2016 pt. 19

The Amazing - Ambulance

Grudgingly gave in to their leisurely haze-folk last year ('Picture You') as the dolefully dreamy atmosphere was kinda hard to combat. Plenty-o-pretty to go around on this one too, but oof what a snoozer. Downy+demure as they may be, there's definitely a decent amount of instrumental aptitude for a troop that's about 90% tone and 10% showmanship -- do the vox really hafta be this vacant tho? Breakin' up the doldrums last time we had a piercing noise segment and a crushing acid-rock freakout, on 'Ambulance' it's the much less anomalous "Blair Drager" with some low-down creep-funk that recycles "How Soon is Now?" and would suit a night-prowling mystery solver. Tonight's mystery: The Case of the Missing Moxie. 5/10

Beach Slang - A Loud Bash of Teenage Feelings 

Beach Slang is back and the same rules apply: young hearts in the gutter, being alive/not dying, downtrodden determination, euphoria via volume and passion and good ol' fashioned drugs-n-drank. So while those teenage feelings are permanently palpable per ushe, it feels rather tamed-n-timid as far as loud bashes go -- whereas last year's (sigh) 'The Things We Do to Find People Who Feel the Same' was a fiery and urgent incitement of such motifs with its wild hazes+broken guitars, this one comes off more like a moderate rehash. Stiffer performances, unnecessarily veiled vox, but not without some here-and-there irresistible lil' guitar melodies and thunderous riffs and concise wide-eyed charm. Epitomical Cliche Teen Feelz Chorus From 42-Year Old Man: "I'm an atom bomb, tick tick ticking." 6/10

Bon Iver - 22, A Million

After the initial attempts of deciphering song titles and wondering if my auxiliary port was fuckin' up and suspicions that he was trying too hard to get his glitchy weird on, bonafide beauty reluctantly revealed itself as did a convoluted-yet-charismatic flow. Vernon's voice in all its shapes+sizes bewitches more than it badgers, but badger it likely will; particularly teamed up with these often shaky and deficient-seeming "arrangements" -- but following in the footsteps of recent co-collaborators Frank Ocean and James Blake, he uses the bold, downplayed, and broken to convey an uncompromising fragile man/enigmatic cyborg opus. And while his is a comparably-n-courteously compact 34 minutes, it's also the least assured. Mutations cuz the ol' fashioned folkie in an abandoned cabin kinda feels old-hat, no dearth of acoustic plucks or swelling strings+horns or plain piano cuz he's not ready to let 'em go altogether, fine fine. Could certainly go for some tidying and development though. 7/10

Danny Brown - Atrocity Exhibition

*******HIGHEST RECS*******

///BRAV-FUCKING-O\\\

Flagrant line-sniffer, cunnilingus devotee, down-low depressive, frantic yelper nearly to a fault: this is dark+droll+deranged stuff undoubtedly, frequently bracing and feverish with a dauntless depravity that only really gets deplorable when revealing himself as a bit of a hoe-hater. And acting as a proper pivot to the driving force that is Danny's delinquency-n-dash are the dirty-n-turbulent beats that borrow from post-punk and angst-rock as much as the album/opening titles hint towards -- the peak being the marvelous midway chunk that manages to up the off-the-wall ante as it advances, starting with the irresistible horn-blare-stomp of "Ain't it Funny" and ending on the death-defying chant-ridden "Dance in the Water". 8.5/10

Cloud Becomes Your Hand - Rest in Fleas

*******HIGHEST RECS*******

A zany prog-punk funhouse whose obnox is reduced by its absurdist vibrancy and dirty details -- wherever they suddenly meander off to or whatever wacky-ass instrumental mashup they're implementing, precision and intricacies are in full effect; but capital concern seems to lie with sonic landscapes of warm warpage that are simply a hoot to hear and toying with the unpredictable. Take the clamorous keyb/violin/horn/scuzz soups or the propulsive build-up into an anticlimactic paper-lick for example. Vox are intermittent-n-indifferent but help fortify the 'tude: shrooms sprouting from shoes, apes with fur capes and glassy eyes, apple-headed puke-drinking sewer-dwellers, pining to be made of East Indian timber, etc. 8/10

Gucci Mane - Everybody Looking

Dude's flows are middling, tired, permanently slow-to-mid-paced; not to mention he's barely likable as a person to boot -- but with Zaytoven+Mike Will Made It commanding a bulk of the beats and a steadfast sense of artistic solidity throughout, he ain't quite a schlockmeister. His clarity is refreshing, his hooks catchy and understated, and by the near-end when he's claiming "all-a these rappers" as his offspring it's not hard to concur that he's been an impactful fellow in hip-hop's trajectory. Plus there's something to be said about a guy who spits "fuck the feds, fuck the cops, fuck the DEA" on record hours after being released from prison early, or can promptly call upon Kanye to help compare his cash-stuffed pockets to a "pussy print" and have it come off no-nonsense momentous. Noteworthiest moments occur after the guests depart, however: the so-cocky-it's-funny "Gucci Please", the nightmarish jail-cell fx and back-turning mama of "1st Day Out tha Feds", the teasingly wealthy "At Least a M", the one where he reminisces about the day he got robbed but never quite reminisces about the day he got robbed, etc. 6/10

