key closer. Seldom does a pop album abandon the voice of its protagonist at its close, but Jenkins seems quite content to leave the frame when other elements are expressive in their own right.

My Light My Destroyer is a transformational record for Jenkins. However daunting the path forward may seem, she has a lot to say as she overcomes successive challenges. Let's hope that her next recording doesn’t require so much suffering in its planning and making. 

Christian Carey

[unbornwhiskeyy]

I think you've mistaken My desperation For devotion

I walked bedrock Exposed and barren Disappeared into the mountains Knocked on every door Until one opened

And I felt my arms Rise light as feathers And the clock hit me like a hammer And my eyes rolled back like porcelain And the breeze cooled me like aspirin And I cried

If you see my lip start quivering Don't mistake my breaking open For broken

I thought I knew how to listen Until thе hair on my skin Rose in tongues Ancient Unspoken

Then came the glow Of a single candle Through the blinds In the rising sun

[obsessioncollector]

This album is hitting so hard... queen cassandra 💕

[underachievers-please-try-harder]

Track of the day // Cassandra Jenkins - Delphinium Blue

From the album My Light, My Destroyer, out July 12th on Dead Oceans.

[rabbitechoes]

feels like a bit of a less-eventful month for new releases, but i still heard a few great records!!! i've been very enamored with the new porter robinson album especially!!! it's looking like august will be a veryyyyy busy month for new releases so let's hope i don't get swamped ... to check out my thoughts on some of the songs that dropped this month click here!!! also feel free to follow me on rate your music and twitter <3

SMILE! :D - Porter Robinson

🥇 BEST ALBUM OF THE MONTH

◇ released: July 26, 2024 ◇ genres: indietronica, electropop, pop rock

Despite the drastic difference in execution, Porter Robinson’s third studio album SMILE! :D is the perfect follow-up to 2021’s Nurture. The latter acted as an exploration to appreciate the beauty of life and art, all through bright and textured production. SMILE! :D is just as existential, but this time it’s a quest for Porter to learn to love himself and find enjoyment in the music he makes. Robinson ventures into his struggles with fame, fandom, and getting lost in nostalgia over bombastic electropop production. Those going into this album with the high expectations set by Nurture will most likely be disappointed – even I, who was pretty late to the hype of that record, found myself a bit stumped by this album at first. It’s a step back and as tongue-in-cheek as it is sincere, but it all comes into focus eventually. To move forward, SMILE! :D was the album he needed to make.

There’s a sugary sweet sound to most of the record which creates this dizzying array of emotions. On my first few listens, I viewed this as one of the album’s main flaws, and while I still have some very minor nitpicks with this approach, the brilliance of this choice reveals itself. The listener has about as much of a grasp on Robinson’s emotions as he does. He’s desperately trying to get a grip and rekindle the fun of making music, all the while putting on a delusionally brave face as he reckons with all of this conflict. Many of the album’s core themes are introduced in the faux-braggadocious opener, “Knock Yourself Out XD.” Robinson wrestles with how people perceive him and his music. Fighting expectations set by both his fans and the music industry at large. He wants to make happy pop music, but he can’t – at least not for long. The end of the song has him defeatedly embracing the aesthetics of a star; face tattoos, a drink in hand, a fancy new car, but it’s all disingenuous. “Cheerleader” and “Russian Roulette” expand on these ideas. The former is a cathartic banger about the parasocial relationships some people have with their favorite artists and the latter is an emotionally dynamic exploration of how it all affects his depression – drawing to a close with the sobering repeated phrase, “I wanna live, I don’t wanna die” before getting swallowed by rave-like synths. Robinson’s analysis of this is all through the context of the internet, which I find very compelling. The perpetual unseriousness of the internet, he sings about “YouTube review, funny monkey / Takes a piss into his own mouth, crazy” a reference to Pitchfork’s notorious review of Jet’s Shine On and how “A bad guy just died / They’re making memes about it.” This behavior, of which most of us are guilty to some degree, can disincentive sincerity and throw emotion to the wind. It can also be dehumanizing to the artists, making them feel like soulless commodities for our enjoyment alone.

