11 KiB
title, date
| title | date |
|---|---|
| three albums - april 2023 | 2023-05-01 |
you know the drill. top 3 albums at the top, musical musings at the bottom. this month's playlist is here
3. fallwander
honestly this album (?) ep (?) collection of singles (?)(✅) has made me understand just how terrible i am at media critique. the temptation to go to rym to slob off other people's opinions is overwhelming, and yet i resist, in the name of genuine, unfiltered soul searching
i like to analyse and recommend full albums, but the single nature of this set of tracks makes it a little more difficult to guess how they are intended to be listened to. probably individually, honestly, but i've put them together in reverse chronological order
i sort of feel like singing english with a european accent is a cheat. it works for bjork, and it works here, giving the vocals a slightly alien (for want of a better term) feel, at least for the english-first-language listener. the dual vocalists also evaded me on the first couple of listens: i originally thought that it was a cool digital effect that added a nice layer of texture to the vocals, but i guess it's a cool analogue effect that adds a nice layer of texture to the vocals
the rest of the composition is also lovely: muted drums, a flip flop behind a two handed piano melody and harmony and a more extended, ambient style synth alternative. theres also this incredible effect in good grounds that sounds sort of like a train shifting from left to right? if anyone knows what that is, drop a message in the guestbook
2. scaring the hoes - jpegmafia x danny brown
i was put onto this album by the lovely aidia. i've dabbled in both jpegmafia and danny brown previously, especially in my deep dark death grips phase, but i was completely unaware that a collab album had come out.
to be completely frank, i've always liked peggy's instrumentals, but i'm not a massive fan of his vocals. the lyrics are usually solid, but the performance isn't my cup of tea, especially when put side by side with the obvious comparison of mc ride. danny brown, on the other hand, has one of the most out there voices in music, full-stop. i've listened to atrocity exhibition a couple of times, and while it is nice to listen to something so experimental and varied, it's a little fatiguing.
so along comes the combo of the century, with these two powerhouses to put together an album greater than the sum of its parts. it leans on enough familiar concepts for hip hop plebians like myself to latch onto, while still bringing out something really new and different.
this is a little goofy, but the hook that probably got me to stick through with this whole album was actually the saxophone used in the title track, Scaring the Hoes. it has this wailing, strained effect to it that burrowed into my mind, forcing me to spend literal hours to hunt down the track it reminded me of:
hyper-dimensional expansion beam is an incredible album, and i will probably talk about it in the future
1. nice to meet you, we are midori - midori
i'm on record saying i dont normally love vocals, but i can tolerate (and very occasionally enjoy) them when they are used as an instrument first and for explicit storytelling second [sidebar: i think a consistent throughline between the albums that really inspire me is the ability to do storytelling without any vocals. i might go back over some of my top albums and see if this stands true]
the vocals in Nice to Meet You will probably stand out to you immediately, because it switches between the light hearted and upbeat light music girls-band style that any K-on watcher will be familiar with, and manic, aggressive punk style screaming choruses
on top of this, the instrumentals are their own third thing that doesnt immediately match the last two concepts that i introduced with the vocals. the band's instrument composition is in line with a small four piece jazz band, with a piano taking the lead, occasionally supplemented by an electric guitar, and supported by a drum set and a bass. plenty of familiar jazz vibes bleed into the rock energy of the album, as well as some interesting swing rhythms such as in my personal favourite track Monkey (track 4)
other musical musings
inon zur
i absolutely adore inon zur for his soundtrack work in fallout 4 (and i gather he did the ambient score for fallout 3 and new vegas as well). these albums are potentially some of the most consistent and evocative game scores i've heard, and while they dont scratch the musical storytelling itch of something like the skyrim or final fantasy xiii scores, i like to think that the less dominant vibe is actually a bit of a benefit, as it lets you take in the whole experience as a package as opposed to taking centre stage from the exploration and iteraction elements
it's been a second since i've listened to much of his stuff, so i thought i might give a peek at the rest of his discography. avoiding his other game score, i passed an ear over his suite of four self-published 2022 albums (mad panic, doomsday, dead of night and age of heroes). i'll be honest. these albums are quite bad. i was honestly flabbergasted that someone who has made such iconic tracks could flub so hard at doing something off his own back, but they have an extremely amateur energy that isn't present with the other higher profile albums
i don't have heaps more to say and its probably not worth harping on it too much. thankfully, this doesnt take away from the quality of his previous work. i'll always have you, fallout 4
higedriver - ukigomo
i'm of the belief that watching a music video forever changes the way that you experience that song (generally for the better). i remembered this song in the middle of a short anamanaguchi kick, and couldn't help but feel the bittersweet victory of the little being running their heart out, despite mortal peril and insurmountable obstacles. it's difficult to figure out how much of that is the intrinsic storytelling of the musical composition and how much is this cute little music video, but i like it nonetheless
teddy - teenage dads
this track popped up on the local radio this month, and it's some of the most unapologetically upbeat cheery stuff i've heard in a while. perfect, no notes
patrice bourgeault - birds and airplanes
i honestly have no recollection of how i ended up on patrice bourgeault's bandcamp, but i loved this little sizzle reel style album. this dude is seriously talented, and i hope he keeps knocking it out of the park
this fucking spotify playlist
i ended up playing a bunch of wingspan this month, which is a board game about populating a bird sanctuary. it's basically an opportunity to sit at a table with a bunch of friends, look at bird pictures on cards and listen to birdcalls through the companion app. we decided to amp it up a little, however, and add the community spotify playlist, which goes unneccessarily hard. one of the stars is cosmo sheldrake, an artist whose music was frankly made for this game, especially with their multiple bird-themed bird-call-recording-having albums