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joecial-distancing · 2 years ago

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Albums of the new year

MGMT Oracular Spectacular (2007): There’s a review of Spring Breakers that I really like, where the reviewer points out that it’s a movie that makes more sense now, in hindsight, because instead of getting Harmony Korine’s hot takes on America’s youth, you get a dead-on time capsule of a very specific time & place--a zeitgest, over now, that at the time didn’t seem aware of its own mortality.

I was thinking a lot about that when listening to Oracular Spectacular; I was actually pretty shocked to see it’s as old as 2007, because the era I vividly remember it from was 2011-2013 aka my college years aka a time when the hits from this were ubiquitous instead of showing their age. It’s another one of those where exactly half the songs on here got way too much exposure, while the other half you’ve never heard in your fucking life. Most of the unknowns were actually pretty fun, with the exception of “Youth” which was so awful it single-handedly knocks the whole thing down a rung of my esteem. Fun trip down memory lane!

UB40 Signing Off (1980): I’m slowly triangulating my reggae taste, for the most part this was pretty good, didn’t stand out very much, but a couple of the songs (”Signing Off”, “Reefer Madness”) are long instrumental pieces that I thought were really cool and engaging

John Lee Hooker The Healer (1989): I’ve learned through this project and after seeing Kingfish Ingram live that I really like blues, and this is tremendous stuff

Talking Heads Talking Heads 77 (1977): This was an interesting one for me; I consider myself a huge Talking Heads fan, but also their big deal albums for me all come from their middle/later years, like Remain in Light onward. So even having grown up with their stuff around, I never really checked out their earliest offerings.

All of which is to say I’m having a tough time with this one, I think I don’t like it as much as what came later, but I still like it a lot, but I struggle to get into the headspace of what I might think if I were coming to this completely cold

Madonna Ray of Light (1998): Outstanding side A existing in tension with kind of a dull side B. I dunno, this one really excited me at the start, but I didn’t end it with the same enthusiasm

Giving it another listen, am I crazy, of am I hearing shades of Moon Safari in this?

Oasis Definitely Maybe (1994): Knowing them only from “Wonderwall”, this was pretty good. At its best made me think about underwater cities, which is a winner for me.

iirc there’s like a fan feud between them and Blur? going off this, I think I’m probably Team Blur

Coldplay Parachutes (2000): Dire stuff, I was correct to give them a miss back in the day

Julian Cope Peggy Suicide (1991): I have no idea about who this guy is or his deal in general, but this was really interesting. Album length kind of uncalled for, but on the other hand a normal length wouldn’t have been enough to get lost in, which was very fun with this

Screaming Trees Dust (1996): Grungy, forgettable

The Smashing Pumpkins Siamese Dream (1993): Kind of mixed for me, fundamentally compelling, vocals have a weird quality that I’m kind of on board with, but also often the thing got boring

Nancy Griffith The Last Of The True Believers (1986): Spotify reactivated autoplay without permission, and it took me a solid hour to notice the album was done with.

Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band Safe As Milk (1967): Had to dig up a mono release because the stereo mixing was way too aggressive for headphones, but overall pretty fun weird folky mishmash thing

Soft Cell Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret (1981): “Tainted Love” is the thing they’re known for, but the actual highlight of this was “Sex Dwarf”. Otherwise forgettable Brit Synth Pop.

Pink Floyd The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn (1967): First time listening to a non-Dark Side Of The Moon or -greatest hits Pink Floyd album; since the last time either of them came up on the list, I head something about how Pink Floyd in general was kind of a predecessor to Radiohead; like even though the tone is different, both groups’ appeal lies in the sound mixing, and there’s audience overlap of people drawn to that.

Janelle Monáe The ArchAndroid (2010): This was fantastic! I feel like concept albums haven’t been in vogue for a good long while, so I really really appreciated how big she went with it here.

a-ha Hunting High And Low (1985): “Take On Me” is correctly the well-known song from them, but there were a few other gems in this

Pet Shop Boys Very (1993): Pet Shop Boys grates on me in general, and this one was done no favors by coming right on the heels of a-ha like that. I feel like by 1993 it was long past time to evolve past this kind of sound

Led Zeppelin Physical Graffiti (1975): Album went a bit too long. The number of songs was correct, lots to get lost in, and they go a lot of different places, but the songs mostly overstayed their welcome.

c. 2012 I was using Pandora a lot, and for some reason it was absolutely obsessed with serving me up instrumental covers of “Kashmir”. Which I guess was fine, just confusing.

Johnny Cash At San Quentin (1969): Johnny Cash is great and I like how much this benefits from being a live album, really shows off how charismatic of a performer he was

Devo Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo (1978): Foundational album of a low-key influential band, but not one of my preferred releases from them

Echo And The Bunnymen Ocean Rain (1984): More of a stereotypical ‘80s sound compared to Crocodiles, by which I mean less along the lines of synth pop, and more grandiose, lots of orchestral stings, etc. A Bigger sound that I think benefits them

Muse Black Holes and Revelations (2006): I expected to have a bunch of thoughts on Muse and whether their stuff has aged very well since my high school days when I was super into them, maybe some ideas on the distinctly Nolan-movie-style bombast, evaluating whether I still like it etc. What I thought about instead is how I never really listened very much to this as a full album, usually I just skipped between the singles. The big fuckoff Cosmic Arena Rock pieces show their age, but actually still land alright, but in between them are a whole lot of bad filler pieces that really drag the whole thing down

Orbital Snivilisation (1994): The type of techno that Strong Bad was making fun of

Arcade Fire Neon Bible (2007): Band continues to be mids

Dolly Parton Coat Of Many Colors (1971): I’m a tough sell on most post-50s/60s country music, and I liked this quite a bit

Tom Waits Heartattack And Vine (1980): Think I liked Rain Dogs better, he was sleazier for that

Tortoise Millions Now living Will Never Die (1996): I got excited when I realized it was going to be all instrumental, but it never really rose above passing the time alright

Arrested Development 3 Years, 5 Months And 2 Days In The Life Of... (1992): This is the most dated-90s shit I’ve heard in my life

#1001 Albums

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appears · 2 years ago

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hide: ROCKET DIVE

Within hide's (as it would turn out to be) small discography, ROCKET DIVE is one of the biggies. Like PINK SPIDER before it, it was the last of a certain kind of single release (the last one hide was alive to see), and due to its proximity to his death, comes saddled with interesting baggage.

The single, which came out in January of 1998, was the first to be released under the group name "hide with Spread Beaver" rather than hide's name alone. The change was meant to acknowledge the contributions of the band members, while also cementing the live band that he had already been working with for years. Among the colorful cast of characters were hide's former band mate in X Japan, Pata, I.N.A., who would come to be something of hide's musical right-hand man, as well as someone like Chirolyn, who added the kind of wild personality that made the band stand out aesthetically -- technically, hide's pink hair already did this, but if any mainstream J-rocker was less inhibited on stage than Chirolyn, I never saw them.

"ROCKET DIVE" was written and recorded in Los Angeles well before hide's passing, while plans were being drafted for subsequent single releases, an album, and a concert tour. The song leans heavily into hide's new predilection for more industrial elements in his music, an obvious nod to his love for groups like Garbage, Nine Inch Nails, and Marilyn Manson. Unlike the more organic Hide Your Face, or the smorgasbord of PSYENCE, the songs on what would eventually be Ja,Zoo embraced synths and computers to achieve their sound, one boosted by hide's signature vocals and sense of dangerous fun. "ROCKET DIVE" is ostensibly a song advocating the escape of everyday ennui for a life of adventure by taking off unfettered into the freedom of outer space. Enhanced by sex and drug references, it's unclear whether this freedom can be found literally or just chemically. Does it matter? Both take you "to the world where new stars glitter." Like "PINK SPIDER," it's a meditation upon feelings of unsatisfying emptiness, and a yearning for the bigger, brighter things in life. As an introduction to his new sound, it did a lot of explaining while also leaving room for experimentation, a perpetual exploration of whatever styles hide had yet to play with (pop, rock, reggae, jazz, industrial, and thrash being only some of the ones he already parlayed into some of the most exciting J-rock of the 90s).

In that sense, the inclusion of an amped up version of "DOUBT" for the B-side could leave a listener nonplussed. The original song had been released as the B-side for his second single 50% & 50% in 1993, and is here renamed the "MIXED LEMONed JELLY MIX." While retaining the same base melody, lyrics, and general ambience, the song is updated to represent the harder sound hide was creating with Spread Beaver, and in some ways echoes the kind of work that he would begin exploring with his U.S.-based band Zilch. With its aggressive rhythm and hypnotic chorus, it's always been one of my favorite hide songs, and his iconic, satirical performance of it as a salary man, just hours before he passed, ranks as one of my all-time favorite. Based on his return to the song, it's clear something about the original felt lacking, unfinished, or inauthentic for him to take the time to update it.

This single was originally released on the 3″ mini-CD format and comes in standard packaging, with the lyrics and song credits printed on the inside back cover. Besides the two above tracks, it also includes the karaoke version of "ROCKET DIVE." As a testament to the song's amazing energy, it was chosen as the first track off of hide's first posthumous greatest hits collection, hide BEST ~PSYCHOMMUNITY~, and as that was my first official hide album, it thus cemented the spirit and image of hide for me forever: bright pink hair in a lemon-yellow track suit, courageously, cheekily, setting sail for the seductive, unpredictable unknown.

Catalog Number: MVDH-9002 RisefromAshes also wrote about this song recently here.

#hide #hide with spread beaver #anniversaries #j-rock #japanese rock

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musicarenagh · 6 months ago

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Azato and Jonah Jaxon Unite for "When We Gonna Start?": A Call for Change Azato, the well-known Roots Reggae Band, is releasing their latest single "When We Gonna Start?" featuring Jonah Jaxon. This song combines Azato's signature island vibes with Jaxon's powerful vocals and is expected to become a new anthem for reggae lovers. "When We Gonna Start?" is a call to action, urging listeners to embrace change and unity. The band's deep roots in Hawaiian culture are reflected in the song's relaxed yet compelling groove, beautifully complemented by Jonah Jaxon's emotive delivery. His voice, blending raw emotion and refined technique, brings a new dimension to Azato's already rich sound. The lyrics touch on themes of social consciousness and personal growth, encouraging listeners to consider their roles in creating a better world. Azato's skill in blending traditional reggae elements with contemporary influences is evident, making this track both timeless and current. Listen to When We Gonna Start Featuring Jonah Jaxon https://open.spotify.com/track/6WpB6oKiQ7VIEa1N3uA39W Follow Azato on Facebook Spotify Youtube Instagram What is your stage name? Azato Is there a story behind your stage name? Azato means joyful or smilie one in the Fra Fra language in Northern Ghana. I used to play with a highlife Ghanaian band and the lead singer Akaaya Atule gave me the nickname and it stuck. Where do you find inspiration? My inspiration musically comes from Jamaican Reggae music especially from the 70’s and early 80’s. Azato Music also has a lot of traditional and World Music influences. Message wise my music come out of my life experience and with the social work I do as well as the struggle. Azato Music also has a strong spiritual element. What was the role of music in the early years of your life? Music has always played a huge role in my life. Music was always playing in my house and my brother and I were always making mixed tapes from the radio and spending hours in the local music stores as well as going to countless live concerts. Are you from a musical or artistic family? Yes my motherʻs side of the family is very musical with many professional musicians including my grandfather, aunties and cousins. Who inspired you to be a part of the music industry? I have had a many older mentors that encouraged me in my music early on. I started to play professionally around 16 years old. Some friends I grew up with had a passion for music so we started writing together and we wanted to share our passion and creative and the rest is history. [caption id="attachment_55788" align="alignnone" width="2000"] I started to play professionally around 16 years old[/caption] How did you learn to sing/write/to play? I took some piano lessons at young age but mostly I am self taught and play by ear. I have studied West African, AfroCuban and Brazilian drumming for years. I also have a BA in World Music from San Diego State University. What was the first concert that you ever went to and who did you see perform? The first big concert I went to was U2 on their Joshua Tree tour, also opening for them that night was Ice T and Public Enemy. How could you describe your music? Spiritual, conscious, roots reggae music. Describe your creative process. The best way to describe my songwriting process is it is a prayer. My music is my conversation with the Most High if I remember the songs I will write them out and bring them to my band and further develop them from there. What is your main inspiration? Godʻs love in the midst of life’s tremendous struggles. What musician do you admire most and why? So many Artists I look up too. Early on I would say Bob Marley not only because of the music but the message and his passion to be a voice for the voiceless and uplift the hopeless. Did your style evolve since the beginning of your career? Yes, my lifelong goal is to continue to grow as an artist. I started off as a drummer and keyboardist with many bands.

It was a long journey of many years before I started to share my original music and to be the frontman and to release my music as a solo artist. [caption id="attachment_55786" align="alignnone" width="636"] Jonah Jaxon[/caption] Who do you see as your main competitor? Myself, music is creativity, honestly, and passion. I am only competing against myself to be the best artist I can be, creating the most authentic music that is full of passion. What are your interests outside of music? Surfing, diving, hiking, woodworking and construction. I work with a non-profit that helps at-risk teens, I am a surf coach at a local High School. I am passionate about the environment, social justice and love the outdoors. If it wasn't a music career, what would you be doing? All the work I mentioned above, I bring it all together with music. All the social work all I do has music so I cannot separate what I do and who I am. What is the biggest problem you have encountered in the journey of music? As an independent artist it is hard to make a living through music. The industry has changed greatly through streaming, etc.. and it is very hard for most artists to be able to create and support themselves through music alone. If you could change one thing in the music industry, what would it be? The selfish cut throat nature of the industry. Too often managers, promoters, labels, even artistʻs are too focused on the money to be made and not focused on the artists, music and the message. https://open.spotify.com/artist/6BdnAtGoJTHHQShaZ2r9Gx?si=xnHOh3IXQViDdz94t_6HCQ Why did you choose this as the title of this project? Bridges Not Walls. The opposite of Love is not hate but fear. We as people too often build walls and not enough bridges. The time for healing of humanity has come. As the chorus of the song says. Build bridges not walls See Babylon fall Spread Love not hate There’s no time to wait “Love is the bridge between you and everything.” Rumi What are your plans for the coming months? We are going to be releasing a single a month this year and have our album release words the end of the year. We will be having some local as well as international shows this year. Do you have any artistic collaboration plans? Yes I have many collaborations in the works I will be releasing songs with features from Reggae greats like Luciano, Kumar from Ragin Fyah and Pato Banton. I am also featuring some the greatest Hawaiian artists on some of my tracks including artists Kimie Miner, Irie Love, Trishnalei, Aisea Taimani, Riya Davis, Kawika Kahiapo and Ron Artis II. What message would you like to give to your fans? Relationships are true riches, love everyone that God puts in your life. Life is hard but keep on moving forward. Aloha ke Akua!

#Interviews #Azato #AzatodropsWhenWeGonna #AzatooutwithWhenWeGonna #AzatoreleasesWhenWeGonna #AzatoWhenWeGonna #AzatowithWhenWeGonna #WhenWeGonna #WhenWeGonnaAzato #WhenWeGonnabyAzato #WhenWeGonnafromAzato

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priokskfm · 7 months ago

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#MixOfDay #Podcast #Radioshow #LiveDjset M77: X-Press 2 The Monologues Podcast invites producers to mix an hour of their own productions. Follow our Bandcamp for our label releases at https://ift.tt/Vd5UQ3A We are not worthy! A big scalp for us here at Monologues as we invite one of our all-time favourite production outfits to contribute to the series. This '92-'24 retrospective from one of the mightiest names in house features unreleased Gabriels + Usher remix exclusives and a special edit of 'Lazy' exclusive to this mix. No-one does chunky house music better and we're delighted to have these history-makers be part of our long-running series. Strap yourself in for a tonking hour. *How would you describe your sound?* Our sound is for the dancefloor. Pure and simple. Whether that's the back room of a pub in Colnbrook or a huge mega tech rave in Mexico. *What and who inspires you and influences your sound?* I guess it's all sorts of music that's influenced us over the years. Going way back to tribal music through Blues, jazz, rnb, reggae, soul, disco, house, techno, classical etc etc. We always go back to early house stuff if we're ever stuck in the studio. Just get back to the raw basics and go again! *Can you tell us a little about this mix and what it means to you?* This '92224' mix is basically a snap shot of some of the stuff that we, with Ashley for a huge chunk of it, have done or been involved with over the years. From our very first production together ('Muzik Xpress') bang up to the minute with our soon-to-be-released Gabriels remix. Getting this mix together has made me appreciate just how much we've done and makes me feel very proud of what 3 lads from west London have achieved musically. Listening back to it there's definitely a thread that runs through this 32 years of music and I think that hopefully, you can hear those answers to the first 2 questions contained within. 1 X-Press 2 - Muzik Xpress (Double D Mix.) Junior Boys Own 2 Chugger - Thank You (X-Press 2 Mix. Back 2 Basics 3 X-Press 2 - Reign Of Drums. Skint 4 JIM - Phoenix (X-Press 2 On Fire Dub.) Vicious Charm 5 David Kitt - Till The End (X-Press 2 12 Inch Remix) Re:warm 6 Gabriels - Love And Hate In A Different Time (X-Press 2 Love And Honesty Remix.) Atlas Artists/Parlophone 7 Kelis - Milkshake (X-Press 2 Triple Thick Mix) Virgin 8 D*Note - The Garden Of Earthly Delights (Ballistic Barrio Boom) Dorado 9 Golden Boy With Miss Kittin -Rippin Kittin (X-Press 2 Late Night Homicide Vocal.) Illustrious 10 Usher - Burn (X-Press 2 Unreleased Rave N Bleep Remix.) Unreleased 11 Green Velvet - Answering Machine (X-Press 2 Direct Line Mix.) F-111 12 X-Press 2 - Smoke Machine. Skint 13 X-Press 2 feat. Rob Harvey - Kill 100. Skint 14 X-Press 2 - Moov. Acid Jazz 15 X-Press 2 - Phasing You Out (David Holmes Remix.) Acid Jazz 16 X-Press 2 - Zeven. Acid Jazz 17 X-Press 2 - Muzik Xpress. Junior Boys Own 18 X-Press 2 feat. David Byrne - Lazy. Skint www.priokskfm.online https://ift.tt/RTt6ACo

