June 2024
If you don't look at the Github commit date, you'll be none-the-wiser of the actual date this June roundup was published lol
What I've Been Listening To #
I'm All Fucked Up - This Is Lorelei #
This is probably one of the best indie-ass indie songs of the year? Another occasion in which the influences that a song brings to mind (Beck, Eels) I don't actually particularly like but I think the song itself rules regardless. I also really do like the record but kept finding myself going back to this song and listening to it like 20 times before finding the willpower to go to the next track!
Listen to I'm All Fucked Up here.
Timeless - James Blood Ulmer #
In my search to expand my funk repertoire (motivated by my learning of how to play linear patterns on the kit), I ended up finding more jazz-fusion that I couldn't play in my wildest dreams. I generally bounce off stuff that’s too smooth (sorry Casiopea) and prefer high velocity shredding (Mahavishnu Orchestra, some Return To Forever, The Tony Williams Lifetime). This track by James Blood Ulmer I was especially taken with. As a noise-rock enjoyer, I’ve been looking for songs that apply free-jazz to electric guitar and this has been one of the strongest examples I’ve found so far (asides of course from the legend Sonny Sharrock).
repeat offenders - Joanne Robertson, Dean Blunt, Elias Ronnenfelt #
I don't listen to Iceage as much as I used to and I kind of forgot how Elias is clearly one of the best rock vocalists of this generation. A fantastic collaboration, crazy spellbinding vibes conjured from all three participants.
You Don’t Know Me - Caetano Veloso #
If you haven’t done a deep dive into MPB then you, the reader, are missing out! Something I've been meaning to do more often is to explore the "canonical" records of different countries. I finally tried exploring Brazilian classics, and was handsomely rewarded by Clube Da Esquina. Caetano Veloso was another name I kept seeing on recommended records from the same time period and the album by him that I've found to be the most enjoyable so far has been Transa. It's a sublime record which I've been listening to ever since a friend from work shared a playlist with the track "9 out of 10". As well as that track, "You Don’t Know Me" also really stuck with me. The entire record was recorded while Veloso was in exile, and "You Don't Know Me" is probably the smoothest call-to-arms I've ever heard. The emotion that Veloso manages to wring out of the relatively simple track is truly awe-inspiring and I defy anyone not to be moved by his performance.
Listen to You Don't Know Me here.
Your Screen Door - Title Fight #
One of the only "they made this when they were x years old and I'm x years old and haven't done anything nearly as good" moments I still have is the discography of Title Fight. I was revisiting some hardcore to get into the headspace for a particular practice session and just ended up only listening to Shed and Floral Green for an entire week.
Nasty (Match My Tweak Remix) - Tinashe, Jane Remover #
Since I stopped doing student radio (and stopped entertaining the possibility of me being a DJ lol), I've become quite disconnected from dance music. This remix of the obviously great Tinashe song takes me back to the heady days of Soundcloud 2015/2016, when I cared about Diplo and Friends remixes and assembled a USB stick of my favourite Maltine Records tracks in the hopes that I would one day be summoned to play a set. It rips!
Listen to Nasty (Match My Tweak) here.
Cheerleader - Porter Robinson #
Speaking of nostalgia lol (this rules and I'd love to see Porter Robinson live some day I bet it owns)
Evil Does Not Exist - Eiko Ishibashi #
The Hamaguchi and Ishibashi dream team strikes again! I get the impression I liked their latest a bit more than most others who I've known to have watched it. I enjoyed the urban vs country conflict as a "country boy (who didn't grow up on a farm or anything but knew people who did)" who now lives in the British metropolis. Beneath its austere surface, there's a rage which eventually rears its head in the climax. It's shocking on first viewing but with reflection seems to make complete sense.
From a purely technical aspect it's obviously sublime both aurally and visually. The original cut of the movie has no dialogue at all and the emphasis is purely on the score by Ishibashi. Even with the added story and dialogue, there's still long "installation"-esque stretches of time where Ishibashi's wonderful score just plays. The theme of Evil Does Not Exist was stuck in my head for weeks after watching it and the wait for the official release of the entire score was agonising. It does not disappoint!
Listen to Evil Does Not Exist here.
Stimming - Fucked Up #
So happy that Fucked Up still exists and they're still making heaters! After a lull of activity for a few years after Dose Your Dreams, they've been making up for lost time with a basically never ending stream of new singles, EPs and albums. This is one of their strongest releases in a while for me, a perfect balance between David Comes to Life and Dose Your Dreams which I bet will kick-ass when I see them live (again) this year (can't wait!). The lyrics of course also speak to me as someone who bites his nails to stubs, annoys everyone in a room by tapping on random objects and eventually learned to play drums.