“Russian Roulette” and the aggressive “Perfect Pinterest Garden” mark turning points in the album’s focus, it’s from here that Robinson begins to look further inward and dissect his own behaviors. “Year of the Cup” has the same structure as those TikTok videos of people putting Midwest emo riffs instrumentation over random videos which makes for one of the shakier moments on the record, but he manages to make it work. The song is built around this combative interview Lil Wayne did with Tim Westwood in 2009 and Robinson ties it back to his struggles with alcoholism and lashing out at those close to him. The predominant theme for the rest of the album is Robinson trying to come to terms with himself while reconnecting with his audience more healthily. He reminisces on how his past self would perceive him now, vowing to “Take care of the person we’ll both be eventually” on “Easier to Love You.” He regrets the things he’s done to become what he thinks a star should be, he’s just “Trying to look good, trying not to feel bad.” It’s empty and unfulfilling, he has to reconnect with who he is to both himself and his audience – finally coming to some form of a resolution on the optimistic closer “Everything To Me.”

SMILE! :D is an unconventional love letter to Robinson’s fans. In his words, they were “the perfect muse for an entire album.” This is an excellent album, one that is both interesting and immensely enjoyable. I understand why it’s proven to be a bit polarizing, but this is one of his finest achievements yet. His talents as a producer and songwriter are on full display here – and in much different ways than the album proceeding it. I’m pretty enamored with this album.

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Passage du Desir - Johnny Blue Skies / Sturgill Simpson

◇ released: July 14, 2024 ◇ genres: progressive country, country rock

Ever since 2014’s Metamodern Sounds in Country Music, Sturgill Simpson has made a name for himself as one of the most ambitious artists in country music that’s just barely outside the mainstream. Unlike a lot of other country artists who regularly see critical acclaim for simply being normal when compared to the worst the genre usually has to offer, Simpson has garnered that acclaim for making interesting music. His sound balances the rooted and the otherworldly – Passage du Desir is another great showcase of that. Working under the pseudonym Johnny Blue Skies, he crafts this almost cosmic sound. It’s like a country star beamed back down to earth, here to make country music that sounds familiar to us, but with an opulent and psychedelic twist that few artists wield as well as he does.

At each of these song’s respective cores is a damn fine country song, displaying Simpson’s clear understanding of the genre, but the arrangements are what make this album so special. This album was recorded in both Nashville and Abbey Road Studios in London and Simpson sounds in complete control here. He’s determined to take these songs to just the right heights. Like the opening accordion passage and subsequent simmering psychedelia of “Swamp of Sadness” where he sings of “Nights under the bright lights at Mignon on Beaumarchais,” hardly regular country fair – I would be amused to hear Morgan Wallen sing of nights spent in Paris. It has this alluring dreaminess to it that just swallows you, an incredible opener that shows his ambition. The centerpiece of the album is “Jupiter’s Faerie,” a cathartic lamentation of a lost friend. His vocals have this understated effect to them and the instrumentation builds around him as it eventually explodes alongside him in the chorus. The string flourishes in the chorus is exhilarating and beautiful. The near 9-minute “One For The Road” closes the album strong and another crowning achievement in Simpson’s, or Johnny Blue Skies’, career thus far. It’s a bittersweet country ballad that you can just get lost in. Ending the album with an extended instrumental section with harmonica, a soft piano, and a striking guitar solo is a bold move, but it works so well. 

There are moments where things are relatively stripped-back, like the jaunty “Scooter Blues,” the delightful melancholy of “Who I Am,” and the sweetness of “Mint Tea” – rather than potentially act as roadblocks between the more expansive tracks, they’re necessary. They re-center the album’s focus, grounding it a bit so that the grander moments hit that much harder. They never veer into the generic either, they still show an artist poised to be different.

Passage du Desir is an amazing album and the start of a bold new chapter for Johnny Blue Skies. Simpson’s use of that alter-ego from here on out is a little confusing given how personal everything still feels, but as long as he’s still making great music like this who am I to complain? This isn’t hokey or gimmicky at all, it just feels like yet another one of his tactics to subvert people’s expectations. Keep it up, I say!

