Charly Bliss- Guppy [Barsuk 2017]
Utilizing a Blue Album template, for better or for worse, but with keybs (hasn’t this been done already?) and Eva Hendricks (there’s the difference) whose voice squeaks and squeals and cracks. The core is, in essence, youthful irreverence marred by surreal solipsism; so that you know when the closing on the introduction is a winking “You say I make you feel like a man” and is followed by the explicit jealousy-over-incest that follows (America’s most known and least talked about kink) the levity is at least eyebrow raising–the dead dog some time later is equally affecting. The problem is that most of the contents amounts to tallow, held down in a fryer precariously by convolution owing itself to dull hooks and half formed imagery. Yes there’s the sweet n’ crunchy of “Scare U” and (thank god) the ode to Hendricks’ therapist “Ruby” to look forward to. But curiously nothing quite lives up to the 40 seconds after the first chorus on “Glitter” which at its own trotting pace manages to make one of the guitars disappear for half the allotted time until returning so charismatically as to be enrapturing. Then it goes right back into the bombast. 3.3/5
Earl Sweatshirt – Some Rap Songs [Columbia 2018]
This one’s def his most inaccessible, capital D Dense and so angular it’d make a dodecahedron blush, textured via samples crunchy, smooth, sweet, and smart. After almost a decade of Earl the Sadboi Wordsmith here’s Earl the Subversive; invoking both Baldwin and Hemingway’s Iceberg while moving in a direction few initially thought he could–righteous gratitude. Yes at the center of the story is his father and mother (as they always have been) but what’s so positively jarring is his articulation of The Struggle; AAVE as a dialect, crackers raping the land, subtlety decaying, and at his warmest–the one that translates to “Sugar”–all of those black women who helped him get to where he is and who he knows he owes more to than a simple refrain. The change can be marked by his surroundings which have shifted to the opposite coast where the New Yorkers he’s wrapped himself around have stabilized him better than he has been for almost half a decade, attributable to his role as one of their heroes. It all culminates in the bittersweet final act which can be boiled down to “thanks for your service I’ve got it from here” punctuated by what can only be described as one minute and six seconds ripped from his uncle to be enjoyed on a warm afternoon. Then it warbles. Then it’s over. 4.3/5
The National – I Am Easy To Find [4AD 2019]
I’d like to preface by saying that this LP is a joint release with a shortfilm, what new collaborator Mike Mills half-jokingly called a “Lemonade for sad white people” and in order to appreciate the video to its fullest – which I recommend since it’s very good – give ‘er a few spins before viewing. That being said while sequelism is never a trait commonly associated with The National the mystery of the title, cover art, and ethereal looseness of these 16 cuts is not a difficult lineage to trace. Sea Change is an apt descriptor for this new sound however, though Matt Berninger has worked with female vocalists increasingly for the last half a decade, the spotlight now put on women provides the oh so necessary other side of the interlocutions that have been the area of specialty his whole career. They come in the forms of duets, harmonies, and even take whole tracks for themselves, softening the white collar angst that’s inextricable from all their work (punch the Nazi, it’s okay really). The highlights, which include the sociopathic Rylan, the nights of tickertape, and the up-tempo search for a cranium reinforce accessibility and recognizability while epitomizing the kitschiest line so that it rings true for all: “what you think I am has never been me”. Amen brothers and sisters. 4.1/5
The 1975 – A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships [Polydor 2018]
What should be most telling is the ever decreasing Meta score, once at a mighty 88 it ended last year at 86 and rests now at 83. For defenders, yes this still indicates “Universal Acclaim” and I’m also aware of the Meta’s notorious rigging campaigns, but those usually only affect smaller groups. Instead what seems to have happened is a few late additions properly highlighted the aesthetically sterile sounds that come out of this mish mash including the P4k crowned Song of 2018 whose direct predecessors include “We Didn’t Start the Fire” and the R.E.M. one. All aforementioned fall into the category of Name Things Happening–React, here instead of cynical comfort comes toothless awe. Compounding disappointment is the thin thesis that peaks out from the bushes after the intro in which real relationships – to age, to gender, to fans, to drugs, to mental health – are poked at without exploration. The best example of Matt Healy’s digressive tendencies are on this video in which he gives a passing acknowledgement to the women suffering in Alabama before railing in favor of the genocide survivors. Speaking as a Jew, focus on the women Matty, maybe your guys’ Kid A will be better. 2.8/5
Cosmic Hero 