#Goyard Comin’: Exordium | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

vawsculturecorner · 10 months ago

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My Musical 2023: Musings by a girl who can't stop getting high and tweeting.

PART 1: People don't know what "A weak year for Music" means.

End of year time chat - you know what that means, everybody and their mother wants to tell you what the best, most valuable per minute piece of funny sound waves was in the year of our lord 2023. Cynicism aside, I like year-end lists! Despite my immense disdain for attributing any form of hierarchy to art, they are good fun to put together when we throw out any notions of objectivity. It's a way to preach how much we love something by measuring it against other things that we love.

Attempting to not be brazenly hypocritical, I’ve taken a “Mic the Snare” approach and grouped albums together under categories that make some sense to me and probably none to you. The hope is that if you like one thing on this list, you find something similar that you haven’t heard to try. The ultimate takeaway I want people to have after reading is “fuck I should listen to this aye”.

I am nowhere near a skilled enough writer (or observer, frankly) to make meaningful commentary on everything (or anything depending on who you ask). For the sake of brevity and our collective sanity I’m only going over the standout stuff from this year, my absolute favourites and whatever else I deem relevant/vaguely amusing. Consider anything mentioned here to be an album that I think of positively. If I don’t include it here, I didn’t hear it or I forgot because unbeknownst to you I am capable of making mistakes. If I don’t go into depth on something, assume I love it but I possess insufficient skill to do it justice/not quite obsessed enough with it to make an ass of myself trying

Herculean Hip-Hop

Goyard Comin': Exordium - Goyard Ibn Said Y'all gotta stop annoying the shit out of my man on Twitter and let him make his music. Yes, the artist who you may know as Ghais Guevara has put out some high-quality conscious hip-hop but man's also makes fucking bangers. To quote the album, you can't even go a yard without collapsing - hit the gym and bump tracks like Blood on My Grails whilst you are there. Faith is a Rock - MIKE x Wiki x The Alchemist MIKE, Wiki and Uncle Al link up for my favourite Alchemist-produced project of the year. Bleeding New York to the bone, this intergenerational meetup runs seamlessly across its brief runtime with the signature Alchemist production and intricately spun lyrics from MIKE and Wiki. Listen to Be Realistic.

Voir Dire - Earl Sweatshirt x The Alchemist Whilst we are talking about Alchemist, his long-awaited collaboration with Earl Sweatshirt is another solid addition to his discography. You really can’t go wrong with these two, and I feel like Alc’s beat really lend visibility to Earl’s pen and avoids intrusion, providing a clearer spotlight to the labyrinth of Earl's rapping. Undoubtedly My Brother, The Wind and 27 Braids are the two tracks I find the heaviest hitting.

14K Figaro - Wiki x Tony Seltzer Wiki had a fucking year hey - of his releases this is pretty handily my favourite, with Tony Seltzer's more digital production adding a “vintage in the modern” feeling with more synthetic sounds and beats contrasted with naturalistic and lively rhythms. Goes without saying that Wiki brings his A-Game to the mic as well. Fried Ice Cream would be my go-to track for the project.

Notorious Dump Legends 2 - Mach-Hommy x Tha God Fahim You really thought Hommy wouldn’t be here? Mach-Hommy and Tha God Fahim link up again, the legendary duo delivering on what they do best. A great appetizer before RAH next year - check out lead single Olajuwon. Glockoma 2 - Key Glock This album was my introduction to Key Glock and it is just a mixtape-style project packed with murky southern bangers. His deep, rolling delivery lends himself to a broad span of topics and emotions whilst maintaining a cold-blooded bluntness that is as cool as it is compelling. Sucker-free got an immense amount of play in the car this year. The Estate Sale - Tyler, the Creator. Hear me out - I know this is much smaller than CMIYGL and sure that album is tighter because it's more fleshed out, but on purely a song-for-song basis? I think I prefer these songs. In a decade where Tyler has released his best music yet, tracks like Dogtooth and Wharf are some of the strongest showings in his catalogue so far. Sorry not Sorry is also his best closing track period.

Soul of Too Birdz - Too Birdz Too Birdz defy genre in a blistering kaleidoscope of jagged noises and sounds that are increasingly difficult to pin down or label. All the better for it, Soul of Too Birdz introduces a cavalcade of phantasmic futurism to Australian music that mesmerizes the mind as the group's lyrical mantras are enveloped by folds of digital madness. Blood Money Millionz is a must-listen. (An addendum - this probably should have made relentless replays because I think this is one of the best albums to drop this year).

Decay - Fatboi Sharif x Steel Tipped Dove If the Too Birds album is the phantasm jolting from the street lamps at midnight then Decay is the poltergeist haunting abandoned homes in transient suburbia. The lethargy of a dying world has manifested in the voice of Sharif and the prowling soundscapes of Dove. As Sharif proselytises the apocalypse, you can hear the buzz of flies infesting corpses on key tracks like Brandon Lee. A stunning project from both artists.

