December 2024 - A Lesser Blog Would Be About Holidays

Albums

Slowerpace - Barbershop Simulator 2

Apparently, there’s a thing out there called “barber beat.” News to me too, but ok sure, why not? Barber beat is a sub-genre of vaporwave (you can do your own math on how many “sub-” prefixes you’ll need to capture how niche this is) which was originated by an artist called Haircuts for Men. It’s characterized by its process: taking lounge/jazz/chill samples, slowing them down, pitching them down, adding reverb and sometimes other samples, and mashing them together to make something even more chill than the original material. It’s also common to create album art which evokes the era of vaporwave (late 80’s-early 2000’s), and give everything tongue-in-cheek and/or Japanese-language titles. So, yes, it’s a very specific type of vaporwave.

Vaporwave loves wearing masks. It tends to use imagery from pop culture, sometimes it speaks directly to the viewer, and in general it evokes another time by pretending to be a relic of that time (with a sly wink, of course). Slowerpace adds an extra layer of specificity by claiming that each of his albums is a soundtrack from a video game of the vaporwave era. In this case, it’s a game called Barbershop Simulator II, which I would totally play, and is a sequel to his earlier album, Barbershop Simulator (which I would also totally play).

I think this album kind of transcends its own joke, though. The album is so lush and varied that the video game premise is just the cherry on top.

My recommendation: if you have a nice stereo, lay a bunch of cushions and blankets on the living room floor, turn off the lights, and cuddle up with a friend or lover and just let it wash over you.

Machinedrum - 3FOR82

I appreciate when an established artist like Machinedrum tries something a bit different. 3FOR82 is an album of collaborations, which isn’t new for him, but he changed his process significantly. According to an interview, he paid a visit to Joshua Tree National Park and had a moment of clarity. He needed to take a break from Ableton Live and return to Impulse Tracker, a long-defunct audio sequencer program that was written in 1995. Even loading it up on his laptop required a DOS emulator. So right off the bat, I find that pretty delightful.

For the collaborations, he sat in a room with each of the vocalists and recorded a conversation focused on some theme, for example dancing or childhood. The lyrics were supposed to flow out of that, rather than whatever the vocalist’s normal process is.

It’s hard to say exactly how much all this changed the sound, but the result is a great series of electronic and/or hip-hop tracks. I’m going to have to look up some of these collaborators too.

Kaia Kater - Strange Medicine

Generally speaking, Kaia Kater is thought of as a roots musician. She is a banjo player, after all, and her previous albums fit pretty comfortably into that category. But this album takes a significant turn toward something much more lush, ambitious, and modern.

To be sure, the folk tradition is here - the lyrics are generally narratives, and of course the banjo takes a spotlight - but the instrumentation is so lush and complicated. Check out the jazzy percussion on “Maker Taker” and the woodwinds on “Fédon.” Even “In Montreal,” which you might expect to be a bit more straightforwardly roots because Allison Russell is on it, has strange atmospheric passages.

According to Kater, this album feels different largely because it was written during the pandemic. Her previous album, Grenades, was written and recorded in just two weeks. For this one, because everything in the world was on hold for so long anyway, she spent two years. I hope she keeps going down this path, myself.

<PIG> - Red Room

What would you expect out of a conversation with Raymond Watts aka <PIG> aka the guy from KMFDM? From what I’ve seen, metal/industrial artists tend to go one of two ways: either they’re weird, toxic assholes who might be actual Nazis, or they’re the sweetest people on Earth. Based on interviews alone, Watts seems to be in the latter camp. Here’s an interview in which he’s basically just chillin’ in Tokyo.

He’s extremely open about his intentions, his process, his personal history, and his deep love for all his collaborators. It’s very endearing. He has a lot to say about how dark the KDFM years were and how optimistic he feels today by contrast. There’s still a lot of darkness in his music, of course (and there’s plenty going on in 2024 to feel all industrial-y about), but today he regards <PIG> as a character more than as his personal turmoil on display.

To me, this is also one of the most varied and interesting albums he’s done in awhile. It’s all pretty heavy, but it makes some interesting detours. Check out choral elements of “Dum Dum Bullet” and the funkiness of “Does It Hurt Yet?” In one of the interviews I looked at, he mentioned that he’s cranked out enough music this year for 2 or 3 albums, and one of them, Feast of Agony, was just released in September. I’m looking forward to digging into that stuff too.

