#perhaps its the very simple synths weaving in and out of the chorus and the arpeggios and the vocal harmonies

[cristalconnors]

BEST SONGS of 2019

20. “MOTIVATION”- Normani

“Why would we ever do something instead of falling into the bed right now?”

Watching the 2019 VMAs, it was easy to feel despondent about the current state of mainstream pop. And then Normani descended from a basketball hoop, breaking up a string of lifeless performances of cookie-cutter top 40 with a preposterously physical tour de force that harkened back to an era when pop fame felt like something closer to a meritocracy, when talent mattered more than spectacle. It felt like a major arrival: at last another pop goddess that truly had all the goods. The public may not have caught up to her quite yet, but “Motivation” is a statement of purpose for Normani: I’m here, I’m very fucking talented, and I’m not going anywhere.

19. “SO HOT YOU’RE HURTING MY FEELINGS”- Caroline Polachek

“I cry on the dancefloor, it’s so embarrassing”

The charms of “So Hot You’re Hurting My Feelings” are seemingly endless. First, there’s that title that makes you chuckle the first few times you hear it. Then, there’s the pre-chorus that title is effortlessly plugged into: a crystal clear image of lovelorn insecurity placed atop a sublimely simple melody that builds into a harmonious, show-stopping chorus. But the song’s zenith has got to be that bridge, marrying a mind-bending, distorted vocal solo that more closely resembles electric guitar with the singsongy refrain “show me your banana,” effortlessly striking a balance between the highbrow and the silly, casting Polachek as the carefree pop diva she perhaps always should have been.

18.“WAY TO THE SHOW”- Solange

“Candy paint down to the floor”

“I want it to bang and make your trunk rattle.” I think about that quote a lot when listening to “Way to the Show,” the grooviest track on When I Get Home- the one whose meandering funk bass line and countless key changes build to an explosion of synth runs and gun cocking, showcasing Knowles’s growth as both a songwriter and curator of mood as she crafts a singularly hallucinatory, heavenly vision of Houston and the sounds that raised her.

17. “WONDER BOY”- ARTHUR RUSSELL

“I’m a wonder boy. I can do nothing”

The back catalogue of notorious perfectionist and genreless chameleon Arthur Russell is so vast, so varied that even 27 years after he was taken from us, we’re still being treated to new material. Every single song of his that’s been released posthumously, including all 19 tracks of Iowa Dream, feel like their own revelation, each of them a uniquely dazzling bucking of all your expectations of what a song of his should sound like. “Wonder Boy” is unique in how tidily its melancholy, frosty images of impermanence sum up the tragic story of Arthur Russell the man- the brilliant artist who never found success and only ever managed to put out a single album while he was alive- the wonder boy who could do nothing.

16. “I THINK OF SATURDAY”- Moodymann

“I called you on Thursday... I called you on Friday...”

“I Think of Saturday” starts simply enough, listing the days of the week almost as a gimmick, evoking soul and early rock filtered through a house lens, until halfway through the song when the beat drops away, introducing a brief sample of Joe Simon’s “With You in Mind” that’s followed by the reintroduction of the beat, but now accompanied by a recurring distorted, dissonant chord that reframes the song as a sinisterly rousing account of unrequited desire and delusion that refracts itself over and over again. 

15. “SOFIA”- Clairo

“I think we could do it if we tried”

The opening bars of Clairo’s “Sofia” sound like a really good Strokes knock off, but the song quickly reveals itself to be something vastly more interesting, unfolding itself steadily over the course of three minutes as she and producer Rostam Batmanglij subvert well worn pop tropes to craft an exquisitely textured, soul-baring, and ultimately hopeful anthem for young wlw everywhere.

14. “LARK”- Angel Olsen

“What about my dreams?”

Olsen’s widescreen, abstract vision of a break-up song is thrillingly unbound from the constrictions of song structure and narrative, favoring instead the visceral power of strings and drastic dynamic contrast to craft a symphony in miniature, a “journey through grief” as Olsen herself describes it, that announces the bold, panoramic vision of her fourth album.

13. “WALK AWAY”- (Sandy) Alex G

“Someday I’m gonna walk away from you. Not today...”

“Walk Away” evokes the sense of being trapped, stuck in a cycle of recognizing unhealthy relationships or habits and being unable or unwilling to do anything about them, looping the simple two line refrain over and over and over again to weave a hopeless, woozy tapestry of crunching beats, acoustic and electric guitar, mournful piano and harpsichord, and distorted vocals.

12. “THIS COUNTRY MAKES IT HARD TO FUCK” (BJÖRK REMIX)- Fever Ray

“That’s not how to love me!”

Björk isolates the most memorable line from Fever Ray’s “This Country”- “this country makes it hard to fuck!”-and explodes it, distorting it and stretching it across a fearsome sample of the droning, discordant flutes from “Song of the Alféreces and Dances of the Chinos,” evoking a kind of tortured funhouse mirror image of the current state of reproductive rights that rightly recasts Fever Ray’s song as a horror film.

11. “ABOUT WORK THE DANCEFLOOR”- Georgia

“I was just thinking about work the danefloor...”

“About Work the Dancefloor” is Georgia’s ode to the cathartic, restorative powers of the dancefloor, where your worries fall away as you melt into the crowd and language abstracts itself, as evidenced by that perplexing chorus that doesn’t seem to mean anything- and why should it? When you’re lost in her pounding bass and gurgling synths, that incoherence is strangely comforting. You can cast whatever meaning you want onto it and work through it physically, together. 

10. “GONE”- Charli XCX & Christine and the Queens

“I try real hard, but I’m caught up by my insecurities”

The jelly squiggles that criss-cross Charli XCX and her collaborator’s faces on the artwork released for the singles from her latest album Charli suggest a kind of symbiosis, a cosmic intertwining of sorts. But only “Gone” achieves a true melding of the minds, where Charli and Chris’s best and boldest instincts collide, complimenting one another seamlessly in this dizzying vision of insecurity and isolation that unravels into a stunning pop abstraction. 

09. “CELLOPHANE”- FKA twigs

“Why don’t I do it for you?”

Usually for FKA twigs, more is more. Her songs are busy, even the slower ones, packed to the brim with glitches, unusual rhythms, and a million little details that pull attention, giving them texture and making them extremely immersive listening experiences. “Cellophane” pares those idiosyncrasies back. They’re still there, but the focus is twigs’s voice, which bends and cracks and really emotes in a way we’ve never heard. Her voice is naked and unvarnished, allowing her to be truly vulnerable in a way we’ve never heard either, and it’s heartbreaking. 

08. “CINNAMON GIRL”- Lana Del Rey

“If you hold me without hurting me, you’ll be the first who ever did.”

“Cinnamon Girl” is the culmination of every other ballad she’s ever written. They were practice and this is the real deal- a painterly missive on tumultuous love that reads like a pained confession whispered in confidence, something Lana’s always done well, but her composition has never been so exquisite or immersive, so beautifully in concert with her poetry or her velvet voice, or so flawlessly constructed, effortlessly building toward a show-stopping finale that asserts Lana as the postmodern princess of Americana.

07. “COOKIE BUTTER”- Kim Gordon

“Industrial...metal...supplies...”

“Cookie Butter” has got to be the most stunning showcase of the power of Kim Gordon’s voice, as she drags out some vowels, muffles others, attacks consonants and bends words until they don’t sound like words anymore, all atop a trance inducing beat drives towards the song’s unlikely climax- Kim Gordon saying “cookie butter” in the most impossibly distinct way you could imagine that carries the weight of an EDM drop, leading the track into it’s disorienting second half that both clarifies and obscures the half that came before it. Haunting and addictive. 

06. “CATTAILS”- Big Thief

“You don’t need to know why when you cry.”

To hear Big Thief talk about the process of writing and recording “Cattails” on their episode of the Song Exploder podcast, one is struck by how organic it was. Adrianne Lenker describes it as a “magic wind” that swept through the studio, the song kind of falling out of them in one take. That sense of life comes through in the song, the simple, sublime repetition, bounce, and build of it sounding like a transmission from deep within the soul, a cosmic image of nostalgia and grief that is as cathartic as it is heavenly.

05. “GOD CONTROL”- Madonna

“I think I understand why people get a gun.”

“God Control” is ostensibly about gun control, though you’d be forgiven if you had a hard time discerning what exactly she’s trying to say. Like some of her best work, it’s provocative and maybe a little empty, but damn if it isn’t supremely interesting and compelling as hell. Madonna taps into a sense of apocalyptic malaise and skepticism of authority that feels at times remarkably in tune with the public consciousness, at others a grotesque caricature of it, to uniformly fascinating results as she spins a deranged disco yarn that, once those swirling strings hit, is downright euphoric. 

04. “GOLD TEETH”- Blood Orange, ft. Gangsta Boo, Project Pat, & Tinashe

“We gon’ rumble in this ho!”

Blood Orange takes Project Pat’s “Rinky Dink II/We’re Gonna Rumble” and explodes it, gifting it both playful levity and added depth with a rollicking beat minor chord synths respectively, effortlessly criss crossing Hynes’s many disparate strengths and interests in the most effortlessly rousing and joyful track in his entire ouevre, elevated by the powerhouse Three 6 Mafia reunion verses of Gangsta Boo and Project Pat himself.

03. “INCAPABLE”- Róisín Murphy

“I don’t know if I can love, in all honesty.”

“Incapable,” Róisín Murphy’s virtuosic disco epic, stops time. That indelibly simple bass line loops over and over and over again until you’re lost in it, the song slowly building itself on top of it, adding claps here, hi hat there, rising towards a stunning sequence backed by whooshing synths where the song really comes alive, where an almost boastful breakup anthem morphs into a glamorously melancholy self-indictment in which she ponders that maybe it’s her there’s something wrong with, creating a dazzling dichotomy between the pitfalls of introspection and the bliss of the dancefloor.

02. “MOVIES”- Weyes Blood

“The meaning of life doesn’t seem to shine like that screen.”

“Movies,” appropriately, plays out with a big screen gloss. Those arpeggiated synths feel like they’re slowly expanding as Natalie Mering coos atop them, wondering how if movies are fake, how come they’re more real than anything in real life? As the synths suddenly give way to frenzied strings, the song splits itself open, giving itself over wholly to the melodrama, the sweeping enormity of feeling that Mering so masterfully conjures as she longs for the vitality, the simple answers, and the meaningfulness of movies.

01. “DO YOU LOVE HER NOW”- Jai Paul

“There’s a time for everything.”

On June 1, 2019, when I first read the news that Jai Paul had released new music, news so momentous it was accompanied by a red “breaking news” banner on Pitchfork’s home page, I immediately found my headphones and sequestered myself. I knew whatever I was about to listen to would require my undivided attention. Quite frankly, I was shocked it existed at all. After the notorious, devastating leak of his music in 2013, he’d exiled himself so thoroughly that it was easy to believe he was just gone forever. But here it was, the second coming- two (2!) new songs, effectively doubling the amount of  (completed) material he’s released in an official capacity. 

Pressing play, I was a little nervous that it wouldn’t live up to my expectations, that it might somehow diminish the work of his that I’d loved so much, that changed the way I think about pop and R&B. That didn’t end up being a problem. While “He” is excellent, “Do You Love Her Now” is maybe the most stunning piece of music he’s ever written. Billowing, moseying guitars provide the heartbeat for what starts as a straightforward, sublimely simple send up of 60′s and 70′s R&B. But this Jai Paul we’re talking about, and nothing he does is simple. Nuances and complexities creep out organically from the fabric of the song- synths whiz in and out, harmonies soar to the forefront of the soundscape seemingly out of nowhere and fall away just as suddenly, crafting an immersive, richly textured listening experience that is unpredictable, washing over you like a wave, building, cresting, and crashing over and over again. 

[a-patheticapathetic]

Rishloo - Feathergun: Review

New year, new me. Let’s repeat that until it becomes true. 

There seems to be a pattern with how I discover music. At a very young age, I hear a song in a very specific circumstance. It has a big impact on me, but I make absolutely zero effort to check out any of the artist’s other music and instead meander onto another earworm. Then, years later, I have another chance meeting with the same song/album/artist and fall completely down a rabbithole that foundationally changes my taste in music. It happened with Radiohead (High and Dry as one of the default songs in the original Rocksmith), Queens of the Stone Age (Lost Art of Keeping a Secret in a stick figure animation), and Nine Inch Nails (Hurt (Quiet) on Spotify radio). Then, there was this strange song called “Scissorlips” that I saw on a very small Rock Band 3 drum channel. I showed it to my brother because of how fun the chart looked, and made the mistake of watching his reaction to the video. His disinterest embarrassed me enough that I never chased the music. That is, of course, until many years later, when I was introduced to Tool. The rest is history, and is frankly stalling me from starting the actual review. Let’s get to it.

