taubenbeats

[taubenbeats]

For this edition of Taubenbeats Biweekly I wanna start off with this compilation from Through the Soil that released last week. Nice mixture of lofi, shoegaze, and indie rock, there are lots of fun new artists on it. Through the Soil is a DIY collective that puts out these compilations and the proceeds from the sale help nonprofits. Appropriately for Pride Weekend the proceeds go to the Trevor Project, which works to help prevent suicides by LGBTQ youth. So have a listen and consider snagging the Digital Album on Bandcamp for $5.

Welp, that was a nice thought, I had a post prepared to go and thought I'd get it out. Pride had other plans and my weekend was all for the queers.

Anywho, let's move on to the music I enjoyed for the past few weeks (albums and singles combined)!

Hell Is Here - Cryalot, Sarah from Kero Kero Bonito's DJ name, created this hyperpoppy, dark, noisy single. All I know is I want more. She even created a playlist of inspirations: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5X92BydySAyRjHddWpndVm?si=4c4e030eb610463c

Fool's Gold - Built to Spill has put together some solid singles in the lead-up to their new album. Good riffs, good lyrics, super chill vocals.

New Summers - Great summer-y disco track. Just right amount of upbeat.

I Was Killing It Man - Debut single from a band called Doki Doki. Not much else to say but a really solid punk track. Appears to be a true debut, can't find anything else by em.

(album) Twenty Twenty Twenty One - I enjoy almost all of Spencer Krug's work, Moonface is usually my favorite. This album is another long one, but very well produced/written.

(album) Neon Girl Soundtrack -- Checkout Parts 1 and 2. Glitchy, industrial high BPM. Supposedly the game is really good too.

L'hotel Serein - Really enjoy this one. I like 17 min long jam tracks as much as the next deadhead, but I also like when these guys put out a dirty classic blues track.

We're Not In Orbit Yet - Haven't heard some good Broken Bells in a minute. Has a somber, kind of spacey vibe. For those that don't know Broken Bells is a pairing of one of the Shins and the producer Danger Mouse.

Hymn 35 (Revisited) - I don't get enough Folk anymore, so I'm still going to enjoy a revisit if it's from Joe Pug. Great voice and use of harmonica always.

(album) The Long Way, The Slow Way - Really enjoyed this debut LP from Camp Trash. Pop punk/Pop rock with touches of emo. Reminds me of sounds from middle school. Lake Erie Boys is a good track to start with, also enjoyed Pursuit and Enough Explaining.

New Money - Funky hip hop track from 21 Savage and Calvin Harris.

(album) Minions - The singles were mostly released individually are now grouped together properly. Usually you don't want to like this but the covers all just work for the artists assigned to them. Standouts were BROCKHAMPTON doing Hollywood Swinging, You're No Good by Weyes Blood, and my favorite of the whole thing, Bang Bang by Caroline Polachek.

(album) Great Lake Influence - Sango's production is super tight and clean on this one and the whole album breezed by for me, every track just flowed into the next one. Has some bit-tune-ness to it and mixes the fast driving snare beat with some fast heavy bass.

(album) Home, before and after - As I said with the Loveology single, I'm not usually into Regina Spektor. This album from her is wonderful though. I love most of the softer tracks, but the production and louder sounds on Coin or Spacetime Fairytale are equally impressive. Up the Mountain is my least favorite and as the second track could turn people off. I recommend sticking through it, the second of the album is hit after hit in my mind.

Cherry - Daphni is apparently Caribou and this sounds like a house version of Caribou. Let's just say I am HERE for that.

(album) Lavender Days - Leaning into a laidback folk sound, Caamp's new album is pretty chill.

Albums I still need to digest, but I have no doubt are good: MUNA's MUNA, Moor Mother's Jazz Codes, and Zola Jesus' Arkhon.

