My favorite song (according to my mood right now – the whole thing is amazing) from the upcoming Jenny Hval album The Practice Of Love is out NOW with a great video as always from Hval’s frequent collaborator Zia Anger (+starring Anger’s mom!). The video even references the pair’s collaborations and their content they “produce and reproduce” together – the duo says about the video:
“With the release of this video we planned on publishing a dialogue between the two of us. Something that spoke about the kind of work we are doing, and that also referenced the theme of the video – the pairing of production and reproduction.
It’s a given that the product of some artistic work is worthless. You are therefore expected to ‘mother’ it instead of working and being compensated for it. And sometimes this is the best kind of work. Because it doesn’t feel valuable. Because not everybody will like it, or understand it. Because it won’t immediately be sucked up into the capitalist scroll. It has time and space to be conceived of, to sit in utero, to be birthed, to have its umbilical cord cut, and to live, to breathe.
The same is true of our collaboration. We are both seen and heard by each other, and often validated by our responses to each other. However big (with a video) or small (with an email.) Our collaboration validates each other’s right to breathe, to live, to speak. It’s the closest we get to magic.
This dialogue however, felt rushed. We will publish it at a later date. Until then.”
— Zia Anger and Jenny Hval
You may recognize Anger’s name from her videos for Zola Jesus, Maggie Rogers, Angel Olsen and Mitski, or her work as a dancer with Jenny Hval on her Blood Bitch tour.
The Practice of Love is out THIS FRIDAY (9/13) via Sacred Bones!
Welcome to August 2019’s iteration of Recommended Albums, which greets us with music like nails being hammered into your hands, with music that caresses our senses like an island breeze, with music that possesses our limbs and makes them swing wildly. In all seriousness, I greatly enjoyed the records I’ve plucked to highlight this month. Top standouts to me are Cross Record and Friendly Fires, whom by happenstance are both playing NYC on the same night. I bought Friendly Fires tickets before Cross Record show was announced, so there’s not much I can do. I’ll have a good time regardless. Onwards!
Blanck Mass – Animated Violence Mild [Sacred Bones]
A roller coaster gets longer and more chaotic as you ride it, distorting your sense of time, space and self.
Bodywash – Comforter [Luminelle]
A casual diving excursion in warm, shallow waters vibrant with sea life reveals a submerged metropolis, calcified from rising ocean temperatures.
Cross Record – Cross Record [Ba Da Bing!]
Grappling with life as a partially invisible person, taking pleasure in solitude & trusted friends only able to visually communicate with your shadow.
Esther Rose – You Made It This Far [Father/Daughter] A tipsy, moonlit walk home with thoughts that wobble between abandoning companionship for good and holding your partner tight for the rest of your life.
Friendly Fires – Inflorescent [Interscope]
One of those extreme wingsuit POV videos, racing down mountainsides with various parties and other extreme stunts happen below.
HTRK – Venus In Leo [Ghostly International]
In stasis aboard a drifting spaceship, you dream of human contact from someone outside your sleep chamber.
Infinity Shred – Forever, A Fast Life [3DOT Recordings]
Assembling and launching rocket out of salvaged parts by yourself to escape Earth before it caves in on itself.
Joan Shelley – Like The River Loves The Sea [No Quarter]
Memories of peaceful times spent in a small home near the water with friends, family and lovers inspire a series of paintings.
Salami Rose Joe Louis – Zdenka 2080 [Brainfeeder]
A semi-educational, definitely homemade VHS tape about how galaxies and molecules are the same thing plays to a high school science class.
Various Artists – Chill Pill [Public Possession]
Disconnecting from social media, you take a trip to a mountainous coast for a week of hiking, meditation, going to dance functions and gently psychedelic guided self-reflection.
The icon of 10s rap Danny Brown is back to cap off the decade with a new album coming 10/4 via Warp. The most notable nugget on press kits was that the record is executive produced by Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest. How will the old school pioneer translate into Danny Brown’s world? We last saw Brown on 2016’s Atrocity Exhibition, which reveled in harsh and unwelcoming textures with a dark, futuristic edge.
Just from this first single, we can still hear that to a certain degree, but it’s got bounce and a soulful, city-dwelling vibe. I love it and can’t wait to hear more, especially the JPEGMAFIA track!
Sudan Archives is FINALLY releasing her debut album sometime later this year via Stones Throw, and in the meantime we’re getting this great new single “Confessions”, which thankfully features her blessed violin playing. Can’t wait for this record!
Haven’t been posting that much lately and I apologize! Been SUPER busy at my main job and really hunkering down for my best of the decade prep. Not too many things have been really striking me as NEEDING to be featured on the blog, but that might be chocked up to laziness. Hoping to turn that around soon!
However, one record that’s been on pretty constant rotation since its release is Friendly Fires’ first album in eight years, Inflorescent. I’ve been highly anticipating it ever since I realized that those dudes hadn’t put out a record in a mad long time and lead singer Ed Macfarlane had some bomb vocal features on a few great records in the meantime. The lead up singles “Heaven Let Me In” and “Love Like Waves” in 2018 made me a fan again and I’m so happy to say that this album lives up to expectations. Thank goodness. Tons of super fun dance slammers.
