Odds & Ends 152
Nearly ready for 2026, I promise
Pool Kids: Easier Said Than Done
Emo-adjacent Floridians, wordy yet unafraid to add sheen to the tunes and to the words of rockstar-shouldbe Christine Goodwyne, who, happy to share, tells us her insecurities, her workout routine, her alcohol problems and other people’s, yet she keeps a lightness in fucked up moments and over mathed-up riffs, saving her big belt for when she wants it to be clear that she’s confused (“Exit Plan”, “Sorry Not Sorry”, “Leona Street”)
Jade: That’s Showbiz Baby! The Encore
The ex-Little Mixer coughs up eight more tracks to attempt to resurrect an album that no one in the US besides Rob Sheffield paid sustained attention to, and they still won’t, but they’re missing out on banging low-ends that aren’t mixed too loud, queer solidarity to the extent of covering Madonna, modern feelings wrapped in comfortingly familiar packaging (“Church”, “Best You Could”, “If My Heart Was a House”)
Five-piece jazz plus (lots of) electronics group that isn’t too far from sounding like downtown classical, with snippets of fine Josh Johnson sax, fun pops and dinks, and most of the time a beat you can dance to, however awkwardly (“Chicago Three”, “Old Mytth”, “Daves”)
New Zealander whose similarities to pre fame explosion Chappell Roan are more visual and biographical (the South Island is basically Missouri) than musical besides big bold feelings painted in big bold colors, and if prioritizing writing over big bold choruses might keep her to niche audiences, there are niches you can get comfortable in (“Primary”, “Goldfish”, “I Wasn’t into You Anyway”)
DJ Love/DJ Danz/DJ Ericnem: Budots World: 3-Hit Combo!
DJ Love invented Davao City’s dinky, post-Eurodance adaptation of EDM circa 2009 and sounds the most dated, which isn’t for the worse with this music; DJ Danz’s squeaky hooks and repeated voice samples make him the most annoying, which isn’t for the worse with this music; DJ Ericnem is the most tasteful, which, well (“Put Your Hands Up”, “Bababoy”, “Troll Style”)
Nakibembe Embaire Group (2023)
Ugandan team hammers a multiperson xylophone, often avoiding Berghain (“Omukazi Iwe Ongeyengula Nguli Zna Ntyo Bwenkola”, “Baligabana”, “Abe Nakibembe Mwaye Ga, Embaire”)
Reticent retro rockers (I might’ve missed the same-sex one if I wasn’t listening for it) dependent on tunes, and the one that got on to AAA radio isn’t thaaaat far above their median (“I Want You (Fever)”, “Ohio All the Time”, “How to Breathe”)
Ingebrigt Håker Flaten (Exit) Knarr: Drops
Intriguing work that doesn’t attempt the gravity of their great 2021 album, with the highlights free to try on Bandcamp—the impressionistic title track and “Austin Vibes”, remixed into riotousness by Karl Hjalmar Nyberg (“Austin Vibes”, “Drops”)
Aesop Rock: I Heard It’s a Mess There Too
Is mastery of all pre-Weezy flows and wry-not-hilarious rhyming my idea of fun: sure, but it could be funner (“The Cut”, “Full House Pinball”, “Opossum”)
A singer-songwriter-Californian who’s actually interested in the “singing” part of the job—she has phrasing and everything—and as for the songs, after two major emotional statements up front, she more often than not gives us an odd mix of receivedness and poetry, though it’s an achievement to get “anti-capitalist” to scan in a chorus (“Be Kind”, “Silk and Velvet”, “Villain”)
The Deep: Kpop B!tch
First album from a genuinely indie Korean wannabe, who surfs Frost Children’s and Grandma’s hyperbeats deftly and has attitude to spare; without big corporation hooks, however, a little more variation in intensity (even over 25 minutes) wouldn’t have gone amiss (“I Hate Silence”, “EDM”)
Peso Pluma & Tito Double P: Dinastía
Mexico’s biggest star and his slightly better singing cousin are easier to take when you only have to listen to either one of them for half a verse at a time, though it would help more if they somehow found a second topic—letting her have a turn on top doesn’t count (“Intro”, “Ni Pedo”)
Sylvie Courvoisier & Wadada Leo Smith: Angel Falls
Two vets serving the same avant-garde comfort food they do every night, Pinky: Smith displays his inimitable mix of tone colors and Courvoisier hits an artful twiddle here and there so that when a clump of chords comes it’s a hallelujah no matter how much dissonance there is (“Olo’Upnea and Lightning”, “Naomi Peak”)
Mariah Carey: Here for It All
R&B album HM, adult contemporary album HM, Christmas album HM, one of the biggest-selling albums of all-time HM, total flop HM, greatest hits HM, this one even if you pretend it’s an EP and stop halfway HM; in conclusion she should be in the Hall of Fame for consistency (“Play This Song”, “Type Dangerous”)
Prolapse: I Wonder When They’re Going to Destroy Your Face
Leicester Polytechnic’s finest noisy post-punk septet reforms after a quarter century to get their thirty quid apiece out of the ’90s revival: they’re more instrumentally accomplished than the shoegaze kids, yet they seem like such interesting people (they’re led by an archeologist and the first woman to edit the Leicester Mercury) that I’m a little disappointed that their songs are Ubu-esque irony-snarl rather than nerdy (“On the Quarter Days”, “The Fall of Cashline”)
Olivia Dean: The Art of Loving
Likable if limited singer knows her comfort zone, and radio’s (“So Easy (to Fall in Love)”, “Man I Need”)