halfway prospectus 2018

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2018 pt. 7

Cardi B - Invasion of Privacy

///BRAV-FUCKING-O\\\

Siked on her stripper-to-stardom success story and unfiltered persona, the wordy grit and wit, the well-engineered loud+proud debut roll-out. But her rapping is only slightly less grating than her interviews; which admittedly is part of the appeal. Plus so many mentions of money bags and possessions while drowning in drama-n-hostility is taxing on its own. LOL moments include a plethora of pussy-popping techniques, YG's so-bad-it's-good "She Bad" hook, and her revengeful proposals for seeing shit she don't like on her man's phone: telling his mama that she raised a bitch, posting his received nudes on the Gram, cutting the tongues out of his sneakers, getting stabby, feeding him bleach-laced cereal like "bon appetit". 6.5/10

Frankie Cosmos - Vessel

Whereas the meekness and transparent tunes worked as a strength on Next Thing, here it's just straight tepid. If anything the tunes are beefier, more oft upbeat; but also perpetually in a mid-pace safe-zone. Polite band-in-a-room pleasant and not without its intimate-yet-guarded charm, but this just refuses to thrill. Potential downfalls may be median song lengths of 1:50 and the oh so monotonously modest vox. ~*~meh~*~

Hell To Pay - Bliss

Think Nails essentially; albeit a somewhat run-of-the-mill rendition. Their terse bursts of hardcore/grind provide persuasive pummelings but ain't the most powerful or put-together, interspersions include sludgy slowdowns that dare to stretch past the 3-minute mark and samples that'll help ya gear up for a resistance movement. Goes out on "Battle Hymn of the Republic" juxtaposed with humans aflame. 6/10

Jean Grae & Quelle Chris - Everything's Fine

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

Increasingly eerily-lifelike interludes carry most of the satirical titular theme -- when it comes to the songs, often beats are too lo-fi and raps too muffled+stuffed with obscure references to outright lay down the law. Not that I'm complaining, what with all this wit and tude and worry and wooz to wade through. In your face intermittently but a lyric sheet is sure to help unveil some gems: "I ain't social til I'm belchin' off of brewski suds", "Conspiracy craze a wave, a phrase that pays / White collar suits that look like Dave Coulier", "Your balls and malt balls, same scale". Final third is the true convincer, though: "Scoop of Dirt" gets dirty with da Droog, tension-filled/lecture-led "Zero" is Grae-exclusive and goes the hardest, "Waiting For the Moon" and "River" are Anna Wise-assisted emotional+durational peaks, "Everything's Still Fine" features Nick Offerman's broadcast from a feasible future. 7.5/10

Panopticon - The Scars of Man On the Once Nameless Wilderness

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

///BRAV-FUCKING-O\\\

Vox are frustratingly faint on the black metal side, hesitant-n-mumbly on the americana side. Its 2-hour length is ludicrous, and oh right it's been requested per Panopticon that you listen in full while hiking or something. Whatever way you decide to get it done, it's a demanding commitment that's rewarding perhaps because it's made by someone that's demanding and committed. Helps too when it's not only atmospherically absorbing no matter the half, but able to aurally convey the gravity+sanctity of the great outdoors through-n-through as well. Impenetrable guitar stacks, brutal+beautiful+busy drumming, crisp acoustics, violins and accordions, the mix of fury and the forlorn, wise readings, crackling fires and forestry, wailing wandering solos worthy of a mountaintop, the symphony and scale and progression of it all -- this thing is rich and dirty. When some words become audible on the americana side, we get pickup trucks on the highway; the triviality of his own mortality; scratching the itch in the room that is Donald Trump without mentioning him by name. 8/10

Preoccupations - New Material

Ever since they amended their name and started committing exclusively to one-word song titles they've sounded like a stiffer and tamer version of themselves. In that respect this doubles down on their last one -- this just isn't the same band that partook in hi-hat blitzkriegs and savage 11-minute bliss-jams. Now they near competent new-wave/post-punk cyborgs. The shrugness of naming this new material 'New Material' translates to the tunes as well; slow things down or take away a solid groove and bass-line and it kinda crumbles. But as always the production imparts an eerie warmth that goes a long way, instrumentals more engagingly plain than outright boring. Fave may be the ender's haunted VHS electro-drone, the only one that's vox-free btw. A sign, methinks. 6/10