#Priokskfm #mixofaday #Monologues #SoundCloud

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chrancecriber · 2 years ago

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1.FM - Chillout Lounge Radio (February 17, 2023)

23:56 Solanos - Shameless 23:51 4tunes - Where Are You Now (Feat. Hed) (Kandi Hotel Enigma Mix) 23:46 Omega3 & Guitarigi - Food (Original) 23:39 Milews - Miami Beach View - Sunset Del Mar Cafe Lounge Mix 23:35 Chillwave - Massage Del Mar (Beach Cafe Mix) 23:31 Jjos - Know Me 23:24 Jean Martin - In My Dreams (Extended Remix) 23:18 Freemasons Feat. Amanda Wilson - Love On My Mind 23:11 Deep-dive-corp. - The Island 23:05 Aurosonic, Denis Karpinskiy, & Kate Louise Smith - They Wait For Us (Chill Out Mix) 22:59 Sweet Velvet - La Realidad (Feat. Debora Vilchez) (Ibiza Del Mar Cafe Lounge Vocal Mix) 22:55 Mystique - Essences (Rico Van Basten Chill Mix) 22:50 Coastline - Adriatic Sea - Dj Lounge Del Mar Vs. Milews Ambience Mix 22:45 Triangle Sun - Beautiful 22:40 Gary B - Set Me Free 22:35 Afterlife - Espalmador 22:30 Alessandro Boschi - Sentosa 22:24 Jerome Isma-ae - Underwater Love 22:20 York Ft Asheni - Iceflowers 22:14 Va - Red Muladhara 22:09 Rae & Christian - Still Here 22:05 Flume Feat. Andrew Wyatt - Some Minds 22:00 Amethystium - Calantha 21:55 Ohm-g & Bruno - Jungle Light 21:49 Cafe Del Mar - Leftfield - Fanfare Of Life 21:44 Mark's & Henry's - The Making 21:39 Jjos - Foolish Game (Feat. Deary's) (Evolution Vocal Mix) 21:32 Laid Back - Sunshine Reggae (Peter Visti's & Stella Polaris Remix) 21:26 Exit Mars - Gliding (Comfort Version) 21:21 Moorcheeba - Moog Island 21:16 Noel - Chalito - Ibiza Chillhouse Lounge Mix 21:08 Chilloutlounge - Track 3 21:02 Steen Thottrup - El Alba 20:57 Vio Beach - Piano Chillout (Ambient Dream Mix) 20:53 Conjure One - Make A Wish 20:50 Gabriel Le Mar - Seaside (Original Vrsion) 20:42 Universe Music - Guitar Beach Lounge 20:37 Riccardo Eberspacher - I Feel Love 20:34 Dr. Meaker - Need Love 20:30 Starlive Cafe - Playa Del Mar (Chillout Mix) 20:25 Purplastic - Nathalia (Ambient Mix) 20:18 Rue Du Soleil - Troya 20:14 Jjos - Don't You Want Me (Chilled Mix) 20:06 Tommy Awards - Hotel Odemark 20:00 Vargo - Get Back To Serenity 19:56 Autopilot - Seen It All 19:49 Cesar Martinez Ensemble - Contigo Para Siempre 19:43 Schwarz & Funk - The Dawn 19:37 Simon Bareilles - The Sound Of Silence (Feat. Sara Keys) 19:32 Ra-qi Gong - Rainy Days In Shanghai (Buddha Cafe Del Mar Bar Mix) 19:26 Digby Jones - Pina Colada 19:21 Lange - Frozen Beach 19:14 Lux - So La Ra Dsa 19:09 Merge Of Equals - Clear Blue Sky (Original Mix) 19:05 No Logo - Matter Of Time 19:01 Shakes Seven - Best Friends 18:56 Air - La Femme D'argent 18:50 Floatation Feat. Pierre - Beautiful (Dub) 18:44 Art Of Lounge - Moments In Love (Buddha Bar Mix) 18:39 Dj Milews - Children (Ambient Del Mar Winter Cafe Mix) 18:36 K. Vio & Tim Tonic - Out Of Atlantis 18:31 Chilloutlounge - Track 8 18:24 Bent - Swollen (Napoleon Remix) 18:19 Chris Coco Mts Afterlief - Home 18:15 Afterlife - How Does It Feel 18:09 Phil Mison - Lula 18:03 Moon De Lounge - La Mer Se Calme ( Mounier Oriental Sunset Dub Mix) 17:59 Ling Ludd - Waterfront Dub 17:53 Polished Chrome - Mala (Original Mix) 17:47 Thomas Lemmer - I Like It 17:44 Oh Wonder - Technicolour Beat 17:39 Afterlife & Kid Stone - Sleazebag 17:34 Manoa - Walk This Way 17:28 4tunes - Where Are You Now (Feat. Hed) 17:21 Noel - Hold Me (Relax Lounge Cafe Chillout Mix) 17:15 Blue Chakra - Free From You (Half Tempo Long Chill Mix) 17:11 Alex Cortiz - Glamourgirl 17:06 Airstream - Electra 17:01 Guss - Milesing 16:55 Green Lemon Feat. Bernd Langer - Rauchy Stranger 16:50 Un Homme Et Une Femme - Une Rose Pour Emily (Cafe Hotel French Del Mar Mix) 16:44 Joey Fehrenbach - Particles 16:39 Strange Voices - All Right For Now (3 Times Infinity Mix) 16:33 Blank & Jones With Jason Caesar - Hideaway 16:27 Heso - Never Ending Time 16:23 Jeff Woodal - Your Love (The Dark) 16:17 Aloha From Hawai - Sunset Cocktail Lounge (Cafe Bar Chillout Del Mar Cafe Mix) 16:12 Gold Lounge - Only A Dream 16:08 Washed Out - Face Up 16:02 Thievery Corporation - Incident At Gate 7 15:54 Royspop - Summer Nights (Luxury Deluxe Del Mar Mix) 15:48 Aural Float - Still Here 15:44 The River Gods - Acadia House 15:37 Sweet Velvet - Recalling The Rising Sun 15:32 Remote - Postcard 15:27 Triangle Sun - Beautiful 15:23 Jose Ramos - Alone Again 15:12 Vargo - The Moment 15:06 Naoki Kenji - Bedtime 14:59 Dj Lounge Del Mar - Sentosa Beach Cafe - Tribute To Cafe Del Mar Guitar Mix 14:55 Pines - Tell Me (Feat. Water Park) 14:48 Hirudo - Spy From Cairo (Classic Instrumental Mix) 14:39 Chilloutlounge - Track 2 14:34 Monique Bon - La Musique 14:29 Solid Gold - Save A Prayer (Nick Tatler & Phil Blohm Instrumental) 14:20 Mysticage - The Lips Of The Sun (Original) 14:13 Joey Fehrenbach - Edison Cylinder 14:08 Ravi Costes - Lion Sleeps - Cafe Groovera Hotel Bar Del Mar Mix 14:03 Noel - Chalito (Ibiza Chillhouse Lounge Mix) 13:58 The Essence - Serpentine 13:55 Dragon Lounge - Saigon Sundown (Asia Cut) 13:50 Peter Pearson - Bossalove 13:45 Miro - The Cure 13:41 Re:locate Vs Robert Nickson - Resource (Rechill) 13:37 Flume Feat. Andrew Wyatt - Some Minds 13:29 Matenda - Orphean Layback Remix 13:24 07 - Paradise Circus 13:19 Fluff - Silent Life 13:14 Scott Simmons - Children (Mediterr-asian Chill Mix) 13:08 Blank & Jones Feat. Cathy Battistessa - Miracle Man (Beached Mix) 13:01 Jjos & Fede Garcia - Foolish Game (Feat Deary's) 12:56 E-love - Cause I Love You No More (Alster Lounge Chill Out Vocal Mix) 12:50 Yagya - The Phantom Of Us 12:44 Réve De Cabaret - Trust Me 12:39 Night Loungers - A Little Lazy Morning In Paris - French Kiss Del Mar Instrumental 12:33 Manoa - Repeat It In Slow Motion (Trippin Clouds Mix) 12:28 Lounge Worship - Above All (Instrumental) 12:22 Kiss Audio - The Voice Of Freedom (Spiritual Version) 12:18 Gelka Feat. Phoenix Pearle - Being You 12:13 Sam Swift - Wonderful World 12:04 Va - Soar Angelic 11:58 Frank Borell - Somber Moods 11:53 Dj Pippi - A Touch 11:49 Lemon Sol - Beautiful Morning (Piano Cafe Chillout To Ibiza Del Mar) 11:45 Coolinar - Wednesday Night 11:41 Mastermind - Wanna Give You Shelter 11:35 Gary B - Set Me Free 11:30 Ziller - Pearl & Dean 11:23 Michael E - Sark Of Searenity 11:17 Muki - Track 4 11:09 Madonna - Secret (Difrankz' 2003 Confidential Chill Out Mix) 11:04 Omnimotion - Cozy Life 10:56 Groove Armada - Inside My Mind 10:52 Alex Baratini - My Play (Chill Out Mix) 10:48 Nouvelle Vague - Love Will Tear Us Apart 10:44 P.m F.m - Chinchilla 10:39 Atb - Remember That Day 10:34 Kitty The Bill - Cabriolet Tour 10:28 Ohm-g & Bruno - One 10:22 Fresh Moods - Solarcell 10:17 Coastline - Adriatic Sea (Dj Lounge Del Mar Vs. Milews Ambience Mix) 10:12 Jjos - Lonely (Feat. María La Caria) Manu López-saxo (Lounge Mix) 10:03 Saint Etienne - Only Love Can Break Your Heart- Andrew Weatherall Mix 09:59 Sued - Feel Me 09:55 York - Bye Bye Baby (Chill Out Mix) 09:49 Philip Aniskin - Evening On The Waves 09:44 Ringo Orenji - Mikan 09:37 Massive Gold - Follow Me (Feat Jaywee) (Chillout Del Mar Cafe Instrumental) 09:31 Euphonic Traveller - Cafe Champs Elysees 09:26 Gelka Feat. Phoenix Pearle - Million Nights 09:21 3 Liquid Hz - Metropolitan 09:16 Green Lemon Feat Magica Fe - 11 O Clock (Pure Beach Cut) 09:07 Toka Kakabadze - Urban 09:03 Synkro - Memories Of Love 08:57 Language Lab - Burning Disaster (Groove Armada Bedtime Story Mix) 08:56 Costes - Stéphane Pompougnac - Green Tree 08:52 Cold Blue - Underwater Love 08:47 Jazz L'amour - Summer Dreams - See The Light Mix 08:43 Ultraviolet - Ready Or Not (Chilled Out Mix) 08:38 Maricopa - Sun Scope 08:32 Dab - Pure Joy 08:29 Jjos - Back To Me 08:23 Jazzy Pecada - Slow Down 08:17 Ficci - Edge Of The Night 08:12 Mamani - Glowing Desert (Aloe Trumpet Mix) 08:05 Schwarz & Funk - Remando Al Viento 07:59 Alpha X - Nocturnal Trip 07:54 Sleepingroom Armada - Hope - Easy Erotic Groove Lounge Mix 07:46 Alex Paterson - Flex-e-fun 07:44 Isan - No. 1 (Lent Et Douloureux) 07:39 Mahoroba - Faire On Tour (Jazzmatic Lounge Mix) 07:32 Royspop - Mid Summer Nights (Luxury Deluxe Del Mar Mix) 07:26 Victor G. De La Fuente Feat. S - Tu Despertar (Original Chill M 07:22 Thomas Lemmer - Savannah 07:18 Tall Paul Vs Inxs - Precious Heart 07:13 Bedroom Surfer - Make It Happen - Meet Her At Costa Del Sol Mix 07:09 Tranquillo - Elaborated Compassion 07:03 Peter Linski Experience - Everything Flows 06:59 Vibraphile - Waiting For You (Instrumental) 06:54 Cats Love Dogs - Sunpearls (Paradise Lounge) 06:51 Chris Malinchak - So Good To Me 06:46 Saigenji - No Meio Da Chuva 06:42 For - For Want Of Her 06:36 Puff Dragon - Lava 06:27 Deep-dive-corp. - Bassic (Flow Mix) 06:22 Beach Armada - Ocean Eyes (Oriental Chill Groove Cafe Mix) 06:17 Cafe Americaine - Kashmir Wanderer (Nylons Cut) 06:11 Sinan - 99 Reasonsfeat. Omenzeter 06:05 Chicane - Saltwater (The Thrillseekers Remix) 05:58 Pacator - Tränen (Marcielo Ambient Mix Instrumental) 05:51 Rediophonic - Desert Wind 05:45 Rhodescreen - Peace System (Original Mix) 05:40 Miraflores - Waves Of Love 05:35 Orange Music - Islandlover (Monotonic Trip Mix) 05:28 Wharmton Rise - The Augur Revisited 05:22 Alex Cortiz - Ibiza Trumpet Thing 05:19 William Orbit - Love My Way 05:15 The Avener & Mazzy Star - Fade Into You (The Avener Rework) 05:09 Green Lemon Feat Magica Fe - 11 O Clock (Pure Beach Cut) 05:05 James Bright - Little Things 04:59 Cdm - Many Rivers To Cross 04:53 Ypey - Love In Spain 04:47 Coastline - Adriatic Sea - Lounge Cafe Chillout Del Mar Mix 04:41 Lullaby Lounge - Chill Del La Mer (Blank Cafe Relax Mix) 04:35 San Martino - Es Cavalett (Piano Dream Mix) 04:30 Sofa Surfers - Sofa Rockers (Richard Dorfmeis 04:26 Noise Boyz - With My Own Eyes (Keys Of Da Sea Mix) 04:19 Night Traffic - Rain 04:11 Joey Fehrenbach - Grandfather 04:06 L'art Mystique - Le Jardin Secret 04:01 Gary B - Love Rain Down 03:56 Roberto Sol - Miles Beyond 03:51 Nujazzy - On A Sunday Morning (Facebook Affair Mix) 03:46 Mandrave & Miyagi - Asian Lights 03:42 Karen Souza - Do You Really Want To Hurt Me 03:39 Gelka Feat. Phoenix Pearle - Flying On Clouds 03:31 More Than Ever People - Levita 03:25 Kosta Rodriguez - Purple Sky 03:21 A$ap Rocky - L$d 03:16 Dab - Pure Joy 03:12 Chilling Crew - Frozen Time 03:05 Coastline - Adriatic Sea (Lounge Cafe Chillout Del Mar Mix) 03:01 Mirrored - Stand Still 02:56 Pathetique - Dis Moi - Instrumental Cafe Costes Del Mar Sunset Hotel Chillout Mix 02:53 Energy 52 - Cafe Del Mar 02:50 Mel. T Waters - Glass Reflections 02:42 Vibrasphere - Spring Flood 02:35 Magic Waves Feat. Mirjam - Tonight 02:31 Bryan El - Ascension 02:24 Space Manoeuvres - The Seventh Planet (Leama & Moor Mix) 02:18 Man In The Moon Feat.debora Vilchez - Fragil 02:15 Urban Phunk Society - Spring 2 Summer 02:08 Silent Poets - Moment Scale 02:02 Nautic - Freedom Of The Floor (Open Space Remix) 01:54 Tactful - No Fear 01:48 Future Loop Foundation - Monika's Summer 01:43 Out Of Sight - Comfort (Afterlife Mix) 01:36 Dj Disse - Walk On The Wild Side 01:32 Plasma - Spring 01:27 Coronado (Pianofly Mix) - Bay Area 01:19 Kosta Rodriguez - Blue Grass 01:14 Noise Boyz - Honeytrap (Keys & Trumpet Mix) 01:09 Sunlounger - Balearic Breakfast(Chill) 01:04 Sleepingroom Armada - Hope (Feat Inocencia Comas) (Easy Erotic Groove Lounge Mix) 01:00 Jupiter Jack - Blank Space 00:55 Visit Venus - Home 00:49 Citrus Jam - Pacific Snow 00:43 Hirudo - Waiting For The Sun To Rise (Out Of Style Mix) 00:38 Soleil Fisher - Beautiful Nights In Ibiza (Tribute To Cafe Del Mar Mix) 00:34 Mastermind - Empty Road 00:28 Pusteblume - Cold As Ice (Beautiful Chillout Mix) 00:22 Henderson - Rain (Desansis Chill Out Mix) 00:18 Listening Deluxe - Guitar Dreams (Short Aqua) 00:12 Mark Gorbulew's Manhattan Groove - Dreamsville 00:08 Erotic Lounge Deluxe - Gimme The Night 00:03 Alex Cortiz - Fingerprints

#1.FM - Chillout Lounge Radio #Chillout #Lounge #Downtempo #Ambient #Trance #2023 #February 2023

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callmeglamtrash · 2 years ago

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Ok I don’t know wtf is wrong with me that it look me this long to finally listen to the album but here we go. I’m doing it now and here’s my live reaction. God help me. I’m actually panicking. I’m not normal lmao.

