#i cannot get over how fresh and experimental every song on this album is

[ileftherbackhome]

the good witch is going down as one of my favorite albums in history, actually

[grimelords]

My August playlist is finished and while it does unfortunately begin with Tool it also has two of Elvis’ gospel songs on it so please believe me when I say it takes a turn! Everything you could ever want over three hours of music from 70s christian hippie cult music to a funky remix of Also Sprach Zarathustra to Ante Up.

If you’re interested in getting these emailed to you instead of having them mysteriously appear and clog up your dash, I’ve started a tinyletter you can subscrine to at tinyletter.com/grimelords

but in the meantime,

listen here

Lateralus - Tool: Tool is on streaming now and they've got a new album out and so it's a very nice time to reinterrogate a band that meant a lot to teenaged me that i have almost completely exorcised from my life since. What's interesting firstly is how much better it is to consume their music digitally than it ever was in any physical format. They apparently resisted making it available for so long for nebulous reasons of artistic control and intention, wanting a say in how their music is listened to - they design these long and overwrought albums to be experienced as a whole. My contention is that as a whole album, start-to-finish, is one of the worst ways to listen to this band. Tool have maybe 12 great songs across four albums and every single album is around 70-80 minutes, pushing the limit of the CD. Which means for every great song there's at least two ambient interludes, Bill Hicks samples, 90s alt comedy bits (Die Eir Von Satan is just menacing music and a menacing voice reading out a weed cookie recipe in german, now that's what I call comedy) that really add nothing to the experience of the album on a casual listen. Being actually able to listen to these songs on their own, and playlist them and pull them apart from the mire is so refreshing and makes experiencing this extremely exhausting band actually pleasant for once. That's not to say ambient interludes and sketches and whatever aren't worth it, I absolutely love that shit and a lot of my favourite albums are absolutely chock full of that sort of thing - just like, don't make me do it every time. Their new album seems to reflect this at least a little bit, with the more overarching themes and arcs of the previous albums replaced by more singular and self-contained long songs interspersed with dedicated 2 minute interlude tracks. The runtime blows out to an hour and a half unrestrained by physical limits but it seems to contain more actual music and less funny than any other Tool album which is a welcome change. I'm still lukewarm on the album itself, it seems to just be a complete rehashing of the ideas on 10,000 Days (to the point of almost note-for-note repetition of some old riffs and themes) which is a bit disappointing considering how long they've apparently been working on it. I'll give it more time because Tool albums always unfold over multiple listens but for now they kind of just sound like the dad-rock version of a once extremely edgy 90s band - which I guess they are now so that makes sense. As for Lateralus, I think it's their best song. The perfect combination of Joe Rogan spirit science woo-woo sacred geometry fibonacci sequence 'open your mind' bullshit and good old fashioned riffs, it's the best of both halves of Tool and great starting point if you've never listened to this band and are interested in becoming insufferable.

Mars For The Rich - King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard: This album is so good and it's finally converted me to being a full time King Gizz guy so look out for a lot more of that in the future. It's a thrash metal concept album about ecological collapse forcing the rich to flee to mars and the poor to flee to venus where they lose their minds and fly into the fire. I spent a little while the other day obsessing over the insane vocal leap in this absolutely incredible song when he jumps down an 11th on 'mars for the riiiiiiich' somehow effortlessly.

Pattern Walks - Cloud Nothings: The interplay between Cloud Nothings second and third albums is something I think about a lot. Attack On Memory is a visceral experience of depression and living in your own head where Here And Nowhere Else is about being able to finally move past it, and living with it. There's a good quote from the singer on the Genius page for this song where he says "It was almost a response to “Wasted Days” on the last record. It ends with “I thought I would be more than this” over and over and this one ends with “I thought” over a beautiful bit of music which is an easy way to explain the way I was thinking when I was writing this record. I wasn’t as depressed as I was when I was making the last album. Before, I felt like nobody liked the band and I was doing it for three years. I was not in a good place. Now, I had more time to think about why I felt that way. It’s a positive song."

M.E. - Metz: Metz put out a B-sides and rarities album a couple of weeks ago and then they put out this Gary Numan cover on it's own for some reason. It's very very good! I love just putting a generally harder edge on it without taking anything away from the spirit of the original. I also, somehow, didn't realise that Where's Your Head At by Basement Jaxx was a Gary Numan sample until I heard this cover so we're all learning every day.

The Ocean And The  Sun - The Sound Of Animals Fighting: Here's what's good: having the last third of your song just be a monotone voice reading from a CrimethInc anarchist zine over swirling guitar ambience. The drums are so good in this, Chris Tsagakis makes me want to muscle through the ska and listen to RX Bandits more, he’s just that good. The extremely crunchy part in the chorus especially, it switches through like three different distortions and sounds absolutely great. I’m a big fan of anyone that can make a very straightforward groove like the main one here really work just by absolutely leaning into it.

Uzbekistan - The Sound Of Animals Fighting: Uzbekistan is the most out-there and wild song on this album which was sort of mostly a way back into post-hardcore for TSOAF after Lover, The Lord Has Left Us.. which was perhaps a little too-out there for most. (seven minute closing track of a guy singing John Cage's Experimental Music essay over formless tabla and mandolin). The drums alone in this are worth it. The way they transition in and out of the super distorted electronic parts is so good. This song fortunately also has a section where someone recites poetry over electronic noise and a second voice whispers 'who holds your strings? wake up..." over the top near the end. I will love and defend dum-dum pretentious music until the day I die.

Gangsta - Tune-Yards: I love Tune-Yards and I'm incredibly interested in the way she interrogates whiteness. It's a complicated thing to get into in this playlist post but when she first turned up, a lot of people assumed she was african american just by the sound of her voice and music - it reaches and pulls from a lot of african music in a very postmodern sort of way and when people found out she was white, straight, cis and from New England it kind of felt like a betrayal for some people. On her 2018 album I Can Feel You Creep Into My Private Life she digs into it a lot in a way that becomes almost uncomfortable for what is ostensibly a pop album. An NPR article about it at the time said "Ever the student, the Smith-educated Garbus, who writes most of Tune-Yards' lyrics, designed an anti-racist curriculum for herself. She attended a six-month anti-racist workshop at the East Bay Meditation Center. She read the work of noted anti-racist educator Tim Wise and explored the activism of Standing Up for Racial Justice, a nationwide, progressive activism network dedicated to "moving white people to act as part of a multi-racial majority.". That's a lot. This song, Gangsta, from her 2011 album when all the hype was fresh feels like a pretty early look into the mindset she'd later fully fledge out of interrogating white identity and cultural appropriation while also participating in it. The lyrics are simple but they get to a simple point, "What's a boy to do if he'll never be a rasta?" is basically making the same point as Ras Trent by The Lonely Island except it's asking where else does Ras Trent fit? Can a white guy participate in anything like that in a way that's not cultural appropriation, and how can a culture like that participate in the larger world without being appropriated? It's 2013 tumblr discourse but it's still churning for a reason I suppose.

Ante Up (feat. Busta Rhymes, Teflon & Remi Martin) - M.O.P: An all time great Violence Song, in the same genre as Knuck If Ya Buck and X Gon Give It To Ya. Opening with "'this shit feel like a whole entire world collapsed" is such an insane way to open a song but the absolute whirlwind of threats that follows makes it feel warranted. "Fuck hip-hop, rip pockets, snatch jewels" is sooo good. I don't even care about this song I am just straight up robbing you. The absolute power in the rhythm of the overlapping getemGETEMgetem hitemHITEMhitem part is just so, so strong. It's like a VR experience of being fucking robbed.

Awake (feat. JPEGMAFIA) - Tkay Maidza: It seems like Tkay is finally nailing down her sound and she’s absolutely killing it. She’s been through a few different styles since she started out and now she’s really hit on something that’s very distinctly her with this and her other new song Flexin and I cannot wait for the album.

Big Head - Ms. Jade: Ms Jade had one album in 2002 and then basically disappeared which is a shame because she's got a very interesting approach. The star of the show is as usual, Timbaland. The man is a singular voice somehow making the tabla and a wikiwiki noise his signature sound. I love the drone of the raps interspersed with the vocal spikes and I love the chorus as the gospel vocals surge up from underneath. This whole song is just completely bizzare in its construction in a way that works perfectly and feels strangely.

Titanium 2 Step - Battles: Battles are finally back and I’m fucking bouncing off the walls. They’re a two piece now and it does not seem to have slowed them down at all which is very exciting. I can’t think of any band that has ever continued with only half of their original members and also moved forward radically every time. Everything about this song is great: the super strength drums, the hypercolour guitar and the vocals that are just screaming absolutely whatever you like whenever you like. It feels closest to Ice Cream, and Gloss Drop in general more than La Di Da Di but i’m so excited to see how the new album sounds - and how they adapt their old material live now that there’s only two of them.

Dancing Is The Best Revenge - !!!: I’ve never actively listened to !!! for no good reason, but plenty of times in my life I’ve heard a song playing and been like damn what the FUCK is THIS?! and it always turns out to be !!!. This is yet another example.