Rich Homie Quan - Rich as in Spirit

He has me steadily double-checking that I haven't accidentally put on Young Thug, but Quan does impart a persona of his own -- instead of elastic wacky antics he tends toward croony forlorn flows; grieving over Grandma and waxing nostalgic and the conflicts+gratitude of coming up. But ooo does this get redundant and droopy quick. Many an instance of deja vu, all the more noticeable over a near-hour that's solely him save for a sufficient Rick Ross spot. Makes me yearn for cavalier yelpin' and low-minded one-liners. 5.5/10

SAINt JHN - Collection One

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

He's kind of a generi-clone and can be a scumbag: the pair of god-blessers are beholden to Frank Ocean and Future respectively, and procuring the Porsche just ain't good enough; there's gotta be at least ten bitches inside too. He also prefers telling said bitches to suck it before they can ask, has a crib that's only open to lingerie models and porn stars, sends his steak back at restaurants. So it's striking when he somehow suaves his way through it. Could be his convincing low-key croon and Guyanese inflection or the stark+woozy aura or that damn catchiness, but the clincher for me is when that cocky coldness folds to vulnerability over gettin' too "litt" too often. The needlessly extended version of "Some Nights" in particular is genuinely and effectively pitiful. And hey, if you heard the soulful pop magic that is "Selfish" as a standalone you'd probably assume he's straight sweetheart -- little would you know it comes between correlating his GF-n-mistress with internet speeds and going right back to the ratchet bitches. His bucket list? "All I ever wanted was a brilliant bitch / with a nice ass." 7.5/10

Saweetie - High Maintenance [EP]

Saweetie's debut EP is short and saweet -- banking on hooks and thematically humdrum sure, but her tude is equal parts tough, silky, lusty, playful; with intoxicating beats to match. Most imperatively perhaps, there's catchy irresistibility. See the sub-2-minute "ICY GRL" and title track for non-stop vital verse-work. Qualifications for a chance at gettin' that "good good": having a hot whip, being King Of The Club. 7/10

Kali Uchis - Isolation

Stylistic litheness here is laudable -- kind of a hodgepodge, tho a pretty winsome hodgepodge. Swanky sunny-island funk, dancy without dumb-downs, dreamy vibes-n-melodies, Colombian flava, classy balladry aboard an airplane. Tunes slickly straddle the line between radio-ready pop and richly+reliably arranged, a gaggle of guest-spots range from Tyler the Creator to the dude from Blur; wish there was more in the way of remarkable personality coming from Kali however. For my money, best in show is the simplest: "In My Dreams", in which her fancied utopia is both childlike and commendable ("I'm never stressing my bills, nobody ever gets killed / It's the dream world"). 7/10

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Amen Dunes - Freedom 6.5/10

Sarah Davachi - Let Night Come On Bells End the Day ~*~meh~*~

Liziuz - Geschichten des Lebens 5.5/10

Lolina - The Smoke 6/10

MIEN - MIEN 5.5/10

Brett Naucke - The Mansion 7/10

2018 pt. 6

Cavern of Anti-Matter - Hormone Lemonade

These kraut-revering synth-ultraists still churn out exquisite groovework and cohesive layering like no one's business; steadfast shooting you off into space while keepin' it busy+upbeat. Making em rather undeniably engaging is their fusion of man and machine, deep dark galaxy drifts and video game fun-time, jammy goodness and sincere sound-care. So the dearth of character and a creeping feeling of caution may be permissible I spose. But few of these trax are the tremendous treks that so many on their last one were. Matter of fact, the 16-minute opener (by far the longest tune here) on its own sums this all up pretty unsuccinctly. 6.5/10

Ed Schrader's Music Beat - Riddles

True to post-punk norms vox convey a mumbly spectral crooner and dramatic wildman, but this bassfuzz/drum duo is texturally punchy and dancy even at their dinniest. A good giant distorted bass line always works, but ample piano and a bit-o-sax and twinkling Springsteen+New Order worship make em a bit more than rowdy beatkeepers. That being said, the more beat usually the better: see "Dizzy Devil"s yelly percussive overload and "Rust"s rigid ruckus. 7/10

