Here's some of the latest 80's/90's hipster new-release news...
Everything But the Girl's new album Fuse is out today, and I'm listening to it now. It's a pretty good album, especially after such a long hiatus, and it's probably the best thing they've done since they basically became an EDM act in 1995 or so. It's not like I was expecting Love Not Money Part II, but putting all that aside, EBtG has always had some of the worst album-cover art in the business, and this may be their worst yet. I'd include the image here in this post if it weren't so distractingly awful. What is going on with these two? Are they visually-impaired in some way? I don't get it.
Big news for shoegazers: Slowdive's Neil Halstead, on this podcast episode just over a week ago, says the band has "finished" a new album. No other details, but that was enough to get a few music writers to mention it, here for example. This alone could make 2023 a banner year for the genre, and since there are still rumors of a new My Bloody Valentine album at some point, this could end up being the biggest year for old-school shoegazers since 1993. I might even have to buy new shoes!
Robyn Hitchcock's new collection of solo acoustic guitar instrumentals, Life After Infinity, comes out on Sunday (according to the Bandcamp page, anyway). For non-fans, this won't sound like much to get excited about, but the rest of us know that his solo acoustic guitar instrumentals are some of the coolest around, so I'm really looking forward to this. And hey, there's a fish on the cover! With a rose on it! It's @$#%^&!! perfect! Why can't Everything But the Girl just do something like that? I remain bewildered.
Finally, in the "recording artists under 50 years of age" category, I kinda like this new album by Fenne Lily, though I can't deny that it's fairly inoffensive waify soft rock for the most part. She's definitely in the running for the Nobel Prize for Having a Voice Like Joni Mitchell's, but I guess we'll have to see how the Committee rules on that, given the large number of competing nominees.
Yallah Beibe by MC Yallah
Kenyan/Ugandan rapper who impressed me with (what I still consider) one of the best records of 2019 (which, insanely feels like a lifetime away and just like yesterday at the same time) — her latest is a fast-paced punch of bangers. Really nice mixture of grit and groove— aggressive, chill, industrial, raw, innovative— there's some difficult beats to go over here. I'm not sold this is better than her 2019 offering, but it's she's still bound to be one of the best hip-hop acts out of Africa atm. Isn't a long release or anything, go give it a spin.
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No Highs by Tim Hecker
There's two records from 2011— Ravedeath, 1972 & New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges— both coincidentally, and proudly, from the Canadian scene— which shaped how I wanted to make music moving forward. And while both artists have gone on to make other strong records, and jumped headfirst into film/TV score territory, the fact Hecker and Stetson are having their collab moment is an unexpected triumph a dozen years later. I have a feeling a fair portion of this record is from a scrapped score created around Hecker's The North Water sessions— similar-ish cold/ominous vibe— but this is a step up from typical ambient minimalism. Beautiful, complex compositions— like a ticking dream, cut short by waking up. Some genius moves here.
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MotherFather by Petite Noir
Petite Noir's 2015 output is still some of my favourite material of the last decade— his breakthrough track Chess in colossal— but the dude's been a little quiet since. He had a quiet EP in 2018 that wasn't overly interesting, but otherwise. I've seen his influence in larger acts like Yves Tumor and Perfume Genius, but for Petite Noir himself has fallen off. Unfortunately, this doesn't reach the highs it should. Oddly boring/monotonous/same-y same-y track over track, and the thing is only 29 minutes long. A lot of the songs don't really get anywhere. Hit play on Concrete Jungle, Play, maybe Blurry— but the rest is too dull compared to what it wants to be.
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Why Does The Earth Give Us People To Love? by Kara Jackson
Gave this a spin on a bus a couple hours after it dropped. Was really looking forward to it after the first singles. While Jackson overstays her due by a smidgen, it's a lovely release. Extremely confident for a debut. Her unusual (in a good way) vocal delivery captivated me, and the standout tracks— Dickhead Blues, Pawnshop & the title track— are some of the year's best so far. Wish she trimmed a bit here and there though— would've helped the record as a whole. (And as much as I appreciate her alt-country style, I'd like to see her give more into Mount Eerie/ Sun Kil Moon territory in the future). Hoping this is the start to an interesting career.
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With A Hammer by Yaeji
I think I've given this a 7/10 on here, but the more I think about it the more I realize that's too high. This isn't the record I wanted Yaeji to release. Coming off some really cool EPs with fantastic and effortlessly mellow vibes (particularly tracks like Drink I'm Sippin On, Raingurl & Feel It Out— not to mention that Drake cover where she outdoes him)— this is... abstractly messy? While it's a semi-coherent, and there's some nice fleeting moments, there aren't a whole lot of good ideas here. It's not an easy album to enjoy, and I'm not sure what these songs are for. Despite seeming exciting on the surface, the collection of songs boiled down to boring really fast. Some of the tracks even verge annoying. Passed Me By & Submerge FM are highlights, maybe 1 Thing To Smash— but otherwise I found it an extremely underwhelming meh.
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On The Romance Of Being by Desire Marea
This was my runner-up runner-up for the ALC. It's a great record, even though it can be a bit much at times. Desire Marea dropped one of my favourite albums of 2020, and I have a feeling this one will be sticking around fairly high my 2023 chart. At only 8 tracks, Marea whipped up an experience here. Next-level production (including some very complicated/impressive mixing)— and some excellent genre-fusing work. Art pop meets... (spiritual jazz? I suppose)— the bookends on this (Ezulwini & Banzi) are probably some of the most explosive tracks of the year so far. It's a lot to digest— it's a bit overwhelming even— but if you want an epic record, he's got one for you. _________________ Doubles & Conch
I was gonna say that this album was the first one this year to really blow me away. Finally feel a bit inspired to check out more 2023 and 2022 music. Admittedly I haven't listened to much this year and yet I have heard some good stuff. But this was the first album to really blow me away and cetainly the first one where I listened multiple times the night of release back to back to back. Highly recommended. Truly gorgeous.
Great stuff that I didn't see coming. Not all too familiar with her work, but it's the best by her I've heard. Don't ask me for genre definition, you youngsters know how to do this better than me.
Another update from Paste — not much for me to get excited about (at least nothing I haven't already mentioned), but I guess there's a new Beach Fossils album coming out on June 1, and a new Dream Wife album coming out on June 9, so if I can just get through this month I should be OK.
Someone at Paste really likes the new Mega Bog album, which is scheduled for May 19, but I'm just not hearing what they're hearing, I guess. (The album cover is pretty gosh-darn NSFW though, so maybe that will goose up the sales numbers a bit... assuming they don't give it one of those "Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking" treatments.)
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