#tony seltzer

[beatsforbrothels]

MIKE & Tony Seltzer - Yin-Yang

[goodbysunball]

Digital monsters

Sneaking a few in before April's done and gone. Many of these musics were experienced digitally only for the most part, whether it was due to lack of a physical product or expensive import prices, none of which now apply (except for the Stone Rollers) as I finally get around to posting this. Ian's making Light Metal Age tapes, MIKE just put Pinball on CD, I finally pulled the trigger on KN​Æ​KKET SMIL, etc. Still, the car is the place where most listening is done these days, an unavoidable and really-not-that-bad reality. Windows down, these up:

Maria Bertel & Nina Garcia, KN​Æ​KKET SMIL (Kraak/No Lagos Musique/Otomatik)

It would not be much of an understatement to say I'm a bit burned out on free-improv-jazz and adjacent records, but a live video posted earlier this year by @dustedandsocial piqued my interest in this duo. Nina Garcia shreds and mangles the guitar in a manner both controlled and explosive, like the best no wave auteurs, but the draw here is what Maria Bertel does with the trombone. She pulls these long, drawn-out notes from the belly of the instrument, like glass fibers being pulled from a melt, reminiscent Phill Niblock's arrangements for cello or voice. There's plenty of scrape 'n skronk coming from the trombone, too, like on "Trick & Illusion," but I find the bass-y drones to be more interesting. The end result is a brittle, harsh push-pull between the relatively free guitar and the more grounded trombone, where it often sounds like the two are running in circles in a room with their eyes closed, occasionally colliding to combine forces. When they are not at odds, as on "Nightmare of a Lunatic," the results can be thrilling. At other points on the record I am reminded of Harvey Milk's "Pinnochio's Example" (the title track), later-period Sightings ("Lost Arts," "Twin Truths") and the instrumental side of Khanate ("Playground of Blind Forces," "Inorganic Body"). Given how this is presented - bare, without any perceivable ornamentation or post-production - it makes for a tough listen; you've gotta be in the mood for something this harsh and unadorned, 'cause meeting you halfway isn't happening. But, if you've any affinity for old instruments hammered into new shapes by inspired/inspiring hands, there's some powerful, almost-mystic energy wafting from the grooves.

Bobby Would, Relics of Our Life (Digital Regress)

Bobby’s back, continuing his partnership with the esteemed Digital Regress label, who brought his STYX release to the LP format. STYX was dedicated to his mother, and initial listens have left me convinced that Relics also appears to be wrestling with her passing. Unlike STYX, which contained tracks like "Hype On" that worked themselves into something resembling upbeat and energetic, Relics is a comparatively somber affair. It's bookended by two quiet instrumental tracks ("Runaway" is especially good), and in between is more skeletal, maybe even refined, version of Bobby Would. The overall effect here is often reminiscent of Wonderfuls, or Lewsberg on In Your Hands: gossamer-thin arrangements, sparkling guitars, slow tempos and mumbled vocals. While there are points where Bobby Would presents as a bit listless or hopeless, it never stretches to the maudlin, mostly due to the opaque phrasing. As on previous BW releases, the lyrics are still usually little more than repetition of single phrases until they become profound, which works especially well on these subdued arrangements. The more I listen, the more it sounds like a natural progression from his last two proper LPs, the subtle refinement of a now-signature sound. Like “Maybe You Should” from World Wide World, “Tryin' 2," "Is It Nice Now?" and “No More” rank with some of his best slow dancers; "Explain" and "All I Do" feel like Baby's grown now, using only the necessary elements to create a song and cutting the tape when it's done (not that Bobby Would has ever had a problem with economy). The only misstep here? The hidden track at the end of the physical record, a cover of UB40's "Red Red Wine" (no fucking joke), and nothing more need be said about that. The nine tracks that properly make up Relics of Our Life deserve to be lived in, spindly guitar lines swirling around like smoke and mumbled vocal incantations taking you elsewhere for the duration. Another unassuming gem from the surprisingly durable Bobby Would.

Light Metal Age, s/t (self-released)

In retrospect, I think Gen Pop's PPM66 is one of the best records to come out in the past decade, wringing modern ennui by the neck to squeeze out lyrical inspiration, nailing down a balance between catchy and smart in an impressively effortless way. That record flew, and still flies, under the radar, unfortunately, and the band is no more. Light Metal Age is the new project of Gen Pop's Ian Patrick Corrigan, and it sorta picks up the thread of PPM66, but veers off into the countrified black humor of Country Teasers ("Quil Ceda"), lonesome new age ("Oakland 2017"), and a chilling minimal synth track ("Garage In Meridian"). Corrigan's vocals sound like Bill Callahan in his early days as Smog, but in content he appears to be searching for a place or meaning or some sign that the world isn't as backwards and cruel as it actually is. I think opener "What He's Done" is my favorite song of the year so far, a perfectly dusty guitar line paired with deep, reverberated vocals coldly presenting a personal inventory (“Tattoos since he was 20,” “$20K he owes/20 years to go”). It’s all tied together by the chorus of “You said let it go/But do you know/what he’s done?,” the anxiety of being a prisoner of your past neatly summarized. “Quil Ceda" is my other standout favorite, the biting line "It will make you sick" now popping up in my head all too often as I go about my days. Really, there's something to like on every track here: the double-timed portion toward the end of "T.U.L.I.P."; the rain-soaked, pre-dawn alleys conjured by "Garage In Meridian"; and the subdued Ben Wallers impression on "Gaps In the Material." Sure, "Oakland 2017" is maybe a bit long and saps momentum plopped in the middle, but this seems more like a mixtape than a finished product, and I've come to appreciate the cracks in the tracks forced together. I've been playing it non-stop for nearly two months now, a potent distillation of the young American's modern struggle, laid out without self-pity and the right amount of simmering discontent. Can't ask for much more.