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魔法学校 (Mahōgakkō) - Hakushi Hasegawa

◇ released: July 24, 2024 ◇ genres: art pop, glitch pop, nu jazz, deconstructed club, folktronica

I’ve been acutely aware of Hakushi Hasegawa for a little bit now, mainly through the acclaim of their 2018 EP 草木萌動 (Sōmoku hōdō). Despite that, 魔法学校 (Mahōgakkō) was my first foray into their music. Talk about a first impression, this album is insane. Right from the start, it grabs you by the scruff of your neck and throws you on a rollercoaster of abrasive, colorful, and rhythmic instrumentation. These songs are captivating, both in how wild they tend to be and even more so in how occasionally beautiful they are. Like the disorienting sound of “行つてしまつた (Gone)” with KID FRESNO or the serene folktronica of “撤回 (Repeal).” Hasegawa has a deep understanding of the eclectic sounds they’re incorporating on this record which makes both their renditions and disorientations of them pay off in such a unique way. 

Nearly every song here has some kind of unexpected twist and turn. The rare ones that don’t still add this feeling of surreality to the album. There’s such a palpable energy to the album too, it’s like electricity currents are running underneath every song on the album. It feels almost magical like you’re in some kind of distorted fantasy land where things only vaguely resemble what you’re familiar with. Hasegawa is in complete control of these eccentric sounds. This is very evident on tracks like “恐怖の星 (KYŌFUNOHOSHI)” with its distinct blend of nu jazz and glitch pop. Or the avant-garde sound collage nature of “焱ばみ (Enbami).” Nothing sounds out of their jurisdiction. They lead these songs into bold new territory and you’re just along for the experience. 

魔法学校 (Mahōgakkō) is an amazing album that greatly showcases Hakushi Hasegawa’s talents. This is an album best experienced in one sitting. Let all of these sounds wash over you – or rather let them throw themselves at you. This album hardly wastes a single second, besides that 30-second interlude of an A.I. conversation, they just keep crafting wild, exciting, and sometimes gorgeous sounds that are sure to enthrall you. This is one of the best instances of maximalist music in the online age. It’s also a good motivator to finally go back through Hasegawa’s back catalog and hear what I’ve been missing.

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King of the Mischievous South Vol. 2 - Denzel Curry

◇ released: July 19, 2024 ◇ genres: southern hip hop, trap, hardcore hip hop, memphis rap

Denzel Curry has proven to be one of the most consistent rappers of the modern era and that remains true with this new record, King of the Mischievous South Vol. 2 – the sequel to one of his early mixtapes. Curry’s last album, Melt My Eyez See Your Future, was the biggest progression of his sound since TA13OO in 2018. However, instead of pushing forward, Curry decided to take a step backward and get re-acquainted with his roots. This album is just no-nonsense southern hip hop in a concise and effective package. Gone are the dense, jazz-flavored beats of his last album – in are the hard-hitting hardcore beats that cut right to the heart of the matter. Neither approach is inherently better or worse, but Curry has crafted one of the most fiery hip hop records of the year with the latter.

Curry is no stranger to scaling things back after a big project – in fact, it’s a part of his formula at this point. The ambitious TA13OO beget ZUU the following year and Melt My Eyez led into this great new record. This is a much more effective record than ZUU, it shows Curry returning to his old stomping grounds and showing that he is a force to be reckoned with. He enlists numerous fellow southern rappers to aid him, aside from a few from the East and West coasts, as well as Kingpin Skinny Pimp to host the record in its interludes. This is a very collaborative effort, but make no mistake Curry is the star. He rarely ever does things halfheartedly, but he sounds incredibly reinvigorated on this project. His bars are clever, sharp, and confident. They have this air of spontaneity to them which makes this album so infectious. The other rappers featured here, for the most part, keep that same energy. Like on “BLACK FLAG FREESTYLE” where That Mexican OT – who I had never heard of before this project, damn near steals the show. That’s another cool thing about this album, alongside some well-established names, it features a lot of lower-profile rappers like That Mexican OT, TiaCorine, Key Nyata, and Armani White who get the opportunity to shine here alongside Denzel. Everyone brings the heat and most of them make a good impression. On his quest to prove that he’s the king, Curry raises these artists up with him while also sharing the stage with legends like Juicy J and Project Pat – although Pat will show up damn near anywhere at this point.

