Blocks & Escher - Something Blue
*******HIGHEST RECS*******
///BRAV-FUCKING-O\\\
A propensity for predictable patterns and 6-minute trax may tire, but keeping you glued is its mysterious night-ride mood and mash-up of elements -- driving+detailed drum-n-bass, airy jazz, ambient, breathy ladies. Somber and ominous in spades but great at gettin' ya spastically grooving, they keep the percussive plentifuls punchy and the ghost synths hazy+gazy; horns profoundly flutter off into the atmosphere while stop-n-go breakbeats give it zip and enhance unease. Bewitches and goes bonkers with the same calm. 8/10
DJ Healer - Nothing 2 Loose
Commitment to the hush may be healing for him or y'all, to me however he's DJ Dozer. This is where aspirations of unadorned purity end up just plain plain -- even though there's something to be said of its simplicity and subtleties and all-textures-matter mien, too much of the material here either starts sterile or gets there eventually. The house is good, for a few minutes anyway; some poignant patches of funereal ambient; bit of an eye-roll when it goes robot or tries hard to be heaven. Most vocal spots repeat-n-repeat til they match the plain; worst offender being whispering "everything is everything" in your ear 500 or so times for the finale. It suuuure is. 5/10
The Ex - 27 Passports
Post-punk veterans from The Netherlands who are immensely diligent when it comes to the ol long-winded dry repetition, even in a genre where that's convention. White toast with nothing on it kinda dry. So they let groove be their guide and exert their stiff charm, coupling stripped back fuzz with cohesive hypnosis. Part-woman part-metronome Katherina Bornefeld as terrific+gentle timekeeper and part-time voxer, three guitars intertwining with always at least one giving way to din. From which you'll remember maybe three melodies on the whole. Not sure chief voxer Arnold de Boer's bashfulness does enough for em drive-wise -- squeal here or a shout there is nice, but I like best when he gives his spoken word some snarl: "It's the worst job I have ever had". Source being epic ender "Four Billion Tulip Bulbs", best of the aforementioned maybe-three melodies and a post-punk exemplar methinks. 7/10
God Is An Astronaut - Epitaph
Their last one had enough flux and bits of shimmery beauty to prevent its postiness from gettin' too prosaic; this on the other hand could pass for an epitaph to trying. Predictable post-rock buildups will sometimes lead to heightened horsepower and welcome pedal howl, but you're mostly drifting through placid patterns and the humdrum doldrums; occasionally interspersed with generically inspirative rays of hope of course. Its darkened decorum is appreciated, its strained drama and dry production ehh not so much. ~*~meh~*~
Kids See Ghosts - Kids See Ghosts
*******HIGHEST RECS*******
Once again, the 7-track 20something-minute format proves a hella G.O.O.D. format for airtight beat-work and artistic showcasing. It's not as definite as Daytona, but ya gotta hand it to Kanye as curator -- not only does he know what makes Cudi tick, but as a duo they auspiciously click; and together they craft a riveting recovery record that's far more poignant and playful and diverse than Ye's pompous Ye. Mental mantras go "keep moving forward", "stay strong", "I feel freeee"; Pusha T and Ty Dolla $ign are pulled for braggadocious grit and ginormous gospelized bellows respectively. Even the Kid's moaning muppetry and sad demo-ish acoustic strummin' are well-implemented. 7.5/10
King Tuff - The Other
KT's locutions tend toward the trite and silly: put your hand in mine, tonight we're gonna fly, the time is gonna come, isn't life bizarre??, we'll meet again someday, the moon is looking wicked good, etc. But his proficiency at painting a picture paired with big+beaming instrumentation carry him along. A softie depressive slow-burner intro and the soaring glammy psych-rock that follows underscore his captivation with the enigma that is The Afterlife; the vibrant bounciness cushions defeated nostalgia and elementary existentialism and certain doom. Helps too that most of these songs have some distinct sonic trait -- "Ultraviolet"s classic stoner guitar groove, epic bright-blue-sky synth on "Thru The Cracks", g-funk squeal for sempiternal sunshine and sweaty rattlesnakes, angel harp for the ender, harmonica here, sax there. And tho I do dig his imagery of phone abuse by everyone from cops to street punx to himself, anyone who actually thunk it to be "paradise in the palm of their hands" don't know shit. Kinda like if you're expecting death i.e. The Other to be a wonderland, when you're probably gonna be, ah what was it again? Right, "laying in some hole." 7/10
