Odds & Ends 153

Alien landscapes from Indiana to Portland

The Cucumbers: As You Heard Me

Songs purportedly by fictional country songwriter Daisy Steinberg, and if you listen to plenty of nonfictional country songwriters you can ignore that and just enjoy the learned quirkiness and borrowed-from-Beethoven catchiness of these faux-demos—though admittedly if George Jones got his Flintstones song on the radio, who knows what he might’ve done with the crop circles one (“There’s a Crop Circle on My Daddy’s Land”, “Forever and Ever”, “Reeling Feeling”)

Angelika Niescier: Chicago Tapes

Niescier’s and Dave Rempis’s saxes and Nicole Mitchell’s flute blowin’ in the Windy City (with Jason Adasiewicz’s vibes): the palette isn’t at the center of my personal strike zone, but the quality of the musicians comes through, including the Luke Stewart-Mike Reed rhythm section when they have something to do (“Rejoice, Disrupt, Resist”, “Perigeo”, “Ext. 17”)

IVE: Revive+

While none of the included solo tracks reveal an identity distinct enough to suggest a breakup would be profitable, single “Bang Bang” reclaims that title from a trio Jessie J isn’t even the most problematic member of, “Hush” and “Stuck in Your Head” are adept spins on current electrotrends, and “Fireworks” revives their signature IVE stomp without quite reclaiming the singular of that title from the problematic (“Hush”, “Fireworks”, “Stuck in Your Head”)

Echo Deep: I Live for Music

Old school (i.e. 2010s-ish) South African deep house that conceptualizes amapiano as a passing donk in the night: good vocals, good vibes, no counting required (“Bayangzonda”, “Blues Life”, “Heart & Soul”)

The Messthetics & James Brandon Lewis: Deface the Currency

JBL might be better at improvising music than anyone right now, let alone anyone in Fugazi, yet the rhythm section is solid and mostly fun, and Anthony Pirog’s better and funner than that (“Serpent Tongue (Slight Return)”, “Deface the Currency”, “Rules of the Game”)

Afterglow: Songs to Perform in an Empty Room EP

Tuneful guitar rock, played pretty proficiently, where you know what all the songs mean, with the after-the-fact first love song a bit special (“First Love Song”, “Ordinary Problems”, “Mean Maxine”)

DJ Eprom: We Are the Biobots

The Warsaw-not-SF DJ Eprom and a lineup of guest turntablists to make the International DJ Association judges’ heads spin will certainly appeal to people who’ll go “oh, nice use of the Roland SVC-350 there”; lay listeners can find variety in the scratching if they listen hard and just enjoy the funny cyborg voices if they don’t (“Electrode”, “Priority”)

Shaking Hell: Oh Great, Hassle!

Agitating your bourgeois sense of rhythm for only the most noble causes: trans survival as radical act, art-film in-jokes, a counting song (“Oh Great, Hassle!”, “Mabel Longhetti”, “Digits”)

Al Green: To Love Somebody EP

Better R.E.M. than Michael Stipe’s, better Bee Gees than Michael Bolton’s, better bury “Perfect Day” with Lou, better the median song on Loaded than that (“Everybody Hurts”, “To Love Somebody”)

KiiiKiii: Delulu Pack EP

A critics’ girl group in the US (in Korea they just sell a ton of records) who convey class, fashion, and familiarity with Charli XCX, they’re as lively as most of their beats, and only the less fun kind of critic might await the rapping getting better (“404 (New Era")”, “Delulu”, “Underdogs”)

Masaka Kids Africana: Grateful

Cute hour-plus with at least thirty minutes of delight if your nonprofit self-promotion alarm isn’t too sensitive (“This Is How We”, “Moods”)