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2023 Year End List - #1

夢之駭客 Dream Hacker - Otay:onii

Main Genres: Post-Industrial, Experimental

A decent sampling of: Neoclassical Darkwave, Electroacoustic, Glitch, Industrial Techno, Drone

Brace yourself, cause from here on out this is mostly just gonna be me fanboying and gushing uncontrollably.

Back in 2021, I had championed the Chinese American singer/songwriter/composer/producer/performance artist Lane Shi Otayonii a.k.a. Otay:onii for her experimental record Ming Ming on that year's roundup, describing her potential to become "one of the greatest producers of the decade". But who is this enigmatic artist?

Lane Shi divides her time and energy between creating and touring with her hardcore noise rock band Elizabeth Colour Wheel, and performing studio black magic with her solo project under the Otay:onii name.

She is also an artist who regularly alternates her base of operations between two worlds, residing at different times in New York City and Shanghai. The duality of her identity as a Chinese American is a narrative thread that appears many times throughout the artist's work, informing some of the thematic elements of her records.

According to a really great interview she did with the YouTuber Heinos, the moniker 'Otayonii' itself is actually a name that was given to the artist when she met a Seneca First Nations man, who asked if he could call her by the name for 'wolf' in his ancestral language. She liked the sound and what it represented, and so decided to own her new given title.

Musically, Otay:onii is primarily a post-industrial project, but Lane Shi regularly incorporates aspects of darkwave, glitch, drone, traditional Chinese music, and electroacoustic music into her work. Her signature sound is equal parts atmospheric, lovecraftian, primordial, playful, and frenetic. She's kinda like if an ancient vengeful demi-god reemerged from the bowels of the Earth, and learned how to download and play around with studio software on a laptop.

As a vocalist, Lane Shi possesses a contralto range, and falls under one of my favourite niche categories of woman singers I like to call "force-of-nature belters", along with the likes of Tanya Tagaq and Björk. She has a trademark lower register that I would describe as a witch's snarl, a gentler middle register, as well as a higher register that she usually reserves for piercing battle cries and wailing like a banshee.

Her 2018 debut Nag was a comparatively more minimalist, grayscale undertaking, heavy on the more ambient and gothic tones of her sound. A genuinely solid first effort, if a bit less memorable than later records, barring the deliciously dreary eponymous song which is still among her very best.

2021's Ming Ming was an upgrade in all respects. Pulling major influences from Chinese folk music and folklore, I described the record in my previous Otay:onii review as a "true Pandora's Box . . . like the story of a mortal who attempts to enter the realm of the gods". Lots of ominous industrial cyber-magic, with a rare few moments that could have perhaps been edited down or omitted altogether to increase the force of its impact.

So, what to make of her latest then?

Dream Hacker is an exorcism. An inferno of ancient eternal flames envelops this absolutely bonkers and surreal listening experience. Each song carries powerful buildups in intensity combined with impossibly elegant structural competence. Far and away one of the most visceral and transcendent records I have ever beheld. This gets into your bloodstream, like an innate, raw instinct towards entropy.

Otay:onii's work has never sounded quite this immediate, energetic, and dynamic, thanks to the incorporation of avant-garde industrial techno beats that gives the whole project a mighty propulsion. Even during its quieter moments, you as the listener are never far from being engulfed in its unruly fire and brimstone. So many little leftfield moments that made me audibly go "what the fuck?" upon my first listen, too.

To me, this is album of the year not just because it poses the best collection of songs from an artist in 2023 (which, to be clear, it does), but also because it forms the most cohesive and fully realized project of the year. Every moment of this record feels intentional, meticulously crafted, and designed to fit accordingly into a larger entity. This is almost a living, breathing organism unto itself.

Lane Shi described how much of the inspiration for Dream Hacker came to her in a dream, or as she sees it, an "astral projection". Within this dream, she says she witnessed stones being thrown by a child until two of them overlapped, followed by a great light which emerged from the center of the overlap. The imagery was profound enough that she ended up naming most of the tracks after different aspects of what she saw in the dream.

The album starts with humble beginnings. "You Do/Rub" is a two-parter, opening with the haunting, softly swirling piano ballad melancholy of "You Do". The lyrics are deeply cutting and vulnerable, as the artist ponders her shaky relationship with her father as a daughter of the generation where China had implemented the one child policy, breeding stigma against female offspring in the more conservative rural communities. Lane Shi wields her voice like a delicate blade, gracefully and artfully interrogating her father's worldview. The progression of the piano's melody suggests a kind of resolution in ambiguity, resisting rigid, narrow-minded answers to multidimensional questions.

Then quite abruptly, "Rub" completely overtakes and drowns out the serenity of the softer piano song, like a sudden onset computer virus infection. What becomes of this part two is honestly one of the most immaculate timbral frequencies I've ever heard. A glitchy, droning wall of madness forms in dark, ominous, tempestuous clouds all across the sky. Warm colours are sucked out of existence by a black hole, leaving only greyish pale blues. The soul is washed with abrasion until all that's left is the ability to observe. Sound design on this is fucking unreal, as though Lane Shi Otayonii is wiping clean of our universe, leaving only a empty slate to form the basis for her own new sonic domain, wherein she is god of all things.

"Light Burst" is the combustion spark of a rebirth of all things that comes immediately after. Lane Shi let's out a shrill cry of tremendous power and agony amidst the grinding dust and debris of an incredibly dense and intricate industrial techno concoction, built upon her long standing love affair with minor second chord progressions. This track does not relent, adding more and more layers to its already colossal tower of babel proportions until, just as suddenly as it came into existence, it vanishes without a trace of detection.

"Two Rocks A Bird" oscillates like an electron creating new electromagnetic waves. Sound particles split into atoms that dance in a mindless frenzy. Even as a regular Arca fan, I don't think I was ready to comprehend something like this the first time I heard it. Subverted all of my expectations. I think the artist may have invented a few completely new sound textures on this track. A highly reactive new form of industrial music.

After deliberating with all of the sheer fucking brilliance to be found on this project, I eventually concluded that "Overlap" was my favourite off of the record. Like the best song on her last LP "Blackheart Breakables", this is an epic midpoint that just continues to build and build, feeding endlessly like a malignant being that cannot be stopped. Hand drum beat patterns are mutated, modulated, and mutilated by industrial electroacoustic mechanisms, while a synthesized flute echos a most forlorn and sinister melody.

Lane Shi takes on the shape of a skillful pyromancer, testing her newfound powers by conjuring a sea of flames that I visualize with my mind's eye as something similar to the Darvaza Gas Crater. Alternatively, I imagine thousand year old stains of bloodshed on the tombs of a ransacked temple, or the ancient terracotta soldiers of Qin Shi Huang's mausoleum brought to life for the purpose of ushering a new war. "Overlap" is just something else, man. My other pick for song of the year.

"Ritualware" opens with a rare calm, dreams swirling on the outskirts of a newborn world that has not reached its zenith. The spacious void bursts to life with a single, literal drop (another brilliant production choice), creating ripples in space-time that give way to a trumpeting sawtooth synths' cacophonous symphony.

"Good Fool" brings things to a stirringly harmonious denouement. The light of the last candle is blown out, and a creeping dusk sets in. Petals of sound float along the wind and promptly dissipate, as everything reaches an uncanny stillness. A hushed, rapid-fire breakdown of bass drums, hand drums, and gongs occurs as the final closing act of the record.

I know I've already said this like a dozen times before about a dozen different artists, but it really needs to be said here - more people should know about Otay:onii. No one I've discovered has been doing anything as consistently exciting, challenging, and infectious as this project in the last few years. As it stands right now, the artist is criminally unknown and criminally underappreciated.

Dream Hacker is the rare ambitious record that dares to be so challenging and not only lives up to all of its potential, but manages to make the old formula of doing things look incredibly obsolete by comparison. Not many avant-garde music albums are this ridiculously fun to listen to, let alone manage to capture sonic worlds that are this truly sublime.

I've probably listened to this at least 40 times in the last year, and I plan on at least doubling that number in the following year. This is not just my album of the year; it is my top album of the 2020s as a decade so far, and already one of my favourites of all time. This record sets my soul ablaze and I simply can't get enough of it. Otay:onii is my new religion, and Dream Hacker is the scripture.

10/10

Highlights: "Overlap", "You Do/Rub", "Light Burst", "Two Rocks A Bird", "Ritualware", "Good Fool"

#album review #music review #list #aoty #year end list #favourite music #favourite albums #aoty2023 #post-industrial #industrial music #otayonii #otay:onii #lane shi otay onii #chinese american music #experimental #experimental music #2023

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2023 Year End List - #2

Ooh Rap I Ya - George Clanton

Main genres: Baggy, Chillwave

A decent sampling of: Trip Hop, Dream Pop, Synth Pop, Vaporwave, Breakbeat

Okay okay so yeah I'm very late to the whole George Clanton thing. Look you guyz, vaporwave and its adjacent scenes have never really been my cup of tea due to the general over-saturation of super amateur "vibes" artists with no songwriting chops. The gratuitous Japanese has also always reeked of pretentiousness to me. But there's almost always at least one diamond in the rough.

And I know that Clanton is really more regarded as a chillwave artist, and I know that there's a meaningful distinction between these genres, especially since the term 'chillwave' is at least a year or two older. But I guess in my own mind I just kinda put him in with the former, so he wasn't particularly high on my list of things to check out.

That is, until I saw those peculiar genre tags on his latest record and the general praise it got on my favourite insufferable hipster website rateyourmusic.com (sue me bitch). Baggy and chillwave together? Now THAT was something I had to hear.

And it just so happened to turn out that his stuff blew me away completely. Even upon my first listen, this LP had basically already skyrocketed to the number 2 spot on my year end list and managed to hold on for the rest of the year.

Every note off of Ooh Rap I Ya is drenched in a multicoloured neon slush that tastes like pure fifth gen console nostalgia (yes that's the only thing I can recall about the 90s tyvm). A portal to a dimension floating in a solution of sheer serotonin, with groovy baggy rhythms and gooey, acid-y synths. Layers upon layers of unabashed awesomeness condensed into thirty eight minutes that feel like hours of non-stop raving that still somehow ends all too soon.

There's been way more than enough homages in the 21st century paying tribute to 80s synth pop and its related genres. I'm glad that someone out there finally decided that the early 90s British baggy scene and its related "Madchester" club culture deserved a work of similar celebratory fondness. Not that I'm honestly too well-versed in it myself, though hearing this certainly makes me feel like taking that genre deep dive next year.

But like all good throwback revivalism, this record doesn't just rehash the era that it's paying tribute to. There's a lot of contemporary production techniques and ideas being applied here, and it's all filtered through a very post-internet 2.0 chillwave online aesthetics lens. And while sonically it feels incredibly optimistic, the lyrics have definitely been injected with some of the generational existentialism of its time.

Moreover, this basically just kicks ass more than 98% of anything else released this year. The songwriting is tight, the riffs are infectious to no end, the sound design is simply godlike, and Clanton's trippy pretty boy vocal styling blends seamlessly into this genre. It's just some good fucking timeless music that happens to be heavily influenced by a very time-and-place sound.

"Justify Your Life" has a very particular vibe, as though it was written from that headspace you get when it's 2:00 am and you should be tired, but instead your mind is hyper awake and you're up just kinda reflecting on everything over the last six months. The whole thing rides on the wave of a breezy looped guitar feedback sample, taking little plunges into deep plasmatic psychedelics during the chorus. Very chill and daydreamy, but also a little agitated and melancholy.