MIKE & Tony Seltzer, Pinball (10K)

Here’s an unexpectedly economical and breezy offering from MIKE, produced entirely by Tony Seltzer. Not sure what Tony Seltzer did here to allow MIKE to let down his guard and puff out his chest a little, but it’s a welcome change of pace, if a bit forgettable. Seltzer’s beats aren’t going to have many rappers come calling, but they’re exciting enough jumping off points for MIKE to try on different personas. I get hints of UGK-era Bun-B (named checked in “Underground Kingz,” as required), Young Dolph, and Lil Baby in MIKE’s rapping on Pinball, and it’s fun and jarring to hear him rap over trap beats like “Yin-Yang.” For all his efforts, the album lags in spots - “100 Gecs,” “Underground Kingz” and “R&B” have become laborious over multiple listens, the beats sputtering, the rapping losing steam without MIKE’s usual emotional overflow. But the opener “Two Door,” the unassuming bounce of “Skurrr” and "Pinball," and the Niontay-featuring “2k24 Tour” still connect, MIKE throwing off a satin boxing robe and sparring with whoever. It’s true that overexposure to this album over the past few weeks has probably taken away some of its luster, but hearing MIKE in this capacity paints a more complete picture of him as an artist. Short ‘n mostly sweet, with no tears, Pinball’s sure to be a steady listen through the punishing summer ahead.

The Stone Rollers, The Ballad of Bill Spears (self-released)

Are the Woolen Men done? Nothing official on that, but members are shifting priorities to other groups: guitarist Lawton Browning is in Change Life, and the Stone Rollers features WM drummer Raf Spielman. The Stone Rollers have been releasing single tracks, one at a time, since September of last year, and The Ballad of Bill Spears puts all four tracks together. It's a separate project and unfair to compare the two, though there are strong sonic similarities to the Woolen Men. The Stone Rollers are bouncy and hard-strumming, somewhere between folk protest songs (yes, there's harmonica) and country with a punk edge (but obviously not as bad as that descriptor conjures). In the spirit of the best country songs, the Stone Rollers don't restrain themselves from saying some really mean shit on these songs, taking people to task with an acid tongue and leaving without apology. I like all four songs - if you're not listening to the lyrics too closely, these are breezy pop songs with the strong character of the '60s - but I think "The Shell Song" and "You Can't Reach Me" are the two best. The former has the harshest lyrics ("When I see you down the line, I hope you're not the same" and "I won't wait around to see what you become/because good or bad I do not care at all"), and "You Can't Reach Me" is an ode to the dream of escaping "my life/bound up so tight" for the greener grass. All four tracks are simple and effective/affecting in an immediate way, familiar but bristling, classic-sounding but unmistakably modern. A nice teaser from the Rollers, who I can only hope will excoriate this feeble review on an upcoming track.

[hybridreviews]

Decibel Boost Album Roundup (MAK Music Version): MARCH

Music for March!! Yeah, it's a long one!

I had a feeling this would happen. January and February were such dry months for music and when it got to March…. It increased! By a lot! So, not only was this month packed with music, it’s in the double digits. Granted, I covered months that had a bunch of albums (i.e. June 2018) larger than this but still, there were some records that I took time to listen to. Hell, most of them were EPs so it…

[rabbitechoes]

there was no shortage of excellent records this month. a couple that i'm sure will end up on my year-end list for sure. there were also a couple of real stinkers ... but the less said about those the better! but uhhhh still read my thoughts on them!! to check out my thoughts on some of the songs that dropped this month click here!!! also feel free to follow me on rate your music and twitter <3

Bright Future - Adrianne Lenker

🥇 BEST ALBUM OF THE MONTH

◇ genres: contemporary folk, singer-songwriter

Adrianne Lenker has been one of the most prolific singer-songwriters for the better half of the last decade or so, but over the last 4 years especially it feels like she’s reached another level. Her 2020 solo record songs and the following Big Thief record Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You are two of the finest folk releases in recent memory. The latter being a big, double album made me a bit worried at first for whatever Lenker would do next, but after hearing the singles leading up to this album those worries went away. This quickly became one of my most anticipated albums of the year and I think that anticipation paid off wholeheartedly. Bright Future is such a brilliant album.

The opener, “Real House,” is an amazing and sparse piano-driven cut. The subtle arrangement puts the main focus on Lenker’s lyricism and it ranks up there as one of her most poignant pieces to date. The track is addressed to her mother and it has her recounting old childhood memories in a really beautiful way. “Sadness As a Gift” follows that and it picks things up musically. More layered instrumentation with Lenker’s 12-string guitar, a piano, and a violin, it all sounds so rich. I’ve absolutely adored this track ever since it dropped. Here she meditates on the end of a relationship with so much subtle complexity. I guess it’s a breakup song, but it feels above that. There’s no anger or vitriol, just that lingering bittersweet feeling. “Fool” is another change of pace as it’s a bit more jaunty. I enjoyed this song when I first heard it, but my love for it grew when I heard it on the record. It conjures up so many warm feelings musically, even though the lyrics tell a story of conflicted feelings. “No Machine” slows things down again and it’s another one of Lenker’s best. I’ve talked about the arrangements on the album a few times already, but I can’t stress enough how amazing these songs sound. Beyond the great lyricism, every song feels so warm, intimate, and spontaneous. Like they caught lightning in a bottle in the studio.

