Hello! Hi! We still exist!
We took the summer off to write actual songs, play actual shows, and make actual records. To start getting into the groove of things I thought it’d be pretty helpful to supply a quick overview of what the discussion of music this year has been so far between us site dudes. We’ll be framing it in the terms of our weird genre stuffs. Some of this has been covered on podcasts but enough has not that this feels necessary, and who am I to not supply necessities?
ROCK: Right now, the central theme is deliberation between two records: “I See Seaweed” by The Drones, and “Silence Yourself” by Savages. These two albums also occupy a very relevant space on the internet, both dealing with central themes of the growing feminist presence in culture. Savages address the dichotomy of this awakened state while maintaining sexual desire. The Drones are a more outside perspective more related to trying to find a place to be a good man in a dire world, sounding weary but never too tired not to care. There has been plenty quality outside of those two- m b v and Destruction Unit’s “Void” are also basically locks- but it seems likely that one of those ends up winning. Then again it seemed like electronic last year was between Flying Lotus and Grimes until it wasn’t.
Also: kind of insane that I didn’t even think about mentioning The Men until I was done with the other genres. I still love those guys though.
RAP: Don’t listen to anyone who dares call this a down year. Usually all the rap albums come out in the fall, and at the start of October we have five albums that would take something truly mindblowing to dislocate. We’ve talked about Antwon and Zebra Katz on the podcast, and our love for those records hasn’t diminished among us. We have a podcast segment about Run The Jewels recorded, Tucker continues to threaten to review Milo’s Cavalcade (and now I’m exerting pressure in return), and we finally got around to understanding clipping and how goddamn amazing their work is. That leaves everybody else competing for one spot. There’s no way to know who’ll get it right now, although my personal eyes are on Pusha T and Angel Haze to deliver. As for who wins? Fffffff-
POP: Another category full of juggernauts this year, the biggest of which appears to be “The Stand-In” by Caitlin Rose. There is a sympathetic ear towards country among the site, and Caitlin Rose has put out an amazing country soaked pop record, freed from the nightmare that is modern country radio. In the same vein is Daughn Gibson’s “Me Moan”, an album that everyone seemed to hate for reasons that never seemed particularly clear to me. It was pretty clear that “All Hell” was a product of that economy and setup, and so as that grew the sound grew. Looming elsewhere is San Fermin, a compositional suite that uses the sounds of indie rock giants as characters in an ongoing story that manages to be catchy throughout. King Krule and Vampire Weekend round out the rest of this cast of giants, the former’s dry British R&B and the latter’s Full Paul Simon providing perfect contrast. Off in the middle distance, Mesita’s new album approaches, but I imagine we will rave about it once we actually have it.
ELECTRONIC: This one will be hard to talk about because Darkside just hit this weekend and we’re still working out how that fits in. This is another genre that tends to pick up later in the year and this article is in the middle of that. Right now, it seems like The Knife will survive to the end of the year, as will Disclosure. Arca has made an impression on us as well. As a counterpoint to all that, imagine an animated gif of a giant 16 bit Daniel Lopatin running around chasing all the other albums while laughing maniacally, his warfare on sample banks filling the air like hair burned in diesel fueled tire fires.
METAL: Okay fine yes Deafheaven. Fine. There’s other metal albums though. For one thing, Altar Of Plagues NO WAIT there’s more than black metal! Although it’s weird to hate black metal in a year of some really amazing black metal. At the same time, if you want death metal, Carcass has put out a tremendous standard bearer of a comeback record. If you’re still on post-metal, Cult Of Luna is out there doing some incredible things. For drone, well, I apparently cannot help you there as we are the only people that appear to have loved the new Locrian record. And for just gnarly ass aggressive sound, there’s Raspberry Bulbs. Right now, that’s metal for us, but that could change by the end of the year.
INEFFABLE: This one is still developing. Obviously, works from Bill Callahan and Jenny Hval are going to end up here, and after many months of deliberation this will be where The Flaming Lips make their stand this year. The rest of this field, like electronic, develops quickly later in the year, so there’s no way to say what else will end up in this category. So much so that Hair Police, who’s album we gushed over earlier this year, might not actually make the cut. I know. I know.
Alright, that’s everything! Now we can actually look forwards and talk about things that are still coming out!
Fermata over Whole Rest 