More Power

“You won’t get the girl you want, but you’ll get the girl you need”. Whoa. Everyone is saying this, but the choir is really interesting. This lyrics are really humble and sweet but also really fucking heavy. It is honestly making me feel some type of way being the first song. There’s also an air of religiosity about it too which is very interesting. I really expected this song to have Andrew Wyatt’s writing all over it but it’s actually not at all what I expected.

Diamond in the Dark

Ok wow wow wow. BANGER. So different for him but damn it works. Has a real 70’s vibe on the vocal recording (the echo effect etc) but also modern instrumentally. This one has Andrew Wyatt all over it with the heavy strings in that musical bridge but it’s also quite different for him at the same time.

Don’t Go Halfway

I don’t think Liam had any hand in writing this song. I think he has a writing credit on it so he has to a degree but I think it was heavily influenced. Honestly I know a lot of people like this one but it feels like a filler song to me. Reminds me a bit of Invisible Sun which I wasn’t a huge fan of either.

C’Mon You Know

Obviously not a first impression for this one. I know it’s had a lot of mixed reviews but I like it. It’s happy. It’s very Liam. I can totally see this as a sports anthem which I think is exactly what it was written for. His voice on this one is top notch as well. I am a big fan of synth in rock music and I think the bridge sounds like a wind chime and that makes me smile. I also love the choir in it.

Too Good for Giving Up

WOW the vocals on this one. Also “Look how far you’ve come. Stronger than the damage done.” Omg baby….yesss. It doesn’t feel like his writing but man do I hope these are his words for himself or that he really goes introspective with this one. It has a country twang to it which is really interesting. Again very different from anything he’s ever done.

It Was Not Meant to Be

Why do I feel like this was written about Nicole? This one also sounds really modern and different for Liam. I really like the groovy baseline in the bridge. The fade in and fade out is so very Beatles though. I kind of hate it but whatever. The song is good, the end is ridiculous LOL.

Everything’s Electric

An obvious and absolutely banger. Still as obsessed as the first time I heard it. I actually would still call it my fav song on the album so far.

World’s in Need

Another one that was a fav from first listen. I’m obsessed. This might also be a contender for best song on the album. Imagine having Liam Gallagher write a song like this about you? I actually think it’s so cute that some of the only songs where Liam is the only writing credit are mostly love songs. Debbie, you lucky bitch. Also I love that little acoustic guitar solo in it. And Andrew Wyatt hitting with the heavy strings lol. It really is his signature.

Moscow Rules

I LOVE this! It’s dramatic. It’s dark saloon theatrical. I literally could see this being a Panic at the Disco or My Chemical Romance song. Which in my world is a huge compliment. I love this kind of music that paints a picture in your head and tells a story. Obsessed. Hit us with those strings Andrew. But my fav strings (cello) as well as FLUTES??! Ok this might actually be my favourite song….like ever? Like of all Liam songs?? My jaw is on the floor right now.

I’m Free

People always think these “hate songs” are about Noel but I always feel like he’s writing them about himself and that makes me so sad. That being said, this song is hard and heavy and a rock and roll banger. Also the reggae kind of bridge is really cool. I’m really loving the creative liberties Liam gave his writers and producers because he really let them get experimental and so far it’s really worked. They all sound so different and borrow from so many different influences but at the same time they sound like they belong on the same album.

Better Days

Another one I loved from the first time we got to hear it. Uplifting and beautiful. Ok but one thing, Tove Lo is a writer on this song?? How incredibly random. Anyway, already loved it and still love it.

Oh Sweet Children

There’s something clumsy about the instrumentals in this one that bothers me. I do like the raw vocals. I don’t know about this one though. There’s also a part in the last minute where someone in the background goes like OHHH BABAHBAHA and I laughed out loud when I heard it. Like were they drunk when they recorded this? So far my least fav.

The Joker

I mean we all agree this song is obviously about Noel, right? It actually makes me sad. But it’s also a really good song. Again, sometimes I wonder if the hateful words are actually written about himself but regardless this song is clearly about their dynamic and Liam’s redemption arc. The “disappear into the choir” closing lyric before the choir carries the song out is a nice touch too.

Wave

Heavy and light at the same time. Really cool writing and production. I like how the vocals are really clean and crisp but the guitar is really gritty and heavy and then it has really light airy synth. To tie such different sounds together like that is really challenging and they do it perfectly. I really like this one.

OK so overall, I’m really happy with it. It’s so different but in a good way. It’s not too much of a departure from what you love from Liam but is also really innovative, not just as far as Liam’s music goes but as rock music goes in general right now. As I said before, I’m really happy Liam has clearly given his writers and producers a lot of artistic liberty and was really open to trying new things and that really made this album stand out.

I speculated before that Liam was a lot more involved in the writing on this album and I still stand by that. I’m pretty sure this is the first album he has a writing credit on every song (someone can fact check that?). There’s only a couple songs I suspect he was fairly hands off with. I think that coupled with the more kind of experimental sound of some of these songs is why Liam has been a little timid and insecure about this album but he should be so proud of it. I do notice now that he’s gotten a lot of positive feedback about it he’s opening up more about it so I hope he feels as proud as he ought to for this album 😊

#this is probably incredibly manic and disjointed but again there’s something wrong with me #I don’t handle these things like a normal person #I am incredibly analytical with music for some reason #liam gallagher #c’mon you know #live reaction

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burlveneer-music · 3 years ago

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Ambika Devi aka Amy Ford - Enchantment - musical mantras

Open the door into a deep and rich world, initiating the listener into a journey of spiritual empowerment and transcendence. Enchantment can be used as a means to boost energy and give healing to the entirety of our beings. Some of the sacred mantras in this album are closer to the way I first heard them sung by my beloved teachers. Others began as written words, passed on to me through friends or discovered in my reading. These mantras transformed in my consciousness and morphed into song through divine inspiration.

The stories and mythologies of many cultures fuel my creative endeavors. To the gods and goddesses of these pantheons, I give my heartfelt thanks and am forever devoted. It is through the blending of cultures and integrating of many styles of music that I wish to bring peace and acceptance to all nations of this planet. I pray that this music enlightens consciousness through the weaving of boundaries and the blending of cultures. My belief is that when we taste the food of another culture, sing words from their language and dance to their rhythms, we are able to let go of preconceived ideas and fully embrace them in love. May this music bring you joy and put a wide smile upon your face. May the beat of the drums move through you and inspire you to dance. May the blending of these musical flavors bring a sweet taste to your psyche and greater awareness and acceptance that we are all one tribe. OM, Ashe, Aho, Sat Nam! With Love and Peace, Enjoy! - Ambika Devi

Since the age of fourteen, Ambika Devi has performed with bands playing many styles of music including: Kirtan, Rock, Jazz, Latin and Reggae. Her bands toured through the United States and Mexico entertaining at resorts and parties while she worked solo as a visiting artist for Yoga classes, lead Moon Gatherings, Spiritual Circles and conducted workshops.

Ambika Devi: Lead Vocals, Congas, Djembe, Dumbek & Percussion. Liv Khalsa: Keyboards, Drum Loops, Recording & Mixing. Yonatan Miller: Violin, Recorder, Clarinet. Dashmesh Singh: Didgeridoo. Brent Scherer: Electric Guitar. Ric Flauding: Electric Guitar. Stan Sorenson: Sitar Guitar. Dheeraj Shrestha: Tabla. Mike King: Electric Bass. Tim Lyddon: Acoustic Piano: Elegua, Keyboards: Fire and Water. Backup Vocals: Paul Richards, Sat Kartar, Livtar Singh & Reva Alaila.

#ambika devi #amy ford #world music #yoga #meditative #florida #2021

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taste-in-music · 4 years ago

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taste-in-music’s Year End Wrap-Up

Hello everybody! We’ve finally reached the end of 2020. While I’m glad to leave this miserable year behind, one of things that undeniably got me through it was the vast amount of awesome music we got. In past years I’ve made favorite album and EP lists, but this time around I’m going to tackle them all in one go, giving reviews on the projects that had some significances to me over the course of the year. I’m going to make a post for my favorite songs too, so keep an eye out for that in coming days. Now, without further ado, let’s get started, shall we?

folklore by Taylor Swift: This was an incredible year of growth for Taylor Swift. As much as I’ve enjoyed her past music, the way she constantly felt the need to address what people thought of her always irked me, (though after watching her documentary, I do understand why she did it.) It wasn’t Taylor Swift the public persona that was most interesting, I thought. It was Taylor Swift the artist, the songwriter, the storyteller. What I wanted was an album focused on that. This year, I got one, (well... more on that later,) and it’s my favorite project she’s ever done. The tales Swift spins on folklore span across love triangles, heiresses, and battlefields, and she nails each and every one. While the chilly indie-folk influence from the likes of Aaron Dessner and Justin Vernon is prominent, Swift’s warmth and charisma always cuts through the fog like a beam of sunlight. So yeah, this is my undeniable album of the year.

Fetch The Bolt Cutters by Fiona Apple: I only started listening to Fiona Apple last year and had thoroughly enjoyed her music, but this album cemented her as one of my favorite songwriters and performers of all time. Everything about Fetch The Bolt Cutters is so idiosyncratic yet fits together in just the right way, like watching an entire house being dropped from the sky and falling perfectly into place. It is a testament to the creative process, emotional honesty, and breaking free from all the cages you may find yourself in, whether they be societal, personal, or those of your own making. And in a year that was so isolating, it felt like Apple was whispering everything I needed to hear right into my ear, just when I needed it. In short, my boltcutters have been motherfucking fetched.

Punisher by Phoebe Bridgers: When Punisher was announced, I had no clue how Phoebe Bridgers would match the quality of Stranger In The Alps. Upon first listen, I wasn’t sure she had. By the fifteenth time I was listening to this album and every lyric was hitting like Cupid’s arrow to the jugular, I knew she’d surpassed it. Punisher presents a sonic scope that both comforts and crushes all at once, like with the upbeat yet mournful horns on “Kyoto” or the cathartic swell on standout “I Know The End.” In my opinion, Bridgers is one of the greatest songwriters of our generation in the making, and I can’t wait to see what the future brings for her. She may know the end, but she’s far from it.

SAWAYAMA by Rina Sawayama: This is the album I see becoming a new shorthand for the true potential of pop excellence, a cult hit that never got its time to shine but is beloved by pop music geeks to the ends of the earth, like EMOTION by Carly Rae Jepsen. SAWAYAMA so effortlessly blends diverse genres and influences like disco, nu metal, and arena rock, and it yet it remains cohesive due to Rina Sawayama’s sheer strength as a performer. She deserves a spot on the pop girlie hierarchy, and one near the top.

Future Nostalgia by Dua Lipa: I really enjoyed Dua Lipa’s debut album, but even I didn’t expect her to come through with such a fully realized, consistent, downright fantastic follow up. Future Nostalgia is a pop album that feels studied, like Lipa did her research of pop’s past as she made it. The result is an album that synthesizes several different sounds under her vision, one that is always trained ahead, and it simply slaps. In a perfect world, nearly every song on this album got spun off into a hit single.

evermore by Taylor Swift: 2020 was already my year of listening to Taylor Swift, (I went through her whole discography, cultivated a favorites playlist, and at the end of the year I was in the top 2% of her yearly Spotify listeners.) evermore was a lovely cherry to top it all off. While folklore enchanted me with its stories, evermore captivated me with its melodies. I haven’t been able to get snippets of this album out. of. my. head. for weeks now. It’s a bit less consistent than it’s older sister, (and likely to live in its shadow,) but there is still so much to love.

I’m Allergic to Dogs! by Remi Wolf: This EP is so much goddamn fun. It’s a blend of many different sounds, indie pop, electronic, maybe hip hop, I think reggae at points? It’s such a colorful, textured, quirky listen bristling with energy and undeniable hooks. “Woo!” conquered my Summer, and months later the bridge of “Photo ID” conquered TikTok. Keep your eye out for Remi Wolf in the coming year, she’s going to make a big splash.

Good At Being Young by Charli Adams: Good At Being Young was the first EP this year that I could not get enough of. It drifts through dreamy indie-pop sounds, with melancholic guitars and cloudy synths, and Adams has a deep vocal timbre that delivers tales of adolescent tribulations with just the right amount of wistfulness. Overall, it builds the perfect soundscape for a late-night drive.

Cape God by Allie X: Allie X has been keeping us FED with content. It seems like only yesterday that Super Sunset came out, and yet her output remains impressively consistent. This album has impressive highs, some lower moments, but the danceability, duets, and enticing darkness under its shiny pop veneer make it a record you won’t want to skip.

La vita nuova by Christine and The Queens: Perhaps the biggest flex of 2020 was Christine and The Queens dropping a fantastic EP and accompanying short film right out of the gate. The grooves on this are infectious, wiry, and air-tight, (the Caroline Polachek feature was another added bonus,) but that doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty of emotional weight too.

Lighter by Donna Missal: This was one of my most anticipated albums of the year, and it’s hard to determine whether it disappointed or not. I think the only thing holding Lighter back is that This Time was such a formative album for me, (my favorite of 2018, to the uninitiated.) In fact, this album flows way better than This Time, more cohesive with its storytelling and more consistent in folk-rock sound. And, of course, Donna Missal’s vocals stun on both the bangers and the ballads.

SURF by BLACKSTARKIDS: There was no record this year that was more instantly likeable than this one. The blend of low-fi indie pop and hip hop makes for a whirlwind of sunny fun and youthful malaise that would make the perfect soundtrack for a road trip to the beach. Standouts include the opening track “SOUNDS LIKE FUN,” the chill “WIGS,” and blissful title track “MUSIC TO SURF TO.”

The Baby by Samia: I’ve had my eye on Samia since “Milk” dropped years ago. Seeing her live sparked my belief that she was an indie darling in the making, and The Baby confirmed that she definitely was. The lyrics on this album mix quiet contemplation with just enough sardonic wit and raw emotion throughout a varied selection of sunny rock bops and gut wrenching ballads. If you enjoyed Punisher, then I can’t recommend this enough.

Season 2 by Nasty Cherry: Nasty Cherry is a group that I will not stop rooting for. Their EP from last year showed their potential for nailing monster hooks, but this sophomore effort shows just how versatile they can be. This EP covers everything from Dylan Brady produced hyperpop to early-2000s reminiscent pop rock to emotional balladry, and they pull it all off flawlessly.

A Little Rhythm and a Wicked Feeling by Magdalena Bay: This album became a fast favorite way late in the year, there is such a sweetness to Magdalena Bay’s music that makes it stick in your brain like a piece of blue raspberry bubblegum. This EP is spacey, catchy, and filled with electronic synthpop mastery, with countless catchy hooks that’ll make you feel like drifting and dancing all at once.

Miss Anthropocene by Grimes: The bubblegum bombast of Art Angels fully redefined my taste in pop years ago, so I was fascinated to see how Grimes would follow it up. On Miss Anthropocene, she leans into darker, more industrial textures, but also anchors it back to Earth with acoustic touches and some of her most introspective lyrics to date. Grimes painted a version of a world on the brink of disaster on this album, a picture that was hypnotically beautiful. And in a year where the word was a certified disaster, that was strangely comforting.

Plastic Hearts by Miley Cyrus: I’ve been wanting Miley to go rock for so goddamn long, Plastic Hearts was bound to make this list by pure validation alone. But what can I say? This breed of glossy 80s rock suits Cyrus’s rougher voice so well! I hope she stays in this lane a bit longer, but as we know, she’s one of pop’s most chameleonic figures. Only time will tell.

Where Does The Devil Hide by Zella Day: I have been patiently awaiting new Zella Day music ever since getting hooked on Kicker back in 2017, so this was one of my most anticipated releases of the year. This EP sounds nothing like Kicker, and I couldn’t be happier. It shows Day leaning even more into her influences from the past, (the 60s/70s vibes are intense with this one,) but also breathing a refreshing new life into them.

SOUL LADY by Yukika: When I imagine the ideal of pop music, what it would sound like in a perfect world, this is what it sounds like. SOUL LADY is full of pristine, glossy production and catchy hooks that feel like they’ve come down from the clouds. I’ll admit that I can have trouble forming a connection with music when I don’t understand the lyrics, (it’s something I’m working on,) but this album cleared that hurdle with ease. If you’re curious about city pop or K-pop this is a great place to start.

Heaven Is Without You by Love You Later: Give me lush pop production and heartbroken lyrics finished off with a heaping helping of nostalgia and I’ll eat it up with a spoon. Love You Later has been feeding my addiction to this genre for years, and this latest helping is particularly sweet.

IN A DREAM by Troye Sivan: Troye Sivan has always supplied the bops, but it was about time that he started experimenting with his sound a little bit more. This EP offers some harder-hitting electronic textures, but also the addictive hooks that’ll keep you coming back for more.

Ungodly Hour by Chloe X Halle: These women are so TALENTED! If there is any word I’d use to describe this album it would be “effortless,” the harmonies, grooves, and chemistry between Chloe and Halle feels so natural and free-flowing. Charisma just rolls off of them in droves, I see full-blown stardom and several Grammys in their future.

Watching You by Robinson: This EP was one of the first on this list to arrive this year, and it still hits months later. Robinson’s confessional lyrics work wonders over the buoyant pop grooves, and “Don’t Say” remains one of the best pop songs of recent years.