Skitzo Dancer (Justice Remix) - Scenario Rock: The first clap in this is one of the best sounds ever. Right after 'so you think you've seen and heard it all' everything drops out of the mix for this one very comedy clap and it makes me smile every time. The rhythm of the Disco!... Disco! Disco! part near the end is one of those things that's just always playing in the back of my mind, which as far as constant reminders go it's not the worst. I've also over the last week or so been a big fan of this 11 year old youtube video I found of some guy covering the bass on this song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0DLAUaV3f8

16:56 - Danger: Danger had a new album this year that I don't think I gave enough attention to because I relistened and it's very good. He spends the majority of it refining his original sound but it's such a distinct and original niche that it works out great. The songs are so densely layered and frankly just sound so beautiful! Which is a strange thing to say about 80s inspired electro but it just does. The strings and timpani in this about halfway through are just a gift as well, I love it.

Also Sprach Zarathustra - Deodato: As part of my ‘thinking about Elvis’ I was looking up a live album of his called Aloha From Hawaii Via Sattelite which has a very good cover which doubles as an illustration of how my proposed international peacekeeping satellite will function, projecting an immense Elvis themed blanket of darkness over ‘troublemaker’ regions to immerse them in an eternal freezing night until they’ve settled down. Anyway his entrance music for this this concert in Hawaii is Also Sprach Zarathustra, which is a very very funny thing to do and I think gives an appropriate measure of his status at the time. When I told my girlfriend about this she directed me to this bonkers jazz funk version of it by Deodato which deservingly won a grammy in 1974 for Best Pop Instrumental Performance.

Hollywood Forever Cemetary Sings - Father John Misty: I’ve resisted listening to Father John Misty for a long time because he just seems like a real asshole. A big brain man genius that saw what Lana Del Rey was doing and thought “what if.. me?”. But I can’t deny this song, it’s absolutely magical and as far as songs about fucking in a cemetery go it’s definitely one of the most singable.

Remember / Medicine Man - Yma Sumac: In reading about the Hollywood Forever Cemetery and who was buried there, I learned about Yma Sumac. Yma Sumac was a Peruvian soprano with one of the most incredible voices I've ever heard who was an absolutely huge deal in the 50s when Americans were clamouring for the exotic, real or imagined. She made extremely good mambo music and claimed to be descended from the last Incan emperor. Her popularity faded after the 50s and then for an unknown reson in 1971, ten years since her last album, she made this rock album. It is insane. It's the best example of 'voice as an instrument' that I've ever heard. She is making every kind of sound possible with a human voice and her range seems completely limitless. She's just as comfortable in a piercingly high whistle register as she is in deep guttural growls. About 2 minutes into Remember she just straight up jumps four octaves in a row just to flex. She also sings in a way in the second verse of Medicine Man that I've never heard before that sounds like she's blowing out her cheeks and then singing with her mouth almost closed. It's absolutey bizzare and I love it so much.

This Thing - King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard: Listening to the other album that King Gizzard put out this year is really making me appreciate how much of 180 Infest The Rats Nest was for them. This album is basically a Black Keys album of groovy fun songs about fishing for fishies with fantastic harmonica work and it makes it look even more like they just snapped when they did the next one.

The Warrior (feat. Patty Smyth) - Scandal: I've been very passively watching GLOW since the second half of season 2 and now I'm very passively watching season 3 and this song was the opening credits theme for the first episode. It fucking rocks I don't know why they don't just make it the theme song all the time. This sort of 80s hard-rock pop is very good when it's good and extremely bad when it's bad and I wonder if we'll ever see any sort of revival of it once 80s nostalgia nostalgia takes hold in 2030. Being a singer named Patty Smyth is very funny also. She's billed as a feature even though she was in the band because she left to try a solo career as soon as it was released, possibly even before. She is also John McEnroe's wife I just found out. What a life.

A Girl Called Johnny - The Waterboys: I found this song because I was googling to see if it's possibly to get a random album from spotify and instead foumd a guy on rateyourmusic who was generating random rym album pages and then listening to whatever came up if it was on spotify - which seems just as good. This was one of the albums he talked about and he seemed to like it so I listened and I did as well. Sometimes the best way to find new music is throw dice on the internet and see what comes up.

New Year's Eve - City Calm Down: The new City Calm Down is one hundred percent great and I have such admiration for them for making a complete left turn with their sound and sounding like a completely different band since their last album but being equally as great in both forms. It's very inspiring and it's also the second song of the month I've heard for the first time while walking around Richmond that's mentioned Richmond. Very spooky.

Cruel Summer - Taylor Swift: It's fucked up how good Lover is when ME! and You Need To Calm Down were so bad. It feels like they changed direction at the last minute and changed the tracklist dramatically because those two songs seem sort of wildly out of place, along with London Boy. It's so uneven it's basically two albums in one but when it's good it's extremely good. This song is fucking powerful. The way she straight up screams "he looks so pretty like a devil"? Amazing. What a crazy thing to shout. If you're interested I also resequenced Lover and took London Boy off it and it's a far better album in my opinion https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3LN1uAhp8BS8Ms4bgmHiVP

Kelly - Van She: I have no idea why but this is in the opening paragraph of Van She's wiki page: "Their label introduced them as a "new band from Sydney fresh on ideas, fresher than Flavor Flav, fresh like coriander, fresher than the Fresh Prince, fresher than fresh eggs."[2] Despite these claims, the band began with a sound very much rooted in the 1980s, heavy on synthesizer." which really makes me laugh. Van She had a very specific mid-2000s indietronica thing going that was really good as this song proves but they also did a bunch of remixes under the name Van She Tech that are very out there and completely different to the main band. Their remix of UFO by Sneaky Sound System I'm sure I've yelled about in these posts before, it's absolutely phenomenal. Anyway I guess what I'm saying is get you a band that can do both.

Shadow - Wild Nothing: Somehow I missed Wild Nothing back when they were a big thing and only listened to them this month. I listened to this whole album while I was doing housework and when it finished I though 'that was nice' and could not remember a single thing about it. That's the beauty of shoegaze! I had to listen to it about five more times for it to stick and now I'm getting more and more out of it every time, I love it.

Heaven's On Fire - The Radio Dept.: Years ago when I was having a major 'depressive episode' for about a fucking year I listened to this album Constantly and as a result for a very long time I couldn't listen to it without inviting megawatts of bad vibes back into my brain. Thankfully through hard work and time passing it appears I've fully healed my assosciations with this album which is fantastic news because it is delightful start to finish and worth getting obsessed with again.

Crystalised - The xx: It's nice to see news articles posted almost every day about which albums are turning ten years old. It makes me feel one million years old and viewing the world from a television in my hermit's cave. It feels hard to overstate just how much quiet influence the xx have had over the music landscape since 2009. Without The xx we don't have Royals and without Royals we don't have You Need To Calm Down, so. Something beautiful of theirs that I think is sad hasn't caught on in the intervening years is the idea of writing romantic duets when duets had been out of fashion for so long. They wrote a whole album of them and continue to! There's a beautiful contextual depth to it, in that it's two queer people singing not exactly to each other but with each other. In an interview they've called it 'singing past each other' which is a very nice way to put it.

Aspirin - Tropical Fuck Storm: I really appreciate the continual development of the guitars in Tropical Fuck Storm where they sound so pencil-necked and reedy in these angular little melodies and then sometimes explode into thick cacophanous howls, but what's especially good is in songs like this when they don't explode and instead just sort of sprout tendrils and crawl around each other. They're really drilling down on a very singular and very unsettling sound and I really love it. It is also a very interesting feeling to be walking around Richmond listening to this album for the first time and having him mention Richmond. Spooky even.

Pasta - Angie McMahon: "My bedroom is a disaster / my dog has got kidney failure" is an all-time great opening lyric for me. I love the way this song kicks up from the doldrums, like forcing yourself to do something just so you've done something today. Angie McMahon is so great and I'm getting more and more out of her album every time.

If I Had A Hammer - Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash: The way this song is performed here is so fucking cool. The guitar tone, June's voice and the general energy of it is just absolutely electric. It feels like Highway 61 Bob Dylan where it's still folk but it's got this massive power in it. The solo fucking rips in that very old fashioned way and when it finishes and that riff comes back in by itself it's just great.

Elvis Presley Blues - Gillian Welch: I was thinking about this song because I too was thinking about Elvis. I thought for a long time that the lyrics to this were ‘didn’t he die?’ and not ‘day that he died’ and I think I prefer mine more. Idly thinking about Elvis like “whatever happened to that guy? Must be old now. Wait, didn't he die? No way to know I suppose.”

