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bananaofswifts · 4 years ago

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By : Callie Ahlgrim and Courteney Larocca

Taylor Swift released her eighth studio album, "Folklore," on Friday.

Swift surprised fans by announcing its release just one day in advance — and less than one year after the release of her acclaimed seventh album "Lover."

"Most of the things I had planned this summer didn't end up happening, but there is something I had planned that DID happen," she wrote on social media. "And that thing is my 8th studio album, folklore. Surprise!"

She described "Folklore," stylized in all lowercase, as "an entire brand new album of songs I've poured all of my whims, dreams, fears, and musings into."

Much of the 16-song tracklist — 17 on the deluxe edition — was cowritten and produced by The National's Aaron Dessner. Smaller pieces were cowritten by Bon Iver, Jack Antonoff, and someone named William Bowery. Antonoff also produced five songs.

Insider's music team (reporter Callie Ahlgrim and celebrity and music editor Courteney Larocca) listened to the new album on our own, jotting down our initial thoughts track by track.

Almost immediately, we were forced to reckon with the fact that "Folklore" might be Swift's best album yet — potentially even better than "Red," which previously seemed like it couldn't be topped. We were stunned with the mature, poetic, stunningly understated collection of new songs.

Here is what we thought of each song on "Folklore" upon first listen. (Skip to the end to see the only songs worth listening to and the album's final score.)

"The 1" is the best album opener Swift has had in years.

Ahlgrim: "I'm doing good, I'm on some new s---" is a wild way to begin a new Taylor Swift album. This is going to be different.

This is easily the best intro song she's released in years. "The 1" far surpasses "I Forgot That You Existed" on "Lover," "...Ready for It?" on "Reputation," and "Welcome to New York" on "1989" in terms of sheer quality.

It's also an engaging scene-setter; I find myself gently rocking back and forth, eyes closed, smiling without realizing. It's only the first song and so far, I am totally grasping the woodsy aesthetic of this album. I'm already ready for more.

Larocca: I would argue that there hasn't been a strong album opener on one of Swift's albums since "State of Grace" on "Red" in 2012. "The 1" breaks that curse.

I was vibing from that very first piano note, but when Swift comes in and warmly delivers the first line of the album — "I'm doing good, I'm on some new s---" — it became evident this project wouldn't be anything like the rest of her discography.

As far as "The 1" goes as a standalone song, it's incredibly solid. Swift has a breezy attention to rhythm as she paints a tale of a the-one-who-got-away romance. I truly, truly love it. This might end up being an all-time favorite track.

"Cardigan" is beautifully influenced by Lana Del Rey.

Ahlgrim: I heard "Cardigan" first because I watched the music video before I listened to the album.

Right off the bat, I was struck by the Lana Del Rey melody in the chorus; I jotted down "folksy 'Blue Jeans.'"

Swift has actually cited Del Rey as an inspiration in the past, so this makes sense — and that particular shade of nostalgic, haunting glamour really works for Swift's voice, so I'm overall very impressed with this direction. I am more than amenable to a "Red" meets "Norman F---ing Rockwell!" album experience. On my second time around listening, sans music video, "Cardigan" already feels richer coming after "The 1."

This time, I'm struck by small lyrical details like "Sequined smile, black lipstick," a clear callback to her past eras, and "Tried to change the ending / Peter losing Wendy," an effective way to evoke young love and innocence lost.

I also think the song's central refrain, "When you are young they assume you know nothing," is clean and sharp and — especially given Swift's public struggles with sexism and years-old contracts — extremely poignant.

Larocca: I had the thought that Swift listens to Lana Del Rey after hearing "Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince" on last year's "Lover," but now I know for sure that Del Rey is an influence on Swift.

While "Cardigan" isn't what I thought this album would be like sonically, I'm overjoyed at how clearly singer-songwriter this album already is. I've been waiting years for Swift to make a lyrical marvel set to acoustic, warm, folksy instrumentals and it's here.

(And while I expected something different sonically, I am not mad at all by the backing instrumental choices here.)

"The Last Great American Dynasty" proves Swift is a natural storyteller.

Ahlgrim: Personally, I love Storyteller Taylor, so this is quite literally music to my ears.

There are so many delicious details here to unpack. The first verse, with its subtle sexist whisperings about Rebekah Harkness ("How did a middle-class divorcée do it?" and "It must have been her fault his heart gave out"), is a truly savvy way to set up for the song's eventual reveal.

Rebekah spent her time partying with friends, funding the ballet, playing card games with Salvador Dalí, somehow "ruining everything" — and her Holiday House was "free of women with madness" until Swift herself moved in.

That twist in the bridge is poetic genius. When the final chorus adjusts to the present day, underscoring the parallels between Rebekah and Swift, I'm forcefully reminded of an iconic bridge when Romeo finally proposed and changed everything — but Swift has evolved past daydreams of pure white dresses and fathers giving permission.

Larocca: I'm immediately taken back to 2012's "Starlight" when "The Last Great American Dynasty" starts. Thankfully, this song ends up being a lot better than "Starlight," which always felt more like a filler track on "Red" to me.

I love a lot here: the casual use of "b----," the acute attention to detail ("She stole his dog and dyed it key lime green"), and every version of this line: "There goes the maddest woman this town has ever seen."

I had a marvelous time listening to this song.

"Exile," featuring Bon Iver, is one of Swift's most successful duets to date.

Ahlgrim: Swift and Bon Iver, aka Justin Vernon, are two of the best songwriters alive today, so this song was destined to be breathtaking.

Swift has historically had difficulty allowing her voice and vision to coexist with a featured artist; her collaborations often leave me feeling like she should've just delivered the whole song herself.

But Swift and Vernon were able to weave their lyrics together so gracefully, I was left feeling grateful for his presence. His rich, rustic tone and those iconic hummed harmonies lends the regretful song an added coat of sincerity.

The production here is generally fine, but the layered instrumentals in the ending really bring the song together. I love a dramatic exit.

Larocca: When I see a "featuring Bon Iver" on a track, I instantly assume Vernon is going to come in with his high falsetto. So it was almost jarring that the song starts with Vernon sounding like a lumberjack dad who hasn't left the woods in a decade.

That didn't end up being a detriment, though. Swift sounds delicate on her verse, and their vocals contrast nicely later on the track.

This one also brings to mind her collab "The Last Time" with Snow Patrol's Gary Lightbody. The line "I think I've seen this film before and I didn't like the ending" is also reminiscent of "If This Was a Movie."

I'm obsessed with the clear influences Swift's previous discography had on these tracks, which have also so far felt completely unique to her catalog.

"My Tears Ricochet" is an extraordinary display of Swift's songwriting powers.

Ahlgrim: First of all, "My Tears Ricochet" is an incredible song title. Let's take a moment to appreciate that.

In fact, pretty much every line of this song is arresting.

Much of it feels both familiar and rare, like you know exactly what Swift is singing about, but hadn't thought to put it in those words before — which is, in my opinion, the mark of any good piece of writing but especially a breakup song. You can relate to the emotion, if not the particular details. You can hear the pain. It almost plays like a funeral march.

What a gift it is, what an exhilarating experience, to feel like you're listening to a poem being recited in real-time.

Larocca: Any true Swiftie knows that track five is reserved for the most vulnerable moment on the record, so I went into "My Tears Ricochet" ready to be sad.

I am endlessly impressed with how Swift managed to bake the word "ricochet" into this song so effectively. She also ditched her traditional song structure for this one, and instead built the track from peak to peak, utilizing clever lyrics along the way to tell an epic, devastating story, almost obviously calling back to the most beloved track five of "All Too Well."

I'm calling it now — this one is going to age like a fine wine. As all of Swift's best breakup ballads do.

"Mirrorball" is several strokes of genius.

Ahlgrim: This song gives me intense Clairo vibes, and I mean that as a very high compliment.

It's so fun and refreshing to hear Swift slip into different musical styles, and this shimmery take on alternative-bedroom-pop highlights her soft vocals and nuanced songwriting supremely well.

Also, my Leo sensibilities are fully under attack by this bridge: "I've never been a natural, all I do is try, try, try / I'm still on that trapeze / I'm still trying everything to keep you looking at me." Oof! Just tag me next time.

Larocca: This one is so pretty! Swift's vocals sound better than ever as she spins on her highest heels across a glittery daydream.

