voodoochili

[voodoochili]

My Favorite Albums of 2023

The world of music is in a strange place. It is constantly moving forward, with microtrends popping up in an instant and stars being born overnight, yet in a strange stasis, with the stars of the past ruling over commercial fiefdoms with iron fists. One thing that has remained the same is that the sheer volume of music released is higher than ever, and it keeps growing. It's a bit intimidating, but I love it! It’s in my nature to seek out the fresh and new, and I am faced with a bounty of goods every day–I press play on every record believing, honestly believing, that it could become one of my favorites ever.

While I didn’t find any all-time favorites this year (give it time), I did find dozens of albums worth recommending. I listed 75 here, and could have listed 75 more. And I know I’ve barely scratched the surface of the great music that came out this year alone. Nothing you can do but keep digging!

Here’s my list of my favorite albums of the year, with blurbs for the top ten. Scroll down to the bottom to find selections from all 75, plus some honorable mentions.

10. Lankum - False Lankum: This June, the skies burned. Wildfire smoke from northern Québec funneled into New York City and stayed a while, filling the air with toxins and turning the sky blood red. My soundtrack to that apocalyptic moment was False Lankum, the latest by the Irish group Lankum, an album that sounds like the last gasp of a dying world. Spellbinding with both traditional tunes, like the stunningly haunting version of “Go Dig My Grave,” and excellent originals, False Lankum is one of the year’s most harrowing, transporting, and life-affirming listening experiences, underlying spare folk music with ominous drone. Sometimes, the noise builds slowly, like on “Lord Abore and Mary Flynn,” but in other songs, like “Netta Perseus,” the atmosphere collapses at once, drowning beauty in an all-encompassing darkness. Facing down that darkness armed with only their gorgeous harmonies, Lankum sound like the remnants of a lost society, protecting the embers of civilization and refusing to surrender to the void.

9. bar italia - Tracey Denim: Tracey Denim is the musical equivalent of a text translated into a foreign language and then back into English: the original text is The Velvet Underground & Nico, and the translating software is the thousands of bands that album inspired. Tracey Denim subsumes decades’ worth of alternative music into its existential murk. At times, Bar Italia sound like The Modern Lovers on anti-anxiety meds, at others the most melodic incarnation Pere Ubu, or a version of Pulp with every ounce of romanticism beaten out. The band creates miniature psychodramas out of the moments when a night’s vibe shifts from hedonism to malaise, its three vocalists passing the mic back and forth to recreate the profoundly banal conversations that occur after the party ends and only the saddest attendees linger. The real trick of Tracey Denim is the way it transforms this murky malaise into something truly enjoyable–it’s a world you want to revisit, a dogged companion for late nights. 

8. Meshell Ndegeocello - The Omnichord Real Book: Invented in 1981 by the Suzuki Corporation (not the car company but given the dual domains of Yamaha, I would understand why you’d think so), the Omnichord is a rudimentary drum machine and synthesizer, producing a tinny approximation of a string section, along with several pre-programmed basslines and drum rhythms. In the hands of an artist as versatile and intelligent as Meshell Ndegeocello, the limitations placed by the Omnichord are a mere starting point for flights of fancy that reach the cosmos, the innermost regions of the soul, and back again. With The Omnichord Real Book, Ndegeocello creates perhaps her most ambitious work to date, surrounding the titular synth with a universe of post-bop brilliance, created by a diverse and accoladed ensemble of musicians that includes guitarist Jeff Parker, trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusure, harpist Brandee Younger, jazz pianists Jason Moran and Cory Henry, drummer Deantoni Parks, saxophonist Josh Johnson, vibraphonist Joel Ross, and fellow Gen X singer-songwriters Joan As Policewoman and Thandiswa. The 72-minute epic is as soulful as any record by Roy Ayers and as adventurous as any by Prince, but radiates a warmth and wisdom that could only come from Meshell.

7. ML Buch - Suntub: The latest album by Danish guitarist-songwriter ML Buch is a gooey, tactile record, filled with sounds that shift and mold into different shapes like Playdough. Many of the songs on Suntub don’t so much as progress as they burble like a mudpot at Yellowstone, melding heavy shoegaze guitars with lumbering drums, airy synths, and a litany of found-sound effects to create a euphonious mush. With song titles like “River mouth,” “Pan over the hill,” and “Clearing,” it’s not surprising that this is an album best enjoyed outdoors, where the guitars can fade into the atmosphere and become one with streaking rays of sun. Maybe that makes sense, maybe it doesn’t. I know I can’t say anything more convincing than this meme.