John Maus - Addendum
Aptly titled as it does mostly read as a middling tack-on to his recent and rather great Screen Memories. For Maus this just seems like going through the motions -- funniest/only funny repeat-o phrases are the first two, in which he calls out outer-space ignoramuses and takes a baby to the dump; deja-vu arrangements are recurrent and most-a the mumblin' don't amount to much. But his old-school drum-machined motions do tend to strike a nerve musically, even when tunes are trivial. 6/10
Janelle Monae - Dirty Computer
*******HIGHEST RECS*******
///BRAV-FUCKING-O\\\
In a superior world Monae would be a pop star with as much attention as, oh let's say, The Chainsmokers. Alas, it's too electric, eclectic; too protestive+provocative for the prudes. In other words: "I'm always left to center and that's right where I belong / I'm the random minor note you hear in major songs". Thing is tho, these songs ARE major: hooky and momentous, confidently pumpin' out sex positivity and female empowerment and compelling modernity, bursting with fun funk and smarts and chuckles. It's incensed but always open for embrace; usually more elaborately than 'we're all screwed so let's all screw' but rocks that route too. Janelle is The American Dream who also happens to be naked in a limousine, inciting pussy riots in peppy packages, singing like a champ while spitting bars harder than most in recent memory. See "Crazy, Classic, Life" for a premium pop/hip-hop combo, "Django Jane" for said hard bars, and "Americans" for finale fireworks and satire for the ages. Prince would be proud. 9/10
T. Hardy Morris - Dude, The Obscure
Minus the help from his Hardknockin' band-backers Hardy M gravitates away from grunge; leaving this more hushed, lush, personal. Still grunge in mood and mumbliness, but it's less buck and more morose; taking the time to acoustically layer with a newfound taste in glam+psych. Personally, I think there's more heart-n-guts in the scuzzy catchy country ruckus of yore, tho listening back reminds me he did always have a knack for the gently gripping grandeur, the quieter; and that is righteously retained and highlighted here. Yeah yeah a successful solofied maturer strip-back, but could've used a bit more 'shit in the wind' -- slogans that were worthy of shouting and attitude-wise. 7/10
Sophie - Oil of Every Pearl's Un-Insides
*******HIGHEST RECS*******
After an excellent-though-lopsided compilation of singles+attachments called Product and contributing many-a bomb beat to Charli XCX, I was eager to see how Sophie would operate on a formal full-length. Turns out it's lopsided as well; but conjures up a flow that winningly correlates with the presence at hand: jerky and disorienting, warmhearted yet uncompromising, drives ya mad then eases you into cooling lapses. Its clang outweighs its cute but delivers ridiculously-n-epically for both while managing legit buildup balladry and an ambient soar that's immense if somewhat idle; jagged thwackin' is met with exactitude and pop music is perverted. Heck, squeaky clean mixed with disgusting -- hogs snorting their own slop could pass for both vox and beats at points. Fave point may be when you think you're at the fabulous catchy-carrot finish line that is "Immaterial", only to carry on for 9 more minutes of something akin to a beautiful torture dungeon that you die in. 8/10
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Drudkh - They Often See Dreams About the Spring 6/10
Ben LaMar Gay - Downtown Castles Can Never Block the Sun 7/10
Damien Jurado - The Horizon Just Laughed 7/10
MIKE - Black Soap 5.5/10
Now, Now - Saved 6.5/10
Playboi Carti - Die Lit 7/10
Skee Mask - Compro 5/10