The torrential, churning feel-good chaos of "Punching Down" is almost enough to make me feel sick. So sugary and whimsical, you'd be totally forgiven if you missed George's lyrics dissing on the subject of the song, who might just probably be himself. The combination of rubbery arcade synths and a blown out drum machine pattern absolutely buries this song in a totally orgasmic collage. Someone shook the soda can and let it spray all over the damn place. Makes my brain go all fuzzy.

"I Been Young" is a quarter life crisis anthem that's musically somewhere halfway between INXS and Chapterhouse. Very boy band meets neo-psychedelia. The lyrics are poignant in a way I think all of us are destined to feel at some point. But there's also a kind of bittersweet, triumphant silver lining at play here, as in "yeah, life is pretty fucked, but look how far you've come!". Clanton does the great big beautiful chorus thing in a way that I've heard very few artists really manage to pull off so cool and effortlessly. Those colossal piano chords are purely divine. No other song this year comes quite so close to the sentimental, end-credits energy that this song manages to emanate from its very core. Insanely potent, and plainly one of the greatest songs of the decade so far.

"You Hold The Key And I Found It" has me swimming downwards in slow motion. This is for the point of the night at the rave for when you're beyond blasted, and you're kind of just absorbing your surroundings, with every second being its own little eternity. More vaporwave than anything else off the record, but this is a brilliant example of the genre's potential when the songs have the right amount of pulse to them.

"Ooh Rap I Ya" glows like little flourescent fishies swimming in an aquarium. Little bit of a new jack swing meets trip hop vibe on the beat here which makes it extra comfy and danceable. Those "ooh rap I ya"s during the bridge that give the album its title are just so sexy and snappy; I believe I've caught myself singing it at random at least a dozen times in the last month alone.

The sluggish closer "For You, I Will" is insane. This. Song. Is. Massive. I can't get over how utterly consuming it sounds, like impenetrable walls being erected towards the sky that obscure the nature of reality. This one simply must be heard on headphones to get the full experience. George Clanton employed the help of Hatchie 💖 to do the backing vocals on this, which I personally thought was a really cute addition seeing as how her 2022 record Giving The World Away was basically the only other prominent LP of the last few years (or decades, more likely) to pay a lot of homage to the 90s baggy sound.

For as consistently brilliant as the album sounds to my ears, I do admit I have one gripe with this record that I just couldn't look past to give it a 10.

The gripe is that "F.U.M.L." to me is just a weaker, simpler take on "I Been Young". I guess the whole ultra-teenage upbeat pop punk "let's chant gleefully about being edgy and depressed" has never really been my thing either (Looking at you Wheatus, grrrrr), no matter how many layers of nostalgia or even irony you try to bury it under. Maybe an uncharitable take, it's still a pretty decent song and production-wise it's excellent, but I have basically no fondness for it when compared to anything else on the LP.

But anyhow, shut the fuck up already Bradley cuz this record is goddamn amazing. Ooh Rap I Ya has very quickly become one of my favourites of the decade - heavily grounded in the psychedelic baggy sounds it derives from, while managing to be so incredibly forward thinking in its maximalist production and songwriting. George Clanton just landed himself at the top of my list of artists to be on the look out for new releases in the next few coming years.

9/10

Highlights: "I Been Young", "Punching Down", "For You, I Will", "You Hold The Key And I Found It", "Ooh Rap I Ya", "Justify Your Life", "Everything I Want"

#album review #music review #list #aoty #year end list #2023 #alternative rock #alternative dance #neo-psychedelia #baggy #chillwave #electronic #dance #ooh rap i ya #george clanton #90s nostalgia #aoty2023 #madchester

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2023 Year End List - #3

Desire, I Want to Turn Into You - Caroline Polachek

Main genres: Art Pop, Electronic

A decent sampling of: Downtempo, Alternative R&B, Dance Pop, UK Garage

Seizing the essence of life itself. The search for the meaning of everything. The sheer sense of adventure and danger that is going it alone for the first time.

Caroline Polachek has more artistic vision than just about any other pop artist out there right now. She takes a concept and runs marathons with it, working to achieve its platonic ideal.

This ethos is reflected in her intricate songs, laden with layers of meticulous, hyperreal production courtesy of her long-time co-producer Danny L. Harle, her commitment to weaving rich lyrical webs of different aesthetics, ideals, and mindsets that all fall into place like a great jigsaw puzzle, and her equally impressive, high-concept music videos that harkens back to the likes of other cinematically ambitious female artists such as Lady Gaga, Björk, and M.I.A.

Her voice has often been compared to the function of auto-tune itself, mostly thanks to how masterfully and seamlessly she modulates across complex melodies that jump notes seemingly almost at random, but actually follow an elaborated structure. Meanwhile, the timbral qualities of her voice are crystal clear and hyper-articulate, almost to the point of crossing the uncanny valley and into the supernatural.

So yeah, suffice to say, this was my #1 anticipated release of 2023. It certainly helped that she kept on teasing it, dropping the lead single all the way back in summer of 2021, and then another one in the first few weeks of 2022. It also obviously helped that her first album was simply one of the best art pop records in recent memory (eclipsed only in it's own release year by Twigs' Magdalene).

Polachek's solo pop debut Pang was a headfirst dive into painful love, and the act of relieving oneself from the shackles of self-doubt. The album played out like a series of short stories in a greater narrative storybook anthology, each song its own cerebral headspace, dissecting and sometimes psychoanalyzing the artist's own emotions. To put it concisely, my own interpretation was that of an album about learning to listen to what the self feels, needs, and wants.

This record then, broadly speaking, is about the restless pursuit of those wants.

Desire, I Want to Turn Into You is like the flickering light from the torch's flame that illuminates the ancient wall glyphs inside of an old cave of ruins. It is the feeling of catching your breath, and quenching yourself with that vital taste of water after you’ve just ran a marathon. It’s a thrilling and euphoric experience from start to finish. Art pop with adrenaline and passion.

The prominent Alternative R&B elements that made her previous record more rhythmically complex and sonically contemplative take a bit of a step back on this project, peeking through every now and then on tracks like "Billions" and "Pretty In Possible".

But by and large, Polachek leans more towards sugary pop and dance-oriented songs with high art ambitions, with many tracks influenced by the hop-and-skip beats of the UK Garage EDM scene. There's also a fair bit of more atmospheric downtempo moments in similar fashion to tracks like "Go As A Dream" on Pang, but even they have a little more pulse on this record. A more extroverted sound altogether this time around.

There are also frequent references to Greek mythology, as well as a myriad of melodic motifs that are revisited and re-imagined between different tracks, like the opening melody of "Crude Drawing of An Angel" appearing in the second verse of "Butterfly Net", or the chorus of "Fly To You" being interpreted by a bag pipe solo in "Blood and Butter". Never underestimate Caroline Polachek's ability to tie an album's concepts together into a beautifully interwoven and interconnected symbiosis.

The album takes off with its central thesis, "Welcome To My Island", a declaration to defy all expectations and become desire itself. It opens with a single rapturous siren cry, soaring into the stratosphere and heralding the beginning of a new era. Suddenly, the song's aircraft comes to meet its landing strip. Bright, beady, bubbly little synths make pops and flares over the verses, before the unleashing of a total power chorus that showcases the very best of Polachek's ability to carry zephyrous long notes, meanwhile with her irresistibly cute and sassy "hey, hey ,hey, HEY!" chants forming the backing vocals. Every last ounce of her unapologetically bold artistic personality is lavishly painted over this ridiculously catchy and charming pop song.

"Sunset" pays homage to Spanish flamenco and appears to be taking some cheeky inspiration from the Gerudo Valley theme in Zelda: Ocarina of Time according to a TikTok that Polachek herself posted. This song tastes of the juiciest citrus fruits and the richest olive oil, pouring out of a marble chalice like a waterfall. An excellent demonstration of her artistic versatility.

"I Believe" immediately gets my heart racing with its crisp piano stabs and exhilarating 2-step shuffle. Makes me feel like some kind of JRPG mage, hopping through the air by casting levitation spells and gazing upon the cloudswept Earth below. Totally dreamy and life-affirming.

I find myself deeply immersed in the humid forests of "Blood and Butter". This downtempo track incorporates some very SNES era sound fonts, hand drums, kalimba, and acoustic guitars into a euphoric and ritualistic performance, with the atmosphere of swirling magic mists and even a left-field instrumental bridge featuring some very festive bagpipes. Simply impeccable sound design; listening to this one with headphones is like discovering a sixth sense I didn't know I had.

"Butterfly Net" is the sublime sunrise that turns the entire sky a goldenrod yellow. It's an auditory gateway to beautiful plains of crested wheatgrass, with psychedelic folk undertones and echoing vocals and digital landscapes that stretch off into the horizon for dozens of miles. One of her greatest songs yet, and one I couldn't get enough of for basically all of spring last year.

"Billions" would be my song of the year, had it not already been released in 2022. I cannot overstate, nor begin to describe with all due credit it deserves, just how fucking brilliant the production on this track is. If "Blood and Butter" was the sixth sense, then this is the seventh. Tantalizing, mystifying, erotic, bountiful, reaching towards enlightenment. Everything that must be and will be, maybe truth itself is contained somewhere hidden under the plentiful layers of beats and microbeats in this stunning art pop pedestal. Musically, it sounds ancient, medieval, renaissance, modern, and post-modern all at once. Also - maybe the best incorporation of a children's choir in all of music history? What a bold move to put this as the album closer. If this is the page she chooses to close this chapter on, I can only imagine what magnificence is to come next.

I thought for sure this was going to be my AOTY when it was announced. The fact it didn't end up being so and landed at number 3 instead is just a testimony to how brutally stacked this year's competition was.

I could still nit-pick this quite a bit if I really wanted to. "Hopedrunk Everlasting" and "Bunny Is A Rider" are not only both easily weaker than any of the other material here, but both of them seem to disrupt the respective flow of their placements on this record. But barring that, this is damn close to a masterpiece.

Naturally, this has landed on loads of other 2023 year end lists besides my own, and its definitely not hard to see why. Caroline Polachek is a staunch perfectionist and over-achiever, and shows no signs of stopping any time soon, and Desire, I Want to Turn Into You is an uplifting work of creative genius that only she could have made.

9/10

Highlights: "Billions", "Butterfly Net", "Welcome To My Island", "Blood and Butter", "I Believe", "Sunset", "Pretty In Possible", "Crude Drawing of an Angel"

#album review #music review #list #aoty #year end list #2023 #aoty2023 #desire i want to turn into you #caroline polachek #danny l harle #art pop #electronic

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2023 Year End List - #4

Maps - Billy Woods and Kenny Segal

Main genres: Abstract Rap, Conscious Rap, Jazz Rap

A decent sampling of: Experimental Rap, Political Rap, Lo-fi Hip Hop, Glitch Hop

As much as I enjoy a lot of the output of Armand Hammer, I have to say that Billy Wood's last two records under his own name have definitely been a considerable cut above. Less experimental, but more focused and cohesive in their vision.

Of course, this isn't really just a 'Billy Woods' record, which, then again, can be said about most 'solo' albums since a majority of them still have multiple credited producers. But moreover, going off of its own title, this record is also a Kenny Segal project; the second collaborative project under both names after 2019's Hiding Place.

I've already talked about Woods himself to the point that it's kinda beating a dead horse if I were to try summarizing the artist again. You can always go ahead and check out one of the three other reviews regarding his work that I've put up on this blog. TL;DR he's the king of abstract hip hop of the last few years.

