Anouk - Queen For A Day

Anouk 
Queen For A Day
Feature Track: If I  knew
Deep Cut: Castles in the Air
Rating: 4


I'm wary from the get-go of another Adele-also. Pop music is really hard for me to analyze because for the most part, it is all of superior quality. It is easy to mistake personal preference for objective observation.

There is an interesting ethos about this album. Quite a few of the songs such as New Day and Run Away Together sound like they could have been on a Justin Bieber Beiber Bebier? Bayber? tf? album. The song content and delivery is that of a naive teen or bruno mars type wunderkind. But there is something beneath that veneer. An experienced and soulful human being. A middle-aged woman singing children's songs? I am not fooled. This record is about to turn up. Not some idiot pop star. I have to look this up.

40 years old. active since the mid-90s. Dutch, of course. What are they smoking over there? Amazing.

And then it drops. If I knew blows the door wide open and this woman just puts it all out there. This song is quite the treasure. One of the best songs I've ever heard. Dirty Girl is next and is sexier and more palatable (dare I say empowering?) than anything Madonna ever imagined or wished.

Any one of these songs could have been on whatever this summer's hit album is going to be. I wonder if she shops her songs around? Does she write all of these? Just her and her husband? I know it's possible. Especially in Dutch [sic].

Keeps Getting Better sounds like it was the product of an entirely different production process than previous tracks. Different mixer? Different studio? It sounds good and full-bodied, but it is a different kind of "full". Flatter, somehow.

The depth is back for Castles in the Air. What a massive voice! And another colossal song. Followed by some sugar BeeBeeiber sounding stuff again. But listen to how serious shit gets during the middle of the first verse of We Are when she stops smiling behind the microphone. You can see her eyes through the speakers. While I applaud the boldness of positive-pop-energy coming from this track, it is probably my least favorite of all. Too contrived.

Right On Time is right on time to balance the record back out. Returning to the slow paced Q-U sound defined in my previous post. I really like the scrambled harmonies during that last minute of the song.

Lucius - Good Grief

Changing up the format again, Guy (the one person who reads this blog). His name is actually Guy. It turns out that so many people are still trying to understand what the internet is that the release dates are not very accurate.

With so many "soft-releases", piece-by-piece singles  designed to facilitate a "hype cycle" over an extended period of time and other methods of distribution. Believe it or not, out of all the annoying ways people have been experimenting with content distribution, I think Kanye is getting the closest of anyone. And I still haven't heard one track from Life of Pablo.

But the idea of recognizing the constant state of disarray that is reality and manifesting that not only in the final output of art, but allowing the final output of the art to be the process that is creating it.

Wait, I know this sounds like it could be the "statement of purpose" of some modern artist painting a room blue and stepping on oranges.  But consider that this is the essence of the commodity of live shows, theater, reality TV. People pay for a "consumable" product that is ostensibly, the privilege of watching the artist(s) going through some sort of process "in the moment".

Isn't this also the nugget of inspiration that spurs something like 30-seconds to mars broadcasting them in the studio recording a song for 24 hours? When the commodity, itself loses value the only thing left is to commodity the process.

Another great example: Twitch.tv

I said all of that to say; The only way to "keep up" with all the releases is to find out as much as possible about the records that are supposed to be released and if they seem interesting, make a note to check back throughout the year. This actually will simplify the process. Maybe it will allow for some of these lyrics to make their way onto the web, as well.

I'm looking at you Skull Crusher Fuck Sword.

Lucius
Good Grief
Feature Track: My Heart Got Caught on Your Sleeve
Deep Cut: Almighty Gosh
Keep Listening: Born Again Teen
Rating: 5

Don't know how to start thisNo I don't know what to say
They seem to fall out of the sky
Lost and found is all the same

This sums up nicely, how I feel about this adventure every time I start a new record. Especially when they are definitely going to be good. This is one of those that caught my attention with a lead single and I have been checking back regularly waiting for it to hit streaming.

