the first ten tracks, meditations I-X, from sufjan's convocations album are up on bandcamp/spotify/other_places. full release is may 6th. from the bandcamp description:
Quote:
It may be tempting to reduce Convocations into a longform ambient anomaly within Sufjan Stevens’ vast catalogue. It is, however, neither an anomaly nor entirely ambient. This is not a side project. From his numerous dance scores for New York City Ballet to instrumental albums such as Enjoy Your Rabbit, Aporia, and The BQE, Stevens spends at least half his working life making largely instrumental music, as he has for decades. And though the first ten pieces, dubbed “Meditations,” unfurl as gorgeous states of reflective new-age grace, this is by no means an ambient enterprise. Stevens invokes the lessons of Morton Subotnick, Maryanne Amacher, Christian Fennesz, Brian Eno, and Wolfgang Voigt here. As musically erudite as it is emotionally experienced, Convocations can be dissonant, vertiginous, rhythmic, repetitive, urgent, or calm—that is, all the things we undergo when we inevitably live through loss, isolation, and anxiety.
Indeed, Convocations moves like a two-and-a-half-hour requiem mass for our present times of difficulty, its 49 tracks allowing for all these feelings to be felt. The album is divided into five sonic cycles, each replicating a different stage of mourning. Convocations occasionally soothes and sometimes hurts; when it’s done, you’re left with a renewed sense of wonder for being here at all.
In fact, Stevens made Convocations in response to (and as an homage to) the life and death of his biological father, who died in September last year, two days following the release of The Ascension. It is, then, ultimately an album about loss, and an album that reflects a year in which we have all lost so much. One could easily compare this project to Stevens’ album Carrie & Lowell, which he wrote following his mother’s death. But this is something entirely different. A new time, a new season, a new life lost, a new reckoning, a new kind of isolation, grief, despair, frustration, confusion, and the search for happiness and hope for the future. This is not a personal record, but a universal one. Convocations is built on a shared experience that seeks to be honest about how complicated grief can be in these difficult times—the pain, the anxiety, the unknown, the absolute joy of memory. This is also an album made in lockdown, when we were all cloistered in whatever space we had. So long as the science and statistics hold, Convocations arrives just as we begin to emerge from a year whose losses we will calculate for a lifetime. It is, then, right on time, as we begin to process our grief and try to carry on with it. —Grayson Haver Currin
This is one of the oddest hip-hop records I've heard in years.
Whatever that's worth.
Wolf's flow is bizarre. And... well, he's aware.
I'll check it out since hes affiliated with Danny Brown. Thanks for the rec
Danny appears on a track too. It's not a mindblowing verse or anything, but it's a needed shake up from Wolf's delivery. Unfortunately, the album's second track is about 2.5 minutes too long and derails the pace off the bat, but the rest is all pretty tight. More than anything, it's different. I'm not even quite sure how good I'd consider it, but I can't seem to leave it off my chart at the moment. _________________ Doubles & Conch
Okay last friday and this friday music dumps seem weak to me (They 100% factually are not weak, I simply hadn't done and haven't done my research, compared to the releases of albums I instantly was hyped about or really into on April 2nd) but there are a couple albums dropping on Friday that so far seem like they may be great or I am a bit interested in. Namely:
Noise rock/post hardcore beasts The Armed are releasing Ultrapop soon and the singles have been really solid. Its not added to BEA just yet so can't share cover. But it is a cool cover.
also... okay, I lied, I can't find anything else I am excited about. But if any of you are aware of some albums or EPs or songs dropping soon or have recently dropped but went under the radar, let me know. _________________ -Ryan
also... okay, I lied, I can't find anything else I am excited about. But if any of you are aware of some albums or EPs or songs dropping soon or have recently dropped but went under the radar, let me know.
Vulture Prince by Arooj Aftab
(This could be really good)— her last album was like early Julia Holter but a smidge more classical instrumentation than ambient.
Also new stuff from Howie Lee, Female Species, Ballaké Sissoko, BRUIT ≤, Louis-Jean Cormier and Prabh Deep (I have too many images in this post though). _________________ Doubles & Conch
MercuryTurn your back on the pay-you-back last callProfile St. Louis
holy shit, Hayden, much appreciated! Some of those look really cool.
On that SVE epic 10 album or whatever, I don't think I fully understand what it is. Just covers or reimaginings of her album from 10 years ago? _________________ -Ryan
On that SVE epic 10 album or whatever, I don't think I fully understand what it is. Just covers or reimaginings of her album from 10 years ago?
You understand it perfectly. It's covers and reimaginings of her album from 10 years ago (which I haven't heard, and I'm holding out on). In a sense it's not even a Sharon Van Etten record... it's Big Red Machine (Bon Iver/ Aaron Dessner), IDLES, Lucinda Williams, Shamir, Courtney Barnett, St. Panther and Fiona Apple. Almost a tribute album kinda style. _________________ Doubles & Conch
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
craola
Streams
Hayden
travelful
Keatownrodriguez
Mercury
