Friday afternoon, kids absorbed with their mates, finishing up the last knockings of the working week and looking ahead to a weekend of sunshine and f**tb*ll. What better moment to play some new.
As recently essayed elsewhere, I am currently drunk on the glory of life renewed, senses aflame, eyes and heart wide open and enjoying even the most mediocre experiences as if they were manna from the gods themselves. Does this make me an unreliable narrator when it comes to the virtues of recent music? Of course. Was I ever reliable to start with? Probably not. Will I ever stop? Yo, I don’t know.
Posted in the comments below are the 2021 tunes I’ve really been enjoying in recent weeks (Burial aside).
It’s the now customary mishmash of impenetrable Drill, uber-cliched Pop and the occasional power ballad, I’m afraid, but this is what’s on in the kitchen right now and I’m loving it, so who knows – maybe someone on here will too.
Oh, and GY!BE. Dear, sweet, ever-reliable GY!BE. Ploughing what is essentially the same narrow furrow for a quarter of a century without any apparent diminishment in returns. How on earth did they become comfort food? I guess it comes to us all eventually.
I have literally no idea whether videos still embed on this site, so bear with me if this goes horribly awry, and happy Friday everyone. In the usual spirit of the Afterword, do feel free to post further, tangentially-relevant, YouTube videos yourselves.
First of the Last Glaciers – Godspeed You! Black Emperor
As ever, an opportunity to feel smug, because I know without checking where that exclamation mark goes. More of the same, but it’s a same I like; the sound of something quite epic happening, maybe even slightly biblical. Best listened to while wondering what it must be like being in this band at this stage. Are they still all living in squats and fighting the power? Do they have day jobs? Does any of them ever accidentally wear collared clothing? I suggest we dispatch a team to find out.
I know one thing: they have a large barge with a radio antenna tower on it.
The new album is great!
I’m very much enjoying it. I never feel like I need any more GY!BE in my life, and yet I’m very happy when some does show up.
The smart post-rock money is on Kauan this year, whose Ice Fleet album is part doom metal, part atmospheric ambience. Plus they’re Russians who sing in Finnish, the record is themed around the discovery of a frozen fleet of ships in Northern Russia back in 1930, and there’s a bespoke tabletop role playing game based on it you can get off Bandcamp. No danger of any of those filthy casuals liking this!
EDIT: should also point out, as if it wasn’t obvious, that this is super slow, glacial, cold and depressing. While these are generally plus points, it may not be quite the sunny Friday evening frolic you were hoping for.
This is excellent, even if it’s thematically incongruous (there’s nothing wrong with that). Filthy Casuals is a superb band name in waiting.
What do we say to the new Deafheaven?
I like the new track a lot, with the caveat that it’s a good song that a lot of other bands could have done whereas, say, Honeycomb could only be Deafheaven. Be interesting to see where the album goes.
Yeah, I think this is where I’m landing on it too. Like, I enjoy it and I get that they need to try new things, but I would have been happy with more of the old thing. Pesky artistic growth.
Another fan of the new GY!BE album here.
As an aside, I purchased it as a digital download from Bandcamp (as they seem to give the artists the bigger share and it was probably one of their Bandcamp Friday’s when I bought). The files I received were the standard CD quality 16 bit / 44 kHz. However, I had seen the album on some of the hi-res sites, so I dropped them a note via the “contact us” on Bandcamp and a day later received a response from them that as the tracks were 20 minutes long at 24 bit they exceeded the maximum file size for Bandcamp – and included a direct link for me to download. I was impressed.
As a further aside, my current “Post Rock” band-de-jour is the Japanese group “Mono”. Their latest live album (Beyond The Past) is superb,
Sure you’ll already have checked it out, as it’s the obvious one, but 2006’s “You Are There” is very very good indeed.
Hooray – embedding still works!
Versus – SL, M1llionz
An absolute monster of a beat, and a video that reminds me of daily life in a largeish law firm. Plus (plus!) I get a shout out by name in the first verse. As with most music of this type, I really enjoy the dissonance of listening to some genuinely quite brilliant production while simultaneously trying to work out what on Earth is being said. What was that about gelati? Tesco bag when you’re what? Nurse – pass my ear horn, the yoot are trying to tell me something!
Drivers License – Olivia Rodrigo
Let’s be real, every man jack of this community has been absolutely rinsing this tune since January. Obviously massive, and in need of no introduction, could probably have been released any time in the last 30 years and been a total triumph. Great concept, great vocal, great chorus. Oh, and the middle eight (technical term there, folks: it means the bit that doesn’t sound like the other bits, to stop the song getting boring) is just utterly colossal, and probably the most exciting bit of music 2021 has offered us so far. Rest of the album is pretty good too. Like Jello Biafra and so many other proper musicians, Ms Rodrigo got her start in High School Musical: The Musical: The Series.