“Free Treasure” was the most recent single leading up to the album’s release and it’s great. It’s one of those songs that makes you want to go outside and appreciate the beauty of what’s around you. Perfect Spring song. “Vampire Empire” has become an infamous track in the Lenker/Big Thief canon. Big Thief released the studio version of the song a few months ago and fans were outraged as it differed from the early live version that became a fan favorite. Little did they know that the best version of the song was still to come. The version here accentuates how remarkable the song is. There’s a shakiness to Lenker’s vocals, but there’s also so much fire and conviction to it. The instrumentation matches that perfectly. “Evol” has some sort of clunky moments to it and the “words spelled backward” thing is a little corny, but the sentiment and the performances on the song make it more enjoyable. The ending chorus of the song gives me chills, I love how the violin and the piano fade out alongside Lenker’s final lines. “Already Lost” has that campfire feel that’s present throughout a lot of her work. There’s this air of sophistication to it, but also this “hey, come join us, you can shake the tambourine or something” kind of vibe to it. Many of the songs here feel so inviting, while also feeling so personal to Lenker. It strikes an interesting balance. “Donut Seam” features prominent guest vocals and it captures the feeling of knowing a relationship is almost over beautifully. The lyric “Don’t it seem like a good time for swimming, before all the water disappears?” has been stuck in my mind ever since the album’s release. The record ends with the first single, “Ruined,” which has Lenker leaning into an ambient direction and it’s so heart-wrenching but also gorgeous.   Bright Future feels like a victory lap in a lot of ways. Not exactly musically or lyrically, the album is quite mellow a lot of the time, but just with how fantastic this album is. Lenker isn’t slowing down or “falling off” anytime soon. The lyricism here is so layered, but also inviting. You can enjoy these songs on a less-focused listen, but these songs reward you for paying attention. They’re so fruitful. This album has firmly solidified Adrianne Lenker as one of the greatest songwriters of our generation.

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i won't let go of your hand - Adrianne Lenker

◇ genres: contemporary folk, singer-songwriter

A few weeks prior to Bright Future, Adrianne Lenker released this EP in order to raise funds for the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund. The songs here are very spontaneous, but filled with so much beauty. The instrumentation is a lot less fleshed out as on Bright Future, but it offers a more lo-fi experience. Her writing shines regardless. It's definitely worth a listen both for the quality of the music as well as for the cause. You can buy the EP here on Adrianne Lenker's Bandcamp! 100% of the proceeds to go the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund! Free Palestine 🇵🇸 !!!!!

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The Collective - Kim Gordon

◇ genres: industrial hip hop, noise rock, experimental rock

Oh man, I was so excited for this record, and my excitement paid off big time. Noise rock pioneer and alternative rock icon Kim Gordon has been dropping some insane singles over the last few months. These singles have seen Gordon explore sounds like experimental hip hop, rage, trap, and witch house among others. I’m not super familiar with witch house, but I need to be after this record. Anyway, the shocking part is that Gordon is genuinely doing cool things with these sounds. Blending in her signature, nonchalant vocals while also adding in the noise rock and even the occasional no-wave touch. It’s crazy how well it works. I wrote about the first two singles, “BYE BYE” and “I’m a Man,” in my previous Month in Review posts, but they still blow me away even after multiple listens. The former has one of the craziest beats I’ve heard in the genre in a while and the latter reaffirms Kim Gordon’s cool factor all these years later. The lyrical content of these songs felt like a cathartic stream of consciousness, but Gordon’s vocals never oversell them. I was a little worried that the rest of The Collective wouldn’t be as good as those two singles, but those worries quickly went away when I heard the rest of the album

“BYE BYE” is the opener and it sets up the album so well, but my attention was quickly drawn to the track following it, “The Candy House.” The beat is reminiscent of a Memphis rap track and Gordon’s vocals sound like they’re inviting you somewhere sinister. “I Don’t Miss My Mind” has this almost overwhelming bass to it that is so off-putting. It’s like evil club music. “Trophies” has some of my favorite guitar parts from Gordon on the record. It sounds so washed-out and electric in the coolest way possible. The third single released for the album, “Psychedelic Orgasm,” is a song only Gordon could pull off. No one but her could sing the lyrics “passing all the kids, Tik Toking around” and make it work. The most abrasive track here is “The Believers” as it veers pretty heavily into industrial rock, while also including some elements of alternative club that you might’ve heard on a SOPHIE project. This album is a lot to take in, but multiple listens have made me fall in love with it further and further.

It’s refreshing to hear an icon in experimental music continue to push boundaries this deep into her career. Doubly so given how a lot of their contemporaries and/or the bands Gordon and Sonic Youth helped inspire sound like they are forever stuck in purgatory on their new releases. Needless to say, I’m loving this new record a lot.

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A Lonely Sinner - samlrc

◇ genres: post-rock, shoegaze, ambient

I wasn’t aware of samlrc until a few weeks ago when I saw this album getting hyped up on Twitter. Unfortunately, I didn’t pay much mind to it and sort of forgot about it. However, in true annoying online music guy fashion, A Lonely Sinner really grabbed my attention when it reached number one on the RYM Top Albums of 2024 chart. I listened to it soon after and I’m so glad I did. A Lonely Sinner is a great record with an interesting and moving concept. She describes the record on her Bandcamp as “an album about a sheep experiencing love in its nature.” The album follows those themes both lyrically and sonically. It sounds carefully pieced together, using anything and everything to make something emotionally resonant. She corroborates this much also on her Bandcamp by listing some of the unorthodox items used to craft this album’s sound including “boxes, soda cans, [and] a violin bow.” I love lo-fi albums like this with big ideas that are fully realized in creative ways. If there was a bigger budget, sure things might sound sleeker and more polished, but the charm an album can gain through that lower fidelity outweighs that by a lot.