Although some tracks don’t fully stick the landing, like “Set It” with Maxo Kream and “Hit the Floor” with Ski Mask the Slump God, there’s no shortage of bonafide heaters on this record. “HOT ONE,” the album’s lead single, is an awesome mix of trap, cloud rap, and Memphis rap. Curry boldly claims that he hasn’t changed despite leaving the South, he’s still just as driven. That drive is evident throughout the project. “G’Z UP” is a straight-up jam that doesn’t waste any time and features great guest verses from 2 Chainz and Mike Dimes. “SKED” has Curry, Kenny Mason, and Project Pat sounding fearless over a lowkey almost rage beat. Every now and then some tracks feel like they’re far too brief, but that can be sort of forgiven due to the album’s quick pacing. Dull moments are seldom found here.

King of the Mischievous South Vol. 2 feels like a quick detour for Curry before he goes back to making grander projects – this is hardly a dismissal of the project though as it’s almost endlessly enjoyable. He reconnects with his roots in a deeply satisfying way. He’s always been one of the most exciting artists in hip hop and this record provides further proof to that claim.

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The War - Toy Bastard

◇ released: July 15, 2024 ◇ genres: indie rock, post-rock

Ethan Ives, best known as a multi-instrumentalist in Car Seat Headrest, has released his second album under the name Toy Bastard. The War is a damn fine post-rock record with some big indie rock choruses throughout. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it’s a very great record despite that. This is a concept record about, I believe metaphorically, being at war. Ives uses wartime imagery to detail being at war with the world itself. It’s a concept that could easily be a little corny, but it works well here. This frantic and anxious atmosphere keeps you engaged, waiting to see what comes next. Made all the more enthralling because of the instrumentation – perhaps the biggest highlight of the record. Everything has a punch, nothing lays soft on the ears or floats past you. Everything from the acoustic guitar passage at the start of “The Babe in the Woodshed” to the sporadic synths on “Summer of ‘14,” it all just grabs you. Necessary for the concept to work as well as it does.

My favorite moment on the record comes with the 13-minute “VALIS,” an epic borderline prog-rock instrumental which, even without words, adds so much to the record’s concept. If you take the album at face value and believe the narrator is actually at war, it sounds like being on the battlefield. Loud guitar riffs come and go before being washed out alongside these choral arrangements – it’s unpredictable, but you’re hanging on to every shift. It’s wonderfully paced and not something I was expecting going into this record. Even on the tracks that are more of your standard indie rock, Ives brings in some cool quirks to these arrangements. It never sounds generic or tired, it sounds like he has a strong vision of what he wants this album to sound like, and for the most part, he nails it. The album ends with “Daddy Was a Starship Captain,” another “epic” track and the emotional climax of the record. It displays all of his strengths as both a songwriter and a producer, from the aquatic vocals to the killer guitar solo towards the end – everything just comes together here. Songs like this and “VALIS,” make me so excited to hear what Toy Bastard has in store for the future. The War is a great record and I feel like we’ll get even more great records from him in the future.

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My Light, My Destroyer - Cassandra Jenkins

◇ released: July 12, 2024 ◇ genres: singer-songwriter, sophisti-pop, indie rock

My Light, My Destroyer sounds like sifting through old photos during a transitional period of your life and letting all of the old memories wash over you like waves on the shore. One minute you’re transported back to the past, not a perfect one, but one that seems more comforting than where you are now. The next you’re reflecting on the present, the dishes are piling up and you feel alone, but there are still beautiful things in the world and you need to be reminded of that – The constellations in the sky, the colorful flowers, and the people you love. Cassandra Jenkins explores them all in her bold third studio album, the follow-up to her acclaimed previous album An Overview on Phenomenal Nature as well as her label debut on Dead Oceans.

