“I love my dead gay son”

Moses Sumney – grae [Jagjaguwar 2020]

Double down on the space, the prog, the folk, the LENGTH, throw in some messages about being isolated and distill it into painful listening. I miss the light material like an ex-junkie misses being allowed to celebrate. Can appreciate bringing race into in more explicitly even if utilized mostly to New Age ends. 1.4/5

Jay Electronica – A Written Testimony [ROC Nation 2020]

Long has he built and played into his own mythos. The nomad who never actually releases a longform anything until now. With Jay-Z as backup the man currently known as Elpadoro F. Electronica Allah spends song after song preaching the Path of The Prophet. The Nation saved his life so I don’t doubt his sincerity even as I fault his appreciation of Farrakhan but here the small pleasures are retro sounds he dresses up in reverb so they sounds like they’re from the 60’s to cosplay as a brother to Malcolm. But as always there are the groaners. “I snap on the track like the fingers of Thanos” oy vey. 3.1/5

The 1975 – Notes on a Conditional Form [Dirty Hit/Polydor 2020]

Am I supposed to even bother pretending this is worth the money in your electric bill to stream? Like Matt Healy doesn’t just mention things with no take on them to stir up reactions (see: The Pinegrove reference or even for that matter “people like people”)? Like he and his band don’t just water down some recipe of punk, rage, sincerity, soul, gospel, pop, and “indie” into a tropical flavored La Croix? There’s no substance here, there’s too much no substance for an 80+ minute project where even as genre blends more and more these algorithm experts somehow manage to take everything they can for profit and still manage to make it aesthetically revolting. It’s Michael Bay for the ears. 0.5/5

Boston Manor – Glue [Pure Noise 2020]

Purchased by my father for its metascore and shared with me because I’m into depressive stuff this has to be a farce right? Why does every Brit band who makes music like this just end up with derivative Warped Tour noise from 2011? Also an exhausting listen, during every spin I’ve done I’ve wished for mercy by track 7. 1.4/5