Scissorlips - 8/10

The strange, dark jungle the album begins with is a nice representation of the album cover, although it won’t rule over the entire runtime. Don’t let the de-tuned guitar under the vocals deter you; the rest of the guitarwork here is beautiful. As we reach the pre-chorus, the percussionists may hear why I was interested in this song as a kid. This is also where the sonic background really opens up, swallowing you for a moment before the intro verse comes back. The lyricism here is also very abstract, yet isn’t impossible to follow. A couple of metallic bites taken out of the mostly psychedelic walls of guitars, then, the first of many beautiful delay effects. The build-up got me pretty good when I heard this so many years ago, and It’s still damn good. For the love. There are so many guitar lines here that just intertwine and enlace you. Then, something a bit heavier (yet oddly hopeful) to round the song out.

Turning Sheep into Goats - 7/10

This intro is more of what can be expected for the rest of the album, sonically speaking. A lone guitar with delay playing a complicated and alluring line in a strange time signature, then built upon. The path you may assume this song will follow is extremely suddenly changed at the chorus, the vocals really driving it home. Then, back into that nice opening riff like nothing happened. The next time that chorus comes thundering around, listen to that low guitar and the way it combines with the drums. Then drop out the ugliness into a floating mesh of palm mutes and synthetic strings. And don’t miss the fl

Systematomatic - 7/10

awless transition into the next song. Immediately, a new riff rises from the pond of reverb. You may not identify it immediately, but don’t worry, you’ll get more chances to. Very fast guitar-work that somehow doesn't sound so frantic, although the chorus definitely has a certain desperation to it. The mood gets heavy again, before quickly sliding into a strange, feverish haze. Some hits of percussion, then a recontexutalized and slower return to the riff at the start of the song. Weave us back into war.

River of Glass - 8/10

Now this is an ear-catching introduction. What seems to be a calm wave of delay is punctuated by war drums and a grimier lead. The mood builds, then crescendos into the song proper. The chorus is hear damn near immediately, and is extremely catchy for prog. This album is really just full of extremely memorable vocals, and the instrumentals complement them perfectly. We get two goes-around before we fall into these twisting and sliding strings. The drummer is also on his A-game here. Then, the guitars push into the clouds before coming back down with another short but heavy low. Then it all cuts out for a second, juts to make the burst into the final chorus that much more effective.

Keyhole in the Sky - 7/10

This one is simpler, but also very filling and peaceful. Unfortunately it does begin to showcase my only problem with this album; the vocals are mixed too loud at times. And while the singer is absolutely incredible, sometimes I’d like the instrumentals to breathe a bit more. The walls of high guitar come back around, this time feeling much more friendly and familiar. One last chorus, closing on a quiet note. Though it’s not over; an alien feedback loop and somber, echoey horn passage lead us into the next track

Downhill - 10/10

This song has two main phases, and is absolutely perfect throughout. An easy start; a relatively simple and serene riff fed through a pleasant delay pedal, with some subtle synth and bass backing. The vocals shine through, as clear as ever. And wave, goodbye. Then, like stepping through a portal into phase one. A very interesting, rhythmic and almost bluesy instrumental accompanies the title-drop. Then, we fall for miles down a well of piano. The bottom greets us with a moonlit key solo, then an incredible Floydian guitar solo. Hanging on the last note, phase two begins with an ominous drone and repeating guitar line. The drums rise, give a false start. then... perfection. I cannot do phase two justice with words. Just close your eyes, listen, and be swept away in what I believe to be one of the greatest vocal performances of all time.

Lost.

Feathergun in the Garden of the Sun - 9/10

Not to be outdone by the previous masterpiece, the title track opens with another wonderful soundscape, before the distortion comes in. The drums pick up the tension, bringing us into the pre-chorus. That riff is going to be impossible to tap your foot to at first, but the next ones should be easier. And here we have perhaps the best chorus on the record; extremely powerful in writing and execution on the parts of every band member. The second time around is just as good as the first, then the brdige begins. Ready, aim... The heaviest riff on the album, and an abrupt switch into the last chorus. Fade out.

Dreamcatcher - 7/10

A nice break from the intensity. This feels like a peaceful tidepool on an alien world, with creatures and colors beyond the world floating around my head. Short but sweet.

Diamond Eyes - 6/10

By no means bad, I do feel like this one may be the weakest track on the album. While it’s certainly beautiful, I feel like it doesn’t do a whole lot that’s new or interesting. Also, when listening at high volume (which is the proper way to listen to this album), the faults in the mixing really rear their ugly heads during the choruses. Still, there are some very pleasant rolling delay loops here during the bridge, and a nice and satisfying buildup towards the end.

Katsushika - 7/10

While the guitar opening this track may be the most straight-forward and least effects-driven riff we’ve heard so far, this song will eventually become the most alien one of the entire lineup. In a good way, of course. I can barely even decipher exactly what’s going on in the instrumentation during that build. The chorus also ends with a nice drop-off into the next verse. You may be noticing a pattern with the songwriting, where the chorus usually leads into the second verse, following the pattern of the first one but with more layering. I like it; it gives the ideas present more time to mature and develop. Anyways, here comes the bridge, where everything changes. Out of everything going on here, I feel like the drums and the background vocals are the most striking thing about this outro. What a fantastic progression and dropout. Beautiful monsters.

Weevil Bride - 8/10

The finale. This riff here is extremely well-done. The tone here is somehow piercingly bright and concerningly dark at the same time. The lyricals themes of the album also come to a head here. This chorus is another incredibly written and performed beast; just wait until it’s modulated. The second verse lays away with the subtleties and strikes at the head. And I just need to know that everything is fine, and everyone’s alright. This bridge also kicks ass, with its heart-pouding combination of guitars and toms. Then, comes the heaviest part of the entire album: Yes, please. Then we are snapped out of the masochism and lifted back to hear the main point of the album, before the intro riff carries us into an uncertain but complete conclusion. After the “true” song ends, there is a long passage of somber horns and a tranquil, almost lullaby-esque keyboard. There’s something extremely nostalgic about this outro to me, but I still can’t put my finger on where it comes from. This section almost feels like the music they play after the end of a play, as the lights come on and you make your way down the dimly-lit theater steps on slightly numb and shaky legs. The story is over; this is your time to reflect.

The main reason I wanted to write about this album in particular is because I feel like it hasn’t gotten the attention it’s deserved. It truly feels like a masterpiece worthy of widespread recognition and praise, but despite being released over a decade ago, few people have even heard of this band. It feels like injustice, not only for Rishloo’s efforts, but for the people who would connect with this album as much as I have. Also, there’s the slightly selfish hope that increased attention would incentivize the band to work on more new stuff, or better yet, remaster their older works.

In any case, It’s very late, my back hurts because my spine hates my nervous system, and I need to actually get to sleep tonight so I can heal the godforsaken nerve that wedged itself in my inner workings yesterday. On a scale from “Your all-time low just lowered again”, to “Want some? Yes, please”, I give Feathergun a “Oh, what beautiful monsters”.

[lxveille]

when the music’s right

hoshi x reader

word count: ~ 3300 a/n: uh, warnings for alcohol use and shameless PDA and for the fact I haven’t written fic in ages so... ? Here it is: 

Hoshi goes out with Jeonghan and Jun and develops an instant crush on a girl that can bring the dancefloor to life on a Thursday night.

Hoshi will swear in the morning that the DJ must have seen you too and turned up the music as soon as he did. In his defense, you were hard to miss.

They were out at a bar that had its lights low and an area clearly intended as a dancefloor. Evidently, it was still too early for anyone to be making good use of it. Jeonghan has already muttered something about how it was typical they’d go to a dead bar on one of the few times they actually get to go out properly overseas. Dead wasn’t a fair word to use. There were plenty of people there. They were all just content with standing along the walls or gathering around tables with their drinks.  

Then a song changes. After the first note, there’s a loud yelp from the other side of the bar that draws Soonyoung’s attention first. Suddenly there you are, on your feet and moving your shoulders to the beat. You’re facing the table you’d gotten up from so quickly, arms extended out to the girls still seated there as you try to coax them to dance. They’re shaking their heads, pointing at their drinks or just waving their hands at you. His immediate impression is that this is far from the first time you’ve acted this way.

You skip back a few steps further away from your crowd of friends, hips shifting to the rhythm as you settle into the new patch of empty floor. You throw your arms out towards the girls, furl fingers into your palms and pleadingly pull your hands up to your chest, swaying all the while. It’s enough to convince three of your crowd; they drag the stubborn two when they get up.

Six is hardly a bustling dancefloor. You don’t mind. Hoshi can tell from the grin he spots on your face as you spin around. It’s a fleeting moment and it’s the first time he gets to see you face-on, but he’s certain no person could fake the joy on your expression. He suspects you might prefer the floor like this. The way you use the space is fluid and nearly constant as you weave and bounce within your group of friends. In a full club, there’s hardly room for more than a shuffle or small jumps up and down. Here you can have much room as you need.

There’s nothing particularly difficult or impressive about your moves. But your energy seems to radiate out in the space around you, infecting your friends with grins and the impulse to mirror your playful gestures and simple footwork. Your sense of rhythm helps. He wonders if this is your favorite song because every beat and synth that pumps through the speakers seems to be reflected in the way you dance. There isn’t an inch of you that isn’t fully invested.

For a moment all Hoshi can think of is how he wishes one of Seventeen’s songs would play next just so he could see what groove you’d find in it. Would the same beats that stuck out to him when he was choreographing strike you instinctively? Would you dance to it all?

Before he can get too down about that last thought, you’re pulling him back to the moment. In a tight-knit circle with the first two girls who joined you, there are six index fingers pointing insistently downwards. The three of you are bending knees and spines next, lowering yourselves towards the floor with mixed levels of ease. One of you -- it’s hard to tell which -- loses balance briefly. You save each other with arms quick around each other's waists. Without untangling, you get yourself back on two feet just to start bopping as one unit, shouting lyrics into the flashing lights overhead.

You’re facing him again. Your eyes are closed and your head tilted up just slightly towards the ceiling as you sing along. Your hair is abandoning any styling it’d ever had as you let it flow wildly in the air as you jump up and down.

The friend to your left breaks the chain and you open eyes. For a split second, Soonyoung makes eye contact with you. It’s far from steady, as you refuse to stop moving, but it catches him off guard nonetheless. He’s been caught; a small panic creeps up his neck and says you must know he’s been staring this whole time.

He tears his gaze away even though he already hates the thought of missing out on a single thing you’ll do. It turns out to be a mistake. Maybe you didn’t know he’d been watching you since you first got up, but Jun certainly had. Though at least he’d been polite enough to wait for Hoshi to stop before beginning to give him shit for it.

The song changes. Jeonghan rescues Soonyoung from the teasing with the suggestion of another drink. The short walk over to the bar is more difficult now than it was upon their arrival. Nothing fills up a floor like a group of pretty girls deciding it is, in fact, the right time to dance. Not that Hoshi had done a very good job of noticing anyone else who’d shuffled their way off the wall after you.

   Hoshi does his very best not to keep an eye out for you as they stand around waiting for the bartender to get around to them. It’s going pretty well until you’re right across from him, at the other end of the bar. You’re bouncing on your feet where you stand, leaning into your friend’s side as she waves down someone to take her order. He averts his eyes. First down to the polished wood of the bar reflecting each flash of strobes and every roving colored spotlight. Then it’s over to Jeonghan, asking whether he’s having fun for the sole purpose of trying to think of anything but the way all those fluttering lights would highlight your features and catch on the lovey frizz beginning to form on your ruffled hair.

   Jeonghan spoils the plan by answering instead with, “She’s looking at you.”

   Soonyoung wants to scold him that it’s not a funny joke. He doesn’t want to fall for it. But he glances your way despite this. Of course he does. And Hoshi’s heart thumps into double time when he finds your gaze unmistakably fixed on him.  As if you were trying to throw him off balance, you went ahead and smiled just before you’re handed a shot glass of something dark and amber.

Just as soon as he’d had your undivided attention it was gone. You were clinking glasses with your friend, tilting your head back as the liquor slipped effortlessly between your lips, and grasping her hand to lead her back out onto the floor as soon as your glasses were empty.

   Five songs go by before he spots you again. Three of which are top forty hits Hoshi can at least half sing the choruses of. They’d abandoned their table at last, even though dancing was only harder to do while trying not to spill drinks all over yourself. Still, it feels better to be on his feet. Jun seems happy to let go of his earlier teasing in favor of finally getting the chance to get his own pulse up. The songs they don’t recognize at least have good enough sounds to them that it doesn’t kill the vibe. It’s almost odd to dance without a thought for precision or synchronization with his friends. They spend so much time perfecting something so similar to this, but differences make this feel practically like a different art form altogether.

   Something akin to nostalgia washes over Soonyoung. He grins as he sets down his empty glass on the nearest tabletop. He turns back to Jeonghan and Jun, hands in the air for no purpose but the joy of it.

   You’ve nearly left his mind completely when a few shifting bodies on the dancefloor make way for him to spot a familiar outfit and head of hair rocking back and forth to the blaring music. He recognizes the girls dancing with you from earlier as added confirmation. Hoshi feels the bassline rumble through his whole body, soles of his feets and up through his chest when he comes to a momentary pause.

   Jun knocks lightly, intentionally, into his side and prompts him back into motion. Hoshi brushes shoulders with him in return, laughing over nothing at all.

He doesn’t see one of your friends grasping your shoulder, speaking something close into your ear and pointing in his direction. He doesn’t notice the first two times you look back over his shoulder at him.