The instrumentation is the only thing that keeps this album from reaching its full potential. Jenkins’ songwriting is the strongest it has ever been here, but some of these songs lack a distinct sound that separates her from her contemporaries. Like the soaring guitars on “Aurora, IL” which sound reminiscent of some of her new labelmates – it’s not a bad song, I just wish every track here had a striking and distinct sound that matched her songwriting. That’s certainly not to say there’s a shortage of unique arrangements here. In fact, I think this is her strongest material to date in that regard. Like the ambient art pop of “Delphinium Blue” where Jenkins’ voice sounds adrift in the ocean as the atmospheric synths and subtle percussion surround her. She’s trying to keep herself grounded as she gets lost in the delphinium flowers that remind her of someone. All of those feelings are not just conveyed lyrically, but also through the instrumentation. She shifts between that soft art pop and more rock-tinged tracks, like the steady guitars of “Petco” and the almost country flavor of “Clams Casino.” It’s a good balance. The strongest track on the album is “Tape and Tissue,” with its jazzy flavor which juxtaposes the spacey synths in such an amazing way. It’s one of the most vulnerable moments in Jenkins’ catalog thus far, a very captivating song.

This is a fascinating next step for Jenkins and I’m excited to hear where she goes from here. Her music sounds bigger and more polished, but I hope she introduces some more unique sounds in the future to make herself fully stand out. There’s a lot to love here though, I just feel like her best is still on the horizon. I can’t wait for that.

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Charm - Clairo

◇ released: July 12, 2024 ◇ genres: soft rock, sophisti-pop

Bedroom pop icon Claire Cottrill continues to ramp up her sound on her third studio album Charm. Her last album was very folk-inspired, but instead of going further in that direction, she dives deep into this 70s soft rock sound which yields some gorgeous instrumentation while often obscuring her in the process. Clairo’s vocals have always been light no matter the words she’s singing, she’s a very cozy singer. This has worked in her favor a lot of the time, like on the mostly spare arrangements of Sling, but on Charm, she ends up getting lost in it all. Not in a “this music is free-flowing and all-encompassing” kind of way, but in a way that snuffs out some of the heart of the record. These beautiful, mostly organic arrangements yearn for a vocalist with stronger conviction. If there ever was an album for Clairo to add some new flair to her delivery it was this one. 

There are some strong highlights here though, namely the opening track “Nomad” with its alluringly textured arrangement – the twinkling guitar and that weighty upright bass work so well together. It’s also one of the songs where I think she stands out as a vocalist, the way she seamlessly transitions to the higher note of the chorus is stunning. Very glad that song finally clicked with me after I heard it as a single and was left a little unimpressed. That starts the album on a very high note and it just keeps going! It’s light on the ears, most songs coming and going without grabbing you beyond a catchy chorus or maybe some cool new bits of instrumentation. Like the whirling synths on “Juna” or the clarinet on “Pier 4,” but those bright spots aren’t enough to elevate the album to a more satisfying level. Charm is a very pleasant album. It’s not bad at all, it’s just pleasant.   I understand why some people love this unabashedly, I was just craving something with a bit more substance. The thing is, her lyricism isn’t unsubstantial, I just wish she delivered it in a more engaging form and not within songs that often fade into the background. I’m curious about which direction she’ll go in after Charm, I just hope it’s more interesting.

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Bando Stone and the New World - Childish Gambino

◇ released: July 19, 2024 ◇ genres: experimental hip hop, art pop

Donald Glover is drawing the Childish Gambino era of his career to a close with Bando Stone and the New World – the soundtrack to his upcoming film which doesn’t have a release date yet. It’s a bold move to drop the soundtrack to a film that still has no release date, but Glover has made interesting creative decisions for years now to varying levels of success. In a way, that’s what makes this album the perfect closing chapter for Childish Gambino. It’s an ambitious, eclectic mess with high highs, low lows, and a lot of stuff that falls in between. Such is the case with most of his albums – bar Awaken, My Love which I think is a consistently great project and his best work. However, while it might be a fitting end, that doesn’t make this a great record.

Glover dabbles in a number of different sounds across this album, which is neat, but the songs themselves leave a lot to be desired. It’s cool that “Running Around” is a pop punk track, but is the song that good beyond the novel concept? Not really. The same can be said about “Happy Survival” which is a dub song. It’s cool that he goes to these places, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired. Then again, maybe the songs that didn’t click with me on this album make more sense in the context of the film. There are plenty of voice clips and narrative references I can only assume are related to the film it’s soundtracking, but they mean nothing to me in this current moment. On its own, it feels like this album is awkwardly awaiting its companion. To play on a quote from Glover’s character in Community, “I can’t wait to understand these references!”

