The Armed - Only Love
*******HIGHEST RECS*******
Painted in a Noisey piece as an assortment of anonymous-ish identity trolls whose weirdness seemed engineered; reliant on hype via a try-hard+enigmatic 'what even is a band, man' eminence -- so perhaps just let the music here speak for itself. Helpful that Ben Koller took over the crew's kit and Kurt Ballou is producer and Convergean consultant and quite possibly covert bandleader. Solidifying their excellence however is standing out from the hardcore/metalcore hive-mind stylistically, careening past copycat status. Synths stab through the chaotic muck, vox got variance, unadulterated vehemence and all-out scuzz make room for melody and noise pop calm-downs. And just when you think you're goin' out on a calm drift towards Jupiter, there ya are blasting off into a black hole. 8/10
Courtney Barnett - Tell Me How You Really Feel
Lyrically inspired as her preceding breakthrough was, it also lent itself to the record's undoing for me -- which may be why I prefer this more moderate effort. The songs here are comparably slack but confident+charming as such, admirably rawer yet still a bit too deep in the realm of drably stated garage-alt regularity. Faves come precisely at beginning middle end: the nervous bass-lined tread of opener "Hopefulessness", the snarly keys-as-weapon determent of insecure men from "Nameless, Faceless", missing someone's face on singularly intimate ender "Sunday Roast". For what it's worth, her live performance conveyed a much less rockstar'd combo of Kurt and Courtney (Love, that is), so that's promising. 6/10
Cuco - Chiquito [EP]
Closer "CR-V" is cute and catchy and curt enough, refreshingly self-aware bout his dorkiness to boot. But namedropping Santana/Lennon/1960 for surface-level "psychedelia" is painfully platitudinal. Stiff+sleepy delivery and kissing my bitch with LSD spit and luv in the sun and bleary production on the other hand are just painful. ~*~meh~*~
Deafheaven - Ordinary Corrupt Human Love
///BRAV-FUCKING-O\\\
Hate to keep harking back to Sunbather since their trajectory since has grown stylistically and certainly ain't without its merit -- it's just that none of it has been blistering or persuasive or beautiful as that pink-painted classic could be. This beats New Bermuda on flow and tenacity but ups the drippy and long-winded; which at times can transmit strikingly. Too often tho there's a whiff of cheese and a willingness to make intensity sound languid. Flashy yet kinda flat, punchy but predictable and exceedingly polished. Plus some solos still make me groan. 6.5/10
Father John Misty - God's Favorite Customer
I cringed at Honeybear's contrast of lush and lewd tude but appreciated the aptitude; thought Pure Comedy was a pretty bold-n-grand beast bursting with smart-if-slightly-ridiculous satire and ambition. And this is, well, just alright. He's got the chops to lean on and a persona that'll prohibit true generica for the time being, but this just kinda seems safe and sappy; few keen lines here few duds there. Carries a certain egotistical quality like the rest of em, only last time out he really earned it. 5.5/10
The HIRS Collective - Friends. Lovers. Favorites.
*******HIGHEST RECS*******
///BRAV-FUCKING-O\\\
Intolerants and formalists may dismiss it as a gimmick, but the recent alt-gender surge in hardcore has been pretty refreshing+becoming. Omitted identities bursting through in an infamously routine scene is always thrilling to behold, especially when their long-overlooked maltreatment translates into a grinding fierceness few can muster. Kicks off with a bloodcurdling scream that inflames-n-stuns every time and really doesn't let up from there; constantly clobbering you over the cranium with its sound and ranting doctrine and sub-minute razings. And tho they seem consumed by obstinate vengeance and the struggle to survive and abhorring authority (i.e. everyone else), their collectivist configuration and collaborating with everyone from Martin Sorrondeguy to Shirley Manson convey a cute+comforting sense of tight-knit camaraderie. See when they give love to their friends/lovers/favorites for being "the sweetest people" and remind em they're gorgeous. Or on "It's OK To Be Sick" when they advise them to "take it day by day, take care of yourself, and ask us if you need anything"; right before hitting em in the face with a bass drop. 8.5/10
Matt Karmil - Will
Karmil's staunch minimalism here is surprisingly substantial and curiously comforting, and also as a whole comes off more cohesive+calculated than its somewhat erratic prior. You'll still find some basic house thump here-n-there (particularly on, of all things, "Can't Find It (The House Sound)", who'd a thunk it) but it steadily revels in ambient murk with a commitment to low-key constraint. Thing with minimalism sometimes tho, it's got that damning fusion of moderation and monotony. There's just too many inert loops that are simply fine to pass the time with and not much else -- for extremest and bleakest example see the 17-minute ender, which I may request for my funeral. 6.5/10
Pinkshinyultrablast - Miserable Miracles
A name like Pinkshinyultrablast sorta promises lustrous thrills and a sense of vacuity, and for better or worse methinks they attain that. Electronix are oft blissful busy and bouncy but seldom emit something extraordinary, Lyubov Soloveva's singin' is calmly celestial yet also stationary and aloof. So while track by track it may be a bit forgettable, the astral aura and adequate momentum and few highlights win me over on the whole -- one highlight being an opener that makes you wish they'd always try that hard, another being a closer that makes you wish they'd crunch more often. 7/10
Prime Minister of Doom - Mudshadow Propaganda
An additional alias of DJ Healer, whose companion album to this prevailed in pretty much putting me to sleep. And tho this comparably bears many-a persistent house groove, it is similarly a snooze. Same attributes apply: his devotion to poise and texture and simplicity is palpable-n-palmary. But compositionally this is so uniform and immaculate it's tough to imagine who really gets their kicks sittin' through this stuff. Mesuspects it may be the same folk who are preoccupied with the bait of multiple monikers united in a mysterious web of artistic anonymity and limited vinyl-only releases -- that and/or patient house purists who don't need none of that there, ahh whatchamacallit, oh right, innovation. 5/10
Sleep - The Sciences
I may wind up murdered via bong-clutching metalheads by disclosing this, but I find their seminal Dopesmoker to be a bit of a slog. An obvious objection given its hour-plus "song" undertaking sure, but span ain't really the issue -- for me it's more a dearth of direction+deviation considering its duration. 15 years later: riffs, production, symmetry; enhanced unquestionably. Graciously sectioned off into song-songs even. Vox on the other hand kinda contribute a layer of xtra corn. Speaking of which, is it just me or does this sorta feel like Plainville compared to their raw+roary precedent-setting predecessor? Am I just over Sabbath riffs played loud and slow and steady? Is it sad that the intro intrigues me more than the majority of it? 5.5/10
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Barker - Debiasing [EP] 6/10
MGUN - Axiom 5.5/10
Natalie Prass - The Future and the Past 5/10
Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks - Sparkle Hard 6.5/10
Syclops - Pink Eye 7/10
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