Mainstream pop is one of my least listened to genres of music, that is to say I probably only listen to less harsh noise than radio pop because in the grocery store and the gym they are less likely to have some Merzbow playing.
That said, this Dua Lipa album is my favorite pick in this area from the first half of 2020. Physical has the biggest hook and the Let’s Get Physical Work Out Video is just brilliant. The original one is nice, too, but aesthetically this complements the sound in a great way. (Also, giving this single a comeback with this second music video just before the release of the album was smart as hell.) And Good in Bed is just the most fun track of the lot.
Self-defiend as alternative, although I listen to this as pop music to listen to in the background. Probably that’s the fail in positioning: it can easily be too pop for an alternative listener but just weird enough not to be played on mainstream radio. However there’s the one hit wonder track (Tin King), which can make its way to all the commercials and TV series soundtracks to financially support the record.
Random light-hearted electronic pop hit, probably my most listened to while easing into the summer this year. Another one of those being one by Dua Lipa, but that’s for another post.
I still have a hard time to slap a label on Nicolas Jaar. But this record is pure gold, again. Overall I can call it modern classical, although that’s not because of its use of traditional instruments and orchestration, but because it sounds like my idea of a perfect, meticulously crafted classical music today. Genrewise it’s some kind of ambient with a very wide range of intruments and sounds (drums, chimes, keys, strings, experimental textures, and voice), using inspiration from all over the world, and melting it into a introvert mind trip. As advertised on the cover. And an amazing cover art it is, too.
Update: the totally ethereal sounds of Hello, Chain gives me the goose bumps. I’m in awe.
Either punk electronics or electronics-infused indie rock. I usually read about them as the previous but for me it’s more like the latter. Anyhow, it’s with a live band sound but packed with electronic elements, part dreamy and part jump around, part blue and part joyful, still consistent, and always smart and elaborate.
Stunning heavy-riff metal compressed in a one minute track single. It’s ridiculous that under the name Lazarvs this one track will be the only find but I’ve still clocked at least an hour on the artist. That’s one play per day on average since its release.
So there was this band called Apey & the Pea, which I liked a lot. I got hooked with the very first EP mainly because their headbanging, sometimes melodic, sometimes grunge, stoner rock and roll that is a sound coming and going in the Hungarian scene and there’s always a band that’s best at it. And they became that best one for quite a while. And then they started changing, their music and live performances becoming more agressive each time. I started to become hesitant whether I still liked this band or not, or rather whether it was still something for me.
Finally they decidedly started a new era last year when they changed their name to Lazarvs and I like that they did this. This new form with its new name and visual aesthetic feels really different and gives a different context. And in this context I don’t mind their more agressive and harsher sound. Listening to this merely one minute long teaser to the upcoming new album gets me excited. I’m looking forward to cutting barbed wire with teeth to this music.
A lot of bands say that they feel obliged to deliver the same sound and same music over and over again because otherwise their fans would abandon them. So essentially the bands either piss their fans off or do something that they are not comfortable with. Maybe the real solution to this catch-22 is what Apey did when becoming Lazarvs. Get over yourself, peel away a skin, be born again, and feel free to set off on a different path.
I guess the only reason why most bands wouldn’t do this is because there’s this brand and marketing vehicle they built and they don’t want to loose it and start over. Even more so will I respect a band that still does the honest choice and takes that leap. And you don’t want to sell to the same people by all means anyway, you wan to sell to the people who want to listen to your current music. These may be new fans but those will be the real fans, and not those people who are just nagging you to repeat yourself over and over again.
I find peacful ambient and modern classical best for work nowadays. I have a lot going on these days, and it’s like my mind is completely full with information and decisions and there’s just no room for too many beats and spoken words. Albums like this keep my mind clear and leave room for thinking. Besides it’s pretty nice, too.
Melodic ambient with a wide array of acousitc instruments. The second track (All the Way Round) reminded me of a soundtrack hook from Penny Dreadful (the London series), which nailed my attention for the rest of the record. The rest is not at all like that, btw. But still, no regrets for staying.
It was just recently that I revisited some memories of nu jazz and Thievery Corporation is definitely of the same era. This album is essentially a best of record for them with orchestral rearrangements. Honestly, this is not a big deal, the reworks are not earth shattering, but the tracks are classics anyway and it’s a nice throwback.
Another one of those soundtracks that get me to watch a movie. Otherwise I’d probably pass on another film starring Barry Keoghan. But the music is another hit home by Benjamin John Power, he has never let me down so far. Tense, dark, full of stress, from ambient to pumping industrial electronics. I can hear those pictures of unease and emptiness, then running and fighting, I want to see that editing that’s based on these rhythms and sounds. I’d love to play it too, if this was a game soundtrack.