With that being said, he manages to throw in some great songs here and there. I said in my write-up on “Lithonia” when it was first released as a single that it was “overdramatic and suffocating,” but that it could be the soundtrack to a climactic moment in both the film and the soundtrack. Well, despite it being only the second song on the album, I unabashedly love this track. The suffocating nature of the production ramps up the energy even more and Glover’s yelped vocals add to the intensity. I don’t know who Cody LeRae is, but that dude is going through some shit! He plays around with various styles of hip hop across the album to mostly good results. The peak of this is the deceptively layered production of “Yoshinoya,” which has Glover cutting out all pretense and making a straight-up banger. “No Excuses” is another massive highlight as it blends neo-soul with some subtle lounge elements and the end result is one of the prettiest songs in his catalog. The little synth riffs in the choruses are just sublime. This album is spotty overall, but it has plenty of gems.

Childish Gambino has been a constant presence in hip hop and beyond for over a decade now. Starting out as an actor making deeply corny music on Camp, to the massive Because the Internet which is considered by many to be a seminal 2010s hip hop record despite its flaws – no shame, I have nostalgia for it too – to his more experimental works in both music and TV throughout the later part of the decade, Childish Gambino’s legacy is nothing to sneeze at. Sure, it’s got an abundance of flaws, and a lot of it doesn’t hold up under intense scrutiny, but he’s nothing if not ambitious. Such is the case with Bando Stone and the New World which, in its own imperfect way, is the perfect end to the Childish Gambino story.

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Y2K! - Ice Spice

◇ released: July 26, 2024 ◇ genres: new york drill, east coast hip hop

Ice Spice has become one of the most prominent figures in hip-hop, for better or for worse. She’s built an empire on hit-or-miss heaters and an abundance of bars of the fecal variety. Now, after what seems like a long wait, we have her debut album Y2K! – an album that doesn’t resemble any of the aesthetics or reference anything from Y2K culture, so that’s a bit of a head-scratcher. This is hardly a bold new statement from Ice Spice, this is just her doing her thing except a bit more tired. These songs, for the most part, leave you with nothing to say. She and producer RIOTUSA craft sleepy bangers that give Spice the stage to do her same old, same old routine. She has “ABC, 123” flows and says the most inane stuff until she spits another funny poop or fart bar that’s so weird that it makes me laugh so hard until I feel sick. There’s a three-track run where she centers all of this soiled energy, she says “I’m Miss Poopie, but I never smell” on “BB Belt,” “Think you the shit, bitch? / You not even the fart (Grrah)” on the titular “Think U The Shit (Fart),” and she rounds it all up with “I'm Miss Poopie like I need a diaper (Grrah)” on “Gimmie A Light.” Ok, Miss Poopie, what the fuck are you talking about? Are you determined to be the poop bar girl?

“Did It First” with Central Cee is the only song I think is pretty great. Somehow they just bring out the best in each other, it’s one of her best for sure. The rest of Y2K! is either just ok, bad, or exhausting, but you would be hard-pressed to find another album that has made me laugh as much as it has so I guess that has to count for something. 

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Guilty Pleasure - JoJo Siwa

◇ released: July 12, 2024 ◇ genres: electropop, dance-pop, slap house

Dance Moms and Nickelodeon alumni JoJo Siwa has been making an ass of herself over the last few months as she ushers in this new “adult” era of her career. From gaudy outfits and makeup to claiming that she wants to invent “gay pop” to downing Fireball during a live performance, she’s become a consistent scapegoat of the internet. After hearing this new EP Guilty Pleasures, I just have to ask … why did she do all that? Now, Siwa has never had a penchant for subtlety – see her car with a wrap-around decal that’s just a collage of her face as the most damning example – but this music just doesn’t call for any of that. It’s more mature in a sense, she sings about “twirlin' in a ballroom” and “twerkin' in the bedroom” in the song “Balance Baby” and the biggest hook on the album is Siwa crooning that “Karma’s a bitch!” so this wouldn’t get played on Nickelodeon that’s for sure, but it all just feels so childish. It’s almost like she’s doing an over-the-top parody of the infamous edgy phases a lot of child stars have gone through – which if that’s the case, maybe this is all genius, but I highly doubt it. Also enlisting Meghan Trainor for help on your “I’m a big kid now” EP is laughable. It’s like trying to buy punk clothes at an Old Navy. 