6. Amaarae - Fountain Baby: Blessed with sharp songwriting sensibilities and the voice that could charm snakes, Amaarae is a pop star perfectly suited for our international age. Fountain Baby is the pop album of the year, stacking bangers back-to-back-to-back, each elevated by Amaarae’s sensual singing and IG-ready bon mots. Using the syncopated rhythms of Afrobeats as her bedrock, the Ghanaian-American singer creates an enchanting tapestry of border-crossing bangers, borrowing elements of Bollywood, alternative R&B, and Neptunes-era hip-pop to fill out her sound. Highlights? Look no further than the majestic “Co-Star,” a charming astrological lyrical exercise, “Counterfeit,” which transforms the Clipse’s “Wamp Wamp” into a tropical dancefloor filler, “Wasted Eyes,” soaring atop thumping bass and a subcontinental swing, and the bold, brash “Princess Going Digital.”

5. Jonny Nash - Point of Entry: A singularly absorbing bit of ambient folk, Point of Entry glistens like morning sunshine. The soundscapes are intimate, but expansive, each pluck of Jonny Nash’s guitar echoing through the cosmos. As the founder of the New Age label Melody As Truth and a member of the group Gaussian Curve with Marco Sterk and Balearic legend Gigi Masin, Nash is heavily experienced in creating understated bliss, and Point Of Entry is most likely the best work he’s been involved with to date. True to its title, the album is a sonic doorway, slowly but surely transporting the listener to a poignantly tranquil new reality.

4. The Tubs - Dead Meat: Formed from the ashes of Welsh punk band Joanna Gruesome, The Tubs is the brainchild of the band’s former guitarist, Owen “O” Williams, in which he is free to be his jangliest, nerviest self. The London-based outfit’s debut album, Dead Meat, melds the best of 80s college rock into a fresh package, at times echoing the romantic cynicism of The Wedding Present (on the strutting, feedback-laden “Sniveller”), the pop maximalism of Bob Mould’s Sugar (on “I Don’t Know How It Works”), and the chiming beauty of Felt (check the gorgeous closer “Wretched Lie”). While the familiarity is comforting to a record nerd like me, it wouldn’t mean anything if the songs weren’t excellent, and Dead Meat is lean, mean, and full of enough excellent riffs and melodies to last far longer than its 26 minutes. Throughout, Williams belies the taut instrumentals with a serrated sense of self-deprecation, painting one of the finest pictures of a hopeless sad sack since A Confederacy of Dunces. On “Sniveller” alone, he admits that he is a "bootlicker," who “wriggles like a worm” and “cowers in the dark,” prostrating himself in the most unflattering of ways to win the affections of his intended. On Dead Meat, he doesn’t need to debase himself to win our sympathy–he just needed to write nine crackling tunes.

3. Sufjan Stevens - Javelin: Twenty years ago, Sufjan Stevens announced himself as indie folk’s premier auteur, wielding orchestral grandeur, raw nerve emotion, and exquisite songcraft like a weapon. Arriving after a time of incredible hardship–marked by the death of his longtime partner, a bout with Guillain-Barre Syndrome, and more–Javelin is perhaps Sufjan’s most devastating record to date. No longer hiding behind geographical oddities or childhood stories, Sufjan confronts his trauma head-on. On “Goodbye Evergreen,” a plaintive lullaby gives way to cacophonous chaos, as Sufjan seems to experience all five stages of grief at once. The nakedly vulnerable “Will Anybody Ever Love Me?” articulates a feeling that we’ve all had while illuminating nuances we might not have considered: to the Sufjan of “Will Anybody Ever Love Me?”, to be loved is to be free; to be seen in full and unshackled from earthly concerns, finally able to ascend to true selfhood. The album’s centerpiece is the astounding “So You Are Tired,” an almost unbearably sad and beautiful ballad in which Sufjan struggles to see a path forward without the person who gave him that kind of love. Javelin ends on a hopeful note, a lyrically re-arranged cover of Neil Young's "There's A World," as Sufjan finds solace in his faith: his lover isn’t gone, he is everywhere; in the trees, the air, and the ocean. Even if I don’t share Sufjan’s faith, I am still inspired by the singer’s strength, as he journeys through hell and back.

