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signalmodulator · 7 years

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The Catch Up, Vol. VIII (unfinished)

by Owen Z.

As Signal Modulator finishes its oft-sporadic run of publishing, we’re clearing out our drafts in order to publicize all the projects we were working on for issue 8. Here’s a partially unfinished edition of The Catch Up, featuring releases from Solange, Bon Iver, and The Weeknd.

Subways (The Remixes) EP

The Avalanches

September 23 / Modular

This three-song EP features three different glittering takes on The Avalanches’ effervescent song “Subways”; strangely enough, however, the most memorable one is the one that stays most faithful to the original. In Flagranti’s extended edit of the song takes whimsical strings and weirdly plucky bass line and stretches it out until it lasts 6 exhilarating minutes; the other two, although both decent, are a bit of an afterthought.

A Loud Bash Of Teenage Feelings

Beach Slang

September 23 / Polyvinyl

Beach Slang wasted no time in following up last year’s debut album The Things We Do To Find People Who Feel Like Us, but maybe they should have worked a little longer on the also-brilliantly-titled A Loud Bash Of Teenage Feelings. There are exactly two songs on this record that are truly special, the dizzyingly triumphant “Spin The Dial” and “Young Hearts”, a mid-tempo roaring guitar song with a dollop of melancholy. Beach Slang are perhaps too occupied with the loud bashing on this one; it’s much better when they bring out the “teenage feelings.”

Ape in Pink Marble

Devendra Banhart

September 23 / Nonesuch

Ape in Pink Marble is exactly what you’d expect from Devendra Banhart, but that doesn’t make it bad by any means. This record is a charming collection of 13 new silken soft indie pop songs; the textures are often so delicate you feel like you’re cupping the entire song in your hand. “Middle Names” and “Celebration” are two exemplary demonstrations of this delicacy; other tracks like “Fancy Man” and "Theme for a Taiwanese Woman in Lime Green” combine this delicacy with goofy high tempos.

Dang

Eola

September 23 / Leaving

Brooklyn artist Edwin White’s fifth full-length album as Eola is a deeper exploration of the themes in his four previous ones: Dang is entirely a capella, an experiment in the vocoder and a genre that he likes to call “choral-bluesy.” Overall, Dang is pretty dang unexceptional; because it’s such a sparse album, it almost completely relies on the beauty of its melodies, and only two - “Future Hymns” and “No Getting” - truly stand out.

From Patterns to Details

FIS

September 23 / Multiverse

New Zealand artist FIS has one of 2016′s best experimental albums; From Patterns to Details is a brutally beautiful album, one that manages to explore terrifyingly abrasive and unpredictable territory without compromising color. There are long tracts of noise, and there are short surprising interruptions of god knows what; all you should expect from From Patterns to Details is the unexpected.

I Had A Dream That You Were Mine

Hamilton Leithauser + Rostam

September 23 / Glassnote

Perhaps I Had A Dream That You Were Mine plays a little too much by the rules; Hamilton Leithauser + Rostam’s first album together is a pretty standard mixture of singer/songwriter, chamber pop, and ‘60s-inspired indie rock. But even within these rules, the group finds some beautiful tunes, thanks to Leithauser’s emotion-laden voice and Rostam’s brilliant production. “A 1000 Times” is the song you wish you had your first kiss to; “In a Black Out” makes you want to huddle around a fire in the desert at night. “1959″ is perhaps the album’s best song; like all of Rostam and Leithauser’s best work, it’s unafraid to tug at your heartstrings in the most dizzyingly direct of fashions. Sometimes you don’t have to break the rules to win.

Care

How To Dress Well

September 23 / Domino

From the moment you turn on Care - scratch that, maybe from the moment you look at the soppy album cover - you’ll know that this album blows romance up for the big screen. Everything on Tom Krell’s new album as How To Dress Well is amplified: the hooks, the instrumentals, and yes, the dumb lyrics. Even so, Care works for the same reason that any dramatic pop song might work: it’s full of beautiful, wistful, and nuanced chord progressions. These tunes are catchy, and thanks to the anthemic production by the likes of Jack Antonoff and CFCF, they are both catchy and unforgettably momentous.

The Healing Component

Mick Jenkins

September 23 / Free Nation

Mick Jenkins’ debut album is (expectedly) a grand statement - The Healing Component is about love, and how its various forms need to be cared for and nourished. Although the album is a bit long and certainly loses its shine on a few tracks (like most of his previous works, some of the songs are a bit heavy on production and short on innovation), the concept is extremely well-executed, and you can’t complain with songs like “Communicate” and “Spread Love”.

Slam Dunk Vol. II EP

Sporting Life

September 23 / Letter Racer

The second of three Slam Dunk EPs, this installment in RATKING producer Sporting Life’s series is a little less impressive than the first. Of the four tracks featured here, only “Skip To My Lou” makes a decent to good impression; the rest are rather forgettable.

