woops i alot of words'd!
1. mr tinimaine: the classical tune avoided my usual issue of being so context-sensitive as it achieves a full expression of sound alone but this isn't even close for me. the hypnotic, detuned keys sputter with equal measures of fisher-price plinkiness and z-movie horror, and the single high tone completes this eerie surreal sensation while still providing a groove with the equally entrancing cyclical hook. found footage g-funk. dope.
2.romderful: lesbiansonecstasy goes in that Did too many drugs and did a orgy in the local catacombs kinda way but its mindlessness while its appeal leaves it feeling reserved for specific moods. romderful on the other hand felt like thundercat decided to make a serene campfire song, the clarity of those bright strings as the ripple out and dissipate like shooting stars make the track as buoyant as it is but the sweet harmonies and carefree mood don't hurt either. a keeper.
3. ultramagnetic mc's: the wild thing sample is terrible, but the kraftwerk sample is fantastic, and so much more Them, the tinge of eccentricity and smarts boosts them from mere unserious mid 80s rappers to prescient figures of their time eyeing the stranger avenues rap could venture. wax fang was better suited by its eerie minimalism and gothicism than its resolution into winding alice in chains worship, though i reasonably enjoyed both. each flawed but that kraftwerk sample takes the win. kraftwerk are the most influential band of all time never forget.
4. ulver: wow. toughie. f. tautumeitas is ravishing, slowly ambling into its swampy rhythms as violins yearn like square dances of the forsaken before cutting a rug into sharp slinky staccatos, eventually their weight sent through the floor in devastating refrain before regaining composure and slipping into a syncopated groove, all in an immense wave of densely syllabic vocal phrases that at least as an english speaker pour over me so fast that they seem rehearsed and ritualistic to great effect. it doesn't get more exciting from there but it doesn't have to and stays as elegant as it is cult-like, the video is perfect too i never mention them but its 100% what should visualize this. like is said though, a toughie. F! ulver's every next artistic move doesn't yank me completely into their endeavors but their sheer dedication to the delicate texturing and theatrics required to achieve depeche mode-ian earthshaking synthpop has me all in. it doesn't hurt that pastiche is my drug but it helps moreso that this is mere extension of their knack for the all-encompassing, dark and ethereal, and the grandiosity of the vocal and the immense looming of the ever clanging chimes turns what could be mere pastiche into a new romantic death march. insane match and i hate losing either. such is the nature of the damned roulette.
5. swirlies: of the swirlies songs ive heard, this one strikes me the most pumpkins-y, which is a good thing as pumpkins at their finest balanced soft-heavy dynamics and the disparity therein with more standard rock structures better than most could dream, though being of a category of such alt and indie bands more diy in nature this is more willing to crank the tempo for a live-show feel in dynamic shift. mahalia is fine but i have absolutely nothing for it the particular sound strikes me as far too familiar and faceless.
6. anri: i admired suburban lawns' deeply eccentric and vocally unconventional crunch pop plenty, but i know who i am, and who i am is a guy who cant get enough of that tasty irresistible nutrient known as V I B E S and this sucker has boatloads of buckets full, peak hot pink sunshades music, the theme song to an anime about going to the beach and just Hanging out there, roller rink bop, and of course theres a sick fuckin sax solo because they come free with every purchase of such a bop. a good time.
7. kate bush: i will give dorian electra this, their persistent warping of vocal registers is an excellent artistic effect, both because it helps elucidate them as someone who seems keen on burning the boxes society pre-packages gender inside and for the aesthetic effect of different pitches hitting different emotional spaces. as a Song though im not really sold, its a bit of a standard electropop number but i do wanna keep an eye on them and what else they've released because well first off more queer rep is important and also they seem like they could do something alot more adventurous than this. but uhhhh damn i didn't know kate bush had glammy stompers like this in her, though unsurprisingly she's never one to stop letting her vocalizations push the parameters and especially within such a standard framework such a thing can overwhelm but i don't find it does, her squeaks and yelps accentuate and push the driving mood of the song but reframes it, the extra something gives guitar crunch so common it can easily be a shortcut a real thrust. just erratic enough to satisfy but never bends so much as to snap in two.
8. cautious clay: all i can offer for the fall is i dont think thats the song to provide as an entry point because im not seeing the It factor that garnered them immense praise. cautious clay has me at a difficult roadblock because its not often i am so taken by specifically the voice, but his brought me to an astonished halt, but i don't consider myself particularly good at assessing voices strictly. not that the musicality doesn't add to the effect with its soothing filtered acoustics reminding me of how it feels to listen to frank ocean's more songwritery songs, the hybridizing of singer/songwriter and sounds steeped in modernity is among my favorite trends encourage by a world less bound by outside influences and invited by the open infinite landscape of music, the chemistry music deserves, perhaps to escape accusations that there's nothing new or to further inspire that boundaries are bullshit. still, that voice. i dunno, it's gorgeous, it peeks into familiar soul registers but rest largely in a deeper, throatier space, it feels real, so much music even that which i love can make me ask how much is real. clay doesn't ever sing in a way where it feels like false. its a performance but its not performative. i think alot soul and r&b achieves greatness of feeling heightened but this is so refreshingly human. the kinda song that just makes me think Wow. music is great.
