“That’s mad elegant, and we fucking”

Grimes – Art Angels [4AD 2015]

In which the hyper fem manic goth fairy girl of nightmares doesn’t take her edge off so much as build on top of it with hooks on hooks on hooks. It’s pop, which means that it never stops tickling the pleasure center, but for the art schoolers and general alt types who find it hard to appreciate Top 40 hits without large slabs of irony. For three albums previously Claire Boucher has tried to prove time and again that her raw talent with artificial artifice (Grimes exists solely on a laptop) is enough to make her a heavy hitter in the music industry. She succeeds not just in her demonstration of melodic understanding but her understanding of herself. Note “Pin”’s letter to youth and “Butterfly”’s fuck you to those who think she can fix them, makes it both a trip and a case study on ambition realized in real time. 4.7/5

The Gaslight Anthem – The ’59 Sound [SideOneDummy 2008]

Yes they sound like Born in the U.S.A. era Springsteen. Yes they steal a lot from it. But whereas he gave weight to the cultural moment under Reagan’s administration (and, might I add, fuck you Ronald) via short story this is pure escapist fantasy from a shattered economy for the kids who listened to it.  The common complaint is that it’s a Hollywood version of the ‘50s without racism or The Bomb, but historical fiction is rarely revisionist history and those who used it to get away for some 40 minutes knew that because they came back eventually. What’s left now is a cult classic for the emerging working class whose parents all have a bachelors at least, mostly to do with the policy systems put in place by the aforementioned fucker. 4.5/5

 Oso Oso – Basking in the Glow [Triple Crown 2019]

Jade Lilitri is looking for a better kind of emo after the cold reality of the genre’s third wave toxicity set in. He succeeds in making something that isn’t offensive but sterilizes what’s there in the process, especially the sonics. This is for the people who think that Plans and Bleed American are the best efforts of their respective groups. Same vague sense of melodic half-truths set to medium BPM. But his intoxication with apathy on “The View” and feelings for real on the denouement provide bowling alley bumpers for the frustrated not-as-white-as-you-think-they-are suburbanites who eat this stuff up for breakfast. 3.5/5

A Tribe Called Quest – We Got it From Here…Thank You 4 Your Service [Epic 2016]

A thing of beauty and power only enhanced by the poignancy of its journey from conception to release. In the Romantic ideal of getting the band back together this capstone succeeds because everyone is firing on all cylinders – including frequent guest stars and those who claim Tribe themselves as an influence. Phife Dawg, to whom every word is dedicated to, is mourned and still manages to get the last word in cynically: “as if this country ain’t already ruined”. That was at least 9 months before the election of 45 and the album’s release. Everywhere else is Q-Tip The Beat Maker Extraordinaire and Q-Tip The Rapper, whose tenor backs up Phife’s baritone with such synergy that it tickles, because it’s not just about the stacking, but the brotherhood that was the heart of this group. It’s going out on such a clear eyed emotionally diverse note of love and pain’s intersection which makes this the richest in a long line of genius art. 4.8/5