Campaign

Ty Dolla $ign

September 23 / Atlantic

Ty Dolla $ign’s new mixtape is all of these things: a hilariously generic political statement, a depressingly generic project, and an occasional indicator of his brilliance. While the politics are silly (for an example, check out “$intro” and the end of “No Justice”) and the beats are often completely boring, Ty’s soulful vocals remain his one brilliant attribute. This is why “Stealing” is the best song on the tape; even with all the ham-fisted Clinton endorsements and shiny 808s, Ty Dolla $ign sounds best when his voice is paired with a guitar and nothing more.

Farewell, Starlite!

Francis and the Lights

September 23 / KTTF

After some pretty high-profile collaborations with Chance The Rapper, Kanye West, and Bon Iver, Francis and the Lights’ new album became a quasi-debut for him, or at least to a whole new audience of pop music fans. This record features an all-star cast of production from the likes of Rostam, Bon Iver, Cashmere Cat, Ariel Rechtshaid, and Benny Blanco, and it shows. Farewell, Starlite! has its issues (cheesy lyrics and occasionally excessively quirky production), but it’s an overall interesting and captivating record, full of innovative and beautiful sounds.

Atrocity Exhibition

Danny Brown

September 27 / Warp

Danny Brown’s masterwork. The Detroit rapper’s new album is a harrowing diary of drugs and sex and mental (un)health, and it features several of Brown’s best songs he may ever make. Atrocity Exhibition flows effortlessly from one classic to another - the shivers-inducing posse track “Really Doe”, the trippy “Lost”, the Mario Kart fever dream that is “Ain’t It Funny”. It’s stunningly cohesive and also a tiny bit eye-opening - I, for one, didn’t know rock bottom could be this deep down below the ground.

The Altar

Banks

September 30 / Harvest

Banks’ new album The Altar sees her continue in the same (lack of) light as her 2013 debut - the music on this record is mostly dark, brooding pop in the light of FKA twigs and Kelela, minus a few degrees of creativity. The Altar is mostly filler; these are basically pop songs dressed up for Halloween, and their melodies and chords fall pitifully short of those of Banks’ contemporaries. The best song on the record is the plainest: “Mother Earth” is stunning, and Banks would do well to explore a similarly natural feel on future releases.

22, A Million

Bon Iver

September 30 / Jagjaguwar

Truly one of the year’s best albums, Bon Iver’s 22, A Million sets itself up for monumental failure. This album is incredibly ambitious, but it all works; every strange, Oneohtrix-indebted sample, every banjo pluck, every croon feels perfectly placed. There are memorable moments (the uplifting final chorus of “33 “GOD””, the mind-melting AutoTune of “715 - CRΣΣKS”) and even more memorable lyrics. Vernon continues to find new ways to express his trademark northern spirituality/melancholy; 22, A Million is nothing less than a jewel.

Muzik (Remixes) EP

Delorean

September 30 / PHLEX

While both Pional and El Guincho’s offerings for this three-song remix EP are decent enough, Pedro Vian’s rework takes the cake. Vian essentially takes the original and stretches it further, making the colorful vocals and instrumentals all the more vivid across six minutes. (Although something has to be said about El Guincho’s intrepid dancehall version!)

Blood Bitch

Jenny Hval

September 30 / Sacred Bones

Like last year’s Apocalypse, girl, Jenny Hval’s newest album Blood Bitch deals with our innermost psychological workings - themes of sex, womanhood, and violence are common. This album is different, however; it’s significantly darker, and a fair bit dreamier. It’s also fantastically imaginative - who else would have thought to make an album about menstrual blood through vampire metaphors? You’ll find yourself fascinated, challenged, and a tiny bit obsessed.

Human Energy

Machinedrum

September 30 / Ninjatune

On new album Human Energy, Machinedrum dives deeply into his new sound, which is evidently just a mixture of all his previous work with DJ Mustard’s production quality and fondness for syncopation. These tracks are incredibly similar, but it’s an interesting experiment; with a lesser artist, it might come off as exhausting, but Machinedrum pours so much energy into it that you never get off the ride, so to speak. Highlights are “Angel Speak”, “Dos Puertas”, and the synesthesia-inducing “Spectrum Sequence”.

Lamentations EP

Moses Sumney

September 30

Nymphs

Nicolas Jaar

September 30 / Other People

Watching Nicolas Jaar’s four Nymphs singles trickle out onto the Internet throughout 2015 just does not compare to this. Nymphs was released as a full album along with Sirens on the last day of September, and while its songs were always incredible, they because Jaar’s magnum opus when assembled together. Nymphs I’s two excellent beats set the stage for a half-hour of fearless experimentation in sound design; the hallucinogenic sounds of “The Three Sides of Audrey and Why She’s All Alone Now” are among the best on the album, while “No One Is Looking at U” and “Swim” make for a thrilling 20 minutes of dance music. Nymphs sounds like the music Aphex Twin would make if he were lost in a jungle somewhere.

