Music thread 2K16

I think the best release I've heard all year so far has to definitely be John T. Gast's "INNA BABALON". Like most of his releases, it dabbles in the many facets of underground experimental electronic/ambient music, but with a lot more personality and definition. Every track has it's own strong identity, and overall, unlike a lot of new ambient, electronic releases of late, nothing runs together. Every track keeps you coming back to it, most likely due to John's masterful understanding of pop mannerisms that are evenly matched and often-times coexist with delicate subtlety. No track pales in comparison to one another, and every listen of the album is at it's best when listened in full. To know what to expect, I would liken John's work to other artists with a similar style and attitude such as Inga Copeland, Dean Blunt, Andy Stott, Actress, Lee Gamble, Cristian Vogel, Lord Tusk, Mica Levi, etc... To Stream/Buy this album, it is up on obscure label 5GateTemple's Bandcamp. There was a cassette release, but it was extremely limited and is currently out of print. If you are craving a uniquely catchy and hauntingly beautiful experimental/electronic/ambient experience, by all means check it out.

Recently got my Aphex Twin Cheetah EP. Solid record with CHEETAHT7b being the high-point and CIRKLON1 the least memorable to me. According to the back cover it was written and produced pre-Syro. I know CHEETAHT7b for one was included in his massive soundcloud dump but I don't remember if it had a date written to it.

EDIT: Actually, was it CHEETAH2 that was part of the soundcloud releases? Fuck I don't remember.

The new Schoolboy Q album Blank Face LP is very good, mostly throughout. A couple dud features from Kanye and E-40 but otherwise I like just about it all. Enjoy the tone and Schoolboy's lyrics and delivery. Still need to listen to more but might be up there with the best albums of the year. There is some good variety, including when he raps like Kurtis Blow on Big Body which cracks me up.

Really enjoy Torch, Whatever U Want, By Any Means, Big Body, and John Muir.

Veil of Maya is really cool. Fun fact.

So excited for the new Clams Casino album tomorrow, 32 Levels.

He put out the ASAP Rocky and Lil B featured "Be Somebody" today and I've already listened to it like 30 times. Always vibed so much with his music and can't wait to hear more.

@grithor: Has anyone gone through and categorized the massive soundcloud archives? I would love to read a post that properly segments each track if only for the fact that it would keep me from doing it myself, driving me crazy in the process.

@the_tribunal: I haven't been keeping up on it since it ended but I'm almost positive the crazy diehard fans over at the WATMM forums have put together a full and comprehensive collection.

I remember while it was happening everyone furiously hammering F5, ripping every track, and there were some Richard put up for like a minute before taking down.

@grithor: Fuck That's awesome. Writing code right now and listening to Cheetah on a nice pair of headphones. Aphex is a damn treasure.

@the_tribunal: Agreed! I'm really glad he's putting out new music.

I really really like the new James Ferraro album. It explores a lot of the same things touched on in Far Side Virtual, i.e. being human in an insane corporate computerized world, but it does such with less of a cheeky ironic tone, and with more acoustic instrumentation. It approaches modern classical. It's a great, weird ride.

@yummytreesap: I'm really digging the first track.

Not much has come out in the past couple months, and there is nothing really on the horizon for me. Here's all I got...

Deerhoof's new album, The Magic - Wow, I love this! It seems like for the past ten years it's been every other Deerhoof album that's been fantastic, so they were due for a good one here, and totally delivered. This is basically The Runners Four (2005) style Deerhoof, where they throw everything they can think of at the wall, and most of it sticks. It's a well orchestrated headache! Jangly broken guitars, manic drums, Satomi being her "one bar off" self. So many instant classic songs. "Criminals of The Dream" gets stuck in my head, even though it shouldn't. "Plastic Thrills" is one of the best Greg vocal songs they've ever done. Even Ed sings an old-school punk rock song. "Learning To Apologize Effectively" is one of the unironically great performances by Satomi. Deerhoof safely plays to their strengths here, so this is nothing new for them, but they're still way ahead of everyone else when it comes to experimental-pop.

The Julie Ruin takes it down a notch on Hit Reset - The first Julie Ruin album was one of my favorite surprises in 2013. Kathleen Hanna is one of those unappreciated punk rockers we haven't gotten enough of. Like Satomi Matsuzaki of Deerhoof, Kathleen Hanna gives absolutely no fucks if people think her vocals or bad or lyrics too silly, and refuses to restrain them. This follow up album deliberately pulls punches that the debut didn't, much to my disappointment, but there is still some fun unchecked rambling to be had. I need to remind myself that The Julie Ruin isn't trying to be Bikini Kill, and just let them do what they want; but I gotta admit I'm let down by how relaxed some of the tracks are.