As for Kenny Segal, I can't say that I'm awfully familiar with any of his work beyond this project, but some quick googling tells me he's worked on projects with other underground/alternative rappers like Open Mike Eagle and Milo. So he sounds pretty legit, and I'm certainly impressed with what he's laid down on this LP.

Woods' previous record Aethiopes was my first runner-up AOTY last year, so I was anticipating a real treat with this latest release. And hoo boy was I right. The man's done it again.

Aesthetically, Maps exists in a state of limbo between icy bitter cold nights in run down cityscapes, manifested through throbbing low-hum, lo-fi beats, and first class flyer luxury waiting lounges with tasteful jazz accompaniment. To me, the record is sort of an allegory for the great paradoxes of late stage capitalism, wherein a society can have so much and yet so little simultaneously. Seeing what's been happening in real-time here in my own city over the last two years just makes the imagery of this record so incredibly timely.

Woods' own official description of the record is "an album about trying to find your way home, after making your home wherever you lay your head." Fitting, because this album leaves me feeling a little lost in a fucked up world every time I listen to it.

One thing that really impresses me about this particular record is the versatility in atmospheres it can create from track to track. This might also be the most melodic and accessible project I've heard from Billy Woods, which still isn't to say that this is "pop rap" by any stretch of the definition, but more something you could readily recommend to your friends who aren't already in over-their-head under the murky waters of underground hip hop's weirdest beats.

"Soft Landing" makes me wanna rub the tired out of my eyes. This exhausted lo-fi beat got me feeling like I'm coming home late from work on a Friday night and I just wanna kick back with some low lighting and get a little tipsy.

The shaky big band jazz rap of "Blue Smoke" is giving me big "For Free?" vibes off of Kendrick's To Pimp A Butterfly but with a little more chill. Billy raps his way through gourmet food metaphors and references to situationist philosophy and FBI agents trying to spy on him.

"Babylon By Bus" is absolutely chilling. Underwater minimalist noises reverberate in the background to fill the void between hats and snares trembling and twitching to form a coherent rhythm, before some of the lowest notes on an old grand piano begin to stalk you from the shadowy depths of barely audible caverns below. All of this could easily be taking place in the dingiest abandoned subway station. This is the kind of track Billy Woods really shines with - bleak atmosphere so palpable that you can listen and start to breathe the unpleasant cigarette smoke and perceive the dim flickering glow of public LED white lights, with bars that immerse you in the familiar creep of your most cynical public transit thoughts.

"Year Zero" features Danny Brown in what is honestly probably the best bars he's laid down in 2023, despite having spearheaded two of his own LPs in the same year. Musically, this is just menacing - no other way to really describe the mood of this beat. It's very Billy Woods and I love it. Should be blaring out of broken old car stereos in a sketchy back alley.

After a series of much harder, murkier tracks, "The Layover" winds things down into a sprinkling piano beat that you could easily recline into. There's a real ebb and flow at work here, and I appreciate having these breathers to make the more grisly cuts go down a little smoother. Really does feel like a layover between flights.

"FaceTime" is like a puff of weed clouds that take on a humanoid silhouette and turns into a personal head masseuse. Bittersweet saxophones and lyrics, but also very soul cleansing. Also, WHAT THE FUCK THAT'S THE GUY FROM FUTURE ISLANDS SINGING THE REFRAIN? You mean, the same one dancing like your dad in the 80s on David Letterman? I mean hey, big respect. Sam's got a handsome fucking voice that could make public service health and safety recalled food announcements sound absolutely gorgeous. And just gotta add that the sound design here is absolutely flawless, mad props to Kenny Segal.

As it stands right now, I think last year's Aethiopes is still my favourite Billy Woods project, but this definitely comes damn close, and there's a little more variety put on display here. I think this would be a better introduction to his work for most folks.

I could comment on how the last stretch of tracks is a fair bit weaker than the rest, save for "Waiting Around". But on the other hand, that run of "Babylon by Bus" through "FaceTime" is arguably the best mid-section off of any album this year, and really just one of the best stretches of five or six tracks in general for the decade so far.

Maps is further proof that Billy Woods is one of the most talented artists in hip hop right now, criminally underrated by the mainstream but rightfully lauded by the underground scene and dorky hipsters alike. He's almost guaranteed a spot on my next year end list if he decides to drop anything else this year. In the meantime, I think it's my duty to start playing catch-up with his prolific back catalogue.

9/10

Highlights: "Babylon by Bus", "FaceTime", "Year Zero", "The Layover", "Soft Landing", "Blue Smoke", "Hangman", "Rapper Weed", "Waiting Around", "Soundcheck"

#album review #music review #list #aoty #year end list #2023 #aoty2023 #billy woods #kenny segal #maps #abstract rap #jazz rap #conscious rap

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2023 Year End List - #5

The Redshift Blues - Dispirited Spirits

Main genres: Art Rock, Progressive Rock, Midwest Emo

A decent sampling of: Space Rock, Post-Rock, Jazz Rock, Math Rock, Experimental Rock

Midwest Emo, and probably just Emo in general, really ain't usually my thing.

There's definitely some good and some great in nearly every scene, but I find this one in general to be saturated with overly indulgent projects that don't add up in the quality factor, and bands that just come off as harsh and grating. There's also a prominent few artists in this scene that give off the kind of Nice Guy™ energy that makes my skin crawl.

So if I'm completely being honest, I really just came across this record by chance, and decided to check it out almost purely because of the spectacularly awesome cover art and the equally awesome record title. To quote anime youtuber Hazel, that shit owns.

Dispirited Spirits is the moniker of Portuguese singer/songwriter/producer Indigo Dias, who was just 19 fricking years old when he made this record, and just typing that sentence out makes my head wanna explode. HOW??? HOOOOOOW???!?!?!?

What's even more, this is frigging fantastic by my own standards, and I'm not even someone who regularly enjoys a whole lot of Emo music. If there's any young newcomer who's gonna take the world of indie rock by storm, then it's gotta be this guy, right? If I was a betting man, I'd be putting my money on Dispirited Spirits.

Case in point, his latest project.

That is to say, The Redshift Blues is a stunning record that captures the awe and the angst of being that diminutive human being, bearing witness to the grandeur of the night sky which acts as the gateway to the unfathomably vast realm outside of our tiny little blue planet. Who needs expensive VR headsets to simulate floating freely through the endless sea of the cosmos, when you can just listen to this record, close your eyes, and get just about as close to the real deal as you're ever gonna have in your lifetime?

This album does a little bit of everything on the nerdier side of modern rock music - mostly a midwest emo/art rock/prog hybrid, with moments of post-rock, jazz-rock, and math rock all thrown in the mix. At the same time, this very much reinvents and kinda defies genre, clearly aiming to be its own singular thing.

Dias takes his lyrical inspiration from various astronomical phenomena on this record, the title itself being clever wordplay for the death of a relationship that invokes the universe's redshift or tendency towards expansion, causing objects to become more distant from each other over time. Some may find this dorky or try-hard or whatever, but I think the execution is mostly brilliant.

Anyhow, let's cut to the chase and hone in on my favourite tracks.

"Nine Clouds" swims through skies of glittering space dust, with gently gliding guitars that resonate in endless ripples through space and time. This track is impeccably cushiony; disorienting in the sense that it's as if I'm turning in random circles as the musical notes twist, soar, and plummet, but all the while I remain perfectly cradled in a bubble of warm nurturing light.

"Bring Down The Sky" is a journey through cosmological purgatory and back, with various trials of harsh emo power chords separated by periods of rest nestled between mellow psychedelic phaser pedals and flourishing harps. Also, kudos to whoever laid down the many different drum patterns on this track - really holds the whole thing together to give it some solid form and muscle.

"Methanol Fire" interpolates a samba-jazz beat into its hard-rocking midwest emo riffs, making it the grooviest and most rhythmic track on an otherwise sometimes very free-form record. Leisurely space jazz atmosphere interchanged with sad boys moshing in the nucleus of a supernova. These two major components blend together so seamlessly in a way I probably wouldn't have otherwise thought was possible.

The titular outro "The Redshift Blues" is hands down the real showstopper here, as well as the emotional lynchpin of the record. This ten minute opus is one part looming space ambience, one part post-rock epic poem, yet another part part solitary acoustic ballad, and one part cinematic orchestral elegy. The moment of that final line of the bridge where Dias utters "I'll find you in the stars" and everything comes forth in this really mind-blowing, unearthly harmonious sound swell - that moment just really gets to me. A simple instance of pure, raw, ephemeral beauty in the midst of a very chaotic composition.

There are a few sparring moments here or there where it meanders or overly indulges itself - mostly on "Saturnine Saturn Dreams" - But overall I'm mostly impressed at how much of this manages to come together in a way that comes off very natural. There's a lot of tight composition that's working over-time to make sure that this maintains its nearly amorphous structure.

So yeah, let me reiterate that I am mostly just mind-blown by this project. Dispirited Spirits is easily one of the most ambitious and unique artists in indie rock to have come onto the scene so far in this new-(ish) decade. The powerful cohesion of this project suggests that it came from an visionary who's far more seasoned than Indigo Dias would reasonably be at his young age.

The Redshift Blues brilliantly conveys the existential dread and angst that arises from existing in a world far larger than you could ever imagine, and how that impacts your ability to ever be fully in control of your life when there are so many external factors involved that are so much larger than you. Ultimately, it's a surrendering of the self to the inevitable impotence of being just one person, yet still the artist manages to find a shimmer of hope and humility in what is truly sublime about this world. That, I think, is the true Redshift Blues.

9/10

Highlights: "The Redshift Blues", "Nine Clouds", "Bring Down The Sky", "Methanol Fire"

#album review #music review #list #aoty #year end list #indie rock #2023 #aoty2023 #indigo dias #dispirited spirits #the redshift blues #midwest emo #art rock #progressive rock

[lovejustforaday]

2023 Year End List - #6

Red Moon In Venus - Kali Uchis

Main genres: Neo-Soul, Contemporary R&B, Psychedelic Soul

A decent sampling of: Synth Funk, Smooth Soul

Coming out as a Kali Uchis stan.

But for real, the Colombian American singer/songwriter seems to be the one artist that music hipsters, the English mainstream(ish), and the Hispanic mainstream can all collectively agree upon. Part of this is most definitely owed to Kali's versatility as an artist, with a primary basis of sound rooted in R&B (particularly neo-soul) but regularly dipping her toes into the waters of reggaetón, hip hop, bolero, and afrobeats.

Kali is also a definite lover of retro chic, given her clear appreciation for mid 20th century easy-listening pop and old Hollywood glamour. She cites artists like Ella Fitzgerald, Celia Cruz, and Curtis Mayfield as some of her biggest influences. At the same time, she modernizes these influences and aesthetics with a post-sexual revolution ethos of overpowering feminine-centred eroticism and fiercely wielded confidence and self-love.

Her voice is pleasant, mature, and strikingly womanly, in that same kind of way when you first discover as a child the sensation of being struck by the awe-inspiring beauty of a grown woman. Even as a gay man, I can confidently say that I think this is a sort of universal childhood experience, right?

Actually, I think a lot of Kali Uchis' success as an artist can be attributed to just how likable her musical persona is. I think that deep down, many of us want to be a Kali - completely liberated, in touch with our sensuality, and going through life as a warm and confident optimist. She makes music that isn't just well-written; it makes you feel good about life.

