Odds & Ends 100
U.S. Girls: Heavy Light
The good news is you can dance to most of this, the bad news is that there’s no end in sight to finance capitalism, there’s no escape from work besides atypical wealth, that the entire fiat currency system is basically a collective delusion; on the whole, the bad news outweighs the good, though it would be closer if this grooved a little harder (“4 American Dollars”, “Denise, Don’t Wait”, “Overtime”)
Two New Yorkers, two Australasians, thirteen minutes of amusing causally misandrist nuke-the-frats hardcore punk, the end (“Or You Or You”, “Power Tool”, “Don’t Talk Back”)
Despite the name, functionally a Greek rebetiko-rock quartet thanks to their permanent guest Italian drummer, with Antonis Antoniou’s tzouras the pleasant lead, the rhythm guitar providing welcome grit, and the bass often finding interesting counterpoints to the melody line (“Rotten Luck”, “The First Day”, “Shooting Star”)
Ian MacKaye, Amy Farina, and busy bassist Joe Lally celebrate respectable protest like the resistance parents they are—a minor threat, but a threat nevertheless (“Clean Kill”, “Hard to Explain”, “Too Many Husbands”)
Gyedu-Blay Ambolley: 11th Street, Sekondi
Septuagenerian self-proclaimed inventor of rap produces Afrobeat with Ghanian characteristics: fluent sax and bandleading, some intersectional feminism, some appreciation of African female form that might be considered intersectional feminism… okay maybe not, but endlessly funky (“Who Made Your Body Like Dat”, “Black Woman”)
iLe: Almadura
Calle 13 relative turned band member turned ouster of the governor of Puerto Rico makes alt-Latin music that’s surprisingly non-incendiary and respectful of Eddie Palmieri, yet highly empowering and empowered (“Sin Masticar”, “Curandera”)
Lady Gaga: Chromatica
Excessive even at 43 minutes, but the excess is the point, and not a very good one when it camouflages the first-rate songs: Skrillex one, K-pop one, ennui in the club one (“Fun Tonight”, “Sour Candy”, “Plastic Doll”)
Hellbound Glory: Pure Scum
Purveyor of “scumbag country” so authentic he lives in Reno gets Shooter Jennings’s band to illustrate some clever concepts and also “I’m drunk, I’m high, and it’s DUI or die” (“Dial 911”, “DUIORDIE”)
Allie X: Cape God
One Canadian hit wonder spins tales of the New England opioid epidemic with tone control and sharp phrasing that makes guests Troye Sivan and Mitski seem inaccurate, while her hangers-on-of-Max-Martin producers invent reliably intriguing noises, while the emotions, which include “happy” and “not happy,” come through clearly enough (“Fresh Laundry”, “Rings a Bell”)
Unreal City: Cruelty of Heaven
Hardcore band that’s learned from metal how to be genuinely hard; perhaps it would’ve been better if they hadn’t also learned how to write lyrics from metal, but more often that not they mosh right over such petty concerns (“Sin in God’s Name”, “Final Gift Upon Humanity”)
Kehlani: It Was Good Until It Wasn’t
Good title for an album that spares us James Blake until track 13 (“Water”, “Can I”)
Džambo Aguševi Orchestra: Brasses for the Masses
Big band Balkan funk featuring articulate trumpet from the leader, plus a little rapping (“Macedonia right to your home yeah,” sure why not): kitsch, but the kind of kitsch that livens up parties, if we ever have those again (“Brasses for the Masses”, “Sikidim”)
Invisible System: Dance to the Full Moon
Fusion project spearheaded by Brit-turned-Ethiopian-turned-Malian-turned-Brit-again Dan Harper features a lead track so killer that even the one that sounds like New Order doesn’t really come close (“Bajura”, “Juru”)
The Chicks: Gaslighter
Natalie Maines was a more engaging narrator when instead of embarrassing problematic men, she straight murdered them; still, “will your dad pay your taxes now that I’m done?” might induce a fatality (“Gaslighter”, “Sleep at Night”)
You’d expect a jammy supergroup that includes Dave Alvin, Camper Van Beethoven’s bassist, and some guy from the Counting Crows would do a respectable “Morning Dew”, and they do, but one is glad Jesse Sykes is the one who sings it (“Morning Dew”, “The Dolphins”)
Taylor Swift: Folklore
Don’t yet know whether she’s settling into being new middle-aged Dylan or new middle-aged Springsteen, but I’d prefer the one who eventually made great albums again (“Betty”, “The Last Great American Dynasty”, “This Is Me Trying”)