#Bandcamp

[taubenbeats]

Week 2

This week had a much lighter haul. Bartees Strange and Perfume Genius will get the majority of the indie album listens this week and deservedly so! I know and expect both are good so I wanna keep my pointers to newer artists for me:

Seahorse Tranquilizer - Fresh Pepper et al. lead this track so varied sounds, keeping a muted café-crowd sound in the background. Destroyer's Dan Bejar lends his vocals to give it some legitimacy. Haven't listened to the rest of the album, but this first taste is intriguing.

Conceited - Flo Milli. Mentioned elsewhere this track is classic Flo Milli from the jump full of big energy and great flow.

VA Sway/HAHA: Both these tracks include features with Pusha T. and both of Pusha's verses are great.

My 2 highlights this week are Mil Coisas Invisiveis and Summer Nights. I mentioned Tim Bernades last week and he really came through with an album full of wonderful ballads. Summer Nights is an EP from Hazel English. It has lush, soft summer vibes that can catch you just right on the deck with a light breeze.

[taubenbeats]

Drake - Honestly, Nevermind (Guest Review)

A friend of mine, DJ Half Man Half Horse reached out to me asking to see if I'd be willing to allow a guest review. Hell yeah my man:

Honestly, Nevermind is the name of Drake’s latest release, a divisive release by the Toronto pop legend that no one seemingly asked for. Drake calls upon legendary house DJs (Black Coffee, Gordo) for simple beats which he cuts up and spits out with his over-the-top lyrics and auto-tuned gobbledygook. So how will the Drake formula work here? 

Simply put, it doesn’t. These tracks work best when the artist is nowhere to be found. You have to suffer through some truly awful quick hitters before landing on the first real house break. On “A Keeper”, the lyrically-regrettable build-up is short and stupid. Before the beat break, Drake confesses:

God is okay with me, so;  Life of that shade that you throw; I’ve seen you take it low; Limbo right under that ho; Fuck out my face

This bombastic nothingism is classic Drake, singing religious, aimless punch-backs on top of a shallow house beat that opens up beautifully about a minute later. It all ends too quickly as Drake whispers “Okay, okay” and unironically cuts the fade out before even reaching the the 3-minute mark. Can you even call this dance music? Or is this the Girl Talk-equivalent of a pop superstar who has become a meme, even as he begs to be taken seriously. The reductionism here is baffling; if Drake wanted to honor dance music, it’s nowhere to be found. The next track quickly leads off with a classic Drake build-up, only to be smashed down with a toxic cat call, spitting right in the face of anyone hoping that these tracks are club ready. If you know anyone singing along with this, it might be time to cut them out of your life.

Heralded as dance-heavy album, Drake bros are admittedly upset and confused by the artistic direction here. The rest of the tracks trail off into a wasteland of under-utilized beats and more terrible lyrics. At times, you’d be better served to just put on actual house music, where the drums are served up endlessly and the toxic masculinity is nowhere to be found. 

Overall, the album serves as an indicator that house music is quickly becoming mainstream. But the tracks work best in their original formula. 120 bpm, 8 minute tracks where a beat builds endlessly and possibly never breaks. Drake has been successful in the past with his formulas… building his intros slowly and then exploding out of the gates. It almost works on his track “Massive”, the longest and best track of the record, which relies on a beautiful come-and-go keyboard beat. If the whole album sounded like this, the hitmaker from the 6 could have been on to something. And the next track starts off with that classic minute-late Drake intro, but it’s clear the album has peaked. The next 3 tracks have a level of minimalism never seen before by the artist; finger snaps and airy guitar. Again, who asked for this? 

The auto-tune that is present throughout the album serves as a reminder that Drake simply can’t help himself. He’s a meme now, and even if he’s trying to pioneer a new wave of sound, he’s the hero no one asked for. There’s great beats and breaks here and there, but the spattering of ideas never converges into a coherent sound. The album ends with a 21-Savage feature that flies directly in the face of the rest of the album. It’s as if someone introduced Drake to house music during the pandemic, and his ADHD brain could only process so much of it.

Responding to the immediate memes and criticism of the album, Drake recently said:

“It’s all good if you don’t get it yet. It’s all good, that’s what we do. We wait for you to catch up. We’re in here, though. We’re caught up already. On to the next. My goodness.”