The lyrics above are from the fourth track, My Heart Got Caught on Your Sleeve. This song exemplifies the songwriting sensibilities of this album. Early 80's synth feel with the warmth and engagement of the newer evolution of this kind of pop sound. Some people give it a lot more bass (Phantagram), but the idea is the same. driving, dreamy synth pop. The new masters of this style now how to leverage the predictability and preciseness of automated looping to produce beds of musical sound that is not exactly "quantized", even though I'm sure that much of it actually is "quantized".

This lends itself well to songs about anxiety, fear and restlessness. Gone Insane is a good example of this, the bed is slightly off sync but with the relentless and perfect repetition of production, studio, or pure live talent, the off-kilter background becomes a foundation for the story. A story that is about the degradation of some sort of social interaction. It gets pretty dramatic at the end. But I think we all feel like this from time to time.

Almighty Gosh kicks off the "third act" and the tone of the album shifts noticeably here. For the first time there is the level of distortion and bass-nastiness that I expect from this style. I like. Born Again Teen keeps up the pace. I was drifting towards a middling rating until 1:40 in this track. The vocals kick up, there is a high-pitched whine that develops and then is joined by total noise junk that epitomizes the "Quantized-Unquantized" sound. (Q-U)?

By the time Born Again Teen has finished, the genre has been redefined for me, much as Phantagram did for me a couple of years ago. Things are happening here. Unless the last two tracks drop the ball, this is a solid 5.

The mutability of mutants and other tales from the turtle 'hood

Bonnie Raitt

Dig In Deep
Feature Track: What You're Doin' To Me
Deep Cut: Undone
Rating: 3.5


I skipped the first track. Then remembered it was Bonnie Raitt. Historically, I'm a big fan. I'm not digging the songs so far, but I'm going to listen for the guitar solos.

By the end of the album, I'll probably like some songs. But I'm guessing it is flawless. Which is part of the problem with someone like Bonnie Raitt. You could give her the raunchiest grooves on the planet and she would kill it. And the world would get a country record like no other. It would have to be country because she is the essence of it. So she can do what she wants.

Perhaps this is what she wants. But it feels like a beautiful butterfly that has been pinned down over a high-definition photograph of a field.  I can still hear that soul in the guitar breaks, but the overall energy just isn't there.

But I am having a shit day and this whole ambitious project is feeling like the slog I knew it would become. I'm only doing it because I said I would. No one has read this blog for 7 years. Isn't that the only point any critic is ever trying to make in any situation, professional and social?

"Hey! Look at me! I'm lonely. Validate my existence!"

A critic points at people for the sheer personal fulfillment it gives them to have 3 fingers pointing back at them. If they could point to themselves with all 10 fingers, they would.

I may be critical, but I am not a critic. I am not anything. If something reaches a part of my brain that triggers articulation, I write about it. This is an examination of that entity which I perceive as myself. I am using arbitrary sounds steeped in explicit cultural significance as a reflective....


.....the Organ solo in What You're Doin' To Me takes me out of my introspective trance. I need to get back to work.

Undone is a tear jerker. But I'm not sure why. Is it about killing someone or unrequitted/destroyed love. Is there any difference?

You've changed my mind highlights what I was saying above. Chris Cornell should have done a guest track on this song.

When you strip her down to her essential core, the power is undeniable.  Under all that perfect and flawless production. It gets lost. Same point for The Ones We Couldn't Be. How do we get a Chris Cornell/Bonnie Raitt collaboration album working?

I can't recommend listening through this as an album experience. But it's worth skipping around to see what strikes you. You will likely find one song on here that sticks with you, individually, I think people will have their picks. But it isn't going to resonate and create hurricanes. For that you would need a live butterfly improvising some path across the wind of a real-life prairie somewhere. I would love to see a Bonnie Raitt live show.

From Ashes To New
Day One
Feature Track: Father From Home
Deep Cut: Face the Day
Keep Listening: Same Old Story
Rating: 4


I can already tell that I do not care for this album. But I'm going to give it a high rating. Because it sounds amazing. The snare has a really throaty and almost muffled sound. Cymbals are barely present but being wailed on. Probably trigger samples. Anyway, there is a lot of space.