"I'm a mirrorball / I'll show you every version of yourself tonight" might be the thesis statement of this entire album. So far, "Folklore" feels both diaristic and vague; detailed and completely anonymous.

Fans will be debating for years whether this album is about Swift's own life, or if it's simply really great storytelling pulled directly from her own mind. In the end, it doesn't really matter.

Because as all of Swift's best songs do, these songs will attach themselves to listeners in completely new ways, showing them elements and stories from their own lives.

"Seven" is pure whimsical magic.

Ahlgrim: This is playing make-believe in the garden when you're too young to feel self-conscious; it's poetic and nostalgic and full of awe in such an unpretentious way.

I wouldn't change one thing about this song. Swift's whispery high register sounds divine, and at this point in the tracklist, her rhythmic delivery in the chorus hits like a shot of espresso.

Right now, I'm wondering if it's possible for Swift to maintain this intrigue and momentum for another nine songs. There hasn't been a misstep to speak of, and I remain wholly beguiled. Can it last?

Larocca: The beginning of "Seven" sounds like Swift listened to Marina's "Orange Trees" on repeat before showing up to her songwriting session. Fortunately, "Orange Trees" is the only song I like on Marina's "Love + Fear" so I will gladly accept this inspiration.

Swift continues to impress with both her vocals and her sense of rhythm on "Seven." I also personally love space imagery so the line "Love you to the moon and to Saturn" is a standout line.

"August" will go down as one of the best songs in Swift's extensive repertoire.

Ahlgrim: I'm immediately catching hints of Phoebe Bridgers and girl in red in Swift's delivery. And I simply adore the idea that Swift has spent the last few months sitting at home, daydreaming about summertime humidity and listening to music by queer indie-pop girls.

In an album full of songwriting expertise, this song has some of Swift's best lines yet: "August sipped away like a bottle of wine / 'Cause you were never mine" actually hurts me.

In my notes, there simply sits this valuable insight (yes, in all-caps): "WANTING WAS ENOUGH. FOR ME IT WAS ENOUGH TO LIVE FOR THE HOPE OF IT ALL." This song has my favorite bridge on the album so far.

In terms of production, "August" is exquisite. It's lush and layered without feeling overwhelming at any point. It builds to the perfect level then recedes, like a wave.

Also worth mentioning: It can now be considered a historical fact that any time Swift mentions a car or driving in one of her songs, it's a perfect song.

Larocca: While listening to "August," I texted Callie and said, "I can't wait to finish the album so I can relisten to 'August.'" It's an instant favorite.

This is also the first track on the album that seems directly inspired by our current state. Not because she's expressing fear or singing about being bored at home, but because she so easily slips into a reflection of a relationship that ended years ago with a newfound wave of wistful nostalgia.

When quarantine started, it seemed like a million lifestyle articles came out explaining why everyone suddenly felt compelled to text their exes and why we're so invested in looking back instead of forward right now.

"August" validates those feelings with zero judgment, letting its listener know that yes, it's totally normal for you to be overanalyzing that quasi-relationship you were in back in college that never made it past graduation. Am I projecting? Maybe, but that's debatably what Swift's music is best utilized for.

I'm also going to be thinking about this song's bridge and outro for the rest of my life.

The National's influence can be felt on the stunning "This Is Me Trying."

Ahlgrim: "This Is Me Trying" quickly strikes a more sinister tone than its predecessors — still nostalgic and wistful, but carrying an edge, like a threatening secret.

Ironically, this one was co-written and co-produced by Jack Antonoff, not Aaron Dessner, though I can really hear The National's influence here. I'm getting strong wafts of songs like "Pink Rabbits" and "Dark Side of the Gym."

Based on Swift's own words, we can speculate that "This Is Me Trying" is a fictional tale, built around the image of "a 17-year-old standing on a porch, learning to apologize." And, as previously stated, I'm a big fan of Storyteller Taylor, so I'm into it.

The song's darker tone mingles really well with Swift's imagery; when you're a teenager, and you make a mistake, it can feel like the end of the world.

Larocca: "This Is Me Trying" is precisely what I imagined this album sounding like when I found out Swift collaborated with the National's Aaron Dessner and Bon Iver.

But I'm glad she was strategic about her use of echo and also finally paid attention to the tracklisting from a sonic standpoint. This haunting soundscape is reminiscent of 2014's "This Love" and comes in right when you need it after the yearning daydream of "August."

I'd also like it to be on the record that the line "I got wasted like all my potential" ruined me and this song is a win for that lyric alone.

"Illicit Affairs" is a glowing example of what sets Swift apart from her peers as a songwriter.

Ahlgrim: The expert songwriting on "Illicit Affairs" reminds me of the as-yet unseated queen in Swift's discography: "All Too Well."

Swift is a master of wielding specific details like weapons: "What started in beautiful rooms / Ends with meetings in parking lots," she sings. "Leave the perfume on the shelf / That you picked out just for him." These are the sorts of images that set Swift apart, and they're especially strong when she punctuates their delivery with a little growl in her voice.

This song has real power. I have chills.

That power is magnified in the third verse, similar to how "All Too Well" builds to a crescendo: "Don't call me 'kid,' don't call me 'baby' / Look at this godforsaken mess that you made me."

Certainly, "Illicit Affairs" is more restrained than Swift's iconic arena rock ballad, but goddamn that last verse hits hard.

Larocca: The way that she says "him" in the second verse shook me out of my skin in the very best way. And "Don't call me 'kid,' don't call me 'baby' / Look at this idiotic fool that you made me" will go down as one of her best breakup lines of all time.

It's been a minute since Swift delivered a painstakingly beautiful breakup ballad, and the fact that this album is littered with them is, simply, a gift.

"Illicit Affairs" has growing power and will likely become one of those tracks that fans form a strong emotional attachment to over time.

"Invisible String" is Taylor Swift at her most Taylor Swift.

Ahlgrim: "Invisible String" is a feast of Easter eggs and callbacks.

"Teal was the color of your shirt" reminds me of the line about Joe Alwyn's blue eyes on "Delicate," and her reference to a dive bar is similarly familiar. "Gave me no compasses, gave me no signs" recalls the push-and-pull on "Exile."

"Bad was the blood of the song in the cab" is undoubtedly a reference to Swift's 2015 single "Bad Blood," while "One single thread of gold / Tied me to you" feels like a nod to Swift's description of love's "golden" hue on the "Lover" album closer "Daylight."

This song is sprightly and sparkly and certainly nice to listen to, but its real strength lies in these details.

Swift is weaving many different stories on this album, many connected by a sort of "Invisible String," tying different pieces of her life and your life and other lives together. It ends up feeling like a growing plant with far-reaching roots, or a sentient treasure map.

Larocca: I'd be lying if I said there weren't multiple points throughout this album where I worried that Swift and her boyfriend Joe Alwyn had broken up.

Thankfully, "Invisible String" is a rosy, wide-eyed ode to love. The plucky guitar paired with Swift's soft vocals is a sound I want to live in, which is fitting since this track feels like coming home.

Every small detail, from the nod to Alwyn's time spent working at a frozen yogurt shop in his youth, to the color imagery that paints every inflection of Swift's adoration (especially the single thread of gold) come together to lay the holy ground Swift's relationship walks on.

Also, the image of Swift mailing Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner gifts for their expectant first child brings about an unbridled sense of joy.

"Mad Woman" is yet another highlight.

Ahlgrim: Every time I think I've heard the peak of this album's songwriting potential, Swift manages to surprise me.

Case in point: "Do you see my face in the neighbor's lawn? / Does she smile? / Or does she mouth, 'F--- you forever?'" Whoa.

And another, for good measure: "It's obvious that wanting me dead / Has really brought you two together." I texted Courteney, "Did she really just say that??"

This song is sublime on its own, but the way it ties back into the perception of female freedom and "madness" on "The Last Great American Dynasty" makes it even better. "Mad Woman" is definitely a personal favorite so far on this album, if not in Swift's entire catalog.

Larocca: "Mad Woman" will forever hold the honor of being the first song in which Swift says "f---" and for that, we should all be thankful.

I was also so wrapped up in the storytelling of this album, that it took a minute for this to even register that this is likely about the Scooter Braun and Scott Borchetta / Kanye West and Kim Kardashian West ordeals of Swift's past. These callouts used to be so obvious, that I greatly appreciate the subtlety and restraint here.

It almost feels like these feuds were a lifetime ago, but this track does an excellent job at showcasing how anger and pain can leave an indelible mark on you. Swift went mad years ago, and that's just an accepted part of her narrative now.