After making a big splash with her stellar 2018 LP Isolation and following it up with the success of 2020's Sin Miedo which was more invested in her Latin American roots and corresponding following, I was very curious to see where she would take things next with her career.

In the end, as it would turn out, Kali Uchis' 2023 record didn't really amount to anything that surprising. Instead, we were treated to a progression and evolution in her sound that feels very natural to her, culminating in an album that makes good on the typical promises of a Kali Uchis project.

That is to say, Red Moon In Venus exists in a rose-tinted world bedecked with lush palm trees and populated by curvaceous mermaids. The record is a creamy cocktail of smooth and funky soul jams with the sweet taste of cinnamon kisses and strawberry wine. A true musical oasis of the richest fruits.

Kali really is at the top of her game here. Everything is a subtle improvement on what already mostly worked for her on past projects, with a little more psychedelic flavour added into the mix, resulting in a final product that just sounds and feels really gorgeous and summery to listen to. Not all great music has to be challenging; this just does incredibly well at what it is already comfortable doing.

The record's first song proper is the lead single "I Wish You Roses", a beautiful parting gift to an ex-lover she holds no grudge towards. Petals flutter past the mind's eye as the world of this neo-soul paean springs to life with all the shades of a summer's rainbow. This song is a soft sigh of relief, heard quite vividly in the actual noticeable sighing melodies of those psychedelic keyboards in the chorus. A very classy song, expressing a sentiment not nearly heard often enough in most music about breakups.

"All Mine" is a lights off "wah-wah" slow jam describing a greedy lover's fantasy of having someone completely to themselves. The sound of the passionate id taking over the superego's domain.

Fans of the big city pop explosion that happened on the internet with the surge of Mariya Takeuchi's "Plastic Love" a few years ago may get a lot of mileage out of "Endlessly", a synth funk track that captures a similar kind of metropolitan utopianism. Kali really knows how to bring the kind of riding-passenger-in-a-red-convertible energy that a track like this one needs to really all come together.

"Moral Conscience", in mild contrast to "I Wish You Roses", is a cautionary tale of karma hunting down an ex-lover who hurt her. Even still, there's more of an air that she's simply warning the wrongful party here - it's not a threat, she's just stating a fact about how the world works (as she sees it anyway). Still keeping it classy. Musically, this is thick and fleecy, lounging languidly in a boudoir sofette with low humming synths.

"Deserve Me" is an elegant and drip-droppy hip hop soul duet with Summer Walker, who is now officially my new favourite random feature after previously popping up on last year's Kendrick Lamar record. Very killer refrain on this cut, almost as addictive as the track that follows it. Speaking of which...

"Moonlight" was quite possibly my SOTY for 2023. A lot can be said for how erotic round shapes are for basically all genders and sexual preferences, and I don't know how to explain this but the song simply sounds ROUND in every possible way. The funk bass is so bubbly and horny and sopping wet that it's probably illegal in many parts of the world. Kali is giving it her ALL on those verses. Absolutely luxurious production. The chorus has that subtle air of mystery that really ensnares the erotic imagination. I can't even remember the last time I heard a song that positively oozed sex like this, while also describing such a clearly healthy relationship. Is it possible to be getting drunk off of flowery bubble bath fumes? Because this is precisely what it would feel like. Interstellar spa getaway for two in the neon pink galaxy of Aphrodite. Perfect fucking song. A++ goddamn.

I could say a few words as to how this is a back-loaded record, but I think y'all have heard me call something front or back loaded at least a dozen times and I'm struggling to find original ways to express this sentiment. Either way, this is a milder case - more just that the second half is so consistently brilliant that it kinda blows the first half out of the water, particularly that early-mid section. The weakest moments here are the least imaginative ones.

But a very good chunk of this record is just pure gold. Red Moon In Venus is a vibrant and aesthetically immaculate R&B record, possibly the best of the new decade thus far.

As I publish this review, Kali has already dropped another album in the first few weeks of 2024 and it sounds almost as good as this one. I don't know how exactly she's doing it but she makes exploring a variety of genres and killing it at every one of them look so easy. Kali Uchis is the queen of her medium right now.

9/10

Highlights: "Moonlight", "I Wish You Roses", "Deserve Me (with Summer Walker)", "Moral Conscience", "All Mine", "Endlessly", "Not Too Late (Interlude)", "Love Between", "Happy Now"

#album review #music review #list #aoty #year end list #2023 #aoty2023 #neo-soul #soul #psychedelic soul #R&B #contemporary R&B #Kali Uchis #red moon in venus

[lovejustforaday]

2023 Year End List - #7

Psychotrovas and Mantis, Chosen by Experts and the International Association of Drug Addicts - Headed

Main genres: Instrumental Hip Hop, Experimental Hip Hop, Sampledelia

A decent sampling of: Trip Hop, Sound Collage, Ambient, Jazz Hop

Gray skies. Paranoid premonitions of an alien invasion. Waking up in your darkened apartment and not being able to tell the time of day, or what day of the week it is. Sadness in the form of hallucinations. A dark and isolating psychosis.

These are the ways I would describe the listening experience that is my #1 most unknown, completely esoteric choice album for 2023 - Psychotrovas and Mantis, Chosen by Experts and the International Association of Drug Addicts.

Full disclosure - I actually knew so little about the actual artist's origins and identifying information, and what I know now that I've done a bit of research still isn't all that much.

In fact, I don't even remember how I came across this record (perhaps bandcamp, or more likely by sorting by 'esoteric' on the RYM charts), but I remember that I saw the cover art and was immediately intrigued.

Anyhow, here's what I did manage to gather for information, at least according to the sparse sources online that I can go off of:

Headed is one of a few projects "headed" (hahahaha why yes I am funny thank you) by Chilean multi-genre musician Camilo Gonzáles, who runs his own independent label called Turnout Music.

According to its official bandcamp page, this record "is a concept album about a boy who takes drugs to stay happy after a separation with his girlfriend and thus not be constantly sad, but after several months he can't take it anymore and ends the addiction, ending in a mental chaos represented in the second half of the album." And true to it's premise, this record is a seemingly endless abyss of trippy, glum atmosphere.

The record is also split into two distinct parts proper.

Psychotrovas, which takes up the better chunk of the record, is a tad more upbeat, marked by winding, introspective corridors of instrumental hip hop and sampledelia. Tracks are often two or even three parters, sometimes alternating between radically distinct movements.

On the latter end, there's the much shorter Mantis, which is mostly a collection of one or two minute surreal, "gloombient" music pieces of the Yume Nikki-esque variety.

Also, can I just gush that I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I actually recognized a few of the samples on this record from albums I already really love, which honestly thank fuck because I doubt there's any information on the internet that could tell me where any of the other samples come from, seeing as how the guy is basically uber-underground.

But I digress. On with the track-by-track highlights.

"Sun Audio" gets right into the pleasure centres of my neural network. A brilliantly choppy sample of the already stellar drumline from Stereolab's "Diagonals" is boosted and overlaid with some moody sci-fi flying-saucer-type synths to create a perfect equilibrium between soft glowy tingling sensations and the eerie atmosphere of deep space isolation. Honestly I could really enjoy just listening to a 30 minute loop of this segment alone, but then the track switches to some very phaser-heavy (whole lotta phaser on this record) piano jazz beats with some nicely done unresolved chord progressions to ease me into the uneasiness that is to follow on later tracks.

My personal favourite cut is "Syria", sampling old melancholic Hispanic folk music over some very Dilla type beats that place me right in the middle of a windswept plateau wasteland with nothing but the clothes on my back and the bitter taste of yearning in my mouth. This segues into another piano piece, this time equal parts sinister and truly heartbroken. Seriously, I frigging love this track but I would not recommend listening to the second half if you're already at your rock bottom.

"Tomorrow... Yeah Tomorrow" carries some very surrendering, indulgent energy, like my muscles are loosening and my mind is slowly melting into escapism, albeit maybe not the healthiest kind. This kinda just feels like being shlonked which has thankfully only really happened to me once or twice. It feels like you could get lost in this track, especially with that distant spoken word piece which feels like it should only be physically happening a few feet away from you, but you're experiencing it as though the dude is murmuring in the other room.

"City Soundtrack / Protocolo Jaco / Sorry" is perhaps where the atmsophere of the Psychotrovas side really sets in at its most intense. This track alone is thirteen minutes and manages to feel ages longer, yet somehow like almost no time has passed at all by the end of it. There's ghosts of the past all around you as you're walking alone at 2:00 am, but you're kind of just content with them lingering there since they all just kind of bleed into the background.

Mantis begins with "Sun Age", an ambient track that blends the phosphenes and eigengrau of when you close your eyes into a single sonic colour, then stretching it to a distorted wavelength that drones with a yawning weariness. Tired eyes as expressed through song.

I also really like "The Coldest Season", which rings with that distinct coldness when you live in a port city and you're down at the waterfront by yourself on a winter night.....other people can relate to this behaviour, rite? But yeah, this one is probably the loneliest and yet possibly coziest track on the LP.

I really gotta give it to this record's ability to effectively communicate its conceptual story with changes and progressions in its mood, and basically no lyrics apart from a few short interluding skits with a fictional radio show host. It's honestly quite stunning. This is some A+ showing (sounding?) instead of telling within the music album format.

That said, I could see how this might be too long for some. I could possibly have even seen myself considering bumping this to a 10 if Psychotrovas had been edited down about two tracks and Mantis having been a little more fleshed out, maybe with one good 5+ minute ambient piece.

But beyond my nitpicking, this is probably the most impressive atmosphere on any album I've heard this year. Psychotrovas and Mantis (etc.) is a great example of one of those brilliantly conceived and executed records that slips through the cracks all the time due to the sheer saturation of music in the streaming age.

If you do check this one out and enjoy it as much as I did, please support the artist on Bandcamp. Idk who this Headed guy really is or what he looks like, but the dude's got mad talent.

9/10

Highlights: "Syria", "Sun Audio", "City Soundtrack / Protocolo Jaco / Sorry", "The Coldest Season", "Sun Age", "Tomorrow... Yeah Tomorrow", "Kaleidoscope", "Mellow Nights (Tape)", "Nunca Ouvi Algo Assim", "I'll Remember April", "Masterful Space Project", "Untitled......."

#Psychotrovas and Mantis #Headed #Chilean music #Chilean alternative #Sampledelia #Instrumental Hip Hop #Hip Hop #Experimental Hip Hop #album review #music review #list #aoty #year end list #2023 #aoty2023

[lovejustforaday]

2023 Year End List - #8

Javelin - Sufjan Stevens

Main genres: Chamber Folk, Indie Folk, Folktronica

A decent sampling of: Progressive Folk, Art Pop

The softspoken gentle soul and prince of indie returns yet gain to bless us with his poetic grace.

Alas, this will not come close to being the best, nor the most enthusiastic review of this critically acclaimed behemoth of a record. Sufjan Stevens has already been (for some time now) one of the truly canonized and most undisputed sacred darlings of all of indie music, and there are a lot of folks who are very passionate about this man's art who've formed very intimate bonds with his body of work over the years.

I mean, Illinois is one of my favourite albums of all time, and probably the record from the 2000s indie canon that I can agree with the most, and even then I still kind of feel like a poser when discussing his music. This guy just has such a huge following of dedicated mega-fans, that it really forces me to occupy a space somewhere more in the realm of being a casual Sufjan enjoyer, especially seeing as how I haven't even completed half of his full discography yet.

