Track Roundup: July
I will start this post with a bit of a foreword, so here it goes: I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to spend my birthday in London on this big fun practically year long honeymoon Justine and I have been on since February. Justine and the blog she runs with her friend have kind of inspired me to post more regularly and more personally, though my posts will never be as practical or helpful as their posts are. That's just a fact.
The reason for this foreword is to lay out some of our upcoming plans. The truth is that though we have loved our time here, we'll be getting ready to come home in around mid-late October. The very real drawback of a "very extended honeymoon" is the fact that we have been living out of suitcases since February. On top of that, Justine and I are intense homebodies, and we are sort of ready to just be at home with friends and family (not to mention the ability to get a dog.)
I think of our travel outlook like Tolkien's smallest hero, Bilbo Baggins: we have loved our adventure, but we long for the comforts of home and to really just be able to say "Travel? We've done that!" and hope the travel bug will leave us alone. Though I am sure it will not.
And so, I think I've taken up all the space I can for that, so I will just get right into all I know how to post about: Music.
(Single from Within a World Forgotten: September 14th on Profound Lore Records)
Infernal Coil are a band who I found out about a couple months ago, their 2016 EP has ended up being my favourite Death Metal release in recent years. It was chaotic, wild sounding, and deranged at times. Full of Power. I have said before, album art is important in how I see a record. The EP was graced with this cover, and it perfectly represented the sound for me. Now when I saw the cover for the band's upcoming, Within a World Forgotten I became wary. It did not look at all how I expected it to look. It is honestly a very pretty cover, but upon clicking play I was not disappointed.
The instant barrage of feedback you're subjected to is grating and unpleasant sounding. The explosion thereafter is immense. It sounds odd, but there really is not much else to comment about on this song. It is a 4 minute, unrelenting attack on the eardrums and I cannot wait for the rest of the album.
Infernal Coil are a band who I found out about a couple months ago, their 2016 EP has ended up being my favourite Death Metal release in recent years. It was chaotic, wild sounding, and deranged at times. Full of Power. I have said before, album art is important in how I see a record. The EP was graced with this cover, and it perfectly represented the sound for me. Now when I saw the cover for the band's upcoming, Within a World Forgotten I became wary. It did not look at all how I expected it to look. It is honestly a very pretty cover, but upon clicking play I was not disappointed.
The instant barrage of feedback you're subjected to is grating and unpleasant sounding. The explosion thereafter is immense. It sounds odd, but there really is not much else to comment about on this song. It is a 4 minute, unrelenting attack on the eardrums and I cannot wait for the rest of the album.
Alexandra Streliski - Changing Winds
(Single from INSCAPE: October 5th on Secret City Records)
Ever since discovering Ryuichi Sakamoto's recent albums, and finding out that pure Piano music could be interesting and not just boring, I have been branching out more in sounds that do not intend to be as loud and imposing as sonically possible. I have found myself enjoying ambient music, electronic, and more minimalist classical. Finding this track is a sort of credit to these new types of sounds which I have found myself enjoying more.
Alexandra Streliski is a Pianist who I really could not find much about, so I will merely focus on what I hear in the song. "Changing Winds" is an expansive, wandering piece with only Piano and Double Bass padding some of the more present moments of the song. It is very light and yet kind of sad at the same time, there is space in the song which allows it to breathe nicely. If you had told me a couple years ago that one of my favourite songs of the month was a solo piano piece, I might not have believed you.
I have never seemed to find a seat on the Chance the Rapper hype train. I like some songs of his but mostly his style grates on me, specifically his voice. That being said, when I like a song of his, I really like it. "No Problem" is one of my favourite Hip-Hop songs of the last couple years. Assumedly the four songs he released a couple weeks ago are some form of promotion for a yet to be announced album, I don't expect any of these to be on the album but they are all for the most part worthwhile.
"Wala Cam" became my favourite of the four, it's effortless energy and repetition actually are one of the more entertaining aspects of it, repetition normally irritates me but I like it here. Chance has a great verse, Supa Bwe has a good verse though it is very Lil Uzi Vert. I checked him out online after noticing this stark similarity, and he was around before Uzi so I won't judge. Another good summer song that was probably released a bit too late, as was the other 3 Chance songs.
Rebel Wizard are the band I have been most excited about in the last four days since first hearing them. Though the vocals, drums, and general production are all very lo-fi, the guitars are superb and are very refreshing to hear. The guitars sound very 80's, and are very flashy. I will admit, even though low production quality isn't always a bad thing, that I can definitely hear some sound editing issues and clipping that should be cleaned up before the album releases.