2. Veeze - Ganger: Before 2023, Veeze was the Winston Niles Rumfoord of the Detroit rap scene, appearing at irregular intervals to slay a guest verse or drop a new excellent single before disappearing back into the studio. His unkempt appearance and laid-back-bordering-on-comatose delivery added to the mystique, making him one of his city’s most mercurial figures. Years in the making, Veeze's first full-length album Ganger delivered on the hype and more, demonstrating once and for all why he's your favorite rapper’s favorite rapper. The 21-track project is as dense as a dying star–Veeze packs punchline after punchline into his songs, his barely-there rasp unfurling dismissals and flexes with an astonishing hit percentage. Each listen, I find a new favorite bar, and am surprised anew by an unexpected reference: on "Not A Drill," he relegates his enemies to the "UIP" (unimportant persons); on “OverseasBaller,” he arranges his multi-colored racks into an edible arrangement; on “SEXY liar,” he apologizes for accidentally flexing on his opposition before he “throws shells like taco food”; on “7sixers,” he cracks himself up when he says his money is as fat as Norbit. The first half of Ganger culminates in “Boat Interlude,” a stylistic curveball in which Veeze goes toe-to-toe with Lil Yachty and delivers one of the verses of the year. If the first half of Ganger demonstrates Veeze’s bar-for-bar supremacy, the glistening second half is a testament to his ear for production. DDotFreezing lives up to his name with his frigid beat for “tramp STAMP”; G-Lok’s beat for “Weekend” mixes gentle acoustic guitars and ambient pianos with a Michigan drumbeat that subtly shifts the song off-kilter; 614ASE’s blissed out “Kinda$” is a tape highlight, allowing Veeze to push the tempo; Rocaine and Koncept P’s “Safe 2” is trap music for the chillout room, as Veeze works a sing-song flow before succumbing to the atmosphere and slurring his words to oblivion. That’s a lot of words, and not a lot of insight, but what can I say? These are just very, very good rap songs by one of the funniest and most skillful street rappers in Detroit, or anywhere else. It’s a crowning achievement, possibly the defining album of the deepest and most exciting rap scene of the 2020s.

1. Nourished by Time - Erotic Probiotic 2: One thing about me is that I absolutely LOVE sensitive, dark-night-of-the-soul sophistipop that attempts to elucidate the human condition over a bed of luscious synthesizers–think Prefab Sprout, The Blue Nile, Tears For Fears, Peter Gabriel. I was under the impression that people stopped making this kind of music as soon as they heard the drums hit in “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” but Marcus Brown, the artist known as Nourished By Time, created a worthy successor to that noble lineage. Erotic Probiotic 2 is a showcase for Brown’s deep reservoirs of wisdom, laid over primitive synths and driving beats that take inspiration from freestyle. The soundscapes are warm and inviting, giving gravitas to Brown’s spiritual pronouncements, which they deliver in a graceful, throaty baritone. Opening diptych “Quantum Suicide” and “Shed That Fear” immediately set the tone, as Brown pleads for us to transcend our mortal selves and prepare for the next life. Track three, “Daddy,” breaks the reverie and drags us to the club, adding a bit of ballroom campiness as it floats over a programmed 4/4 stomp. “The Fields” and “Rain Water Promise” bring the best of both worlds, offering revelry and profundity in equal measure. “Soap Party,” with its dancing piano breakdown, begins the comedown, while closer “Unbreak My Love” ends the album by repeating the titular mantra until all tension dissipates into the ether. In an uncertain year, Erotic Probiotic 2 was a balm, a paean to the power of positive thinking–a radically optimistic work that dares to posit that a cold and unfeeling universe can become joyous and loving, if only you play the right notes. Nourished By Time plays those notes for me. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks for reading! Below are a bunch more albums that I loved this year, and please check the Spotify playlist sampler that contains music from all these albums and more.

11. Rắn Cạp Đuôi Collective - *1 12. Sampha - Lahai 13. Corinne Bailey Rae - Black Rainbows 14. Being Dead - When Horses Would Run 15. Babyface Ray - Summer's Mine 16. Laurel Halo - Atlas. 17. Avalon Emerson - & The Charm 18. Pépe - Reclaim 19. Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah - Bark Out Thunder Roar Out Lightning 20. Armand Hammer - We Buy Diabetic Test Strips 21. Everything But The Girl - Fuse 22. Sexyy Red - Hood Hottest Princess 23. Marina Herlop - Nekkuja 24. Asake - Work Of Art 25. Leo Takami - Next Door 26. Youth Lagoon - Heaven Is A Junkyard 27. Ryuichi Sakamoto - 12 28. Liquid Mike - S/T 29. Hayden Pedigo - The Happiest Times I Ever Ignored 30. Arooj Aftab/Vijay Iyer/Shahzad Ismaily - Love In Exile 31. feeble little horse - Girl with Fish 32. Boldy James & Rich Gains - Indiana Jones 33. Sofia Kourtesis - Madres 34. Maria BC - Spike Field 35. Freak Heat Waves - Mondo Tempo 36. Lana Del Rey - Did You Know That There Is A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd 37. Jim Legxcy - homeless n***** pop music 38. H31R - HEAD SPACE 39. Hotline TNT - Cartwheel 40. Animal Collective - Isn’t It Now? 41. Empty Country - Empty Country II 42. Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids - Afro Futuristic Dreams 43. Jamila Woods - Water Made Us 44. DJ Danifox - Ansidedade 45. Zulu - A New Tomorrow 46. Navy Blue - Ways Of Knowing 47. awakebutstillinbed - chaos takes the wheel and i am a passenger 48. Cleo Sol - Heaven/Gold 49. Call Super - Eulo Cramps 50. Mari Montana - Outstanding Member 51. Brent Faiyaz - Larger Than Life 52. Peso Pluma - GÉNESIS 53. Irreversible Entanglements - Protect Your Light 54. Paco Panama - The Matrix/The Wire Vol. 1 55. Yazmin Lacey - Voice Notes 56. Home Front - Games Of Power 57. Buggin - Concrete Cowboys 58. Swami Sound - Back In The Day 59. MIKE - Burning Desire/Beware Of The Monkey 60. Loraine James - Gentle Confrontation 61. Anjimile - The King 62. Peter Gabriel - i/o 63. Fire-toolz - I am upset because I see something that is not there. 64. Eddie Chacon - Sundown 65. HiTech - DÉTWAT 66. Julie Byrne - The Greater Wings 67. Yo La Tengo - This Stupid World 68. The Clientele - I Am Not There Anymore 69. Antony & The Johnsons - My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross 70. Slowdive - Everything Is Alive 71. Home Is Where - the whaler 72. Ratboys - The Window 73. Kara Jackson - Why Does The Earth Give Us People To Love? 74. BandGang Lonnie Bands - Bam Bam 75. That Mexican OT - Lonestar Luchador