Sirens

Nicolas Jaar

September 30 / Other People

Sirens, meanwhile, is Jaar’s grimier political statement; it’s a little less colorful than its counterpart. While it doesn’t have Nymphs’ consistent brilliance, there are still some fascinating moments on this album, and Jaar’s increased vocal presence on this one make for an interesting political message. The slow-burning “Killing Time” is a fantastic opener, while the Radiohead-inspired “The Governor” deals with grand themes of corruption and impending destruction. While Sirens is not as musically adventurous as some of Jaar’s previous work, it stands as his most expressive piece of work ever, and that is in no way a bad thing.

When Love Hurts EP

Pional

September 30 / Counter

When Love Hurts is a short, sunny collection of four Balearic house tracks; this release is the epitome of "mildly interesting, nothing more.” Opener “Casualty” sets the groove nicely, and the following three tracks match it easily; however, the closer “The Way That You Like” is the standout, mainly due to Empress Of’s excellent vocals.

A Seat at the Table

Solange

September 30 / Columbia

Solange’s newest album has received extensive comparisons to Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly - like that record, this one is a passionate and thoughtful exploration of the black experience in modern America. However, A Seat at the Table goes about things entirely differently - instead of To Pimp A Butterfly’s grand and cathartic arrival at a conclusion, A Seat at the Table starts with a core theme (”Wake up and rise”) before building up into the sky from that. It’s an incredible album, largely thanks to Solange’s blurring of genres and inclusion of collaborators from Dave Longstreth to Lil Wayne.

Epoch

Tycho

September 30 / Ghostly International

You know what you’re getting from a new Tycho album, and Epoch does not disappoint. Tycho makes atmospheric beats that lie somewhere between “full band jams” and “bedroom Boards Of Canada”; his music is richly mastered and tastefully produced. Epoch is the latest installment, and its eleven songs are just as good as anything Tycho has ever done. Call it easy listening, but it’s some of the best easy listening you’ll ever hear.

NANIMONO EP

Yasutaka Nakata

October 5 / Warner Japan

Longtime Kyary Pamyu Pamyu producer Yasutaka Nakata’s song for the Japanese film Nanimono gets the full remix treatment here on this EP, but all the reworks pale in comparison with the original. Danny L Harle and TeddyLoid both have interesting takes, but neither of those remixes is really an improvement upon the original track. Overall, you won’t find yourself returning to the NANIMONO EP.

Mare

Christian Löffler

October 7 / Ki

Mare is more of the same for German producer Christian Löffler, who specializes in textural, melancholy techno music. This release features more sparse, atmospheric beats, and while it does get a little exhausting across 18 tracks, the sparse, atmospheric core is always there.

Somewhere in the Nowhere EP

Chrysta Bell & David Lynch

October 7 / Meta Hari

Chysta Bell & David Lynch’s sleepy, Twin Peaks-esque collaborative EP is mostly unremarkable, but it does yield two beautiful songs: “All the Things” is a deathly prom slow dance, and “Back Seat” is what happens after. Somewhere in the Nowhere may not be remembered in a year’s time, but hopefully these two songs are; they’re nothing short of gorgeous.

Heart Like a Levee

Hiss Golden Messenger

October 7 / Merge

Heart Like a Levee is the newest record from M.C. Taylor’s Hiss Golden Messenger project, and it’s a consistently pleasant mix of Americana-tinged folk rock throughout. The highlights, however, are opener “Biloxi” with its infectious chorus and the title track, which unfolds its wistful chord progression with grace and panache.

Cody

Joyce Manor

October 7 / Epitaph

2016 was a fantastic year for DIY music, and Joyce Manor’s Cody might just be the best DIY album of the year; it’s a raucously fun record from front to back, and you can tell as soon as you hear Barry Johnson belt out “Fake I.D.”’s chorus: “What do you think about Kanye West / I think that he’s great, I think he’s the best!” That song, “Eighteen”, and everything else is fantastic; Joyce Manor pull no punches on Cody. It’s punchy pop punk - one of the most solid releases of 2016.

Remixes From An Island EP

Mark Barrott

October 7 / International Feel

Mark Barrott’s Sketches From An Island 2 was a welcome addition to his discography; it, along with his other records, has such a distinctive sound that it makes complete sense that a remix EP would follow. Remixes From An Island features four remixes of Barrott’s new album, but one is far ahead of the others: it’s Domenique Dumont’s masterful rework of Sketches highlight “Der Stern, Der Nie Vergeht”. The song, originally a serene sunrise warmup, turns into a nocturnal groove in her hands; she takes Barrott’s web of synths and effects and adds an intoxicating rhythm.

Building a Beginning

Jamie Lidell

October 14

The best part about Jamie Lidell’s new album Building a Beginning is the first five seconds, where the title track begins in absurdly sexy fashion. Lidell spends his time trying to set a good groove on this new LP, but fails most of the time; the instrumentals are simply too bland, as are his lyrics, vocals, and basically everything else. There are more moments like “Building a Beginning” - “In Love and Alone” starts off in a similarly enticing manner - but Lidell can’t seem to work out how to build anything other than a beginning on this new record. (Zing!)