Manic by Halsey: I respect Halsey for dipping her toes into a myriad of different genres, (synth pop, rock, hip hop, and acoustic balladry,) but it does make for a jumbled listening experience. Still, I appreciate that this album features some of Halsey’s strongest tracks and writing to date, offering greater experimentation and emotional imtimacy than album’s past.

We Don’t Stop by Aly & AJ: Should this count? It’s more a compilation of their past EP and singles... I don’t care, I’m counting it because there’s some new stuff too. This is an excellent display of Aly & AJ’s pop prowess in recent years, the hooks, vocal chemistry, and shimmery production are undeniable.

Under My Influence by The Aces: The Aces returned in 2020 with a more laid-back, groovier record than their debut, exploring a wider variety of sounds. They’re as magnetic and likeable a group as ever, each member giving it their all, but I think I’ll return to the debut more often.

Strangers/Lovers by Dagny: I’ve been anticipating a longer Dagny project, as she’s been drip-feeding us singles for a while now. This was a lot of fun, with Dagny pairing her upbeat earnestness with stories of romantic tribulation. While the hooks aren’t as memorable as her past offerings, there is still so much to enjoy. Lead single “Come Over” and “Let Me Cry” are my favorites.

DUALITY by Tatiana Hazel: I came across this via recommendation on Tik Tok and it’s a solid pop record! The music is swooning, synthy, and tinged with disco and Latin influence. The record doesn’t waste a second of its runtime, clocking in at less than half an hour and grooving the whole time.

After Hours by The Weeknd: The sonic palette of After Hours is so engaging, a neon-drenched blend of synthwave, electropop, and R&B. I’ve always felt lukewarm on The Weeknd’s musical persona of brooding, villainous party monster, so the strongest moments on this album tend to be when he subverts that in some way. Still, in full, this album is an undeniable force of smash hits, stadium-shaking ballads, and cinematic flair. I can’t wait for his Super Bowl performance.

Petrol Bloom by LAUREL: It’s no secret that this year was chock-full of 80s revival albums (there’s what, five others on this list?) LAUREL wasn’t an artist I was expecting to go in that direction after the brooding folk pop of her debut album, but her deeper timbre works great alongside the synthy soundscapes.

positions by Ariana Grande: I’ve just come to expect that nearly all of Ariana Grande’s albums are going to be growers to me. My first listen to positions was underwhelming, but the songs have grown on me more and more. This album feels like being let in on a giggly, fun slumber party with Grande and her friends. I wouldn’t call this her strongest album by far, and while I tend to prefer when she favors the more powerful parts of her range, (and her enunciations could still use some work,) there is a lot of good material here.

THE ALBUM by BLACKPINK: We may just have to stan. I checked this out after watching their Netflix documentary, and while this breed of cacophonous, in-your-face electropop isn’t something I can listen to all the time, the hooks and charisma are undeniable. It certainly makes me feel like a bad bitch whenever I’m working out.

Kid Krow by Conan Gray: Conan Gray burst onto my radar offering dreamy tracks rich with teen malaise and suburban restlessness, and a good amount of that initial appeal carries over onto this album. Kid Krow has both a larger instrumental scope and more stripped-back moments. In the end, it still feels like Gray is finding his voice as an artist, but he's giving up great bops to jam out to as he does.

Petals For Armor by Hayley Williams: Hayley Williams is one of my favorite vocalists, so seeing her venture out for a solo project was exciting. This album offers a mixed bag of danceable jams, emotive moments that showcase Williams’s powerful voice, and a few skips. But overall it showcases Williams’s strength as a performer as she tackles her past with vulnerability and versatility.

Apart by LÉON: Oh, man. This one was kind of disappointing. For context, LÉON’s self-titled debut was my favorite album of last year. This follow-up is by no means bad, but every song on her first album was instantly memorable. This one, not so much. LÉON’s vocals are beautiful, and there are some stand-out tracks, but I don’t see myself returning to this nearly as much.

Blush by Maya Hawke: Maya Hawke’s Blush was to my 2020 what Tōth’s Practice Magic and Seek Professional Help When Necessary was to my 2019, (and that makes sense, as they’ve collaborated in the past.) This album is so blissful and nonchalant, and Maya Hawke has a gentle, soothing voice that feels wise beyond her years. While the writing isn’t as hard-hitting as, say, the Phoebe Bridgers album, sometimes I just want to listen to something that could rock me off into a dream world. If you like folksy, down-to-earth ballads, you’ve got a solid collection of them right here.

Dedicated Side B by Carly Rae Jepsen: Of course Queen Carly would pull through with B-sides for Dedicated, did we expect anything less? Jepsen’s brand of controlled yet carefree shimmery poptimism drenched in 80s nostalgia that never fails to put me in a good mood. This album has some lusher, more tropical instrumentation than Dedicated proper, but works great alongside it.

Missing Person by Kelsy Karter: To the Plastic Hearts fans out there, your homework now is to give this record a listen. This rock album presents pop hooks, but a lot of reckless rock fun too. Kelsy Karter has so much irresistible swagger and carefree spirit as a performer, speeding through the emotional highs and lows like she’s burning rubber in a cherry red Cadillac.

how i’m feeling now by Charli XCX: I’ll admit, this album was a bit abrasive to me on first listen. But tracks like “anthems” and “forever” made me return, and it’s a huge grower. If you listen closely, you’ll find the sugary-sweet hooks and relatable sentiments nestled deep in the crunchy hyperpop textures, begging to be discovered and eventually loved.

Jaguar by Victoria Monét: If you enjoyed positions, then check out the debut from one of that album’s most prominent co-writers. Jaguar’s concise collection of silky R&B slow-burners show that Victoria Monet’s is a superstar in her own right.

Some great albums I listened to that didn’t come out this year: Blue by Joni Mitchell, BLACKPINK IN YOUR AREA by BLACKPINK, I Need to Start a Garden by Haley Heynderickx, Plastic Beach by Gorillaz, Out in the Storm by Waxahatchee, 7 by Beach House, Dummy by Portishead, Lovers Fevers by Babygirl, and Red by Taylor Swift.

Whether you liked, reblogged, or commented on a post, sent me an ask, or interacted with this blog in any way, thank you so much for all the support throughout the year! I can’t express how much I appreciate it.

What were your favorite albums from this year? Did I miss anything? Send me an ask and let me know. I’ll tell you my thoughts, or put it on my to-listen-to list if I haven’t heard it.

Here’s to 2021! May it clear the extremely low bar set by this year.

#album #EP #album of the year #album recommendation #taste in music 2020 faves #taste in music

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betweenthetimeandsound · 3 years ago

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Three Minutes to Eternity: My ESC 250 (#230-221)

#230: Dschinghis Khan -- Dschinghis Khan (Germany 1979)

"Die Hufe ihrer Pferde, die peitschten im Sand Sie trugen Angst und Schrecken in jedes Land Und weder Blitz noch Donner hielt sie auf"

"The hoofs of their horses, they lashed in the sand They carried fear and horror in every country And neither flash nor thunder stopped them"

One of my favorite songs to jam to is Boney M's "Rasputin". A disco-influenced song about the life of "Russia's greatest love machine", it's energetic while telling that of a myth. I mention this because Dschinghis Khan is compared to this often, in all the ways.

Only this time, it's about the great conqueror Chinghis Khan, who took over the whole universe (and lasted for a very long time). From how he struck fear across the steppe to fathering seven children in one night, he is seen as the embodiment of masculinity.

While entertaining, sometimes I'm put off by the gimmickry. It can be argued that it wouldn't age that well today, because it can be seen as culturally appropriative or mocking Mongolian culture. But for what it's worth, it's enjoyable and still a classic today.

Personal and actual ranking: 4th/19 in Jerusalem

#229: Louisa Baïleche -- Monts et Merveilles (France 2003)

“Oh, mon amour Où es-tu, mon amour?” “Oh, my love Where are you, my love?”

A definite case of love at first listen for me—Monts et Merveilles is a calming ballad, albeit with sad lyrics about the end of a relationship. The instrumentation is quite nice; it reminds me of songs that stood out on the charts during that time. It also had the "ethnic style" percussion in the bridge, which made me think that France Televisions wanted to mix what worked in the last two years (ballads) with the ethnic sounds from the 1990s (as Louisa is half Kablye, an Algerian ethnic group)

Despite it, it got a pretty low result—though it may be because 2003 was a stronger year songwise compared to the two years that came before it. Or it maybe because of the hair getting into her face that took away from the experience...

Personal ranking: 5th/26 Actual ranking: 18th/26 in Riga

#228: Hakol Over Habibi -- Halayla (Israel 1981)

"הלילה, הלילה, יהיה זה הלילה נאמר דברים שלא אמרנו מעולם"

"Tonight, tonight, it will be the night We’ll say things we’ve never said before"

On a random note, whenever I would search up Idan Raichel's "Hakol Over", Hakol Over Habibi would be one of the first search items that pop up. I would completely ignore it until now, when they actually participated in Eurovision!

That said, Halayla is very groovy song which plays with the disco vibe of the 1970s and the highly energetic choreography that would define 1980s Israeli Eurovision entries. The instrumentation is quite awesome, with the mix of piano, strings, and I think accordion setting up the vibe. (And it switches well from minor to major and back again , which can go awry when done wrong).

The members seem to have a ball on stage, and Kikki looks beautiful in her dress, which was fitted that way because she was pregnant at the time!

Personal ranking: 5th/20 (though it jumps around often...) Actual ranking: 7th/20 in Dublin

#227: Wind -- Laß die Sonne in dein Herz (Germany 1987)

"Manchmal bist du traurig und weißt nicht warum Tausend kleine Kleinigkeiten machen dich ganz stumm Du hast fast vergessen wie das ist, ein Mensch zu sein Doch du bist nicht allein"

"Sometimes you feel sad and you don’t know why Thousands of little reasons are making you dumb You nearly forgot what it’s like to be a human being But you are not alone"

Wind has the interesting distinction of participating three times and coming in second twice out of those three. The first one, "Fur Alle" was seen as such as a big contender that there were bets made against it winning. And then it didn't.

Laß die Sonne in dein Herz didn't come that close to winning in 1987, but I can argue it's the better song of the the three.

It catches you right away with the reggae influences, which creates a relaxed vibe throughout the song. It builds up well with every key change--it does get repetitive at times (especially with the choruses), but never boring. And while it shares a similar theme to Fur Alle, it doesn't come off as either derivative or charitys-single like.

(That said, I did grow to like Fur Alle eventually, but this one was more instantaneous.)

Personal ranking: 7th/22 Actual ranking: 2nd/22 in Brussels

#226: Charlotte Perrelli -- Hero (Sweden 2008)

“This is a story of love and compassion Only heroes can tell.”

The better Charlotte song, in my opinion. The song she won with, “Take Me to Your Heaven” is a complete vintage track, almost influenced by ABBA-nostalgia going on at the time. “Hero” , while still on the same schlager vein, modernizes the production a little bit, to the point I imagine it would be a good pop song of that era.

Alongside that, Hero has some compelling lyrics, one which could summarize the hero's journey in general. I wouldn't be surprised if somebody were to write a Eurovision jukebox musical, they would use this in some format.

That may be the case on why l like it better, but it could also be because it should’ve done better in the contest. The fact the jury wildcard saved Charlotte is a reason why they're around, but the fact there was a wildcard which kicked out the actual tenth placer (North Macedonia's Let Me Love You) could be totally flawed too.

Personal ranking: 6th/43 Actual ranking: =18th/25 (with France) in Belgrade

#225: Carlos Paião -- Playback (Portugal 1981)

“Podes não saber cantar nem sequer assobiar, Com certeza que não vais desafinar, Em play-back, em play-back, em play-back,”

“Maybe you don't know how to sing or even how to whistle But you won't sing out of tune for sure, In playback, in playback, in playback”

This is so modern and infectious it’s unbelievable. From the introduction to Carlos’ biting lyrics to the choreography, it makes one wonder why it got neglected in the voting. 1981 was a strong year, sure, but this song is definitely one of the best of that field.

Playback, as the title suggests, is about the pervasiveness of lip-synching in the music industry. One day, nobody will have to learn how to sing because the playback will save them. They can all focus on the performance without taking note of the song.

It's eerily relevant to Eurovision today, considering we don't use live music anymore and backing vocals can be mimed. I have mixed feelings about the latter, because one side argues it allows different genres of music to appear, but the other argues it reduces artistic credibility. I prefer having live vocals; if a delegation wants to use them on the track (e.g. looping), it should be on a case-by-case basis.

Maybe that's why it somehow made the ESC250 the last two years...

Personal ranking: 4th/20 Actual ranking: =18th/20 (with Turkey) in Dublin

#224: Emma -- La mia città (Italy 2014)

“E dimmi se c’è davvero una meta O dovrò correre per la felicità”

“And tell me if there really is a destination Or I have to run for happiness”

The black sheep of Italy’s post-comeback output, and coincidentally the only song completely chosen internally. That being said, La mia citta is still a good song, and for me it’s better than some of the fan-favorites out there.

Admittedly, I prefer the punchy verses to the chorus, with the latter reminding me of something out of P!nk's discography, but I revel on Emma’s energy and her letter to the city of Rome. We have struggles about the place we are from, but still try to sing its praises when we can!

The staging was a bit tacky at times, but I did like the aesthetics of it—particularly her laurel wreath. Her costume had a good concept also, but is also overdone it in terms of the bejeweled top.

(As for the Sanremo winner that year, Contravento, it feels like a bit of a grower. The clarinet intro really takes one in, but there has to be a whimsical, sweet staging to accompany the hopeful song. Had they done so, a left-side finish would've waited for them)

Personal ranking: 6th/37 Actual ranking: 21st/26 in Copenhagen

#223: Brigitta -- Open Your Heart (Iceland 2003)

“Everything you share with me Turns a little darkness into light And that is how we’re meant to be Truth will keep the light shining brighter”

Also known as, the woman who originally came from Husavik! The difference is that Birgitta was the lead singer of the group Irafar. Open Your Heart reminds me of songs that end up on DCOM (Disney Channel Original Movie) soundtracks—it can actually work in the end, but also in the beginning to introduce the characters and/or their circumstances. The random running order really helped it with being first, haha! Beyond that, it's an optimistic song, helped with the guitar influences which ground it in the era. Plus, the production and lyrics add to this feel, encouraging even the shiest to open up their feelings. Also, I like the flowery aesthetic that Birgitta has, from one in her hair to the larger one (which I think is real?) on her microphone. Personal ranking: 4th/26 Actual ranking: 8th/26 in Riga

#222: Tomas Ledlin -- Just nu! (Sweden 1980)

“Han vill dra iväg, kanske ner till Paris Och hitta äventyret på något vis Inte sitta här på stans konditori Och låta tankarna, bara fladdra förbi” “He wants to go away, perhaps down to Paris And find adventure somehow And not just sitting here at the local café Just letting the thoughts flutter by” The 1980s saw the genre New Wave come to vogue, and Just Nu was a valiant attempt on the genre, especially considering the direction Eurovision would go later. From the opening notes, I got the punkish notes from the instrumentation, and the lyrics definitely add to the feeling of being free from societal expectations, crying out "right now"! (which is funny, because I learned Romanian at one point and nu means no in the language. So I keep thinking it's "just no!" against conformity) Tomas also shows quite the attitude on stage--he just struts into the stage with a boyish charm and kickstarts the song. With his looks and usage of the microphone stand, he portrays this rebellious character well, though the orchestration could’ve been improved with the strings and flute. Personal ranking: 2nd/19 Actual ranking: 10th/19 in Den Haag

#221: Lea Sirk -- Hvala, ne! (Slovenia 2018)

“Moje ime je Lea in/Za vas imam nov lik!” “My name is Lea/ And I have a new character for you!”

I love the opening lines for this song—it immediately sets the tone and has a strong statement alongside it. She's Lea, and she won't let anything down on She asserts that she can’t be sold out, and has a great attitude to accompany the trap beat, which reminds me of a K-pop song for some reason. The staging fits the song to a T--though it didn't need any changes from the NF, haha. As for the fake break, I don't have any strong opinions on it, but it definitely kept up interest for the song. A nicer touch was the Portuguese line in the end. Either way, it was a surprise qualifier in its semi that year, and it was one surprise that I greatly welcomed. Hvala da!

Personal ranking: 8th/43 Actual ranking: 22nd/26 GF in Lisbon

#esc 250 #esc top 250 #esc germany #esc france #esc israel #esc sweden #esc portugal #esc italy #esc iceland #esc slovenia #three minutes to eternity #eurovision song contest

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nerianasims · 4 years ago

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Billboard #1s 1987

Under the cut.

"Shake You Down" -- Gregory Abbot -- January 17, 1987

The only reason I've heard this song before is because of Todd in the Shadows' worst hit songs of 1987 video. I do not entirely agree with his list, but this one definitely belongs on it. I don't think the song's writer knew what "shake down" actually means. This is supposed to be a love song about how the narrator is missing the woman he's staring at (um) and wants her back so he can "shake you down." It sounds creepy, and yet the music is so painfully bland it can't even rise to that. It's no surprise it hasn't gotten radio play since it was a hit. That it was a hit in the first place is mystifying.

"At This Moment" -- Billy Vera and the Beaters -- January 24, 1987

A rather good blue-eyed soul song. The narrator is singing to a woman who just told him she's in love with someone else. It sounds like she's acting scared, and he's upset by that as well as by her leaving him, because "I'd never, never hurt you." And he'd give up twenty years of his life if she'd stay. There are some massive blues horns, Billy Vera sings it well, and it's cathartically sad. The song became a hit years after it was first released because it was on Family Ties. Billy Vera keeps on chugging, and he's also a music historian. He won a Grammy for "best album notes" in 2013 for a Ray Charles boxed set. I had no idea that was an award category.