Everything Is Free - Sylvan Esso: Rolling Stone had a very good article and interview about how this song about napster has had a resurgence and remained relevant through the streaming era which is a very good read. I love the original and really this version is very similar except for the one key difference where they really dig into the anger and frustration at the heart of it in the 'fucking sing it yourself' line.  https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/gillian-welch-everything-is-free-courtney-barnett-father-john-misty-725135/

It's Nice To Have A Friend - Taylor Swift: This is the strangest song on Lover and one of the best, I absolutely love it. It's a very old fashioned kind of Taylor Swift Love Story type song but it also has a a fucking trumpet reveille in the middle, so that really spices it up a bit. I also keep accidentally listening to this backwards - there's a few phrases like when she sings 'it's nice to have a friend' where the 'friend' lands on the offbeat but is accented like it should be ON the beat and because of the way the music is in this where it's just the steady pulse it's hard to tell whether the chime is supposed to be on the beat or on the offbeat. It feels like it sort of slides back and forth throughout the song depending on what everything else is doing around it. I don't know if that's intentional or not but it's a very interesting effect. This song is also, in my estimation, about a woman and is detailing a fantasy Taylor Swift is having where she can come out to the world with no fuss and enjoy a simple fairytale love story as a gay woman.

Psalm 42 / Chant For Pentecost - The Trees Community: I have a mental list of albums I google every few months to see if they've been added to streaming and by the grace of god one of them finally has been. Years ago I used to listen to this almost every night to fall asleep and I think it brainwashed me slightly in a delightful way, and now I finally have it back again! This is proper hippie music: a bunch of long haired new york christians who drove around the country in the early 70s in a school bus playing their elaborate and beautiful music for anyone who wanted to hear it. The multilayered, multi-movement construction of these songs is completely entrancing to me. It's not a hollow beauty, but one that brings new meaning to old words in the way they stretch and snap and waver throughout the song, moving past each other and through each other as it moves forward. I absolutey love it. Chant For Pentecost is a good illustration of the other side of them, a short song that starts sweet and turns almost maniacal. There's a wild-eyed feeling to the harmonies and the way this melody sits on a single tone for such long stretches before the frankly scary conclusion.

In My Father's House / Working On The Building - Elvis Presley: The backing vocals in these, and especially the bass vocals are so incredible. The way they work in the second verse of Working On The Building is so great, Elvis is the lead vocal but the middle harmony and somehow it just works perfectly. The harmonies is In My Father's House are amazing. The bass solo is mind blowing and the part about halfway through where Elvis swallows the mic and says "jesus died upon the cross [VRRMER] sorrow" is very funny. It's got it all.

The Greatest - Lana Del Rey: Norman Fucking Rockwell is an absolute masterpiece and this is the best song on it. Lana has always had a knack for this apocalyptic feeling but this is a whole other level.  https://www.stereogum.com/2056565/lana-del-rey-norman-fucking-rockwell-review/franchises/premature-evaluation/ The Stereogum writeup for this album was really great, and really nailed my opinion of her whole character thing as well, but he described this song as her version of that video that Ted Turner commissioned for CNN to play at the end of the world and it's really a perfect description. The part at the end where she says 'Kanye West is blonde and gone' is so chilling to me. Like Kanye losing the plot makes sense because he's only a few months ahead of the rest of us. He’s been a thought and culture leader for so long and it only makes sense that he’s spun off into space in these last days before it all wraps up.

listen here

[kuciradio]

As 2018 is coming to an end it’s time to reflect on this amazing year for new music and artistry. KUCI is a diverse group of DJs and we are proud to represent all genres of music. I have finally put together our Top 10 albums of 2018 along with some honorable mentions towards the end accompanied by some lovely words written by our fellow DJs. We can’t wait for what 2019 brings for us and continue tuning in on kuci.org or 88.9 FM if you’re in the Orange County area. Have a safe and happy new year!

1. Mitski - Be The Cowboy

“Mitski Miyawaki’s powerhouse voice resonates with a haunting clarity on her stunning masterpiece Be the Cowboy. She creates entire worlds and characters out of pieces of herself, from paranoid, awkward women who yearn for traditionalism and some idealist version of what life or love should be (hello “Lonesome Love”), to cowgirls who can do it all on their own. From sorrowful to triumphant, Mitski colors the spaces in between from soul-bearing ballad “Geyser” to unforgettable dancing-alone-in-your-bedroom anthem “Nobody.” (Sophie Prettyman-Beauchamp)

“This album was so personal and raw and I also liked how the songs flowed well on this album.” (Heidi Barragan)

2. The Internet - Hive Mind

“I can't talk about this album without mentioning how mad I am at myself for missing the tour. Syd, Pat, Steve, Matt, and Chris, The Internet, are prominent figures of musical evolution; this speaks volumes and not just because they got their start with Odd Future, a hub of avid freeform artists. If you’re inclined to believe what I believe, Ego Death is a heartbreak album and Hive Mind is loaded with recovery anthems and passionate songs to share with your new partner who is not a rebound. Across the timeline, the sounds change from R&B and Hip-Hop to Funk and Soul; but what captures my attention the most, from Ego Death to Hive Mind, is the way a facade is casted aside. Hive Mind is just so sincere and therefore, perfectly fitting for being a part of my top three.” (Thorson Munoz)

“[This album] is a very funky album with heavy tones of R&B. The Internet does not disappoint with their funky sounds, which can be heard on “La Di Da”. Overall the album has powerful baselines, thanks to the amazing Steve Lacy, and groovy beats backed by Syd’s smooth vocals. It is hard to listen to this album and not dance along to it.” (Melissa Palma)

3. Kali Uchis - Isolation

“Colombian singer Kali Uchis’ long-awaited debut album is a high-production value journey into her uniquely sultry, dreamy world of R&B. The songstress’s silky voice pushes boundaries of various genres, from bossa-inspired intro “Body Language” to the Amy Winehouse-esque “Killer,” each track better and more of a banger than the last. Isolation features artists like The Internet guitarist Steve Lacy, British soul success Jorja Smith, and reggaeton icon Reykon. Uchis also recruited her friends Tyler, the Creator and legendary bassist Bootsy Collins for the hit single “After the Storm,” a follow-up to her and Tyler’s song “See You Again” from his 2017 album Flower Boy (supported by a stunningly whimsical music video by director Nadia Lee Cohen). The producer credits are just as stacked, including the likes of Thundercat, BROCKHAMPTON’s Romil Hemnani, Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker, and Gorillaz frontman Damon Albarn. Uchis proves herself as the new sound of pop, never veering from her originality that made her a Soundcloud sweetheart.” (Sophie Prettyman-Beauchamp)

4. Janelle Monae - Dirty Computer

“She’s such an intelligent creative weirdo and I LOVE HER. Not to mention her oozing femme POWER.” (Naseem Eskandari)

“About the moxie I mentioned earlier, this emotional rollercoaster has an abudnace of it and I cannot get enough! Cover to cover this album packs a punch, and as the visual companion--which brought me to tears--would suggest, this entire album is a celebration of deviant bodies and identities. This album contains the perfect ratio of soft and tender tracks and upbeat exciting ones so its no wonder why NPR named Dirty Computer their number one of 2018.” (Thorson Munoz)

5. Anderson .paak - Oxnard

“Sometimes artists, after huge successes, feel that they need to make music that sounds just like their previous work to gain the same traction, but really the true artists are the ones that stay honest and true to their creative ability - their sound moves through life with them.” (Naseem Eskandari)

“Anderson .Paak, to me, is responsible for every playlist I've ever built that revolves around driving in Los Angeles with the windows down, no matter the time of day. However, I don't drive a convertible, so instead I honored Venice and Malibu using my radio program, Detours. Not only am I excited to honor Oxnard as well, but Oxnard was built for driving; this is evident after listening to "Tints", the first release, and "Headlow". This album, just like Malibu, is masterful; the only difference is that Dr. Dre stepped out of the shadows and was a feature. Oxnard is beyond incredible and worthy of it's legendary features, Snoop Dog, Q-Tip, and Kadhja Bonet, to name a few. I'm really excited for what will likely be Anderson .Paak's next Grammy nomination.” (Thorson Munoz)

6. Blood Orange - Negro Swan

“AMAZING production, amazing narrative!!!!!!!” (Angel Cortez)

“Dev Hynes never fails to make master pieces of albums that narrate the experience of marginalized people in an oppressive and toxic environment. Hynes brings together artists as big as ASAP Rocky to smaller artists of equal talent such as Steve Lacey creating a beautiful medley of indie hip hop to soul and funk.  Coupled with interviews, Hynes is able to make this album a personal experience for the listener. For me it always feels as though he is singing to me personally, something that not many artists are able to do.” (Kelsey Villacorte)

7. Kevin Krauter - Toss Up

“Toss Up has to be my personal #1 favorite album of 2018 by Kevin Krauter who began making music apart from lo-fi dream pop band Hoops in 2015. Toss Up was released this past summer and was the perfect album to listen to during warm summer nights and has carried through to the end of the year as a comforting reminder of those warm times during these cold nights. It has that dreamy, nostalgic feeling, something that you would listen to as you’re reflecting on the tender moments of your life. Krauter mixes vaporwave-esque sounds with sweet ballads with no one song sounding like the other.” (Kelsey Villacorte)

8. MGMT - Little Dark Age

“MGMT's come-back album is focused, synthy, and fresh. Without abandoning the dark undertones present in their older albums, this album reflects the band's personal growth and resonates with fans, old and new. Tracks like TSLAMP and Little dark Age are some of my favorites!” (Angelica Sheen)