To add to that, I've seen many folks already calling this his greatest record of all time, and it hasn't even been out a full year. Hell, my placement of this LP at #8 means I'm most likely rating this well below the average person's response. Welp, looks like you can crucify me now internet ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Okay, silly jokes are officially over. As it stands, this is actually a very heavy and serious record.

Javelin is a sort of fantastical series of requiems, arranged with warmly plucked folk guitars and banjo, thumping percussion, sweeping choirs and orchestral swells, and evanescent, cathedraline electronic sound environments that appear variously throughout the record to enhance its majesty. I'm not the first to make this observation, but it really is a bit like an amalgam of Sufjan's entire history of musical outputs blended into one project.

The record commemorates and pays tribute to the passing of his long-term lover Evans Richardson, a prominent figure in the New York art scene who demonstrated a particular passion for his community. The record goes on to detail the struggles and differences in the last year of their relationship as well, making this an exceptionally difficult undertaking emotionally.

Javelin also marks the second time the artist has written a project dedicated to a deceased loved one, after 2015's Carrie and Lowell, and the first time Sufjan has publicly spoken on the same-sex attraction that queer fans especially had been speculating from his lyrics for decades. Likewise, it would probably be a fair assessment to regard this as his most emotionally vulnerable project to date, which is no small title to bestow upon a Sufjan record.

One of the most vulnerable moments is the desperate plea of "Will Anybody Ever Love Me?", a song that's really all there in the title. This one feels very classic Sufjan, with exuberant guitar plucking and soft piano accompaniment with a woodland atmosphere, culminating in soaring call-and-response choirs.

"Genuflecting Ghost" opens similarly, leading into a more explosive electronic soundscape with weeping woodwinds and resplendent chimes. I had to look up what 'genuflecting' means and, in trademark Sufjan fashion, this is a reference to Christian prayer. Quite poetically and solemnly, this track is reminiscent of his older song "Casimir Pulaski Day" which also evoked praying over the body of someone who was dying, though this time he pleads to bargain with his own life. Deeply moving.

"My Little Red Fox" contains what is quite possibly the most beautiful chorus of the year, possessing a restrained, waltzing medieval grandeur that conveys a warm heart heavy with sorrow and need. "Kiss me with the fire of gods" is breathtaking lyrical imagery that only Sufjan could sing so softly yet deliver like a blow to the heart. Easily a top 5 Sufjan Stevens track for me; perhaps it will be even higher as time goes on.

"So You Are Tired" reflects the acoustic simplicity and the crisp, moody piano arrangements of Carrie and Lowell. Lyrically, it is perhaps the most impenetrable track on the record, reflecting very difficult unresolved feelings of abandonment from his partner before they passed. Just, really heavy stuff if I'm being honest.

The record climaxes on the eight and a half minute opus "Shit Talk", expressed in several smaller climaxes across multiple movements swelling with refrains such as "Hold me tightly / lest I fall", "I don't wanna fight at all", and "I will always love you". This track very much feels like the load bearer of all the hurt on this record - the breaking point of the artist.

I feel a bit icky even trying to explain the emotions of this album second hand as an outsider to his experience of loss, this song in particular. At the same time, I'm really trying to honour this piece of art. Also, please understand that this list is just my own personal subjective ranking of the music I enjoyed the most this year, and not an objective evaluation of the artistic merits of these projects.

All that said, If I had one small difficulty with the record, it would be that Javelin does not feature the diversity in arrangements from song to song that Illinois was teeming with. The record has a general formula and sticks to it quite religiously throughout most of its run. A very beautiful formula, might I add, and perhaps it adds to the feeling that this really is a collection of requiems or hymns. And of course, none of this is to say that there is a wrong way to grieve, and Sufjan certainly deserves to write such a record as he should see fit.

Either way, I can comfortably say right now that this is already probably my second favourite Sufjan record. Long time fans of the artist will appreciate Javelin for the monumental benchmark it represents in his discography; a fully realized expression of just about everything he's done up until now, and a delicately-crafted tribute to the most beautiful person he met in his life.

I encourage you to really let this one sit with you. I'm not even sure if I've done that properly, as there was just so much great music this year, and my attention has been divided across so many excellent records. This is another one I suspect might grow on me even more with time.

9/10

Highlights: "My Little Red Fox", "Shit Talk", "Genuflecting Ghost", "Will Anybody Ever Love Me?", "So You Are Tired", "Everything That Rises"

#album review #music review #list #aoty #year end list #indie folk #chamber folk #folktronica #sufjan stevens #javelin #aoty2023 #2023

[lovejustforaday]

2023 Year End List - #9

Paper Cut From The Obit - Celestaphone

Main Genres: Jazz Rap, Experimental Rap, Abstract Rap

A decent sampling of: Jazz-Funk, Psychedelic Soul, Conscious Rap, Jazz-Rock, Disco Rap, Progressive Rock

Counting down the list with yet another weird ass hip hop album, and there's still two more to go after this one, so strap in.

Celestaphone is the project of American rapper/producer Joseph Murphy. The guy raps in the way I might imagine the Joker (no, not that one, the OG one) would sound if he was whacked out on some really hefty stimulants and also an IT tech guy who plays D&D.

The dude's self-portrayal is so goofy and non-threatening that it makes some of the frankly insane abstract rap ramblings go down a lot smoother. Actually, I'm kind of obsessed with his persona - I would play the hell out of a video game staring this character.

According to his Spotify bio (Look, the guy hasn't done a whole lot of interviews), Joseph grew up around total music nerds, listening to Madvillain, Frank Zappa (checks out), and Kate Bush from an early age. And there is certainly a lot of evidence of a musically colourful mind on this latest project of his.

As far as I'm concerned, Paper Cut From The Obit is probably just the unhinged setlist of an in-house live jazz band meant to be playing for the rejected late night show that got cancelled for blatant sacrilege, put to record. Sound-wise, I think Celestaphone might've just invented "prog rap" on this thing, what with the virtuosic, ambitious jazz-funk production and clear prog rock influence, combined with sudden changes in rhythm that keeps me on the edge of my seat (if I'm not already up shaking my ass to the funk rhythms).

Also, just a silly little tip I discovered the other night - playing this while rolling around in Liberty City, speeding down the wrong side of the street is a whole aesthetic moment and the closest I've felt to being invincible in a while.

The jerky organized piano jazz rap chaos of "Jettatura" is disorienting. Feels like banging my head and seeing stars in a seedy jazz club in a city I'm completely unfamiliar with. Completely twisted magic.

"Small World" is a lyrical masterclass, plain and simple - maybe my favourite bars of the year. Musically, I'm getting vivid images of bouncy animated skyscrapers and blinding camera flashes and bright ass flood lights. "Imagine you looked at a tree just the way you look at your penis" is the most hilarious lyric of 2023.

"Tops Turvy" is a mix of classic funky clavinet and a plush, organic jazz beat that feels hella comfy. Floating up on the top cloud in a technical dreamy funk heaven, while giggling with the devil himself as Celestaphone pokes fun at the promises and overzealous claims of organized religion.

The instrumental "Chitauri Chip" is a glittering and mythical jazz-rock, dancing the flickers of an old and sacred flame. Has some desert-wandering merchant energy in the general vastness and mystery of its central riff, plus those golden brown acoustic guitar chimes shimmering like treasure in the sun's massive rays.

Also, would ya look at that? Surprise Armand Hammer feature on the more chilled-out "Tithes", along with underground avant-garde rapper sensation Moor Mother. Funny, I wonder if one of them Armand Hammer dudes is gonna appear one more time on a different entry in this list (hint hint). Incidentally, another one of the best moments on this highly leftfield record.

"Babies" is simultaneously one of the strangest choices for an album closer I've ever heard and exactly how an artist like Celestaphone would choose to end a record. It's, well, it's an ode to babies. There's elements of satire but also he's making a pretty good case for baby supremacy. That twangy guitar solo throughout the whole thing just accents how utterly crazy this guy is. I wouldn't have had it ending in any other way. A comical stroke of genius.

There is one or two tracks I would omit in the mid section, and the sequencing could've been spread out more seeing as how nearly every major highlight is on either end of this 16 track powerhouse. But still, enough of this is balls-to-the-wall crazy and infectious that I don't mind that it's got a longer run tracklisting-wise, and at only 43 minutes total runtime, no song every overstays it's welcome.

Yeah, honestly I'm mostly totally impressed by this record. Between all of the ambition displayed here and the major underground names he's collaborating with, it's really not a matter of if but when this guy blows up.

Paper Cut From The Obit is one of the most creative records I listened to in 2023, and nearly every second of it is teeming with mad scientist energy thanks to Joseph's immense presence as an MC and his immaculate taste in sexy fucking retro jazz beats. I'll have whatever this guys having, thank you very much - dude's got it all figured out.

9/10

Highlights: "Small World", "Tops Turvy", "Chitauri Chip", "Tithes", "They All Con It", "Jettatura", "Babies", "Erfurt Latrine", "Paintings of Panspermia"

#album review #music review #list #aoty #year end list #jazz rap #rap #hip hop #experimental hip hop #abstract rap #celestaphone #paper cut from the obit #2023 #aoty2023

[lovejustforaday]

2023 Year End List - #10

Raven - Kelela

Main genres: Alternative R&B

A decent sampling of: Ambient Pop, UK Bass, IDM, Art Pop, Breakbeat, Downtempo

In the mid-2010s, Kelela burst onto the then-burgeoning alternative R&B scene with a force so powerful that it felt like she was almost certainly going to be the next really big thing.

For those not in-the-know, the artist Kelela a.k.a. ከለላ (as it is written in her ancestral Ethiopian Semetic language Amharic) is an American singer from Washington D.C. who pretty quickly established herself as possibly the most popular and influential female artist in her artistic movement for the brief period that she had previously been active.

Her vocal timbres manifest as cool shades of arctic blues. She channels the smooth, ornamented technical performances that many famous women in late 90s and early 00s R&B really mastered, artists like Ashanti and the members of Destiny's Child. But her full talent is really brought together by the powerful air of sophistication she exudes in the way she carries her voice, establishing her presence essentially as the ruling gentle ice queen sovereign of R&B.

I didn't end up checking out her now certified modern classic 2017 debut LP Take Me Apart until mid-pandemic in 2020, and I kinda felt like I had missed out on something huge. Because just as fast as she took storm of the alternative music world, Kelela all but vanished, maintaining a relatively low profile and sharing almost no new material for the better part of half a decade.

So imagine my excitement when Kelela finally dropped the lead single for her latest project towards the end of 2022. Finally, I would get to experience the roll out as it happened in real time. And what a treat it turned out to be.

Raven is subtle, pristine, sensual, untouchable, and captivating. The album is an R&B enigma, dissolving all of the crucial elements of its genre at the molecular level, and reconstructing those components into a different state of matter - a gaseous fluid of ambient melodies and misty vocals that you can feel breathing down the back of your neck, making the hairs stand on end with the tingling sensation.

I don't know how she managed to do it, but Kelela and her team made a record even more revisionist to R&B than her previous Take Me Apart. This is a definitive benchmark in the evolution of its medium.

The record begins with the ambient dreamscape of vast star-rising horizons on barren planets that is "Washed Away". This could easily represent a sort of baptism or rebirth for the artist - a hell of a way to make a much anticipated comeback after six years between this and her last record. The song introduces the "far away" lyrical motif that will be revisited on later tracks, adding to the album's otherworldly properties.

"Happy Ending" is a robust athletic and deeply sensual breakbeat frenzy, like a kickboxing match that ends in intense oral stimulation with your sparring partner. It's the sound of everything that happens in the dark after you turn the lights off with a fiery passionate lover, giving in to the heightened imagination of the remaining four senses. Also, "Let's play catch babe - I'll throw it back" is absolutely the #1 best sexual lyric of 2023.