#sufjan stevens #nourished by time #the tubs #veeze #meshell ndegeocello #amaarae #hip hop #ambient electronic #r&b #afrobeats #ml buch #bar italia #indie rock #lankum #Spotify

[voodoochili]

My Favorite Songs of 2023

Another year of bangers is in the books, friends. As the future world (and the overall environment of the recording industry!) seems to more and more uncertain and chaotic, one thing we can all take solace in is the sheer volume of excellent songs that hits us on any given day! If you're not finding great new music, you ain't tryin'.

Buuut if you don't feel like trying too hard, I have done the work for you! My top 100 for 2023 is an eclectic list, and I hope you'll find something new to love. Oh, and I wrote about 3500 words on these songs, so you're gonna have to at least skim through 'em (or, uh, scroll all the way down, I guess) to get to the Spotify playlist. *This list represents nothing but my own personal opinion! Songs by artists I have worked with in a professional capacity are marked by an asterisk. 25. Rae Sremmurd - “Flaunt It/Cheap”: Nearly a decade after emerging onto the scene, Rae Sremmurd have transformed their initial burst of chaotic energy into a studied professionalism. “Flaunt It/Cheap” brings back some of the old Sremm magic, collapsing decades worth of rap history into one beat-shifting banger. The time traveling track borrows sparse percussion and tongue-twisting flows from the 80s golden era, booty bass from 2 Live Crew, modular synths from The Neptunes, triplet turns of phrase from Atlanta, and reversed cymbals from The Bomb Squad. With a few tweaks, this could’ve easily appeared on Missy Elliott’s Under Construction, and might have taken over the radio if it came out in 2003. In 2023, though, it’s still a reliable dancefloor filler, and evidence of the Sremm brothers’ continuing reign as our premier pop rap savants.

24. Libianca - “People”: As a downtempo and melancholy ballad in a usually celebratory Afrobeats genre, Libianca’s “People” stood out in 2023, climbing charts throughout the year, and becoming a fan favorite at festivals and a go-to jam for pre-show DJs. It gently lopes along, riding a mellow bed of electric keys as it loops through a series of indelibly fragile hooks. The Cameroonian-American singer radiates a wounded pride as she pleads for someone, anyone, to send her an angel.

23. Animal Collective - “Defeat”: I was afraid the 20+-minute song was a lost art. I don’t mean a Grateful Dead-style 5 minute song pushed to 20 minutes with an extended jam. I mean an actual song, a musical journey that springs from a sung melody, unfolding into a room with many doors. Thankfully, Animal Collective, a band always in search of the next creative mile-marker to pass, is around to show us that prog ain’t dead, it’s just been resting.

Like the granddaddy of rock mega-suites–Yes’s Tales Of Topographic Oceans–”Defeat” challenges the listener to meet the band in the literary, meditative milieu where they live. The swelling, drumbeat-free intro lasts a full nine minutes, before transforming into a jaunty bit of Nuggets–style psychedelia. Before you get too comfortable, the bottom falls out once again, with only Avey Tare’s vibrato and Geologist’s hypnotic soundscapes keeping the proceedings afloat. The tension grows nearly unbearable over the course of the next eight minutes, the bog deepening, the resolution never seeming to arrive. And the resolution never comes…the song ends in as uncertain a place as it starts. Only you, the listener, have changed.