“MGMT has maintained their status as an alternative staple and has since transformed their sound into something more experimental since their debut album Oracular Spectacular. MGMT did not disappoint and gave us an album that went from the weird wii-fit/dystopian vibes of She Works Out To Much to 80s dance of Me and Michael to another sweet ballad titled Hand It Over which is super reminiscent of the ending/title song of their second album Congratulations. MGMT never fails to write well thought out lyrics that all almost feel like their own story. All in all, they did not disappoint and this is exactly the kind of MGMT album I was hoping for after a 5 year hiatus.” (Kelsey Villacorte)

9. Ian Sweet - Crush Crusher

“Jilian Medford refines IAN SWEET’s sound and practices self-care on sophomore album Crush Crusher, her most intimate release yet. Medford rediscovers her identity as she considers how much of herself she has forgotten while preoccupying herself with being a guardian to others (she warbles “The sun built me to shade everybody” on “Holographic Jesus”). Ever poetic while satisfyingly straightforward, she notes that “It’s been too long since I let myself cry about something that wasn’t even sad” on the pummeling single “Spit.” She coos, squeaks, and screams in perfect, dissonant harmony over her guitar’s cathartically melancholic reverb. IAN SWEET remains a perfect contradiction that only grows sweeter.” (Sophie Prettyman-Beauchamp)

10. Parquet Courts - Wide Awake!

“This band's genius shows through with every new release. Wide Awake throws all of their influences together and expels energetic funk beats with poignant, dark, and brutal lyrics that are especially political. The juxtaposition of these themes with upbeat and optimistic instrumentals speaks to their compositional talent, making it a fan favorite. AND THEY USE COWBELLS.” (Angelica Sheen)

Honorable Mentions:

Glenn Crytzer Orchestra, "Ain't it Grand?"

This album couldn't have been better aimed at me if the band had come and asked me what I wanted to hear.  A modern swing-style orchestra performing both classic tunes from the 1930s and modern pieces written in the big band style.  The ensemble playing is tight, the solos just exactly right, and the production quality a lot sharper than any of the original Duke Ellington recordings.  Top notch stuff. (Michael Payne)

The Vaccines - Combat Sports

"The Vaccines brought back the spirit and energy of their debut album but with a new twist when they released their 4th album early in 2018. Get pumped up with the "I Can't Quit" and "Nightclub" or settle down with  "Maybe (The Luck of the Draw)" or "Young American". The Vaccines perfectly embody the sound and snark of the '70s and '80s artists of which their influenced while still creating a modern feel of the 2010's. My personal favorite off the album "Out on the Street" definitely a treat live! Over all Combat Sports is an excellent album and what we needed in 2018." (Stacey Brizuela)

Cobra Man - Toxic Planet

“Los Angeles local duo Cobra Man blows it out of the water with their sophomore album that carries the heart and groove of something you'd hear out of '84. It is indeed one of the best albums of the year because it utilizes one of the most underrated instruments in the game, the saxophone.” (Spartacus Avina)

Nu Guinea "Nu Guinea"

Heaven & Earth by Kamasi Washington is an album that’s loud and bold in both sound and vocals. A lot of the album often creates an ethereal effect with the heavy instrumentals ascending into a grand peak, most notably heard on “Street Fighter Mas”. The vocals on the album accompany the instrumentals in their same form, loud and climaxing. Listening to this album is like a rollercoaster with its thrilling jazz sounds. (Melissa Palma)

Drug Church - Cheer

Mac Miller - Swimming

“The tragic beauty of this album speaks for itself. Mac was such a raw and very real individual and it reflects in his music the way that many others cannot replicate. May he rest in peace - I hope the next life will be better for him.” (Naseem Eskandari)

Thank you to all the amazing DJs who submitted their Top 10 list of 2018! I am super glad to have been part of an amazing and diverse radio station for this past year and this is only a small piece of what our DJs music tastes are like here. I hope everyone has an incredible and safe New Years Eve and a happy 2019 :)

-Kelsey Villacorte (Music Director)

[soundofawesomeblog]

Starting next Monday, Sound of Awesome will reveal its picks for the 100 best tracks from the 2000s in a new weekly column. Get ready for the countdown as we explore the genesis of the project and how the naughties became the most eclectic decade of the pop era. As a bonus, you will also find out a few honorable mentions from great artists who just couldn’t make the cut.

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The 1950s saw rock n’ roll becoming a major part of the cultural landscape. In the 1960s psychedelic rock was the new craze. The 1970s had disco, the 80s were about new wave, and the 90s saw grunge and hip-hop sell millions of CDs. It’s a flawed, simplistic and incomplete way to describe each decade, sure, but the fact remains that these are the genres most associated with every one of them.

When it comes to the 2000s though, the portrait is a lot harder to decipher. Sure, there were trends, but each time one died, four new ones emerged.

More than a single genre, what truly defined the 2000s was the growing presence of the internet. Slowly but surely, this new found connectivity helped usher a completely new paradigm of how music would find its way from the artists to the masses. Suddenly, radio stations and music television were not the only ones in control, dictating what is hot and what is not. Platforms like Facebook, Soundcloud and Bandcamp had yet to become the go-to destinations for new acts, but MySpace quickly established itself as a major factor in the musical landscape. It gave new, hip artists a platform to reach big audiences and create a massive buzz without having to play in every city or rely on giant label-heads (see: Arctic Monkeys, Lily Allen, Owl City, etc.) Later in the decade, the arrival of YouTube meant that creative, viral music videos could bring a lot of attention to an otherwise average band with little money (see: Ok Go). A sign of music’s importance to Youtube, ever since Bad Romance reached 178,4 million views in late 2009, the record for most views by a video on the popular website has always belonged to a music video. Meanwhile, programs and sites like Napster and Limewire meant that teenagers didn’t have to rely on pocket money and 20$ CDs to enjoy their favorite songs, as their iPods and computers’ libraries were expanding in both size and diversity. 

Looking back, it’s easy to believe that, even as the music industry was showing its first signs of weakness on a financial level, music fans were listening to more music than ever. It is precisely this trend that made the music so interesting in the 2000s. With so many different artists from different backgrounds just one shuffle away - from bedroom electroclash experimentation à la M.I.A. or Peaches to garage rockers like The White Stripes or The Strokes, to high profile, incredibly rich (and horny) rappers like 50 Cent or Lil Wayne - it was only a matter of time before genre labels became almost useless. In 2007, Rihanna went from R&B on Umbrella to new wave-informed rock on Shut Up And Drive in the span of few months. The same year, hip-hop’s new sensation Kanye West injected glam rock ambition on his third album Graduation before leaving rap almost completely a year later on 808s and Heartbreaks. The DFA label made punk music for the dance floor while dance artists programmed synths with so much distortion you could throw the devil sign in the air. Scenes were no longer limited to a geographical location and artists were more and more influenced by sounds from across the globe.

If the legacy of acts from the 1960′s and 1970′s is well established, the visionaries of the 2000s are yet to find that praise. Discussions about the best songs of all time steer quickly to The Beatles, Led Zeppelin or Michael Jackson, but it’s only a matter of time before the 00 artists get their part of the cake too. It is with this in mind that I am proud to present to you, through the next 10 weeks, a completely incomplete, ludicrous, but also very passionate and thoughtful countdown of the 100 best singles of the 2000s.

This is not necessarily a list of the most popular, influential or groundbreaking tracks of the decade, rather a commentary on the most effective tracks; those who aimed for the moon and landed right on top of it, those who induced goosebumps and those who should still fill dance floors in a few decades without any cringe. It will contain smash hits and underground phenomena. Indie darlings and hard-hitting hip-hop. Loud guitars and quiet electronic flourishes. It will be varied and all over the place, just like the decade that we’re celebrating here. It is not a definitive answer, rather the start of a discussion and a good way to discover some great music you might have been sleeping on, back when it was trending and buzzing.

Each article will present you, in decreasing order, 10 essential songs of the aughts from the countdown, with a quick description to place each track back in context and/or justify its inclusion. In order to keep the countdown as varied as possible, acts were limited to three appearances as lead artists. Each article will also include a Spotify playlist of all the songs revealed so far, when available.

100 tracks might seem like a huge number, but it’s impossible to contain 10 years of music in such a list. This is why, as an appetizer for the series to come, you will find below 10 tracks from artists who, despite leaving their mark on the decade, fell incredibly short of making it to the countdown. These do not necessarily correspond to positions 110 to 101; they are just bands and singers who deserved a quick shout-out so that you cannot act like they have been forgotten later on.

50 Cent - In Da Club

The title of Curtis’ greatest hit reveals exactly in which kingdom he was the ruler in the early to mid-decade.

Aaliyah - Try Again

With the help of mega producer Timbaland, Aaliyah brought R&B to the 22nd Century 100 years early with Try Again and its mix of EDM and hip-hop.

Black Kids - I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You

This MySpace gem remains one of the best footprints of the late 2000’s indie pop rush, cheerleaders included. 1! 2! 3!

Britney Spears - Toxic

Thanks to a killer hook built on Bollywood strings and a killer, sexy performance, Britney Spears’ biggest hit was also her best.