I think if you are into pop-metal psuedo-hardcore (tween-core?) then you will really, really like this album. Agressive, Linkin Park type music is how the average uninformed listener might classify this. These guys probably have tons of fans. Fans with tattoos of the band's logo and so forth.

I can say the following without concern that it is not true. One of these fans is a HUGE fan. And this unnamed, only-hypothetical-for-lack-of-specific-details fan most assuredly has a friend who is constantly pretending to "accidentally" mistake this band for Linkin Park. I guarantee it infuriates this fan, who does not have a Linkin Park tattoo.

Face The Day is probably about the girl at school that doesn't like you. The chorus is ambiguous ("I hope I can face the day") I could use this track to amp up a tired morning. The guitar solo is amazing.

I didn't find the lyrics to this song during a quick google search (about 45 seconds). I will try to pick out the verse:

Pride your wide
let the flesh grow from bone and bury me
I wake up every morning
inside a broken day
Return this life I wasn't born in
And all the lies that come between
So I dropped and broke a smart surfer at night
Dark skies, let me try to slip my pinkie in
I gotta try to run around, hold me like Tina
They gotta fall around my feet
I will face the day

Hmmm? I'll keep this song in my playlist anyway because the groove is infectious.

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
This Unruly Mess I've Made
Feature Track: Light Tunnels
Deep Cut: Kevin
Keep Listening: White Privilege II
Rating: 4

I know this guy is supposedly jumped the shark or whatever. I have been aware of him but only marginally interested. The opening track, Light Tunnels has just turned me into one of his hundreds of millions of fans. This track is so fucking honest. Hello, 21st century! I feel the rest of this album will hold up. I'll let the pros break it down.

I will say that the only reason I didn't give this a 5 is that I was a little thrown off by the Weird Al level comedy tracks being put right next to really heavy tracks like Kevin & White Privilege II.

Yorkston/Thorne/Khan
Everything Sacred
Feature Track: Knochentanz
Deep Cut: Sufi Song
Rating: 4

By the nature of listening to so much music, I am beginning to come across new music that is not listed on wikipedia. I will be including those bands now as I come across them. Here is one, now.

This is some kind of meditative world music. By the middle of the first track, Knochentanz it has evolved into an aggressive jazz raga, eventually petering out into a somber sounding chant in a foreign language before the instruments regain their previous boldness and begin building the sonic tapestry once again.

Little Black Buzzer and Song for Thirza reveal an approach to songwriting that fuses the sound of "world music" with an americana/Irish folk feeling. The sound is really unique to me and very pleasurable to listen to. What would otherwise be a droning folk ballad, turns into a manifestation of the mutability of reality.

As the album progresses, it begins to blend into the background and the songs aren't really that inspiring to me. There is an unfocused direction to this album. It's not exactly meditative, but it isn't exactly a songwriter record either. I find myself wishing it would tip one way or the other instead of teetering in between.

The super jam raga sound unveiled at the beginning doesn't start to come back until near the end in Sufi Song.  This is a great  energy equal to the first track.

Broken Waves is a somber, plodding track full of sincere emotion. The sparsely arranged track pulls the listener into a splendid space. When the lyrics switch from English to something foreign, there is nothing lost in message of the song.

Blues Jumped the Goose brings home the very transparent bass/cello sounds that have been bubbling up throughout the album. There is an urgency in this track led by the bass which slightly leads the other instruments into a groove that seems to always be speeding up, yet never gets any faster.

A good record to put on if you like chill world music, folk or ethnic drone jams. A satisfying listen.

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And there were a few other things that week that I didn't get to because they are doing staggered releases or something.

Up Early

I woke up at 2am today. I have a lot of work to do anyway, so what the hell.

This fucking world.

Can you believe they made a chocolate bunny that looks like Benedict Cumberbatch?