The album’s sound is predominantly post-rock with little detours into shoegaze, ambient, and even some metal. It’s a very slow-burning album, but it’s post-rock, you better get ready for some atmosphere, buddy! The album opens with one of its more atmospheric moments, almost bordering on drone, with “Lamb Theme.” This is a great setup for the 12-minute “Philautia” which blew me away on my first listen. The shaky guitar strums eventually coincide with the pointed string samples before giving way to the first verses on the record. The writing across the record is relatively simple but very effective. There are no sprawling verses, usually just a few lines that cut deeply before returning the spotlight to the instrumentation. The third track, “Sinner,” leans heavily in the post-metal direction and it works perfectly, greatly accentuating the lyrical themes of the track. These themes of struggling with the labels and expectations put on you by ones other than yourself are handled in such an interesting way here. Using the metaphor of sheep and wolves. “Storge” features a sample from the English dub of the Japanese animated film Chirin no Suzu, which has the sheep saying that they want to be strong and become one of the wolves. That struggle with rejecting who you are in order to either fight back and/or assimilate against the ones who hurt you is a constant struggle for many queer people, myself included. I would imagine it resonates even more so with trans people in particular.

The album closes with “The Beauty of the Present Moment” which is a gorgeous, string-laden cut and an uplifting way to close the album. A Lonely Sinner resonates with me more and more each time I revisit it. There are so many details I failed to mention in this write-up like the Sufjan-esque “ooo’s” towards the middle of “Flowerfields” and the string quartet cover of Björk’s “Hyper-Ballad” on “For M.” This album really took me by surprise, go out of your way to check this one out.

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Y'Y - Amaro Freitas

◇ genres: post-minimalism, third stream

I’m always on the lookout for newer jazz because most of my jazz experience is from the pre-2000s, so when I saw this album getting a lot of positive buzz I decided to check it out. Brazilian jazz artist Amaro Freitas has crafted an amazing, fluid record filled with really interesting ideas that are incredibly realized. This album can sound haunting, beautiful, and even a bit anxious at times, but Freitas balances it all very well. His piano playing is so dynamic and matches each shift in sound almost perfectly. From the steady and sharp playing on “Gloriosa” to the ascending keys on the Steve Reich-esque “Sonho Ancestral,” Freitas can do it all.

The second track “Uiara (Encantada da água) - Vida e cura” is a gorgeous minimalist piece that features some pretty multi-layered piano parts. That minimalist sound is present throughout the first half of the record. Each song flows seamlessly into the next and it makes for a fun listening experience. It all feels like one connected piece with a fair bit of surprises throughout. One of these being the super harsh sound towards the later half of “Dança dos martelos” which was very unsuspected, but I love it. The second half is a bit “jazzier” and each piece stands on its own. The title track brings in some flute to accompany his piano and it’s a great touch. I also adored Jeff Parker’s subtle guitar parts throughout “Mar de Cirandeiras,” this is probably the track I’ve returned to the most. The nearly 10-minute closer, “Encantados,” is probably the most reminiscent of classic jazz, but Freitas still puts his own spin on it with his keys. There are also a lot more jazz instruments factored in and it just shows how no matter what Fretias’s keys will stand out. Y’Y is an amazing record and one I keep coming back to. This is one of the most exciting jazz/minimalist releases in recent memory. Even if you’re not a big fan of those genres, I would still encourage you to give this album a shot.

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Catching Chickens - Nourished by Time

◇ genres: bedroom pop, alternative r&b

I heard Nourished by Time’s debut studio album, Erotic Probiotic 2, late last year but I fell in love with it almost immediately. So much so that it reached number 13 on my Top Albums of 2023 list. In the last couple of months Marcus Brown, the man behind Nourished by Time, signed with the XL label and announced this new EP, Catching Chickens. The lead single “Hand On Me” has been in constant rotation for me. It leans more into the pop side of his sound but in the best ways possible. He’s so good at making infectious bangers. All of the songs here have this sort of dream-like haze over them which makes this album really immersive. The best example of this is probably the track “Poison-Soaked,” which mixes some post-punk flavor into his sound in such a cool way. It has one of the most memorable melodies I’ve heard all year, I’ve been humming it all around the house. The closer, “Romance In Me,” sounds like a more intimate and modern take on a big R&B hit from the late 70s, I love it so much. Brown’s vocals here strike that balance between subtle and grand that I raved about so much from his last project. Catching Chickens is such a well-crafted EP and a great label debut for one of the most promising artists in recent memory. I can’t wait for whatever he drops next, but this will be in my rotation for a while.

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The Great Bailout - Moor Mother

◇ genres: poetry, electroacoustic

My first introduction to musician and poet Camae Ayewa, better known by her stage name Moor Mother, was through her 2020 collab album with billy woods Brass. From there, I listened to 2022’s Jazz Codes. Both of those records were very good, but I was instantly drawn to Ayewa’s writing more than anything else. Her words are damning and they’re often delivered with this haunting tone that forces you to pay attention to them. No longer can you turn away from the atrocities of the past, when Ayewa is speaking, you listen. On no album of hers is that more apparent than The Great Bailout. Here she ditches hip hop in favor of more ambient and atmospheric production which makes this perhaps the most chilling record in her catalog. 

Ayewa’s focus on this record seems to be Britain’s apartheid rule over South Africa and how they exploited the people and resources there for their own gain. She also tackles how these events have manifested into generational trauma to this day. The opener “GUILTY” features weathered vocals from Lonnie Holley and ethereal vocals from Raia Was. The former had an incredible album last year which shook me to my core, Oh Me Oh My. Moor Mother also featured on that record so it’s nice to see them working together again. Ayewa’s poetry takes center stage throughout most of the song as she asks the chilling question “did you pay off the trauma?” These whispered, eerie backing vocals come in throughout the whole record which makes a lot of these songs feel absolutely arresting. Particularly on “ALL THE MONEY” which has Ayewa dressing down the “thieves disguised as explorers.” Pointing out the Crown Jewels and the items in the British Museum as some of the examples. It’s truly chilling stuff and shows how effective Ayewa can be as a writer. “COMPENSATED EMANCIPATION” switches things up a bit and hits you with an intense and disorienting wave of metallic synths which add even more weight to the words. Towards the later half of the album, I found myself still ensnared by Ayewa’s writing, but the arrangements started to make the album drag just a bit. The big exception being “LIVERPOOL WINS.”