The Cribs - Men’s Needs

If a rock song is only as good as its riff, Men’s Needs is a track for the ages. Frantic and moving, the guitar line drives this UK staple of dance-rock.

Fleet Foxes - White Winter Hymnal

Sure, it opened the way for tons of half-assed, insipid and useless acapella covers, but Fleet Foxes’ début single also introduced in just 147 seconds the genius flair the band had for crafting amazing melodies, harmonies, and ageless folk.

Junior Senior - Move Your Feet

With its cowbells, horns, bouncing synths and stutter-like verses, Junior Senior never tries to be “cool” in Move Your Feet. Instead, the band decides to focus on having a good time on a track that feels as fresh after 1000 listens than it did on the first time. 

Lady Gaga - Bad Romance

The exact moment when we realized that Gaga was a monster that was too big to be contained, Bad Romance features about three different hooks, each more effective than the one before.

Maximo Park - Apply Some Pressure

It would be cheap and wrong to reduce Maximo Park as some Strokes/Bloc Party knock-off; as proven by the energy and creativity of this track.

Uffie - Pop The Glock

Part bratty thrash of a white teen, part genius, 17-year-old Uffie builds her own indie rap empire from scratch and rules it on Pop The Glock.

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[9lewis]

Comprehensive Review of Art Angels

I love music. I really love music, as detailed in my last post on BMTH. Earlier in the year I went through the long and tiresome process of transferring every digital song I had onto my brand new shiny MacBook Pro, all 26,018 of them. This 2 month long process made me rediscover a ton of musical gems that I had completely forgotten about, which was pretty good as with it being a rather lacklustre start to the year for new releases and good albums, it was good to hear refreshing old music I hadn’t heard in years.

I go through phases of overkilling music, thinking that it sounds so good and fresh that I completely overplay it and cannot stand it. This can be seen as a good thing as I am always on the lookout for new things listen to and enjoy exploring any genre. So mid-February while transferring everything from my Dell tower computer I came across Grimes’ 2012 album - Visions. I had initially came across this album as Oblivion the albums 3rd track had been voted ‘Song Of The Year’ by Pitchfork in 2012 (something which after listening back 6 years later, I can see why (on a further side note, Pitchfork named it ‘Song Of The Decade’ in 2014, wouldn’t go that far but it is an excellent track)). Oblivion and Genesis the two stand out stellar songs from this experimental bedroom produced synth pop masterpiece, began working their ways into my daily playlists and I was hungry for more Grimes.

I did actually have 2015’s “Art Angels” but like probably 70% of my music library I haven’t listened to it or given it a chance. So with a long hour and 20 minutes drive ahead of me to Leicester I thought what better time to listen to it than now. Yeah tinny sound and not doing the artist justice with me giving it its first listen in my car but as I’m quite busy at the moment, the opportunity for me to sit down and listen to an album in pure sonic bliss is a rarity. Get on the M5, windows up, coffee in hand and press play on Grimes - Art Angels. Now I’m gonna cut straight to the point, this album would legit be a 10/10 perfect masterpiece Magnus opus if it wasn’t for tracks 2 & 3. Track 2 ‘California’ is just pure pure music trash, track 3 ‘Scream (feat. Pan Wei Ju)’ is an unnecessary K-Pop guitar driven collection of noise. I was like moments from just turning the album off and switching to something way more audible like Kes$ha’s - Animal. The only thing that kept me listening and not changing was how grand and bombastic the opening track was, at 1 minute and 48 seconds long its like a celestial opera song with twinges of instruments delivered under Grimes’ soft child like vocals, the piano interloped and it generally took me by surprise, then it unfurls into a dark chaotic swirl of sounds and cuts out. If that’s how you open an album, the following two tracks are how you ruin an album.

Flesh Without Blood. Track 4. Mind blown. wow. I genuinely cannot remember the time that I heard a song that blew me away on the first listen as much as this. Part like WhereTF has this come from and part like WhoTF produced/mixed/recorded/thought of this, Flesh Without Blood is infectious and other-worldly. Around 2/3rds into the song I started it over again, knowing I hadn’t even given it a full proper listen, I just need to hear it again as a whole. Conceptually the song is a guitar driven astronomic space-pop song, layered with synths and trip happy drums and soft melodic vocals, full of mystery and grandeur; lyrically it’s one of the only times Grimes has a written a song regarding her emotions and love. Billboard’s sentence review of the song is: “ ”Flesh Without Blood" is that in a nutshell––a sky-scraping hook pulled out of unintelligible vocals, served over an underbelly of humming guitar. “. Basically reiterating everything I’ve just said, the middle 8 breakdown bridge is akin to walking slo-mo through and between rooms in an otherworldly nightclub where anything goes. This is London’s Camden Town’s Cyberdog shop in song form. It really is baffling though, Grimes produces and creates all of her own music herself, refusing to use and out source with anyone else as to keep her ideas and thoughts in the purest form of art, so for a track as stunning as this to be preceded by two sub-par album filler tracks, generic listeners would have lost interest in the second country-esque song and wouldn’t give the album a chance. If Flesh without Blood was track 2, and the actual track 2 & 3 were cut completely from the album, it would be a solid straight up 10/10.

Belly Of The Beat follows Flesh Without Blood, and is a great excerpt to lead into the rest of the album, nothing as note of ride home about, but it does a job and it does it well. It keeps the album flowing in between the space pop heavyweights. The next song “Kill V. Maim” is of that category, almost cut from the same cloth as Flesh Without Blood, a synth/bass led explosion of sounds collated well by Grimes who deconstructs the song back to life with her vocals. Almost child like in deliverance, its like you can imagine her creating these songs in a trance like state in a dark room alone with nothing but her own mind driving the creative process of these songs froward and into fruition. The tone for the album is like an ethereal space pop futuristic sound that is present in all songs apart from 2 & 3. The albums title track “Artangels” continues this theme once again bringing up love as a subjective tone for the listener to just ponder all worldly existence. “Easily” brings it down a few notches in terms of tempo and general music ability, a melancholic simple piano beat and honestly boringly sung vocals pick up at the chorus with the drum beat and around 2 minutes into the track when it starts to show signs of promise and more complexity. 

“Pin” for me is the biggest growing song on the album, the soft vocals and strummed guitar layering all but confirm this message was recorded on GarageBand or on an iPhone, but its executed so well. The two beeps 51 seconds in summarise that Grimes is yes, a bit of a weirdo, but how else could she conceptualise this masterpiece without having the thoughtscape and mindset capacity to create this form of art that she does. Pin echoes the soft delicate vocals that wouldn’t seem out of place in a different world where everything is pink and made of candy floss. “REALiTi” was the only song I had actually heard from this album, as it had been demoed a few times previously by Grimes and fits it’s position on the album well and slots in to be like the ‘where did those 4 minutes go’ times where you’ve just lost yourself in a trance whilst driving. “World Princess, Pt. II” is actually quite a funny but brilliant track, production wise its probably the second best on the album (we’ll touch back on that in a moment). The overdramatic two word chorus perfectly compliments what the album has set up and adjusted the listeners ears to become accustomed to, this music wasn’t made for this planet and Grimes wants to take everyone to the world she exists in. 

“Venus Fly” is a production masterclass, almost like a heavy trance pop mash up of an 80’s style vocals collabed with a mid 00’s hip hop producer in the style of Lex Luger or Bangladesh, its huge sound wise and violent in how its presented. Violins come out of nowhere to remind you that Grimes is like the queen of randomness, within moments they disappear and the single tone bass droplets are back, African drums, one vocal layer and random crying out for help and just solidifies that for as exception Grimes is as recording artist and graceful vocalist, her talent lies deeper in her skills as a producer and mixer. The last two tracks close of what could of been album of the century, one short seclusion follow up to Flesh Without Blood in “Life in the Vivid Dream” and the album closer “Butterfly” solidifies Grimes reputation for production and artist driven output over polish and high-fidelity radio friendly songs. Grimes doesn’t want the fame and accolades, she just wants to create and her voice to be heard.

Only a short CR, i could go into way more depth on each the songs, but its something that just needs to be heard and judged by the listener, not by reading a washed up Tumblr post. Grimes has been in recluse and on musical hiatus, yeah there are label and release issues, and the Elon Musk nonsense does not do a thing to help her true core fans from what they crave, new music. Little over a month ago, she was featured on a 1 minute and 4 second episode for “Behind the Mac” showcasing that everything she created is done on a laptop on the floor, in this advert we get a demo/snippet of a new song from the provisionally titled “! 13 decent tracks” called “thats what the drugs r 4” followed up by the tweet: “ wanna drop song soon ish so wud u pref super dark heavy ballad about fighting balrog in the center of earth that is a sex metaphor or a very not pg13 ethereal shadow of colossus demon nu metal song abt insomnia? not 1st single or indicative of album direction, wuts the vibe? “

Crazy, yes. Do we need it, yes. 

Grimes, c, give us the new album. 

[uschickens]

Getting to know you meme

Okay. Okayokayokay. I said I was going to post more, actually engage more, so that requires, you know. Actually posting more. (Plus @momosandlemonsoda has graciously tagged me twice now, with no response from me, and that shall not stand!)