But for the first time, her rage sounds like freedom.

"Epiphany" doesn't stand out.

Ahlgrim: There are some really interesting vocal moments on "Epiphany," but so far, this is the only song I haven't felt captivated by. It's a bit snoozy, and a bit too long.

This song clearly references war, the loss of a loved one, and the coronavirus pandemic, which makes it lyrically intriguing at best — but distressing at worst. I don't mind letting the overall effect waft over me, but this won't be a song I revisit outside the context of the album.

Larocca: "Epiphany" is the only track on "Folklore" that didn't immediately grab me. It's essentially a war drama in song format, so some people might like it, but I truly couldn't care less about war movies or war songs! So it's not my favorite, but it makes for pretty background music.

"Epiphany" does have another benefit though: Now, whenever some random dude erroneously claims Swift "only writes songs about her exes," fans have a clear song in her discography that they can point to and be like, "That's not true. This one's about war."

That's not to say Swift needed that — anyone who has been paying attention understands she's quite possibly the best songwriter of her generation.

This just happens to be further proof of that fact.

"Betty" is a charming callback to Swift's country roots.

Ahlgrim: "Betty" is like the best, sauciest song from Swift's 2006 debut country album that no one got to hear. It has sonic and lyrical similarities to hits like "Our Song" and "Tim McGraw," plus some name-dropping stuff like 2008's "Hey Stephen," plus a little harmonica thrown in for good measure! I love that for us.

"Betty" also appears to complete a three-song story, recalling details from "Cardigan" and "August" to close the loop on Betty and James, a couple in high school with some infidelity issues.

Looking back, it feels like "Cardigan" was told from Betty's perspective, while "August" was told from the perspective of a sort of "other woman" character. Now, we get James' side of the story. This is high art, folks! This is peak Storytelling Taylor!

"Betty" is also, like, very gay? I know it's easy to assume that James is a male character, but Swift herself was named after James Taylor, so she could be referring to herself. The song also references someone named Inez; James and Inez are the names of Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively's daughters.

Plus, in retrospect, the idea of whispering "Are you sure? Never have I ever before" during a summer fling seems pretty gay to me.

I'm not saying the story of Betty and James would be better if it was written about sapphic lovers, but I'm not not saying that.

Larocca: This one is gay, and if you try to tell me otherwise, I will simply ignore you.

But Courteney, it's from the perspective of a guy named James. James and the other character, Inez, share the same names as Reynolds and Lively's kids (will leave it up to you to decide if that means their third daughter's name is Betty). James is their daughter. Get out of here with your antiquated ideas about which names connotate which genders.

To me, the James named in this song is a woman and a lesbian and this song is for the gays. I will not be saying anything else or accepting any feedback on this opinion, thank you.

"Peace" is honest and raw.

Ahlgrim: This song's intro sounds like LCD Soundsystem had a baby with "The Archer." The gentle guitar riff is also lovely.

With Dessner's echoey production, Swift's voice sounds like a warm little fire in a cave — fitting, since she sings in the chorus, "I'm a fire and I'll keep your brittle heart warm."

OK damn, I'm getting really emotional. This songwriting is beautiful and haunting. "Peace" perfectly captures the ambient dread of feeling your partner slip away, of wondering whether love can be enough.

Larocca: If you're a "Call It What You Want" stan, you're going to love its mature older sister "Peace."

I will hereby forever be thinking about the parallels between "But I'm a fire and I'll keep your brittle heart warm" with "He built a fire just to keep me warm" and between "Family that I chose, now that I see your brother as my brother" with "Trust him like a brother."

Also, "Would it be enough if I could never give you peace?" has the same emotional impact as when Swift changes the lyric in "The Archer" to "I see right through me" and that's meant as the highest form of compliment.

Swift's vocals are so crisp, that guitar riff is so stunning, and these lyrics are so gut-wrenchingly vulnerable. A perfect song, through and through.

"Hoax" is unlike any other album closer in Swift's catalog.

Ahlgrim: I don't know if Swift is going through a traumatic breakup, but if she isn't, the woman is one convincing creative writer.

The National makes some of my favorite music to cry to, so when I heard Aaron Dessner had co-written and produced much of this album, I knew I was in for some glossy cheeks. Until now, I think I've felt too captivated by Swift's artistry to really let myself get there.

But finally, "Hoax" is making me cry.

This is heart-wrenching stuff for anyone, but for a fan and student of Swift's work, this is like reading a friend's diary entry.

"Don't want no other shade of blue, but you" must be a reference to "Delicate," in which Swift sings: "Dark jeans and your Nikes, look at you / Oh damn, never seen that color blue." Later, she croons, "You know I left a part of me back in New York," perhaps regretting the move to London that she detailed throughout "Lover."

"You knew it still hurts underneath my scars / From when they pulled me apart," recalling the public shaming she endured and demons she exorcised on "Reputation." "But what you did was just as dark." Like I said before: Whoa.

Personally, I love having a good cry set to moody music, so I appreciate Swift's soul-bearing. "Hoax" is one gut-punch of an album closer.

Larocca: Swift has a habit of ending her albums on an uplifting, hopeful note and I always eat it up. But if "Folklore" hadn't made it clear by now that it should be consumed differently than any of her previous works, "Hoax" brings that message home.

Instead of reveling in all the ways that love has made her stronger, happier, or more whole, "Hoax" deconstructs everything Swift has learned about love and leaves a bleaker picture about how maybe even the best of relationships hurt.

But at its most tragic, this love still isn't something Swift will ever let go of: "Don't want no other shade of blue but you / No other sadness in the world would do."

Finishing a Taylor Swift album has never been so devastating.

Final Grade: 9.7/10

#taylor swift #folklore #review

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shemakesmusic-uk · 4 years ago

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This segment features artists who have submitted their tracks/videos to She Makes Music. If you would like to be featured here then please send an e-mail to [email protected]. We look forward to hearing from you!

ROJAZ

ROJAZ is a Spanish flavoured artist currently based in London. She sees herself as a mix of artists like BANKS, Sabrina Claudio, and Rendez-Vous at Two. Soothing and sensual vocals paired with conversational lyrics, her new single ‘Gravitating’ is out now. "’Gravitating’ is about the push and pull dynamic of two people who don’t want to say goodbye, despite knowing they should”, she says. Strong synths and raw vocals create an impactful track, whilst layers of harmonies carefully guide you through the narrative. Listen below.

VERAH

VERAH is a 20 year old singer-songwriter from New York. Having sung and studied Jazz since she was 14, her music is heavily influenced by the smooth vocals of Nina Simone and the rhythmic genius of Herbie Hancock. Some of her current influences include Amy Winehouse, H.E.R. and Snoh Aalegra. Lastest single ‘Too Late (It's Not Easy)’ features the smooth R&B vocals of VERAH as she sings about love gone wrong over a deep, groovin' beat. Her sixth single to date, the song explores the duality of knowing you deserve better but hurting at the same time. Listen below.

Blakkheart

Blakkheart is a music producer, engineer and vocalist based in Cork. Everything you see and hear from the artist is done in its entirety by her (right down to the artwork) from her plant emporium home studio. After touring as a session musician and vocalist she began to hone her production skills. Luxuriously dreamy, electronic glitter disco, inspired by Prince and Kylie Minogue - ‘Not To Your Taste’ was composed on a Roland Juno DI hardware synthesizer in Blakkheart’s plant emporium/home studio. “Gave my life to you/ Pipe dreams can be cruel/ Was it hard to watch/ As I lost and lost” - a lament to the life you envisioned inside your head; and the unwelcome realization that this may never materialize,” says Blakkheart. Listen below.

BLAKKHEART · Not To Your Taste

MBG

MBG is an alt-rock artist and multi-instrumentalist based in Brampton, ON. Behind the scenes she writes, records and produces her own music but brings it out in its purest form on stage with her band of talented friends. She goes against the grain with her own loud, edgy and unique sound. She has this to say about her new single ‘This Time’: "In the chorus, my friends tell me it's not my fault, to stop blaming myself. I've recently gone through a relationship that was unfortunately cut short and has left me with the idea of what could've been and for someone with anxiety, always pondering on the what if is a very hard itch to scratch. In the heat of the moment, you look back and think "wow, I've done something wrong that ended this thing," but later come to understand that it's totally valid that they don't want to be with you, for whatever the reason is. Whether you're falling in love or losing someone in your life, there can be this sense that you're spiraling out of control. Every now and then, you kind of just have to let it hit you like a ton of bricks. So if you want to mosh to this song with your roommate, or have a good cry alone in your bedroom, that's okay." Listen below.