Angel Olsen - My Woman

Acknowledged by Angel as having implemented a polar-opposite rift between first-n-second halves -- which oh-so-artistic as that may be, really just ain't that advantageous here. Not that her and backup comrades aren't versatilely versed+competently commanding on both the direct rockin' A-side and placidly prolonged B, but the inaugural switch-off from the wonderful wailing of "Not Gonna Kill You" into said placidly prolonged B is quite the drastic drop in energy and excellence; and barring a moment-or-two it never fully recovers. When ya don't spread that slow it seems really damn slow. Especially when it rarely matches the trembling heartache throb of "Intern" or the basic be-mine urgency of "Shut Up Kiss Me". The wailing's great wherever, though. 6/10

Jeff Rosenstock - Worry.

Welcome novel structure, certified current-controversy canvassing and squalid-living confessions, lotsa ambition and substance for a sub-40-minute undertaking -- but between the second half's flurry of fun forgettables and the first's more time-taking tolerables, this can feel like a rush-job jumble where not a whole lot sticks. Topics that make me cringe a bit and miss the straightforward stinky senior-feeling sad-sack from 'We Cool?': making out in vehicles, still somehow not fathoming working/babies/promotions, dejectedly accepting appearances in hashtags+memes as the sole modes of recognition. 5.5/10

Shura - Nothing's Real

The two titles that ask questions are truly magical specimens of big+bouncy emotional dream-pop, mosta da rest is merely mildly memorable but persistently pleasant throughout -- a bit on that blandly familiar front but never quite treads into obnox -- dancy and easy as it may be, it retains a certain modest charm. The subtly soaring ballads bout the distraught dumpee who thought they were bout to "get married and have kidz n stuff" and the 2-shy-2-talk-2-u headphoned cig-smoker, the interspersed lo-fi domestic discussions and airy atmospheric stretches. Attaching bonus ender scrap collection "The Space Tapes" also signifies a sense of individualism. Would be more fittingly called "The Take Up Space Tapes", however. 6/10

Vince Staples - Prima Donna [EP]

*******HIGHEST RECS*******

Its ~22 minutes is an endorsed beeline after his overstuffed opus Summertime '06, especially when it's altogether punchier than most anything on said opus anyway. Beats have upped their bustling/bizarro game and Staples has no shortage of fire flows to match, an ample hook-per-track cert-don't-hurt none, "War Ready" is a proper presentation of the prevailing 'tude and also here presently on Election Eve. And there for discomforting counteraction are his bare-bones barely-able tape-player confessions and of course The Most Startling Gunshot in a Song Ever -- a condensed+eerie ebb and flow, if you will. 7.5/10

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Dengue Dengue Dengue - Siete Raices 6.5/10
Martha - Blisters in the Pit of My Heart 6.5/10
Owen - The King of Whys 7/10

2016 pt. 18

Aphex Twin - Cheetah [EP]

Cheetah; as in this serves mostly as a demonstrative dabbling with the seldom-seen synth of the same name, not as in this is a speedy+voracious set of tunes that are gonna hunt you down and sink their teeth in. And per ushe, the Aphexer proves himself a gracious enough guru, establishing the particular characteristics of said synth slow and safe and steady while compiling its miscellaneous morsels into 30-second asides for the sake of consummation. But unlike his similarly satiated showcasing of computer controlled acoustic instruments last year, this sound palette reads too much as routine and the bore fruit is pretty much dispensable. Shoutout to stark-n-crawling thick-ass bass thumps, though. 5.5/10

Shinichi Atobe - World

This rudimentary set of scratchy electro-loops could feasibly fit nice-n-snug as disregardable background fodder for an equally rudimentary video game that sports only a title screen and 5 stages, especially given that the titular choices here are simply "Intro" and "World"s 1-5. On their own however, these worlds are really rather barren -- prosaic-but-passable techno starts to sprout towards the tail-end, but on the whole this is way too meager, perfunctory, uneventful. "World 1" in particular has to be one of the most frustratingly monotonous tunes I've encountered in recent memory; kind of stunning really, but certainly not a satisfactory first impression. ~*~meh~*~

Blood Orange - Freetown Sound

Lotsa good bleedin' on through here: lush-n-dreamy arrangements that are percussively preeminent, multi-instrumentalist mastermind crooner with loads of soul and sensitivity and smarts to boot, a gaggle of propitious girl-guests. Prominent Prince worship and kicking things off with a fiery feminist recitation never hurts neither -- but I'm not sure the near-permanent placidity is quite conducive to the durational ambition and socially conscious commentary, the latter of which comes through in interludial sampling more than it does the actual tunes. A handful of moments pump up the pep, but on the whole it seems stuck in a shell of subtlety. Nothin' wrong with that per se -- just could've done with a bit more in the way of hard-selling methinks. 6.5/10