So. That meme thing going around.

Part I

name: Fannishly, I’m uschickens pretty much everywhere. Back in The Olden Times, I used Vix as my first name with uschickens, as in short for Vixen, as in a fox in the henhouse, which, like so many things with me, is so obscure as to only amuse myself.

star sign: Sagittarius, which seems a little ::skeptical headtilt:: at first, until you pair it with my Gemini rising and Virgo moon, and then it becomes a lot more we-know-but-hey-john-mulaney.gif

height: 5'5" (165.1cm)

time: 11:12pm

birthday: every handful of years, it coincides with Thanksgiving, so I get cake AND turkey.

nationality: american

fave bands/groups/solo artists: Like, currently listening to, or of all time, or or or??? This is a loaded question! Recently, Taemin’s Never Gonna Dance album hooked me hard. My other most-played playlists are called “last of the hardcore troubadours,” “frenzied banjos,” and “forest gods,” so I’m working the alt country/folk pop/whatever Florence and her Machine and Hozier have going on. Oh, and the Sleep No More soundtrack, so 1930s jazz, Hitchcockian strings, and edm all mashed together.

song stuck in your head: not even a song, just the one line from Taemin “we were just two kids/too young and dumb” over and over and over on repeat.

last movie you watched: I...have not watched a movie in a long, long time. Possibly a Knives Out rewatch? It Part Two? No, all my media consumption time lately has been devoted to...

last show you binged: All Things Tomb. I started watching reboot in, hmmm, late October? Early November? And with very few exceptions, various dmbj adaptions have been ALL I watched since then. It’s...kind of a problem. It goes in fits and starts, not a true binge since reboot, except for some blocking-out-the-outside-world plunges into Ultimate Note in early January. Reboot is the Tomb of My Heart, with Sha Hai a microscopically close second. Chen Minghao is my one! true! Pangzi, with surfer!Pangzi from tlt2 being a worthy predecessor. I am mostly here for post-Bronze Gate Wu Xies, and I vastly prefer the more realistic fighting style of reboot!Xiaoge than emo!XG, mathnerd!XG, or dancer!XG. But this was supposed to be about a binge, not my Standard Tomb Opinions Dissertation.

when you created your blog: 2010? There was a brief period when apparently I used tumblr for...interior design porn?? Rather than porn porn??? I quickly learned my lesson.

the last thing you googled: firstly, that would be the last thing I duckduckgoed, if we’re being strictly accurate, but I digress. It was [Richard Diebenkorn Guggenheim], part of a long-running conversation with my dad, who is a landscape painter currently going through an abstract expressionism phase. It’s getting wild up in here, folks.

other blogs: as I said, uschickens everywhere, by which I mean Twitter and dreamwidth and ao3.

why i chose my url: back in The Early Days of Livejournal, I lurked even more than I do now, so when I finally took the plunge, I couldn’t resist going with a name that really captured my inner Do Not Perceive Me, crossed with big band music and Louis Jordan. Ergo my tag line was “ain’t nobody here but... [us chickens]”.

how many people are you following: fuck if I know

how many followers do you have: fuck if I care

average hours of sleep: NOT. ENOUGH. But better than it used to be; see also my Twitter for some of the more bizarre paths my mind goes down when I’m in the middle of a juicy bit of insomnia.

lucky numbers: 3

instruments: a couple decades of piano and a solid eight months of French horn.

what i’m currently wearing: the dress I wore to work over pajama bottoms. I’m getting ready for bed, I swear. Halfway there!

dream job: ::hollow laughter:: I feel I would be excellent at being independently wealthy, at which point all my time would be devoted to travel, food, and writing about/photographing that travel and food, plus whatever experimental theater/circus/dance performances I happened to run across. But I shudder to think of actually relying on that sort of writing/photography to earn my keep, because there’s no faster way to kill my joy in a thing than to make it an obligation. Is “dilettante” still a thing? I’d be very good at that.

dream trip: do you want that chronologically or alphabetically? I have spreadsheets! I *will* be going to Singapore once all this ::gestures vaguely at the world:: sorts itself out. There’s a weeklong food tour in Mexico City for which I have lust in my heart. I want to rent a beachside with a million bedrooms for a month and just have friends show up for as much or as little of that month as they want. When I want true escapism, I look at the Aman hotel website, pick a location at random, and decide which suite I would like for a) myself, solo, b) myself with family, c) myself with friends and d) whichever characters currently live in my brain.

fave food: ha, I couldn’t pick a favorite band, and you want me to pick a favorite FOOD? Gumbo. Spaghetti and meatballs (but only good ones). Georgian khachapuri and aubergine satsivi. Fresh strawberries and cream.

top three fictional universe you’d like to live in: something written by Diana Wynne Jones, because it’s always a good mix of fantastic and pragmatic, with fundamentally decent people. Probably Howl and Sophie’s neck of the woods. Star Wars, because fuck it I want a lightsaber. And faster than light space travel. And I can’t think of a third offhand, but something with magic. Because if you’re going fictional, go big fictional or go home.

Part II

last song: the moody acoustic version of the Guardian theme song.

last movie last stream last podcast: We’ve already talked movies, and Vix Does Not Stream, so let’s go to the only thing that means my laundry gets folded in a timely manner - podcasts. I would be remiss in not mentioning the primary ‘castular joy in my life, the I Saw What You Did pod, which is two fortysomething women of color talking nerdily about two movies based on a theme each week. You’ve probably never seen most of these movies, and it doesn’t matter in the slightest. They themselves are a delight, and it’s exactly the sort of chewy discussion over media that I adore, especially because it is not done in an exclusionary, clerk-at-that-one-independent-video-store-who-always-seemed-to-be-sneering-at-your-choices way. Highly recommended. But, uh, the one I really should talk about is All About Agatha, a very good podcast reading and ranking all of Agatha Christie’s novels in order, because it is an excellent segue into...

currently reading: ...the fact that I am a solid 80% of the way through all of Agatha Christie’s novels in audiobook. In, like, the last two months. I haven’t read a book with my eyeballs since ::gestures vaguely at the world again:: (wait, no, I made it through the dmbj novels, for better or for worse), as reading with my eyes seems to be reserved for fic these days. But I am plowing through these audiobooks like it’s a part-time job. What even is life if not narrated by Hugh Fraser at this point? I’m not sure if I recommend the endeavor or not, but I and my knitting and my mystery audiobooks will be over here getting our Miss Marple on as long as possible. (For the record, the audiobooks have edited out some but not all of the egregious bits of racism but left most of the anti-Semitism. So, uh, there’s that.)

currently watching: Mystic Nine, my last full Tomb series. The only I’m not going into preemptive withdrawal is the presence of several side stories on iqiyi with English subtitles. Naturally not the ones I really want (heeeey, Liu Sang vs haunted paint can, plus whatever the hell is going on with Hei Xiazi from last month), but needs must. I suppose after that, I’m back to a reboot rewatch, for fic research purposes, if nothing else. I mean, I suppose I could watch a non-dmbj property? Like the backlog of recommendations I’ve been collecting?? Sounds fake, but okay.

what is antipoetry to you: I’m going to go out on a limb and say it’s another form of poetry. Something something even by rebelling against the form one is inherently bound by its concepts, especially when one tries to define oneself in opposition to something one cannot help but be shaped by it blah blah.

currently craving: I could say something existential about what the pandemic has made me yearn for (live! theater! with! friends!), or I could talk about the roast pork from Big Wong’s that I’m seriously contemplating for lunch tomorrow, but what I want most right now is for the goddamn construction crew that dug a hole in the road right outside my window starting at 10pm would finish and go away ASAP.

[joneswilliam72]

Review: Weezer’s Black Album is a musical mid-life crisis and a point of no return

Dear Weezer,

What happened?

Time after time, my undying love for Weezer has been tested to the limits — so much so that it has become too one-sided to bear. I don't typically think of myself as a glutton for punishment, but with each passing record, it seems I possess some unchecked desire toward sadistic insanity. Up to this point, I've listened to, struggled through, but somehow found some sort of value in every one of the band’s albums—yes, even in Raditude. In the heat of the moment, this relationship may seem like a forgiving one, but from the outside looking in, it’s manipulative to the highest degree.

Struggling to surpass my own denial of what the band has devolved into, Weezer consistently threatens to dethrone their infamous collaboration with Lil Wayne, and yet, I somehow find myself running back to the band that once charmed the masses in the ‘90s. Songs like ‘Only In Dreams’, ‘My Name is Jonas’, ‘El Scorcho’ and even some later cuts like ‘Hash Pipe’ and ‘Perfect Situation’ really tapped into middle-school me and many others who grew up with their music.

While we still have those songs, among others, to cherish forever, Weezer releases crap like 2017’s Pacific Daydream, and then, to make matters worse, a half-baked covers album. In other words, a painfully unaware attempt at hijacking a good meme aimed at poking fun at the band. Though it was amusing for a hot second, 2018’s The Teal Album was a clear cry for help—a wail of desperation to remain relevant in the age of memes and streams. At this point, dejected and near hopeless, I was somehow willing to give the polarizing collective another chance as the world anticipated the release of Weezer’s latest record, The Black Album. But they inevitably screwed that up too.