MBG · This Time

GLOCHELR

GLOCHELR is an R&B singer-songwriter from London, and her latest single ‘Closure’ wass perfect for Valentine’s Day. “The song focuses on the search for ‘closure’ and explores all the pain and uncertainty that comes with giving your all to someone who may not even want it,” she explains. “In all, sometimes the feelings go, but the trauma stays indefinitely and it’s up to you to deal with that.” Listen below.

Lemon Lord

Lemon Lord is a pop music artist based in Los Angeles. She released her first album Be Blonde in November last year. Her mantra, "To Infinity and Be Blonde," is a reminder to us all that we can do anything we dream of and we can be any version of ourselves that we choose along the way. This mantra is echoed in her song ‘Queen’ in the lyrics of the chorus, which say, "You just gotta live life like a Queen/ Ooh you can do it/ Baby it's done/ If you put your mind to it." Listen below.

Serena Sophia

Serena Sophia has been in the music, theatre, acting industry for a number of years. She studied music at the University of Glasgow and then went on to study a Masters in Musical Theatre at The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. She has always written lyrics and music, but it was throughout 2019 and 2020 she finally found her sound and discovered who she was an artist and was finally ready for her first release. 'Diary of Thoughts' is a song about heartbreak, loss, love and also strength. The lyrics were derived from sections of diary entries from 2018 which was an especially difficult year for Serena due to a toxic relationship and break up. “The song is so personal to me as it describes the emptiness, pain and heartbreak I felt throughout that time but also the moment I decided to finally take care of myself and control of my life and my own happiness,” she explains.

Serena Sophia · Serena Sophia - Diary Of Thoughts

imojen

imojen (she/they) is a 22 year old non-binary, feminist, singer-songwriter. Raised in Switzerland and now based in Brighton, UK, imojen has been musical for the most of their life. Inspired to write her first song after hearing Florence + the Machine’s ‘Shake It Out’, imojen’s lyrics seek to expose the awkward and spectacular details of a queer femme existence. Relationships, sex, the body and identity are all key themes in their music. Through rich vocal harmonies, strong melodies and captivating language, imojen weaves a truly unique sound and experience. ‘Angus’ is an open letter. An unapologetic, feminist ballad, that accuses men of passing down their misogyny to their sons. Inspired by artists such as Lucius and k.d. lang, imojen’s vocals and tangled harmonies are positioned as the focus of the piece as she depicts woodlands, country clubs, wildfires and graveyards in a haunting protest. Tracing a map of her emotional journey, imojen reveals cynicism, rage, malice and contempt, but shows no signs of weakness. Indulgent and imaginative, ‘Angus’ creates a space for fantastical vengeance, empowerment and escape. Listen below.

Amy Ellen

Amy Ellen is part of the emerging Irish indie-folk scene. Hailing from Dublin, her music is inspired indie-folk artists such as Laura Marling and Fleetwood Mac. Her new single 'This Life' is a coming of age pop-rock tune which conveys a sense of maturity and realisation that nothing good will last forever. In Amy's words: "The song is inspired by true-life events, it touches on losing and gaining people in your life and outlines that some moments become memories we cherish and reflect on. I feel that it's a subject that everyone can relate to, sometimes we fail to see the impact others have on us until they are no longer present and vice versa". Instrumentally, the song features punchy 90’s rock elements, a contrast from Amy’s latest acoustic driven songs. Listen below.

#submission saturday #rojaz #verah #blakkheart #mbg #glochelr #lemon lord #serena sophia #imojen #amy ellen

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grimelords · 6 years ago

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I’m all caught up and presenting my August playlist just in time for September to end! Disco! Italo-pop! 90s gangsta rap! 3 hours worth of music for everyone!

Good To Me - THP: The most surefire way I’ve found to track down a great song you’ve never heard before is to look up every single sample on the Duck Sauce album. It has quite literally not failed me yet. This song is great, and being so used to the sped up sample in Goody Two Shoes this song sounds like the expanded chopped and screwed version to me which is even better.

Who Do You Love - THP: The other thing about THP is they’re extremely hard to search on Spotify because it thinks you’re trying to type ‘The’ and suggests 'The Beatles’ which is helpful.

Beleriand - The Middle East: I started rereading The Lord Of The Rings this month, and even got so deep in it that I started reading the Silmarillion for the first time and I suddenly remembered the time The Middle East wrote a song about Melkor and Angband and all that. Maybe the best Lord Of The Rings song I’ve heard almost exclusively for the drum work in the intro before it really settles into its Tolkein vibe.

Dead - San Fermin: I love this song but god I wish it were louder and more out of control. The sax sounds great but every other part isn’t nearly as turned up to 11 as it should be. The problem is that everyone in this band is such a professional they don’t know how to play like the maniacs this song deserves!

Tuesday Fresh Cuts - Bree Tranter: I’ve been looking up what all the members of The Middle East have done since they broke up and the best thing I’ve found is Rohin Jones writing music for a Dulux Paint commercial after the verse in Ninth Avenue Reverie about the guy who sniffs paint every night and dreams about being dead. Anyway as far as I can tell Bree Tranter is the one that’s had the most consistent and normal output since they broke up. This song is very much an ultimate night driving type song, except the lyrics are really not great but you can ignore that for how great it sounds, especially near the end when it really gets into a meditative state.

Ted, Just Admit It - Jane’s Addiction: Continuing my Jane’s Addiction phase, I really love this song. This is such a great brooding piece of music before it finally explodes into the declaration that sex is violent. Kind of a shame that it’s a serial killer song because he’s right about everything. Sex IS violent, the tv DO got them images, etc.

Fire Back About Your New Baby’s Sex - Don Caballero: I think this is probably Don Caballero’s most popular song, and with good reason. It’s among the most straightforward of their backward-ass songs and gives you a good grounding in how to understand the total chaos that is everything else they’ve done.

Ballad Of Circling Vultures - Pageninetynine: The entire last half of this song, when it slows down, is one of the best things I’ve ever heard. It feels like the entire mix begins to close in around you as it gets darker and darker before a door slams and you wake up somewhere else entirely.

You’ve Never Been Alone - Andrea Balency: I was watching this live video of Mount Kimbie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6co64HYurg and they’ve got like a full band now! They’ve been slowly expanding from a duo and I suppose it makes sense because their last album really sounded like a band playing in a room rather than two guys on computers. Anyway it turns out the woman in their band is Andrea Balency and this song of hers is very beautiful and you can see exactly why they asked her to join.

The Conspiracy Of Seeds - 65daysofstatic: I was going through Circle Takes The Square’s performance credits on discogs (very cool hobby) and found out they’re credited on this 65dos song and was shocked that I didn’t know that already. It feels like they pretty much split the song down the middle and did half each, which is great!

Spanish Sahara (Deadboy remix) - Foals: This song isn’t on Australian spotify as far as I can tell, so if you’re in the UK I think you can listen to this. Otherwise it’s on youtube for everyone here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lk24ujPN4Lo This is probably one of my favourite pieces of music ever, it’s such a beautiful remix even though it’s not particularly far from the original. It just does the work of focusing the vibe down to a laser point. I love how mechanical every part of it is contrasting against the dreamy vocals and organ, until it almost feels overloaded with hats and clicks in the highest points before it focuses down again and introduces the bassline alone. Then the last section! The stabbing insistence of the synth driving the whole thing to a fever pitch.

T69 Collapse - Aphex Twin: I’ve never been huge on Aphex Twin because all his songs sound like you pressed the demo button on a keyboard and then turned the tempo way up but I really like this one, almost exclusively for the bassline the comes in in the second half after the big space-out breakdown. It’s groovy! It’s the most I’ve ever liked the evil man!

Kansas City Star - Kasey Musgraves: The Kasey Musgraves album everyone was going wild for didn’t really do much for me but this cover is so fantastic, the slight melody change she’s done to the chorus is such an improvement and really makes it soar. Also google is good because right now the 25th image result for 'kacey musgraves’ is a deviantart pic where someone’s photoshopped her to be extremely obese called Kollosal Katy. Not really related to the song but I thought it was worth mentioning.