"Closure" opens with this really chilly, illusory tinkering bell synth arpeggio that just - UGHHH it's so satisfying. The rest of the track is dungeonesque, dark and icy cold like a warehouse freezer, fusing elements of dubstep, UK bass, and trap into an atmosphere so vivid and dense, I could swear I feel the temperature around me dropping. And guest underground rapper Rahrah Gabor absolutely kills it with her ice cold bars about hot steamy sex (You see what I did there? Yeah I'm pretty clever thank you so much for your validation).

"Contact" incorporates punchy 2-step into it's breakbeats, riding on heart-racing beats drag racing down interstate freeways, before diving into blurry midnight unknowns and landing under velvety bedsheets that transport you to dreamy (wet) fantasy worlds. The production alone could tell the exact same story that the lyrics describe. Never ending city lights and the soft glow of the full moon. This is what every Friday night should feel like.

For the finale, "Far Away" reprises "Washed Away" with an even greater sense of majesty, eschewing the cloudy compression of the original to give way for a much clearer, more organic, and expanded sound. In a way, it feels like the album cover itself - finally peeking your head out from the submerged ocean depths to experience the setting stars with a truly stunning and sublime clarity.

My one misgiving with this album is that I find myself a bit run down and fatigued with its tracklist length and total runtime. I've seen many others share this sentiment - It's a gorgeous record throughout, but there are moments that feel like repeats of others, and some of it really just melts together in a way where half the runtime is significantly less memorable than the other half.

But when it's great, it's goddamn spectacular. I honestly feel like I'm being unfair to this one by having it so low on my list - it's objectively a beautifully conceived project.

Regardless, Kelela has, for the most part, totally delivered on the seemingly impossible task of satisfying the expectations created by her long hiatus. Raven is what every comeback record should be - a reinvention of the artist that stays true to their roots, but breaks new ground and raises the bar.

8/10

Highlights: "Contact", "Far Away", "Washed Away", "Closure", "Bruises", "Happy Ending", "Enough for Love"

#album review #music review #list #aoty #year end list #2023 #aoty2023 #kelela #raven #alternative r&b #r&b

[lovejustforaday]

2023 Year End List - #11

El Diablo En El Cuerpo - Álex Anwandter

Main Genres: Synth Pop, Dance Pop

A decent sampling of: Electro-Disco, Synth Funk, Electro Pop

Yet another entry on the list that I discovered this year while looking for records from outside the Anglosphere. And again, it's another artist from Latino-America.

I already said this in an old review, so I'm just gonna reiterate my stance briefly again - the 21st century 80s synth pop revivalism wave has been very hit or miss. And I'm mostly talking about the stuff that very clearly is actually paying homage to 80s music, not just any artist who happens to make bleeps and bloops.

But yeah, hit or miss. Some of it is frankly very dull and uninspired, and makes me wanna just put on some classic Depeche Mode or Strawberry Switchblade instead.

But when it hits, it hits hard, somehow managing to justify this ""trend"" that's been going on far too long to even be considered a trend anymore. Let's face it - the whole 80s synth pop / synth funk / sophistopop sound is here to stay forever, and I think that's for the best, even if occasionally I get a little exhausted from the over-saturation.

Anyways, moving on to the artist.

Álex Andwandter is a queer Chilean alternative pop artist and director based out of Santiago. He's collaborated with one of my own favourites, fellow Chilean indie/alt pop artist Javiera Mena (who makes a guest appearance on this record!). The dude has been active for over a decade now, so again, I'm a bit late to the party. Cut me some slack; I'm a gringo.

Álex himself sings in a bright, chipper, falsetto-y tenor full of sunshine and rainbows, sounding every bit as colourful as the classic synthesizer sounds that he incorporates into his music, though he also has a more dark and seductive register that he often injects into his steamier dance songs.

El Diablo En El Cuerpo ("The Devil in the Body"), his latest offering and my first introduction to his discography, is classic dancey, funky synth pop with a lot of sincerity and a few pinches of homoerotic mystique sprinkled in here and there. A very indulgent record for you to just lose yourself in the glitter and glam of it all. Basically, this is some utopian gay space shit (shout out to those who get the meme) and I am here for it.

Nothing could prepare me for the tantalizing and straight-up badass electro-disco thunderstorm that is "Qué piensas hacer sin mi amor?" ("What do you think you will do without my love?"). Anwandter channels Depeche Mode, Soft Cell, and Donna Summer all at once on this fierce juggernaut that's absolutely soaking with erotic tension. Puts me right in the middle of the dimmest, sweatiest fucking over-crowded dancefloor in some sleazy ass gay bar on a goth night at 1:00 am, and I'm too drunk to feel anything except the pounding pulse of the rhythm and the arousal of strangers rubbing up against me....ahem, is it hot in here? Anyways, eat your heart out Troye Sivan ("Rush" is great too, I'm mostly just memeing).

In contrast, the following track "Precipicio" ("Precipice") gives off a very 'classy' vibe - more cocktail dresses and glowing white LED dancefloors, less BDSM goth fetish gear and sweaty dankness. Some nice, sexy funky horns on this one that really brings the whole thing together. I also LIVE for Álex's sassy twink diva vibes all over this track; gets me almost as h-word as the previous track.

"Toda la noche" ("All Night") is anthemic synth funk that's giving a little bit of INXS. Groovy and life-affirming feel good shit that I would snort if I could. I want this to be the soundtrack of my own silly little 80s romance that's all about being young in the big city.

"Vamos de nuevo" ("Let's Go Again") is less of a nocturnal dancefloor number, and more something you might skip along to down the sidewalk on a sun shower summer's day with your hot pink Sony Walkman. Gorgeous upbeat vibraphone and detuned synth keys providing a backdrop for foolishly lovesick lyrics. My other favourite cut off the album, after the obvious one.

At the end of the day, the record is definitely a bit frontloaded, and it wears me out a little bit with its sixteen tracks in total. I understand this is probably meant to be the kind of record you play late at night when you're ready to get wasted and dance your heart out until you pass out; I just think it could be sequenced to have more of the outright bangers towards the end. But putting that aside, this was my second favourite dance record in a very stacked year for dance records, and it's certainly my favourite on the more disco/house/funky/electro-y end of the spectrum. El Diablo En El Cuerpo is simple, hot, memorable fun with a lot of exquisite taste. I can't imagine anyone in my own life that I couldn't successfully recommend this album to. So go on, embrace your inner gay synth pop twink.

8/10

Highlights: "Qué piensas hacer sin mi amor?", "Vamos de nuevo", "Precipicio", "Toda la noche", "Tienes una idea muy antigua del amor", "prediciendo la runa", "Unx de nosotrxs (feat. Javiera Mena)"

#Alex Anwandter #Spanish Music #El Diablo En El Cuerpo #synth pop #electronic #dance pop #2023 #year end list #aoty #aoty2023 #queer music #album review #music review

[lovejustforaday]

2023 Year End List - #12

Calla - Ntski

Main Genres: Glitch Pop, Art Pop

A decent sampling of: Neo-Psychedelia, New Age, Alternative R&B, Trip Hop

It's always a real pleasure when a lesser-known artist you've been following for a while happens to drop a new record. Being a part of a smaller following makes the occasion feel a little more special, unspoiled by the discourse and expectations held among fans during a regular album roll out for a much bigger artist.

A big part of the reason why I even started this blog was so that I could recommend stuff to my friends (and denizens of the internet) that I didn't think they'd normally come across. Ntski happens to be one of those hidden gems.

Not to be confused with Mitski who I wrote about a few entries back, Ntski is a Kyoto-based Japanese electronic artist and producer that I came across about two years ago via the interwebz (do people still say that?). Her debut LP Orca ended up being one of my favourite albums of 2021, and you can peruse my blog's archives to check out the review I wrote on that one.

In that review, I described Ntski as being tangentially part of a crowd of female artists to come out of the more artsy side of the 2010s alternative R&B explosion. Essentially, If you treally enjoy the works of artists like FKA Twigs, Kelela, and Caroline Polachek, then Ntski is probably also right up your alley.

What makes Ntski special is her appreciation for abstraction, and the combination of the aesthetics of pure simplicity with sound textures that are quite complex. She sings in a very meditative tone, guiding the listener through galleries of metamorphic sound exhibits. Her music works to soothe the soul in gradual waves, eroding rugged exteriors to reveal smooth inner cores. She also has a playful sense of humour and sometimes embraces nonsense lyricism that really evokes a child's imagination.

While Orca was strongly based in R&B rhythms and featured a more involved production style, Ntski's latest offering Calla is more sparse, with a sound rooted in serene, natural soundscapes that are accompanied by glitchy, languid, and faltering electronics that serve to peel away layers of reality to reveal the soft, ethereal membrane of its inner-universe. It's not a huge departure from her established sound - just slightly more formless, with emphasis on the sustained spaces between notes and the continuously evolving ebb and flow of the record's pulse.

"If" is simply unreal. Neo-psycedelic glitch pop that sounds like its being stretched like silly putty and sucked into an endless vortex, but in the least non-violent possible version of that description. In fact, it's actually quite pleasing to the mind, like a full-on aural head massage. Everything in the surrounding area melting into a glowing yellow wax. Trees drooping back into the earth. The true sensation of letting go.

"Field of Flowers" is a more beat-driven trip hop-y track, with something really ominous looming in the background. The lyrics evoke the imagery of the song title contrasted with phantom screams and the sense of danger if one is to remain. A sort of perverse paradise that cannot be stabilized. The shift in atmospheres on this track is palpable, like changes in perspective that occurs when intrusive thoughts enter into a peaceful headspace and begin to wreak havoc.

On the poppier side of things, "Aloha" offers light-hearted, sputtering electronic majesty, painting a colourful vignette full of tranquility and familiar cradling warmth. The song is a treasured celebration of a mother-daughter bond from the mother's voice, made all the more bittersweet because of Ntski's own mother's passing last year. A beautiful ode to the most fond and remarkable kind of relationship.

The closer "Sayonara" is an exquisite send off. The dawning light captured through the lens of tiny misty globes of morning dew, with every streak of light shining through like little memories of the past being filtered through the realities of the present. The raw essence of that Dr Seuss quote: “Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened”. This piece is most likely also about the artist's mother, which is something powerful and sacred, but at the risk of making it about something it's potentially not, I will just say that, in true Ntski fashion, it feels part of something more abstract and greater than all of us, like a great shift in the resonance of the universe.

Admittedly, some of the contents of this record are too abstract on the surface and don't quite reach me as a listener. But I think this record rewards patience, and I wouldn't be surprised at all if this one grows and grows on me in the future. I'll check back in a year's time and see if this is still only sitting at #12.

For now, what I will say is that this record is a decisive step forward in quality from Ntski's already very solid debut. Calla is strange and beautiful and relaxing and mind-expanding all at once. If you're a fan of any of those adjectives, then do yourself a favour and check this one out.