Reflections

Kastle

October 14 / Symbols

Kastle’s new album Reflections is music for the post-digital age; it’s full of imposing bass hits and jagged samples, and it fearlessly moves from Shlohmo to Burial to Machinedrum (basically, it’ll go anywhere that you would call ‘dark electronic music’). While it should be commended for its playfulness with the boundaries of genre, these transitions aren’t always well-executed, and the majority of Reflections comes off as a little too overbearing. Strangely, the best song is the most unabashedly experimental: closer “Masks” is scarily unpredictable. Kastle has basic mastery of all of the musical styles featured on Reflections; however, you’ll find yourself wishing he made one of them his own.

Color

Katie Gately

October 14 / Tri-Angle

The lead single off of Katie Gately’s debut album Color is fascinating; “Tuck” is nightmarishly strange, with Gately singing lost nursery rhymes over perverse beats. However, the rest of Color isn’t as fascinating. This is a very crowded album; each track is bursting with noise, and not always in the best way. There’s plenty going on with this record, but the moments are when one specific thing takes center stage in front of everything else. Regrettably, that doesn’t happen often.

Simple Forms

The Naked And Famous

October 14 / Somewhat Damaged

The Naked And Famous’ third album is an attempted bounce back after a sophomore slump (but then again, what band wouldn’t slump after a debut like 2010′s Passive Me, Aggressive You?), but it doesn’t really pan out. Lead single and album opener “Higher” is the group at their peak; towering choruses with abrasive, buzz-saw synths are where it’s at. However, not many of these tracks have a memorable bite; it’s back to the drawing board for the New Zealand group.

There Is No Right Time

Youandewan

October 14 / Aus

Youandewan’s style of house music is quiet, but distinctive; it’s bleary-eyed but clear at the same time, as if it’s been designed for when you’ve almost finished clearing out the cobwebs in an early morning. There Is No Right Time is the Yorkshire producer’s debut album, and it’s a remarkable mix of music, from crisply refined jams (”Be Good To Me Poly”, “4D Anxiety”) to sprawlingly sentimental ambient house (”Have The Guts”, “Our Odyssey”) to goofy club tracks (”Earnest Kelly”, “Left On Lucy”). It’s a very, very well-designed album; it’s the perfect length, with just enough variation in musical styles without sacrificing individuality.

Introverted Intuition

Lance Skiiiwalker

October 18 / Top Dawg

Top Dawg’s most esoteric signee makes a splash with this debut album, a cryptic and sludgy mixture of neo-soul and nocturnal hip hop. Lance Skiiiwalker is not a household name, and these songs won’t make him one - the music on Introverted Intuition is fragmented and fractured, with songs suddenly taking flight or falling apart. However, what he has done with this album is show off his skills as a beatmaker, along with his knack for pulling the rug out from under you. Dive into the introverted world of Introverted Intuition, and don’t expect anything to last too long.

American Football

October 21 / Polyvinyl

Surprise, surprise - the second American Football LP does not live up to the expectations set by the fantastic first album, released 17 years ago. Even still, American Football the second holds up quite well as a standalone emo record. The band’s twinkly guitars are, as they always have been, strangely comforting, and Mike Kinsella’s vocals on songs like “My Instincts Are the Enemy” fit the music perfectly. American Football may not be a new American Football, but it’s a perfectly fine record. American Football may not be exceptional anymore, but they’re reliable.

Big Baby D.R.A.M.

D.R.A.M.

October 21 / Empire

Big Baby D.R.A.M. is D.R.A.M.’s arrival, his first grand statement on a large scale after the runaway success of lead single “Broccoli”. The statements on this album are all eccentric; they remain true to D.R.A.M.’s larger-than-life personality, from the steamy Erykah Badu duet “WiFi” to the analog-meets-AutoTune “Misunderstood” (props to Young Thug for his fantastic feature on that one). However, they don’t all stick - it’s kind of a mixed bag, and while D.R.A.M. is a fun guy to hang around for an hour, there isn’t necessarily anything you’d be hard-pressed to return to. Besides “Broccoli”, that is. You’ll always want to return to “Broccoli”.

Heaven Is for Quitters

FaltyDL

October 21 / Blueberry

New York producer FaltyDL’s fifth LP is exciting at times, but mostly flies under the radar. Heaven Is for Quitters is nocturnal and kind of dreamy; ambient interludes abound, and the album centerpieces are all full of woozy synths and reverb. The highlights are the cosmopolitan sax jam “Bridge Spot” and the magnetizing Rosie Lowe collab “Drugs” - the rest are good, but nothing special.

a new family EP

Felicita

October 21 / PC Music

a new family is the new release from Felicita, one of PC Music’s peripheral producers. Instead of the experimental pop music that the likes of A. G. Cook and SOPHIE work with, Felicita prefers more straightforwardly experimental stuff, as is evident on a new family - the title track is the most straightforwardly clubby, but still eschews pop’s common verse-chorus form. Instead, a new family explores sounds both abrasive and sweet on an unstructured canvas, and the results are exciting at times. However, the EP drags during the middle - the best song is outlier “Track 6″, an arrestingly bare solo piano piece.

