2014 New Releases

[MugginsXO]

Stalley - Ohio

Yeah, OK so far. Nothing too special.

One More Shot featuring Rick Ross and August Alsina

Jackin' Chevys

Boomin

[MugginsXO]

Ah it gets into it in the second half. Less cliches, better beats, better hooks. Smoother, better.

I particularly like 3:30pm.

System On Loud

Chevelle featuring Rashad

[Summertime Blooz]

Check out this surprisingly accessible nugget from Laetitia Sadier's (Stereolab) new album:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkwDyvRFmGY



I kinda love it myself.

[the captain]

Azealia Banks, Broke With Expensive Taste


Is it humility, insecurity, or something else altogether that pressures me to lead off these words about Azealia Banks's newly dropped (Friday, with no promotion) Broke With Expensive Taste? A few of the tunes I feel fully qualified to talk about--"Nude Beach A-Go-Go" most of all, which slips right into the wheelhouse of this board, or would if this board didn't take itself so seriously--but maybe a third of it is a kind of dance music I'm not even able to categorize, such is my ignorance of the form.

I'm not pretending to be some sort of authority passing judgment, I'm just some schmuck sharing his listening experience. Of course I have every right to talk about my opinions, regardless of my contextual knowledge. Still, I don't want to spout my perspectives only to find out I'm making a fool of myself from sheer cluelessness, do I?

Yes. Yes, I do.

I've heard a song or two of Banks's before, mostly because I'd read of various feuds she had going on with other artists and, well, let's be honest, her "Harlem Shake" video warranted a view (or 27). But when I saw this new album in the iTunes store, I figured I'd give it a quick sampling.

It piqued my curiosity approximately five seconds in, with the light Latin beat of "Idle Delilah." As the music builds around the beat, Banks comes in singing, not rapping, a repetitive but memorable melody that fits into the vamp of the beat. Later her voice is clipped and heavily edited, as if sharply gated, for a totally unrealistic and interesting effect that contrasts with the more natural feel of the track. When she does rap, it's agile and more interestingly nuanced than some of her deadpanned deliveries.

Is this Tito Puente or Azealia Banks? After the stadium-horns and heavy bass of the second track, "Gimme a Chance," mutate into another percussive Latin vibe, one begins to wonder. This one-two punch to kick off the album is FANTASTIC. If nothing else, buy these songs.

The other gem is the tongue-in-cheek surf-rock "Nude Beach A-Go-Go," which is also appearing on Ariel Pink's upcoming album and features him in some capacity. (Pitchfork says he produced it. I think he's singing, too. No idea as far as the track goes.) I'm no fan of Pink, but this song is a devilish little grin of a good time. It also shows off Banks's singing and silly personality instead of her typical, hyper-aggressive, hyper-sexual persona.

After just a listen and a half, I'm less certain how I feel about some of the other songs, though I did buy the whole album. ($9.99 on iTunes with $1.29 individual tracks, I figured after the third or fourth song I liked I may as well get the whole thing.) "Desperado" is good, with a moody, echoed trumpet sample I know I know from somewhere--is it Miles from one of the atmospheric late '60s albums? "Soda" is a weary contralto over the kind of dance beat for which I have no particular affinity, yet I enjoy the song. There are several others where I'm not so sure, turned off or tuning out the simple, blunt beats, that goshdarn half-note triplet and four eighth notes beat. (Y'all ready for this?)

More interesting is "212," an older song that's full of what Banks is known for--hell, it is what Banks is known for. She's bratty, vulgar. (Who makes the key phrases of a song "I guess that c-nt gettin' eaten" and "I'ma ruin you, c-nt"?) But she's startlingly good, skipping between three or four separate voices, even separate personae in the song, both rapping and singing.

She reminds me of an East Coast version of the Odd Future guys, in that she's got a tremendous range beyond what one first expects. She covers a lot of ground and might offend people along the way, but there's always enough wit, enough musicality, enough pop to keep some listeners around for more. I like it.

