#(( mixtape / and the music there - it was hauntingly familiar*

[pvnsys]

tag drop... let’s try this again bc i think i figured out the issue with my tags before

[newmusickarl]

Album & EP Recommendations

Album of the Week: Chemtrails Over The Country Club by Lana Del Rey

For years, American singer songwriter Lizzie Grant, AKA Lana Del Rey, had always threatened to, but never quite delivered her classic album. From breaking onto the scene in 2011 up until her brilliant but uneven Lust For Life album, she had built up a catalogue of truly great songs, but her own masterpiece had ultimately alluded her. That however all changed a couple of years ago in 2019, when Lana finally delivered the simply magnificent, Norman Fucking Rockwell (NFR). That album was Lana’s magnum opus, a poignant collection of modern American anthems that people will still be listening to at the end of the next decade.

That year, NFR would go on to top multiple year end critics’ lists, as well as featuring in the Top 20 and Top 50 of almost a hundred others. This includes myself, as I had NFR in the number three spot on my Albums of the Year list for 2019. The big question is then, how do you follow up a record as universally acclaimed and as masterfully crafted as that album? This is the question Lana emphatically answers on Chemtrails Over The Country Club, her eighth studio album which feels almost as special as the one that preceded it.  

Having worked with a range of producers on her albums up until NFR, it is almost as if Lana just needed the right one to unlock the full potential of her unique style. She got that with Jack Antonoff, who really does an incredible job of knowing exactly when to flesh out the instrumentation or strip it back and put Lana’s voice front and centre – something he has since gone on to replicate with Taylor Swift on their recent folklore/evermore collaborations. Thanks to him, Lana really has never sounded better and the duo pick up right where they left off on NFR here on Chemtrails.

That said, where there were moments of expansive, almost cinematic production on NFR, on Chemtrails almost everything here is stripped back to basics. The instrumentation is minimal, with most of the songs on this collection putting Lana’s magical, timeless vocals against a simplistic backdrop of just a piano or an acoustic guitar. It ultimately makes for some of Lana’s most mesmeric and emotionally resonant songs to date, such as the sublimely nostalgic opener White Dress. Easily a career highlight, Lana adopts some sumptuous hushed, whispery vocals, reminiscing with her listener about her life before superstardom. An absolutely stunning track, that is then swiftly followed up by the equally gorgeous title track, which boasts another stellar vocal performance from Lana and a dizzyingly delightful waltzing melody.

There are just career-best moments littered across Chemtrails, with the country-tinged Wild At Heart and acoustic-driven Not All Who Wander Are Lost particularly standing out. The latter of these sees Lana deliver a sterling falsetto on the track’s first chorus, with the production giving off almost a live concert feel. At a tight 11 tracks in length there’s no space for any duff tracks either. Instead, Chemtrails packs in 10 faultless songs before fittingly culminating in Lana’s breathtakingly beautiful collaboration with her contemporaries, Zella Day and Weyes Blood, on the brilliant For Free.

All in all, expectations were impossibly high for Lana Del Rey’s follow up to Norman Fucking Rockwell, and although my initial feeling is that this record doesn’t quite match that album, it comes pretty damn close - which is still an incredibly high standard to reach. This is easily one of the best albums of the year so far and with another album, Rock Candy Sweet, supposedly due for release in June, 2021 looks set to belong to Lana in the same way 2019 did.

Songs From Isolation by A.A. Williams

If you’re looking for something similar after checking out Del Rey’s Chemtrails Over The Country Club, then look no further than the magnificent covers collection from British singer-songwriter A.A. Williams. Most artists would tremble in fear at the thought of covering iconic tracks by The Cure, Pixies, Smashing Pumpkins, Nick Cave, Radiohead and The Moody Blues to name but a few, however A.A. Williams isn’t most artists. Armed with just her piano and her hauntingly beautiful vocals, Williams takes on these titanic tracks head on, not only doing them all justice but delivering gorgeous, stripped back and original takes in the process.

House of Balloons by The Weeknd

Elsewhere this week, The Weeknd celebrated the 10 year anniversary of his breakout mixtape by releasing it on streaming services for the first time in its original form. If you are only familiar with The Weeknd’s later more popular releases, it is worth diving into this one and seeing how it all began, with an album that still more than holds up a decade later.

Horror Show by The Midnight

On the EP front, Electronic group The Midnight released Horror Show this week, a six-track release simply drenched in retro 80s nostalgia. From the neon-tinged synths and soaring electric guitar solos to the fun cover of Patti Smith’s Because The Night, this EP will have you grinning from ear to ear and wanting to take a trip to Black Mirror’s San Junipero, or re-watch Stranger Things from the beginning. If those shows had a musical equivalent, this would be it!

Elasticity by Serj Tankian

And finally on the long-play recommendations, System of A Down frontman Serj Tankian released a new solo EP of tracks originally written for the next SOAD record. This is political activism you will want to mosh to, arriving with all the energy, passion, big riffs and theatrical vocals you’ve come to expect from Serj’s unique music.

Tracks of the Week

Limbo by Royal Blood

Ahead of the release of their third studio album Typhoons, British rockers Royal Blood have dropped one of their most ambitious singles to date, with some hypnotic, psychedelic synths joining their typical heavy riffing.

Buzzcut by Brockhampton (featuring Danny Brown)

Everyone’s famous rap troupe has finally returned, with a hard-hitting new single bolstered by a killer verse from Detroit’s own master wordsmith, Danny Brown.

Last Day On Earth by Beabadoobee

The first track from a new EP co-written and co-produced by The 1975’s Matt Healy and George Daniel, Beabadoobee’s Last Day On Earth is a slice of lockdown-inspired indie-pop heaven.

In Circles by Holding Absence

The latest taster from The Greatest Mistake of My Life is hugely anthemic and packs a big singalong, mightily infectious chorus that will be trapped in your head for days.

Nervous by While She Sleeps (featuring Simon Neil)

Rivalling Holding Absence for the title of biggest anthem of the week are Sheffield-based metalcore outfit While She Sleeps, who have brought in Biffy Clyro’s Simon Neil for this monster new track.

Shake The Cage by Glasvegas

And finally this week, Scottish indie rockers Glasvegas continue their resurgence with Shake The Cage, a spoken-word, piano-driven number that steadily builds into an epic crescendo.