The song(I'm not typing it out) is a very melodic and concise Heavy and Glam Metal inspired Black Metal track, a mark of it's uniqueness among other lo-fi Black Metal offerings are the guitars. I know I've already mentioned that, but truly if it were not for the almost non-stop soloing and really tight riffing, I would not like this song nearly as much as I do. I look forward to much more from this band.
One thing I love about Spotify is that it really gives you endless option for finding new music, there are usually a good number of artists I already love who I listen to regularly, and at the bottom of an artist's page bar, you can see what they've also been featured on. So that being said, I found myself on Joey Bada$$'s(?) page and this song caught my eye. I noticed this song because of the cover, I have already talked about how evocative and aesthetically pleasing covers can really elevate music, and I checked it out because of it. Kasai is a London singer with literally no other background to speak of musically that I can find.
This is an impressive debut to be sure, she has a great voice which I'm sure after releasing more could easily help her get picked out by ear in a lineup of other singers. Kasai's accent in her singing is pretty prominent, which is charming and could become a mark of her sound. The beat is also great, it's a bass driven track that is very 90's at points and is also quite stripped down for a commercially friendly hip-hop song. Joey's verse is honestly just okay, and Kasai is the one who deserves the credit for allowing this to be a good song. I look forward to more.
"Looks like somebody designed you" Justin Bieber croons, and I don't know if he's talking about a girl, or the song itself... DJ Khaled recently started the promotion for his next album Father of Asahd with "I'm The One Part II" in the form of this song, he should have just called it "I'm The Two"... Ok I'm sorry, that was poor.
This song is supremely formulaic, but there is a reason DJ Khaled can get stars of every caliber on his tracks consistently and put his name in front of the people actually performing on his songs. That reason is because he is a great producer, he truly is. This song has a great beat, and much of his last album was layered with great beats and production. Praises done and over, this song also manages to be the most "industry pleasing" song I've ever heard. I would have no problem believing that his managers told him to just create "I'm The One" again and he listened to them to the T. Everyone phoned it in on this song and it does show, Bieber is always a good singer but Chance has a pretty plain and boring verse. And Quavo is Quavo, that's not a bad thing but he is just there for his contribution to the song. Maybe we'll get a "Wilder Thoughts" after this, I will drink soy sauce and film it if that happens.
A guilty pleasure is defined as something you enjoy, but would otherwise be embarrassed to tell people you enjoy. Chief Keef is a guilty pleasure for me in that he is not a conventionally good musician at all. He is a great artist, and deserves far more credit for creating the sound that all rappers have hopped onto since before 2012. He is largely ignored in today's trap rap scene, and unjustly. He is still as good as he was.
"Yet" is off of Mansion Musick an album Chief Keef has had slated for release for at least 4 years. I'm sure it has been scrapped and remade many times, this is a pattern with Chief Keef's artistic output. In no way is his music highbrow, but it is experimental and never sounds the same. He has a place on this list as much for the fact that the song is mostly just "ok" but also for his contribution to the modern sound of Hip-Hop.
Mathcore is something I have never liked. At all. But this new KEN Mode track doesn't sound like Mathcore, it more just sounds like Hardcore. I like what I hear, it is still sort of unremarkable in the terms of Hardcore music but their are some unique chord progressions using dissonance and differing time signatures that sort of remind me of Mastodon's Remission. This was an okay way to end off this month's track roundup, but I put it at the end so you could all have this terrifying album cover be the last thing you see of this post. Bye Bye.
Ever since discovering Ryuichi Sakamoto's recent albums, and finding out that pure Piano music could be interesting and not just boring, I have been branching out more in sounds that do not intend to be as loud and imposing as sonically possible. I have found myself enjoying ambient music, electronic, and more minimalist classical. Finding this track is a sort of credit to these new types of sounds which I have found myself enjoying more.
Alexandra Streliski is a Pianist who I really could not find much about, so I will merely focus on what I hear in the song. "Changing Winds" is an expansive, wandering piece with only Piano and Double Bass padding some of the more present moments of the song. It is very light and yet kind of sad at the same time, there is space in the song which allows it to breathe nicely. If you had told me a couple years ago that one of my favourite songs of the month was a solo piano piece, I might not have believed you.
Chance The Rapper - Wala Cam (feat. Supa Bwe & Forever Band)
(Unattached Single for promotion of untitled album)
"Wala Cam" became my favourite of the four, it's effortless energy and repetition actually are one of the more entertaining aspects of it, repetition normally irritates me but I like it here. Chance has a great verse, Supa Bwe has a good verse though it is very Lil Uzi Vert. I checked him out online after noticing this stark similarity, and he was around before Uzi so I won't judge. Another good summer song that was probably released a bit too late, as was the other 3 Chance songs.