Something cool I missed back in May - Zombie Zombie, Slow Futur - Ever see Dawn of The Dead? No, not the Snyder one. The one Romero did in '78. You know the soundtrack? No, not the corny hero themes, and the mall muzak. The creepy synth stuff by Goblin. That's basically what Zombie Zombie does, without apology. In the past, they've put out an EP of John Carpenter covers. They covered New Order and Sun Ra on their last release, but have plenty of original songs of their own. Slow Futur seems to continue their trend of longer songs with each release, but I see that as a good thing. Great music to drive at night to.

Jeff Rosenstock put out a new song this week!! - He's one of the best songwriters around today. This song lacks his trademark introspection, but is loud, catchy, and full of blunt bitter truths.

The year is half over, so I guess I'll post a top 5.

1. Metafive - META
2. Polysics - What's This???
3. Santigold - 99¢
4. Deerhoof - The Magic
5. Yuck - Stranger Things

I have an extra code for Inter Armas new record Paradise Gallows so if any of you guys want it go here

https://relapserecords.bandcamp.com/yum

and the code is zpzl-chqa

@artisanbreads: disagree about the features on the scHoolboy album, I actually grew to like what Kanye was doing in tHat part toward what the atmosphere in that song has, and E-40 can't go wrong these days imo. Honestly, the only knock I might have with Blank Face LP is that not every song is necessarily memorable, but geez la weez does the sound on it just go places and his flow is dang infectious. I'm hesitant to call it my favorite album so far this year now only because I might have just gotten hip hop wrong this entire time with what I like plus I do want to give it more listens, but it really strikes me every time I spin it

@thebipsnbeeps: Fair enough, different tastes. I find I'm in the minority disliking a lot of Kanye's recent output. I can like some E-40 for sure just couldn't fuck with this one.

I've grown to like just about every track on the album listening to it more. I think it has a dark tone but is very enjoyable and bombastic with energy when it wants to be (even if the joy is aimed at basically classic West Coast gang banging which I am perfectly happy with). I'm impressed how complete of an album it is, rare in much Hip-Hop these days. Q has incredible flow and delivery and has some great lyrics on here. He does hooks really well too.

For me, it's up there with Malibu by Anderson .Paak from early in the year, which I love. Q appeared on that album and .Paak is on this one so that's a cool connection.

Wow I'm surprised nobody snagged this code yet. Thank you! Really cool album, I actually had it on Spotify yesterday and was thinking of picking it up.

@technician: Enjoy, it's probably one of my favorite records so far this year and the artwork on the cover is rad as hell.

Ian William Craig's new album Centres is really truly absolutely amazing. Beautiful, tape-distorted, ambient-ish, good-ass stuff. I took a walk last night around midnight listening to it and was blown away. Definitely check it out if you like Tim Hecker, et al. This is the poppiest song on the album. He's so good.

https://soundcloud.com/fatcatrecords/ian-william-craig-a-single-hope

May aswell get this in our ears before it's played to death all summer.

Desiigner - Timmy Turner

I keep listening to this and can't decide if this is fire or a trashcan fire

The beat is sick but.... mumblerap...

New Clams album is... enjoyable but can't say I'm not disappointing to some extent. There's some jams on it. Some songs are more poppy than I'd like. The production is just not quite up to my expectations overall.

New Tigallerro album by Phonte and Eric Roberson is really good if you like Soul, R & B, and Hip-Hop all mashed up. The stand out for me is Hold Tight which has trap elements in a modern Soul song as well as everyone's current favorite rapping style done humorously by Phonte. Really enjoy that one. Something and Thru the Night I also enjoy a lot.

Still listening to Blank Face a lot. That album is just great.

@shoguns_decapitator: I'm with you. I never know how to feel about that dude moment to moment. Enjoy some songs but thinking about them I got that Larry feel.

@artisanbreads: That Phonte/Eric Roberson album is really good (first impression). I'm still pretty iffy with some of the Foreign Exchange's material from at least what I've heard, but these guys really hooked me here. I don't what they did different, maybe it's the spacier beats going on? Interested to hear what Phonte puts out later this year anyways, for sure. Also agree with Clams Casino, just seems so uneven that it's obvious, kinda wish Lil B popped up here and there in the latter half to make the album feel more conceptual or something.