Pyramids - Frank Ocean: A big group of friends and I went to karaoke a couple of weeks ago and the version of Pyramids they had didn’t even have the second half! If I can’t subject everyone to ten full minutes of me doing it badly then what’s the DAMN point?

Aqua - Eurythmics: I heard this song on NTS and was instantly in love with the lyrics. Don’t touch me, don’t talk to me, throw me in the water, watch me drown! It’s that simple!

gonk steady one - Autechre: I went and saw Autechre when they were here a few months ago and I’m still thinking about it because it was like a multiplayer dream. They insisted on total darkness and everyone just kind of stood still or sat down for the whole show in the dark while an endless wave of sound from another dimension washed over us all. Then eventually the music stopped and the lights came on and I never actually saw Autechre the whole time I was there. I’m still working my way through their fucking 8 hour long new album but this is an early highlight. I don’t know how to explain this but it sounds good. It sounds like music by and for aliens that we can listen to and understand a small part of.

Poor Kakarookee - Venetian Snares: I was listening to this song and thinking the other day there’s a certain subset of Venetian Snares songs that sound like that bit from Parks and Rec where Adam Scott is like 'could a depressed person do THIS?’ and is holding up his deformed little stop motion figure from the deformed little stop motion movie he’s making. This is absolutely one of those songs. It’s a great song but it’s one of those songs.

Future People - Alabama Shakes: For a long time the only Alabama Shakes song I’d heard was Don’t Wanna Fight because it was just so good I figured there was no need to go further, which it turns out was extremely wrong because this whole album is completely killer. I just can’t believe her voice. The album version is great but the live version really shows it off https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbR999N5MiALa

Mia Mania - Giani Morandi: I rewatched all of Harvey Birdman a couple of weeks ago and finally looked up what the song is in this clip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xkhqce43mA because it gets stuck in my head all the time, and the only version I could find is this one with vocals which sounds even better!

Capriccio - Gianni Morandi: Then I dug deeper and started looking up the rest of this guy’s songs and totally loved it. There’s nothing better than digging around and finding what you think is some obscure artists before looking them up and finding out they’re incredibly famous and like the Italian Neil Diamond.

Parli Sempre Tu - Gianni Morandi: This is my favourite of his just for the insane pitch shifted vocal at the start, what an insane piece of sound for 1964! I’m desperate to know how they made it.

Forgotten Children - Mouse On The Keys: I suddenly remembered Mouse On The Keys the other day and thank god. They’re an instrumental band that’s two pianists and a drummer that looks like its jazz because of the instrumentation but is really more like post-hardcore in execution.

Can’t Get Right - Ghost-Note: I normally don’t go in much for this sort of drum clinic type music for musicians only but the central groove in this is just so good. It feels like two completely different songs playing at the same time, except if that sounded good. I found it because the bass genius Mono Neon played on it, watch the video and see if you can tell which one is named Mono Neon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVw1b4gVYrU Also one of the guys seems to be playing a vibraphone that is a midi controller which I have never seen before in my life.

Shoot Myself - Venetian Snares: Venetian Snares has such a great melodic sense and it feels kind of underappreciated just because of how much his percussion is at the forefront of every critical appraisal. In songs like this where the drums are more restrained you can really feel the melody and harmony shine through, the layers of cascading synth lines piling up louder and louder before returning to the jazzy organ near the end is just such a beautiful moment.

Bad Boy - Den Harrow: This song sounds like an 11 year old wrote the lyrics and I absolutely love it. The best and most sexy lyrics: “Some dress Valentino, others wear t-shirts to show what a shapely bust they’ve got.”

Summertime - Barney Kessel: Barney Kessel the jazz guitarist that I only found out about this month did a bossa nova album when bossa nova was the biggest thing in the world and it’s so so good. He also does some very interesting playing on it that’s a lot closer to surf rock and rock n roll than anything else I’ve heard of his. This is also a good example of that thing when Stereo sound was brand new where every single instrument is panned hard left or right which is a treat in headphones.

Slice Of Heaven - Dave Dobbyn: It’s kind of a shame that this song never really gets better than the intro but when the intro is this good it’s fine. I remember this song from when I was a kid because it’s on the soundtrack to New Zealand’s first ever feature length animated film, Footrot Flats which I watched a lot.

Sailin Da South - ESG + DJ Screw: The hardest part about putting any one song from 3 N Tha Morning Part Two on a playlist is they’re not designed for that and it sounds awful and cruel to cut them off like that. So really instead of listening to this song listen to the whole album and turn purple.

Right Action - Franz Ferdinand: I think Franz Ferdinand deserve better than the sort of one hit wonder status they’ve got, because they’ve got a lot of great songs and this is one of them, and probably the danciest summary of the Noble Eightfold Path I’ve ever heard.

The Thing That Should Not Be - Metallica: I have done zero research but to me the 80s feels like the decade when HP Lovecraft and the Cthulu mythos really hit the mainstream. Dungeons and Dragons and all that. Anyway apparently Cliff Burton was a huge Lovecraft fan and they would all read his stories in the tour van which is a funny thing to imagine. Metallica have five or six Lovecraftian songs and the bulk of them were written after Cliff Burton died which is sort of touching in a way. Paying tribute to your friend by invoking the nameless horror that sleeps in R'lyeh.

Waters Of Nazareth x We Are Your Friends x Phantom - Justice: Justice’s new album is so good because it’s sort of halfway between a remix album, a live album and a Best Of. It’s essentially a studio live album, or maybe just a live recording straight from the soundboard with no crowd noise. Either way it’s great and leads to incredible three way mashups of their best songs like this one.

Mr Ice Cream Man (feat. Silkk The Shocker) - Master P: I was thinking about how you don’t really hear about Master P these days, but according to the first result when you google 'richest rappers’ he’s doing fine with a net worth of $227 million, which is more than Eminem. So good for him. Even if his music hasn’t really lasted I’m sure his many, many business dealings will leave him in good stead for the rest of his life. I’m just going to copy and paste some phrases from his wiki article here because it’s truly ridiculous: “He has since parlayed his $10,000 initial seed capital investment into a $250 million business empire spanning a wide variety of industries” “As a businessman, Miller was known for his frugality and keeping business expenses down and profit margins high” “He has since invested the millions of dollars he made from his No Limit record company into a travel agency, a Foot Locker retail outlet, real estate, stocks, film, music, and television production, toy making, a phone sex company, clothing, telecommunications, a jewellery line, auto accessories, book and magazine publishing, car rims, fast food franchises, and gas stations.” “Miller also has his own line of beverages, called "Make ‘Em Say Ughh!” energy drinks" “first rapper to establish a cable television network.”

The Party Don’t Stop - Mia X: Anyway via Master P I found Mia X, who sings the hook on Mr Ice Cream Man, and her album is actually good as fuck for an 80 minute No Limit album, mostly because it’s so packed with guests (it feels like everyone else on No Limit is on here, including guys with great names like Mo B. Dick and Kane & Abel, but also Mystikal and Salt N Pepa are here!) that you never get tired of the flow, and the production is nicely varied too.

Shut Up - Stormzy: This is like Stormzy’s biggest song and I’m dumb as fuck because I haven’t heard it until now when I was listening to Functions On The Low and found out he used it as the beat for this song. What an absolute thrill to see this perfect beat back in the limelight thanks to the man bringing grime back to the limelight!

All N’s - Mia X: I wanna talk about the beat on this Mia X song because it’s incredible front to back. (Lyrically this song is fucking great, especially the chorus) but the vocal synth bass sound is just amazing, and the hook melody is the damn 'there’s a place in France where the naked ladies dance’ melody. Every part of it’s insane.

Milk - Kings Of Leon: I got into a real groove this month and learned how to play this whole Kings Of Leon album on guitar for some reason. So now I’ve got that knowledge. But I forgot just how incredible this song is. It’s a testament to how if the music is good enough and the performance is good enough the lyrics can be absolutely anything. By the time he says “she’ll loan you her toothbrush, she’ll bartend your party” I’m already crying.

listen here

#playlists

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thesinglesjukebox · 7 years ago

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CHARLI XCX FT. CARLY RAE JEPSEN - BACKSEAT [6.57] Charli, Carly Rae and PC Music? Nah, that's not really in our wheelhouse.

