Odds & Ends 138
Interior heartlands of several continents, coastal cosmopolises of several millennia
Tyler Dial: Electric West
Maybe the most Musgravian male country singer-songwriter to date, leaning more towards the Spacey Kacey era than I’d like but with moments of directness: “Sad Cactus” (figurative, but what if it wasn’t), and “Left of Center”: “that’s where the heart is”, sigh/awww (“Left of Center”, “Way Back When”. “Sad Cactus”)
Aespa: Drama mini-album
Opening tracks are hard and futuristic with dra-ma-ma-ma-matic hooks, then things get eclectic with the Red Velveteen “Hot Air Balloon” (the chorus is an arpeggio that rises to a sensible height), the hyperpop-curious “YOLO”, the midtempo “You” showing their ability to sell sophisticated progressions, and the Raye cast-off “Better Things” suggesting an all-R&B mini is worth a shot (“Better Things”, “Hot Air Balloon”, “You”)
Funtabi*: Hear Me Baby? Hold Together
In Manhattan, KS, power pop with strategic falsetto, na-na-na singalongs, and slightly distorted melodic guitar solos still exists, as do mixtapes, or at least the physical evidence of them (“Mixtape”, “Headphones”, “Everything”)
Anne Jezini: Em Fuga
Manaus singer with an unforced, Madonnaish style that foregrounds the mostly-love-and-loss-I-think lyrics—though one title references a book by Amazonian activist poet Thiago de Mello—in a way that’ll help me when I get around to learning Portuguese in the 2030s (“Céu de Lurex”, “Recado”, “Faz Escuro Mas Eu Canto”)
McKinley Dixon: Beloved! Paradise! Jazz??
In terms of good intentions, off the charts; in terms of jazz, well, there’s a harpist and a children’s chorus, but sometimes the rapping cuts through the schlock and often familial love emanates from it, so I’d approve if his next project is an adaptation of Song of Solomon, especially if he listens to a bunch of old blues records in the meantime (“Live! from the Kitchen Table”, “Mezzanine Tippin’”, “Hanif Reads Toni”)
Shakes & Les: Funk Series
Amapiano flavor of the moment: while not terribly novel, the percussion is very artificial and very African, the vocals are jazzy and from some time in the future, and the compositions mutate so that none of the six 6-ish minute tracks linger at one level of intensity for too long (“Funk Dala”, “Funk 99”, “Funk 55”)
Solid Blake: Rinse FM March 10 2023
Hard all the time—hard techno, hard breaks, hard work for the listener—yet an impressive feat of industrial engineering, and probably good to do CrossFit to
BabyDrill: MadMan
Associate or maybe relative of 21 Savage whose legal run-ins haven’t made him cautious about shooting people in his lyrics has a high voice/low voice trick in which both parts are charismatic and weird—could be a star, though worse outcomes remain on the table (“Back from the Dead”, “Blood Bath”)
More math-minor emo from the heartland interior, by which I mean Hubei Province, and they get -tional enough to overcome my prejudices at least once (“Wuhan”, “April Story”)
Sahwari singer uses her sweet, ductile voice to spin tales of legendary birds and refugee camp life, and if a few arrangements bring attention to her having been in Spain a long time, “Metal, madera”, while not metal, shows she can rock with some vigor (“Thajliba”, “Metal, madera”)
While I can’t say I personally want my garage post-punks singing something called “Talkin’ on the Internet” at any level of irony, the better-titled “Clashing at the Party”, in which they admit to being old enough to have stolen iPods, shows their travails can be of offline interest if they stay melodic (“Clashing at the Party”, “Herberts on Holiday”)
Aging Philly hardcore punks have a highly efficient rhythm section and enduring rage about helicopter parents, that beeping sound your car makes when you haven’t fastened your seatbelt, and sapiosexuals: okay, that last one’s fair enough (“Cling to a Poisoned Dream”, “Anti-Sapio”)
*Disclaimer: at least one member of this band was at my wedding