Annnd update: If R&B's your thing (I suppose more alternative than contemporary), then I think NAO's a must listen, just hit all the sweet spots of what I like from the genre, kinda got a FKA Twigs feel but punchier and not near as uh "operatic" I guess is the word. Also really liked the Julie Ruin album myself, the last song gets me a little teary eyed for whatever reason.

@thebipsnbeeps: Yeah I love earlier FE material but didn't love their last album for example. I think they are pretty ambitious with their recent FE stuff and I think here it just seems like a really focused piece highlighting Phonte and Roberson. To me it fits more in the Hip-Hop mold than recent FE and while I do like R&B plenty, I like Phonte most when he's doing some of both. And not to overlook Roberson because he is great on the album in its various styles (Something is becoming my favorite song on it). They both really work well together. Whatever the reasons, I am enjoying it a lot. I've been playing it a lot. One other part I like of it is the lyrics, which are positive in an old school R&B kind of way while other times being real but very mature and adult. The "party" sounding song on the album is about not cheating on your girl or leaving a quality girl for something that catches your eye, which I think is pretty cool to see these days. I'm fine with any subject matter but I like there being this kind of stuff out there too.

Clams album has grown on me some. I actually can really like poppy music and Into the Fire is an example of a song on there that has grown on me a lot actually. I think I'm just seeing it's a bit different than his past stuff, which I've liked a lot. But I can't hate on him for trying new things. That's the right move. He also has done a lot of work remixing pop songs in the past that I've really liked. I feel like his poppy stuff here is a little less experimental I guess I would say than those felt but they're still good.

I will check this NAO album out and get back to you.

Girls @ is probably going to be my song of the summer because, uh, you hear that Chance verse

also kinda bummed to not see any discussion of Puberty 2 by Mitski or Hopelessness by ANOHNI so here is my strong recommendation for both of those as I imagine they'll be easily top 10, if not top 5, at the end of the year for me

Nels Cline who has been the guitarist for the alt-country band Wilco since 2004 just released his new album Lovers, which is his first Blue Note records release. I have the vinyl pre-ordered but sadly it got delayed, but in the meantime I've gotten the album by other means to listen to. It is very much an instrumental jazz guitar record, and very low-key and standard compared to his otherwise more experimental work. Some jazz standards mixed with some original compositions, I don't know how I feel about it yet.

But for anyone interested in contemporary and modern jazz guitar, or just experimental music in general, I would recommend most of Nels Cline's solo work. Especially his album Coward, and Macroscope as part of The Nels Cline Singers. Some of his other work and collaborations delves into pure avant-garde/free jazz territory, and is also great in my opinion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrWENSE5DDQ

Speaking of instrumental guitar music, I have to mention Glenn Jones of the post/folk rock band Cul de Sac, who in March released his latest solo record Fleeting. I love any and all fingerpicking guitar music, especially of the American Primitive style that John Fahey invented in the 60's. I have personally been playing that style of guitar picking for some years now, and Glenn Jones follows in the footprints of Fahey and Robbie Basho pretty closely, while keeping his own style of composition and rhythm. My favorite record of his is his first though, which blended 6-string and 12-string guitar perfectly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyLb7ceF7z0

@reaganismthehedgehog: I second the recommendation of both of those as well as this Mitski video specifically.

I'm still trying to catch up on what I've missed for the past like 6 years, so for 2015 stuff I bought (and am still waiting for the cd to show up) Oso Oso's Real Stories Of True People, Who Kind Of Looked Like Monsters

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsGfhThEMEE

And my next cd purchase will probably be The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die's Harmlessness, which is fucking amazing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3D0tMQxLo4

YMMV on both, but I love them

The one rule of the thread is don't embed youtube videos please. Only links.

New Slim Cessna's Auto Club, Wovenhand AND Neurosis albums in September, plus all the albums that I need to buy that came out this year already... My wallet can't handle this!

Really liking what I've heard of those three albums so far though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jnrq-sNPJA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7G69AdSkocU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SptXkx8Ya4Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqQt8oWBN2k

@artisanbreads: It's fixed now, sorry about that! My only poor excuse is that I had like 8 beers in me yesterday when I wrote that.

I just saw that Björk has released a new live album featuring songs from her Vulnicura tour. Anyone heard it? I used to listen to Björk a lot, and I thought Vulnicura was pretty great.

woah, that sounds cool. Vulnicura is the only Bjork album I find myself coming back to frequently. Gotta check that out.