Ryo Miyauchi: The humming synths and the ghost harmonies of "all alone" resemble the static heard when the radio dial is adjusted perfectly to pick up a feed from two FM channels. Both broadcasts play independent from another, each scene unique to the singer who sings them: Charli's escape from hell via partying turns self-destructive while Carly Rae Jepsen's LA hallucination finds two cold souls together in bed. And just when the two stories see eye to eye, this metallic black hole of a noise swallows them whole. [6]

Austin Brown: It's a never-ending source of fascination for me to watch artists like Charli and Carly navigate the pop industry, invested in the artistic potential of transcendent escapism but resistant (to varying degrees) to its dominant tropes and business practices. Lines on "Backseat" like Charli's "I want it all, even if it's fake" and Carly's "I got a thirst for distraction I can't take back" are declarative to this effect, as is the mushmouth muttered repetition of "all alone" in the chorus. In opening the Pop 2 mixtape, it serves as a mission statement of sorts for Charli. "Backseat" isn't nearly as confrontational as Vroom Vroom, which eschewed melody entirely at points and suffered as a result, but it's not full-on bubblegum either, warping Charli's voice and discovering decay and regret in its more grating corners. One point off for letting Carly show her up in the lyrics department, but it's not like she had a choice in that matter. [7]

Anthony Easton: That this starts and ends with melodic noise, and that the subtle metal grinding throughout the rest of the track keeps asking the questions: how do we make pop, nad what does the form of pop mean now, outside of the populist? It's a lonely, almost toxic song, and that it is written and performed by two great pop performers who (with the exception of one or two singles) do not sell well, makes it a fascinating example of formalist expansion, a kind of pop for pop's sake, which would all seem so academic, if it wasn't so fantastic to listen to. [9]

Alfred Soto: They belong together: figures who inhabit pop, approximate stars, scoring the occasional hit. The haze through which this song emerges has the texture of L.A., its smog and the way pop stars, approximate and otherwise, create cogs in the machinery. Because they hesitate about going for the jugular, "Backseat" takes a back seat to even itself. This is why Carly Rae Jepsen and Charli XCX remain approximate pop stars. [6]

Eleanor Graham: In How To Be A Woman, Caitlin Moran describes "How Soon Is Now" as the sound of The Smiths "speeding past us, light-decked and vast, like the Millennium Falcon." "Backseat" is the daughter and heir of that big, spacey nothing-in-particular. Against the synthy void, light bounces off the industrial clanks and screeches, like a city collapsing in slow motion. The opening lines speak to the cinematic kind of glamour that acknowledges its own hollowness but revels in itself anyway, for a lack of anything else. The parties with strangers won't help you figure it out, but you can look out the window in the backseat and imagine that the neon lights are falling on your face in exactly the way you want them to, imagine yourself as violet-coloured and monumental and extra-planetary as the chorus. [7]

Leah Isobel: Given the overlap in Charli and Carly's audiences and their similar places in the modern pop pantheon, it makes demographic sense that they'd collaborate eventually, though sonically their music isn't all that similar; Charli is all neon-bright pop hook, while Carly is more of a singer-songwriter type. "Backseat" does an admirable job of blending their separate worlds into one as Charli integrates fully into her femmebot act and Carly tugs on the high notes with so much, um, emotion that she runs away with the song, at least until the final third explodes the whole thing in a haze of electronic shrapnel. The secret overlap that makes this all work is that both singers have an intimate knowledge of pop-as-machine, if from different angles. They sing to each other from across an impossible divide, the cyber girl and the real girl, able to comfort each other but not to heal. Pop 2 has bigger and better pop songs, but none sketch out the album's psychodrama quite as thoroughly as this one. [7]

Maxwell Cavaseno: Charli XCX's fans insist that her brand of pop does more than the pop she constantly proves she's incapable of writing consistently -- not because she hasn't tried, but because frankly people who aren't captivated by the thought of Charli XCX don't care. The same could apply to Carly Rae Jepsen, the apparent genius of the straight ahead anthem who can't manage to convince so-called 'stupid normies' she's even made a song since "Call Me Maybe." "Backseat" sounds as uncomfortably unabashed as people who cannot separate their philias from their feelings, as the duo rapturously claw at the neon and chrome slidings like half-magpie half-harpies sounding less like a song and more like jarringly reductive fetish art for so many who've singed their corneas by refreshing their Tumblrs a few too many times, and maybe that's the point. Maybe this is the fitting result for the hyperconnectivity of the 'alt-pop' stars who can't succeed at bridging past the voracious net addicts who enshrine them as stars before they actually soar; their relationship becomes a specific kind of fan-service as tether, and in their desperate symbiosis do their damnedest to ensure that this isn't just fantasy, but that it really matters. [1]

Will Rivitz: A word to the wise: if a song is to arrive at a triumphant moment of climax most of the way through, it needs to merit that high. That is precisely what "Backseat" does, smokily snaking through neon rubble until it soars into the sky with its gorgeous trapdoor bass while the voices of Charli and Carly diffuse into the ether. It's the most gorgeous pop song in a very long while, and it grows and glows so perfectly that every moment feels earned. [9]

Sonia Yang: This is a perfect marriage of my perception of each of their thematic tropes; Jepsen's dreamy pining undercut by Charli's wryness. Even the music seems to echo this: smooth 80s-inspired production characteristic of the former's songs marred just the right amount by darker, more dissonant synths from the latter's work, almost in conjunction with when each vocalist makes her entrance. The true beauty is how distinct their voices sound even under layers of autotune; Jepsen floats and flutters while Charli errs sharp and sardonic. "Backseat" sparkles but isn't saccharine, it's melancholy but not weighty. And like a fever dream, it ends almost as quickly as it began. [8]

Katherine St Asaph: Charli ft. Carly, singing about love and, better yet, the solipsistic swooning of getting lost in songs in cars at night alone -- music-geek fanfic of such a high degree I'm shocked it wasn't previously an Archive Of Our Own category. A. G. Cook still can't quite shake the bratty/saccharine dichotomy through which PC Music tends to cast its singers, but "Backseat" is about as well-executed as it gets. It helps that Charli and Carly push their respective roles into the uncanny -- the former's voice has seldom been so robotically narcotized, the latter approaches Nicola Hitchcock levels of vocal shiver. Extra point for playing their respective accents on "half" off each other; I kinda hope it wasn't planned. [9]

Stephen Eisermann: This is the most compelling I've ever found Carly and it's on a track she's only featured on! The production does wonders for her normally nasally tone and the ethereal production and blend of these two lovely voices is entrancing. The lyrics touch on lost love and a wanting for more, nothing too out of ordinary for either artist, but here it feels especially poignant -- probably due to the production. Plus, the addition of the synths and sparkles towards the end of the song are perfect -- if one could ever turn Carly and Charli's voices into sound effects, it would be that starry/sparkly sound. It's all so... magical. [8]

Joshua Minsoo Kim: PC Music-minded catharsis wherein processed vocals and attention-seeking production turn the humanness of the song into something uncanny, revealing something even more human about our desire to escape a reality that overwhelms us. "Backseat" reaches that blissful headspace in its final chaotic stretch, but it renders the rest of the song a slog in comparison. Even so, Carly's vocals are too clean and (ineffectively) awkward for the track, distracting too much from achieving the same goals that define easyFun and A.G. Cook's other tracks. "I want it all, even if it's fake" sings Charli. I do too, but I'm not convinced they believe it. They're in the back seat... shouldn't they be taking the wheel? [4]

Will Adams: I've made peace with the fact that Charli seemingly has no interest in making an actual album in favor of mixtapes that pour on the feature credits for maximum OMG (hi Carly). But I still can't get past my recent revelation that her current aesthetic is really not far from that of her early mixtapes, only sullied by the PC Music touch: Auto-Tune purée, flat synths and hokey car screeches. [5]

Joshua Copperman: Charli's music leaking (down to her unfinished demos) has become something of an in-joke on Reddit and other sites. If someone told me this was one of the demos, I would believe them. There are some stirring melodies and some nice ear candy moments, but it sounds like AG Cook and co. put so much time into the vocals that they forgot to flesh out the backing track. As a result, not much elevates this above Charli's previous kiss-offs (or Carly's kiss offs.) The biggest letdown is the breakdown at 3:15; there was nothing to actually strip back in the first place, and the synth arpeggio feels like it was obtained from a P.C. Music Synth Presets folder. "Backseat" is still good enough, but frustrating in how close it is to being great. [6]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox ]

#charli xcx #carly rae jepsen #pc music #pop 2

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diamonddeposits · 7 years ago

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BEST TRACKS OF 2017-ARTISTS LIST #100

PETER CAT

After a brief hiatus Glasgow’s Peter Cat composed of singer songwriter Graham Neil Gillespie returns with some brand new tunes and we could not be more excited! Here are the 12 tracks that made his year!