[the captain]

By the way, two quick things:
 
1) You'll never guess from where I stole the image! Is it ... Rolling Stone? No. Guess again. (You'll never get it!)

2) We can't even say g-o-d-d-a-m-n? It turns into goshdarn? Fuckinabucket.

[Gertie J.]

1 billboard.com
2 that sucks

[the captain]

You, Gertie J, have wowed me. What were the odds?

[Gertie J.]

I have that site bookmarked.

[the captain]

This morning I was trying to figure out whether to add some Azealia Banks to my in-progress 2014 playlist, and if so, which. I think I've decided on "Nude Beach A-Go-Go" because it's a nice summary of styles otherwise on the playlist ... but damnit, I'm struggling to edit this thing. A couple weeks ago I posted the then-version, which was 25 songs. That's about as long as I want it to get. This morning it was 29 songs. I'm agonizing over this thing.

I can't get over how many things I've liked this year. I could do two playlists and be pretty happy with them. But as a wise, baseball-capped man once said, don't f*** with the formula.

[MugginsXO]

Not sure but will give Azealia Banks a go. I am a fan of high grade vulgarity. Still hoping that The Pink Print is better than Anaconda though!

[Lowbacca]

For all fans of female singer/songwriter indie folk I recommend this lady from New Zealand:




.. and her 2014 LP, Brightly Painted One:

[the captain]

Lowbacca, thanks for the tip. I'm listening now and it's very pleasant.

[MugginsXO]

Deptford Goth - Songs

Enjoyed this. For a down mood. Still a stupid fucking name. Almost as bad as The Twilight Sad.

[Ovi]

deleted - thought this was the "What are you listening to..." thread.

[Lowbacca]

Lowbacca, thanks for the tip. I'm listening now and it's very pleasant.

Bryan Adams - Tracks Of My Years



It is what it is, not more: Bryan Adams covering some of his favourites in an unsurprising manner. It's enjoyable all the way through, though. Includes a cover of "God Only Knows".

[the captain]

The New Basement Tapes, Lost on the River

I had heard of this project a few months back but entirely forgotten it: a batch of musicians were given access to some Basement Tapes-era Dylan lyrics and, under the supervision of T-Bone Burnett, wrote and recorded an album around them. Elvis Costello is the most well known, with other participants including Jim James of My Morning Jacket, Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes, Marcus Mumford of Mumford & Sons, and Rhiannon Giddens of the Carolina Chocolate Drops. The album, i assume by no coincidence, was released just a week after the Bootleg Series Basement Tapes albums. There is also apparently a Showtime documentary about the making of the album, which sounds interesting. I'd like to check that out.

I listened to the 20-song deluxe edition. And from it, I think there is really one helluva good standard-length album to be had. I was working while listening, but took note of a few songs in particular. No fan of Dawes on the whole, I really enjoyed Goldsmith's vocal on "Florida Key." Giddens' "Spanish Mary" was another highlight. There were at least four or five other songs I really, really liked. The album is in that territory for me of waffling between buying half a dozen songs, or just getting the whole damn thing even though I'll never bother with maybe another four or five songs again. Some of the good ones are really good, and the styles, while all pretty firmly planted in the expected environment of "roots," are diverse enough to cover a lot of ground.

The diversity of voices is also a nice treat for me. Even my favorite voices can make a group wear on me; not coincidentally, I'm a longtime lover of bands like the Beatles, Beach Boys, the Band, Queen. This, a minor-league Traveling Wilburys (doing Lucky Wilbury's lyrics, no less!) isn't a bad album at all.

[the captain]

I've listened to The New Basement Tapes album a few more times and I'm really enjoying it. I've also been struggling to imagine what my reaction would have been had I not known these were '67 Dylan lyrics, but there's no way to know that.

Also, new Tyler, the Creator single, "Diapers," posted on the Odd Future Golf Wang tumblr: http://golfwang.tumblr.com/post/102981791418

Voice is buried in parts and I'm not the biggest fan of Tyler's rapping anyway (I'm sure he's really sad to hear that). I love the track, though, especially when it's laid bare about halfway through.