On the whole, I guess Guilty Pleasure isn’t as big of a trainwreck musically as I thought it would be – not to say it’s good by any means though. It’s just loud, vapid, boringly competent pop songs for the most part that weren’t worth all of the antics we’ve been subject to for months. I don’t see this being the starting point for a fruitful new chapter of JoJo Siwa’s career. The music is incredibly forgettable so maybe that’s why she feels the need to make a fool of herself in public.

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The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce) - Eminem

◇ released: July 12, 2024 ◇ genre: hardcore hip hop

In this messy concept album, Eminem resurrects and then kills his alter ego “Slim Shady” while also offering an introspective look at his own life. Sounds like a cool concept, in theory – no doubt, a little bit of a nostalgia ploy for the millennial crowd, but in execution, this is one of the most clumsy albums I’ve ever heard. I wasn’t expecting much at all going into The Death of Slim Shady given the state of his work over the past, give or take, 20 years, but it might be worse than I was anticipating. He fumbles over this concept of wrestling with his edgy other self for the bulk of the record, relying on tired shock humor and staccato flows that wear thin barely before the album gets going.

The shock humor in question is seemingly self-aware, but that doesn’t make it any less exhausting. Eminem and Slim Shady poke fun at several things that will get the worst people you know to cheer and applaud. Multiple jabs at Caitlyn Jenner and transgender people in general, Christopher Reeve and paraplegic people, people with dwarfism, and numerous mentions of people being “woke” and Eminem being afraid of the “politically correct police.” The desired reaction is a “WOAH, CAN HE EVEN SAY THAT?” – but my reaction was just a shrug of the shoulders and an “ok?” This concept plagues the album and he runs every joke into the ground right as it’s getting started. If I took a shot every time Caitlyn Jenner was mentioned on this album I would die of alcohol poisoning. More than the material on the album being tired, Eminem’s fanbase by and large clings to this edgy stuff. They lament the “woke mob” and “cancel culture” so they’re taking the album at face value. Likewise, Eminem’s critics take it at face value as well and pick lyrics out of context to make Eminem look like the bad guy he pokes fun at. So, this album is one both his fanbase and critics misinterpret and an incredibly rough listen even if you grasp the concept – so is there anything at all The Death of Slim Shady succeeds at? Uhhhh, some of the beats are cool I guess.

This album is just Eminem doing his thing. He’s stuck in this “lyrical spiritual miracle” style perpetually and it’s grating even if he had something of worth to say – which he doesn’t. Even the ruminations he offers on his own life, career, and family feel way too theatrical and obtuse to connect with. The album’s drastic shift at points towards the end, namely “Temporary” and the closer “Somebody Save Me,” where he makes songs directed to his family in the event of his passing just falls flat. Not helped by the fact he comes into the record with a full head of steam as he lashes out at the world in his own self-obsessed way. The rare time it sort of, emphasis on that, works is on the short opener “Renaissance” where he takes aim at modern hip hop fans. There’s no shortage of clunky bars, but “You nerdy pricks would find somethin' wrong with 36 Chambers” gave me a good laugh, ostensibly making it the highlight of the record for me. 

The Death of Slim Shady is a complicated misfire being celebrated by those who don’t understand it as a win and being torn down by those who also don’t understand it as a bigoted dumpster fire. I want to make this perfectly clear, it is not the onus of the artist to spoon-feed the audience what the actual meaning of it all is, but this just seems like a total miscalculation and misunderstanding of your fanbase and the world at large. Slim Shady’s edgy antics seemed outlandish in the 2000s which is what made them kind of work, but when he goes on record venting about “woke people” and transgender people it just doesn’t ring the same in 2024. These are talking points that aren’t hard to find anymore, they’re in the mainstream. It will be celebrated by those who agree with his observations and ridiculed by those who see Marshall Mathers as another old rapper who cried “cancel culture.” It’s a lose-lose situation, not helped at all by the fact that this album simply isn’t good – I would go as far as to say it’s pretty bad.

