Audio Push - The Stone Junction [EP]
This fleeting hip-hop forest-footslog forks over its fair share of solid verses+hooks+beats+inflections; which amid the condensed kinda-conceptual venture-flow/occasional compositional curveballs/allegiance to vigor makes for a proficient and pithy project. Personas+motifs ain't particularly distinct, it routinely gratifies but nothin' quite wows, super-chorus of choice is served via Bmacthequeen on "Servin'", too-easy chorus of choice is obv-hit "Vamonos", compositional curveball of choice is when "Hard" goes soft. 6.5/10
The Avalanches - Wildflower
*******HIGHEST RECS*******
///BRAV-FUCKING-O\\\
16 years since they left us and a copious amount of copycats later, this anxiously anticipated followup is less of the wild "what's next?!" ride from their first and more of a strikingly insouciant+sunny daydream; swimmingly fluxing from festival traffic to a bounce-house to the skies to the sea to a bit of the sublime beyond. Whimsy and frolic and psychedelia are in full effect -- and though it's not without its overly mild moments and middling disco-leans, the flow+detail+amazingly affable aura beg for basking; not to mention fashion a universe where getting pulled over with prohibited paraphernalia is nothin' but an amusing aside. Lighter compositions also make room for greater guest utilization: the highlights of which include Danny Brown with his "blunt after blunt after blunt after blunt" and fittingly wacky delivery, Dave Berman "drumming up a little weirdness" for the finale with his soft-spoken and poignant poetry, A.Dd+ killin' the bigots with kindness, and of course Biz Markie with his vociferous appetite and penchant for cereal. 7.5/10
Bleached - Welcome the Worms
*******HIGHEST RECS*******
This group-o-gals make feeling dead and taking risks and "giving in to giving up" sound like a shrugged-off bubblegum jamboree, complete with shady pasts and still-shady presents and scary-looking futures that they're hoping to acknowledge and revel in and confront with the help of bong-rips and engine-revs. Though their sunny Californian complexion and flighty YOLO livin' can lead a listener to play the callow card, the mean pop chops and partiality towards good ol' fashioned rock-n-roll give them an all-too-beckoning bulwark that both palliates their punk and candies their tough. And they don't come up often, but for the record, dumb-ass dudes are dealt with better than Best Coast ever did it -- barring the anonymous hitchhiker recipient, which could be problematic, sure. 7.5/10
Cate Le Bon - Crab Day
*******HIGHEST RECS*******
Always the sucker for Nico mimicry and resourceful rock squads whose instrumental tangle collides contentedly+incorporates marimbas, Cate's temperate quirk and stony absurdities receive oh-so-complementary playful accompaniment: oft-dueling guitar-work that's strung out/scuzzy/squeaky, piano plunks+synth plinks, splashes of sax, deft drumming/percussive etceteras. Drollery from all involved parties charms far more than it chafes, and ramshackle as they may seem there is always a push for the melodically memorable and miraculously accordant. Also subsumes all the angst that comes with being a self-described dirty attic who longs to be a motion picture film and/or bowling ball -- i.e., there is none. 8/10
Dej Loaf - All Jokes Aside
Pleased to be a prosperous bachelorette-boss who's dogged as hell and a bit of a judgmental beef-bringer to boot, she sports a winning 'woah' and a flow not unlike a more-intelligible/self-proving Future; and of course stupidly superb hooks on the regz. Her merging of juvenile sing-song diction and oft-glittery beats with fierce+vulgar bars and vainglory galore can come off conflictive, but the 'tude and talent and production make for some cogent convincers. Quick 2 Condemn: mob-life mockery, blogs, early-morning perc-poppers, pretty much everyone. Consumables Of Choice: chamomile tea, Smacks cereal, salad+wings, side of money. 7/10
Kaytranada - 99.9%
A qualified and versatile enough house-hop-r&b producer undoubtedly -- exceptional kindler and sparer of guest-extent overkill, however, I've got my doubts. Cuz for a beat-master's beat-boaster bevy there's quite the heap of ho-hum, then there's the many-an instance of unnecessary track-protraction and marring by means of bass muddlement. And the visitors ain't much help neither, oft-opting for the sterile or obnoxious ("The young girls wanna love me long time / But then you gotta listen to 'em talk", laments Phonte). Good for moderate funky groovin' and and occasional instrumental notables, but beyond that perhaps the sampled interviewee within is the most accurate descriptor of its remarkable traits: "..the musicality, meaning the beats, um, you know, from the chords and the bass-lines and, um, the rhythms, uh the you know?" 5/10
Peder Mannerfelt - Controlling Body
Exploiter of euphonious voice-drones and a speech-repeater button, Mannerfelt's yak-mods manage to both spellbind and assault: "Limits to Growth" starts like an art-installation cliche and but literally seems to "cr-cr-create bre-bre-breath" as it builds into the fascinating fixedness of something akin to a cyborg-brought-to-life simulation, "Perspectives" revels in turning "subject" into "sub-ject", "Her Move" gradually dwindles "crucified" into "fine art" into "er", the first one just kinda goes "eeee". For the instrumentals flip-side he's commonly creepin' on the cryptic-electro DL, which makes for some welcome caesural contrast but more-oft tend to drag. See the ender and only the ender if you want your vox non-chopped and vaguely Bjork-ish. 6.5/10
Corinne Bailey Rae - The Heart Speaks in Whispers
The heart speaks in whispers, perhaps; along with many of the tunes presented here -- nothin' wrong with that per se, however too often they simply speak in winces and whimpers. Much of the semi-oomph is stuffed up front and still squats in the sphere of generic, the clubby electro-pop coming off ungainly in the midst of the serenely silky soul and leisurely balladry. The definite highlight/melodically strong+soaring "Stop Where You Are" has the power to make me do just that, the soft stuff can pleasantly befit a mope-n-chill sesh and/or sitting by a window on a rainy Sunday morning -- though by the time the final third's particularly dire drag comes rollin' 'round, it transmits moreso as tepid fodder for mall-store speakers. 5/10
Seratones - Get Gone
When it comes to ruckus-rock that would read well in either a roadside blues-bar full-a boogieing+swaying or a packed-tight garage full-a shoving+sudor, constitutionally they're a bit by-the-numbers -- they get dirty but never filthy in spite of the initial allusion to choking on spit, instances of xtra zing and memorability are seldom compared to ones that kinda just blur on by. But they don't quite tread into Dullsville either, the couple of calm-downs are convincing and exhibit ambidexterity, and if all else fails frontwoman AJ Haynes always manages to grab ears a la bestowal of earnest-n-elastic spunk; or for the calm-downs, a bonus side of comforting coos and good ol' fashioned longing. 6/10
Sturgill Simpson - A Sailor's Guide to Earth
Much of the material between the album-welcoming luscious+heartfelt strings-turned-swagger world-welcoming for his beloved pre-bullfrog progeny and the so-damn-real frantic fuck-the-bullshit finale can feel a bit deficient comparably -- be it the hints of hokey during "as I say" life lectures or simply a propensity for more mid-range temperaments. But his tender+softened hits as hard as/if not harder than his rowdy rocker struttin', world-travel soldier-spins have him reminiscing bout "king cobras fighting in boxing rings" and playing Goldeneye high "on that old 64" but reckoning that it's all a ploy/we're all screwed/fucking off beats participating in war anyway, and when a cover of Nirvana's "In Bloom" creeps in for the centerpiece an eye don't bat -- a selection Simpson apparently hoped to be a "very beautiful and pure homage to Kurt". And yes, mission accomplished. 7/10
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