8/10

Highlights: "Sayonara", "If", "Aloha", "Milk White Seed", "Field of Flowers", "Michi"

#Ntski #calla #art pop #glitch pop #2023 #aoty #album review #music review #list #year end list

[lovejustforaday]

2023 Year End List - #13

Sweet Justice - Tkay Maidza

Main Genres: Pop Rap, Contemporary R&B, Electronic

A decent sampling of: Funky House, Hip House, Industrial Hip Hop, Trap

So I'm a little late to the party on this one. Forgive me. 🙏😔

Tkay Maidza is a Zimbabwean Australian hip hop artist who's had several critical successes with her three part EP series Last Year Was Weird. Mind you, I'm not Australian, so I haven't been closely following the ARIAs or anything. I know I'd seen the cover of Vol. 2 somewhere (most likely while browsing the RYM charts) and thought it looked cool, but that was all of my prior exposure to her before checking out this record.

Now that I finally have checked out her latest LP, I can definitely get behind the hype she's built up.

Maidza strikes me as kind of a jack-of-all-trades in the world of hip hop, pop, dance, and R&B. She's a well-rounded performer who's just as comfortable spitting acid over noisy, industrial broken beats as she is singing girlish hooks in plush diva registers over glossy house productions. And I for one really appreciate a pop artist that can do many things well, and regularly challenges themselves in this way.

Tkay gives us many facets of herself on Sweet Justice, an R&B/rap crossover record that acts as both a declaration of war, and a self-love letter in the wake of the trappings of success and learning to let go of everything holding her back. The artist is forging a path forward out of the decaying ruins of regrets, with incisive farewells to people and bad agents from her past, literally constructing a monument to her new self image on the cover art (which is fucking badass looking, btw).

And slick as all hell production. Seriously, this whole goddamn thing sounds like it was encased in some molten liquid onyx, or something else equally ludicrously expensive and impractical. A big part of the success of this record needs to be credited to the producers, mastering, and mixing engineers on this project; some of the cleanest R&B I have ever heard.

"Out of Luck" is a bulbous pop banger made for fluorescent paint night clubs, with gorgeous, addictive vocal harmonies in the chorus. The central rhythm is positively dripping with wet globs of luxurious funk on top of some very Y2K R&B space synth pads. Featured guests Amber Mark and Lolo Zaouï are totally killing it on their spots too. Makes me feel like one hot motherfucker, twirling my neon hair (which I do not have) and moving on with my life.

Tkay turns up the heat on the sweltering, mysterious "Love Again" wherein she laments her waning capacity to love someone. I like the really lo-fi take on that acoustic guitar sampler sound that was really prevalent in a lot of 90s R&B pop. This one lingers in my head long after its over thanks to the eerily foreboding riff - like trying to find love in a barren desert wasteland.

"Ghost" is simply the best thing on here. I knew I recognized the production from somewhere the first time I heard it, but it should've been obvious even before I went ahead and looked it up: it's mf-ing Kaytranada. This kind of air-tight, bouncy, gravity-defying funky house sound was what defined his Polaris-winning 99.9%, and honestly this might even be his most impressive beat to date. Tkay naturally nails the performance on this one too, gliding on and off of the silver clouds of the production and delivering pure ear-candy riffs and playful quips from start to finish, though "I see through you like Casper / Toxic jig's up like the rafters / Me you natural disaster" is a personal favourite.

The next best thing on the opposite end of the spectrum is the industrial hip hop of "Silent Assassin", a nasty quivering nervous tick of a beat with red hot shiny buzzer sounds. I can feel my vision going all blurry as Maidza's figuratively shoving me to the edge of a cliff on this track. This is how you make your presence known as a force not to be fucked with as the deadly underdog of the pop rap game.

One more quick observation - what's with the random ass Nova Scotia shout out on "Gone to the West"? Did they know I was going to be listening to this record? I can count on one hand the times I've heard my home province referenced in a piece of non-Canadian media, and one of those is in a frigging Fresh Prince of Bel-Air episode. Total glitch in the simulation moment for me.

Anyhow, the only moments that don't land as well on this record are the two tracks where, dare I say it, she's giving 'Doja Cat' energy ("Ring-a-Ling" and "WUACV"). Idk, this type of "nyeh nyeh lol u mad" silly pop rap has never really been my sort of thing. Most of it' i's kinda grating to my ears, and frankly not even Tkay can fully redeem this sort of song (though its still a cut above most other songs in this very tiktok-y "genre" by virtue of her raw talent).

Luckily, there's more than enough variety and superb execution of different styles that I already quite enjoy on this record. Sweet Justice is a treat to the ears that hardly ever lets up, giving you a little bit of everything with an absolutely stunning finish in the sound department. Audiophiles who love hip hop, R&B, pop, electronic, and dance music are sure to get a hell of a lot out of this very sexy-sounding record. Put some respect on the silent assassin of hip hop.

8/10

Highlights: "Ghost", "Silent Assassin", "Out of Luck", "Love Again", "Walking On Air", "Our Way"

#album review #music review #list #aoty #year end list #tkay maidza #hip hop #rap #r&b #contemporary r&b #pop rap #electronic #sweet justice #2023

[lovejustforaday]

2023 Year End List - #14

Forever Forever - Genevieve Artadi

Main genres: Progressive Pop, Art Pop, Jazz Fusion

A decent sampling of: Psychedelic Pop, Nu-Jazz, Digital Fusion

So yeah, I decided on the final contenders for 2023's year end list and promptly realized that the list was almost entirely full of albums by solo artists. Strange coincidence, I know. I swear it's not intentional - sometimes that's just the way the cookie crumbles.

Knower were one of the only bands to even make the cut for the honourable mentions list this year, let alone a proper spot on the actual list. Knower Forever got snubbed in part because, as much as I liked that record, Genevieve Artadi's own solo endeavour from this year was just a little more enticing to my ears.

As I mentioned in the aforementioned honourable mention.....what the fuck was that sentence?

Ahem...LIKE I SAID EARLIER, I discovered Genevieve Artadi through being one part of the LA-based jazz-funk band with Louis Cole, whom in turn I discovered through 2017 memes, and then rediscovered through my dad. Some crazy pipeline, eh? Also, turns out she's not a newcomer in the slightest and has in fact been making records in various groups since as early as the late 90s.

So who is Genevieve Artadi anyway? Well, as a solo artist, she's one of the more esoteric figures active in her artistic medium. As a vocalist, she opts to sing in a dainty, glassy mezzo-soprano that conveys sweetness with a touch of snark. She doesn't generally sing plain old regular melodies, instead playing with discordance, near-octave jumps, and occasionally letting her voice fall frail. She has a lot of that real jazz spirit that allows her to let loose and get creative, decorating her musical compositions with a lot of pizazz.

I've also noted a subtle, uncanny element to her delivery. Artadi's lyrics are mostly stream-of-consciousness, and the words often fall out of her mouth like she's an advanced robot, learning to recreate the more awkward parts of human behaviour through song. All around, her artistic persona and execution are both deeply fascinating.

And it seems that I chose a great point of introduction to her solo work. Forever, Forever is cool shades of pastel art pop elegance with fanciful psychedelic jazz embellishments. Genevieve Artadi has invented her own musical garden just like Minnie Riperton, except she's inviting the listener to sit down and eat spice cake made with crushed diamonds, and down it all with some very oddly perfumed tea that just might turn the whole world around you giant if you should drink it.

I'm just gonna say this now - fans of Melody's Echo Chamber and Sheena Ringo will both probably get a lot out of this record. There's a commonly shared love of this kind of ambitious, cartoonish but classy prog-pop approach which I could always use more in my life, especially to remove the drabness of my daily commute. Can't have enough of this kind of stuff, honestly.

So how bout those tracks?

"Visionary" is emergent psychedelic pop that unravels like folds of a fan into a sea of warm, fuzzy pads and acoustic guitars. It very much immerses you in the imagery of a world that is idyllic, but with ceremonies stranger and grander than you could fathom, like going through a portal gate to witness a festival of millions of butterflies. An aesthetic parallel to the fantastical anime film spectacles of Hayao Miyazaki and Satoshi Kon.

The best way I could describe "Nice" is that it's elevator jazz music that's taking you towards a destination of self-actualization. Artadi's high speed enunciation over the shaky 2/4 rhythm makes me feel all dizzy and out of breath just hearing it. Endless ascension.

"Black Shirts" is a shifty checkerboard ballroom romp with several track progressions, from flowery flute melodies to jazzy breakdowns with steppy piano solos, all before devolving into flimsy bossa nova pastiche. Genevieve Artadi tells a very frank tale of co-dependence, with silly metaphors aboutthings like Nissans that rings both funny and terribly sad. This song bleeds creativity, like sonic violets and indigos spilling over into a monochromatic landscape shaped like the one in M.C. Escher's Relativity.

"Plate" has some god-tier tight, groovy drum work which I'm guessing was laid down by her regular bandmate Louis Cole. The stream-of-consciousness lyrics travel about as fast as the speed that my own thoughts regularly fly in and out of my head, so it feels like a very familiar sensation; like being lost in maze of contemplation until my head is as big as a balloon. Very cool track.

I'll admit I'm not as keen on the majority of the slower cuts. I really think Genevieve is at her best when she's conveying a very composed, jazzy musical hysteria, especially because her more soft-pedal voice lends itself to more exuberant, flashy melodies. The sunny closer "Watch For The View" would be my one exception, though even that's more mid-tempo song than anything.

But beyond my silly preferences, I think this is a really fun record. Forever, Forever is everything you should want in your art pop - quirky, eclectic, evocative, and seriously addictive. This is a true music nerd's record, and it's clear that a lot of love and ambition went into this project.

I'm hoping Genevieve Artadi reaches a bigger audience with whatever she does next, because she's one of the most creative artists in her medium, and she needs to be experienced at least once by everyone.

8/10

Highlights: "Visionary", "Black Shirts", "Plate", "Nice", "Watch For The View"

#album review #music review #list #aoty #year end list #2023 #genevieve artadi #forever forever #art pop #progressive pop #jazz fusion #jazz #knower

[lovejustforaday]

2023 Year End List - #15

The Love Invention - Alison Goldfrapp

Main genres: House, Dance Pop

A decent sampling of: Tech House, Future House, Synth Pop, Nu-Disco, Italo-Disco, Synthwave

Alison Goldfrapp is seriously one of my favourite vocalists ever.

Her trademark soft, airy coos remind me of the ephemeral beauty of life, while her restrained, seductive sighs are reminiscent of the immaculate Dionysian pleasures of the sensory world. And of course there's the occasion that she treats us to her operatic feats of fantastic proportions.

Having already formed one half of what is in my opinion the best duo in alternative electronic music history, making music together with her collaborator Will Gregory for roughly 20 years, and releasing not one but two stunning masterpieces of the noughties that set the gold standard for genres like downtempo and folktronica, it appears that Alison finally decided to set out on a new chapter in her life. And having done all that, I would like to think that anyone would have more than earned the right to do so.

When I heard there was going to be a new Alison Goldfrapp solo project in 2023, naturally I got super hyped, but I also didn't know exactly what to expect.

As a duo, Goldfrapp have been a modest sort of musical chameleons. Nearly always some flavour of electronic and indie/alternative, but regularly exploring the polar opposite ends of both these worlds. They are just as likely to embrace dark surrealism as they are to go full on retro kitsch.

But across multiple projects, its been clear for a while that Alison Goldfrapp has a particular love and affinity for spunky electronic dance music. So i guess in the end I wasn't all too surprised that her new record would end up sounding something like this.

The Love Invention is an effervescent house record full of mechanical muscle and propulsion. Alison Goldfrapp conveys unbridled euphoria at nearly every turn of this record, with flashy light show electronics constructed in part by enlisting co-producers James Greenwood, Toby Scott, and Richard X most famously known for his work with Norwegian pop star Annie. The moon mist ice cream colour palette of the album cover is not an overstatement of its contents by any means; this is a rainbow explosion.