22. ISMATIC GURU - “A Nice Man”: The last song was 20 minutes, this one barely surpasses sixty seconds. Practitioners of a niche brand of punk rock that the internet calls “egg punk,” ISMATIC GURU take no time at all to work up an unstoppable groove. On "A Nice Man," the bass player kicks it off with a line as funky as anything Mike Watt ever dreamed up, before the rest of the group saunters in with squeaky synths and nervy guitar melodies, played high up on the neck. ”A Nice Man” needs that unsettling groove to peer inside the mind of its misanthropic narrator (perhaps the character from this oft-memed R. Crumb comic) who can’t hide his revulsion when faced with an everyday, pleasant individual–a nice man who holds the door. After sixty seconds of herky-jerk grooving, the song ends on an incredible punchline that I simply cannot spoil here.

21. Myaap - “Automatic”: Milwaukee rap is no stranger to audacious, obvious samples, and the city’s emcees are colorful enough to make even the most well-known number their own. Gliding atop a reconfiguration of a Pointer Sisters classic, Myaap radiates a bratty charisma on “Automatic,” her voice meshing with the indelible Pointer harmonies and the insistent “Lowend” handclaps (a Milwaukee scene signature) to create a miniature symphony of exuberance. “I won't ever let a broke n**** have me,” raps Myaap, “I ain't stoppin' 'till I win me a Grammy.”

20. 03 Greedo - "Industry"*: 03 Greedo finally finished a 4.5 year prison sentence at the beginning of this year, but while he was away, he was still keeping a very close eye on things. Over a haunting instrumental by Cypress Moreno–an appropriate setting for the return of the Wolf of Grape Street–Greedo unleashes a fevered missive that succinctly summarizes the state of the rap game on "Industry," attacking predatory record execs, taking note of the rise of women in hip-hop (name-checking Latto as his favorite current rapper, no less), and working through a paranoia driven by years of surveillance and the insatiable greed of others ("Seen this money turn a mom against a son, a twin against a twin"). Most poignantly, Greedo mourns a series of peers who perished during his time inside, praying that he won’t be the next name on a t-shirt: “Cause after Bankroll, Drakeo, Dolph, and Nip, feel like the next to die.”

19. MIKE - "Stop Worry!" ft. Sister Nancy: Bronx rapper MIKE made moves with a rare sense of confidence this year, releasing multiple excellent projects, gathering the underground for a show in Central Park, and working to grow his 10k label. But perhaps none of MIKE’s big swings took as much courage as sharing a track with Sister Nancy, who has dominated every track she’s touched since blessing the world with “Bam Bam” in the early 1980s. Forty years later, Nancy is just as powerful a presence–on “Stop Worry!,” MIKE employs her with the force of a megaphone, bookending the song with her clarion call to action: “NO SLEEPING IN BED!,” she commands. In between Nancy’s thunderous toasts, MIKE asserts his place in the world, displaying his comfort in his role as a leader of the new school: “Growing up I learned to play a crowd, but I know when to lead/Too much substance for the faint crowd, don't know when to keep/Tryna cut it, I'm a strange flower growing out the creek.”

18. Maryyx2 - "I DON'T KNOW!!": I don't remember where I found this gem...maybe a No Bells tweet? At any rate, “I DON’T KNOW” is a grade-A banger. Lagosian singer Maryyx2 races atop spindly guitar arpeggios and crackling live percussion, expressing an existential uncertainty in her high-pitched tone. It’s a whirling dervish of a tune, generating a universe of sounds in just 93 seconds.

17. defprez - “Endless”: As a Steely Dan connoisseur, intimately familiar with every second of their initial 7 album run, I’ve long thought that “Midnite Cruiser” is one of their most underrated songs. One of the rare cuts from the discography sung by someone other than Donald Fagen (the drummer Jim Hodder took his turn on this one), the song is an indelible slice of AM gold. One moment, in particular–the minor turn that closes out the song’s instrumental intro–stands out to me as the single moodiest moment in the entire Steely Dan discography.Defprez producer knowsthetime clearly agrees, using that moment as the bedrock for “Endless,” one of the best rap songs of 2023.

Doing their thing above Fagen’s rippling piano, emcees Defcee and CRASHprez spin dueling verses about the immutability of time. Defcee fritters away the moments at his desk job, counting the seconds until he can indulge in his passion for rapping once more: “At my job feelin the temperature buildin/Direct deposit dropped, confetti fell from the ceiling/Gotta wait two more weeks for relief/If I can’t, then breathe through looseleaf and a beat.” CRASHprez, meanwhile, attacks the ruling class head-on with a handbook for civil disobedience: “Best practice: hit ‘em in the tax bracket/Class action, make it fashion/Say what fam is, make it fascist.”