The predominantly ambient style works on most of these songs, but it can also be a little tiring after a certain point and I found myself enjoying the more abrasive moments. Ayewa’s poetry is the main focus album though and on that front, she does an amazing job. I can’t say I’ll revisit this album often, but this is a very captivating project.

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I Got Heaven - Mannequin Pussy

◇ genres: indie rock, power pop, hardcore punk

Mannequin Pussy’s fourth studio album strikes a decent balance between razor-sharp indie rock and dreamy indie pop with occasional detours into hardcore punk. The album barrels past you pretty fast, for better and for worse. The title track kicks off the album with a bang. It features a blazing performance from vocalist and guitarist Marisa Dabice, as well as some provocative lyrics setting the scene for the album in a nice way. “Loud Bark” softens the sound just a bit, but it still has a considerable amount of edge to it. The chorus is so simple, but the way the band rises with it is really satisfying. The next few tracks are pretty standard indie rock, but they’re pretty good. Especially “Sometimes” which is just begging to be played on repeat on your local alternative station. I love how during the chorus the guitars get heavier and are joined by those hazy backing vocals. It creates such a cool dynamic.   The first half of the record is pretty great, but the second half has a handful of weaker moments that make the album feel a bit disjointed. Namely those detours into hardcore punk. “Ok? Ok! Ok? Ok!,” “Of Her,” and “Aching” aren’t bad, but a lot of them leave me feeling pretty neutral. Ironically, the songs with the less harsh sound have more bite to them. This is my first Mannequin Pussy album so maybe these tracks are some kind of callback to their earlier albums that I’m just not privy to. The second half does feature both “Softly” and the closer “Split Me Open” which are two of my favorites on the record, so it’s not like it’s a complete drop-off in quality, it’s just a bit disjointed. The sub-30-minute length adds to that disjointed feeling. Despite this, I Got Heaven is very much worth a listen. There’s a lot of great stuff here and I might dive into the band’s back catalog soon.

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Pinball - MIKE & Tony Seltzer

◇ genres: trap, east coast hip hop

Just a few months removed from the amazing Burning Desire, MIKE has teamed up with Tony Seltzer for a short, but fruitful album. Seltzer adds new dimensions to MIKE’s sound here. Taking a step away from the abstract to more trap and cloud rap production. He fits this sound very well. I love the subtle glitchiness of the opener “Two Door” and the jaunty beat of “Lethal Weapon.” The beats all over the album are amazing. They might shine more than MIKE, but it doesn’t really feel like MIKE is attempting to demand your attention here. This just felt like a project thrown together for fun, a bit of a breath of fresh air after the sprawling concept album that was his previous record. Some other highlights are “On God” (which features a guest verse from Earl Sweatshirt), “Underground Kingz,” and “R&B.” This obviously isn’t MIKE’s most grand and impressive album, but it is definitely a fun listen.

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COWBOY CARTER - Beyoncé

◇ genres: country pop, contemporary country

Beyoncé’s last record, RENAISSANCE, was not only one of my favorite albums of that year, but it’s easily one of her best. An incredible celebration and reclamation of dance music that had the kind of superstar quality very few can deliver quite like her. That record is the first part in a trilogy, COWBOY CARTER is the second. Beyoncé shocked audiences during the Super Bowl when she surprise dropped two singles that showed her diving into country music. “TEXAS HOLD ‘EM” and “16 CARRIAGES” were decent, but they sort of gave me shaky expectations for the album on the whole. It was bold of her to shift her sound like this, but I was afraid it would end up being a step down from the previous. Well, it is. COWBOY CARTER is a bit too dense for its own good and not every track here is a home run, but it’s still a pretty good record on the whole.

The album opens with the bold country soul cut “AMERIICAN REQUIEM.” It features one of my favorite vocal performances of hers, but the arrangement and production leave a little bit to be desired. That’s a frequent issue across the record, but it’s usually not overwhelmingly detrimental. Regardless, this is a very strong opener. Then she does a cover of the classic Beatles track, “Blackbird,” which is just a bit unnecessary. The vocal arrangements are nice, but I feel like it’s a bit too grand for a song of its kind. She does another cover later on in the record of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene,” which sees Beyoncé rewrite the song in a more adversarial way. Again, a bit of a mixed result. The rewrites feel a bit too tryhard for my taste, but it still sticks out more than the “Blackbird” cover. I do enjoy the snippet of her cover of “I Fall to Pieces” on the track “SWEET ★ HONEY ★ BUCKIIN’,” I wouldn’t have minded a full cover of that on the record. Anyways, the covers don’t add much to the record, but the majority of this album is her original material. Most of it is quite good!

“PROTECTOR” is one of my favorites and it really shows how well she fares in that more intimate country sound. I often found myself zoning out during the more arena-ready tracks here, the real shining moments come from the more toned-down moments. I also loved the almost chamber-folk sound of “DAUGHTER.” It’s nice to hear her in this new, more intimate light. A massive exception to this is “BODYGUARD” which pumps up the energy to just the right level and blends the country and the disco sounds in such a cool way. One of my favorite tracks of the year for sure. The album shifts into a more hip hop/club direction on “SPAGHETII” and the aforementioned “SWEET ★ HONEY ★ BUCKIIN’” to unfortunately mixed results. Unsung country legend Linda Martell introduces the former by talking about how restricting genre labels can be, so I understand what the album is going for, but these are definitely two of the weaker tracks here. There’s a stretch towards the middle part of the album where she duets for a bit. The duets with Willie Jones and Miley Cyrus are highlights, but that Post Malone one does not belong here unfortunately. The later half of the record is a bit of a mixed bag as well, but “RIIVERDANCE” is amazing and honestly should’ve been one of the lead singles. Again, like “BODYGUARD,” it has the perfect energy level.   COWBOY CARTER is a bit of a difficult record. It has very lofty goals and it frequently achieves them, but not as much as I expected. It feels very start and stop for me. I’ll love one song and then be underwhelmed by the next, that cycle continues throughout the record. The little radio station interludes and the guest appearances from country legends like Willie Nelson and Dolly Parton are nice, but on an album that’s already stretching the runtime, they can be a bit of a pace-killer. Overall, this is a weaker record than RENAISSANCE, but it's a project I definitely respect a lot despite that.