For those of you keeping score at home, I would rank this somewhere firmly in the middle among Goldfrapp's records as a duo. That is to say, better than Supernature and Silver Eye, roughly on par with Black Cherry, and a tier or two below Felt Mountain, Seventh Tree, Head First, and Tales of Us. A B-Tier Alison Goldfrapp project, if you will, which is still a big compliment cause it's Alison Fucking Goldfrapp.

"Digging Deeper Now" is all tech-y and hyper-utopian, sitting atop a crystalline pyramid of interconnected synths that all seem to be building towards something greater. Music for reaching an elevated mindset on the dancefloor.

"Fever (This is the Real Thing)" is a thrilling future house tour-de-force, like floating in the middle of a rapidly flowing tunnel made up of glowing bands of metallic light. It pounds everything in its path into a fine glitter dust that coats the ears. When I mentioned 'effervescent' earlier, THIS is the track I was mostly referring to. Alison also really knows how to carry the hook on this one to make it sound like the most important defining thing ever.

The album briefly winds down as Alison ventures into a world of heavenly trap production on "Subterfuge". It sounds crazy on paper, and probably shouldn't work as well as it does, but I honestly love the sound design and her vocals blends seamlessly with this style. A lavish dip into silky dream pools.

"So Hard So Hot" takes the formation of stars through the intense density and heat of nuclear fusion, and turns it into a dancefloor banger of rippling synths that rain down onto the earth with the spectacular brilliance of a meteor shower. Those synths are one serious hell of an earworm. Could definitely do with a ten minute version of this track.

Like a lot of house records, it definitely has its more nondescript moments. "The Beat Divine" and "Gatto Gelato" have a lot of rhythm and hype that will definitely get my feet moving, but neither has much staying power for me.

But overall this is a very refreshing take on multiple house and EDM subgenres, fusing the best of different scenes into high-charged dancefloor hybrids with pop hooks and Alison Goldfrapp's goddessly vocals.

The Love Invention makes good on its promise of being a vibrant, technicolor sensory overload that will get your feet moving and your ass shaking, with more than enough memorable production quirks giving it some of the highest replay value of any of the EDM I've listened to this year. Another day, another slay for the queen of surreal electronica.

8/10

Highlights: "So Hard, So Hot", "Fever (This Is The Real Thing)", "Digging Deeper Now", "Subterfuge", "In Electric Blue"

#album review #music review #list #year end list #2023 #alison goldfrapp #goldfrapp #house #dance pop #edm #the love invention

[lovejustforaday]

2023 Year End List - #16

16. We Buy Diabetic Test Strips - Armand Hammer

Main genres: Experimental Rap, Abstract Rap

A decent sampling of: Hardcore Rap, Conscious Rap, Industrial Rap, Political Rap, Cloud Rap

Why yes, I am a white nerdy indie rock fan who is also a big fan of experimental hip hop and loves Billy Woods projects. Shocking, I know.

Armand Hammer have been building a reputation for themselves for a good while now as one of the best 'underground' hip hop projects out there. And it isn't hard to see why.

These dudes are mad creative, spitting rhymes with a nice mix of esoteric wordplay and revolutionary messaging over beats that are always disorienting and challenging. And Billy Woods' disciplined, syncopated flow of sharp wit and bleak observations has a lot of natural chemistry with Elucid's more intuitive and rhythmically jerky, hardcore-meets-abstract style.

Shrines was a highlight of my 2020, spent in a lot of isolation and thinking about the systems that had gotten us to this crummy point in time. Meanwhile, 2021's Haram was a little bit less of a memorable project for me.

As for this one - yeah this one might just be my favourite project from the duo yet.

We Buy Diabetic Test Strips is a melting pot of tricky and eccentric beats, anxious, avant-garde production, and a plethora of lyrical topics ranging from religion to philosophy, race, sexual encounters, hustling under capitalism, and subverting the establishment, turning these ingredients into a viscous, complex bitter juice with the distinctly metallic scent of blood. This mf is dense, more so than probably any other rap album I listened to this year.

JPEGMafia's production work is sprinkled throughout this project. Apparently he used to have beef with these guys? Idk, it's exhausting to keep up with artists dissing other artists, and ol' Peggy seems to have beef with a lot of folks. Regardless, the dudes made up, and this has probably been my favourite year for him appearing on projects, between this and his collab album Scaring The Hoes (which just got snubbed from the honourable mentions, but I'm sure plenty enough people have already written praises for that one for their own year end lists anyway).

Anyhow, let's get on with the track breakdowns.

"Woke Up and Asked Siri How I'm Gonna Die" (song title of the year, obviously) is slick fucking cloud rap, like a soft layer of gossamer gauze obscuring images of carnal sex and the ugly feeling of emptiness. Very rapturous sound design throughout.

"When It Doesn't Start With A Kiss" is a maelstrom of a hip hop track, going from bubbly, uncharacteristically melodic electronic production during Elucid's verse efore being completely submerged in echoing, deep sea depths on Billy's.

A chilling marimba line opens "I Keep A Mirror In My Pocket", which turns into a clangorous changing meter featuring vibraphone, toms and kicks, and periodic alarm sounds coming from some weird-ass sample. Hallucinatory and abrasive all at once, like being haunted by some demonic tinnitus. I could see how this track would be off-putting to some with more sensitive ears, but I am a real masochist for the kind of organized chaos displayed on this track.

"The God's Must Be Crazy" tackles the CIA's involvement in the crack cocaine crisis which wreaked havoc in Black American communities in the late 20th century. The beat jitters with fidgety anxiety, brilliantly recreating the atmosphere of journalists unraveling dangerous, classified truths, nervous addicts that can't sit still, and the general horror of bearing witness to a drug crisis. The wordplay on this is also just godlike. Perhaps their best track yet.

I do think the mid-section kind of totally dominates this record. Tracks 4 through 8 are mostly mind-blowing, but then I'm a bit worn down by the last stretch of tracks, penultimate "Switchboard" notwithstanding, which is definitely another standout cut.

It could definitely also be that I just haven't spent enough time with this one - Armand Hammer's music is like a fine wine with many notes, and it takes time to unravel all of the wordsmithery, old hip hop references, socio-political history, and heavily layered production with multi-faceted beats that resist predictability.

Either way, Armand Hammer are still dishing out some of the craziest beats and flows left and right all over this thing. Nobody could call these guys unoriginal, and I don't see the duo slowing down any time soon. We Buy Diabetic Test Strips proves that Armand Hammer are still one of the most essential acts out there that are really working to keep the world of hip hop music endlessly fresh and groundbreaking.

8/10

Highlights: "The Gods Must Be Crazy", "I Keep a Mirror in My Pocket", "Woke Up and Asked Siri How I'm Gonna Die", "When It Doesn't Start With a Kiss", "Switchboard", "Niggardly (Blocked Call)"

#album review #music review #aoty #year end list #list #abstract rap #experimental hip hop #experimental rap #2023 #armand hammer #we buy diabetic test strips #elucid #billy woods

[lovejustforaday]

2023 Year End List - #17

17. Chaos For The Fly - Grian Chatten

Main genres: Indie Folk

A decent sampling of: Chamber Pop, Folk Rock

Grian Chatten is better known as lead singer of the Irish modern goth rock band Fontaines D.C., a group that's made significant waves in the British Isles ever since they came on to the indie/alternative scene.

Last year’s Skinty Fia appeared in a lot of publications' year end lists and only just barely got snubbed from my own by the #15 record I ended up going for, though it easily could’ve ended up anywhere between 15-13 since most of the stuff on the lower end of my lists are usually interchangeable in ranking. And frankly, I think I’ve probably since ended up spinning that one more times than Honeybee Table at The Butterfly Feast. The last two tracks "I Love You" and "Nabokov" were both particularly brilliant. But I digress.

Grian Chatten's natural charm as a figure in the world of indie music is hard to ignore. He's a brooding poet with a voice that is deep, homey, and rich, singing in an accent every bit as heavy as his regular talking voice. He embodies much of the same mythical cool factor and sensibilities of early 90s indie titans from the isles like The Stone Roses and My Bloody Valentine.

Likewise, the charisma is certainly there for him to venture out successfully as a solo artist, not to mention his strengths as a lyricist.

And this latest album is proof of concept. With his debut solo record Chaos For The Fly, Chatten paints new nocturnal worlds out of rickety old-timey and pastoral aesthetics, with a fair dose of cynicism and grim melancholy. He doesn't so much reinvent himself as a soloist, but rather takes elements of what already worked with his post-punk/goth rock band and distills them into a more intimate and folksy, singer/songwriter sound that retains some of his gothic roots.

I'm actually reminded a lot of folksier PJ Harvey records like White Chalk, Let England Shake, as well as this year’s I Inside The Old Year Dying which frankly, as a long time PJ fan, I fell this record outdid considerably. So props to him.

"The Score" was an excellent choice to ease in to the album's atmosphere, as the song ensnares listeners to a state of rest with an oddly seductive but wholly suspenseful folk guitar serenade. Chatten's whispers are gentle but firm and arresting, manifesting love as a contradictory force of benevolence and implied doom, all the while the plucking of the melody bends and resists resolution. Lots of subtle dualities happening here, which I'm a big fan of.

I knew that “Fairlies” was going to be one of my top tracks of the year the very moment I heard the chorus for the first time. It's a colourful feast for the ears; a fiery folk rock frenzy with all the mystique of a morbid fairytale, like a story of a werewolf hermit who bemoans and curses all of humanity. The whole piece feels like it should be accompanied by a really twisted old-fashioned wooden puppet show that combusts into dancing flames during the grand finale. That screeching fiddle towards the end in particular does everything it needs to in order to make this one hell of a memorable trip. A real stroke of genius.

"East Coast Bed" is a mild departure sonically, opting for a brighter, breezy sound still laced with melancholy and based heavily around a steady beat accompanied by warm chamber instruments, a flowery synth line, and a slight warbly dulcimer (or perhaps a sitar?). Fitting to its name, I feel as though I could lay back and start to float endlessly on the gusts of an oceanic wind.

The tender "Salt Throwers off a Truck" is the most traditionally 'folk' in composition piece on the album. This track really showcases Chatten's ability to conjure images that are deeply romantic and familiar yet forlorn. Not much else to say on this one - it speaks for itself. Makes me want to grab a pint and think about my life 10 years ago.

My one gripe with this album is "All Of The People", a somewhat under-cooked, spitefully misanthropic piano ballad. While it thematically fits within the record's general cynicism and poetics, the delivery in the lyrics is much too on the nose and (dare I say) almost banal, at least in comparison to what Chatten regularly demonstrates he's capable of. It ends up feeling really out of pace and disturbs the record's flow. I would've omitted this from the final version and relegated it to a bonus track. Hell, this LP probably would've made it a lot higher on my list if not for this hiccup.

But aside from the one considerable bump in the road, Chaos For The Fly was a standout project in 2023 for its clever songwriting and setting great atmosphere, and I for one am very excited for Grian Chatten to continue making solo projects. I would love to see an even more ambitious project in a similar vein to to this record. As it stands now, the man's already got me seeing will-o'-the-wisps over here whenever I listen to this bad boy at night.

So definitely check this one out, especially if Halloween-y is really your vibe.

8/10

Highlights: "Fairlies", "The Score", "Salt Throwers off a Truck", "East Coast Bed"

#album review #music review #list #aoty #year end list #2023 #indie folk #grian chatten #fontaines d.c. #chaos for the fly