The third time Hoshi does spot your obvious glance. This time, thank god, he manages not to be brought to a standstill by you. The upward pull of your lips grows, and he swears he sees a fluttering of your fingers that resembles a wave.

He smiles back before he can overthink it.

The next time he dared to look your way, you no longer have your back to him. You catch his gaze once again and make a small, coaxing gesture, not unlike the very first one he’d seen you using to get your friends out of their seats. You nod your head to the persistent drumbeat as you twirl yourself back around to your companions.

Hoshi doesn’t recognize the song that’s playing at all when you decide to turn around once more and dance your way towards him. But the beat is unrelenting and the singer sounds like she’s never been happier than with glistening electric keys and high-energy handclaps backing her. For at least tonight, it’s Hoshi’s favorite song ever.

Instinct makes him meet you halfway, perhaps just so he wouldn’t risk anyone else getting in the middle of your path to him. You dance facing each other, together only in the sense that you’re within arm's’ length of one another and making consistent, unbroken eye contact now. It’s lighthearted and uninhibited and unconcerned with whether anyone was looking on or what they might be thinking. You’re mouthing the lyrics at him and some silly little voice in the back of Soonyoung’s head hopes this is a love song.

He grins dumbly as you shimmy your shoulders, your hands gliding back and forth, palms up, in the space between your two bodies. It’s an invitation that Hoshi can’t resist accepting as the song swells into its chorus. His thumbs slip between your thumbs and forefingers, his fingers curling around to the back of your hands.

There’s no longer any denying that you’re dancing together, some amorphous mix of any kind partnered dance that Hoshi can think of. The electric song hardy suits a single one he can think of, better suited to the sort of solo grooving you’d been up to until now, but he’s too delighted to be concerned about that. It’s all much more playful than any kind of club dancing Soonyoung had witnessed before. He was glad for it; he wouldn’t have had the courage to grind with you even if that had been your approach.

He lets one of your hands loose and lifts the other to guide you into a twirl. Over all the noise of the bar, he hears your laughter as you follow his lead and spin under the arch of his arm. When you’re facing him again, you settle your freed hand onto his shoulder. The posture gives him permission to place his own hand on your waist, brushing against the bottom of your ribcage as he guides you just a few centimeters closer to him.

This is what dancing was created for, he thinks to himself as the two of you settle into a groove in your new position. You remain that way throughout the second verse, arms and hands intertwined in something that looks more professional than any other dancing happening in the venue. The instrumental starts leading into the chorus once again and he feels you bounce a bit in his hold like you’re about to burst with the excitement of getting back to the climax of the song.

So Hoshi lets you go and laughs himself as you erupt with even more energy, hands reaching out to nothing above you and your voice lifts to sing along properly. He mimics you, jumping in time with the bass and wishing he knew the words so he could shout them along with you.

The bridge goes by too quickly, the chorus back too soon and Hoshi lets a small bit of dread creep in that the end of the song will break whatever spell had fallen over the two of you. You’ll slip away and he’ll never even know your name.

No way, no way, no way, his thoughts chant. Even if a disappearance is inevitable, he has to know at least that much. He needs your name as a memento. Just that much would be enough. He could let you go in peace, without a single regret for all the time he wasted just watching when he could have been right here along with you, just so long as he had real, true way to call back the memory of this in the future.

As the song starts to vamp out, he leans into you and tries to ask as clearly as he can, “What’s your name?” You speak it loudly and he doesn’t catch it, frowning as the music begins to change. You lean in closer to say it again, more directly it into his ear this time. He pulls back so he can look at your face as he tries it out himself. You repeat it once again for confirmation. “I’m Soonyoung,” he introduces himself.

“Soonya-- ?” You don’t manage to catch it all as the music thumps on all around you.

“Hoshi,” he offers an alternative, hoping it might be easier to make out even with all the noise. You echo his stage name back to him and he nods, giving you a thumbs up.

“I like dancing with you, Hoshi,” you shout through the noise, smiling brightly and making his heart hiccup.  He can only nod enthusiastically in agreement and take your hand back into his, hoping you’ll agree it means you shouldn’t stop.

He loses track of how many songs tick by with you all around him and in his arms, never seeming to lose a step. But halfway through one of them you turn to him and ask, “do you want water?” It’s accompanied by a clarifying gesture, you miming taking a sip from a glass with one hand. He nods and follows you over to the bar, letting you deal with asking for two cups.

With your water carefully raised up above the bouncing shoulders of those still dancing, you lead with through the crowd out to a back terrasse he hadn’t even known the bar had. There’s a speaker in one corner, still playing the same songs as inside, but it’s quieter and more hospitable out here without as many sweaty bodies to raise the temperature.

You sit down on an empty wicker loveseat and he arranges himself beside you. There are sheens of sweat on both your bodies that are quickly evaporating in the cooler air as you both take some time to sip water and let your heartbeats settle as much as they will while still being beside one another.

There must still be adrenaline in his blood because he doesn’t feel nervous at all as the conversation begins.  He gets to clarify his name, and he likes the way your lips curl around its vowels. You start asking each other questions.  How old are you? Where are you from? What brings you to the city. He answers that with an ambiguous, “for work.” He doesn’t want to risk spoiling the mood by saying he’s danced in front of thousands after how simple and flawless his time with you had been.

“How long are you here?” you wonder, looking away from him for a moment as you set your water aside.

“Ah, not really long. We leave in a couple days,” he manages, tone turning apologetic for either the fact of it or his own difficulty finding the words.

“That’s too bad,” you tell him, giving him a smile he has trouble deciphering. There’s something bittersweet and almost embarrassed in its tilt, and Soonyoung can’t fathom why you’d suddenly strike him as almost shy.

“It’s bad?” he prompts for clarification.

“I was gonna give you my number.” You tap an index finger into the palm of your other hand as if dialing on a phone.

“Oh.” Hoshi’s fingers twitch to reach into his pocket and take out his phone. He pauses, refraining from doing just that as he looks down at his lap. Both of you are sitting angled towards each other, and there’s the tiniest space keeps your knees from touching. He looks back up at your expectant face. “I’ll come back.” Technically, he doesn’t know this for sure. He’d like to, though, for plenty of reasons. He’s eager to add you to the list.

You laugh softly, and he hears it clearly for the first time. It’s nice, soothing even though in this context he’s fairly certain it’s a sign you don’t quite believe him. “Can I be too honest?” You don’t afford him enough time to answer before you quickly carry on, “I’d still really like to kiss you tonight.”

It’s almost all a blur except for the word kiss. Soonyoung’s grip tightens just a fraction around the plastic cup in his hand as he shifts himself even more directly towards you, his knee pressing into yours. He can’t help himself but murmur a quiet compliment -- “you’re so pretty”-- as he lets himself cave to your request.

   He surprises himself with how quickly he changes from a light, barely there brushing of lips to something deeper and more desperate. He pulls away for the opportunity to set his water down by your cup, and then he’s back on you, this time with his hands coming up to cup your face. You shiver slightly from the cold condensation still on his fingertips as they graze your jawline. You follow his lead, arms slipping around his neck.

You tilt into each other, finding a rhythm with this intimacy just as quickly as with dancing. Hoshi wants to clamber on top of you right there and pull you as close as possible, but he hasn’t forgotten your surroundings. He satiates himself instead by letting one hand drag slowly down your side and groaning into the kiss.

A new beat comes in overhead and you break off from him. You look up at the speaker, your breath heavy and hot against his skin as he keeps close, fixated on your features. “I have to dance to this,” you tell him sweetly as your eyes lock with his once more.

He laughs and nudges his forehead against yours. “Let’s go.”

You lace your fingers with his and rush back inside with him. Neither of you knows where to find anyone you actually here with, but that thought is barely a blip on the radar. Soonyoung is all too content to be back on the floor with you. Your bodies are closer now than before; he doesn’t think of propriety as lets his hands find your hips to guide them into matching the movements of his own. You croon lyrics happily into his neck as the vocals come in on the track.

He’d be happy to spend all night in a cycle like this with you. Dancing until hearts are racing and taking cool down breaks to kiss until your lungs are desperate for air.

Soonyoung hopes if he kisses you just right, you’ll give him your number even if you’re convinced you’ll never see each other again. But he’ll worry about that later. At least until this song fades out, he’ll just soak in the elation of dancing here with you.

[alivingroomatthebottomofalake]

My Top 100 albums of 2017

I listened to too much music in 2017. It was hard to keep track. Pop music was weak as fuck, I didn’t really find much joy in it, but I was finding roughly 10-30 albums each month that I could really enjoy in other genres. Many of these were releases on small labels. I must admit, listening to this much music made it hard to enjoy this much music. I don’t think I’ll be doing this in future. I have whittled it down to the 100 albums that came out in 2017 that I spent the most time with, that really lasted in my mind as great new music, i.e. my favourites, and while I try to be objective about my criticism, it’s still about what speaks to me specifically. Everything beyond the top 10-20 is in a pretty vague order, vaguer as it goes, with the final 20 being albums I liked a lot but didn’t spend as much time with, hence the vaguer reviews). I’ve limited each review to roughly 100 words (fewer as we go along, in fact, I tapped out towards the end because I got tired of writing. This took longer to do than I planned and fuck it), and as with last year’s list, I’ve intentionally avoided the use of genre words and pointless artist comparisons (as much as is possible). Check each record out on the merit of the content, not the style, and you will enjoy more.

1. Bjork - Utopia

Utopia sees Bjork return from the darkness with a fresh optimism, and also a fresh process and palette of sounds. The open form/narrative led song writing, and seemingly meandering vocal style that has been gradually replacing the pop style of her early albums has firmly cemented itself, and while not having an obvious verse/catchy chorus form, or club banger beat might be a barrier for the uninitiated, it is one of the album’s strengths, as Bjork explores the themes of the lyrics with some incredible arrangements and some of the most curious production experiments of her career, creating probably the most Bjork album yet. It’s dense and joyous, takes no prisoners in its honesty, and is lush as fuck.

Favourite tracks: Arisen My Senses, Claimstaker

2. Shackleton and Vengeance Tenfold - Sferic Ghost Transmits

Undulating and pulsing bells, acoustic and synthetic percussion, and cinematic swells of scifi synthesizer drones and blips framing a half spoken, half sung narrative about some dark shit. It’s the juxtaposition of the deep, almost monotone delivery of the tormented lyrical content and the brightness of the production, the activity in the sounds that really makes this music come alive. There’s something otherworldly and ancient about the material, curious and yet familiar. The poly-rhythmic patterns and the rich palette of sound textures draw one in for repeated listening, making this a highly addictive record.

Favourite track: Five Demiurgic Options

3. Children of Alice - Children of Alice

There’s so much going on in this music. A strange collage of textures and instruments play out a montage of ideas, flowing together in a seamless exploratory form. If there’s a story here, it’s not being expressed in any literal terms, yet the mood seems to flow in a radiophonic sort of way, and the listening journey is a blast. There are moments that the album falls into recognisable bursts and loops of what could be called “music” but the tracks don’t dwell on developing these ideas in any uniform or traditional fashion, and the pleasure here is how the disjointedness and variety keeps the listener on their toes, especially when several opposing genres and tonal centers begin overlapping. Then the magic really starts to happen.

Favourite track: Rite of the Maypole - An Unruly Procession

4. Saicobab - SAB SE PURANI BAB

What seems on paper as a really simple combination of instruments, becomes an intricate map of rhythm and unexpected sound interplay. The compositions are led by the voice and sitar, and glued together by a percussionist and double bassist. The backings are often as furious as the foreground energy, but the mix gives the instrument hierarchy a tension that totally serves the music. There is an additional level of intrigue in the quality of vocal treatments and fx that elevates the strangeness of the record. At times the energy is chaotic, but the music is highly organised, and while striking the balance of these feelings is no easy task, Yoshimi and co get it right.

Favourite tracks: aMn nMn, Bx Ax Bx

5. Dustin Wong & Takako Minekawa - Are Euphoria

Well, this is such an apt album title. The music on Are Euphoria is itself dancing. This is music reveling in process. Nothing ever really feels settled, but without giving off an unsettling feeling. Rather, it’s an exciting kind of bliss, the thrill of the search. Beats morph tempo, melodies orbit the tonic but hardly resolve, busy textures scratch away beneath nonchalant, liquid vocals, it’s all very quaint, yet mature and highly addictive. Mostly this album is just fun. Fun because one can hear the joy that went into it, and the euphoria is not just expressed, but easily received.

Favourite tracks:  Zaaab, Haha Mori

6. Rabit - Les Fleurs Du Mal

“Chop it up”, says the voice that opens this album, giving perhaps an obvious indication of the process behind the music that follows. Sharp strikes of strings and cut up bits of dialogue in various languages merge with mangled atmospheres and asymmetric synth melodies. There’s a lot going on in this album, but never too much at a time. It’s immersive, but there’s a sense of buoyancy. The album carries a dark quality throughout most of the themes, but it’s an enjoyable darkness, less overt terror, more curiosity. There is a prettiness that pervades the evil. Another aptly titled album.