1. LCD Soundsystem – ‘black screen’ (from album american dream, on Columbia Records) Yeah, it sucked when David Bowie died. We all remember where we were, what we were doing at the time. Most of us, however, didn’t have extensive email chains from the man himself sitting in our Gmail inboxes, like LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy did. ‘black screen’, from LCD’s comeback record american dream, is essentially Murphy grappling with the guilt of not having done more, not having tried harder after befriending the Spaceman in his twilight years. Murphy was even supposed to have produced Blackstar; something he alludes to in the lyrics to ‘black screen’ with ‘I had fear in the room/so I stopped turning up/my hands kept pushing down/in my pockets’. The same lyrical tropes that Murphy has revisited so often throughout his career – perceived inadequacy, a relative lack of influence – here take on a much more serious, resonant aspect. And while musically, this track is comparatively simple – a slow bass pulse punctuated by shimmering, Low-style synths – it frames Murphy’s heartfelt lyrics faultlessly. By the time a heartbreaking reverberated piano is ushered in for the outro, the listener is launched into orbit, ‘watching images/from the station’. An incredibly powerful song, I felt, which articulates our universal inability to ever really let Ziggy go.

2. Father John Misty – ‘The Memo’ (from album Pure Comedy, on Bella Union) Full disclosure: I didn’t massively dig this album on first listen. I thought Josh Tillman had disappeared a little bit too far up his own arse for his own good. It took me a couple of spins to completely get on board with Pure Comedy, but once I did: well boy, was I firmly in the saddle! While Tillman serves up less straight bitterness and sarcasm on Pure Comedy compared to his previous releases, ‘The Memo’ is the most caustic cut on the record; right down to Father John’s hilarious dialogue with an imagined Twittersphere in the song’s middle eight (‘this guy just gets me’; ‘this is totally the song of my summer’, a robotic voice emotes, as Tillman’s fictional folkie wrestles with his waning cultural influence). Lyrically, this is the kind of thing I just wish I could do: the line “As the world is getting smaller, small things take up all your time” especially resonated with me, as it should do with anyone who suddenly realises they’ve lost a week of their life to their smartphone/email inbox/inexplicable Twitter spats/being ‘crazy busy’.

3. Oxbow – ‘The Finished Line’ (from album Thin Black Duke, on Diorite Music/BMI/CFY Music) Hearing Thin Black Duke reminded me of hearing Slint’s Spiderland, or Codeine’s The White Birch, again, for the first time. While Oxbow have pushed the envelope of experimental music, noise rock and even avant-garde jazz throughout the course of their thirty-year career, never have they sounded so magisterial, so elemental, so utterly accomplished as they do on this LP. It’s measured, it’s cacophonous; it’s pretty much perfect. It feels disingenuous to single out any one track for acclaim, but if I had to choose, album closer ‘The Finished Line’ would be it: a spookily melodic doom-waltz which begins from a conventional enough place, but by the end descends into a barely controlled atonal nightmare, with vocalist Eugene Robinson alternating between breaths, groans, moans, shouts and guttural screams. I’m struggling to find words for how good this is. If I think about this too much longer, I’m going to make it number one, so I best move on quickly…

4. Perfume Genius – ‘Alan’ (from album No Shape, on Matador Records) Perfume Genius has truly gone from strength to strength over the past few years, following up 2014’s slickly sensual Too Bright with the almost overwhelmingly intimate No Shape. And no single song stopped me as firmly in my tracks with its opening bars in 2017 as closer ‘Alan’ did. After a few seconds of strings emanating from the speakers as if from the bottom of the Grand Canyon, Perfume Genius – aka Mike Hadreas – intones ‘Did you notice/we sleep through the night/did you notice, babe/everything is alright’. Not only does his paper-thin warble sound magnificent, but given Hadreas’ personal experience of homophobia, chronic illness and abuse throughout his life, the benign, almost mundane happiness he expresses in his relationship with his partner of eight years is so cathartic as to be deeply affecting indeed. There may have been a tear or two shed on my part.

5. Jane Weaver – ‘H>A>K’ (from album Modern Kosmology, on Fire Records) Another mesmerising record for which it was quite an onerous task to select a standout track. In the end, I’ve settled with ‘H>A>K’, the opening cut on Liverpudlian singer Jane Weaver’s 2017 LP. On an album which consistently channels the measured motorik of Can and Neu!, ‘H>A>K’ does so with the most vivid aplomb. The way in which Weaver’s icy vocal gets caught in a robotic stutter just before the drum beat kicks in is so, so very satisfying, and it’s all uphill from there: an arpeggiated bass line swims a steady breaststroke through a pool of washy keyboard chords, reaching out into the cosmos before reducing down into a single drip, drip, drip of synthesiser. The best part of this krautrock homage is that, unlike so many other artists who nod to the genre, it doesn’t outstay its welcome: ‘H>A>K’ is over in three-and-a-half minutes, although it feels at least twice as long (in a good way).

6. Jlin – ‘Hatshepsut’ (from album Black Origami, on Planet Mu) This track – and every track from the album it appears on, really – was some mindfuck when I first heard it. It’s almost entirely rhythmic, there being little in the way of melody or notation here; but Jlin’s vision of rhythm is as this constantly evolving, mutating entity, which never sinks into a groove for long enough for the listener to get complacent. It’s rhythm as warfare, as evinced by the sonics – military snare rolls, sharp trill whistles; everything conformed to the MIDI grid – which evokes the battle elements of the Chicago footwork scene from which Jlin’s work stems. And in a musical culture which increasingly fetishises prohibitively expensive analog synthesizers, drum machines, etc., it’s oddly refreshing to hear an artist just running with unapologetically digital, über-quantised drum hits, and calling them good. ‘Hatshepsut’ moves the feet, the brain, and everything in-between: essential stuff.

7. bell lungs – ‘Mosul Dam’ (from Pefkin/bell lungs 7” split, on Sonido Polifonico) When I first came across this song, I must’ve listened to it on a loop ten times, if not more. Its hazy layering of plucked strings and cut-glass vocal harmonies is disarmingly gorgeous; but that gorgeousness is tempered, given an ominous shading via samples of radio dispatches which hint at the creeping sociopolitical unrest with which we are all, sadly, becoming more familiar by the day. The Mosul Dam of the title is a real dam in Iraq, built on a water-soluble foundation, which bell lungs astutely employs as a metaphor for the instability of UK political life in the post-Brexit era. Full disclosure: bell lungs (aka Ceylan Hay) is now also a member of Peter Cat! But that has nothing to do with her inclusion on this list, as ‘Mosul Dam’ is quite simply one of the best songs I’ve heard all year. Avast ye to her Bandcamp page post haste.

8. Dominic Waxing Lyrical – ‘Laika’ (from album Rural Tonic, on Tenement Records) I was fortunate enough to both hear and meet the Edinburgh-based Dominic of said Waxing Lyrical this year, and in addition to him being a very pleasant gentleman, his record Rural Tonic is quite brilliant: a madcap meander through a surreal and pastoral England, equal parts chamber pop, folk and punk. The closest comparison I can grasp for is XTC’s seminal Skylarking; one of my favourite albums, which warmed me to Dominic’s work instantly. ‘Laika’ is the lushest track on this LP; a gorgeous harpsichord progression grasped tight to the bosom of a honey-sweet chamber orchestra while Dominic intones the tragic fate of Laika, the first dog in space. And it has a theremin outro – of course.

9. Sarah Davachi – ‘For Voice’ (from album All My Circles Run, on Students of Decay) We’re inundated with so much ambient music these days that it’s reached something of a saturation point: although they’ve officially denied it, there’s compelling evidence to suggest that Spotify actually populate their numerous ambient playlists with the ‘work’ of fake artists. With this in mind, it takes a truly arresting piece of music to cut through all that aural mist, and Sarah Davachi does precisely that on ‘For Voice’. Previously reliant upon an array of synthesisers to produce her music, Davachi strips each track on her latest LP down to just one instrument. On this track, she manually loops her own vocal into a dizzying, otherworldly choir which will, if you let it, transport you to a place you’ve never visited before over the course of its nine-minute runtime. Sublime.