This song in particular, “Almost Midnight”, is especially special to me and has been the subject of numerous replays. On my first listen I thought the chorus was kinda cheesy, which it is, but man: the electric groove on this song, the silly-putty-like synths, the volleys of bass being shot across the soundscape are just TOO. GOOD. The similar sounds that come to mind are like Currents-era Tame Impala (in the heavy synth psychedelia), Menos Del Oso / Planet of Ice Minus the Bear (in the sonic texture of the guitar and the melody of the chorus) and some classic dance cuts that I find on Youtube or something. The whole album is cheesy, dance pop songs that don’t take themselves too seriously. It’s SO much fun and I can’t recommend it enough if you’re looking for a good time to finish off your summer vacation.
Getting this out in the world took me way too long. July was a weird month where some truly remarkable records like Purple Mountains’ and Lingua Ignota’s, but not tooooo many more. I found plenty of pleasure in other releases, but not enough to really lock me in for good. July always seems like a quiet month, looking back on how the past four years have gone. Either way, hope you enjoy my selections here.
Drab Majesty – Modern Mirror [Dais Records]
A computer programmer is being pursued by a virus that has infiltrated a human’s body and is planning on digitizing the Earth.
KOKOKO! – Fongola [Transgressive]
A beamed in message of jubilation and revolution from a turbulent future timeline.
Lingua Ignota – CALIGULA [Profound Lore]
The blood of a sacrifice coagulates into an amorphous creature possessed by revenge.
Oli XL – Rogue Intruder, Soul Enhancer [BLOOM]
A series of therapy sessions in which an experimental fluid solution is filtered in through your brain, literally washing away detritus collected on your cerebrum, however some abnormalities may occur.
Penelope Isles – Until The Tide Creeps In [Bella Union]
Finding an amoebic shoegaze and watching them flatten out under a microscope after putting a glass slide on top of them.
Purple Mountains – Purple Mountains [Drag City]
The solemn, self-indulgent, yet accommodating final transmission from an unparalleled lyrical mind.
GR8 SONGS OF JULY::
Bodywash – “With Heat”
Charli XCX – “Gone (feat. Christine & The Queens)”
Jenny Hval’s upcoming album has now taken a giant leap in my “most-anticipated albums of 2019” race with new single “High Alice”, which continues her trend of shifting, hazy and intoxicating songs off this new album. I cannot wait.
THIS IS A CLASSIC. CAN’T STOP LISTENING. Sounds like a instant classic from the strange 70s to 80s transition, lost to the sands of time and junkie memory. The whole EP, The Smackwave EP, is fantastic, but “3.30 Psychosis” is my favorite. The EP just got reissued by Partisan Records, so check it out HERE.
RIP David Berman: musician, poet, lyricist, writer, and the leader of bands Silver Jews and Purple Mountains. The amount of tributes and messages to the beyond I’ve seen over the last 24 hours have been both inspiring and heartbreaking. I’ve been seeing plenty of artists share their feelings online about the tragedy, but also a ton of friends whose lives were greatly affected by the man’s work. From anecdotes from these folks, it’s clear that Berman was truly a special individual, a songwriter and poet able to synthesize the ordinary into the extraordinary while still keeping things so nonchalant, self-deprecating and relatable.
Truthfully I’m not the most knowledgable of fans when it comes to his work, but I really did love his newest album as Purple Mountains, and have always respected Silver Jews as a benchmark of creativity and lyricism. The new album is so incredibly heartbreaking and was hard for me to get through before – I listened to it once through last night, but it was sobering to say the least. He was loved and respected by all and for good reason. No one else writes a line quite like him. I hope he found his peace, cause he sure as hell deserves it.
Over the past two weeks, all I’ve been able to listen to Megan Thee Stallion, Rico Nasty and Joni Mitchell. Megan’s new project Fever opens the door to all of the praise in the world and Megan deserves it all. The beats are engaging, the flows are tight and Megan’s bars are HARD. I love how confident she is on every single song, it’s exciting to say the least. On this song in particular, DaBaby chimes in with a similarly horny verse, chiming in with a new voice in the hip hop sphere that I’ll be looking out for.
A stream of consciousness music blog, active since 2010. Established in Ann Arbor, MI, currently in NYC.
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March 27: ADULT. – Kissing Luck Goodbye
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Fcukers – Ö Holy Fuck – Event Beat Irreversible Entanglements – Future Present Past José González – Against the Dying of the Light King Tuff – MOO Konradsen – Hunt, Gather Lauren Auder – Whole World As Vigil Lone – Hyperphantasia The New Pornographers – The Former Site Of Pan•American – Fly The Ocean In A Silver Plane Robyn – Sexistential Shinchi Atobe – Silent Way Snail Mail – Ricochet Tom Misch – Full Circle
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April 10: Alex Zhang Hungtai – Dras Cactus Lee – Lee’s Dream Flore Laurentienne – Volume III Jessie Ware – Superbloom My New Band Believe – My New Band Believe Squarepusher – Kammerkonzert WU LYF – A Wave That Will Never Break
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Tiga – Hotlife Yaya Bey – Fidelity
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May 8: Broken Social Scene – Remember the Humans Chinese American Bear – Dim Sum & Then Some Cola – Cost of Living Adjustment Lykke Li – The Afterparty
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