16. KP Skywalka - “A Bipper’s Blues”: The DMV rap scene was one of the most exciting to follow in 2023, and KP Skywalka is the region’s most promising star. KP proffers a swinging, lazily melodic, and emotionally direct style of street music, his cartoonishly expressive voice hanging in a pocket slightly behind the beat. “A Bipper’s Blues” offers a revealing peek into KP’s love life, as the Washington D.C. native reels after seeing his main squeeze post a suggestive TikTok. But instead of getting mad, KP’s infatuation seems to deepen at her display of confidence, his second-person rhymes growing more and more flirtatious until he nearly overwhelms the soulful vocal sample with his come-ons. Though it’s maybe not as affecting as his 2022 opus “GRANNY HOUSE” (if I heard it early enough, it would've placed extremely highly on my 2022 list), “A Bipper’s Blues” floats by on KP’s indefatigable charm–it’s as good evidence as any that he’s going to take the DMV sound to newfound heights.

15. Ratboys - "Black Earth, WI": Ratboys impressed me in 2020 with the album Printer’s Devil, a glistening bit of indie folk that seemed to combine the sound of every early ‘00s Saddle Creek Records band into one glorious hodgepodge. Their new album, The Window, keeps that energy, but mixes in maximalist moves straight outta the classic rock canon. “Black Earth, WI” is as FM-ready as any indie rock song released this year, with a titanic 8:34 run time and an easygoing rollick that recalls classics like The Faces’ “Debris” and, the king of all disaffected epics, The Velvet Underground’s “Oh Sweet Nuthin’.” Unlike the melancholy men who sing those songs, Ratboys lead singer Julia Steiner imbues her own epic with a sense of wonder, as she describes a cosmic journey through the heart of Wisconsin with a nursery rhyme-like cadence. The real star of the show is guitarist Dave Sagan, who effortlessly drops a solo that soars, but never bores, for a full five minutes.

14. Mk.gee & Two Star - "Are You Looking Up": This one snuck up on me. I hadn’t heard it until I saw it place on a year-end list in early December, and it promptly took over my life. This ballad by artist-producer Mk.gee (pronounced "McG" like the Charlie's Angels director) has the minimalist feeling of a demo, built around not much more than a muted guitar, hand percussion, and a vintage electric keyboard that joins in about halfway through. As skeletal as it is, “Are You Getting Up” packs a potent emotional punch, Mk.gee’s voice fraying at the edges as he makes an impassioned plea for the subject to take her life into her own hands. Brace yourself for a reductive comparison: if Blonde-era Frank Ocean enlisted Jeff Buckley to record Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin,” it would sound a little something like this. ("Are You Looking Up" also seems to be an absolute stunner in a live setting)

13. Anycia - "BRB": Effortlessly dismissing rubes without as much as raising an eyebrow, the terminally laid back Anycia is a special talent. She has the rare ability to soothe and intimidate, her breathy monotone conveying multitudes as she molds instrumentals to fit her tempo. “BRB” is so chill that it can be easy to miss how sharp the bars are, as the Atlanta native economically dismisses her competitors without breaking a sweat: “Roof is off the coupe, I'm super cute, you bitches out the loop/You don't tell the truth and that is why I do not fuck with you/Yeah, yeah, I do not fuck around/See me goin' up, you bitches stuck, you bitches on the ground.”

12. Anjimile - "The King": Employing Glass-ian vocal arrangements with fire-and-brimstone flair, Anjimile’s “The King” is one of the more singularly haunting listening experiences of the year. Anjimile tells an eras-spanning tale that touches on Daniel in the lion’s den, the Black Plague, and more, as he condemns those who remain silent on the sins of our age (Climate change? Fascism? Racism? All of the above?). The choirs encircle like a host of heaven adjudging your mortal soul and determining its fate. It soon becomes clear where their judgment lies, as infernal arpeggios burrow deep within you and drag you to hell.

11. Ice Spice - "In Ha Mood"*: Watching Ice Spice in late 2022 and early 2023 was like watching a young basketball star embark on a career-defining playoff run. She’d generated so much hype that each new single was practically an elimination game–could Ice Spice continue to execute in the 4th quarter? The answer was an emphatic yes, as she upped the ante with each release until suddenly, she was winning rings with PippenPantheress–I mean, PinkPantheress–in the Billboard Top 10. The real championships, as always, were the baddie friends we made on the way. Even after all her superstar team-ups, movie tie-ins, and Dunkin’ Donuts commercials, “In Ha Mood” is the Ice Spice song that speaks to my soul. Producer RIOTUSA crafts a potent underlick with a symphony of sped-up vocal samples, depositing that angelic chipmunk choir atop propulsive percussion that combines the best aspects of drill and Jersey club. Ice works her deceptively quick flow, remaining calm and collected as she unfurls earworm after earworm: “she’s a baddie with ha baddie friend”;“going viral is gettin’ ‘em sicker”; “and I’m makin’ ‘em wait, hold awn.” Like, damn.