10. Princess Nokia – ‘Green Line’ (from album 1992 Deluxe, on Rough Trade) Princess Nokia is superbly skilled at widening the scope and scale of her lyrics on any one track, detailing her personal experiences in opening bars before connecting them with astute political observations in later ones. It’s something that impressed me on a lot of the tracks on this record, but particularly on ‘Green Line’, which begins with Nokia hopping a ride on the 6 and ends with her championing the ethnic diversity and multiculturalism of the NYC of which she is a proud native. It feels honest, brash, humid, celebratory; real. Plus, the beat couldn’t sound more Big Apple if it was smothered in gherkins and mustard – check that Taxi-esque Fender Rhodes line!

11. Catholic Action – ‘Doing Well’ (from album In Memory Of, on Modern Sky Records) As a Glaswegian, I can authoritatively confirm that Catholic Action are the best guitar band in Glasgow right now. Their debut album is packed with surgically precise glam-rock stompers: such uniform quality makes it difficult to choose a stand-out cut, but the vocal hook and guitar lead on ‘Doing Well’ complement one another so effortlessly that I’ve plumped with that. Chris from the band is currently mixing the next round of Peter Cat singles to perfection, too – those are due out early 2018 onwards, so keep an eye out!

12. Protomartyr – ‘Male Plague’ (from album Relatives in Descent, on Domino Records) Of the plethora of bands who try and fail to recapture the spirit of The Fall in their acerbic heyday, most fail. Protomartyr, on the other hand, do not. They’ve managed to distil the finest elements of late 1970s Transatlantic post-punk into something with an enviable drive and snarl. For me, ‘Male Plague’ is the catchiest song on their latest LP, with some great lyrics from Joe Casey, in which he welcomes the cultural disrobing of white men (characterised as ‘sad-sacks pickled in jars’) while humorously acknowledging his own irrevocable place within that very demographic.

#best of 2017 #peter cat #LCD SOUNDSYSTEM #oxbow #father john misty #perfume genius #protomartyr #catholic action #princess nokia #sarah davachi #dominic waxwing lyrical #bell lungs #jiln #jane weaver

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geneticandunattainable · 8 years ago

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Another year, another list of high quality songs. Mid-January seems as fine a time as any to unveil the first ten tracks from my Best Songs of 2016 list. I’m continuing to struggle with rankings since there’s so much strength across the board. Once I’ve named all fifty entries, I will happily publish a Spotify playlist, but for now, I hope you enjoy the first ten tracks.

Tracks 50-41

50. BUNT. – “Old Guitar”

Trust me when I say I am the last person to enjoy dance music or any derivative thereof; if you ever here me use the phrase “and then the beat drops” without a hint of irony, shoot me dead on the spot. That being said, this amalgam of American folk and dance from German duo BUNT. is absolutely genius. The unabashedly pop track very well could be leading the next wave of radio hits, as Stuttgart-based students Levi and Nico blend organic instruments like banjo and harmonica with synthesized trumpets and slick production. Turns out “bunt” is the German word for “colorful,” and based off of this song, they couldn’t have picked a better name.

49. Andrew Bird – “Are You Serious”

One of the most prolific multi-instrumentalists out there is back with another fantastic album, and this track is an easy highlight. Andrew Bird continues to mine his happy marriage for buoyant pop originals, and his music is all the better for it. I can’t help but note Pitchfork’s outstanding point, “Like Punch Brothers and Sufjan Stevens, he slots his conservatory chops into increasingly accessible pop melodies, aiming for kinship over virtuosity.” His standard wordplay can be found here, as well as top-notch guitar skills that would put many to shame. This is a song that will stay with you.

48. Wintersleep – “More Than”

One of my favorite Canadian discoveries after I attended Osheaga way back in 2012 has to be this band out of Halifax. The Great Detachment is their highest charting album yet, and I fell in love with “More Than” almost immediately. It’s an ode to a love that grows with every day – much like my own love for the Great White North and all they have to offer. There’s a solid balance here between guitars and synth, and frontman Paul Murphy’s vocals repetition start to build on each other until a choir comes out of nowhere to really drive the point home. If you aren’t smiling or tapping your foot - or both - by the end of the track, you might not have a heart.

47. Haroula Rose – “Moon and Waves”

Previously known more for acoustic folk, there’s a growth on display here from Haroula that’s charming and easily accessible. This LA-based singer (and screenwriter and producer and music supervisor and…) focused more on relationships with this album – how people relate to nature, to other people, to everything. These esoteric concepts come through in the lyrics as well as in the beachy arrangement. Questions lead to more questions, and she starts to ponder more and more how humans relate to each other and the world around us. Even if you aren’t here for existential navel-gazing, the beauty of the song cannot be ignored.

46. Whitney – “Golden Days”

Who knew that a Chicago winter could produce such a perfect example of slacker summer anthems? Max Kakacek and Julien Ehrlich, both formerly of the band Smith Westerns, started working together as a duo during said winter to create a new sound that merges the country singer-songwriter with indie pop rock. This song specifically channels a timeless sound that evokes a sunny drive down back roads on either coast; the nostalgia on display here (“I'm aching, I'm searching for those golden days”) really packs a punch. How could you not have this on your road trip playlist for months to come?

45. Francis – “Turning a Hand”

Never underestimate Swedes when it comes to making quality music. This quintet released their second full-length album last year, but the first with the current lineup. The band was quoted as saying that the songs on the album are all about “children, divorce or love,” but also address the current rise of xenophobia throughout Europe. This track strikes me more as a work that ponders love, or the lack thereof, and all the frustration that accompanies it. The arrangement utilizes reverb and ethereal production, but the focal point is clearly the gorgeous and haunting vocals of Petra Mases. Consider this another fantastic track to close the year.

44. Futurebirds – “Only Here For Your Love”

The psychedelic country outfit that calls Athens, GA home released a new EP last November, and the early standout was this track, an outstanding and atmospheric gem that would belong on any reboot of Friday Night Lights. The harmonies on display here are beyond pleasant, and Carter King’s vocals are pure, whiskey-soaked beauty. The reverb that continues throughout the track is signature Futurebirds, but there’s a blend of several genres here that will bring a smile to most anyone. This would be an obvious choice for any nap or make out playlist you’re working on for 2017.

43. Lewis Del Mar – “Malt Liquor”

Danny Miller and Max Harwood met in D.C. but left the nation’s capital for Queens in 2014 to focus on and perfect their own distinctive sound. This track distills that industrial sound into its purest form: driven by beats, heavy on the samples, and not afraid to play with the song’s structure. They list influences as diverse as Bowie, Kanye, the Beastie Boys, and Lauryn Hill in interviews, and you can pick up on that throughout the track. The song is a slow build, but stick through to the end to listen to them burn the entire thing down; their lyrical structure may be relatively standard, but the instrumentation is anything but.

42. Sarah Jarosz – “Still Life”

Jarosz was a musical child prodigy who grew up southwest of Austin, and she’s been (rightfully) described as a “gifted multi-instrumentalist, a singularly expressive vocalist[,] and a songwriter of rare insight.” Undercurrent is the first album she’s released since graduating from the New England Conservatory and relocating to NYC, and it’s just as powerful as some of her earlier work, if not more so. Nominated for multiple Grammy awards, the strength of the album cannot be denied, but this song specifically really spoke to me. The song pairs her with frequent collaborators Sara Watkins and Aoife O’ Donovan, and the warmth of their harmonies is completely indescribable. With exceptional lyrics like, “Baby I’d tell you more if I knew just what to say/But you never asked me anyway,” there is so much to love here. I suggest giving her a listen before she takes over the world.

41. Daughter – “Doing the Right Thing”

This North London trio is back with even more chilling music, the first they’ve released since 2013. You may recall that their song “Youth” placed highly on that year’s list, and for good reason. This song may not be quite as strong, but there’s still a lot to like: the evocative lyrics, the emotional vocals, the layered and subtle construction. “Doing the Right Thing” deals with aging, with losing control, and the way that Daughter utilizes a minimalist, almost bleak approach may remind you of The xx. This is pop at its most wounded, but vocalist Elena Tonra fuses with guitarist Igor Haefeli and drummer Remi Aguilella in such a way that makes the music universal.

#Music #Best Songs of 2016 #Best of 2016 #Daughter #Sarah Jarosz #Lewis Del Mar #Futurebirds #Francis #Whitney #Haroula Rose #Wintersleep #Andrew Bird #BUNT.#Bunt

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