First off, but briefly, who in the hell thought it was a good idea to preview some of the album in a custom map for Fortnite (called Weezer World)? Waving a fleeting flag within the zenith of current pop culture will not make your music relevant again, I promise. Now that is out the way, let’s get to the music.

Though the band’s dreaded move toward poptimism and simpler song structures on Pacific Daydream was ghastly and all-but-convoluted, their power pop image that was resurrected with The White Album; it was a sound that had the potential for better results. But, to no one’s surprise, such potential has been chucked out the window. With The Black Album, Weezer tries to experiment with different sounds, only to achieve results that are staler than before - and of course, bumbling lyrics that are as dorky than anything they’ve ever written.

With The Black Album, Weezer once again sounds insufferably uncomfortable with the notion of aging by devising the musical equivalent of getting hair plugs. Just like how hair transplantation is a surgical technique for desperately aging men, where hair follicles from “other” parts of the body are removed then relocated to a balding spot, it sounds as if Weezer is borrowing from the more unflattering moments of their discography, blunderingly implementing them in a mish-mash display of pop rock, and passing the end result off as something fresh and experimental. But listeners will not be tricked by a compilation of tracks lacking in quality and spat out at the end of a conveyer belt.

Beginning with ‘Can’t Knock the Hustle’, a garbage can brimming to the rim with putrid funk rock, listeners are reminded that Cuomo is almost 50, is white and can speak Spanish? “Hasta luego, hasta luego/ Hasta luego, adios.” The track ‘Zombie Bastards’, one of the album’s lead singles, tries to make ukuleles cool again (but were they ever really?), and is somehow a lesser version of something Twenty One Pilots would produce. That’s embarrassing. Brandishing an us-versus-the-world mentality, the track’s lyrics are equally awkward and try to deliver a no-fucks-given sentiment that feels especially flaccid at this stage of Weezer’s career.

Not all is lost with the band’s latest attempt at salvaging their careers. In fact, ‘High As A Kite’, the third single released, possesses a slightly Beatles-esque feel, but classic Weezer character that harkens to the band’s better beginnings. Genuinely one of my favorite songs of the year so far, this considerably depressing ballad contains some of Cuomo’s best lyrics in a long while, “When I'm high/ And I'm giving up the nightmare chase, woah woah/ And all I wanna do is blow my mind, woah woah/ All I wanna do is blow my mind.” Unfortunately, the album’s lone bright spot is screwed over by one of the worst tracks on the album, ‘Living in L.A.’, a stale and static pop number that falls into the trappings of everything the band has been drawn to the past couple of years, Cuomo once again croons about a girl (please stop calling women girls) that he cannot obtain—surprise— and compares his yearnful loneliness to living in Los Angeles. How creative—Next!

With the track “Piece of Cake,” listeners are bombarded with a bunch of “Do-do-do-do-do-do-do/ Do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do/ Do-do-do-do-do-do-do/ Do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do”—enough said.

Though it features a killer bassline and the band’s best attempt at self-awareness, the track ‘I’m Just Being Honest’ is a bit too ironic to be taken seriously as Cuomo speaks of people who just can’t accept the truth. If this is what you hold to be true, Weezer, hear me out—you are getting old! The song ‘Too Many Thoughts in My Head’ is nothing special other than just another reminder of how weird it is to hear Rivers Cuomo spew the word “bitch.” ‘The Prince of Everything’ is a forgettable and dishonorable ode to Prince that is currently causing him to toss around in his grave. Ok, maybe it’s not that bad as the chorus is infectious and the lyrics prove to be not as cringe-worthy as many others on the album. Nevertheless, what seems to be a solid track is almost completely ruined by yet another “Do, do, do, do.” Stop it with the do-dos.

The closing track of this album, ‘California Snow’ is a god-awful, albeit appropriate way to conclude a bad album. An abomination to the ears, moments like these make me wonder if Cuomo and company are actually trolling us or are simply out-of-touch with who they are. In all seriousness, who actually wants to listen to Weezer dabble with trap beats and hip-hop production? Absolutely no one. Considering the above, ‘California Snow’ may actually be the worst song they've ever produced (maybe behind ‘Can’t Stop Partying’), and ought to be put out of its misery as soon as possible. How? I’m not sure, but someone, please, anyone—do something.

Given the band’s current trajectory, The Black Album may be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. I don’t know if I can go on subjecting myself to this torture and fruitless defence of this band. Weezer, for the love of God, for the good of all humanity, if you cared about making good music again or even your image—go back to square one. Stop giving a crap about fitting in and please come to terms that your age. Otherwise, drop the act and consider retiring from making music altogether. Even after this complete dud, part of me continues to hold out hope of there being a secret chest containing an album or two that harkens to the heyday, but we all know that this reality exists—only in dreams.

from The 405 https://ift.tt/2H4niCI

[salutethepig]

Find some fried eggs and country ham?

Pretty sure Val @val_littlewood was very close to slitting my throat with a blunt, rusty spoon, as I incessantly ‘sang’ this, whilst driving South-Western US highways …

And I now have that Neil Young song — from the truly excellent Tonight’s The Night album — burrowed coal-mine deep into my brain-pan again & find myself humming it continually as I write this post; reminded as I was of it whilst reading Sean Brock’s “Heritage“; his paean of love to the American South and its food & history. As well as a great set of ink — that’s multiple tens of hours of work there — championing his very real passion for the heritage vegetables that he uses so effectively…

…he also adores his pigs.

I’ve talked before (yeah, yeah, ad infinitum, I know!) that there’s a deep set of emotions involved in raising an animal and killing it, then breaking it down on a table with a saw and a knife. And after you’ve gone through that whole process, the waste bin had damned well better be empty when you’re done; utilise every last little bit. And that’s his philosophy as well:

“To be a chef means to buy and cook meat, and that means we have a choice to make. The differences between the animals that modern agribusinesses produce and animals raised on pasture and humanely treated cannot be understated. Commercial animals are treated horribly, given inferior feed and no attention, and con ned in huge warehouses where their feet never touch the dirt. If horses were treated this way, someone would get arrested—but I’m sure you all have seen plenty of good documentaries and read informative books to this effect.” Sean Brock, Heritage

He adores his pigs. But most especially the country ham they produce…

In one scene from his “Mind Of A Chef” series, he’s seen caressing a country ham leg and declares that while he often deems ingredients his “favourite,” he really, really, really means it when it comes to the cured pork:

“This I’ve used as a pillow before — I’ve taken naps on country hams.”

He’s also a notorious experimenter. One of his (many) obsessions has been ham-curing efforts in cooperation with the distillery behind one of his favourite bourbons, Willett (which I too readily admit is really rather special); curing Ossabaw hams, then sending them up to a friend, Drew Kulsveen (who, as head distiller, represents the 5th generation of the Willett family) at their newly revived distillery in Bardstown, Kentucky. The hams are then hung in the rick-house along with the barrels of whiskey lying in quiet repose, which allows the exterior of the rind to acquire that self-same whiskey fungus that you’d see blackening the walls and trees around the barrel warehouses.

The effect on the meat is, he claims, close to miraculous:

“It’s the most delicious fucking ham you’ll ever eat,”

states Brock.

Country ham has a long & honourable tradition in the Southern states.  The designation country ham first appears in print actually only as late as 1944; it’s referring specifically to a method of dry-curing and smoking native to the rural regions of Virginia, Kentucky and contiguous states. Nowadays, the term refers to this style of ham preservation rather than the geographic location, though a Smithfield country ham — perhaps the best-known brand of American country ham — can legally come only from the area around Smithfield, Virginia.

Country ham is often found paired with Red Eye Gravy.The hams are salty and the gravy, made from the pan drippings and with the addition of black coffee, packs a punch. And why is it called ‘Red Eye‘ gravy? When the coffee is added to gravy, the ham fat appears like a red eye, staring up from the plate. (It’s also known as bird-eye gravy, poor man’s gravy, red ham gravy and muddy gravy). Well known in the South, little known in the rest of the United States, it’s really delicious, a stroke of genius by some long-dead, unsung culinary hero.

In his “American Taste; A Celebration Of Gastronomy, Coast To Coast”, the erudite, witty & hugely opinionated James Villas, bemoaned its commodification in a piece entitled “Cry, the beloved country ham” (originally published in Esquire magazine), all the way back in 1974.

Villas described the production process that had been followed in the South for hundreds of years but was (even back then) becoming rarer as the large food processing companies, in collusion with local & national regulators, reduced the standards requirements, year in year out, producing hams, yes, far more quickly but equally, producing hams that were of far, far lower quality and virtually tasteless in comparison to those known only a few years earlier:

In the old days the diet of most hogs included plenty of milk and if possible peanuts for soft texture, and lots of table scraps for flavor, hence the expression “slopping the hogs.” Depending on locations and temperatures, animals are generally butchered during the first cold spell, around November and never before. Once processed the huge hams are hung bone side down for at least 24 hours, to allow the meat to drain and cool. If the weather remains cold fine, if not the shanks are wrapped in brown paper for protection against flies or spoilage causing skippers (insect eggs).