10. Niontay - "THANK ALLAH": Certain songs come on and just change the chemistry of a room. Niontay and producer SexafTerchurcH achieve that rare effect with "THANK ALLAH," mesmerizing with droning electric keys, thunderous Detroit-style bass, and real raps. Ascending to the microphone as if called by a higher power, Florida's Niontay calmly blacks the fuck out, capably filling the beat’s negative space with universal truths: “Preacher man and a dope boy, it ain't no difference/N**** pimpin hoes ain't too far off from politicians.” Just when you’ve gotten used to the drumless atmosphere, the beat thunders in, putting an exclamation point on Niontay's verse and ending the song with a 30-second ovation. 9. Nourished By Time - "Rain Water Promise": Marcus Brown, the artist who performs as Nourished By Time, operates with an extreme level of emotional intelligence, effortlessly injecting a weathered wisdom into their wistful pop tunes. “Rain Water Promise” is the best of an excellent bunch on their album Erotic Probiotic 2, teetering between hope, despair, and acceptance as the artist takes the ultimate risk of asking someone to let them into their life. The singer wields their throaty bellow above programmed drums (perhaps he went straight to the '80s freestyle source with a Linn drum?) and chords that gather like a fine mist. Brown cuts through the reverie with their raw nerve musings: “My prayer Is for our clouds to collide/But I have to face/The possibility/That I'm wasting my time.” Brown synthesizes all the things they can’t put into words into a 16 note riff, which cascades like the falling water in the song’s title.

8. Freak Heat Waves - "In A Moment Divine" ft. Cindy Lee: “In A Moment Divine” is a house anthem for introverts. Blessed with delicate vocals from Cindy Lee (the drag alter-ego of Patrick Flegel, former lead singer of the band Women), the gorgeous song voices aloud the inner monologue of anyone too shy to approach a beautiful person at a party. Freak Heat Waves–the duo of Steven Lind and Thomas Di Ninno–conjure a dreamlike atmosphere out of vintage pads and a gently-swinging breakbeat, depositing other elements when the moment fits: a woodwind filigree here, a plaintive piano melody there. “Don’t leave me breathless,” pleads Cindy Lee, “in a moment divine.”

7. Junior H, Peso Pluma & Gabito Ballesteros - “El Tsurito”: My old piano teacher had a theory about great rock singers. He said, the best rock singers sound like a guitar, with screeching tenors and effortless vibrato echoing their band’s lead instrument. A great singer of corridos, then, must have the piercing clarity and honking charisma of a trumpet. Nobody in modern Mexican music quite fits that profile like Peso Pluma, whose honking baritone immediately becomes the focal point of any track it touches. “El Tsurito” connects El Doble P with two fellow stars in the corrido community: Junior H, with his heart-on-sleeve tenor, and Gabito Ballesteros, who brings a smooth, more traditional mariachi vocal style. Together, they’re a formidable three-man weave, navigating the banda’s shifting rhythms as they tell a story of drug-addicted hitmen and  corrupt federales, culminating in a bloody climax. The vocals are excellent, but the banda is the true star here, switching effortlessly in and out of half-time, with accordion blasts toe-tagging the syncopated percussion like the rain of bullets in the song’s story. For the ultimate effect, check out this live performance.

6. Slowdive - "shanty": More than 30 years into their career, Slowdive are still pushing the boundaries of their sound, stretching their signature blend of soft-focus shoegaze as far as it will go. The opening salvo from their new album Everything Is Alive, “shanty” is one of the best songs of the venerable English band’s stellar career, up there with heavy hitters like “When The Sun Hits,” "Alison," and “Souvlaki Space Station.” It’s a driving, room-enveloping masterpiece, which seamlessly blends modular synth arpeggios and breakbeat-esque drums into a lavender haze.

5. Everything But The Girl - “Nothing Left To Lose”: Everything But The Girl returned with their first album in 24 years, and they didn’t miss a beat. It helps that Tracey Thorn has always carried herself with a regal air, calmly presiding over dancefloors with wit and wisdom. “Nothing Left To Lose” was the first single from the Fuse album, and it was an appropriate choice. It feels like the ur-EBTG anthem, with a simmering wub-wub bassline, midtempo 2-step drums, and synths that screech like seagulls. Thorn delivers an imperious vocal performance, adding every ounce of her gravitas to the achingly dramatic lyrics: “Kiss me while the world decays, kiss me while the music plays.”