My goodness! Honestly, maybe this is exactly what he wanted. Next up for the hitmaker? A poetry book later this year. 

[taubenbeats]

Part of the reason I switched to bi-weekly was some weeks are light and others have a slew of new releases. This week is one of those heavy ones. The majority of the current list are singles but I've been able to listen to a few albums so far and there are some standouts from artists that are new to me. An important note for newer people: My playlists are not fluid mixes, but are rather just lists of music I enjoy. As such it is quite possible a folk track will lead to a hardcore track followed by a hip hop one. So just be forewarned.

Singles highlights: Reckoner - Chambord Remix: Starting off my playlist the same as my Release Radar. This is a very funky/groovy dance remix of Radiohead's Reckoner and I love it. The beat drives it throughout.

Something Loud: Pleasantly surprised to enjoy a track from Jimmy Eat World, one of those bands I liked in high school and just had that signature late 90s/early 00s rock sound.

Glimpse of Us: Great sorrowful sounding track from Joji, his voice and production are giving James Blake vibes here.

California: Bonny Light Horsemen never miss, anytime they come out with something its a must listen. Chill Americana on this one.

Heartbeat: From the get-go The Midnight always brings the nostalgic 80s synths that characterize their sound.

WOODY SHAW: One of my favorite finds of the past few years has been poet, singer, experimental hip hop artist Moor Mother. They've announced a new album with each track honoring jazz and blues icons. This track has a great feature from jazz singer Melanie Charles.

Última Vez: This meditative folk track from Brazilian singer Tim Bernandes is lovely. The first few ballads for his next LP, due out this week, have been intimate and the album will likely be in my Albums highlights soon.

EP/Albums highlights: Legacies by Deau Eyes: A new artist for me, I've described her sound as a halfway between Lana Del Rey's dream pop and Lucy Dacus' rock tendencies. Almost every track on the album is excellent, Moscow in the Spring is my favorite though.

off the grid: Another new surprise was this album from Yot Club. It's a lofi pop album and just flows really nicely. Gives me some Car Seat Headrest vibes at times, he sounds a bit like Will Toledo. can't celebrate is my favorite track from it.

I Told Bessie: Armand Hammer is one of my favorite hip hop groups. Lyrics are always fire and the production always feels very experimental and new. E L U C I D follows through on this solo record and still has several great tracks with his Hammer collaborator, billy woods. Jumanji is the standout track for me on this one. Liner Notes:

A few EPs and Albums have good tracks (Christina Aguilera, Of Monsters and Man, Grace Ives, Joyce Manor, Patty Griffin) but wouldn't necessarily rec the entire project.

CupcakKe always gets a spot and she doesn't disappoint: "Make the pussy stretch like minimum wage" or "Jenga game, he hate pullin' out"

Not a huge Regina Spektor fan so was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed the very light Loveology track.

Final thoughts: As always most of the first tracks are more in the indie sphere, I'll be adding more mainstream stuff throughout the week as well as review some more hip-hop focused tracks/albums/tapes.

[taubenbeats]

First post

Gonna give this blog thing a go. Tryin to be minimalist at first and see what follows. I have few creative outlets in life, but one I've always enjoyed is reviewing music and sharing different kinds of music with people. This blog will mostly be a space where I can share that new music and write something a little longer in form than what I've been sharing on Instagram. I'll still be posting tidbits on there, but if you want a little more of a review, feel free to hang around here and check it out. For logistics, I maintain the same playlist for a few weeks, then move those songs to my archive and refresh it. Both links are included on the right. I'm not expecting a lot of random followers, so for now, no dedicated socials for this blog, but we'll see where things go. Another thing I try to maintain is a calendar of all the bands I enjoy that are coming to Seattle. I pick a placeholder time and then will list the ticket price (before fees) and the venue it's at. You can find that calendar embedded in a separate page linked up top. I try to update it quarterly.

-Taubenbeats