naomilores

[naomilores]

Various scans from Godspeed You! Black Emperor releases

[naomilores]

naomitours

Molchat Doma Shaky Knees 2022

Central Park

Atlanta, GA

April 30th, 2022

#molchat doma #coldwave #synthpop #synth pop #atlanta #belarus #shaky knees #naomilores #molchatdoma

[naomilores]

Less Than Jake

MegaCorp Pavillion

Newport, KY

July 9th, 2022

[naomilores]

Dinner Party feat. Terrace Martin, Robert Glasper, Kamasi Washington, 9th Wonder Coachella Valley Music Festival

Empire Polo Club

Indio, CA

April 15th, 2023

#coachella #coachella 2023 #dinner party #jazz #terrance martin #robert glasper #kamasi washington #9th wonder #neo soul #neo-soul #kamasi looks fuckin great here #who the fuck is robert glasper

[naomilores]

Yung Gravy - Marvelous (2022)

The Marvelous Mr. Gravy

Yung Gravy is one of those artists that wouldn't have made it without Soundcloud/TikTok and the internet writ large. The flow has always been corny, heavy-handed and above all hilarious, something baby boomer record execs shy away from. (especially when they already have Drake, the Cornball-In-Chief.) Gravy's funny side has always masked some serious creative chops and they really peak out on Marvelous, undoubtedly his best work to date. The retro grandeur of 50's big band that's sampled throughout is a perfect pair for Gravy's voice and it only highlights the absurd irreverence of his verses. And sure, he's done that kind of sampling since Snow Cougar, but his deliberate choices on Marvelous just feel more carefully-selected and less meme-y.

Make no mistake, Gravy is still hilarious on here. "Call that bitch Kim Jong Un how she brainwashin'" is a personal favorite. Actually Run Me my Money might be the most fun on the album; it's Gravy at his most MILF-loving classic self, he's got this natural comfort bc of course he does, he's in his element. He's kinda the most millennial/gen-z rapper you could imagine, soiree! has a joke about unsubscribing after a free trial, which you, me, and everyone our age has done. (But not our parents; they're still trying to figure out the remote for the smart TV). The lead single Betty samples Rick Astley's Never Gonna Give You Up, which means you're getting Rick-Rolled if you wanna hear it. He interpolates a whole song out of a 15-second vocal riff from Spongebob for christ's sake.

So gravy is still a meme rapper, but he's a meme rapper starting to mature and grow up, even if a lot of that is in his beats. There's no getting around the reality Gravy sounds good on a piano track, songs like soiree! gives him more weight and credibility, like a more comedic, sexier version of Denzel Curry's Ultimate. Marvelous kinda becomes a slog in the middle. You really could skip a lot of this album and just hit the highlights in soiree!, Betty, Run Me My Money and Hot Tub.

Speaking of Hot Tub, talk about a creative coup for Gravy! Dillon Francis puts the perfect spin on the retro sound so instrumental to Marvelous, and it's got those perfect harmonies that T-Pain pulls up to the next level. There is, by the way, not a better feature on this beat than T-Pain, him and Francis are huge "gets" for Gravy. And if the whole album sounded as good as Hot Tub, Marvelous would be a serious contender for Album of The Year. Gravy is pushing up against the bounds of 'comedy rap' and making some seriously good music; there really isn't a stronger moment for that argument than this track. Gravy could very easily be on the cutting edge of hip-hop's future, but he has a tough balancing act in making music that's this good but not losing the comical chops that make his music so much fun. 7/10

#yung gravy #those samples kill #album review #meme rap #naomi lores #NL album review #trap #comedy rap #dance music #it just fuckin grooves

[naomilores]

Song Review: Orange Moon by Erykah Badu

It's a tremendous disservice to Erykah Badu's legacy to only focus on this one song, Mama's Gun is one of those albums that deserves a billion reviews, but, I'm not on that level as a reviewer!! So many others have said what I would, and to much greater effect! So have my meager offering, a dive into Orange Moon, my favorite track.

I would listen to Erykah Badu sing about literally anything, because her voice is so smooth, so clean, so lovely. She could sing a grocery list and I would still be just as spellbound. But she doesn't sing the grocery list, her songs are always filled with a deeper meaning. Orange Moon tells us about believing in yourself, what it means to love someone who does the same, its restorative power, the way it heals. Love like that is special, it builds and sustains you, like an orange moon, you hardly ever see it, so always remember and appreciate when you get it this good.

The way she starts acapella like she's just out in the park on a long, languishing summer night just evokes this feeling of decadence within nature that she just matches when the ensemble comes in. Like you're immediately just swamped by the song's collective weight, suffocated in the best way, death by groove! It's so slow, so lush, so *comfortable* in the undeniable moment of unmitigated, contagious joy and love you feel in the arms of someone who sees you and speaks to what's inside.