Mint Field - Aprender a Ser

Historically, Mint Field has been considered a dream pop/shoegaze band. The description definitely works, especially on their previous albums. Aprender a Ser, though, reaches for something more in trip-hop territory. There’s a lot of Portishead in here, and maybe some Mazzy Star, in addition to Estrella Sanchez’s Cocteau Twins vocals.

I caught Mint Field at a little venue/bar/sandwich restaurant/pinball arcade near Boston recently and was really taken with them. They’re from Mexico City, so unless I have readers there (which seems more than a little unlikely), you’ll probably need to keep an eye out so you don’t miss them on tour.

Tracks

The Bug Club - A Bit Like James Bond

Who better than The Bug Club to make fun of people taking themselves too seriously?

Nia Archives - Crowded Roomz

I could have picked almost anything from this album, Silence Is Loud. I haven’t heard pop music go in this direction before: blending jungle/DnB with RnB and pop (I’m wishing I could think of another genre that ends in R-B). It’s an interesting approach and I’m curious to see what she does next, even if I don’t really need a whole album of it in its current form.

J. Worra - Check Out

House never dies. Disco never dies. Ergo: disco-house never dies.

Honeyglaze - Don’t

One of the things that got lost between punk and post-punk is the rage. Post-punk tends to keep an ironic distance between the music and the society it talks about (well, when it talks about that. It doesn’t always). Honeyglaze doesn’t do that on their album Real Deal. They go ahead and just put the fury in the music.

Joakim - Samurai (Meditation Tunnel Remix)

It took me awhile to determine that Meditation Tunnel is the artist who did this remix, not just a description of Joakim’s alternate take of the song “Samurai.” Stay tuned next month as I dig into more of Meditation Tunnel’s stuff.

Lee “Scratch” Perry, Shaun Ryder - Green Banana

This track is from Perry’s final (long-posthumous) album, King Perry. I could listen to him talk all day about almost anything. It’s a shame he’s gone, but he left behind an incredible body of work.

Frequent, COPYCATT - Tom’s Battery

Dubstep is a funny thing. Where I live, in Boston, it’s almost nonexistent, gone the way of “Baby Shark” and Nyancat. It’s kind of a discredited genre here, mostly remembered for the worst of the brostep and the worst of the wooks mooching molly. When I travel, though, even just a couple states away, I’m always surprised to find multiple dubstep parties that are crowded every week, so it’s nice to hear a track like this one that makes use of dubstep in an interesting way.

I should mention that there are vestiges of it even here. A few months ago I went to a sparsely-attended local artist dubstep event in the basement of a dive bar and my companion repeatedly leaned over to complain, “He calls that a drop? That’s not a drop! WHERE ARE THE FUCKING DROPS??” So yes, dubstep culture is very much alive, for better or for worse.

Pictish Trail - Natural Successor

This groove is undeniable.

Desperate Journalist - Fault

Following up on the Honeyglaze vibes. This one is a little more personal, but a similar groove.

Reymour - De ma Tour

I’m not sure if I’ve ever heard anyone synthesize chanson and synthpop in quite this way before. It’s a pretty interesting sound, and if you’re into it the whole album, Leviosa, hashes out the idea pretty well.

Chalk - Claw

I love techno, and the guitars are a pretty interesting addition to the sound. It kind of reminds me of some of the early Soulwax stuff.

Royal Otis - Adored

A little peek behind the curtain: when I’m figuring out what to put in this blog, I usually start by going through whatever I saved to my Tidal favorites a couple months earlier. Sometimes that provides a window into how I was feeling at that time. Apparently in October 2024 I really wanted to hear post-punk grooves and reverby vocals. Um, is that a “feeling?”

Kham Meslien - Ta confiance

These days I’m an electro/rock guy primarily, but I still think the stand-up bass is the coolest sounding instrument.

Beak> - Ah Yeh

Beak> is one of those bands. I feel like every time I hear one of their song I’m like “woah who is this? This is really interesting,” and then a couple minutes later I’m like, “ok let’s move on.”

But I can’t deny that they have a lot of really awesome ideas, like this one. Someday maybe I’ll turn the corner on them. Maybe if I see them live? Sometimes that helps.

GonG - My Guitar Is a Spaceship

I mean, what would you expect this song to sound like?