"Open Your Heart" -- Madonna -- February 7, 1987

Watch out. When Madonna says "I've had to work much harder than this/ For something I want, don't try to resist me," it's absolutely believable. She worked incredibly hard to get where she was. I guess the song is stalkery when looked at from a certain angle, but that is not the angle I choose. I hear it as I did as a teenager -- as something aspirational, because I got huge and powerful crushes on guys (mostly friends) and then did absolutely nothing about it, both because I had no idea what to do and because I didn't actually want a boyfriend yet. (That changed in college.) Musically and lyrically, the song is Motown mixed with disco and updated, as most of the True Blue album is. It's a lot of fun.

"Livin on a Prayer" -- Bon Jovi -- February 14, 1987

I wonder what I'd feel about this song if it hadn't been overplayed for years and years. I don't think it was/is played more than "You Give Love a Bad Name," but I have never been sick of "You Give Love a Bad Name." This one... meh. I don't want to run screaming from it, even after hearing it a zillion times, so that's something. It's about a working class couple who's having serious money troubles. It's just a snapshot of this difficult time in their life, and how they're holding on to each other. I'd be happier with it if the story were rounded out, and especially if they got a happy ending. The music is fine, acceptable rock, but nothing special.

"Jacob's Ladder" -- Huey Lewis and the News -- March 14, 1987

This song is a "fuck off" to televangelists, though if you only listen to the chorus you might not know that. I always appreciate anyone telling televangelists to fuck off. I could use it being nastier, but you can't expect real nastiness from Huey Lewis and the News. Genesis would go there a few years later, and I like that song much better. "Jesus He Knows Me" is also more interesting musically. This one's fine, but not memorable.

"Lean on Me" -- Club Nouveau -- March 21, 1987

The original "Lean on Me" is one of the great songs. This version is annoying. A go-go beat and a faux-reggae break. The original of this song is deeply emotional and touching. This one is not even a good dance song. I liked it when I was a kid, but that makes sense, because it's a very kiddie song.

"Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" -- Starship -- April 4, 1987

This song is actually not bad. It's pretty good, even. It's a very slick synth-heavy drum machine love song, but I really like the way Grace Slick sings on it. Mickey Thomas, well, he hits the notes. Could be worse. If they'd gotten a male vocalist who could match Grace Slick on his part of the duet, this might be a great song. They didn't, so it's just pretty good.

"I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)" -- Aretha Franklin and George Michael -- April 18, 1987

George Michael is an excellent singer, but he's no Aretha Franklin. But who is? He holds his own pretty well here. As both Franklin and Michael know how to push emotion in a song, they end up with good chemistry on this one. Unfortunately, though the vocal performances are great, the music itself is dull. The melody slips out of my head while I'm listening to it.

"(I Just) Died in Your Arms" -- Cutting Crew -- May 2, 1987

*silent scream of anguish* I wish this song would slip out of my head permanently. It is my personal most overplayed song in existence. My hate for it could end worlds. I have no idea about what qualities it might or might not have. I just want it to shut the fuck up.

"With or Without You" -- U2 -- May 16, 1987

I don't think U2 actually counts as "alternative," but the alternative stations were the only ones who played them where I lived. The song is extremely structured and carefully designed, but it feels somehow raw at the same time. It doesn't have the layers upon layers of synth that most of the songs on the charts did. It has a beautiful melody. The lyrics are thoughtful, heartrending poetry. I'm not sure what I thought of the song at the time -- I associate it more with a couple years later, when my family moved to a town near a huge state college and I started listening to the college station. It hasn't aged a bit. An amazing song.

Also Bono’s personality is somewhat insufferable if one is silly enough to look into it. But his voice is incredibly hot, and I very much appreciate that.

"You Keep Me Hangin' On" -- Kim Wilde -- June 6, 1987

Back to the layers of synth. This is the Supremes song updated as a 1987 dance song, and it sounds exactly like you'd think it would. It's okay.

"Always" -- Atlantic Starr -- June 13, 1987

This is the kind of song I made gagging noises about at age 10, when it came out. I'm tempted to now too. It's like corn syrup, both lyrically and musically. It sounds like it was written for weddings.

"Head to Toe" -- Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam -- June 20, 1987

I liked this song a lot when I was a kid. I had a lot of fun dancing to it. Now I hear Lisa Lisa's vocals in the opening and chorus, which are kind of like a police siren, and want to cover my ears. I can't listen to it without getting a headache nowadays.

"I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" -- Whitney Houston -- June 27, 1987

This is a Whitney Houston song I like. She doesn't oversing as much as usual -- she mostly, though not entirely, saves it for the chorus. She wants to dance with "a man who'll take a chance/ On a love that burns hot enough to last." It's a simple dance song that speaks to real emotion.

"Alone" -- Heart -- July 11, 1987

In the 80s, Heart did hair metal ballads. All the men who did the same were copying them. Including the hair itself. Heart did it first, and Heart did it best. So lyrically, why can't she get this person alone? Not even on the phone? Whatever, it doesn't matter. What matters is the emotion, the music, and that this is a great song to sing along with.

"Shakedown" -- Bob Seger -- August 1, 1987

Unlike Gregory Abbott, Bob Seger knew what "shakedown" meant. The song was written for Beverly Hills Cop II, and that's exactly what it sounds like. It's a good movie song, but doesn't transcend that box. Still fun though.

"I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" -- U2 -- August 8, 1987

This is a spiritual pop song. But it's very far from the sanitized happy clappy Christian-brand pop that's so foul. It's about a search for transcendence that's ongoing -- eternal, really. And while this song is explicitly Christian, it speaks to a universality that doesn't require religion of any kind. Also it's beautiful musically.

"Who's That Girl" -- Madonna -- August 22, 1987

I'm surprised this was a number one. Or even charted in the top 20. I'd have predicted #46 or something. The movie it was written for was terrible, and Madonna was particularly terrible in it. Like, aggressively terrible, when in most movies she was just kinda blah. I've never liked the song. I don't hate it either; I don't feel much of anything about it. That is very strange for a Madonna song -- "American Life" is awful, but it makes me feel things. (Mostly embarrassment.) But "Who's That Girl" is bland, which a Madonna song should never be.

"La Bamba" -- Los Lobos -- August 29, 1987

This is a nearly faithful rendition of Richie Valens' original hit, which was based on a Veracruz folk song. But where are the castanets? The original is better, a true classic, but this one isn't bad. It's simply... unnecessary. It was done for a movie about Valens, so I guess it was sort of "necessary" in that way. Skip this one and go for Valens' version.

"I Just Can't Stop Loving You" -- Michael Jackson with Siedah Garrett -- September 19, 1987

This is from the Bad album, which I did not like in 1987 and continue to not like now. I find this song extraordinarily dull. Whitney Houston and Barbra Streisand both turned it down, and I'm not surprised. This song weirdly makes me think of The Love Boat. Like it belongs in a television series. It's legitimately bad. When do we get to Janet again?

"Didn't We Almost Have It All" -- Whitney Houston -- September 26, 1987

I think the narrator in this song is trying to get an old flame back. It's a pretty melody, and the lyrics are wildly repetitive but not bad, but I can't get past Houston's oversinging. Anyone who doesn't mind that will probably enjoy this song.

"Here I Go Again" -- Whitesnake -- October 10, 1987

I wonder what makes one feel a song is "horribly overplayed" vs. just "played probably too much but I'm fine with it." This song is the latter for me. It's a really good song, so obviously that's part of it. The beginning is thoughtful and searching, with an organ and everything (or probably a synth on the organ setting), and has that same spiritual feel as "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For." Then in come the guitars, which are awesome. It absolutely rocks, and the emotion is of "like a drifter I was born to walk alone" is amplified by the rock, rather than buried under it.

"Lost in Emotion" -- Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam -- October 17, 1987

Lisa Lisa does not sound like a police siren in this, thankfully. And I got frozen on this song because I listened to it over and over and managed to feel absolutely nothing about it. I guess she's falling in love with a friend and worried she's telling him too much, and I should identify with this because it's happened to me more than once. But I don't. I like the bass line, and it's updated Motown, so I should like that. But again, I feel nothing. Maybe it's the way Lisa Lisa sings it. I don't know, and I've wasted far too much time on something I cannot make myself care about in any way.

"Bad" -- Michael Jackson -- October 24, 1987

I think the Bad album is bad. Actually bad, as in not good. I was 11 when this hit #1, so everything in the universe embarrassed me, but this stood out. I no longer knew anyone who liked Michael Jackson. I certainly didn't. In my opinion, Jackson had exactly one good album in him, and that album was Thriller. Thriller is one of the greats. Bad is blah.

"I Think We're Alone Now" -- Tiffany -- November 7, 1987

I wonder what makes stations decide to play #1 hits and what makes them decide not to. I don't remember hearing this much at the time, and never after. It's a cover of a 1960s song that was never that great, and it's worse here. In 1967, the "ooh we're alone gonna do something naughty" idea was still edgy. In 1987 -- are you kidding? Madonna's tearing up the charts in 1987; what on earth is this thing doing on it? It's an annoying song, annoyingly sung.

"Mony Mony" -- Billy Idol -- November 21, 1987

I had to do aerobics to this in middle school. Next!

"(I've Had) The Time of My Life" -- Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes -- November 28, 1987

This is one of those songs I can't really evaluate because it feels like background music to my life. Not that it was ever particularly important to me -- it's not. But it's sort of like "Eye of the Tiger", movie song and all. Medley and Warnes are well-matched on the song, and they do a great job. I wish the music were more interesting, but well, movie ballad. It's a good one for what it is. By the way, Dirty Dancing is another movie I've managed to never see. For no reason -- I might even like it. But somehow, it's never come up.

"Heaven Is a Place on Earth" -- Belinda Carlisle -- December 5, 1987

Ooh baby, do you know what that's worth? Yes. I love everything about this song. It's a big and unashamed dance power ballad about how great love is, and the lyrics are simple but powerful. But I have a question: What the heck is up with the video? It looks like she's being inducted into a cult, not like she's in ecstasy over great romantic love. Well, it was the 80s, the videos usually didn't have anything to do with the songs. Still, weird.

"Faith" -- George Michael -- December 12, 1987

I've known the lyrics to this song since it came out, but I never registered them before. Only "I gotta have faith, faith, faith." I remember the video, though, with its prominent focus on George Michael's butt. I'm watching the video now, and huh, there's a basically naked woman in it too. That, I didn't remember, because it wasn't relevant to my interests. Anyway, the lyrics are about how the narrator needs a break from relationships so is not gonna have sex with this hot woman. Sure, George, that's why. Ahem. Sorry, we didn't know then, and it doesn't matter one bit anyway, because the singer is playing a role. It's a fun song for which the lyrics don't matter at all.

BEST OF 1987 -- "With or Without You" by U2 WORST OF 1987 -- "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" by Michael Jackson with Siedah Garrett

#billboard number ones

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1albumaday · 4 years ago

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2020

The Chats - The Clap

Easy-peasy punk rock album

Loving - If I am only my thoughts

Charming sun-dappled folk-pop, clean, gentle melodies

Steve Spacek - Houses

iPhone/iPad recorded, latino and jazz accented dance/house beats

Ghali - DNA

Total Flop and failed expectations. Mishmash of bland and frivolous lyrics and arrangements.

King Krule - Man Alive!

Alienating, violent, romantic, anguishing, doomed, noir / jazz, post-punk, soul, dubstep, electronic, garage rock, hip-hop

Justin Bieber - Changes

Disappointing comeback - boring r&b with zero sex appeal and cheesy lyrics and all-the-same songs

Guided by voices - Surrender your poppy field

Unusual time signatures, song lengths, and baroque-prog structures - mature rock and sometimes pixie / 80s dreamy

Corrections - Simply Activities

80s new wave and post punk nostalgia - cheesy vocals at times - first half more solid than second

Swim Mountain- If

A lovely mix of indie and funktronica, synth pop, r&b

Caribou - Suddenly

Sly and sofishticated sound design flits between uk garage disco and more - some tracks way less strong than others

Grimes - Miss Anthropocene

Mix “Ethereal nu metal”, ambient, dance, electronic, drum’n’bass, country - is violent and dark but sexy, delicate and dreamy

Porridge Radio - Every Bad

A dissonant lush indie rock sometimes dreamy sometimes dark and ironic with mantra-litany dusky lyrics from peaceful to desperate

Four Tet - Sixteen oceans

Wind instruments, synths and drum patterns gradually fade to calming ambient sounds, intense and meditative but also danceable and powerful

Kamaiyah - Got it made

Short, stripped-down, bubbling keyboards and drum-machine handclaps. NO current rap trends. windows-down bass-rattle record of one person’s confidence in her own sound and charisma

Poolside - Low season

Funk percussions, retro synths, pop and disco influences + indie vocals

Morioh Sonder - Is this psychedelia?

Surf pop and psych rock, dreamy post punk influences, danceable and whimsical

KEYAH/BLU - Sorry, I forgot you were coming

Perfect blend of rap, rnb, experimental pop, dark rhythms textured electronics, intimate tales

TOPS - I feel alive

Pop, radiant and 80s romantic with a contemporary experimental palette

The Chats - High risk behaviour

Classic old-school pure punk / cheerily undemanding fun

NIN - Ghosts V: Together

Buzzy ambient, melodic hooks, emotional palette of sounds

NIN - Ghosts VI: Locusts

Together’s opposite, anxiety-inducing, despairing horns, breathing and devouring sounds.

Roger and Brian Eno - Mixing Colours

Feels like a balm for these anxious times

Fiona Apple - Fetch the bolt cutters

Handclaps, chants, makeshift percussion, echoes, whispers, screams, breathing, jokes, dog barks, rattling blues. Contains no conventional pop forms. freeing and powerful.

The Weeknd - After Hours

Satisfying collision of new wave, dream pop, R&B, synth-pop nostalgia

BC Camplight - Shortly After Takeoff

Jazzy eighties rock with some icy funk and electronic pop, painfully personal and uneasy but so self-deprecating it speaks like your best friend

Rone - Room with a view

Deft splicing of beats-based electronics and dance music with classical influences. 21st century baroque chords, snatches of conversations, speeches, children’s voices

Other Lives - For their love

Bluesy acid-rock, dreamy meditation sounds, eerie string-crescendos, music for the afterlife

Lil Uzi Vert - Eternal Atake

Drill-influenced rapping, melodic crooning, trends-aware hip-hop beats, untouchable pop sound production

Squarepusher - Be up a hello

Frantic breakbeats littered with echoes of classic jungle, hardcore, and drum’n’bass, ’90s drill’n’bass, glitchy 8-bit chaos

The Orielles - Disco Volador

Cosmic, playful, funky dreamy indie pop, shuffling organs, woozy guitar, shimmy-shimmy hand percussion

Portico Quartet - We welcome tomorrow

Perfect dreamy sequel of ‘Memory streams’

Charlie XCX - how i’m feeling now

Quarantine creation / 2020 romance manifesto of club-pop, trap, k-pop, video game sounds, fuzzy synths and crackling bass

Holy Fuck - Deleter

Trippy, psychedelic tapestry of euphoric escapism, ‘90s dance, glitchy beats, airy vocals, experimental electronics

Luge - Luge

Energetic and playful avant-garde and quirky math rock, zolo?

Good With Parents, Triple Stephens - Comments & Reflection

Playful indietronica synth pop + classical instruments

Wishing - None of this was your fault

Lo-fi indie, ambient, slowcore w/ fragile lyrics

Bibio - Sleep on the wing

Indie folk treated like ambient / a gorgeous soundscape of strings, guitars and flutes, feelings of loss, hope and escape. Perfect picture of tranquil countryside memories

Piotr Kurek - A Sacrifice Shall Be Made / All The Wicked Scenes

Electroacoustic experimental, meditative-ritualistic atmospheric music / conceived for theatrical performances

Military Genius - Deep Web

Meditative ambient, retro-futurist soundscapes / hypnagogic pop, dark, abstract and mysterious / early ‘70s folk interjecting jazz-brass sections

Jockstrap - Wicked City

Melancholy waltz and winsome ballads, fluttering strings, soft piano glissandi mixed with gnarly and distorted hip-hop beats, buzzing guitars and synths / cherubic vocals, pcmusic-style manipulated at times

Georgia - String Token

Experimental ambient electronic, minimal, melodic, futuristic, hypnotic and grim

EVOL - Madball Manners

Lingering experimental rave electronic, hardcore, techno

Upsammy - Zoom

Playful, sampling, abstract IDM, ambient techno, melodic and rhythmic, surreal, futuristic, sparkling synths and billowing pads

Tomasz Kunicki - Muzyka dla Świątyń

Playful and abstract IDM, glittering synths, obscure pads, glitchy and bleepy

Tomasz Kunicki - The sound is gone, where did it go, I have no idea

Very bassy and very dubby IDM, atmospheric ambient and loopy electronics

Kate NV - Room for the moon

80s new wave, progressive electronic, synth pop, cornucopia of melodies and genres. Wriggling synths, chirping flutes, warm baselines, jazzy sax, woodwinds, marimba. Russian girly vocals cartoon theme-song-like.

Khruangbin - Mordechai

Psychedelic / funk rock with some soul, dub, lounge, poolside disco - exotic and atmospheric

Dalai Lama - Inner world

Chanted mantras rhythmically woven into wafting new-age flutes, chimes, strings and free-form guitar picking.