Bonito Generation

Kero Kero Bonito

October 21

Children’s music has the potential to be some of the best music out there - Kero Kero Bonito’s Bonito Generation isn’t exactly children’s music per se, but it’s surprisingly sophisticated as well. “Fish Bowl” features an out-of-nowhere shoegaze hook, “Lipslap” is an exhilarating hip house romp, and “Picture This” is a simplistic but brilliantly composed pop song. This extends beyond just the music - the lyrics are brilliantly layered so that they can appeal to people in various stages of their life. “Picture This” could be about the simple joys of technology, or it could be about the dangers of showing “everybody you’ve ever known.” “Trampoline” has a brilliant double meaning - jumping on a trampoline could also mean finding “your rhythm” to break out of depression. Bonito Generation is one of the most exhilaratingly original albums of the year.

Joanne

Lady Gaga

October 21 / Interscope

Lady Gaga renounces weirdness for this new LP - Joanne is a fairly straightforward pop rock album, albeit with country influences. This means that occasionally, Gaga is, well, boring, something she’s never been before. The music on Joanne can be a little too straightforward at times; some of these songs lack “centerpiece” melodies or features to capture the ears. But there are also some of Gaga’s best songs to date: the title track is captivatingly gorgeous, and the Kevin Parker-produced “Perfect Illusion” is a brilliant pop portrayal of despair and betrayal, perfect for the always-dramatic Gaga. Joanne is an interesting development in Lady Gaga’s career; while not entirely successful, it certainly has its moments.

You Want It Darker

Leonard Cohen

October 21 / Sony

Even as a fascinating final glimpse at the life of the late Leonard Cohen, You Want It Darker rarely feels essential - it is never an album you will struggle to stop listening to. However, it’s just about as good as an album can get without giving you that feeling; the opening track features elegant vocal arrangements, both realizations of “Treaty” are beautifully bare, and Cohen’s grey, ashy voice is a joy to listen to throughout. You Want It Darker is not another ★, but it’s a very solid album from one of the 20th century’s greatest artists.

Yes Lawd!

NxWorries

October 21 / Stones Throw

Anderson .Paak and Knxwledge on Stones Throw - no, you’re not dreaming. The Oxnard soul man and the skittery, lo-fi hip hop producer team up on Yes Lawd!, a smoky 50-minute affair sure to get your stoner friends buzzing. Yes Lawd! suffers from what a lot of beat albums suffer from - several of the tracks on here are stoner jokes of the worst variety (”H.A.N.” comes to mind). But there are also fantastic beats that .Paak augments brilliantly: “What More Can I Say”, “Link Up”, and the album-highlight woozy slow dance that is “Another Time”. .Paak and Knxwledge work together - let’s hope they perfect their product soon for another album as NxWorries.

Front Row Seat To Earth

Weyes Blood

October 21 / Kemado

Weyes Blood’s newest is perfectly summarized by its cover: laconic, dramatic, glittery, and utterly beautiful. Natalie Mering’s heavenly voice drifts across these songs like sunbeams an hour before sunset - the songs themselves are rich with golden guitar and other warm tones. Most of these tracks work up to cathartic crescendos: “Do You Need My Love” and “Used to Be” are this way, and they both brilliantly hit their mark, the former with towering choirs and the latter with trumpets. The standout, however, is “Generation Why”, a disillusioned ballad masked in a wistful, otherworldly chord progression. A little iPhone notification sound breaks through the mix about a minute in - it only contributes to Weyes Blood’s majesty.

Dog Food EP

GFOTY & Spinee

October 24 / PC Music

GFOTY and Spinee are two of PC Music’s most off-putting characters, and that’s saying something - therefore, a release like Dog Food is sure to test the boundaries of your tastes. This EP is exhilarating - eight tracks, most under two minutes, each exploring garish pop trends both present and past. “CASH COWS” is a happy hardcore stomper with a disorienting vaporwave outro; “MONEY ME” is a gooey capitalist anthem with some very SOPHIE-sounding climbing basslines. Of course, there are plenty of moments where Dog Food is hard to stomach, but it’s certainly never boring. My favorite moment? The line “walking down the street in my brand new car” - it perfectly summarizes the gleeful rebellion of this jarring EP.

Call Him A Doctor EP

GFOTY

October 25 / PC Music

A day after the release of Dog Food, another GFOTY project comes, and this one is much, much different. Call Him A Doctor explores some of the same sonic territory, of course, but it’s strangely beautiful in the way it unfolds - it might be one of the best PC Music releases yet. From the unexpected rock-influenced opening track onwards, things are packed with surprisingly touching musical flourishes. “Snakes + Ladders” is abrasive at the beginning, but suddenly evens out into an Art Angels-esque industrial pop jam; “You Don’t” features messy guitar solos on top of a full, wistful arrangement for strings. The best of them all is “The Argument”, where an amorphous instrumental track and an absurd rhyme scheme from GFOTY (no spoilers) slowly combine to win you over. Try and not just marvel in the weirdness of it all.