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BLUE LIPS - ScHoolboy Q

◇ genres: west coast hip hop, hardcore hip hop

ScHoolboy Q has been on my radar for years now, mainly through his work on other albums I love. For whatever reason, I’ve never listened to a full-length project of his until BLUE LIPS. Because of that, I didn’t know what to expect. Luckily, this album is a solid collection of hard-hitting hip hop tracks with beats that can be both grimy and jazzy. ScHoolboy Q matches both of those sounds with his delivery very well. A great example of this is on the heavy second track, “Pop” with Rico Nasty. His delivery has an edge to it that matches the beat very well. The track after that, “THank god 4 me,” has some more melodic moments in between the bombastic beat switch in the middle, and again, he matches his delivery to fit the track.   The lead single “Blueslides” is an example of his forays into jazz rap on the album and it’s one of the best tracks here. It’s a really poignant track lyrically as he reflects on things like the loss of Mac Miller, his career, and his mental health. It feels like a confessional, an “I need to get this off my chest” kind of track. “Love Birds” is another one of my favorites here as it switches between experimental hip hop and R&B in a really cool way. “Cooties” has Q commenting on fatherhood as well as a scathing couple of bars on mass shootings in America. Unfortunately, the song feels like it ends before reaching its full potential. That’s the case for quite a few songs across the second half as well. Songs like “Nunu,” “Germany ‘86,” and “Time killers” have some good ideas, but end up not adding much to the album. There are still some bright spots here and there, especially “oHio” featuring Freddie Gibbs which might be my favorite track. I love Gibbs's verses here. On the whole, BLUE LIPS is a good album that could be even better if trimmed down here and there.

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Deeper Well - Kacey Musgraves

◇ genres: folk pop, singer-songwriter

Kacey Musgraves has made a name for herself over the last few years as one of the few country artists people who don’t listen to the genre feel comfortable admitting they enjoy. Her 2018 album, Golden Hour, was one of the most critically acclaimed country albums of the decade, and rightfully so. It was a shimmering collection of country tracks, calling upon some of the good aesthetics of the genre from years passed. The follow-up, Star-Crossed, was a bit disappointing, but this new album has Musgraves correcting course a bit. 

Deeper Well is an album all about love and healing. It’s considerably more stripped-back than her previous albums and it ends up simultaneously helping and hurting a lot of these songs. The opener “Cardinal” is one of the more polished-sounding tracks here and it’s a nice way to start the album. The title track is also brilliant and it sounds like a ray of light. It’s one of my favorite songs of hers. The song following, “Too Good to be True” is another bright spot. The album loses a bit of momentum from here on out though. It feels like this shift in sound prevents these songs from entering into that second gear. Often, the album is never bad, it’s just decent. Enjoyable enough. “Sway” is excellent though and a moment where she uses this sound to the best of her abilities. The same can be said about “The Architect” which has some of the most twang on the record. The only outright awful moment on the record is “Anime Eyes,” which is an ill-advised song full of clumsy ideas. I understand the sentiment, but she does not stick the landing on this at all and it sticks out like a sore thumb. Deeper Well is a pretty decent album with a handful of tracks I will be returning to often, but it’s not her strongest group of songs on the whole.

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eternal sunshine - Ariana Grande

◇ genres: contemporary r&b, pop

My poptimist era is far behind me at this point. I feel like it was beaten out of me partly due to the past few years of things like Morgan Wallen, Jack Harlow, and that fucking Glass Animals song ruling over the Billboard charts. However before that, in 2019 or so, I was a full-blown poptimist. My pretentious inhibitions be damned, let me be a gay teenager who likes pop music. Around that time, Ariana Grande was popping off like crazy following albums like Sweetener and thank u, next. Even as the years have gone by and I’ve changed as a person, I still regard those records as some of the strongest pop albums of the decade. Because of that, I’ve always been sort of optimistic about her music in particular. I was a little disappointed by Positions in 2020, but I just kind of viewed it as a stepping stone to a bigger album later on. Unfortunately, if eternal sunshine is that “big” album, I’m kind of disappointed.

There’s nothing offensively bad about this record, I just think it’s sort of uninteresting. I was expecting the album’s sound to follow the dance-pop/house flavor of the lead single “yes, and?”, but the album falls more in line with Grande’s previous efforts albeit a lot more subtle for the most part. It isn’t a broken formula, I was just looking for something fresh. The best tracks on the album are the ones that do shake up the formula a bit. “bye” is a sleek, catchy number that grabs your attention with Grande’s triumphant vocals. I also love that understated disco guitar, wish it was higher up in the mix. “we can’t be friends (wait for your love)” has Grande paired up with some electropop production which is a nice change of pace that I would love to hear her explore further. While not really a drastic shift for her, I do enjoy “the boy is mine.” The beat on that track reminds me vaguely of a late 90s hip hop/R&B hit. There’s plenty of good stuff here, but not a lot that hits that next level for me. Admittedly, I am pretty out of the loop on whatever drama and gossip is surrounding this album. Maybe those who are deeply invested are way more into it than me and that’s cool. It also feels that Grande herself is using this album as a means of getting things off her chest regarding whatever situation is going on and that’s also cool.