Bernardino Femminielli - Plaisirs Américains

///BRAV-FUCKING-O\\\

Though he initiates as a warped-n-muttering whoever with a penchant for kraut-punk and strident amp squeals, the prevalent persona unexpectedly ends up a breathy+enigmatic French Seducer Man who whispers over soundtrack possibilities for 70s street-crime flicks/foreign art films. "Hooks" that emit murmurings of "taxi" and "the police" sound straight from the steamy shadows of the night and I just assume all that other stuff I don't understand is pensive poetry or attempts at wooing. No-bullshit electro bumpin' and the casual coating of industrial/droning/psychedelia beef things up and give it cred, but most commendable may just be how sincere the schmaltz is: the balladry and pianos, the extended wailing solos and squeaky saxes, the misty melodrama wrapped in nighttime swank. Not to say it doesn't sound ridiculous, indeed it does -- they just do ridiculous pretty damn well. 7/10

James Ferraro - Human Story 3

///BRAV-FUCKING-O\\\

For the most part I get a kick out of the classical-style midi-piano hypermania -- these laborious and noodling symphonies are sprightly and silly enough to charm if not outright oppress, and as a whole it manages to achieve a sense of grandeur while in the format of resolute goofball abstraction. Grows toilsome all too promptly as well tho, especially with the detached CPU-voices offering up social commentary via overt catchword. Lattes, smart-cars, Starbucks, Ikea, fay-tay-lities, yes yes this is like the consumerist world we live in, man. But cred for holding down the whole bold-n-visionary classical-madman thing. 5.5/10

Kablam - Furiosa [EP]

*******HIGHEST RECS*******

Preternatural electro portrayal of that time you trailed those little creepy-crawly somethings deep down into the basement, only to come upon the writhing chained-up robot creature who proceeded to send y'all sailin' through the vigorous vortexes of phantasmal choirs and clocks galore. Then those same little creepy-crawly somethings ate you alive, or the basement caught fire and caved in, or something. Surreal and turbulent and fun, only took like 17 minutes, a lion showed up? You know the time. 7.5/10

Kayo Dot - Plastic House on Base of Sky

Synth layers upon sumptuous synth layers and semi-shrouded vagabond drumming are enough to spawn an immersive spacemosphere that's enthralling as it is jittery, and prevailing to the point where one may forget they ever tread in metal. Sounds great, sure; terrifyingly technical, totally -- also often compositionally unstable to a fault, sporting less sections of inspiration and solidity and more moments that seem indifferent+cluttered. Vividity that begs to get lost in but becomes tiresome and disorderly; though the whole 'woah space maaan' thing definitely deserves partial blame for any yawnin' that may occur. 6.5/10

LSDXOXO - Fuck Marry Kill

If you're under the assumption a project called 'Fuck Marry Kill' by an artist named LSDXOXO is an explicit novelty, well, you right. The beats are brash and blatant to the point of bizarro, minced-up vocal loops are gruntin' somethings and poppin' pussy more often than not and persistent to the point of hyped-up hypnosis, a Kanye remix gets tossed in for kicks. Stalwart and forceful as fuck but always bringing on the bubbly+kooky, these are sexually-charged club bangers rendered ridiculous and playful. Opening track embodies it well: rubber bands, water drops, steel-door slams, soothing soul-croon vs. moaning and booties, etc. 7/10

Preoccupations - Preoccupations

Stripped of their controversial-yet-hollow appellation, the mentally afflicted brooders formerly known as Viet Cong have cut back on the dark-n-dirty in favor of pretty synth patches, drafty ambient segues, and a more subdued+by-the-numbers take on post-punk in general. Not necessarily a negative thing; they're still stewin' in shadowy depths and spewin' out some striking stuff fo sho, and arguably they're hookier this time around -- but the whole numbed new-wave thing has 'em sounding a bit stiff and slack compared to last year's effort, or as they put it: "We're all reluctantly engaged." Lines that are hard to sell when reluctantly engaged: "The persistence of monotony is blowing out the sun / This repetition's killing you, it's killing everyone", "There's nothing to do cuz we're all dead inside / All gonna die". 6.5/10

Young Thug - Jeffery

*******HIGHEST RECS*******

A gem in Thugger's cluttered discography fo sho, for the vivacious versatility if nothing else -- not just in his everlastingly elastic flows, but the ability to tote stylistic identities and a bag-o-tricks that are as colorful as his song-titled idols. We see him rockin' reggae on "Wyclef Jean", rapid-fire-spitting during the enhanced-Future impersonation of "Future Swag", breaking out the earnest creaks+pleads for "RiRi", going all choked-up gorilla on "Harambe", pursuing pop-man possibilities harder than ever alongside Idol #1 for the fascinating finale "Kanye West". It's the kind of artistic turning point that further cements the chance of "Jeffery" making it onto a few deity lists. 8/10