Elucid - Shit Don't Rhyme No More

All the understated murk and scrappy structures might have ya seekin' some more solidity, but this transmits quite the brusque throwaway weirdo charm. Its brevity make his dense+ramblin' flows a bit easier to dig through, "Hyssop" wins with dreary drone before rapidly collapsing, "1010 Wins" reads as resolute garage rock before going slo-mo, "Rick Ross Moonwalk" has a silly skimpiness Da Boss would probably abhor. Guest-free but sampled females provide accompaniment -- noteworthily, Bjork for the kickoff and Chelsea Wolfe's snarls/Laurie Anderson's airplane prophecies for the vampire bar. 7/10

George FitzGerald - All That Must Be 

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

Bit bigger, less alien, more glimmer, vox/sampling broadened yet not quite as crucial -- growth that accentuates the shades of hackneyed or basic that exude from FitzGerald's nighttime house-pop. But he also remains a well-honed layerer who's superbly sturdy and makes both alot out of little and alot sound like little. Its swells are simple+satisfying rather than spellbinding, grooves-n-soundplay safe but spotless, moodz huge yet subdued. Rich in subtlety and texture and thump; yet too forthright for flubdub. 7.5/10

Iceage - Beyondless

Trades in some of the ragged despondence and punky pummeling for arrangements that dip into bluesy, symphonic, shaker-filled -- nicely dense and rough around the edges, for the most part diggable, but these half-awake-rolling-in-a-gutter vox certainly ain't lendin' it propulsion; something that seems achingly absent here. Part of me likes the near-cheese "Take It All" best cuz it just goes for it emotively. 6.5/10

Lost Girls - Feeling [EP]

Girl+guy lost inside 2 tracks/25 minutes of meditative electro and clatter: calmly communicated inner monologue, whispering, floating, sobbing, howling, panting, "the vast expanse, or whatever". 6.5/10

Kacey Musgraves - Golden Hour

Amongst the bewildering abundance of praise for this Beige-ish Hour is GQ somehow calling it 'gutsy' (I hear "High Horse" in Stop&Shop), which makes me assume they considered her previous works outright terrifying. Tame as they may be, there's something to appreciate in the feather-in-a-breeze production and tidy arrangements; but where's the spunk? The country? The wit? At least her trite used to have bite -- now it's "You've set my world on fire", "You look out the window while I look at you", "looking at my phone, putting it back down", "everything that goes up must come down", marveling at how time zones work and that plants are real. And barring a moving moment for Mom, I struggle to see the much-touted 'most personal' artistic statement shine through much. I'll take Dime Store Cowgirl over Dime Store LSD-lite Pop-Rock in this case. 5/10

Oneida - Romance

Fractured and firm and down with minimalistic hammering+dissonance, all admirable attributes. But really too stationary and longwinded for their own good most of the time -- its kraut will catch you in its hypno-trap of staticky buzzwork and fluttering psychedelia and insistent jams, but when going the distance (as they near always do) their repetition reveals its limitations. Don't help that vox when there are pretty vacant whether dreamily moaning or stony-faced sing-talking or punkin' it up or buried. Consider the 18-minute ender both a climax and the choriest. 5.5/10

Slugdge - Esoteric Malacology

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

Proggy death metal duo that has alot more goin' on for them than a gastropodous fixation, to put it lightly -- huge full-band fabrication many actuals would die for, mingling of growl/rasp/near-operatic cleans, robust+technical performances through-n-through, stockpile of riffage alongside labyrinthine structures. Encounters with deja vu and 7+ mins being the norm make em kinda tiresome, but there's so much elaborate heavy horsepower to dive into here; and ooo does it sound good. Slimy icing on the cake is also swimmingly integrating their sludgy namesake. 8/10

Yo La Tengo - There's a Riot Going On

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

///BRAV-FUCKING-O\\\

Lotsa complaints of tedium being hurled at this defiantly quiet riot; a shame cuz I find much amenity in its aura and a flow that's pensive, quirky, cryptic in the kindest way. Floppy pit-pat grooves, gentle vocalizations that come and go, afternoon laze and island breeze and heaven-wades and casual hypno-drone without the respite of squealy feedback pop or jam-outs. Even for a group that's long fucked with hushed, this is a cherished curveball that comes 15 albums deep; and further proof that for them "doing it wrong" is pretty damn difficult. 7.5/10

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Chevel - Always Yours 5/10

Lil Xan - Total Xanarchy ~*~meh~*~

Road Hog - Spares 5.5/10

Saba - Care For Me 7/10