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Bleachers - Bleachers

◇ genres: pop rock, indie pop, alt-pop

It’s impossible to not be at least somewhat aware of Jack Antonoff these days. His production credits have far outshined his other efforts as a member of fun. and even his band Bleachers. I was aware of Bleachers back in middle school through the Foster the People similar artists radio station. I didn’t have any premium music streaming subscription at the time, but I was really into that era of early 2010s indie pop, so I would use the free iTunes radio thing as a means to listen to all of my favorite bands (mainly when YouTube wasn’t available). That radio would constantly play the Bleachers song “Rollercoaster” and I didn’t like it. Every skip was precious and I would always use one to get past it. Looking back, it’s not that bad, and while I haven’t gone back to listen to that debut album in full, I did enjoy a decent amount of the previous Bleachers album from a few years back. I also enjoy a decent amount of this new record, but for every good moment, there are a ton of borderline sleep-inducing moments.

Antonoff’s production style on the Bleachers projects has this kind of faux-classic sound. Sometimes it works really well, like the first two songs for example, “I Am Right on Time” and “Modern Girl.” The latter is practically a Bruce Springsteen tribute song and it rules. “Jesus is Dead” is also a pretty great cut here and it’s basically Antonoff’s “Losing My Edge.” He even shouts out the DFA label so everything comes full circle! After that track is the where album starts to lose me a bit. The warbly effect on his vocals wears very thin and clashes awkwardly with the instrumentation. “Tiny Moves” sounds like it’s building up to some big payoff, but it never comes. “Hey Joe” is an ill-advised change of pace into folk. “Call Me After Midnight” is actually a GOOD change of pace and pretty easily my favorite song on the second half. It features writing credits from Kevin Abstract and others from the old BROCKHAMPTON camp so maybe it just has that sound I loved so much when I was in high school. It also removes that warbly effect on his voice! Bleachers isn’t a bad record and it showcases a lot of Antonoff’s strong suits, but it’s an album best listened to in the background. Massive props to the saxophones throughout though. Whenever they would come in, I locked in big time.

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Underdressed at the Symphony - Faye Webster

◇ genres: soft rock, singer-songwriter

I was looking forward to this new Faye Webster album. I really enjoyed Atlanta Millionaires Club and I Know I’m Funny haha, as well as the first single leading up to this album “But Not Kiss.” That single became one of my favorite songs of hers. I thought the production was excellent and the sound in general was an interesting change of pace from her previous albums. The next single “Lifetime" was also pretty good, but a lot more in line with what you would expect from Webster. Still not bad! Underdressed at the Symphony wasn’t announced until months later along with the single “Lego Ring” featuring rapper-turned-psychedelic-rocker Lil Yachty. A very shaky collaboration that sounds like it was fun for Webster and Yachty, but doesn’t offer the listener much of anything. Unfortunately, the majority of the album is like that.

This is easily Webster’s weakest release from a songwriting standpoint. These songs are so barebones and not in the “just chill out to it” kinda way. That direction can be easy to forgive if the rest of the song is interesting, like the aforementioned “But Not Kiss,” but most of these songs just feel like demos. “Wanna Quit All the Time” has some nice, soft lounge guitar, but Webster’s verses end so prematurely that it feels like it just isn’t finished. The rest of the song is padded out to a 4-and-a-half-minute runtime with a lackluster instrumental. The same is done on the opener, “Thinking About You,” and while it works a bit better it still just feels unnecessary. In some places on the album, Webster decides to put a subtle electronic effect on her vocals and it doesn’t fit. It can be heard on tracks like “Feeling Good Today” and “He Loves Me Yeah!” The title track is probably the second-best song here because it actually has memorable qualities. This is a pretty disappointing album, it’s not rotten bad, but it definitely could’ve used way more time in the oven.  ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Psykos - Yung Lean & Bladee

◇ genres: alternative rock, post-punk

So, I’m not super tapped into the drain gang stuff. I do enjoy a good bit of the Ecco2k stuff I’ve heard, but everything else I’ve checked out just hasn’t clicked with me. As for Yung Lean, I’m in a similar boat. This short collab album between Yung Lean and Bladee wasn’t a huge priority for me, but I saw buzz around it so I thought I would give it a go. Psykos has them moving away from their cloud rap sound into a more post-punk sound and it just doesn’t work very well. The majority of the songs here sound either too rigid or way too loose and sometimes that can be a little charming, but most of the time it makes it a tough listen for me. There are a handful of good songs here though. “Ghosts” and “Golden God” are standouts and feature good performances from the two. The beats on both of the songs aren’t remarkable or anything and the post-punk sound feels kind of like a pastiche more than anything, but I digress. “Hanging From The Bridge” is also good and I think it has the strongest writing across the whole project.

On one hand, Psykos is way too short and a bit clumsy to make a satisfying statement by the end, but on the other, if it was any longer I would probably like it even less. I plan on further familiarizing myself with both of their back catalogs in the future, even if I’m not super crazy about the stuff I’ve heard up to this point. Maybe when I revisit Psykos after that, I’ll understand what some of the hype is about.

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WORLD WIDE WHACK - Tierra Whack

◇ genres: pop rap, contemporary r&b, alt-pop

6 years after her quirky debut mixtape Whack World, Tierra Whack has finally released her debut album. Whack World was an interesting project made up of 1-minute songs filled to the brim with personality. The nature of how short the project was hampered some of the ideas, but the mixtape still showcased Whack’s abilities very well and made me excited about what she would do next. WORLD WIDE WHACK is definitely longer and more fleshed out, but maybe for the worse. Her writing still has that quirkiness to it with little bits of earnestness sprinkled in, but on the whole, it’s just so much weaker than I was expecting. The closest thing I can think to compare it to is that Cheekface album from a few months ago where everything was a joke, but the jokes just weren’t that funny. At least to me. 