After this initial procedure, the hams are taken down, packed in a salt cure, which might have included other ingredients such as sugar, black pepper or mustard, and left for about a month at temperatures ranging from 28 to 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Then they are soaked in water, hung up again to dry, rubbed in pepper or wrapped to ensure further protection against vermin and insects, and smoked 4 or 5 days over slow burning hickory chips, before being left to hang in a barn or storage room to age under natural or atmospheric conditions for not less than a year. James Villas, 1974

And he goes on to give further detail:

In late winter, he said, the hogs are slaughtered and the fresh hams are cured in salt. They are smoked in the spring. The critical steps in their maturation come with “the July sweats,” when, during the hot months, the flesh of the ham expands into the outer covering of mold. In the winter, the meat contracts, drawing with it taste-enhancing enzymes.

Interestingly, the other jewel of the Kentucky table, bourbon, relies in similar fashion on the seasons of hot and cold. In the summer, the maturing bourbon mingles with the charred inner layer of the oak aging barrels. Then, in the winter, liquid is drawn back through the charcoal, carrying notes of woodiness and a smooth smokiness.

Yet America appeared to dodge this particular bullet; from Peter Kaminsky’s “Pig Perfect” published nearly 30 years later, it becomes apparent that country ham (along with a lot of other heritage foods, plants, seeds and breeds) had been (a) seen as taking too long to get to market by the huge agri-combine, industrial food, producers, and therefore not something that they wanted to get into as it wouldn’t “add shareholder value” or some such similar corporate bollocks and (b) a huge, renewed upsurge in demand and interest in, all things heritage related.

The whole slow food movement can be summed up in those two ideas. Passion for the native food, produce, animals and their environment and bionome and a desire not to rush things.

For those of you interested in some further research, there’s a great article entitled “An Essential Guide to Country Ham. Everything you need to know about America’s greatest charcuterie” by Lucky Peach available to read here:

An Essential Guide to Country Ham - Lucky Peach

And again, from “Heritage“, comes the two pork dishes below.

First, the slow-cooked pork shoulder with tomato gravy, creamed corn and roasted baby vidalia onions.

                                    and the second delight is his cornmeal-fried pork chops with goats-cheese and smashed potatoes along with a cucumber & pickled green tomato relish:

                                    Of course, as you can never have too many pictures of pigs — in this case an Ossabaw — here’s one of Sean’s darlings to send you away with a smile on your faces.

And finally? Finally, how about Polish “hipster chops”? Yeah, “after you”, I hear you saying. I get it. I’ll be your guinea-pig man & try it out. Cowards. More news later…

Find some fried eggs and country ham? was originally published on Salute The Pig

[joneswilliam72]

Review: Weezer’s Black Album is a musical mid-life crisis and a point of no return

Dear Weezer,

What happened?

Time after time, my undying love for Weezer has been tested to the limits — so much so that it has become too one-sided to bear. I don't typically think of myself as a glutton for punishment, but with each passing record, it seems I possess some unchecked desire toward sadistic insanity. Up to this point, I've listened to, struggled through, but somehow found some sort of value in every one of the band’s albums—yes, even in Raditude. In the heat of the moment, this relationship may seem like a forgiving one, but from the outside looking in, it’s manipulative to the highest degree.

Struggling to surpass my own denial of what the band has devolved into, Weezer consistently threatens to dethrone their infamous collaboration with Lil Wayne, and yet, I somehow find myself running back to the band that once charmed the masses in the ‘90s. Songs like ‘Only In Dreams’, ‘My Name is Jonas’, ‘El Scorcho’ and even some later cuts like ‘Hash Pipe’ and ‘Perfect Situation’ really tapped into middle-school me and many others who grew up with their music.

While we still have those songs, among others, to cherish forever, Weezer releases crap like 2017’s Pacific Daydream, and then, to make matters worse, a half-baked covers album. In other words, a painfully unaware attempt at hijacking a good meme aimed at poking fun at the band. Though it was amusing for a hot second, 2018’s The Teal Album was a clear cry for help—a wail of desperation to remain relevant in the age of memes and streams. At this point, dejected and near hopeless, I was somehow willing to give the polarizing collective another chance as the world anticipated the release of Weezer’s latest record, The Black Album. But they inevitably screwed that up too.

First off, but briefly, who in the hell thought it was a good idea to preview some of the album in a custom map for Fortnite (called Weezer World)? Waving a fleeting flag within the zenith of current pop culture will not make your music relevant again, I promise. Now that is out the way, let’s get to the music.

Though the band’s dreaded move toward poptimism and simpler song structures on Pacific Daydream was ghastly and all-but-convoluted, their power pop image that was resurrected with The White Album; it was a sound that had the potential for better results. But, to no one’s surprise, such potential has been chucked out the window. With The Black Album, Weezer tries to experiment with different sounds, only to achieve results that are staler than before - and of course, bumbling lyrics that are as dorky than anything they’ve ever written.

With The Black Album, Weezer once again sounds insufferably uncomfortable with the notion of aging by devising the musical equivalent of getting hair plugs. Just like how hair transplantation is a surgical technique for desperately aging men, where hair follicles from “other” parts of the body are removed then relocated to a balding spot, it sounds as if Weezer is borrowing from the more unflattering moments of their discography, blunderingly implementing them in a mish-mash display of pop rock, and passing the end result off as something fresh and experimental. But listeners will not be tricked by a compilation of tracks lacking in quality and spat out at the end of a conveyer belt.

Beginning with ‘Can’t Knock the Hustle’, a garbage can brimming to the rim with putrid funk rock, listeners are reminded that Cuomo is almost 50, is white and can speak Spanish? “Hasta luego, hasta luego/ Hasta luego, adios.” The track ‘Zombie Bastards’, one of the album’s lead singles, tries to make ukuleles cool again (but were they ever really?), and is somehow a lesser version of something Twenty One Pilots would produce. That’s embarrassing. Brandishing an us-versus-the-world mentality, the track’s lyrics are equally awkward and try to deliver a no-fucks-given sentiment that feels especially flaccid at this stage of Weezer’s career.

Not all is lost with the band’s latest attempt at salvaging their careers. In fact, ‘High As A Kite’, the third single released, possesses a slightly Beatles-esque feel, but classic Weezer character that harkens to the band’s better beginnings. Genuinely one of my favorite songs of the year so far, this considerably depressing ballad contains some of Cuomo’s best lyrics in a long while, “When I'm high/ And I'm giving up the nightmare chase, woah woah/ And all I wanna do is blow my mind, woah woah/ All I wanna do is blow my mind.” Unfortunately, the album’s lone bright spot is screwed over by one of the worst tracks on the album, ‘Living in L.A.’, a stale and static pop number that falls into the trappings of everything the band has been drawn to the past couple of years, Cuomo once again croons about a girl (please stop calling women girls) that he cannot obtain—surprise— and compares his yearnful loneliness to living in Los Angeles. How creative—Next!

With the track “Piece of Cake,” listeners are bombarded with a bunch of “Do-do-do-do-do-do-do/ Do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do/ Do-do-do-do-do-do-do/ Do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do”—enough said.

Though it features a killer bassline and the band’s best attempt at self-awareness, the track ‘I’m Just Being Honest’ is a bit too ironic to be taken seriously as Cuomo speaks of people who just can’t accept the truth. If this is what you hold to be true, Weezer, hear me out—you are getting old! The song ‘Too Many Thoughts in My Head’ is nothing special other than just another reminder of how weird it is to hear Rivers Cuomo spew the word “bitch.” ‘The Prince of Everything’ is a forgettable and dishonorable ode to Prince that is currently causing him to toss around in his grave. Ok, maybe it’s not that bad as the chorus is infectious and the lyrics prove to be not as cringe-worthy as many others on the album. Nevertheless, what seems to be a solid track is almost completely ruined by yet another “Do, do, do, do.” Stop it with the do-dos.

The closing track of this album, ‘California Snow’ is a god-awful, albeit appropriate way to conclude a bad album. An abomination to the ears, moments like these make me wonder if Cuomo and company are actually trolling us or are simply out-of-touch with who they are. In all seriousness, who actually wants to listen to Weezer dabble with trap beats and hip-hop production? Absolutely no one. Considering the above, ‘California Snow’ may actually be the worst song they've ever produced (maybe behind ‘Can’t Stop Partying’), and ought to be put out of its misery as soon as possible. How? I’m not sure, but someone, please, anyone—do something.

Given the band’s current trajectory, The Black Album may be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. I don’t know if I can go on subjecting myself to this torture and fruitless defence of this band. Weezer, for the love of God, for the good of all humanity, if you cared about making good music again or even your image—go back to square one. Stop giving a crap about fitting in and please come to terms that your age. Otherwise, drop the act and consider retiring from making music altogether. Even after this complete dud, part of me continues to hold out hope of there being a secret chest containing an album or two that harkens to the heyday, but we all know that this reality exists—only in dreams.

from The 405 https://ift.tt/2H4niCI