Bucket List Project

Saba

October 26

After hitting it big with his chorus on Chance The Rapper’s “Angels”, Chicago rapper Saba’s debut album is full of the same exuberant personality - just listen to opening track “In Loving Memory” and that jazzy, warm sound is apparent. However, Bucket List Project just doesn’t have the same killer instinct as a Chance mixtape; too many of these tracks glide by without making much of an impression. The one piece of true brilliance is “Westside Bound 3″, where Saba’s ridiculous flow - “And I’m from the part of the city that they don’t be talkin’ about” - latches onto a beat that is both warmly accessible and unmistakably ambitious. It’s in moments like those where you can hear the potential in Saba’s music - unfortunately, he’s unable to sustain this through all of Bucket List Project.

Joy

Brandt Brauer Frick & Beaver Sheppard

October 28 / K7!

The German trio of producers known as Brandt Brauer Frick added a fourth to their ranks for Joy, their new album - vocalist Beaver Sheppard sings over all ten of these tracks. Maybe he isn’t to blame directly, but Joy is a little bit more poppy as a result of his presence; it’s clear that these songs are structured to accommodate Sheppard’s verses. This change does not work well for Brandt Brauer Frick; most of these songs are utterly uninteresting, with no exciting progression á la “Bop”. Joy is rather joyless.

January Tape

Cut Copy

October 28 / Cutters

Cut Copy’s last two albums were really, really good - the Australian indie dance band continues to have a knack for crafting blissfully weird dance pop. They’ve clearly taken a break - January Tape is far from a proper follow up to 2013′s Free Your Mind, but it’s an okay enough interlude between full albums. This tape is not for light listening - the five tracks are connected to form a continuous, 40-plus-minute progression. While things never really converge into masterful ambient music, you always get a feeling of momentum, and that’s worthwhile - January Tape isn’t magical, but it’s a lovely way to wake up in the morning. I’d check it out if I were you.

Labyrinths

Daedelus

October 28 / Magical Properties

Beatmaker Daedelus’ first solo album in two years is a collage of various sounds and experiments, and this diversity both helps and hinders the album. Some - like the wonderfully sunny opener “Aries” or the jazzy groove of album highlight “Special Re: Quest” - are fantastic. Others uselessly hang in the balance as they indecisively make several cluttered statements at once. Overall, Labyrinths is one of those albums you cherry-pick your favorites from; you may not want to spend too much time in this maze.

DC4

Meek Mill

October 28 / Maybach

“Back To Back” or no “Back To Back”, you know what you’re getting from Meek Mill - his new album DC4 is just as direct as any of his previous releases. His act is admittedly getting a little old (or, was it ever exciting across an entire album?) but, as always, there are highlights. On DC4, it’s when Meek mixes his one-dimensional style with that of a featured artist; when this goes right, both artists’ contributions benefit. Tory Lanez kills it with his AutoTuned chorus in “Litty”, and Young Thug and 21 Savage do a great job in bookending “Offended”. You probably shouldn’t expect front-to-back consistency from DC4, but then again, you probably weren’t before you read this. Just know that, as always, Meek Mill has his moments.

Talk To You Soon

Ricky Eat Acid

October 28 / Terrible

Ricky Eat Acid’s new album is supposedly something of a comment on communication in our digital world; Talk To You Soon features plenty of digitized voices and glossy, welcoming synth pads, and you only need to listen to the eerie “Never Alone in a Dark Room” to tell. While this concept doesn’t necessarily fly across the album’s full 40 minutes, Ricky strikes gold several times with his simpler ambient experiments. Little interlude “Know” is a slice of precious, electric optimism; meanwhile, “Fucking to Songs on Radios” takes a potentially embarrassing refrain and spins it into a surprisingly touching lo-fi electronic pop song. Talk To You Soon might be slightly top-heavy (the back end of this album is a bit of a flop) but you’ll find a silver lining at the beginning of this cloud. Pun intended.

Cozy Tapes: Vol. 1 Friends-

A$AP Mob

October 31 / RCA

After a tour with Tyler, the Creator, A$AP Rocky - and his Mob by extension - seems like he’s having more fun than ever before, and A$AP Mob’s new mixtape mirrors this; at the end of the day, this is just a bunch of irreverent bangers thrown together, the result of a few months’ worth of casual studio sessions. This means that there’s plenty of unnecessary stuff here - for one, the skits (all of them long, none of them funny) could have been axed, and some of the features are a little lazy. But other moments make Cozy Tapes: Vol. 1 Friends- very redeemable: “Yamborghini High”’s beat is ridiculously cool, A$AP Nast sounds utterly at home on top of the old-school “Nasty’s World”, and Tyler, the Creator stops by for a ruthless verse in the middle of the headache-inducing “Telephone Calls”. Cozy Tapes: Vol. 1 Friends- is nothing more than a goofy promo tape for A$AP Mob and their various pals, but it floats off of the sheer fun factor of some of these tracks.