Melodic Amazement and Terrific Trunknockers:

Straight up, I found it really hard to write about these ones but you should listen to them so I am including them here so again you have stuff to check out. Melodic Amazement: Ooh Rap I Ya - George Clanton George Clanton follows up his legendary "Slide" with another solid serve of hypnagogic warbly audibles. Manages to sneak in a couple of classic tracks for his catalogue too with tracks like I Been Young and For You, I Will featuring Hatchie. Filth - Collarbones The Swansong for cult-classic outfit Collarbones, the band goes out with a bang as Filth is pumped with ethereal yet driving euphoria, with Marcus Whale's singing oozing with sensuality and intimacy. The album is packed with essential tracks but I want to give a special mention to God is Here for being such a triumphant close to the beloved Australian Duo. Muscle Memories Vol 1 & 2. I saw these guys at SXSW this year and whilst I had heard tracks from them before, their set was the pure definition of mesmerizing. That same crystalline funkiness is here in spades across the two EPs that they put out this year and I am hotly anticipating their next moves. 5D dub is an excellent track to start with. What Colour Is the End? - Nikodimos Speaking of artists I found by watching them live, Nikodimos was the first artist I caught at Big Sound 2023 and fuck me was the bar set high. A jack-of-all-music-trades, there is no genre or instrument or musical crevice that Nikodimos does not excel at - case in point, What Colour Is the End? Lathered in psychedelia and warm jazzy tones you could lose yourself forever in the layers of these songs. IT HURTS! is a standout track for its emotional vocals and groovy percussion. How To Capture Playful - Pink Navel x Kenny Segal Coming off last year's EPIC, Pink Navel's earnestness and slightly dorky energy is the type of thing you would expect to be grating, but in fact, it just fills your heart with warmth and sugar. They team with the one and only Kenny Segal for an album about video games, and the results are endlessly endearing. Lead single Present Vendor is a great introduction if you are a newcomer to their music. In The End, It Always Does - The Japanese House Ok, I have to admit something that is going to have my queer femme card revoked - I am not really that enamoured with Phoebe Bridgers. She's an incredible musician, but the emotional connection that most people have with albums like Punisher I think I'm starting to have with this album here. Touching Yourself is pure saphic bliss and I swear to god if I don't meet a beautiful femme woman soon to have an emotionally charged intimate situationship I might just kill myself.

Terrific Trunknockers: OPPBOYZ - SOLLYY x Dxvdre Seriously this lil fuckin album is non-stop anthems and tracks that will make you non-stop bop. Hard on the car stereo and on the decks this album will have you yelling OPP BOY DOWN OPP BOY DOWN on top note, irrespective of the time or place. Also special shout-out to that CK line it was a bit of a cultural reset. Definitely check out OPP BOY DOWN. STRESSOR - Teether x Kuya Neil Look I'm still pretty new to the underground Australian music scene but if there is one thing that became clear to me pretty quickly, it's that Teether is one of the godfathers of this shit. Another artist who had a jam-packed year (even ending up featuring on Backwoodz release plus one from the multi-talented Fielded), this link-up with Kuya Neil is one of the most critically acclaimed underground hip-hop records of the year for good reason. Kuya Neil offers a masterclass of production here with smooth textured production riding on top of punchy, breakneck percussion. Closing track RENO is already a classic.

The Spiritual Meat Grinder - Zheani Zheani is just an incredible man - I did not expect the pivot into more electronic, dancier takes on her signature occult alt-metal-rap stylings but it's executed immaculately. How can I not recommend Bring Wet Cunt, honestly, it's such a banger.

Inconsistently Incredible and Future Funhouses:

(slightly) Inconsistently Incredible: Am I going to say these albums are perfect back to front? Not really, but there are enough moments of brilliance that go above and beyond that I think it's a disservice to skip over them.

And Then You Pray for Me - Westside Gunn W$G continues to prove he has this curation shit down fucking pat and continues to indulge his creativity with a datpiff tape-styled trap-ier take on his signature Griselda sound. Let this man executive produce a Tyler the Creator album please. Kitchen Lights is the stunner for me on this album for sure. Utopia - Travis Scott Mr "Play FEIN Ten Times in a Row" has become a more difficult sell for me as of late (and very little of that has to do with his album output) but UTOPIA manages to make good on a few moments of dusty, garish pop-rap constructed on a level of grand spectacle (I mean this as a good thing). I KNOW?, TELEKINESIS and DELRESTO (ECHOES) will probably go down as some of my all-time favourite Travis tracks. Burning Desire - MIKE MIKE continues to almost click with me (the closest I’ve come thus far is Tears of Joy) but moments on this album are like portals to a dimension where he is one of my favourite rappers working right now, with a distinct realm of abstracted explosive creationism that I genuinely struggle putting into words. Plz Don't Cut My Wings is absolutely my favourite song he has put out and has this distinct melancholic grain that wraps around MIKE's lyrics of memory and making it to the light at the end of a rough road. Something to Give Each Other - Troye Sivan Personally, I don't come back to this album in it's entirety as full listens can sometimes drag a bit, but individual tracks like the singles and a few deep-cuts like Can't Go Back Baby are undeniable gay boy summer smash hits and I am so fucking here for them.

Future Funhouses: These are albums that I did hear this year but didn’t really dedicate enough time to properly sit with them. That said, I feel pretty confident these will grow on me with more listens. Obviously, because of this I'm not gonna write anything on them because I would be talking out my ass! HELLMODE - Jeff Rosenstock Never Falter Hero Girl - Katie Dey - ok but this one is really good and is probably the one you are most likely to have not heard of these albums listen to Katie Dey shes incredible Lahai - Sampa Did you know there is a tunnel under Ocean Blvd - Lana Del Rey Again - Oneohtrix Point Never

#best of 2023 #aoty #2023 roundup #australian music #music review #aus music

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