Favourite tracks: Possessed, Ontological Graffiti, Bleached World

7. Yazz Ahmed – La Saboteuse

Yazz Ahmed’s trumpet tone is impeccable, and on this album she has assembled a cast of amazing players to deliver some incredible moments of ecstatic musicality. There’s a lot of brilliant soloing, infectious melodic themes and well-planned arrangements. The balance of light and shade, big and small, old and new, is constantly moving, like a tightrope walker, balanced and sure footed, but never at rest, never without risk. The album is a constant slight of hand, lulling the listener with warmth and gentle caresses, but beyond mere background moods, it’s full of adventure, and one can’t help but accept the quest it presents.

Favourite tracks: Al Emadi, The Space Between the Fish and the Moon, Bloom.

8. Emel - Ensen

Emel has the most haunting, captivating voice I have heard in forever. I don’t even really know what her songs are about, because she is from Tunisia and sings mostly in Arabic. This album is sombre in tone, and occasionally brutal. The drums sound huge, although they sound like small instruments turned up with great urgency. Even at it’s subtlest moments the album is urgent and immediate. That’s not to say the album is direct or blunt, it’s full of elegance and finesse, but it isn’t really nice, it’s beautiful and human, and it’s the latter quality that perhaps lets the darker side in.

Favourite tracks: Lost, Kaddesh, Ensen Dhaif.

9. Somi - Petite Afrique

This album was a surprise. The tone is set with a little soundscape/collage of music and dialogue snippets, and then segues into a beautiful reworking of Sting’s Englishman in New York (substituting Englishman for African).  The chords are re-harmonised and the lyrics altered, translating a new meaning.  Moving onward, the theme continues, lyrically exploring racial identity, and musically pushing the boundaries of African and African American music traditions. It’s a soulful and militant record. It’s catchy, but fully loaded with potent messages, wicked grooves, and hot arrangements.

Favourite songs: Black Enough, The Gentry.

10. Adult - Detroit House Guests

Adult invited a bunch of artists to stay at their place in Detroit and collaborate on some music whilst there. Artists including Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe, Michael Gira, and Douglas J McCarthy (and more) contributed ideas and vocals to the album. It’s a trippy, synth laden affair. Lots of cool modular sequences and minimal beats, matched with mantra like vocal passages, all whirling around together to create a pretty arty combination of club music and experimentalism. It’s a slow build over about the first 4 tracks, but once it gets going, it’s just a blast to move your body to. However, the weirdness doesn’t let up, and makes for great listening and dancing alike.

Favourite tracks: We Are a Mirror, This Situation.

11. Arca - Arca

It was such a surprise to hear Arca sing. Having produced tracks for so many vocalists, it was probably only a matter of time before they got on the mic. Arca’s voice expresses a sense of fragility, but it’s a deep and personal fragility, definitely not musical. Of that, there is confidence, expertise. The melancholic melodies are expertly accompanied by very sparse instrumentation, and the results are elegantly spun threads of sonic gossamer. But the album does take off and hit hard at times, with some instrumental tracks more reminiscent of earlier Arca works, but they’ve developed the sounds and ideas further, and these moments fit with the new sung material well.

Favourite Tracks: Anoche, Desafio.

12. Noveller - A Pink Sunset For No One

Noveller, aka Sarah Lipstate plays all this beautiful ambient music on an electric guitar. Her sounds are amazing, and the way she weaves it all together with a single instrument is masterful. I think what I appreciate about this record is the virtuosity it displays without ever needing to stand out. The tracks are all quite subtle, and even when the dynamics swell, it’s not about showing off, it’s about tension and release. They are great compositions, and Lipstate’s consummate execution make them a dream to immerse ones self in.

Favourite tracks: Rituals, Another Dark Hour.

13. Dale Cooper Quartet and the dictaphones - Astrild Astrild

Composed of lush, noise riddled drones, moody saxes and dreamy vocal croons, Dale Cooper Quartet & the Dictaphones perfectly invoke their namesake. Like a dreamy cinematic tribute album, but with all the right grit and character to own it. There’s some amazing atmosphereic floating choir “ahs” drifting between the sax lines, and some incredible soundscape tracks that barely feature any “notes”, they swell and dip and build some tension, interspersed with only a few dynamic peaks. The album is all tension and only a few moments of release, but they are beautiful releases. It’s a long album, with long tracks, and it’s a commitment to listen, but worth every second.

Favourite tracks: Pemp ajour imposte, Son mansarde roselin

14. Craig Taborn & Ikue Mori – Highsmith

Tarborn’s incredibly virtuosic avant –garde piano playing blends perfectly with Mori’s masterfully designed electronic textures. The two become one, effortlessly creating new worlds of sound with each gesture. Each piece explores the sound sources in a unique way. There’s a constant juggling of hierarchy that makes for interesting tensions, and while the complexity of the rhythmic textures and atonality make the album dense with information, it also has a really fun quality. The energy keeps it entertaining, but the talent and artistry elevates the listening experience to a state of enlightening euphoria.

Favourite tracks: Music To Die By, Variations On A Game

15. Black Quantum Futurism - Telescoping Effect Pt. 1 Soundscape

This album was composed/designed to accompany the words of Rasheedah Phillips, whom I was lucky enough to see perform with Moor Mother recently. On its own, this music is a powerful work, and an eclectic listening experience. There’s a sense of narrative built in to the collage of sounds and genre, a sci-fi attitude pervades the nature of electronic and synthesized elements, all the while balanced by a celebration of black American culture. It’s intense, and intensely musical without needing to fall back on tropes or tunes. Music that balances on that fine line between radiophonic story telling and acousmatic concrete/collage,  with a fresh and engaging character.

 Favourite track: 1919 (Saros Cycle)

16. Matt Mitchell - A Pouting Grimace

This album is dense, atonal, and rhythmically manic. It sounds like free improvisation, but feels highly organised. To be honest, I don’t want to know which it is (lies, I want to know everything). The virtuosity of the musicians is incredible, but the artistry in both the compositional forms, and how fearlessly the music is expressed are the real strengths of the record. The organised chaos could be annoying or pretentious, but it’s neither, it’s tasteful, exciting, and incredibly contemporary.

Favourite tracks: Mini Alternate, Heft.

17. Sarah Davachi - All My Circles Run

Davachi explores drone, stasis, duration, and the potential of simplicity in four different ways on four different instruments. The pieces for strings, voice and organ respectively, work in similar ways, with overlapping sustained tones gradually replacing one another, but the final piece, composed for piano is obviously a different approach, a kind of La Monte Young era minimalist approach to piano playing. The piano work isn’t out of place or character though. The album is broken up in the middle with “chanter”, another piano piece with a similar feel that ties the whole thing together at the end. It’s some incredible ambient background music, but also beautiful for deep listening.

Favourite track: For Organ.

18. Nicola Ratti – The Collection

Ratti’s Collection begins with a sophisticated arrangement of minimal rhythmic pulses and blips, some overlapping tones emerging from some swells of noise, developing slowly and gracefully into a gorgeous understated composition. The tempos and patterns change from track to track, but Ratti maintains a consistent quality and palette of sounds and across the album, doing as much as possible with the sparse instrumentation. It’s a brilliant album of delightful electronic sounds and intriguing patterns.

Favourite tracks: L2, L8.

19. Merzbow, Keiji Haino, Balazs Pandi – An Untroublesome Defencelessness

This is ultimately a drum record. Balazs Pandi is a monster. The drumming is off the hook. Haino and Merzbow exist as energy, fuelling the onslaught. That’s not to say the album is without variation or dynamic. The record has plenty of variety, up and down moments, subtlety, brilliantly crafted noise, beats, riffs, even some shouted vocals that tie it all together. It’s a sonic journey of discovery. Writing about music like this feels pointless because it taps into something more primal than words. However it feels more political than primitive. This music is reaching into the depths of the human condition.

Favourite track: How Differ the Instructions of the Left from the Instructions of the Right? (Part III)

20. Cleric - Retrocausal

Holy shit. Cleric do everything, like, they play all the notes, all the styles, all the… volumes (?). This album covers a lot of ground, and it doesn’t hold your hand or buy you breakfast first. Fuck, the first track alone is a relentless journey of musicality and brutality. Some of the heaviest riffs of the year, but also some maniacal juxtapositions and ruptures that cause it all to be even more interesting and intense. In the end though, this music is all the more engaging because it stretches so far beyond mere “heaviness” and brings in all these extra colours and feels. Not to mention, it’s great to have a heavy band with some idea of contemporary tonality that stretch beyond diatonic neoclassical lameness or drop D minor modal bullshit. Cleric fucking rule.

Favourite tracks: Ifrit, Resumption.

21. Dead Cross - Dead Cross

To think I almost didn’t bother checking this out. What a loser I’d have been. Dave Lombardo put a hardcore band together, and got Mike Patton involved on vocals, and it totally works. Some great lyrics on here, and Patton is on top form, showing no signs of going soft. The star of the record is the drums, Lombardo is a tight and ballistic barely even covers it when he’s underway. The song writing is also a highlight, the riffs and breakdowns, and overall catchiness of the album really makes this some brutally infectious music.

Favourite tracks: Idiopathic, Grave Slave

22. Alessandro Cortini - Avanti

This album is very special. I feel lucky in that my first hearing of it was a live performance. I saw Alessandro give a talk about synths and his process making the album, and then saw him do the album in full, with old home movies that his grandfather made playing in the background. The record is a beautiful nostalgic reflection. Made entirely with a EMS Synthi AKS (processed through guitar pedals) the beautiful drifting tones and the simplicity of the melodies makes this the kind of music one could be lost in forever, swept up in a daydream and forget time altogether.

Favourite tracks: Aspettare, Iniziare

23. Demen – Nektyr

Demen make soundtracks to dreams. This music is pacifying and disarming. It is spacious, lush, expansive, and yet reserved. Elegant, is perhaps the most apt adjective. The drums are huge and distant, drenched in reverb, as is almost everything, giving the music it’s floating quality. The hamonic shifts are few and far between, making the subtlest of transitions feel enormous. While some tracks begin with long emphasis on emptiness, the dynamic and emotional range of this album is not to be underestimated.

 Favourite tracks: Niorum, Illdrop, Ambur.

24. Mary Halvorson Quartet - Paimon

I’ve been a big fan of Mary Halvorson’s guitar work since her appearance on Trevor Dunn’s Trio Convulsant record. Here her playing and arranging are put on fine display as she interprets Zorn’s Masada material, for Book of Angels volume 32. The Quartet of drums, bass, and two guitars makes for a thicketed texture, and the musicians approach the material this way – texturally – more than they cover traditional jazz quartet roles. There’s still plenty of attention to the melodic frameworks of the original compositional intent, but the group has a tendency to go full battle royale in the solo sections, rather than politely accompanying. The soloing is superb, but the madness is part of what makes the Masada material so special, and Halvorson and co have captured it beautifully, adding a masterful spark and character to this ongoing series of releases.

Favourite Tracks: Yeqon, Chaskiel.

25. Pinkcourtesyphone - Indelicate Slices

Richard Chartier makes beautiful ambient sounds into dreamy musical landscapes. His new record, Indelicate Slices is a beautiful collection of such music. As the title may suggest, this record isn’t sweet background soundscapes to bliss out to, Chartier is delving into some gritty, dark territory on this album, playing with some suspense and pushing the extremes of what the genre may accept. There are some long moments of almost nothing but the tiniest record crackle, which says something of the artist’s minimalist attitude. It’s exciting to hear this approach to sound, from the negative perspective, as opposed to the tendency for bliss and serenity. The dark mood creates a sense of expectation, which Chartier only pays off in small doses, but they are worth the long moments in between.

Favourite tracks: minimumluxeryoverdose, in voluptuous monochrome

26. Nadah El Shazly – Ahwar

Hailing from the Cairo underground scene, Nadah is a beautiful singer, with an eclectic musicality and and abstract sensibility. Collaged forms of music swirl around, tonalities layer up in exciting unresolved ways, and yet it is always soulful. This is a really colourful record, with carefully attended to arrangements, plenty of chaos, but never a mess.

Favourite tracks: Barzakh (Limen), Palmyra.

27. Gravetemple – Impassable Fears

The tone of this albums is abrasive, the bass and guitar tones (if they even are instruments) are sheets of steel against gravel against my brain. It’s ugly in the most perfect way. It’s almost impossible to think of this as music – almost – but the human voice makes the intensity of the crunching somewhat physical, visceral, and the physicality of the drumming binds it all into something one can truly feel. Then somewhere in the middle the album introduces melodic electronic sounds, crunched, low res sounds that bleed into a fresh roaring onslaught. It’s full of surprises, but the gems protected by berserkers. This is not one to go into lightly, but fucking perfectly rewarding for those with courage.