K-Lone - Cape Cira

Tropical ambient house, warm, lush, soft. Zen yet bouncy rhythms. Digital and analogue recordings, at times feels like you’re underwater.

Arca - KiCk i

Experimental industrial club rhythms with reggaeton and folk influences

The Beths - Jump Rope Gazers

Sleek and personal indie rock, romantic ballads, more sentimental and slow than the previous album

J Lloyd - Kosmos

Tasteful soul and funk pop in 25 tiny tracks, charming low-key, rich textures, good vibes

Julek Polsk - Tesco

Dissonant, ominous, dense, post industrial ambient, noise, sound collage, deconstructed club music

Taylor Swift - folklore

Folk/chamber pop, indie folk, bittersweet, mellow, melancholic ballads

Bill Callahan - Gold Record

Contemporary folk, warm and deep vocals, pastoral, peaceful and melancholic

Mura Masa - R.Y.C.

Indietronica, post-punk revival, catchy indie/synth pop, early 2000 EMO, lots of hip collabs

Fontaines D.C. - A Hero's Death

Post-punk, indie rock, art punk, gothic rock, raw deadpan male vocals, darkish and melodic

RAMzi - cocon

Tribal House, ambient dub, balearic beats, downtempo, hypnotic and tropical

Auguste - Indust

Experimental ambient electronic + field recordings, glistening and splintered sounds

Paul Blackford - Betamax

Dreamy and hypnotic trip hop, downtempo, synth wave

A.G.Cook - 7G

49-track archival collection of sketches, cover versions, volatile lab experiments, divided into 7 discs. a glimpse at the whirring cogs beneath hyperpop’s pristine casing.

Clap clap - Liquid Portraits

Experimental musical tapestry and collage / high-energy concoction of unpredictable and wavy rhythms, exotic vocals and heavy, relentless bass and drums / UK Bass, ambient dub, footwork + far-flung field recordings

E.M.M.A. - Indigo Dream

Progressive electronic, ambient house / 80s melodic atmospheres, goosebump-inducing synths, whimsical melodies and classical leanings

Leif - Music for screen tests

Performed live @ Barbican as a 54min session ambient / drone film soundtrack (Andy Warhol's Screen Tests)

Crack Cloud - Pain Olympics

Post/art/dance punk, experimental rock - energetic, anxious, apocalyptic, dark, male vocals

Document - A Camera Wanders All Night

Post-punk, noise rock, past-hardcore, distorted and raw male vocals

Keisuke Matsuda - Clumsily Back Up

Experimental electronic with playful hummed vocals, lo-fi beats, melodic, youthful, dreamlike

Coi Leray - Now or Never

Gen-Z superstar, melodic flows, bouncy trap, energetic killer lyrics

The Ophelias - For Luck

Artful, string-laden indie-pop EP, grungy dream-pop, a quarantine remake and a Joni Mitchell cover

Romare - Home

Deep house, UK Bass, groovy and detailed sonic palette + soul and funk influences - dancefloor highs and after party wind-downs

Mulatu Astatke, Black Jesus Experience - To Know Without Knowing

Ethio-Jazz, Cuban, funk, reggae workout + rapid-fire rap or Afrobeat drums

Good Doom - Spider Temple Valley

Experimental psych-wave, gentle and peaceful lo-fi, dreamy and oozy with flute, sax and field recordings

Ralph Kinsella - Abstraction

Dark ambient experimental / instrumental electronic

IDLES - Ultra Mono

Post-punk, garage punk, hardcore, noise rock, raw male vocals, dense, energetic, angry, political

Mild Orange - Mild Orange

Alternative, Indie rock, dream pop,

Skinshape - Umoja

Experimental psychedelic rock - afro beats - afroswinig - funky - world music

Vulfpeck - The Joy of Music, The Job of Real Estate

Mixed bag of funk, jazz, soul, self-indulgent? classical reworks, progressive electronic, melodic and uplifting, groovy drums and bass lines

OPN - Magic OPN

Manipulated and sequenced archive radio and sounds collages as interludes, uncanny processed voices, poppish trope ballads, art pop, sentimental and surreal, dense, progressive hypnagogic electronic and more

Pa Salieu - Send them to coventry

Combined dancehall, Afrobeats, hip-hop and grime. Scattered drums, stop-start energy, handpicked words and rhymes. skips from trap trills to baile breakdowns.

Mama Ode - Tales & Patterns of the Maroons

Classic hip-hop album with jazz, funk, blues and reggae influences. Creole Sega Rap Roots music, afro-drum patterns and grooves

Tony Allen, Hugh Masekela - Rejoice

Live sessions of unique fusion of afrobeat and swing-jazz with lyrics in English, Yoruba and Zulu

Miley Cyrus - Plastic Hearts

Pop rock, 80s synth-rock, grit and freewheeling sense of fun, rough-hewn panache of vocal performance, bittersweet eclectic and sentimental / collabs with rock idols

2019

LCD Soundsystem - Electric lady sessions

Live recording with some new wavy covers

Harry Styles - Fine line

Not catchy / mediocre pop

Boothe - 8 or 9 Walled Room

10 minutes of playful electronic and soft vocals

Good with parents - Good with parents

Clever indietronica synth pop, fun + ironic + millennial + sax

Taylor Skye - Kode fine & sons

Synth, beats and pop vocals

Famous - England

Wonky pop punk mixed to electronic sounds and raw spoken vocals

Orville Peck - Pony

Simple pop rock Johnny Cash style ballads and 80s

Sassy 009 - Kill Sassy 009

Distorted electro pop with strong vocals + post-punk notes

J-Walk - Mediterranean Winds

Jazzy electronica with glassy synth pads cheesy and chilled out

Mattiel - Satis Factory

Punky garage rock strong female vocals

Ross Backenkeller - Come Around

Country dreamy and melancholy guitar and vocals

Legss - Writing Comedy

Art rock and a dark underbelly of post-punk + topnotch spoken track and electronic sounds

BEA1991 - The Lost Demo EP

Trip-hop with Bjork-style vocals

BEA1991 - Brand New Adult

Chamber folk and yacht rock meld with R&B and trip-hop

Matt Maltese - Krystal

Lo-fi flowy bedroom pop breakup album

Faye Webster - Atlanta Millionaires Club

Folk-pop, mellow and melancholy soul with an r&b tinge

Infinite Bisous- Period

Soothing and warm bedroom night album

Achille Lauro - 1969

Trap changed into rock with romanticised lyrics

Jerkcurb - Air Con Eden

Indie-psych and retro Americana, atmospheric, sensitive, wobbly

Octo Octa - Resonant Body

Breakbeats and house bangers

ALASKALASKA - The Dots

Jazz fusion, disco rhythms and high-gloss art rock

Orphan - Yijoda

Glitchy and sharp electronics + ambient-atmospheric sounds

Honeymoan - Body

Avant-garde pop tapestry of beats and synths with playful vocal

U-Bahn - U-Bahn

Traditional new wave DEVO-moulded, Hypnagogic pop, art-punk, some vaporwave synth sounds

Hail Conjurer - Erotic Hell

Obscure and raw Finnish black metal

Ride for revenge - Chapter of alchemy

Quality black metal with long and short tracks pretty smooth

Boys Age - Neverchanging, Neverending

Lo-fi, slow-tempo, soul, r&b, mellow tracks with sad very low vocals

MorMor - Some place else

Indie-pop with sweet synths and delicate vocals

Felicita - hej!

Overproduced pop dance hits broken down into harsh and jarring staccato melodies, hissing ambient and screams

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Ghosteen

Endlessly giving and complex meditation on mortality and our collective grief, scored by synths, pianos, and electronics

Portico Quartet - Memory Streams

Ethereal keyboards, hypnotic grooves, layered post-rock textures mixed with electronic, ambient and magnetic jazz build-ups

Charles Rumback + Ryley Walker - Little common twist

Mellow and pastoral folksy guitar melodies and soft drums + ambient tones, drone electronic

Shadowax - Nikolai Reptile

Effervescent techno and mutant bass jams

The Rhythm Method - How do you know I was lonely?

Ostensibly witty and warm pop songs from hip hop to indie and electronic about romance and millennial youth

Martin Dupont - Accident of Stars

80s kinda goth new wave full of electronics, guitars synths and clarinets

Raime - Planted

Latin American and Chicago footwork influences merged with alien sounds, half-heard voices, dark and rhythmic bass and percussions

Sunn 0))) - Pyroclasts

Sunn 0))) - Life Metal

Slow-motion drone feels like a religious ritual / pipe organ and cello, guitars webbing together the space between notes

Special Request - Vortex

Breakbeat barnstormers and house epics, with room for bleep, electro and gabber

Caterina Barbieri - Ecstatic Computation

Oscillating sequencers, rhythmic pulsations, cascades of synthesiser melodies echoing dance music/new age

Battles - Juice B Crypts

Playful electronic wizardry, dense array of beats, bleeps and squelches, loopy keyboards and guitars, ecstatic vocals

Haruomi Hosono - HOCHONO HOUSE

Home-recorded aesthetic, funk shaped into minimalist space-age lounge music

Florist - Emily Alone

Thoughtful, calming and melancholic, full of hushed, enveloping guitar sounds and gentle vocals

Spencer Radcliffe - Hot Spring

Alt-country, indie falk americana, very relaxed,pastoral and wry poetics

Ciamkam - Play-doh Dog

Noise ambient / screeching, dissonant, surreal, ominous

Equiknoxx - Eternal Children

UK soundsystem style, reggae groundings, earthy dancehall with a vast range of puzzling vocalists

Eh hahah - Fissure

Experimental deconstructed electronic, sound collage, glitches and post-club music

Upsammy - Wild Chamber

Lucid shades of IDM, bleep techno, perky synths and frazzling hi-hats, polyrhythmic drum patterns

Otik - Blasphemy

Fresh, vibrant, dark experimental club music, techno + dance + electronic

Shanti Celeste - Tangerine

Tech / ambient / deep house, breakbeat, rhythmic and mechanical yet dreamy

Bez - Banki Mydlane

Dream pop, shoegaze, noise pop, space rock, reverberated female vocals + spoken word

Yu Su - Roll with the punches

Ambient dub, downtempo, tribal ambient, sampling, mellow, atmospheric with female vocals

Drive45 - Dried up

Bitpop, Artpop, indietronica, quirky and playful, androgynous vocals

Lala &ce - Le son d’apres

French hip hop, trap, cloud rap, alternative b&b, dancehall / sparse dark and ominous, warm female vocals

Leif - Loom Dream

Tribal ambient / ambient techno + field recordings / pastoral, ethereal, atmospheric

deathcrash - Sundown (a collection of home recordings)

Slowcore, drone ambient, post-punk, fragile male vocals

FEET - What’s inside is more than just ham

Post-punk, indie-rock, dance-punk, sarcastic, playful, technical, male vocals

Coi Leray - EC2

Trap, hyphy, pop rap

Ariwo- Quasi

Dub techno, afro-cuban jazz, ambient techno, chants, programmed beats, pulsating relentless rhythms and percussions, loud sax

Floating Points - Crush

Strikingly melodic and elegant, cinematic, frantic and distorted rhythms, shuddered synths, vibrant breakbeats, sampling, UK garage nodding

Jacques Greene - Dawn Chorus

Bittersweet, sad but triumphant, mix of experimental electronic and lightweight techno + field recordings, hazy sampled textures, distorted drones + disco house + percussions + spoken word

Men I Trust - Oncle Jazz

Indie electronic, minimal, chillout downtempo, dreamy female vocals, jazzy

Raveena - Lucid

R&B, soul, experimental, pop, groovy, jazzy and dreamy, with some field and spoken words recordings

2018

Shit and Shine - Very high

Lazy hippie funk with slowed rnb vocals

Saloli - The deep end

New Age-inspired delicate only-synth music

Adrianne Lenker - abysskis

Guitar and sweet and warm vocals

Ever ending kicks - Ideas relayed

Sweet lo-fi similar to the previous two

Negative Gemini - Bad Baby

Solid synth pop with dreamy intimate vocals

Okay Kaya - Both

melancholy bedroom-pop sarcastic and harsh lyrics

Trust Fund - Bringing the Backline

Witty yet melancholy self-aware pop-rock

Jockstrap - Love is the key to the city

A fusion of Bossa Nova, 1930s Disney-esque orchestra, and coarse electronica

Noah Cyrus - Good Cry

Pop and rnb debut album with a bit of gospel and melancholy

Carla dal Forno - Top of the pops

Alternative indie electronic, subtle instrumental backdrops with plaintive vocals

Lala Lala - The lamb

Alternative/Indie rock with grunge tones and personal and warm vocals

Diamond Thug - Apastron

Progressive but dreamy pop, graceful vocals

Denh Izen - Storage Solutions

Dark and charming sounds with warm and distorted vocals, desperate but calm

Imperial Triumphant - Vile Luxury

New York Jazz mixed with top-notch black metal great for a sci-fi dystopian movie - especially Cosmopolis

Oliver Coates - Shelley’s on Zenn-La

Beat-oriented electronic music, sublime cello and synths

Dylan Carlson - Conquistador

drone-metal imaginary Western mostly solo electric guitar

Project Pablo - Come to Canada you will like it

Dozy laid back deep house with jazzy chords and subtly swinging drums

Ryley Walker - The Lillywhite Sessions

Dave Matthews Band tribute with proggy folk, primitive guitar, free improv, Chicago jazz-rock on darker tones

Grouper - Grid of Points

Empty room, piano and voice slip through your fingers like water

Kali malone - Cast of Mind

Glacial synth tones mapped to acoustic woodwind and brass

Likes - New Pedal

Short tracks of fun glitch / hypnagogic pop

Jake Tobin - Fifth Thought

Fun and whimsical take on classical sax sounds and guitars

Jake Tobin - 135

Avant-prog / jazz fusion / romanticism / off-kilter melodies / psychedelic chords with the emotion and aesthetic of bedroom pop

Twig Twig - Darkworld Gleaming

Experimental pop, whimsical instrumentation, lo-fi uplift, beats and loops

George Clanton - Slide

Cult 2020s electronic born from vaporware influences mixed with whispery chillwave and downtempo R&B, feels like a 90s rave in an open field, no irony

Good Doom - Mood Life

Unique, very chill, dreamy sound, incorporates world music, trip hop beats, lo fi bedroom pop, krautrock and noise

Ex:Re - Ex:Re

Husky and mellow ambient pop, dream pop? Lethargic and melancholic

Zaumne - Emo Dub

Minimalistic ominous and repetitive ambient house with ASMR-like spoken words

Ehh hahah - And the weather so breezy, man, why can’t life always be this easy?

Progressive experimental electronic, deconstructed club music, EDM, bubblegum bass, playful yet dark

Kate NV - для FOR

Progressive electronic, ambient, new age, minimalist, surreal, otherworldly and playful. wet, fleshy bleeps; bubbly, liquid noise

Leon Chang - re:treat

Mellow lo-fi hip hop, downtempo, electronic, future bass, sampling

Coi Leray - Everythingcoz

Pop rap, trap, hyphy tunes, powerful + well produced

Domenique Dumont - Miniatures de auto rhythm

Sophist-pop, balearic beat, chillwave, dreampopish, soft female vocals, lush, summery and rhythmic

Big Joanie - Sistahs

Pretty standard textbook indie-rock, post-punk with female vocals

Darto - Fundamental Slime

Haunting and spacious, deep male vocals, intriguing eerie melodies, dream state lullabies + sax and spoken word bit

Old Maybe - Piggity Pink

Chaotic post-punk, unusual time signatures, strong shouted female vocals

Brad Mehldau Trio - Seymour Reads the Constitution!

Elegant and melodic modal jazz - post-bop album, fragmented but coherent, ever changing time signature and tempo

2017

Ross Backenkeller - Bardo

Folk indie guitar melodies with honest and gentle vocals

Maruego - Tra Zenith e Nadir

Italian trap with disillusioned and ironic lyrics + cool collabs

Nervous Condition - Untitled

Forceful drums, wails of sax and commanding vocals - mix of experimental rock, post-punk, no wave, jazz

Powerplant - Dogs Sees Ghosts

Synth punk, garage punk fast and fun

Wool & The Pants - Wool & The Pants

Experimental r&b / soul / hiphop vibez pretty smooth and lo-fi

TOPS - Sugar at the gate

Soft rock tunes, vintage atmosphere, fuzzy, honey-dipped songs

Slothrust - Show me how you want it to be

Covers album with grungy sounds and good arrangements

Rone - Mirapolis

Misty synths and heavy bass lines, dreary and melancholic industrial electronics, packed with doomed vocals of all sorts of guests.

Ada Babar & Kasra Kurt - Nino Tomorrow

Weird pop and experimental DIY with MIDI keyboards and guitar, playful lyrics, video game menu music

Good Doom - New Shapes for you

Evocative, dreamy and atmospheric melodies, warm at times, chilly, spooky, grungy, dark at others, synth buzzes, glitchy drums

Phoebe Bridgers - Stranger in the alps

Atmospheric ballads for sad times, deeply personal stories of heartbreak and loss

Florist - If Blue Could Be Happiness

Indie folk, soft and atmospheric, pure gentle quiet and soft female vocals about understanding light and darkness. Swooping guitar, dots of piano notes, gentle beats that recall Simon and Garfunkel

Wishing - Heat Death

Ambient pop, lo-fi indie beats w/ soft vocals that make you feel things you haven’t felt in a while

Martyn Heyne - Electric Intervals

Ambient in the broadest sense, calm instrumental downtempo guitar-centric with electronic flourishes

Equiknoxx - Colón Man

Vivid and tactile masterful sound design, syncopated loops, wonky and scintillating rhythms

American Pleasure Club - I blew a dandelion and the whole world disappeared

Lo-fi acoustic guitar with raw male vocals

Andrea Laszlo De Simone - Uomo Donna

Progressive pop, baroque/psychedelic pop + field recordings / bittersweet and pastoral

Drive45 - Have you seen me?