A new Dinosaur Jr. album came out. It's just your typical solid rock album. Nothing big for them, but consistent. The best thing about it was probably the promo they put out for it, which is just all the guitar solos. They know their audience.

No problem man! Just agree with the thread premise that it kills these kinds of threads.

@artisanbreads: Totally. I've seen similar threads on other forums die or just generally look cluttered because of too many embedded videos, so I'm with you. It's a good rule.

@roomrunner: I feel like I can go back to a number of Björk's older albums, like Debut, Post or Homogenic. Her style in general is just so unique, not just her vocals but her songwriting and her use of electronic music. I put her up with other genius female solo artists like Fiona Apple, Kate Bush and Tori Amos. To me all of them personified what singer-songwriter/alternative pop-rock music was in the 80's(for Kate Bush) 90's and 2000's.

Whoops. just realized I confused Vulnicura with Vespertine. I wonder if there is a Vespertine live album out there somewhere...

@roomrunner: Understandable mistake!

I've heard a lot of people praise Vespertine as being one of, if not the best Björk album, but personally I could never get fully into it. Not to say it isn't good, it has some great songs like Pagan Poetry, Hidden Place and Cocoon, but in general it falls somewhat short for me compared to her other work.

And I believe there is a Vespertine live album but I haven't listened to it myself.

Who's ready to welcome some more rap/rave back into their lives? Die Antwoord's new album dropping in about a month and I've only just clocked they shuffled out Die Antwoord - Banana Brain I gotta say I'm really feeling it, if I wasn't such an old git these days it'd probably get me moving again.

Hasn't been a lot of new music doing it for me (going on a Blues kick instead) but this new Vince Staples and James Blake collaboration over Timeless is awesome. Since I heard that track it was begging to be rapped over. Short but sweet.

Unfortunately, Vince Staples Prima Donna is pretty lackluster. I am a big fan of Summertime '06 and this is not remotely as good.

If you can get over that Britney Spears is a pretty plastic person as a recording artist and can find some value in that, then I'd call her new Glory album worth checking out. Like she's doing modern-day Bieber-kind of R&B, but still can maintain having more fun than him, I think at least. It's not really something I champion to the degree of Ke$ha's Warrior as one of my fonder guilty pleasures I've listened to in the past five years, but it's one that I've liked more than other dumb pop albums that came out this year.

Oh and just to share what I thought of Mitski and ANOHNI 'cuz it was brought up earlier and junk: I generally like both of them just fine. While I need to go back to Mitski more because I think I might actually like it more than I think, I do nevertheless get pretty blown away by the songwriting, though I have looked back at it a little more pretentiously than I care to value the longer I'm away from it. For ANOHNI, though, I'm pretty firm at saying that her voice is fantastic as usual and I think her collaborators do a competent job giving her music the right edge it needs, but her blunt lyricism, as necessary as it is to give it a sharp political bite, kind of betrays some of the listening appeal to me. Specifically the whole of "Obama" almost ruins the vibe of the album, with some other ideas in some of the other songs thrown here and there that I felt were a little too straw-man than it needed to be. But nevertheless, I think there were some great songs on it whether I agreed with the politics or not.

Some recent stuff I've been into:

Bat For Lashes - The Bride - In God's House

Cate Le Bon - Crab Day - What's Not Mine

Crystal Castles - Amnesty (I) - Fleece

• Super weird to hear Alice Glass-sounding shit and know it's not her. Apparently it was a real nasty split?

Garbage - Strange Little Birds - Sometimes

M83 - Junk - Road Blaster

• Still super into this!

Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool - Tinker Tailor Soldier Sailor Rich Man Poor Man Beggar Man Thief

________________________

And for a bit of older stuff:

Empress Of - Me - Water Water, Kitty Kat

Mourning Ritual - Bad Moon Rising

• I watched the Green Room trailer again after seeing the movie, and this thing really stuck with me. Loved the piano at first, but I've come around on the vocals too. Great movie!

Howard Shore & Metric - Cosmopolis - Benno

_______________________

Also shoutout to these spectacular 52 seconds from the Hail, Caesar! score by Carter Burwell: Behold. Ohmygoditsogood. Also a great movie.

And finally, I dunno what the music is in this trailer for an upcoming David Lynch documentary, but I really love it.

Yeah, it totally was. Lots of shade being thrown back and forth.