HERE

Alicia Keys

November 4 / RCA

After releasing the excellent single “In Common” and releasing raw and exciting new album art, everything pointed towards HERE being a surprising comeback for Alicia Keys. However, this record winds up being a bloated disappointment, one which deals too much in clichés and too little in actually exciting artistic statements. HERE’s songs are vintage 2000s with their use of acoustic guitars and clean, crispy drum programming; unfortunately, Keys takes the bare vulnerability in the production and fails to do anything other than overplay it. The only song worth listening to is “Where Do We Begin Now”, which sports a wonderful descending piano riff and some excellent drums. Overall, however, HERE is a decisive letdown.

Collage EP

The Chainsmokers

November 4 / Disruptor

The Chainsmokers have made headlines in the last year as one of the most formulaic pop machines out there; it’s more than clear by now that the duo has a successful blueprint for a song, and they won’t be changing anytime soon. Collage sees them riding on the back of “Closer”, their most successful song yet, and while it’s far from a perfect pop release, it’s got its moments. “Don’t Let Me Down” is completely forgettable, but all the other tracks feature some exciting moments; the buildup and release of “All We Know” is electric, the drop in “Setting Fires” is explosive, and “Inside Out” features some tried-and-true chords which are only blown up to larger proportions during the chorus. “Closer” is the best song on the EP, though - even if you’ve heard it too much and the drop gets a little old, the verses and buildup is better than any Chainsmokers song. Collage isn’t that strong of a project, but it’s fascinating as documentation of The Chainsmokers’ ruthless formula for pop gold.

A Fistful of Peril

CZARFACE

November 4 / Silver Age

CZARFACE continue doing what they do best on A Fistful of Peril, the comic book-obsessed hip hop group’s third album and follow up to the only-a-year-old Every Hero Needs a Villain. Just like that record, this one gets better as you get deeper into it - while the first few tracks struggle to find a rhythm, CZARFACE hit their stride by “Revenge on Lizard City” and kill it thereafter. Credit is due to Inspectah Deck for serving another batch of excellent beats; 7L and Esoteric both do a fine job in tandem on the mic as well. A Fistful of Peril proves for a second time that CZARFACE are here to stay.

Say It (Remixes) EP

Flume & Tove Lo

November 4 / Mom+Pop

Flume’s slowly unfolding colossus “Say It” was a highlight off of his album Skin - he gives it the remix treatment on this EP, with contributions from Clean Bandit, Anna Lunoe, SG Lewis, and Stwo. Most are decent but nowhere near the quality of the original; the only one that comes close is Lunoe’s glittery house remix, which restructures the original’s chord progression into silver synth stabs. As for the rest... not much to say.

Slam Dunk Vol. III EP

Sporting Life

November 4 / Letter Racer

The third and final installment of RATKING producer Sporting Life’s Slam Dunk EP series is the least impressive of the three, even though it’s positively stacked with exciting collaborations (Blood Orange’s Dev Hynes, Wiki, and Babyfather all stop by). Hynes sounds a bit out of place on opener “Nothing To Hide”, but Wiki’s verse brings things nicely into place; “Jumpball” and “Espy” are both rather uneventful, and Babyfather’s mix of “Nothing To Hide” is a good-but-not-great rework of the song. Slam Dunk Vol. III is a little too sleepy; the material would do well as part of a larger project, but it’s nothing to write home about as things stand.

On The Green Again

Tiger & Woods

November 4 / T & W

Tiger & Woods are here to comfort you while Todd Terje is away. The Italian production duo make dance music that is quite similar to Terje’s stuff in its unrestrained joy; these guys will get you moving in a way that is goofy, golf-y, and entirely unpretentious. On The Green Again, their second LP, is another great journey through ‘80s instrumentation and upbeat grooves. It’s a little long and a little too ‘club-ready’ (not much variation in these songs) but it’s still solidly consistent, and the tracks that do have tricks hidden away are more than worth checking out.

Nightride

Tinashe

November 4 / RCA

Nightride

comes during Tinashe’s struggle to get her career off of the ground after 2014′s lovely

Aquarius

; she says that it’s the first part of a two-part series that

Joyride

will hopefully complete. This album definitely deserves its title: it’s dreamy and dark, with lots of deep 808 hits, midtempo jams, and slurred production.

Nightride

has the vibe down, but it’s missing some

momentum.

While plenty of these tracks (”Lucid Dreaming” and “Sunburn”, for example) have a nicely gloomy atmosphere, too many of them lack any kind of kinetic energy.

Beautiful Things You Left Us for Memories

Pedro Vian

November 9 / Modern Abstract

Barcelona producer Pedro Vian makes classic Balearic dance music; light, airy and summery, with just enough psychedelia to still be able to fit into a dark night in the club. However, this album, his debut, isn't exactly firing on all cylinders; Beautiful Things You Left Us for Memories is somewhat bloated with midtempo cuts and ambient periods that don't contribute anything to the mix. The darkly propulsive "Maia" is the highlight; other than that, Beautiful Things You Left Us for Memories rather disappoints.