Bitpop indietronic, glitch pop, sequencer, dance pop

Drive45 - System Format

Bitpop indietronic, playful video game sounds

Leon Chang - bird world

Bitpop electronic, sequencer, videogame music, future bass / uplifting mellow and playful

dynastic - SPACE/SUMMER

Glitch hop, electronic bubblegum, kawaii future bass, mellow and uptempo, cheesy sax, chaotic sounds + dance floor dnb

Darto - Human Giving

Spacey experimental electronic mixed with post-punk, warm tones, 80s synths, soft melodic vocals + spoken bits

Pregnant - Duct Tape

Indie/art/soft rock, electronic, brilliant pop tunes, dreamy yet rhythmic

2016

Ever Ending Kicks - Music World

DIY colourful dreamy hazy songs

Mild Eye Club - Skiptracing

Low-key folk dreamy with 60s 70s vintage links

Loving - Loving

Easy and dreamy pop melodies, wavy, warm and mellow

Lala Lala- Sleepyhead

Alternative/Indie rock with grunge tones and personal and warm vocals

Gruff Rhys - Set fire to the stars

Soundtrack to the homonym 2014 film set in the 50s - soft romance rock, jazz-inspired, elegant and familiar

Oliver Coates - Upstepping

Deep house, techno, footwork blended with sharp and experimental classical strings

Garden Center - Garden Center

Erratic pop music, fun and playful electronic sounds, silly vocals

Raime - Tooth

Ominus and gloomy sound of dub, electronic and post-rock / stripped down to the flesh

Amiina - Fantomas

Violin, cello, drums, percussion, metallophone, harp, ukulele and electronics fused in a contemporary classical post-rock gentle melody-focused experimentation

Jake Tobin - Sorta Upset

Short tracks of experimental rock, avant-prog - eclectic and dissonant, technical and manic

Jake Tobin - Accidentally on Purpose

Post-modern experimental pop, jazz influenced sounds, off-kilter saxophone, silly humour

Vanishing Twin - Choose your own adventure

Swathes of percussion, exotic drum beats and funky guitars merge into a cosmic blend of reverberating bleeps with jazz skits / heady voyage across sound influences

Good Doom - Hug

Good Doom - Naps

Both off-beat lo-fi with a rock twists, spacey, fuzzy, grainy sounds

Zeal & Ardor - Devil is fine

Top notch black metal merges African-American spiritual slave music and some electronic beats and sounds

Shield Patterns - Mirror Breathing

Haunting vocals and sensual cello, clarinet and piano, all wrapped up in ethereal synths

Ashley Henry - Ashley Henry’s 5ive

Complex and uplifting post-bop jazz, imaginative flare, delicate and soothing piano

Florist - The Birds Outside Sang

Lo-fi indie, ambient-dream pop,sparse, minimalist keyboard leads bordering on chilly drones + intimate and personal songwriting

CBMC - OOR

Acustic lo-fi bedroom pop with an airy tone and somber feel but still feels fresh and lighthearted

Told Slant - Going By

Slowcore indie pop/folksy emo, ‘intimate spaces in which small town kids write memories of touch, togetherness, loss, love, depersonalisation’

Kate NV - Binasu

Art pop, progressive electronic, sequencer, joyful grooves but also atmospheric and ethereal sounds, eclectic and dense, melodic female vocals

Zaumne - Przezycia

Minimal ambient techno with a couple of spoken word bits

Mauno - Rough Master

Enticingly and eclectic indie rock, smooth vocals, strings and moody guitars, delicate piano, powerful drums

Susso - Keira

Tribal house, tribal ambient, folktronica, Mande music, rhythmic and powerful chants

Phern - Cool Coma

Psychedelic pop, lo-fi, mellow and playful

Hellier Ulysses - Ulysses Hellier

Experimental rock, math rock, jangle pop mixed with post-punk, technical, lo-fi, uncommon time signatures

Brad Mehldau Trio - Blues and Ballads

Deceptively sweet-sounding jazz album, songs are played with variations and every phrase is a cliffhanger - gracefully executed + bonus of my fav song <3

2015

Adeodat Warfield - Pacific, Missouri

Synth pop with electronic beats, vaporware notes

Ross Backenkeller - Rare Please

Folk indie guitar melodies with honest and gentle vocals

Grimes - Art Angels

Immaculate and authentic, synthetic and unreal but also super pop, folk, and dance / POST-art pop?

Jake Tobin - Third and Fourth Thoughts

Short tracks of weird avant-prog where the vocals follow the melodies all the time

Florist - Holdly

Vocals move slowly and sweetly through gentle meditation sound and soft guitars

Starry Cat - Starry Cat

Indie pop, lo-fi indie, wavy and shaky, bitter-sweet and personal male vocals

CBMC - FOOTWEAR

Acustic lo-fi bedroom pop with a somber feel but still feels fresh and lighthearted nearly asmr-like vocals

Wishing - To Forget

Lo-fi indie slowcore, fuzzy synths + acoustic sounds mixed with short electronic tracks / lyrics are whispered and very intimate

Oren Ambarchi - Live Knots

Two very long live recorded tracks of propulsive drumming full of tensions and releases + droning notes, plucked strings and mournful guitar

Juxta Phona - we will not be silence

Ambient, electronic, minimal melodies over crisp, tactile beats

Khruangbin - The Universe Smiles Upon You

Psychedelic / Funk rock, rhythmic and jazzy, tropical warm and peaceful

Red Sea - In The Salon

Indie experimental rock, psychedelic pop, math rock, melodic yet uncommon time signatures

Eyeliner - Buy Now

Synth-pop/funk - vaporwave / instrumental, melodic, uplifting, lush, futuristic / great bass lines!

2014

Ricky Eat Acid - Three love songs

First half found sounds, experimental electronics, fuzzy piano loops. Second half IDM beats and keys, choir-like vocals / “might be the sound of music having a dream within a dream about music”

Jake Tobin - Torment

Jake Tobin - Life as a Clerical Error

Weird dissonant mix of avant-prog, art punk and jazz fusion but in an amazing way

Richard Dawson - Nothing Important

Brittle, crudely amplified nylon-string acoustic guitar, experimental drones, folk sketches, imitation field cries, and free jazz diversions

2013

Ever Ending Kicks - Weird priorities

Sentimental chill instrumental and colourful with gentle vocals

Gruff Rhys - American Interior

John Evans-themes concept album - witty folk oriented retro-futurist music

Michael Andrews - Spilling a rainbow

Well-crafted pop tunes, nostalgic and lighthearted memories of folk rock with a dash of avant-garde electronic haze

Pill Friends - Blessed Suffering

Lo-fi indie/emo noisy and raw with existential and stark male vocals

2012

Told Slant - Still Water

Lo-fi/bedroom-punk with folksy guitars and delicate vocals as if they could break down in tears at any moment

2010

Hype Williams - Find out what happens when people stop being polite and start gettin reel

Ypnagogic vortex of incredibly canny hard to pinpoint music with distorted spoken vocals

Zach Hill - FACE TAT

Constant restless drumming, squiggly melodic instrumental hooks, mosaics of disconnected noises, fuzzy sounds and vocals

2008

Amplifier Machine - her mouth is an outlaw

Half-improvised ambient - drone - experimental - electronic - post-rock

E. Bandel, Victory & Good Hunting - s/t

Classical, piano, folk, melancholic, haunting

2007

Seabear - The ghost that carried us away

Indie/folk multi-instrumental dynamic floating sound, warm melodies, calm and gentle vocals

HEALTH - HEALTH

A masterful noise/experimental rock with elements of post-punk, drone and electronic - disorienting rhythms, tempo-shifting, noisy outbursts

2005

The Darkness - One way ticket to hell

Hard / glam rock ballads and pop tunes

2004

The Emperor Machine - Aimee Tallulah is hypnotised

Mix of electro euro disco, post-punk, krautrock, sci-fi scores, jazz-funk. Thick dance rhythms and mind-altering synths

2002

ESG - Step Off

Sweet soul with a punk attitude, jazzy sassy vocals

Hella - Hold your horse is

Non-stop, indie-audio assault / Nintendo music / midi and electronic beats / head-spinning leading drums, very fast guitars

1998

Eels - Electro-Shock Blues

elegantly sad grief and death themed album, deeply personal, yet brilliant pop tunes, post-grunge, jazzy arrangement, archive sounds, electronics

Duster - Stratosphere

Bashful slowcore lo-fi experimental space/indie rock

1975

Bobbi Humphrey- Fancy Dancer

Funky jazz with forms of world music, soul, club music and pop

1973

Kevin Ayers - Bananamour

Progressive pop, art rock with mix of soul, r&b, reggae - choirs and country type ballads

1972

Kevin Ayers - Whatevershebringswesing

Experimental new age prog rock, semisweet tunes, lighthearted, skewed sounds

1970

Kevin Ayers - Shooting at the moon

Experimental, progressive, avant-garde, rock with jazz influences, sound recordings, excellent songwriting

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deadcactuswalking · 4 years ago

Text

REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 13/02/2021 (Digga D, AJ Tracey, Cardi B)

It’s not as big of a week as it is just a confusing one, so there’s no pre-amble. Olivia Rodrigo spends a fifth week at #1 with “drivers license” and let’s start REVIEWING THE CHARTS.

Rundown

I started writing this a bit later than usual so I just want to rush through most of what’s here. The songs dropping out of the UK Top 75 are either debuts from not long ago like “Notorious” by Bugzy Malone featuring Chip and “Lo Vas A Olvidar” by Billie Eilish and ROSALÍA, or songs that have been here for a while, like “Monster” by Shawn Mendes and Justin Bieber, “Holy” by Justin Bieber featuring Chance the Rapper and “Dynamite” by BTS. We even have some #1 hits dropping out of the Top 75 this week, like “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac, “WAP” by Cardi B featuring Megan Thee Stallion and “Shallow” by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper. In terms of fallers, we have, seemingly, some of the older Winter cuts being replaced, as we see “Sweet Melody” by Little Mix getting a harsh streaming cut down to #30, “Whoopty” by CJ down to #33, “Levitating” by Dua Lipa and remixed by DaBaby down to #34 (although this could rebound given the album release), “you broke me first” by Tate McRae at #37, “SO DONE” by The Kid YAOI at #57, “All I Want” by Olivia Rodrigo at #61, “Looking for Me” by Diplo, Paul Woodford and Kareen Lomax at #62, “Train Wreck” by James Arthur at #63, “See Nobody” by Wes Nelson and Hardy Caprio at #64, “Take You Dancing” by Jason Derulo at #65, “Therefore I Am” by Billie Eilish at #68, “Before You Go” by Lewis Capaldi at #72 and “Golden” by Harry Styles at #73, as well as some more recent debuts, including the entirety of Fredo’s album impact from last week, as “Money Talks” with Dave is at #11, “Ready” with Summer Walker at #31 and “Burner on Deck” with Young Adz and the late Pop Smoke at #32. “Skin” by Sabrina Carpenter and “Apricots” by Bicep aren’t faring that well either, at #51 and #56 respectively. When I said these songs are being replaced, I wasn’t overestimating anything as we have our new crop of hits seemingly all surging, as “Martin & Gina” by Polo G is at #54, “Be the One” by Rudimental, MORGAN, TIKE and Digga D is at #49, “Best Friend” by Saweetie featuring Doja Cat is at #42, “My Head & My Heart” by Ava Max is at #35, “Love Not War (The Tampa Beat)” by Jason Derulo and Nuka is at #27, “Heat Waves” by Glass Animals is at #24, “Your Love (9PM)” by ATB, Topic and A7S is at #23 (it’s honestly starting to grow on me), and “Blinding Lights” by the Weeknd is somehow back up to #20. Speaking of the top 20, we also have “Friday” by Riton, Nightcrawlers and Musafa & Hypeman dopamine re-editing itself up to #16, “Save Your Tears” also by the Weeknd at #15, and two new top 10 hits, both songs with basically the same chart run and genre. “Goosebumps” by Travis Scott, remixed by HVME, remixed by Travis Scott is at #10, becoming HVME’s first and Travis’ fourth top 10 hit here in Britain. We also have “The Business” by Tiesto grooving up to #7, becoming Tiesto’s fourth top 10 hit. I honestly feel bad for the still completely uncredited vocalist. We also have a third new top 10 entry but that’s a debut that we can discuss later. I should also note that “Roses” by SAINt JHN and remixed by Imanbek is back at #74, and a winning Eurovision song, “Arcade”, by Dutch singer Duncan Lawrence is also back at #39 off of the back of some TikTok traction. I think this is the most streamed Eurovision now – I’d watch out for this being a big hit. Welp, time to get into our really, and I mean REALLY, varied and weird crop of new arrivals, starting with...

NEW ARRIVALS

#75 – “Roadtrip” – Dream and PmBata

Produced by Banrisk and Perish Beats

Okay, so this is a song by Minecraft YouTuber Dream, or at least that’s who I think he is. I think there was some kind of scandal related to him, and a couple people got involved and someone got doxed... listen, I don’t care. Not only is this song really not worthy of reviewing on the principle that unlike Wilbur Soot a couple weeks ago, Dream has never been a musician, which is clear from how involved no-name singer PmBata was in this, but I care for my private information not being made public so... What ridiculous excuse do I have to not review this? Okay, 1997 reggae-rock classic “Doin’ Time” by Sublime returns to #75 after Boris Johnson made a TikTok in the Houses of Parliament where he says “Pogchamp, Brexiteers, I just got tested for COVID-19” with the song in the background, and Joe Biden is on a Zoom call with him a few seconds later visibly annoyed because he prefers the New Radicals. Sure, let’s go with that. What was this entry about again?

#71 – “Goodbye” – Imanbek and Goodboys

Produced by Joris Mur, Imanbek and Goodboys

Everyone’s favourite Kazakh house producer Imanbek is finally back on the charts with his collaboration with British pop trio Goodboys, who you may know from their carbon-copy hits made with MEDUZA. After listening to that EP he made with Rita Ora, I’m slightly less impressed with Imanbek’s production, but that EP’s impact, if any, will be seen when the lead single featuring David Guetta and Gunna debuts low next week. Yes, seriously, all four on the same track. Anyway, this song, “Goodbye”, is actually pretty okay, with a generic deep house groove and fake hand-clap effectively saved by the Goodboys’ really intriguing vocal delivery and processing, which ends up in a Travis Scott-like Auto-Tune harmony that’s honestly pretty endearing right before the anti-climactic slap-house drop. The song’s lyrical content probably isn’t worth talking about, but it’s about a generic struggle with a break-up, and how hard it is for one of these good boys to say good bye. The build-up with the pre-chorus before the blue-balls second drop is kind of genius, and that’s probably my favourite part of the song outside of the abrupt vocaloid drop at the end. For what it’s worth, it takes more risks than most of these house-pop songs, most notably by having only a single verse in the middle of the song, and being really short, clocking in at less than two and a half minutes. It’s not as infectious as “Piece of Your Heart”, but this is fine. I’m glad it’s here if it’s going to give Imanbek another non-Rita Ora-assisted hit.

#60 – “Little Bit of Love” – Tom Grennan

Produced by Jamie Scott, LOSTBOY and Daniel Bryer

Tom Grennan is an English singer-songwriter who released their debut record in 2016 and was crowned by the BBC as the “Sound of 2017”, before dropping off the face of the Earth. He was brought to fame by a guest feature on a Chase & Status song that didn’t even do that well and now he’s back with the lead single from his upcoming sophomore effort, and his highest ever charting song. Well, is it any good? I mean, I like OneRepublic too. The rising strings here in the intro and chorus are pretty cool, and I’ll give it to Grennan for having an interesting voice but the odd level of grit in it does not fit well for this plastic production, which quickly devolves into vaguely danceable synth-mess that’s just not interesting. The content is mostly about unconditional love, particularly one that feels not particularly reciprocated, although some of the detail in the second verse feels like it’s going somewhere. I’ll admit, the chorus is catchy, but this mix puts way too much emphasis on a flawed vocal take from Grennan, which really detracts from the pathetic excuse for a bridge. I do enjoy how this feels like a flash-back to the mid-2010s, where happier, synth-based pop was this prominent, and I do love how the strings come back in the outro, but good production can’t do much to save a song that just feels under-cooked and definitely under-written. The OneRepublic comparison feels particularly fitting here too because their stuff tends to be just as stagnant, not to mention the lyrical riffs off of “Counting Stars”. I mean, when you start your first verse – in the first 10 or so seconds of the track – with the most recognisable part of a very recognisable song, I think Ryan Tedder deserves at least some royalties.