It made me a bit more critical of Crystal Castles, so I listened to those first three albums again a lot. Came to the conclusion that I honestly only really like the first one. I don't scoff at the decision to turn away from that "haunted arcade" kind of video-gamey sound of the debut, but it sure as hell beats anything done on the later two albums.

Been into In The Trees by Stalgia. Love the moodiness, been one of my go-tos this summer

Here's what I've been listening to lately:

Angel Olsen - My Woman

Probably my favorite rock album of the year so far. The first half of the album is super catchy and energetic, while the second half is much more sprawling (there are two songs over seven minutes long), but still excellent.

Isaiah Rashad - The Sun's Tirade

Really smooth, laid-back southern rap with great production. HAs both fun tracks to vibe out to and more serious songs that add emotional weight.

Vince Staples - Prima Donna

A smart, engrossing, and dead-eyed examination of how harmful fame can be. Vince also did a remix of James Blake's Timeless that's great as well.

Compton White - Compton White EP

Really good experimental electronica.

I've been listening to Angel Olsen's My Woman and I think it may be the best album I've heard all year. The lyrics are poignant, introspective and somewhat philosophical. Olsen's views on love – albeit less pessimistic – remind me of Jean-Paul Sartre's in that love is a struggle, between maintaining your autonomy and being possessed by another. In any case, My Woman has some of the best-written songs on the subject. It's not an easy listen; in fact, even the upbeat songs are heavy and emotionally-charged, but it's still an excellent album from beginning to end. Shut Up Kiss Meand Sistershould give you an idea of the range of songs on the album.

People should check out the duo Marian Hill. They're a electronic pop duo that uses piano and even some saxophone in some pretty interesting ways! They have an album out called "Act One" and an ep before that. Some songs to check out would be Mistaken, I want you, Down, Got it and One Time :D

I can say this about 80% of Jeff Rosenstock's songs - This is basically my life.

Good new song, fun video. Stoked for the new album.

I've been driving nearly all day and listening to the new (and old) songs by Kelly Lee Owens and Sleigh Bells. Not bad tunes to listen to while stuck in traffic jams.

Humming by Turnover is my jam the past few days. Pretty much nonstop listening

Music video

Live session

Next month should be very interesting.

We've got that new Jeff Rosenstock (Oct 14) which is a lock for good music.

Kenichi Asai has yet another side project called Kenichi Asai & The Interchange Kills. If you're too busy to check out the music video, this is all you need to know.

It's gonna be great, because everything he makes is great, and he's being backed up by ex-Number Girl bassist, Nakao Kentaro. Number Girl was a lightning in a bottle amazing and short lived indie, turned hardcore, turned experimental band. All four of their albums are a thrill.

And finally, we have Beck... this one is making me sweat a bit. Beck is a legend to me. I don't ever want to see him fall out of touch. This new "Wow" single though.... It feels too much like it's trying to be a modern pop song, and not drawing from the retro influences that makes Beck special. I'm hoping the song is a radio-friendly anomaly. He's been promising this Odelay/Guero style album for a few years now, and on Oct 21st we finally get it.

New Danny Brown ft. Kendrick, Earl, and Ab Soul.... plus produced by Black Milk!?!? I'm dying here. So good. This track couldn't be more in my wheelhouse.

The new Cymbals Eat Guitars and Preoccupations albums are pretty good.

I finally got around to listening to Still Brazy by YG and Save Yourself by Elucid, great stuff. Speaking of hip hop I highly recommend Everything in Between by Ugly Heroes. I got bored of Apollo Brown's production after a while since he kept using the same tricks over and over with his beats (he has like 3 drum patterns) but he surprised me and brought out a pretty strong selection of instrumentals for this album. Verbal Kent and Red Pill do a nice job handling vocal duties as well. Don't sleep on this one.

From an electronic perspective I've been enjoying the new Pantha du Prince and Rival Consoles albums quite a bit. Disasterpeace also did some quality work with the Hyper Light Drifter soundtrack. Doseone did a nice job with his video game soundtrack as well.

The Bug's Box/Iceman singles from earlier this year have me excited for his next project. Angels & Devils wasn't bad but it was a bit tame coming after London Zoo.

Good new music everyone should check out (and i have being listening to.)

the "new" Justice singles classic French Electro band most of you guys probably know them.

Justice Safe And Sound

Justice Randy

Also you should check out this local band from my home town ( I really like them maybe i am BIAS i don't know feel free to judge). They Recently signed with PIAS (play it again sam )

New Moon Head of Stone

Also one of the best Albums of 2015 as a Extra

Caspian - Dust and Disquiet