Are We Not Burning: The Devolution Of Capsized EP

Andrew Bird

November 11 / Wagawam

Listening to Andrew Bird's latest album Are You Serious only serves to further drive home the idea that Mr. Bird might be one of the most listenable musicians on the planet. He could play the same song over and over and, thanks to his improvisational skills and quickness of mind on the violin, it would never get old. That's exactly what he does with Are We Not Burning: The Devolution Of Capsized - Bird takes "Capsized", an excellent cut off of Are You Serious, and transforms it four different times into four different 'songs' across various live performances. All four versions are excellent - a final version recorded at Sound City Studios takes the cake - and Bird proves a point: his music sounds good no matter what he does with it.

DedSec - Watch Dogs 2

Hudson Mohawke

November 11 / Warp

Hudson Mohawke's Watch Dogs 2 score is his first full-fledged piece of work since 2015's disappointing Lantern - unfortunately, DedSec falls victim to the same issues, although maybe for different reasons considering the music on this project was designed to fit a different medium. Even still, most this music is simply unpleasant to listen to, from the pointless video game stabs of "Burning Desire" to the decent but ultimately forgettable efforts of the off-kilter "Amethyst". Mohawke is still at his best when he makes grand pop statements - on Lantern, it was "Scud Books" and "Ryderz", and here, it's the glittery opener "Shanghaied". The rest of DedSec, however, is an exercise in futility.

Love Songs: Part Two

Romare

November 11 / Ninja Tune

It makes sense that Romare's album covers are entirely made up of monochrome cartoons; his music has the same sophisticated, sly sense of humor. Love Songs: Part Two is his new collection of sample-based and love-obsessed dance music, and there are some fantastically weird tracks on here. Take opener "Who To Love?", where a woman's vocals are digitally prolonged on top of some jazzy chords. Everything is slightly, gloriously off key. "Honey" is another track that builds to a satisfyingly golden climax out of a few bare instruments; this one features saloon piano and a flat-sounding flute thing. "Je T'aime" is the best, however; a kooky stomper of a song that builds into a mind-melting chorus. Love Songs: Part Two doesn't land every punchline, but for the most part, Romare is clinically on target.

We got it from Here... Thank You 4 Your service

A Tribe Called Quest

November 11 / Epic

A Tribe Called Quest's return could not have been handled more brilliantly - We got it from Here... Thank You 4 Your service is a near-flawless finale to the rap group's illustrious career. Q-Tip, Jarobi, the late Phife Dawg, and guests (Busta Rhymes, André 3000, Anderson .Paak, Kendrick Lamar, Kanye West, and others) combine to craft an intimidatingly smooth double album, one which coasts so coolly and comfortably that it's easy to lose track of time. "The Space Program" is a wonderful opener, "Dis Generation" is utter bliss, "Black Spasmodic" is addictively jerky, and "The Donald" is a brilliant finale; Tribe make their exit in unforgettable fashion.

Sixth Stitch

Via App

November 11 / Break World

Sixth Stitch is a grower, that's for sure. Dylan Scheer's second album as Via App is packed with unexpected sounds; one minute, you're listening to the broken-record techno of eight-minute opener "Far She", the next, you're hearing weird one-minute synth experiments quickly pass through your headphones. Sixth Stitch is an exploration in atonality to the extreme; none of these tracks have central keys or melodies. Instead, they jump around aimlessly - sometimes, like on the bouncy "Visabel" or the thrumming "Airborne Shuffle", this is really interesting, and sometimes it's a dead end.

24K Magic

Bruno Mars

November 18 / Atlantic

Bruno Mars returns with a new kind of feeling on 24K Magic, the follow-up to 2012′s Unorthodox Jukebox and his first major release since Mark Ronson’s addictive “Uptown Funk” hit the radio. 24K Magic follows in that hit’s footsteps; Mars is full of élan and personality on this nine-track, 30-minute stomper. This album draws heavily from the music of the 1980s - Michael Jackson, Parliament-Funkadelic, and Warren G especially - but it manages to stay exciting and fresh. “24K Magic” is the thrilling opener, “Versace On The Floor” and “Straight Up & Down” are the ballads, and “Calling All My Lovelies” is the psychedelic poolside jam. 24K Magic is a pleasant surprise; out of nowhere, Bruno Mars has come through with a consistently good pop record.

Redemption

Dawn Richard

November 18 / Local Action

Dawn Richard’s new record Redemption features a heavy production influence from Machinedrum - the producer has co-production credits on nine of the album’s fifteen songs, and these songs’ fizzy energy mirror that of the songs on Machinedrum’s album Human Energy. It’s a good overall fit, if unspectacular; Richard does well on top of bouncy club tracks like “Renegades” and “Voices”. The rest of the album sits uncomfortably close to “in one ear and out the other” territory, however - Richard still struggles to put out a front-to-back impressive project.

#feature #Owen Z #the catch up

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