#58 – “Astronaut in the Ocean” – Masked Wolf

Produced by Tyron Hapi

Masked Wolf is an Australian singer and this song is actually from June 2019, just gaining enough traction, presumably off of TikTok, to debut on the charts this week. The song got a 2021 reissue and I assume a remix and, well... for God’s sake. The Kid LAROI should not have been an entry point for Australian trap, because outside of a second or two of distortion in the intro, this is far from unique. It has a guitar-based trap instrumental with dark 808s that even Gunna would pass up on, and an Auto-Tuned delivery from Masked Wolf, clearly trying too hard to replicate Drake in the intro and bridge, Kid Cudi in the chorus, G-Eazy in the first verse, Eminem AND Kendrick on the second verse, to the point where he even directly references Kendrick Lamar’s much better music. He suffers from the same problems as all of these artists combined, with lyrics that seem like they’re building up off of something interesting about depression before going into aimless flexing like a mid-tier Kid Cudi track, flows that sound as meandering and checked-out as Drake’s, the failed attempt at some kind of white-boy swagger that G-Eazy hasn’t pulled off successfully since 2016, the substance-less content hidden behind fast flows from Eminem and... oh, my God, this guy’s just like Australian Logic. I don’t like American Logic, why do we need this guy too? Yeah, this is bad, and there’s not much worth nitpicking in this mix or even the lyrics to even point out. I guess the worst bar is when he says he believes in G-O-D but not a T-H-O-T. So he’s a slut-shaming NF now? Jesus Christ, I’d take a full album from The Kid LAROI over this.

So the next two songs are ones I’ll actually need to somewhat lump together, as they are consecutive on the chart and both from the same album, and the same washed-up band.

#53 – “Waiting on a War” – Foo Fighters

Produced by Greg Kurstin

We have two songs from Dave Grohl and friends here from their latest album, Medicine at Midnight, technically three if we count the entire top 100, which means, yes, the UK just had a Foo Fighters album bomb. I’ll focus on the album as a whole with the next song because this is easily the worse track here and the worst track on the album purely out of how misguided it is. Dave Grohl wrote this song because he felt inspired by the current hell-scape of the political climate, reminding him of his own youth when he was surrounded by rising Cold War tensions. His young daughter asked him if there was going to be a war and naturally this song came out of it, reflecting on the fears he and his daughter have and that everyone deserves a future and a lifetime not taken away from them by conflict and fear. This is a good song idea but it absolutely does not work, and that’s partially down to the production. When I first heard this track on the album, I genuinely grimaced at the vocoder-mumble that Grohl takes on against the scratchy acoustic guitars. The whole point of the instrumentation is that it builds tension with rising strings, multi-tracked acoustics and eventually some electric guitars and powerful drums, yet because of how slow-paced the song is, it fails to mirror the rising tension of the prospect of there being a war. Instead, it’s a slog and its pay-off by the end feels unwarranted in the most boring way. Sure, the squeals of the guitars in the back of the mix sound good, but surely a song like this should not end like any of the Foo Fighters’ other pop-rock anthems, especially not as abruptly as it does. Wouldn’t you want a more subdued outro to comfort your daughter’s fears that at least right now, everything’s okay? That would make the most sense to me, but that’s thrown out of the window, with pathetic songwriting, with verses that play word association with the blandest of rhymes, seemingly irrelevant pop-song-generator filer and a chorus that is mind-numbingly repetitive but ultimately fails to build tension because of the content asking us to wait, constantly, even when it gets into its heavier rock tone. We’re supposed to wait for something that is only implied to never come, because there isn’t finality. Sure, that could work as a way of saying that Grohl is just as uncertain and scared as his daughter is about political conflict, but that would imply this song gives off any further emotion than the fact the Foo Fighters felt the need to cut a vaguely political track out of necessity. As a song, and as an album, Dave Grohl is utterly confused, and “Waiting on a War” is way too slow and non-specific to act as a protest song, as well as being way too on-the-nose for it to work as a ballad. Let’s talk about this next single.

#52 – “Making a Fire” – Foo Fighters

Produced by Greg Kurstin

What the hell is Greg Kurstin doing here? This is the first track on the album and is supposed to make some kind of gripping impact but is instead just a snoozefest. The choral female vocals sound bored, but at least it’s not as strained as the struggling Dave Grohl trying and failing to yelp over a stiff groove which has its momentum killed by drumming too slow and mixed too oddly to make this pre-chorus even coherent, not helped by Grohl’s butt-rock delivery and non-descript lyrics. There could be a guitar solo here, to make this track feel memorable, but no, it’s hidden under a pre-chorus with an extended gospel bridge that doesn’t build up effectively to a chorus that just comes crashing in and hence has no effect. Maybe I just can’t listen to arena rock in a quarantine context, but I can’t even imagine this making much of a fuss in a packed stadium without desperately needing tweaks in the songwriting and especially the production, because this just sounds stunted. It’s telling that Grohl made his best tracks as the Foo Fighters on his own and those first two records, alongside a pretty decent 2014 comeback in the form of Sonic Highways, are still great. I’m not denying that Grohl can write a good song, or that the Food Figures can’t play, because they’re all talented guys. This is just one album in many that leaves me with the feeling that these guys just can’t do much more outside of their comfort zone than fail miserably. These songs won’t stick around, and thank God for that.

#50 – “Believe Me” – Navos

Produced by Tom Demac and Navos

Another week, another... okay, but we already had a generic pop-infused deep house track from a couple EDM randos, do we really need another? Okay, well, this one is even less interesting than Imanbek’s effort as it doesn’t even try for a verse, instead going for a deep house groove I’ve heard countless times before, drowned out by some square synths and, yes, you guessed it, 90s piano loops and an uncredited female vocalist repeating basically the same couple lines over and over. This is made for the clubs, but I feel like even regular club-goers would tire of this vocaloid drop and cloudy production two minutes in. There’s nothing worth discussing here, because this probably took as many minutes to make as it did to listen to. I have no idea why Navos debuts a song so high, but I’ve got to assume TikTok’s to blame. Apparently this guy makes tech house, where’d any of that skill or intrigue go here?

#21 – “Up” – Cardi B

Produced by Sean Island, DJ SwanQo and Yung Dza

Anyone else surprised at how such a big name gets production from people I’ve never heard of before? Not that it matters, it’s just odd. Anyways, this is Cardi’s new single, presumably from that ever-elusive second album, debuting around 20 spots lower than it will in the US, and it’s going for a more gangsta-rap content than the hyper-sexual “WAP”, but does she keep the same energy? Well, yes... in fact, after all the mediocrity, I’m glad to have a genuinely great song debut this week. This is a great, bass-heavy beat that gives a Memphis phonk feel in the dark keys as well as the hard-hitting 808s and spacey percs and sound effects that add some needed distortion, even if there’s going to be some brief clipping along the way. Cardi brings some necessary energy from the brilliant opening lyrics and continues with a fast-paced, chanting flow that accentuates some of her funnier lyrics with her charisma that she always brings to a trap track like this. I’d say that this is maybe too repetitive – with very little of the verses to speak of – or even somewhat derivative of her previous song, “Money”, but there’s a lot better lyrical content in this one, not to mention how well she complements a more straight-forward but still killer beat. Oh, yeah, and Cardi’s stacks are Shaq-height as she dismisses haters with an impressive level of swagger and confidence, that carries the refrain, but that’s not to say the lyrics aren’t really great in the verses. There’s genuinely funny and sexy wordplay here, especially in the second verse, and also some great liners: “hoes speakin’ cap-anese”, accusing her haters of having pink-eye and their breath smelling like “horse sex”. This is a short, probably underdeveloped song, but it’s the type of surreal, high-energy trap I kind of really love and I hope this sticks around further in the UK.

#19 – “Latest Trends” – A1 x J1

Produced by ShoBeatz

A1 x J1 are a British rap duo with no other songs. Yeah, something’s fishy here: this is their only song on Spotify that blew up from a 15-second clip on TikTok, and their Spotify bio is trying to decide whether they’re the next D-Block Europe or the Beatles, as well as really emphasising how the song grew “all organically”, even though they’re already signed to Universal... yeah, there’s nothing subtle here, so I won’t buy this TikTok fame schtick, but does it matter when the song is good? Well, not really, and honestly, I’m kind of into this guitar-based drill-R&B fusion in the beat, but it doesn’t really help the fact that J1’s Stormzy impression is janky and unconvincing, especially if he’s going to try for some shallow wordplay, and that A1’s Auto-Tuned croon is just boring, reminding me a lot of A Boogie wit da Hoodie, but with a less recognisable voice and delivery, even if the first verse contains a funny line about a woman making that ass clap “for the NHS”, although he totally took that from Swarmz anyway. Yeah, I’m not a fan of this fake attempt at an organic pop-drill crossover, but unfortunately, I can very much see this working, though I’d be happy if the British public will see through this dishonesty as soon as possible.

#5 – “Bringing it Back” – Digga D and AJ Tracey

Produced by TheElements and AoD

Now for a rap duo that makes more sense to debut this high and are actually, you know, separately successful rappers, therefore they debut in the top five, which is impressive. The whole concept of this song is that Digga D and AJ Tracey are using old flows, those that would be nostalgic to their deeper fan base, to spit bars on a new track called, fittingly “Bringing it Back”. The flow AJ Tracey brings back is from his overlong “Packages” freestyle, a five-minute track from 2016, that works more as a freestyle than it does as a song, where he uses a familiar UK drill flow to go off for a really long time, and, yes, it is pretty impressive but the flow becomes stale too quickly. Digga D uses his flow from his “Next Up?” freestyle from 2017, a similarly badly-mixed UK drill freestyle but with a much more palatable length. Digga D’s flow he uses in that track is arguably slicker but honestly one that I see used a lot in UK drill and by Digga D, so I’m not sure it’s not worth “bringing it back” when you could come up with a new, catchier flow. I’ll admit that “Bringing it Back”, however, is a pretty damn good song, with Digga D’s more technical and fluid flow allowing for a lot more intricate internal rhymes that sound really great over the triumphant, string-heavy drill beat, as he trades bars with AJ Tracey’s slower but more confident, laid-back flow, which allows him to spit some more specific, interesting bars, some of which really hit, like when he says he “locked up the food for the kids like Boris and then I let it go like Rashford”. Hey, I respect it, I haven’t heard a more clever way of intertwining political commentary with cocaine smuggling since Pusha T last released a record. The way AJ Tracey and Digga D play off of each other’s lines is really smooth, and especially how Digga D plays with the beat, as while his lyrics may be less interesting, they mash perfectly with the beat’s frantic fades in and out, especially in his last lines before the first chorus, where he asks for the track to literally be turned off... and it is. So, yeah, I’m pretty damn happy with this debuting so high off the energy alone, even if Digga D is going to pronounce “LOL” like a one-syllable word. I’d say this is actually a really good starting point for people who want to get into more UK drill because it has a lot of the grit and menace of the genre in a more accessible, catchy form, even if it may run a bit too long for my taste.

Conclusion

Wow, what a weird, weird week... and a lot of it was straight garbage. I’m giving Best of the Week to “Up” by Cardi B, with an Honourable Mention to Digga D and AJ Tracey for “Bringing it Back”, though Worst of the Week is pretty much a toss-up. I’ll give it to the Foo Fighters for “Waiting on a War”, with a Dishonourable Mention tied between “Astronaut in the Ocean” by Masked Wolf and “Believe Me” by Navos for just both being worthless. Anyways, here’s our top 10:

The UK Singles Chart is honestly kind of chaotic right now – even more so than usual – and I don’t see that changing. Even if I don’t like all of the songs, it’s at least compelling. Anyways, thank you for reading and you can follow me @cactusinthebank on Twitter if you want. I can’t really make any predictions for next week other than Taylor Swift re-recording her own music and I guess some impact from Rita Ora and Imanbek, or hopefully, slowthai. Regardless of what happens, I’ll see you next week!

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groupiesoutrageously · 5 years ago

Photo

Excerpts from a Nikki Squire interview by Paul Secord, 2000. From the Notes From the Edge website.

PS: How did you get interested in music?

NS: I always loved music, especially singing, so my friends and I would regularly put on shows in one of the houses in the street and all the children would come and I would be the singer.

However, when I became a teenager, I knew that the East End wasn't where I wanted to be forever. I was ambitious and so I went to business school in the evenings, Corona School of Drama in the day, worked a Saturday job, eventually working in the West End. I started my own business and took piano lessons, always listening to music, some of that being: ska (Prince Buster), reggae, Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell, Judy Collins, James Brown, Jimi Hendrix, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Mingus, Stevie Winwood, The Beatles, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Neil Young, Stravinsky, Holst, Bob Marley. All of these artists are as they come to mind not in order of time or preference and of course there are still others like Cream, Iron Butterfly, the Eagles, Led Zep (Kashmir being one of my favorites) — I’ll stop there!

PS: How and where did you first meet Chris Squire?

NS: Chris and I met in the then-famous Speakeasy Club. I think the best music club of that period, not a jazz club, but a place where Derek and the Dominos (Eric Clapton), Jimi Hendrix, Keith Moon, and others from the list I have already mentioned, played.

Everyone in the business frequented the place, it was excellent, and on the evening of the 12th of August 1970, we began what was at first a friendship and the rest, as they say, is history!

PS: What was your life with Chris like?

NS: [...] In the very beginning Chris and Yes had not yet finished recording The Yes Album. There were only the two previous albums, Time and a Word and Yes, so full-on success and international success was yet to come. Therefore as a couple and with Carmen, a family, there were so many different dynamics to our lives, we were both around twenty-three and things were exciting.

We lived in North London, then later in Notting Hill Gate in London. Chris was touring in America and Yes were becoming more and more successful. In those days we both disliked being separated but, as they say, it goes with the turf. Having said that, Carmen and I did go on tour quite a lot, Carmen would always sit on Chris' bass speaker with her little legs swinging in time with the band.

In December 1972 we bought a house in Virginia Water in Surrey, known as "New Pipers.” Chandrika, our second daughter, was born a few months later, in February 1973. We set about renovating, and redesigning the home. We also built the recording studio under the house. Relayer was recorded there, along with Fish Out of Water, the Esquire album and many other projects — but both Chris, myself and the girls lived with builders for years!

We tried, and succeeded in many ways, to have a normal family life, along with the builders, the recordings, rehearsals, touring, business meetings, school functions and family get-togethers — it was varied and never dull.

[…] We were all vegetarians and lived on organic food (since about 1970) so food preparation was quite a big thing. In the grounds of the house we had a kitchen garden, so we had homegrown produce too. Chris and I took an active interest in matters of ecology and health and cultivated the land surrounding the house using organic methods. I studied health and diet extensively (I am involved in this still). It was incredibly busy sometimes and took a tremendous amount of organizing. Then in the summer of 1977 Camille was born — the youngest of the girls. We lived at home, toured together (whenever possible), lived in other countries together took holidays, we were, in every sense of the word, a family — and we loved each other.

PS: You mentioned your second daughter, Chandrika. That is a very interesting name; is there a story behind it?

NS: When Chris was young, he had a very good friend called Darian. Darian's father was Indian and his mother English. They lived in Hampstead in London and were an extremely interesting family. Chris spent a lot of time at the family home and there was a bond between him and them. Chris and I had visited together, very artistic people I remember. They also had a daughter in this wonderful family called Chandrika, this name was passed on to our daughter. An Indian name by origin, Chandra (pronounced “chundra”) means Moon. So Chandrika means “Little Moon.”

PS: What kind of influence did you have on Chris' writing with Yes and his solo work?

NS: In between all that I have already spoken of above, there would be many times where I would sing with Chris at the grand piano or Chris would sing something to me and I would give an opinion or an idea. The same with the guitar or the bass and downstairs in the studio it would be the same too, or I would watch him working and learn. Chris has a brilliant sense of harmony and is a fine musician, singer and bass player, so being there and taking it in has certainly influenced me!

He would always carry stacks of 'out-take' cassettes from the studio and practice vocal harmonies to and from London, which was an hour long journey at least, I would be there and sing them with him, or make a suggestion perhaps, or simply be there.

What influence I have had specifically on Chris is not for me to say, but we certainly shared a lot of musical and family life together. Creating music, by it's very nature, is a tapestry of people, times, moments, influences and inspiration, taken in by all we see around us — therefore how could we not have influenced each other.

PS: Did you and Chris ever write together?

NS: Yes; it's very difficult to say all the small bits here and there that we may have contributed to each others songs, a few words, a line, or even one word, but all of the elements I have just mentioned have happened.

For the most part, this question is answered above, but one song that does come to mind is "Red Light Ahead." We sang that song together so many times — I have always loved it. Some of the same lyrics feature on the closing vocal that Chris sings on “What You've Been Saying”, one of the tracks on the Esquire album. Although I write all my own lyrics, it wouldn't be unusual for Chris to make an appearance like that, with his lyrics and vice-versa, this being an example of one of the subtle crossovers that inevitably would occur in our life as it was.

PS: What role did Chris play in the early days of Esquire?

NS: Chris was always very supportive and would listen with interest to the developing demos. He was not staying at the house very much, sometimes living and recording in London and sometimes in the U.S., although I would often play him the tracks down the telephone line — to get his opinion on the tricky bits!

If Chris was at a particular Esquire recording session, he would give his undivided attention as any dedicated musician would. Sometimes coaching me whilst singing — and he was tough, I had to do it perfectly and reach the high notes spot on.

I always enjoyed working when Chris was around. I think Chris's influence was with me, whether he was there or not, always thinking if he would approve of my approach to a vocal, a lyric, a harmony etc., embracing a standard that I had not only admired in Chris but in Yes as a band and it's members.

Chris and I worked closely on "To the Rescue" with Nigel and Charlie in a studio in California, called Record One. Although the song had already been written and was in demo form, Chris embellished the song tremendously as well as singing harmonies, some of those prominently in the middle eight. Then, of course, Chris and Esquire were together for all the mixing of the album at Ocean Way studio in California too.

There were long times apart and long times together whilst the Esquire album was being written and recorded, but, as I have said, Chris's musical influence was there throughout for me personally, I think it always will be.

#nikki squire #type: girlfriend #chris squire #yes #yes band #photoset #edit

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