[MugginsXO]

Original Version of Movin Bass featuring Tink

Here is someone that seems to be exciting some people.

[MugginsXO]

Here is a mixtape of hers from early this year.

[MugginsXO]

I have The New Basement Tapes ready to go for after dinner when I can have a beer. Very excited about it!

[the captain]

It almost pains me to admit it after I semi-trashed him in the thread dedicated to him, but I'm listening to and almost liking:


Ariel Pink, Pom Pom

Probably the only thing that even got me to pay any attention to the album coming out at all was knowing he worked with Azealia Banks on "Nude Beach A-Go-Go," which is undoubtedly one of my 15 or so favorite songs of the year. So when I heard it was out this week, I made a point of reading about it and listening to it, in that order. I read it was reminiscent of Frank Zappa, which turned me off immediately. See, I love Zappa, and just couldn't imagine anything Pink did as being close to Zappa in quality, so I figured maybe I was in for a superficial and annoying version of Zappa-lite.

Instead, this turns out to be a pretty fucking good album. As I said even in my criticism of the guy, Pink has what matters to me maybe most of all: the gift of hook/melody. You can work around other weaknesses, but that's what a song is, at least for me. Here he displays that talent indeed much along the lines of some later 60s Zappa: think Cruisin' With Ruben and the Jets meets Uncle Meat with just a hair of Hot Rats. There are comedic nods to simple rock 'n' roll forms, there are bizarre instrument choices, there is big-dumb-blunt playing, but it's mingled with deft, nimble passages. He even sings in a Frankish voice. As with Zappa, you can tell that he isn't mocking this stuff, he loves it deeply. (He's mocking you.)

I'm not sure what I'll do now. Because damnit, I've been really successful at not much listening to Ariel Pink or caring what he does. Now I will listen a few more times on Spotify and decide what, if anything, to buy. My best guess at the moment is I'll end up with 2-4 of these songs in my collection. There are worse ways to spend five bucks. For example, I paid $10 for a 6-pack of Schell's "Fresh Hop Equinox Pilsner," which is about $3 more than their typical 6-pack and $2 more than a standard micro. I overpaid. It's fine, but nothing great. That's a few songs right there! Commiserate with me. I'm washing down my sorrow with a Schell's "Fresh Hop Equinox Pilsner."

[the captain]

I just read that my beloved "Nude Beach A-Go-Go" is a Kim Fowley co-write (with A. Pink). That sounds about right.

[Summertime Blooz]

I was just listening to the beautiful new album from Rumer, the Karen Carpenter sound-alike singer. If 70s style easy-listening (in a good way) singer songwriters is your bag, or if you just like the Carpenters, you should give this talented lady a listen if you haven't already had the pleasure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGdGvFsfqbU&list=PLwxJgFKauR_Lzl_YfnSpcPaHYjhv3lLnb

[the captain]

Yesterday on my drive home from work I heard a single from OK Go--a band I've more or less ignored in the decade or so they've been around--and really, really enjoyed it. The song is the disco-influenced "I Won't Let You Down," from the 2014 album Hungry Ghosts. The producer is David Fridmann, who did a lot of albums I liked in the late 90s and early 00s with Elf Power, the Flaming Lips, and the Delgados. (His career is much bigger than that; I'm just saying those were the albums of his I liked best.)

This groove is really fantastic: infectious in the most positive sense. I've purchased this song.

Apparently they are known for their occasionally viral videos. (I had no idea, but did a little research this morning.) Here is one for the aforementioned song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1ZB_rGFyeU

As for the rest of the album, I'm listening to it on Spotify now and doubt I'll buy it. But I might get a couple more songs. The immediate grabber is "I Won't Let You Down."

[MugginsXO]

New version of Beyonce is on Spotify and similar services. One of the best albums of last year. If you haven't checked it out, give it a go.