Favourite tracks: Elavúlt földbolygó (World Out of Date), Domino, Áthatolhatatlan félelmek (Impassable Fears)

28. Nazoranai – Beginning to Fall in Line Before Me, So Decorously, the Nature of All That Must Be Transformed

From the long slow build of drums and curious noises, opening up to a cinematic landscape of another world, there’s a lot at play here, lots of colour, lots of restraint. It’s as if this group have only a small idea of the headroom they have to play with, and approach the music with calculated precision, allowing for a gradual, yet slow growth. The first track takes about 20 minutes to peak, and it’s a delicious, almost spiritual high point. Part 2 comes down for a moment, just enough to find a new path, before it begins to tear shreds off the feelings created in the first part, until it gets to the magic and truth at the core. When the vocals begin, all seems revealed, the search is over. The final 10 minutes is an unbridled expression of intensity, joyously reveling in the phenomenon of sound. It’s fucking awesome.

Favourite track: Part 2.

29. The Body & Full of Hell - Ascending a Mountain of Heavy Light

Abrasive and dense, the pairing of these two bands ascends to dizzying levels of heavy. Maximum weight and intensity scrape through your ear-holes with this one. A really clever blend of electronic and  brutal metal elements, the former used sparingly to add highlights to the later, such as the abrasive synth tone in the opening track, or the bouncy kick and vocal fx in track two. It could be a bit pompous, or even a bit generic “noise band”, but it’s way more fun. It really sounds like this was made in a playfull way, and thus the music keeps you playing along throughout the onslaught.

Favourite tracks: Earth is a Cage, Farewell, Man

30. William Basinski - A shadow In Time

Basinski returned in early 2017 with a new album, 2 new works that continue the trajectory of his career, and adding a new sense of depth and density to his palette. The album plays with some familiar Basinski processes, the reverb feedback, gradually unfolding over a long duration, stretching and smearing the tones of loops until they become some kind of trans-sensoral phenomenon. The compositions seem more deliberate on this record, with less reliance on loops for loops sake. There’s a clear sense development in both tracks that make them engaging in a new way. I always like Basinski, but I’m loving this more than usual.

Favourite track: A Shadow In Time.

31. Félicia Atkinson – Hand in Hand

This album is a delicate and bold blend of pulsing electronic melodic sound, atmospheric incidental sound, and spoken word. Atkinson’s words and sounds aren’t expressly trying to teach or convey a sense of importance, but there’s something about the delivery that makes every moment feel important, something that needs to be learnt, or learnt from. Compositionally, Atkinson is a master at balancing textures, and the record explores a lot of sonic variety. On the surface the album is calm and you could almost tune out of it, but it is an album of exquisite detail.

Favourite tracks: Adaptation Assez Facile, A House a Dance a Poem

32. Ifriqiyya Electrique - Laa La Illa Allah

This album has a deep dark atmosphere, and dare I say it, something ritualistic is brewing away beneath these tunes. From the masses of percussion, the cave like reverb, and the mantra like chanting vocals of the first track, this group from North Africa have made a captivating collection that weaves in some upbeat bangers, and some super distorted, rumbling bass, creepers to make a potent spiritually cleansing record. I have very little knowledge of the where or who of the group, but it’s certainly not your typical nice easy world music for a day on the green. It’s gritty and up close and uncomfortable, but also kind of ground shaking and infectious.

Favourite track: Stombali - Baba 'Alaia

33. Anjou - Epithyma

Epithyma opens with a series of crossfading, delicate loop slices, melting and morphing shape, pulsing, but never really landing or forming in any repetitive musical sense. Anjou is sneaky with melody, it’s there, sliding around the periphery, never truly taking over or coming into focus. It’s perfectly ambient, by definition. As ideas are exhausted, they’re so naturally replaced and seamlessly transitioned from that one forgets what came before, or how long it may have been. A beautifully constructed collection of synths and space.

 Favourite track: Soucouyant

34. Walker Harris English - Walker Harris English

These 4 pieces feel like meditations on existentialist cinema rather than just music compositions. There’s something so haunting about it, and instantly immersive, like being lost in “the zone”. The trio have so masterfully developed and transmutated a realm of unfathomable beauty and familiarity into a mystery. Very little needs to be said beyond that. It’s incredible, subtle music. Listen to it.

Favoutie track: A2: Beyond House

35. Sevdaliza – ISON

This is one of the best singer/electronic music releases I’ve heard in a very long time. It has cool, chill grooves and tasty as fuck sound design, creative arrangements, and it manages to be totally current and on trend whilst unashamedly embodying myriad influences that could be easily failed retro pastiches, but instead serve to strengthen the record, and heighten the moods it’s invoking/expressing. Very disappointed that this didn’t seem more mainstream appeal, because its way better than many things of the genre that had half the content/detail.

Favourite tracks: Hero, Marilyn Monroe.

36. Idles: Brutalism

Idles is a brutal reality check. Working class punk rock too late for the world, self-aware, spitting in the face of bullshit and calling it what it is. They are angry, and they have a very good sense of humour about the world and their position in it. They also know sound. The drums and bass are solid bricks and the guitars are like swarms of killer bees. It all serves the lyrics, which I will leave you with a taste: “The best way to scare a Tory is to read and get rich/I know nothing I’m just sitting here looking at pretty colours”.

Favourite tracks: Mother, Well Done, Rachel Khoo, (Fuck it, all of them are brilliant).

37. Xiu Xiu - Forget

Forget is a pretty tidy record. I don’t know if that’s a compliment for Xiu Xiu, but I guess what I mean is that it is cohesive and coherent in a way that translates more directly than many of their earlier releases. I first heard this band live, and so my idea of Xiu Xiu is tied to the stage in a really hypnotic and noisy way, but I found this album has deepened my appreciation of their agenda/aesthetic more than before. Jamie Stewart’s voice sounds better than ever, and the arrangements are lush and exciting.

Favourite tracks: Queen of the Losers, At Last, At Last.

38. Trespass Trio – The Spirit of Pitesti

Sax, bass, and drums is an amazing combination of instruments. It never fails to capture my attention. Trespass Trio keep it simple and soulful, angular and loose, and constantly adventurous. The title track is a dirge like exploration of time and space that conjures an ocean of moods. There’s a few upbeat tracks that swing and hit and dance about the ring in confusing fashion. Very cool stuff.

Favourite track: In Tears.

39. Ulfur - Arboresence

Icelandic composer Ulfur opens his new album with a droney string motif that cinematically crescendos with the sounds of rain, culminating in a blistering explosion of black metal blast beats. This sets the mood for the various extremities one should be prepared for over the course of the record. Ulfur weaves between moody songs and soundscapes, electronic rhythms, dreamy psych-pop and dense spectral sound paintings. A truly unique and eclectic record, masterfully handled.

Favourite track: Tómi› Titrar

40. Ryuichi Sakamoto – Plankton: Music for an Intallation By Christian Sardet and Shiro Takatani

Plankton is an hour long composition by Japanese legend Ryuichi Sakamoto, designed for an installation that explores and documents the nature of the namesake micro organisms. It’s a subtle and immersive piece. Drawing on the philosophy of ambient, washing across the background with all its splendour and detail, free to be ignored or enjoyed on whatever terms you prefer. I could put this on repeat all day long.

41. Hogni - two trains

Two trains begins with a gorgeous Icelandic choral work, perhaps as a statement of identity, of origin, but it quickly moves on to more contemporary sounds, with Hogni’s beautiful falsetto voice leading the way through string laden electronic beats. The choir sounds return here and there over the course of the record, and there’s a great blend of light and dark moods on the record. I’m impressed with the way the variety of styles approached on here works, especially considering the more commercial bent to the song styles. Brave choices and good songs.

Favourite track: Komdu me>

42. Thor & Friends “The Subversive Nature of Kindness”   

Thor Harris delivers a feast of percussion on this record of repetition based minimalism. Each track takes a very simple motive and builds on layers of percussive melody with synth and voice and strings, taking the simplicity to very moving emotional, and cinematic places. It’s all very considered and my only criticism is how safe it all feels, which I guess is the point; kill them with kindness. It’s beautiful music.

Favourite track: Swimming with Stina.

43. Mario Batkovic – Mario Batkovic

I never could have thought I’d be writing about a solo accordion album in my yearly list. Maybe I’ve been listening to too much Pauline Oliveros over the last couple of years. That’s a good thing. Mario Batkovic is an amazing accordion player. The album highlights his virtuosity as an instrumentalist, as well as a consummate composer, but it also shows him investigating sound, delving into the tone of the instrument, and exploring what it can do. This is what makes me love it, because Batkovic presents the instrument as more than notes, and delivers a rich and complex series of sound paintings.

Favourite tracks: Gravis, Desiderii Patriae

44. Wadada Leo Smith – Najwa/solo reflections on Monk

Trumpet player Wadada Leo Smith released two great records this year. I am including them together only because I feel that his “Solo reflections on Monk” gives insight to the work on Najwa. Najwa is an ensemble record, with 4 guitars, and most notably to my ears is the bass tone of Bill Laswell. Each piece seems to be a moving tribute to a master of the jazz idiom, from Ornette to Coltrane, and the album explores this devotion in character. The dedications are blistering, joyous harmolodic/spiritual jazz experiences, while the title track feels like a tribute to Miles, a bare amorphous atmosphere, perhaps presenting the trumpeter’s influence as honestly as it can be. What is great about these two albums side by side, is hearing a modern master of the idiom pull new things out of the influences, and show that regardless of the instrument one’s hero played, the content is what inspires, not just the tool.

Favourite tracks: Najwa, Ohnedaruth John Coltrane: The Master of Kosmic Music and His Spirituality in a Love Supreme

Also: Adagio: Monkishness - A Cinematic Vision of Monk Playing Solo Piano

45. Ben Frost - The Centre Cannot Hold  

Frost had a fucking busy year, with a bunch of EPs, TV and film scores, and this full-length album (Edit: I just finished Dark, and if I could find the OST album I would be rating that in my top 20, it’s phenomenal). The Centre Cannot Hold is more of what Frost is known for with his solo works.  Dense harsh sound pounded, tenderised, and compressed into musical forms, often forcibly. But Frost’s sensibility as a composer of sound and music doesn’t lack subtlety or musicality, and the production is such high quality that after a few minutes the static and distortion become such natural entities, allowing the listener into the beautiful tones and warm beats tumbling throughout the record.

Favourite Tracks: A Sharp Blow in Passing, All That you Love Will Be Eviscerated.

46. Laraaji - Sun Gong/bring on the sun

These two albums seem to play best as companions. Bring on the Sun is a multifaceted exploration of minimal/ambient ideas using zither and mbra, voices and other sounds, beautifully recorded and performed. Sun gong uses metallic percussion as a drone instrument, and explores similar ground with different tools. Both albums are dense with content and yet easy to absorb, offering a constantly engaging and surprising experience on repeat listens. I actually feel bad that I haven’t spent enough time getting to know every nuance of these two records, as they have so much to offer.

Favourite tracks: Sun Gong No.1, Laraajazzi.

47. Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe - Levitation Praxis

In a similar vein to Laraaji, Levitation Praxis sees Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe perform a beautiful series of sounds in a barn full of Harry Bertoia’s sound sculptures. The resonance of metallic forms in such a reverberant space is intoxicating, and Lowe uses his dreamy falsetto voice to commingle in the reverb bringing a warmth and humanity to the cold steel sounds. The presence of the space is felt in the recording, the shuffling of a body through the room, the intuitive nature of the performance, all factors that make listening to this special.

48. Kyle Motl – Transmogrification  

A collection of solo double bass improvisations recorded over two days. Motl explores his instrument intimately, pulling sounds from the wood and steel and hair and shaping them into gorgeous careful music. There’s not a lot more to say. The album presents an imaginative and adventurous spirit making abundance with very full tools.

Favourite track: Urrong.

49. Kid Koala (with Emiliana Torini) - Music to draw to: Satellite

Sweet tunes, with a delicate balance of scifi and mellow pop. Emiliana Torrini’s voice is beautiful, and it breaks up the atmospheric instrumentals really nicely. This is some pretty easygoing music, great evening chill out soundtrack stuff.

Favourite tracks: Collapser, Photons.

50. Flaming Lips - Oczy Mlody

The Lips made a trippy as fuck, synth pop record. It’s totally acid, and only those who have the experience will know exactly how perfect it is. The lyrics are totally oldschool tripper lyrics. It’s kinda perfect at this stage in there career to just own that shit. It has some great sounds, and the comfortable nature of the music is constantly shifting, and gets a bit mucky from time to time. Definitely feels like acid to me.

Favourite tracks: There should be unicorns, Listening to the frogs with demon eyes

51. Shackleton and Anika - Behind the Glass

This goes here on the list because it’s so incredibly similar to Shackleton’s other record with Vengence Tenfold, and although it’s just as good, I felt two albums like this in one year wasn’t fair to put them so close together. Proves how pointless this rating system is. Anika’s voice and words are cool as fuck, and the sounds, production, and arrangments are hypnotic. Enjoy.

Favourite track: The Future Is Hurt / Dirt and Fields

52. Will Guthrie - People Pleaser

This is another great album that I heard for the first time as a live performance. Will has amassed an odd bunch of sounds/samples and collaged them into something quite abstract to accompany his percussion and drums. It’s quite a mission. It has a punk quality to it, sounds a bit DIY and noisy, and I love it for that. Unfortunately I’ve only got it on vinyl and have paid no attention to the track transitions. Just check it out.

53. Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe - Kulthan/Marlek

Two very cool modular synth albums, that are both 2 long tracks that explore very simple repetition/minimal ideas, probably each a single synth patch. Lowe has been doing a fair bit of this lately and I’m really enjoying it. It’s not super ground breaking, it’s just cool music. Lowe uses his voice as a subtle element in there with the machine which really elevates the sounds to a higher level, and gives the music a mystical feel.

Favourite track: Magnamite

54. Boris - Dear

Boris return with massive drums and some dense as fuck doom. I think my favourite thing about this band is the way the simple pounding weigh of the band is juxtaposed against the vocals, which are, for lack of a better word, beautiful and clean against the heavy tones.

Favourite songs: Deadsong, Kagero

55. kara-lis coverdale - grafts

Grafts is a single 22 minute track. It would seem that it is made up of a whole bunch of simple little loops, grafted together. I’m not really sure if that’s the idea or not, but it makes sense. The sounds are gorgeous, and the piece flows seamlessly. It’s a great work and can be enjoyed repeatedly with much depth to be discovered over multiple listens.

56. Moor Mother X Mental Jewelry - Crime Waves

It’s moody, dark, angry, bold, and it’s gonna fuck with you. The lyrics are heavy. It’s not quite hip hop. It sits more in line with the recent afro-futurist/punk movement. I love it. I saw Moor Mother Goddess live in January and her shit is the real deal.

Favourite tracks: Death Booming, The City.

57. Nicole Mitchell - Mandorla Awakening II: emerging worlds

This is a psychedelic free jazz odyssey, on the Sun Ra level. It inhabits so many sound worlds, it’s cosmic. The flute is the focus, but it’s full of some amazing percussion and string passages that blur the lines between late 1960s scifi film and gypsy music. It’s kinda hard to pin it down, which is why I love it so much. Great music in the car. So much happening.

Favourite tracks: Egoes War, Forestwall Timewalk, Staircase Struggle.

58. Colin Stetson: all this I do for glory

I love Colin Stetson. Every year he tries something new. This album opens with a cool little beat based track, which caught me off guard, and the beats/percussion continues throughout as a feature of the record.. His sax tone is still dirty as fuck, but no longer the only focus. I love the way he has tried some vocal things on here, which sometimes sounds like he’s singing while playing the sax (I wouldn’t be surprised) and the percussion stuff is very cool. Tracks still fall into the classic Stetson, repetitive minimalism/arpeggio word, but it’s still refreshing and surprising.

Favourite tracks: Like Wolves on the Fold, In the Clinches

59. Thurston Moore - rock and roll consciousness

I guess what I love about this, its that it takes a bunch of really aggressive and noisy elements, things one usually expects from Thurston Moore, but it uses them as this really positive tool, and explores a really trippy type of happiness. It’s almost summertime, getting high on the beach music. It really caught me by the heart.

Favourite tracks: Turn On, Exalted.

60. Kaitlyin Aurelia Smith - The Kid

What an incredible universe of sound Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith has created. The more I listen to this, the more baffled and in love with it I become. I’m always finding new nuances, and there is a lot of ideas drifting through this record. This album is more focused on the “song” than her earlier works, and there’s a lot more beats and vocal led tracks. The beats are grainy and glitchy, and the vocals are very processed with harmonies from vocoders and such. I like the songs, but I love the synth instrumental bits. Overall, this album is super playful, and colourful, and lots of fun.

Favourite tracks: Who I Am & Why I Am Where I Am, I Am a Thought.

61. Mere Woman – Big Skies

What a fucking great sound. Sydney’s Mere Women have produced an enormous sound, and they have some great beats and lyrics. Ultimately, the guitar sound is what has captured my attention the most, but I’m really excited by the overall package, the consistency of the songwriting and the way each some has a clever, stripped back and focused character. There’s never a generic beat or form.

Favourite songs: Big Skies, Drive.

62. Binker and Moses - Journey to the mountain of forever

A fantastic 2 disc set with one album entirely drums and sax duets, and the second disc augmented by some additional saxes and drums, trumpet, harp, and tabla. It’s the perect background music for art making, and that’s how I usually listen to it. Disc two is the shit!

Favourite tracks: The Shaman's Chant, Valley of the Ultra Blacks.

63. Nadia Sirota – Tessellatum

Nadia writes such epic string arrangements, I can’t even tell what instruments I’m hearing after a while. It’s an exploration of drone and rhythm, but it feels super fresh, and it avoids a lot of minimalist clichés while still seeming canon.

It’s a deep listening, immersive, durational work, and as such, it needs to be listened to in full, perhaps a few times, to really be appreciated. Totally worth the time.

64. Ecca Vandal – Ecca Vandal

Feels like the most mainstream thing on my list is a DIY local who brings the party and the fight on her debut record. It’s probably the best pop record of the year, and one of the best local releases in years. Ecca is a phenomenal performer and a great songwriter. Her team, the band and collaborators, have really made something fresh, mashing a lot of different genres together, and making if work. The best thing is how courageously heavy and out there the riffs are.

Favourite tracks: Price of Living, Future Heroine, End of Time.

65. Actress - AZD

Beginning with some totally cool blippy synth bits, AZD takes its sweet arse time building up into the masterful dance album it is. Once it does, each cut is just as perfect as the next. This is the perfect music for late night house party dancing.

Favourite tracks: Fantasynth, X22RME, Falling Rizlas.

66. The Necks - Unfold

Four nice long tracks, each with a different mood to explore. The Necks are masters of the long unchanging, durational improvised sound world. On this album, the focus is less on groove and more of texture, and the organ plays a central role in the first two pieces, giving this a kind of spiritual, 1960s, Terry Riley/Alice Coltrane kind of vibe. The percussion takes more of the lead on the last track which is more rhythmic, but still not really a groove. Great stuff for sure.

Favourite tracks: Overhear, Timepiece.

67. Jeff Mills - Trip to the Moon

Jeff Mills scored the old 1902 silent film, A Trip to the Moon, using beautiful synthesisers and playing with all the oldschool scifi tropes, reworking it into a delicate collage of music and soundscapes. What’s great as a listening experience is that the transitions that would no doubt seem obvious with the film, create surprising forms in a purely musical realm. Very cool stuff.

Favourite tracks: Rocket Spaceship Destination, Outer Space, Bewilded, But Not Confused

68. Lau Nau – Poseidon

Finnish artist Lau Nau has a dreamy and delicate sound, but it avoids being overly twee and meh with some lush arrangements and her cool, lazy vocal style. I’m a fan of the string sound on this record, and the subtle fx processing/electronic textures, which totally fly under the radar, but serve to really enhance the mood. Occasionally things get a bit more outrageous, and bizarre, and it adds t the overall adventure of the record.

Favourite tracks: Unessa, Suojaa uni meitä, Kun lyhdyt illalla sytytetään, ne eivät sammu koskaan

69. Cornelius - Mellow Waves

I love Cornelius, and it has been so long since he released anything, so this had me super excited. Point was a life changing record, and the follow up, Sensuous, was good, and mellow Waves is still pretty good, although I feel like Cornelius has a thing he does and it’s pretty clear now that that isn’t about to change much. Mellow Waves is more cool Cornelius tracks, lots of sudden blips and shifts in reverb, lots of polyrhythms and noisy guitar solos. Quaint and sophisticated yet also kind of raucous. I can’t help but feel he does this sort of thing in his sleep, but it’s still good music.

Favourite track: Sometime/Someplace.

70. Avey Tare - Eucalyptus

I like this so much better than Slasher Flicks, and the recent Animal Collective Painting with… Avey has developed a really interesting bunch of ideas, ranging from loose psychedelic meanderings, to straight up pop folk tunes, all built around voice and acoustic guitar, and punctuated by strange arrangements of sounds, worked on in collaboration with the genius Eyvind Kang. It’s relaxed and ambitious at the same time. A curiosity of sorts, with lots of depth.

Favourite tracks: Ms. Secret, Selection of a Place, Coral Lords.

71. Black Cube Marriage - Astral Cube

Chicago instrumentalist Rob Mazurek leads this ensemble of improvisers and sound adventurers. The results take on many forms, with shifting and cascading textures and rhythms bursting with noise and all manner of avant shit on display. It’s a little bit chaotic, but it represents masters of their art doing what they do best.

Favourite track: Syncretic Illumine

72. Graham Lambkin & Taku Unami - The Whistler

Well, I mean, what even is this? On the surface the record comes across as nothing more than a bunch of random recordings. Maybe that’s what it is. Stuff is happening, it has been recorded, and it’s really fascinating to listen to. The first disc sounds like someone in a workshop, occasionally whistling while they work. Disc 2, titled Small Mistakes In Nature has instruments being played at times, and the sounds of the outside world, and really flows on into bizarre headspace of where the hell am I and why? To be honest, this is an acquired taste and sometimes a frustrating listen, but it’s something I like, so…

73. Brooklyn Raga Massive – Terry Riley in C

I’ll begin by saying, I love Terry Riley and I love In C, so this was an easy win. Traditional Indian classical instruments playing an amazing piece of western music, that itself was inspired by Indian classical traditions. It works, and it’s a fucking awesome version of the piece. Just do it.

74. Jlin - black origami

Curiously, it took me a while to get into this. Something about the sound is too clean, and I couldn’t quite get into it. But after a few tries, it got me hooked. I think what I dig is the types of patterns and the choices made in terms of percussion sounds and vocal textures. It has such a cool feel and great movement, but it’s abstract enough to ponder and delve into with the ears as well as the body. I saw Jlin a couple of times live recently, and it translated so well that the album got back on my radar.

Favourite tracks: Enigma, Nyakinyua Rise.

75. SUBHEIM & MONOLOG - Conviction

A very cool dark, downtempo mix of drones and throbbing beats. With lots of space, some lush guitar, and plenty of swelling dynamics. Not much to say about it, it’s simple and tidy, and calculated.

Favourite track: Wone

76. Erin K Taylor - Source

Source is 1 track, almost an hour in length. Centered around a field recording, with bird calls and a trickling stream, and the very distance sounds of traffic. After a while it sounds like other sounds are being subtly added into the mix, but I’m unsure how much this is edited/constructed, and how much is just captured. Eventually, there’s some vocals, and the planning and artistry is revealed. This is a deep listening album and really requires patience and attention. It has some surprised buried in there, that will reward you for your time.

77. Pan Daijing - Lack

Maybe this could have made it higher on the list. Listening back again now, it is so much more interesting than I remember. The voice seems to be the central connecting element of the work, and Pan Daijing constructs a variety of abstract forms, punctuated by noise and synth, and a mix of acoustic instruments (what sounds like dulcimer on the opening track). All very cool stuff.

Favourite track: A Loving Tongue

78. Smakos - A Vampire goes west

Synth based instrumental music, all very atmospheric and cool, with what seems like a strange narrative throughout. The sound is a bit distant, with a sweet little reverb to it, and it plays on the nostalgia a bit with the blippy arpeggios floating through the tracks. Very cool use of sampled voices in the background too.

Favourite tracks: One Day We Will Trip Out From Star To Star, Picnic In A Multiverse Cassette.

79. Schnellertollermeier - Rights

Minimal math rock type stuff. The first track caught my attention by barely doing anything for the first minute and a half. But then things develop, and grow and the patterns are fun. It takes a while, but gets pretty heavy. Each track follows a similar formula, building up from a simple polyrhythmic idea, but they are cool ideas.

Favourite track: Round

80.  Ex Eye - Ex Eye

Colin Stetson teams up with Shahzad Ismaily, Greg Fox, and Toby Summerfield to make a kind of Baritone sax centered (for lack of a better word) metal album. It’s heavy and chaotic and mixes up the genre elements in a fresh way. Nice to hear more sax in heavy music. This album takes some risks and it pays off.

Favourite track: Opposition/Perihelion; The Coil

81. Deradoorian – Eternal Recurrence

Stripped back and mellow, moody, lush, emotionally rich and dynamic. All this and more, Angel Deradoorian has made some beautiful and thoughtful tracks. I often get lots in this record, and just let it play on repeat because it’s a bit short, and it’s really hypnotic. Aptly titled I guess.

Favourite tracks: Return-Transcend, Ausar Temple

82. Keiji Haino, Jim O’Rourke, Oren Ambarchi – This Dazzling Genuine “Difference” Now Where Shall It Go

More pounding noise, guitar and drum improv, from three fucking legends of the game. It’s wild and full of energy and never really lets up. Keiji Haino has been mad busy with these kinds of collab albums of late, and somehow, they’re all winners. Check it out if you’re into this sort of thing.

83. Platform - Flux Reflux

An album of avant garde improvisation, with some incredible sounds and textures.  Platform seem like a pretty hip group, and they craft a bunch of really cool, diverse pieces.

Favourite Track: Reflux

84. Tyshawn Sorey - Verisimilitude

Moody, dark and slow, atonal and pointalistic modern jazz type stuff. Led by Percussionist Tyshawn Sorey, and with some amazing piano playing by Cory Smythe, Verisimilitude offers a lot of very creative and interlectual approaches to new music, crossing over the contemporary classical avant garde and free jazz worlds seamlessly.