Given how much longer this project is than the others that came before, we do get to see some new sides to Whack. She ventures away from hip hop and R&B occasionally to move in a more alt-pop direction, which I think she fits nicely in. She works well with all of these different sounds, but the writing is the weakest link here. The one-liners are just lazy, like in the opener “MOOD SWINGS” where Whack sings “I stand tall, Shaquille.” Like I understand the joke, but it just feels lazy. “CHANEL PIT” is a really fun cut, but even it isn’t free of weak writing. Whack will sometimes step away from the silliness to be a bit more serious like on tracks like “IMAGINARY FRIENDS” and  “DIFFICULT,” the former being my favorite track on the album as I believe it has her best writing across the whole project. These detours do give the album some more depth, but they can also make it feel a bit disjointed. Right after the latter, we get the irritating “SHOWER SONG” which is just about … singing in the shower. WORLD WIDE WHACK is an unfortunately disappointing debut album.

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Everything I Thought It Was - Justin Timberlake

◇ genres: contemporary r&b, pop

When the lead single for Everything I Thought It Was, “Selfish,” dropped back in January I knew this album would be something special. Not special in a good way, but special in the “oh this is going to be embarrassing” way. Timberlake’s performance had this desperation to it. He’s been seeing relatively middling chart success for things outside of the Trolls soundtracks, his years as one of the world’s biggest pop stars are numbered. He knows soon that his career will eventually shift into greatest hits tours, he’ll be seen as a nostalgia act. He’s planting the seeds for it too on this reflective new album. A cluttered mess of callbacks to the sound of years gone by mixed in with him trying hard to be contemporary. 

The opener “Memphis” sounds like a gentrified Drake song and the following track, “Fuckin’ Up The Disco,” has him failing to get his groove back over one of the most uninteresting beats I’ve heard in a while. Calvin Harris did some production on it and he’s produced good stuff, but it sounds like everyone phoned it in here. The best stuff on the album is, no surprise when Timberlake joins forces with longtime collaborator Timbaland. He brings out the best in him, but it still isn’t enough to save this album. “Technicolor” is the most fruitful track here, but it pails in comparison to his hits from decades previous. “My Favorite Drug” brings the disco groove back, but Timberlake just fails to capture the energy. “Paradise” is one of the more transparent attempts at nostalgia bait as it sees him teaming back up with *NSYNC. The song is nothing more than a “oh, I guess that’s neat.” Everything I Thought It Was is full of non-starters and lazy attempts to rekindle Timberlake’s star power after a string of disappointing years. It isn’t very good at all, but I would be lying if I said it wasn’t a little bit funny. Better luck next time, JT.

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Geidi Primes (Lo-Fi Nightcore Edition) - Grimes

◇ genres: nightcore, indietronica, ethereal wave

yeah, sorry, no.

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genre : sadboy - mgk & Trippie Redd

◇ genre: emo rap

Ok, who is falling for this shit? Colson “I wish 13/14/15 year old girls weren’t allowed to be hot so I wouldn’t feel like such a creeper when I look at them” Baker’s, better known as Machine Gun Kelly’s, pivot to the pop punk and emo scene was as embarrassing as his ventures in the hip hop world. Yet, he had his most commercial success as a result of it. He’s a poser in every genre he inhabits. Not to say pop punk is this sacred genre or anything, but it’s just so obvious he’s playing into the genre’s stereotypes to fill a niche. On this new EP, he drags Trippie Redd down with him, as he returns to the rap world with his newfound mysterious, drug-addicted vampire persona. 

Obviously, it sucks. Every song is filled with horrific melodies and dogshit lyricism. I genuinely believe, though I can’t prove it, that these songs were written using ChatGPT. There is no unique flavor to them at all. It’s just boring, clunky, schlock that should be a career killer for both artists involved. Machine Gun Kelly, who is 33 years of age, pathetically delivers the bars, “I hate that I grew up sad as a kid, then I grew up and got sadder again” on “no more.” I feel like that line sums up just how abysmal this project is. The only thing that would make this album any good was if it was a parody, but seeing as how they’re getting exclusive Hot Topic merch from this, I doubt they would want to break the illusion just yet.

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[reckonslepoisson]

14K Figaro, Wiki & Tony Seltzer (2023)

These days Wiki simply exudes a sense of accomplishment. One only finds him dropping wise, perceptive, above-par bars – combine that with the sonically rich and integrally glamourous beats of Tony Seltzer, and 14K Figaro cannot help but find itself sounding mighty.

Pick: ‘Golden Child’

[pettybourgeoiz]

✰Bourgeoiz Music Discovery✰

[stankfaceworld]

Why the Rapper/Producer Collab Album Is More Important Than Ever

by me for pigeons & planes!!!!!!!!! got to talk to wiki, saba, tony seltzer, and black noi$e about rapper/producer collab albums and why they are so special. check it out :)

[beatsforbrothels]

MIKE & Tony Seltzer - Underground Kingz

[late-night-programming]

why you always by the rim if you not scorin’?

i got thunder in the spliff, sound like god snorin’

[album-a-day-project]

3/21/24

MIKE & Tony Seltzer

Pinball

====

I usually don't like collab albums like this as they sometimes feel cheap and money plays, but even if that's the case here the music is good enough where that doesn't matter. It shines through. There isn't much of a flow from each track, but the overall R&B feel is mostly consistent which feels like a nice shift for Tony Seltzer. MIKE doesn't do much for me in the album at all and doesn't add much value in regards to lyrics. In regards to the artwork, IYKYK.

7/10