The dancing flute line in 2:45 as she just harmonizes drags you beneath and you lose yourself inside the soundscape. And then we're right back in the verse before the centerpiece of its long, looping chorus.

That "how good it is, how God it is" and the way it tangles itself throughout, is TO 👏DIE👏 FOR👏 She just melts it into this jam by 5:15 that pushes and pushes as the chimes and crickets dance in the background, the wildlife of a summer night. Here, love will always be alive 10/10

#my mom raised me on her music #erykah badu #mama's gun #r&b #soul #neo-soul #psychedelic soul #soul jazz #funk #song review #Naomi Lores #NL Reviews #Spotify

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CHVRCHES Shaky Knees 2022

Central Park

Atlanta, GA

April 30th, 2022

#CHVRCHES #lauren mayberry #synth pop #god damn they did final girl #screen violence #the bones of what you believe #chavurches

[naomilores]

Moloko - Statues (2003)

Is this me breaking free or just breaking down

For decades, we've lived in the era of lead singles and one-hit-wonders. Especially in modern pop music, so many artists will make an hour plus of music that has, maybe, 15 good minutes in it. It's not often you find releases where there are no filler tracks, and no misses. Those releases should be celebrated, and Yorkshire duo Moloko brought a joyous maximalism to music-making that was divine, one that left no room for forgetting in a perfectly-balanced release.

Starting early on with the title track, Statues deserves special mention, it's the first track that really brings in the string section to add palpable tension to what Murphy is singing about here, which is the end of relationships and the capacity within each of us for recreation, for starting anew and not giving up hope for love. Time will never stop for us to catch up, we have only today and only each other. Even the spoken section at the end almost has a harmony, it is a beautifully somber composition as the chorus twists itself around and around all throughout, a trick they love on this album—look for it again on Over and Over.

Murphy's lyrics really make this album, because they're honest. Sure, music about relationships has been done twenty million times, but it's the way she visualizes love: its unsure beginnings and bitter ends. What the casual listener needs to understand is that she's not singing about love as if it's something theoretical and abstract, her musical partner Mark Brydon was her actual partner for 8 years and they broke up in the middle of this record's creation. So that pain, that feeling of inner conflict, of wanting someone but knowing you have to move on, all of it is real and raw in her approach to the sound. To be in love is not something that can be avoided, only navigated through, so enjoy the ride where you can, and when it's over look back with gratitude for the good times.

There's many opinions on classifying this work. It's house, it's jazz, it's dance-pop, it's downtempo. However you want to characterize it, it's damn good music. Brydon's approach to what Moloko sounds like is above all an evolution from much simpler roots. It's also not trying to be anything it isn't. The music had been straining against the descriptor of "trip-hop" for at least the prior 2 albums, and undeterred by any genre constraints, Brydon explodes the whole formula into technicolor as Moloko moves into a fuller, warmer sound.

Forever More is the big song off this record, and it may be one of the heavier songs in terms of the synth line, a more classic and recognizable sound for our beloved duo. Murphy's jumps into head voice around 3 minutes in, just divine and work superbly with the groove of that up-and-down synth bassline. There's this walking piano line towards the end that bleeds into this warbling organ solo that's truthfully hard as ***. There's such a peculiar harmony to how Murphy picks her harmonies on this album, Familiar Feeling and The Only Ones are great examples as well.

Talking more about the latter, this is the best song off this album, this pinching guitar riff that's laced throughout the song in a perfect compliment to the plucking of the harp that pulls in these stunning glissandos. And the message of the lyrics are something anyone should be able to relate to:

To those with afflictions Prone to addictions To users and to losers Doubters and their daughters and sons Your Angel will come

That is to say, there is hope in finding love for all of us, that there is nobody who is not deserving of love in some capacity. Even if you're downtrodden or depressed, you must not give up, because it will be out there. And maybe that's too optimistic, but we live in hard times. In moments of great struggle we should never forget the many people who love us in all manner of ways, and never forget we can make it, if we make it together.