Favourite track: Obsidian

85. Matt Nelson, Tim Dahl, Nick Podgurski - GRID

Four tracks of screeching bass guitar, sax, and drum interplay. It’s noisy as fuck, and really interestingly constructed. There’s a form of instrumental torture at play, but everything is completely in sync. The group operate as a single unit. Destroying everything with blissful abandon.

Favourite track: (-/+)

86. Trio Heinz Herbert - The Willisau Concert

A live improvised album of electronics, drums, and guitar, some of the most beautiful sounds I’ve ever heard. It moves between abstract and odd to pulse driven and musical in waves of expressive brilliance.

Favourite track: Fragment Z / Brugguda

87. Bérangère Maximin - Frozen Refrains

Aptly titled, Frozen refrains could well be just that, a small collection of time stretched moments. But it’s a lot more, and it takes a little patience to delve into. It really teases you, and makes you wait, but the detail in the sound design and in the micro forms of the long seemingly unchanging sound scapes are rich and exciting once you really listen.

Favourite tracks: Burn and Return, Clash.

88. Ohmslice - Conduit

This album is a mishmash of bizarre processed percussion, synthesiser, and abstract/surreal poetry, with some crazy guitar and horns in there for some bizarre accompaniment. It’s actually really compelling, and the words make it seem all the more interesting.

Favourite tracks: Crying On a Train, Broken Phase Candy, Paint By Numbered Day

89. Here Lies Man – Here Lies Man

This review is a cop out, (this is where I tapped out of writing in general) but… This is a dirty psychedelic rock/afrobeat cross over record, and it is pretty cool. I enjoyed it a bunch of times, not much more to say.

Favourite tracks: I stand alone, Belt of the sun

90. Perera Elsewhere - All Of this

Dark moody beats and singing. I liked it a lot. Something kinda post triphop, downtempo type music with cool modern production ideas. Definitely worth a few listens.

Favourite track: Girl from Monotronica

91. Locust Toybox - Drownscapes

David Firth of Salad Fingers fame has always made music under this moniker, but this is the first in a while, and usually his music is kind of broken beat type stuff. This is a lush dreamy ambient album, and it’s totally gorgeous.

Favourite tracks: Return To The Meadow, Birthday Lungs

92. Chicago/London Underground - A Night Walking Through Mirrors

An excellent live free jazz album that I spent quite a lot of time with in the first half of 2017. Beautiful sounds and textures, great players. Put it on at night.

Favourite tracks: Something Must Happen

93. Wolf Eyes - Undertow

Abstract and noisy, with cool spoken word bits. I was a bit surprised by this one. It’s trippy and dark, which I like.

Favourite tracks: Undertow, Thirteen

94. Lee Gamble - Mnestic Pressure

This is just some cool electronic music that I enjoyed. It’s not solely focused on beats, and that makes me happy.

Favourite tracks: Istian, East Sedducke

95. Tomutonttu – Kevätjuhla 

Cool and exotic sounding electronica. Beautiful sounds full of curious charm and otherworldliness.

Favourite tracks: Kuteen valoon I - Lukin jalka, Operaatio satamassa

96. Juilia Bloop - Roland Throop

Cool loops and beats, amounting to some excellent atmospheric oldschool sampler music. Very chill and yet very clever.

Favourite tracks: Too Many Ghosts, Let’s have some music

97. Cologne Tape – Welt

A really eclectic and exciting mishmash of ideas and instruments on this one. Moves from blippy electronic experiments to bombastic drum focused stuff but always with subtlety and an atmospheric quality.

Favourite tracks: Welt 2, Welt 4, Welt 8.

98. Rafael Toral - Moon Field

This is a brilliant electronic/scifi style soundscape album. It’s a weird and beautiful combination of sound design/fx and abstracted music ideas.

Favourite track: The Stars

99. Bellows - Sander

Beautiful and sweet tape loops and synth patterns. It’s really simple and sophisticated.

Favourite tracks: Untitled #2

100. Do Make Say Think - Stubborn Persistent Illusions

A really good collection of ideas in a genre that doesn’t often have any. I enjoyed this a lot.

Favourite tracks: Bound, And Boundless, As far As The Eye Can See.

Honourable mentions.

There were a whole bunch of albums I enjoyed that didn’t technically fit the list, compilations, and a few EPs, all great but not right for a full length album list. I also left off a bunch of things that I thought were great, but I just didn’t have time to delve into it all. I wish I had’ve had more time with a bunch of albums.

That all said, these two albums deserve a mention, but not in the top 100 because both these albums were recorded in 1975, and only released in 2017. They both show innovative legends doing their respective things as well as can be expected, and are both gorgeous listening experiences. Neither needs more detail than that.

Terry Riley & Don Cherry Duo - Live 1975

Organ minimalism and trumpet improvisations, a meeting of two legends, a conversation through the medium of music.

Suzanne Ciani - Buchla Concerts 1975

Ciani demonstrates the potential of the Buchla synth, in all its glory. What more do you need.

[drippeddaily]

Album of the Year #23: Smino - blkswn

Album of the Year #23: Smino - blkswn

ARTIST: SMINO

PROJECT: blkswn

LISTEN

SPOTIFY

SOUNDCLOUD

APPLE MUSIC

BACKGROUND

Christopher Smith Jr., from St. Louis, Missouri, first made his way into the local music scene in 2012 under the name C. Smi, which he later changed to Smino in 2015 with the release of his debut EP, ‘S!Ck S!Ck S!Ck’. This EP was produced exclusively by Monte Booker, a member of Smino’s collective ‘Zero Fatigue’. Only two months after its release, Smino then went on to put out a second EP, also produced by Monte Booker, titled blkjuptr. Blkjuptr was met with generally positive feedback, propelling Smino’s musical career forwards and helping him find himself in the eyes of critics and bloggers.

After this second EP, it would be a little over a year before the world heard from Smino again, however, needless to say, it wasn’t prepared in the least for what was to come.

REVIEW

Blkswn.

In this full length debut album, with 18 songs spread over an hour and three minutes, Smino puts on display a sonic spectacle as he effortlessly weaves through musical genres, fusing hip hop with elements of funk, soul, and RnB.

The project kicks off with what is probably its smoothest track. Entitled ‘Wild Irish Roses’, Monte Booker instantly sets a funky tone for the track with a bubbly synth accompanied by some hi hats. This tone is carried through the rest of the album as well and plays a huge role in binding the album together. Smino is quick to jump in with a catchy, yet calm flow which helps convey a relaxed atmosphere as he tells a story of himself inviting a girl to ride around town with him in search of ‘Wild Irish Roses’ (a brand of wine) - a thinly-veiled sexual proposition. All in all, ‘Wild Irish Roses’, perhaps my favourite track off the album, is a very strong opener that sets both the sonic and thematic tone for the rest of the project.

With the way they seamlessly blend into each other, the next two tracks ‘Maraca’ and ‘Glass Flows’ could easily have been passed off as one long song. Smino’s versatility is blatantly apparent here as he surprises the listeners with a switch from an experimental intro verse to a very funky chorus on ‘Glass Flows’. His verses have a playful vibe to them, as he isn’t afraid to switch from singing lines to rapping lines to going into falsetto and then doing it over and over, all while somehow making the entire thing sound cohesive and well thought out. While the subject matter of the songs on the album revolves almost exclusively around Smino’s relationships with women, he keeps the content fresh by addressing various aspects of the relationships, each with varying levels of seriousness. This can be seen as he switches from dabbling in playful lyrics with sexual connotations in ‘Maraca’ to highlighting the precarious nature of his relationship with a woman in ‘Glass Flows’.

The song “Glass Flows” also marks the appearance of Ravyn Lenae, the first of six female features on blkswn. In this remarkably well executed track, her and Smino exchange bars, providing both Smino, and his female companion’s perspective on their relationship.

The next track, Flea Flicka switches the vibe up to a funkier and happier tone. And while it plays its role in the progression of the album, I personally didn’t welcome this departure from the atmosphere Smino had created thus far. This track didn’t feel as if it was put together all that well, comprising only two verses - a guest feature from Bari, and a second verse from Smino - with no hook or bridge to seperate them. A filler track for me, however, that is to be expected in any full length album.

After ‘Flea Flicka’, the album really starts to take shape and define itself. Spitshine takes its place as the grooviest track on the album for me, with a simple yet catchy melody and Smino doing what he does best with his innovative vocal delivery

Netflix and Dusse takes its place as one of the more playful tracks on the album. As its name would suggest, it’s about Smino trying to get acquainted with a girl. The lyrics on this track definitely stand out as Smino finds three different ways to describe that ass, two of them in the same verse.

1

That ass a creature

2

That ass on Sunset Hill, a beautiful view

3

That ass look like a fuckin' grapefruit

His creative way with words is also very much visible on this track with bars like

Pink Caddy, Pepto Bismol-bile

Suggesting that the colour of his caddy is similar to that of Pepto Bismol, going as far as to call it his Pepto Bismol-bile (like Batmobile).

Been on my brain, Miss Serotonin

In this line, he calls this track’s girl his Miss Serotonin - Serotonin being a chemical which contributes to feelings of joy and happiness in the brain.

The next track on the album, Anita, is one of the album’s defining/iconic tracks. Released as one of two singles prior to the album’s release, Anita is a track involving Smino showing appreciation for all the women who’ve had an impact on him, using the name ‘Anita’ as a general name for all of them. He uses the verses on this track to talk about his city, St. Louis, his family, and his crew, tying it up at the end with a beautiful outro where he spells out the words to the sentence, “Anita, I need her” over and over.

Lobby Kall is a fun track and not much more than that. It lets the album breathe after Anita and doesn’t say too much. With barely any Genius annotations to help me on this track, I’m quite lost as to what the verse was actually about. However, the track does end with a small skit which is presumably Smino turning up at his house drunk in the late of the night, with his girl who’s inside refusing to open the door. This is a set up for the progression of the album as Smino addresses his problems with drinking and smoking.

Edgar Allan Poe’d Up starts with what sounds like Smino bragging about smoking, drinking, and having sex, however he is quick to admit that he’s stuck in a cycle which has left him feeling mundane. Furthermore, he recounts his plans to break this cycle which unfortunately end up being ruined by a meddling shawty who sends him nudes, which then sent him spiralling back. He reverts to rapping about the girl’s body and manages to find yet another way to describe a girl’s head game before ending the verse. This track has a feature from TheMIND which I didn’t find memorable at all, however it does add to the track as TheMIND talks about his struggles with expressing his emotions and instead choosing to get over them by drinking.

Father Son Holy Smoke was the first song I listened to on the album because I thought the name was cool, before going to the start of the album and listening to the whole thing over and over. As is tradition, Smino throws in a bar about getting head, this time getting over with it at the very start. He has wide array of flows for this song which he weaves together beautifully. What Edgar Allan Poe’d was to Smino’s drinking, Father Son Holy Smoke is to Smino’s smoking, however, the latter is far better executed in my opinion. Through the track, Smino speaks of how smoking weed helps cool his mind, yet still manages to acknowledge it as an addiction which he indulges in to avoid his problems.

On B Role, Smino goes off with a flow that you can’t help but bob your head to. That being said though, this is a song which I don’t feel belongs on the album, despite liking it outside the album’s context quite a bit. The track starts off with an edgy crushed guitar riff which instantly deviates from the atmosphere that had been set up till now in too abrupt a fashion. With a better intro transition, it could have found its place, especially keeping in mind that the following track has a similar style of production too, alas imperfections are bound to be found on an 18 track project.

Blkoscars is another song on this project which I’m not fond of. It feels like the production is venturing into areas of experimental music which just leave you slightly confused after listening, or maybe it’s just me. Anyways tho, Jay2 starts off the song with a feature verse and he seems to be rapping like he’s trying to prove something. A good verse, yet once again, out of place for me. Smino comes in towards the second half to rescue the track with his funky singing. This is one of those songs which I only listen to when I’m going through the whole project - didn’t even remember what it sounded like when I started writing this.

The title track’s finally upon us at this point and it does amazingly well to bring the album back to its roots. The production’s free of its edginess and has reverted back to its laidback style. Smino goes Boom Boom Boom Sminoshima (as in Hiroshima) just as the kick kicks in with the bass and everything feels fine again. The singing on this song is snappy. Another interesting aspect is that Smino’s devoted the track to talking about his grind and shifted the focus from girls, drinking, and smoking. He also manages to throw in the line Smi-no, more like Smi-yeah, which is nice, I guess.

Long Run’s got an intro which reminds of the one on Maraca. It sets a vibe and that vibe completely changes soon as the verse starts. Once again he’s talking about a topic which although he has brought up, he hasn’t devoted a lot of time to on a track. Smino reflects on his childhood, where he grew up, and his community. Via Rose features on the chorus and delivers her vocals beautifully - probably my favourite feature on the album alongside Ravyn Lenae.

I feel like Innamission is one of those songs you sleep on for a long time until it comes up on shuffle one day and suddenly you open your eyes. Smino starts off by shouting out his crew, followed by a verse, which is solid. And then a prechorus, which is kind of exciting. But then the chorus comes on and without doubt, it’s the dopest thing you’ve heard in a good minute. I played that on the bus one time, and it was a bit disappointing when no one lit up when the chorus came on. I think it takes a couple of listens before it hits you. Or maybe it was just me.