Rebel Wizard - The prophecy came and it was soaked with the common fools forboding.
(Single from Voluptuous worship of rapture and response: August 17th on Prosthetic Records)
Rebel Wizard are the band I have been most excited about in the last four days since first hearing them. Though the vocals, drums, and general production are all very lo-fi, the guitars are superb and are very refreshing to hear. The guitars sound very 80's, and are very flashy. I will admit, even though low production quality isn't always a bad thing, that I can definitely hear some sound editing issues and clipping that should be cleaned up before the album releases.
The song(I'm not typing it out) is a very melodic and concise Heavy and Glam Metal inspired Black Metal track, a mark of it's uniqueness among other lo-fi Black Metal offerings are the guitars. I know I've already mentioned that, but truly if it were not for the almost non-stop soloing and really tight riffing, I would not like this song nearly as much as I do. I look forward to much more from this band.
Kasai - Pretty Boys (feat. Joey Bada$$)
(Debut Single)
One thing I love about Spotify is that it really gives you endless option for finding new music, there are usually a good number of artists I already love who I listen to regularly, and at the bottom of an artist's page bar, you can see what they've also been featured on. So that being said, I found myself on Joey Bada$$'s(?) page and this song caught my eye. I noticed this song because of the cover, I have already talked about how evocative and aesthetically pleasing covers can really elevate music, and I checked it out because of it. Kasai is a London singer with literally no other background to speak of musically that I can find.
This is an impressive debut to be sure, she has a great voice which I'm sure after releasing more could easily help her get picked out by ear in a lineup of other singers. Kasai's accent in her singing is pretty prominent, which is charming and could become a mark of her sound. The beat is also great, it's a bass driven track that is very 90's at points and is also quite stripped down for a commercially friendly hip-hop song. Joey's verse is honestly just okay, and Kasai is the one who deserves the credit for allowing this to be a good song. I look forward to more.
DJ Khaled - No Brainer (feat. Justin Bieber, Chance the Rapper, Quavo)
(Greatest contender for "the song which should have been released 2 months ago" to hype summer")
"Looks like somebody designed you" Justin Bieber croons, and I don't know if he's talking about a girl, or the song itself... DJ Khaled recently started the promotion for his next album Father of Asahd with "I'm The One Part II" in the form of this song, he should have just called it "I'm The Two"... Ok I'm sorry, that was poor.
This song is supremely formulaic, but there is a reason DJ Khaled can get stars of every caliber on his tracks consistently and put his name in front of the people actually performing on his songs. That reason is because he is a great producer, he truly is. This song has a great beat, and much of his last album was layered with great beats and production. Praises done and over, this song also manages to be the most "industry pleasing" song I've ever heard. I would have no problem believing that his managers told him to just create "I'm The One" again and he listened to them to the T. Everyone phoned it in on this song and it does show, Bieber is always a good singer but Chance has a pretty plain and boring verse. And Quavo is Quavo, that's not a bad thing but he is just there for his contribution to the song. Maybe we'll get a "Wilder Thoughts" after this, I will drink soy sauce and film it if that happens.
Chief Keef - Yet
(Select Track from Mansion Musick: Released July 3rd on GBE)
A guilty pleasure is defined as something you enjoy, but would otherwise be embarrassed to tell people you enjoy. Chief Keef is a guilty pleasure for me in that he is not a conventionally good musician at all. He is a great artist, and deserves far more credit for creating the sound that all rappers have hopped onto since before 2012. He is largely ignored in today's trap rap scene, and unjustly. He is still as good as he was.
"Yet" is off of Mansion Musick an album Chief Keef has had slated for release for at least 4 years. I'm sure it has been scrapped and remade many times, this is a pattern with Chief Keef's artistic output. In no way is his music highbrow, but it is experimental and never sounds the same. He has a place on this list as much for the fact that the song is mostly just "ok" but also for his contribution to the modern sound of Hip-Hop.
KEN mode - Feathers & Lips
(Single from Loved: August 31st on Season of Mist)
Mathcore is something I have never liked. At all. But this new KEN Mode track doesn't sound like Mathcore, it more just sounds like Hardcore. I like what I hear, it is still sort of unremarkable in the terms of Hardcore music but their are some unique chord progressions using dissonance and differing time signatures that sort of remind me of Mastodon's Remission. This was an okay way to end off this month's track roundup, but I put it at the end so you could all have this terrifying album cover be the last thing you see of this post. Bye Bye.
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