There is nothing Moloko promises on this record that they do not satisfy in full. Things To Do And Make was all about moving into something more melodic, organic and human, and that momentum is taken to its logical conclusion here. The music has synth, but it is far from synthetic. The gooey, emotional center of Murphy's singing is perfectly paired with string sections and synth solos to form a milieu of sound that is wonderfully warm and compelling. At the end of the day, call Statues for what it is, serotonin in a bottle, distilled joy, ambrosia in the classical sense. It is the capstone of a relationship beautifully musical and deeply personal. We should all be so lucky to live such lives, and love such loves. 10/10

#moloko #album review #dance-pop #funky house #acid jazz #downtempo #it's not really downtemp though #roisin murphy #Róisín Murphy #Mark Brydon #god DAMN one of my favorite albums #statues #Naomi Lores #Naomi Lores Review #Naomi Lores Music

[naomilores]

Song Review: Sean McVerry - Right Here (2021)

This song was originally supposed to sound like one of those interstitial adult swim tracks, instead it's evolved into something much prettier in and of itself. It's got this hynotic, ethereal feeling to it that reminds me a lot of my favorite psychedelic bands, Tame Impala and Crumb come to mind. The chorus is especially good:

Bottle it, come on, bottle it up //Never like you to ruin the fun // Never like you to give anything away, away, away

And the subtle shift on the second line of each verse, e.g. "To get a grip of something but I hardly", it feels very jazz-informed and it's almost the launch point for that earworm of the chorus. Hell, the whole song is an earworm!

It appears to wind down, only to move into this killer breakdown around 2:46 that almost feels like outro music from the dreamscape of the main song. But it does stand on it's own, I just wish it was longer, at least double the length. In fact, give us an entire album of music this good and I think we'll all be very happy.

#Sean McVerry #psychedelic rock #psychedelic pop #idk but it's psychedelic as fuck #tiktok music #NL Reviews #song review #Spotify

[naomilores]

Will Sheff (formerly Okkervil River)

The Cedar Cultural Center

Minneapolis, MN

November 4th, 2022

#okkervil river #will sheff #they only did one OR song I was pressed #But the song was So Come Back I Am Waiting #so all is forgiven #singer songwriter #folk rock #indie folk

[naomilores]

Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith - Let's Turn It Into Sound (2022)

Let's Turn It Into Words

I loved Ears, the smooth velvet of Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith's arrangements fit in perfectly with her voice and it created this real sense of ethereal pleasure that you don't want to let go of. It felt simultaneously like something old and familiar, but something new being made from its memory, like when you find a well-worn coat at the thrift shop. Like mushrooms growing from a fallen tree trunk. Sadly, this is not Ears.

Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith has really committed to the atnoal vocal stabs on this release. They start out very appealing in the beginning but she puts her entire shoulder into this element over and over and over again to the point of beating it to death, 30 minutes in you're just bored of it. Compared to past works, Let's Turn It Into Sound is harder, harsher and heavier. Heavy synths and percussion come into this as if it's trying to move more mainstream but it's somehow even less accessible due to the vocal stabs.

Don't be mistaken, this is still a deeply groovy record that defies a lot of the criticism on its second track, Locate, which is deeply resonant, and those horns playing an octave from eachother are a real sonic delight. It also brings in industrial-style drums like you're listening to a Nine Inch Nails song, an appreciated touch.

Another criticism is tat this album also just doesn't give itself the space to make its entire moves, songs stop in the middle of the track and enter an entirely new movement. There is no worse offender than the fifth track Check Your Translation which has this horribly jarring flip to synths out of absolutely nowhere and it gives the first half of the song no time to wind down. It's as if KAS came into this with too many ideas, but was for whatever reason constrained to a time limit.

There are nonetheless a lot of really pretty moments on this album, the first half of Pivot Signal is so so so so well-balanced. And the way it fades out is just perfect, the transition into Unbraid: The Merge floods your senses with the sound of choirs and there's something sacred in this specific gesture. This is also the track that becomes very danceable at the end, which is a welcome evolution in KAS's music. (Almost to evoke Aphex Twin or Bjork, IDM is undeniably within here.) And the way she throws her voice around the headphones (you should listen to this on headphones) especially on tracks like Let It Fall gives this feeling of unreality, as if she's floating all around you, like a fog, or a dream.

It's very possible that Let's Turn It Into Sound is a time for changing and choosing, for KAS to move closer to the mainstream without losing what makes her so much fun to listen to. She has a fundamental musical appeal that is helped tremendously by her singing voice, just not when it goes all over the place. It's just not working on here like it should, but who knows how great the next album will be because of her experimentation here? 6/10

#kaitlyn aurelia smith #prog electronic #progressive electronic #new wave #idm #neo psych #neo psychedelia #i'm sorry to not write a raving review #I was just expecting a lot #god damn you need to go listen to Ears though #lets turn it into sound #2022 music #new music

[naomilores]

Taeko Ohnui - Mignonne (1978)

In the wee small hours of the morning

City pop existed at a unique intersection of time, culture and genre. Japan's postwar economy was booming in the 70's and 80's, and the overwhelming mood within Japanese culture was one of tremendous hope and optimism that contrasted with the darker times of war and occupation. City pop, and in many ways Taeko Ohnuki specifically, was heavily influenced by American pop artists like Joni Mitchell and Steely Dan who brought their influences from the jazz fusion greats like Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock. That is to say, this genre (and by extension, this album) is so perfectly a product of its time period, and at the same time it is no cheap imitation of its American counterparts, but something uniquely Japanese.