Silk Pillows sounds like it’s rehashing a couple of ideas we’ve already heard on the album. Akenya brings a decent verse to the song, but for the most part this song felt like something I’d already heard over the last 20 minutes of listening to the album. However, we do see Smino go back to making sexual references in the track after a severe drought over the course of the last three songs. He says "D go deeper than an 808, boom boom boom". He also says "You a vet? I'm a dog", which makes me wonder what Smino thinks a vet does, but good music’s meant to raise questions so in its own way, this is getting the job done.

The production on Ricky Millions is very very nice. It’s something about the chords which makes it stand out. Smino’s got some catchy bars and Drea Smith captures the vibe of this track perfectly. The mixing on her vocals is done really well. All in all, I rate this track. It shows that Smino still has some tricks left up his sleeves, even towards the end of this 18 track long journey.

Amphetamine. What a way to close out an album. The track starts off with a somber tone, and Smino projects his emotions beautifully through his delivery. You can hear slight breaks in his voice in the chorus which really add to the effect. He talks about his struggles with addiction, and how he realises the negative impact it has on him. Yet, he’s still optimistic that he’ll be alright. If he makes it through the night, that is. Part 2 of this song is titled Krash Kourse, and could easily be its own song, however, it makes sense for it to be one long track, combine with Amphetamine, because you see Smino address everything he’s been talking about over the album. We see a verse from Jean Deaux, a chorus from Bari, and finally a verse from Noname to close the album. Thankyou Jesus, whoever you are are the last words you hear. It’s beautiful.

Favourite Lyrics

All the lyrics about getting/giving head

1

Woo, my bad, don't gag

Although it's cute that you choosin' me over breathin'

2

Shawty sucked me, I was 9

3

Head game crackin'

She a cluck with the fuck

4

She just wanna suck somethin'

Toppy, that's the topic of discussion

5

Shawty sling head like a Greek sword

6

My dick a cheat code, I stick for the joy

She sayin' it's sweet, callin' me chico

7

But if you real then I extract my grill

And I snack on that 'til that blood sugar build

8

That clean me up, I pick you up

I pick you, gimme that spitshine

9

Shawty she be comin off the top

Like some good writtens

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

What do you think is next for Smino?

Do you think mainstream glory lies in Smino’s future?

Who would you like to see Smino collab with?

What do you think the weak points of this album were?

Is Smino taking rap in a whole new direction?

Which head bar is your favourite?

How do you feel about the variety of lyrical content in this album?

ARTIST: SMINOPROJECT: blkswnLISTENSPOTIFYSOUNDCLOUDAPPLE MUSICBACKGROUNDChristopher Smith Jr., from St. Louis, Missouri, first made his way into the local music scene in 2012 under the name C. Smi, which he later changed to Smino in 2015 with the release of his debut EP, ‘S!Ck S!Ck S!Ck’. This EP was produced exclusively by Monte Booker, a member of Smino’s collective ‘Zero Fatigue’. Only two months after its release, Smino then went on to put out a second EP, also produced by Monte Booker, titled blkjuptr. Blkjuptr was met with generally positive feedback, propelling Smino’s musical career forwards and helping him find himself in the eyes of critics and bloggers.After this second EP, it would be a little over a year before the world heard from Smino again, however, needless to say, it wasn’t prepared in the least for what was to come.REVIEWBlkswn.In this full length debut album, with 18 songs spread over an hour and three minutes, Smino puts on display a sonic spectacle as he effortlessly weaves through musical genres, fusing hip hop with elements of funk, soul, and RnB.The project kicks off with what is probably its smoothest track. Entitled ‘Wild Irish Roses’, Monte Booker instantly sets a funky tone for the track with a bubbly synth accompanied by some hi hats. This tone is carried through the rest of the album as well and plays a huge role in binding the album together. Smino is quick to jump in with a catchy, yet calm flow which helps convey a relaxed atmosphere as he tells a story of himself inviting a girl to ride around town with him in search of ‘Wild Irish Roses’ (a brand of wine) - a thinly-veiled sexual proposition. All in all, ‘Wild Irish Roses’, perhaps my favourite track off the album, is a very strong opener that sets both the sonic and thematic tone for the rest of the project.With the way they seamlessly blend into each other, the next two tracks ‘Maraca’ and ‘Glass Flows’ could easily have been passed off as one long song. Smino’s versatility is blatantly apparent here as he surprises the listeners with a switch from an experimental intro verse to a very funky chorus on ‘Glass Flows’. His verses have a playful vibe to them, as he isn’t afraid to switch from singing lines to rapping lines to going into falsetto and then doing it over and over, all while somehow making the entire thing sound cohesive and well thought out. While the subject matter of the songs on the album revolves almost exclusively around Smino’s relationships with women, he keeps the content fresh by addressing various aspects of the relationships, each with varying levels of seriousness. This can be seen as he switches from dabbling in playful lyrics with sexual connotations in ‘Maraca’ to highlighting the precarious nature of his relationship with a woman in ‘Glass Flows’.The song “Glass Flows” also marks the appearance of Ravyn Lenae, the first of six female features on blkswn. In this remarkably well executed track, her and Smino exchange bars, providing both Smino, and his female companion’s perspective on their relationship.The next track, Flea Flicka switches the vibe up to a funkier and happier tone. And while it plays its role in the progression of the album, I personally didn’t welcome this departure from the atmosphere Smino had created thus far. This track didn’t feel as if it was put together all that well, comprising only two verses - a guest feature from Bari, and a second verse from Smino - with no hook or bridge to seperate them. A filler track for me, however, that is to be expected in any full length album.After ‘Flea Flicka’, the album really starts to take shape and define itself. Spitshine takes its place as the grooviest track on the album for me, with a simple yet catchy melody and Smino doing what he does best with his innovative vocal deliveryNetflix and Dusse takes its place as one of the more playful tracks on the album. As its name would suggest, it’s about Smino trying to get acquainted with a girl. The lyrics on this track definitely stand out as Smino finds three different ways to describe that ass, two of them in the same verse.1That ass a creature2That ass on Sunset Hill, a beautiful view3That ass look like a fuckin' grapefruitHis creative way with words is also very much visible on this track with bars likePink Caddy, Pepto Bismol-bileSuggesting that the colour of his caddy is similar to that of Pepto Bismol, going as far as to call it his Pepto Bismol-bile (like Batmobile).Been on my brain, Miss SerotoninIn this line, he calls this track’s girl his Miss Serotonin - Serotonin being a chemical which contributes to feelings of joy and happiness in the brain.The next track on the album, Anita, is one of the album’s defining/iconic tracks. Released as one of two singles prior to the album’s release, Anita is a track involving Smino showing appreciation for all the women who’ve had an impact on him, using the name ‘Anita’ as a general name for all of them. He uses the verses on this track to talk about his city, St. Louis, his family, and his crew, tying it up at the end with a beautiful outro where he spells out the words to the sentence, “Anita, I need her” over and over.Lobby Kall is a fun track and not much more than that. It lets the album breathe after Anita and doesn’t say too much. With barely any Genius annotations to help me on this track, I’m quite lost as to what the verse was actually about. However, the track does end with a small skit which is presumably Smino turning up at his house drunk in the late of the night, with his girl who’s inside refusing to open the door. This is a set up for the progression of the album as Smino addresses his problems with drinking and smoking.Edgar Allan Poe’d Up starts with what sounds like Smino bragging about smoking, drinking, and having sex, however he is quick to admit that he’s stuck in a cycle which has left him feeling mundane. Furthermore, he recounts his plans to break this cycle which unfortunately end up being ruined by a meddling shawty who sends him nudes, which then sent him spiralling back. He reverts to rapping about the girl’s body and manages to find yet another way to describe a girl’s head game before ending the verse. This track has a feature from TheMIND which I didn’t find memorable at all, however it does add to the track as TheMIND talks about his struggles with expressing his emotions and instead choosing to get over them by drinking.Father Son Holy Smoke was the first song I listened to on the album because I thought the name was cool, before going to the start of the album and listening to the whole thing over and over. As is tradition, Smino throws in a bar about getting head, this time getting over with it at the very start. He has wide array of flows for this song which he weaves together beautifully. What Edgar Allan Poe’d was to Smino’s drinking, Father Son Holy Smoke is to Smino’s smoking, however, the latter is far better executed in my opinion. Through the track, Smino speaks of how smoking weed helps cool his mind, yet still manages to acknowledge it as an addiction which he indulges in to avoid his problems.On B Role, Smino goes off with a flow that you can’t help but bob your head to. That being said though, this is a song which I don’t feel belongs on the album, despite liking it outside the album’s context quite a bit. The track starts off with an edgy crushed guitar riff which instantly deviates from the atmosphere that had been set up till now in too abrupt a fashion. With a better intro transition, it could have found its place, especially keeping in mind that the following track has a similar style of production too, alas imperfections are bound to be found on an 18 track project.Blkoscars is another song on this project which I’m not fond of. It feels like the production is venturing into areas of experimental music which just leave you slightly confused after listening, or maybe it’s just me. Anyways tho, Jay2 starts off the song with a feature verse and he seems to be rapping like he’s trying to prove something. A good verse, yet once again, out of place for me. Smino comes in towards the second half to rescue the track with his funky singing. This is one of those songs which I only listen to when I’m going through the whole project - didn’t even remember what it sounded like when I started writing this.The title track’s finally upon us at this point and it does amazingly well to bring the album back to its roots. The production’s free of its edginess and has reverted back to its laidback style. Smino goes Boom Boom Boom Sminoshima (as in Hiroshima) just as the kick kicks in with the bass and everything feels fine again. The singing on this song is snappy. Another interesting aspect is that Smino’s devoted the track to talking about his grind and shifted the focus from girls, drinking, and smoking. He also manages to throw in the line Smi-no, more like Smi-yeah, which is nice, I guess.Long Run’s got an intro which reminds of the one on Maraca. It sets a vibe and that vibe completely changes soon as the verse starts. Once again he’s talking about a topic which although he has brought up, he hasn’t devoted a lot of time to on a track. Smino reflects on his childhood, where he grew up, and his community. Via Rose features on the chorus and delivers her vocals beautifully - probably my favourite feature on the album alongside Ravyn Lenae.I feel like Innamission is one of those songs you sleep on for a long time until it comes up on shuffle one day and suddenly you open your eyes. Smino starts off by shouting out his crew, followed by a verse, which is solid. And then a prechorus, which is kind of exciting. But then the chorus comes on and without doubt, it’s the dopest thing you’ve heard in a good minute. I played that on the bus one time, and it was a bit disappointing when no one lit up when the chorus came on. I think it takes a couple of listens before it hits you. Or maybe it was just me.Silk Pillows sounds like it’s rehashing a couple of ideas we’ve already heard on the album. Akenya brings a decent verse to the song, but for the most part this song felt like something I’d already heard over the last 20 minutes of listening to the album. However, we do see Smino go back to making sexual references in the track after a severe drought over the course of the last three songs. He says "D go deeper than an 808, boom boom boom". He also says "You a vet? I'm a dog", which makes me wonder what Smino thinks a vet does, but good music’s meant to raise questions so in its own way, this is getting the job done.The production on Ricky Millions is very very nice. It’s something about the chords which makes it stand out. Smino’s got some catchy bars and Drea Smith captures the vibe of this track perfectly. The mixing on her vocals is done really well. All in all, I rate this track. It shows that Smino still has some tricks left up his sleeves, even towards the end of this 18 track long journey.Amphetamine. What a way to close out an album. The track starts off with a somber tone, and Smino projects his emotions beautifully through his delivery. You can hear slight breaks in his voice in the chorus which really add to the effect. He talks about his struggles with addiction, and how he realises the negative impact it has on him. Yet, he’s still optimistic that he’ll be alright. If he makes it through the night, that is. Part 2 of this song is titled Krash Kourse, and could easily be its own song, however, it makes sense for it to be one long track, combine with Amphetamine, because you see Smino address everything he’s been talking about over the album. We see a verse from Jean Deaux, a chorus from Bari, and finally a verse from Noname to close the album. Thankyou Jesus, whoever you are are the last words you hear. It’s beautiful.Favourite LyricsAll the lyrics about getting/giving head1Woo, my bad, don't gagAlthough it's cute that you choosin' me over breathin'2Shawty sucked me, I was 93Head game crackin'She a cluck with the fuck4She just wanna suck somethin'Toppy, that's the topic of discussion5Shawty sling head like a Greek sword6My dick a cheat code, I stick for the joyShe sayin' it's sweet, callin' me chico7But if you real then I extract my grillAnd I snack on that 'til that blood sugar build8That clean me up, I pick you upI pick you, gimme that spitshine9Shawty she be comin off the topLike some good writtensDISCUSSION QUESTIONSWhat do you think is next for Smino?Do you think mainstream glory lies in Smino’s future?Who would you like to see Smino collab with?What do you think the weak points of this album were?Is Smino taking rap in a whole new direction?Which head bar is your favourite?How do you feel about the variety of lyrical content in this album?