Video & Audio: Donklessness blues

Darling, it’s better down where it’s wetter

Dlala Thukzin, Zaba, & Sykes: “iPlan”

A major South African hit that’s different enough from that country’s EDM norms to spark “is it gqom or amapiano” debates. Thukzin, from south of Durban, claims the former, but despite the donklessness it’s not entirely clear-cut to me: there are chillout synths with really loud snares over the top, plus falsetto and non-falsetto vocals. Whatever you call it, expect to hear more of it.

Morgan Wade: “Phantom Feelings”

Last week I called this a “half-masterpiece” and I’m already worried I was 50% too low. The story recalls the ending of The English Patient (the book; never saw the movie), describing a bond that persists no matter how irrevocably finished the relationship is. Also: blondness as a marker of wisdom.

Peso Pluma & Grupo Frontera: “Tulum”

I’m still trying to work out why Peso Pluma has become Mexico’s breakout star of the year: is it the eyewear? It’s evident why Grupo Frontera has become Mexico’s breakout band of the year: Payo Solis is as rich a singer as norteño music has produced in the admittedly short time I’ve been listening. Also, they have a blue accordion.

Feid & Young Miko: “Classy 101”

The male-female duet where both participants (i) sound like they’re on the same song and (ii) are surpassingly horny is rare these days despite being very satisfying sonically. The solution here is for the protagonists not to be surpassingly horny for each other (clearer in the video from the way Ms. Miko plays with the video girl’s hair) but for the concept of fantastic asses in general.

Ela Minus & DJ Python: “Abril Lluvias Mil”

More waterlogged reggaeton, which does sound like a thousand rains; within them, the touch-free hugs and other paradoxes of E. Minus (not an auspicious name on this blog) cohere because everything’s different under the sea. There’s also a 45-minute Ricardo Villalobos remix, but I ain’t a good enough swimmer for that.

Atmosphere: “Bigger Pictures”

Slug lopes through fifty years, at least forty of which have been marked by self-doubt, at a comparable pace per decade to "Being Boring", and still fits in a piano solo and a long outro that repeats “on and on” like he’ll keep rapping for another half century. Here’s hoping.

Bully: “All This Noise”

Lucky for You is the first album of hers I’ve listened to, and failing to call it Bully for You may yet prove unforgivable, but this two-minute closer is on another level to the rest of the record. Has she ever done a whole album of shout-punk? Olivia and I would listen to that.

Kah-Lo: “Fund$”

“Girls just want to have funds”, but also “I’ve been broke and it ain’t no fun.” As always, Kah-Lo’s deadpan nestles snugly within house beats, but this time it has a cynical edge to it that may be necessary as a music biz survival mechanism.

Sabrina Carpenter: “Feather”

On her second attempt, she finally put a song I want to hear more than twice on the not-my-thing Emails I Can’t Send with basically a K-pop single. You assume the lyrics are meaningless, mitigating her enunciation issues that would make even her precedent Ariana want to throw consonants at her, which makes her clearly spoken “I’m so sorry for your loss” seem like early Girls’ Generation pseudorandomly including a mangled ESOL phrase like “I’m genie for you boy”.

Aespa: “Better Things”

Part of the NewJeans-accelerated trend towards less maximalist K-pop that gives the song more room to breathe. The quartet are old pros at this point and their English is good enough to handle the high-frequency syllables, though it would’ve been fascinating if co-writer and actual star now Raye had guested.

Matana Roberts: “Enthralled Not by Her Curious Blend”

Seriously, read the lyrics. Roberts might be writing the best words-on-paper of any current American musician, and that’s not even the greater part of their mixed media sound art.