What must always be admired about city pop is that it's more than meets the eye. To the initial listener, it could be mistaken for something more basic, akin to feel-good yacht rock from Japan (think "What You Won't Do For Love" by Bobby Caldwell). But there's a melancholy edge to so much of this music that gives it a real emotional depth that you can miss it if you're not paying attention. Some people hate ballads, if you do you won't like Mignonne, but give it a chance anyways, it's full of them. The album's name is literally French for "cute", and it's a perfect characterization for what you're going to hear.

The centerpiece of this album is very obviously Ohnuki's voice which is in so many ways evocative of a jazz singer, her voice feels so soft and mournful on tracks like (1) 雲のゆくえに and (3) 黄昏れ , it's just so close, it's like you're sitting in a smoky lounge in 1978 Japan and you have front row seats while she sings to you with her band behind her. But don't be mistaken in assuming this is an album of just ballads, lots of upbeat tracks even beyond 4:00A.M., esp (4) 空をとべたら which has a killer flute solo about a minute in (and another one around 2:26, you be the judge of which is superior.)

This was an era where we become so much closer culturally, and it speaks to the fact that that you don't need to speak the language for the music to move something heartfelt and real within you. We all know the feeling of heartbreak, of a love unrequited, of a future you hoped for with someone vanishing before your eyes. That pain is real, and so much of it is given voice in Taeko Ohnuki's music.

The songs are composed such that they unfold exactly how you would expect them to, not in a way that feels boring or derivative, but in a way that's deeply satisfying. (2) 横顔 and the lead single (5) 4:00A.M. do this masterfully. The former feels like the brightest, happiest sunshine pop you would hear on a warm spring day of museum dates, holding hands in the park, picnics on the beach, like some montage out of a romance movie. The latter we're going to talk about in a second.

You never want to read a review that says the best track on the album is the lead single, but here's that review anyways because it's true. There is no bad part of 4:00A.M., from that smoky flute intro to the chorus "Lord, give me one more chance" and its perfect contrast with Ohnuki's voice that cuts through it all as if through a thick fog. And the transition into (8) 突然の贈りもの is just a divine blend from the irresistible power of this album's anthem to the slow, sad ballad that has this gorgeously unexpected chord change around 0:28 that makes the space between these songs something that you have to hear.

So what are we to make of Mignonne? Many would say it fails to reach the heights of its immediate predecessor album Sunshower, and this album does lose a lot of its momentum after the climax of its single towards the end. But it's a favorite, and deserves its moment in the spotlight. As the world we live in continues to change, so too will music. May it evolve something as beautiful and rare as Taeko Ohnuki's work.

#city pop #review #taeko ohnuki #mignonne #naomi lores #new music #jazz pop

[naomilores]

UPDATE:

I've decided this is going to become my more serious, music-exclusive blog with photos, reviews and more here. If you want to see funny things and just general social stuff, look for @naomiloresfun my new secondary blog.

This is a very important update to all 2 of my followers, the both of you are now aware.

[naomilores]

Danny Elfman Coachella 2022

Empire Polo Club

Indio, CA

April 16th, 2022

#this is Halloween #happy Halloween #Danny Elfman #Coachella #soundtrack #nightmare before xmas #spiderman #pee wee's big adventure #fucking great show

[naomilores]

man this sucks, being trans should have been an anthropological curiosity, not a political movement, it should have been a quirk of humanity, not a fight for survival, it should have been like being colorblind, or having six fingers, it should have been something science teachers taught their students excitedly because it was this interesting bit of trivia, it should have been no more exciting than being a furry or being born with edietic memory. it should have been this little vibrant community whose only care in the world was to share tips about how to customize your presentation it should have been an off hand remark while hanging at a bar to the tune of “hey, isnt joan of accounting trans? crazy stuff my cousin tom changed too and now is nora”

i look back at all those old news papers from like the 30′s and 40′s and the way they seemed to talk about the subject and is like fuck, how can we get that back

[naomilores]

Dragonforce

The Obersvatory North Park

San Diego, CA

March 8th, 2022

#SO FAR AWAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY #actually great show #i felt bad i only knew TTFATF #Dragonforce #metal #power metal #british metal #i had no fuckin idea they're british #i feel like all the metal bands are from fuckin Oregon #NaomiLoresConcerts

[naomilores]

turn on anon asks

but what if someone is mean to me 🥺🥺🥺