Yep, great album… although my 23- year-old granddaughter huffed “I would have liked it more if I was fourteen again”. So young, so jaded.
She speaks the truth. The album is custom tooled to trigger the inner 14 year old girl in each of us, it’s just a bigger stretch for some than others.
I did reply that I’m still fourteen in my head 😏
Late to this party, but I’ve been playing this album today and a couple of songs have really impressed –
and ‘Happier’. Great songs – direct, well-targeted lyrics, heartfelt and sung beautifully.
The more I listen to the album, the more I think she’s a really, really good singer.
There’s no reason on paper for Driver’s License to be as massive as it has proved to be; I think it’s that her vocals really connect with people (and particularly young people). The songs are strong, but she doesn’t half sell them.
Yes – I was torn, because I’ve got little reason to be listening to songs by and for teenage girls (that time will come in a few years when my daughters hit that demographic) – but she has got really good vocals – really clear, confident and tuneful AND the songs are well-written – not afraid of showing her vulnerability, her true feelings, in fact owning her state – without being either strident or weak. A marvel for the ears.
We should really have learnt by now that records made for teenage girls are often better than those made for blokes in their twenties, or forties, or any age really.
Testify!
I should have added: my Sour go-to this week is Traitor. So good.
Another sale here from the Dad demographic. Excellent pop music.
1491 – Navy Blue
Bit of a throwback, this one. That looped down soul sample, that slowed down siren noise, that lazy flow. It sounds like it could have come directly off the third Wu Tang album (that’s an endorsement, by the way), and it’s primed to soundtrack many a sunny Summer’s day in Casa Little. Nice and short too.
The Last Man on Earth – Wolf Alice
As you may have heard, the album is really quite good. You may not yet have realised that this is the best bit though. Doesn’t do anything new or revolutionary, but the way it explodes into life halfway through (one of the older tricks in the musical book) is quite lovely, and sends the listener up to soar amongst the heavens in a manner that is enhanced upon each listen. Good band.
Repeat – J Hus
Works well in sunshine.
Oh, this is a most outrageous breach of all the sacred posting guidelines.
See what happens when you respond positively to one of those TL:DR yes-I-can-put-a-fruit-pastille-in-my-mouth-without-chewing-it contributions?
Before you know it they’re dying their hair blonde and expecting a place in the team – like we’d be dumb enough to take to the field with just five full backs.
Still: “I can’t hit that chick if she’s got no arse” – that’s one to ponder over this evening’s pipe..
The lyric “I can’t hit that chick if she’s got no arse” poses a number of powerful questions, some metaphorical in nature, but most of them related to digestive and excretory function.
If we’re going to get really technical about it, then this was actually out in late 2020, but I only heard it recently and have properly flipped for it. Powerpop crunch, double dutch style call and response lyrics (that are actually funny!) and a chorus you’ll be singing for days
@kid-dynamite Spoiler alert! This is great, though, it got an instant repeat the first time I listened to your mix.
My Friday earworm (and has been for the past week or so):
Sharon Van Etten & Angel Olsen – Like I Used To
Hadn’t heard this. It’s predictably good 👍🏼.
Wow! That’s astounding…love the nod to ABBA too.
That’s great. Best thing I’ve heard in quite some time.
with the phrase Friday I’m In Love buzzing in my nut, I feel prompted to post this Renée and Renato-style* (she’s a pretty lady who, for ..reasons.. is hanging around with an older, corpulent man) duet
(Chvrches feat Bob Smith – How Not To Drown)
*R ‘n’ R were number one, so a good omen
Liked that Churches and Mad Bob Smith one, a lot. Is it just a one off collab?
If you’re asking me, I’ve no idea. Interesting, though, that they’re following Ver Mode’s trajectory of perky electropop -> gothy stylings. I like to imagine this is part of a larger project involving collaborations where the next release will feature Peter Murphy’s voice over a video directed by Tim Burton and starring Noel Fielding and a bat..
No band has gone from looking like Saturday boys in Currys to being on the cover of Kerrangg!!… or am I ke-wrangg?
From the rest of us, who no more have a 14 year old girl inside us than a 14 year old girl would have us inside them.
Any community that spends this much time making mixtapes for one another has its fair share of inner 14 year old girl, and that’s no bad thing. The Yewtree stylings, on the other hand, not so much.
Jeez, was that comment really necessary?
Wow! So much energy on a weekend. I’m of an age when I need something more dreamy and sedate.
Jane Weaver’s Flock is rather lovely.
I’ve heard several tracks from her recently and they are all really good. I’d never heard of her till this year but it seems it her eleventh LP. God I’m out of touch.
I like the Stereolab-ness of the new one and she’s playing the tiny Portland Arms (venue capacity ~150) in January.
I think she really got into her stride with 2014’s The Silver Globe. Here are two tracks from it – Don’t Take My Soul:
and Mission Desire:
Fresh Garbage
There’s music in 2021?