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I Love You So F***ing Much - Glass Animals

◇ released: July 12, 2024 ◇ genres: alt-pop, pop rock

Glass Animal’s previous effort Dreamland is one of my nightmare albums. One of the vapidest and most irritating albums I’ve ever heard – made even more unbearable by the fact their disaster song “Heat Waves” lingered on the charts for well over a year, 91 weeks to be exact. The band holds the record for the longest-charting song on the Billboard Hot 100 of all time. Everyone I’ve spoken to tells me some variation of “This band used to be good” or “They just got too commercial,” and while that may be true, they’re not worthy of much grace. My only prior exposure to the band was through “Life Itself” playing all the time on my local alternative radio station in the summer of 2016. That song isn’t perfect by any means, but listening to it after having heard Dreamland and I Love You So F***ing Much, made it feel like one of the greatest songs of all time. The band did not clean up their act on this new record here, in fact, they just dug their graves even deeper. 

A lot of the same horrible qualities of their last album are present here except for that corporate summer veneer. Instead, that’s traded out for spacier sounds which don’t make the album any more palatable. There is no life here. It’s as if a group of deeply sheltered 20-somethings who had only heard sacred music their entire life stumbled upon MGMT and decided to make their version. The band is not good songwriters, perhaps their only talent is the ability to drive the most annoying choruses and melodies you have ever heard far into the ground – ironic given the interstellar aspirations they have for this album. The worst offender here is “A Tear in Space (Airlock)” with its repeating “WATAAH” hooks in the chorus. I sense a desire from the band to have another “Heat Waves,” they want to fluke their way back onto the charts with another big song with a big, obnoxious chorus, but I don’t see that happening with any track on the album. That’s the only artistic motivation I can grasp from this project, it feels desolate. It’s empty and soul-crushing, it doesn’t feel human. Made even worse by the fact that I don’t think any of the normal pop music listeners were clamoring for another song from the “Heat Waves” band – so I have to ask, why did they decide to go down this dead-end road instead of making something even a teeny tiny bit interesting? Have they simply just thrown in the towel and resigned themselves to making this kind of music for the foreseeable future? I Love You So F***ing Much is a hopeless record, a deeply miserable affair with little to no redeeming qualities. It’s the sound of a band with no convictions and no heart. The threat of A.I. and its inevitable use in music is a genuine fear, but I feel like a computer could never replicate the human element of music. I have faith that the general public will see through it as some sort of gimmick and it won’t put any musicians out of a job – well, maybe except for Glass Animals.

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psssst. i made a discord server called COSMIACORD ... if u wanna join and have fun, talk about music, play fortnite, or whatever here's the invite :3 https://discord.gg/rsHMenTU

[fairweathermyth]

Cassandra Jenkins, New Bikini

[knightofleo]

Cassandra Jenkins | Only One

Sea sick dawn, come to tear off another page Blink my eyes open, punch the clock in the face Another formula, everywhere I turn Everything adds up to your number Stick figure Sisyphus Behind massage parlor window glass How long will this pain in my chest last? You're the only one I've ever loved The only one that I know how to love

[altamontpt]

Cassandra Jenkins - My Light, My Destroyer (2024)

A cantora americana dá-nos um disco com várias canções muito fortes e que explora novas rotas no seu caminho.

A cantora americana dá-nos um disco com várias canções muito fortes e que explora novas rotas no seu caminho de descoberta. O mundo reparou em Cassandra Jenkins em 2021, aquando da edição do seu segundo álbum, An Overview on Phenomenal Nature. O mundo e nós, que de tal forma ficámos conquistados que votámos esse mesmo disco como o melhor do ano. O que é curioso é que esse trabalho foi uma espécie…

[awhirr]

Cassandra Jenkins - Clams Casino

[musicwithoutborders]

Cassandra Jenkins, Delphinium Blue, 2024

[tuuneoftheday]

Cassandra Jenkins - Only One

[purplealbumoftheday]

today's purple album of the day is: My Light, My Destroyer by Cassandra Jenkins!