4. Sexyy Red - “SkeeYee”*: In his review of the album Hood Hottest Princess, Pitchfork’s Alphonse Pierre described Sexyy Red’s music as “straight-up standing on the table raps.” I will never top that description, and I won’t try. No song was more fun to rap along to this year, on top of tables or otherwise, than "SkeeYee." The best rappers induce a Pavlovian need to imitate their voices and Sexyy passes that test with flying colors–each ad-lib is memorable, each line a hook. Never in my life did I ever think I'd see or hear an NFL football player enthusiastically rhyme the words “Bitch lookin’ bad and got a stupid butt,” let alone a whole team of NFL football players, but such is the power of Sexyy Red.

3. Asake - “2:30”: Asake’s rousing strain of Afropop uses group vocals and amapiano-esque log drum to foster an atmosphere that is as spiritual and inspirational as it is danceable. Released at the beginning of the year, “2:30” represented a leap forward in Asake’s sound, using harder percussion and mantra-like repetition to create an unassailable banger, the best smiling-through-the-tears-on-the-dance floor anthem this side of, well, Everything But The Girl. It’s impossible to play “2:30” without repeating it at least three more times.

2. Car Colors - “Old Death”: In 2003, Charles Bissell and his band The Wrens recorded The Meadowlands, a devastating masterpiece that is in my opinion the best rock record of its decade. For 20 years, a combination of fastidious perfectionism, health scares, and a lucrative day job prevented Bissell from finishing its follow-up–it's the Chinese Democracy of indie music. The rest of the band, led by fellow songwriter Kevin Whelan, grew sick of Charles’s shit, eventually splitting up and creating their own side project, Aeon Station, and releasing an album in late 2021. Whether Charles finished his new songs, or simply decided to stop tinkering, he is back. He chose a new name for himself, Car Colors, but his first single in two decades has plenty of the old Wrens magic. “Old Death” is a 7-minute epic, starting with Charles’s furiously strummed acoustic guitars, joined shortly afterward by a distant horn section and a cacophonous symphony of dissonant guitar riffs. Listen closely to the lyrics and the realization dawns: “Old Death” is an autobiography, a eulogy for the singer’s old band and a recounting of his recent past. He fights for his life, fights the urge to give up on his dream, and borrows from Greek mythology to describe the Herculean (or Odysseyan, perhaps) effort of getting the new album off the ground. “Old Death” indeed sounds like the kind of song it would take 20 years to live and god knows how long to write, but now it is finally out. And while it might be scary to at long last release an artwork that had been kept inside for so long, Charles Bissell should rest assured that he made a god dang banger.

1. Jamila Woods - "Tiny Garden" ft. duendita: Like Charles Bissell, the legendary Peter Gabriel released his first new album in 20 years this year, collecting 12 songs and 24 mixes into an excellent album called i/o. In a strange twist of fate, however, it was Jamila Woods who recorded the best Peter Gabriel song of 2023: "Tiny Garden," a masterwork that approaches, and even succeeds, the epic scope, soaring melodies, and enduring pathos of the best songs on So. Woods, along with producers Chris McClenney (a former NYU classmate of mine, good shit Chris) and Wynne Ashley Bennett, use a Manu Katche-esque drum loop and stadium-sized keyboards to tell a story of small gestures, revealing a universal truth about love. Hollywood wants us to believe in a “just add water” kind of love, one that springs in an instant with a flame that burns forever. On “Tiny Garden,” Woods–aided by guest artist duendita, who delivers a self-proclaimed “weird verse” during the bridge–calmly explains the reality: love is like a plant, one with strong roots, but one that needs daily attention to keep from wilting. The Chicago native sings with an uncommon warmth, calmly and contentedly bouncing atop the percussion as she elucidates the theme in the bridge: “It's not gonna be a big production/It's not butterflies or fireworks/Said it's gonna be a tiny garden/But I'll feed it everyday.” I would like to think I don’t need Jamila Woods’ encouragement to feed my own tiny garden, but I am grateful to her nonetheless. Domestic happiness isn’t a clean cut, shiny thing–it’s full of dirt, covered in bugs, and sensitive to the weather. Love takes work, but if you take it day-by-day, you can create something sustaining and beautiful. Hear these songs, and the rest of my Top 100, in this Spotify playlist. Thanks for indulging me, and happy listening!

26. Corinne Bailey Rae - “Peach Velvet Sky” 27. METTE - “Mama’s Eyes” 28. NewJeans - “SuperShy” 29. 41 - “Bent” 30. Amaarae - “Co-Star” 31. RVG - “Squid” 32. Jim Legxacy - “old place” 33. Veeze - “Not A Drill” 34. The 3 Clubmen - “Aviatrix” 35. Cookiee Kawaii - “ISUMAD” (Lakim Remix) 36. Lil Yachty - “Strike (Holster)” 37. Babyface Ray - “I75” 38. Lankum - “Go Dig My Grave” 39. MJ Lenderman - “Knockin” 40. Skrillex - “Tears” ft. Joker & Sleepnet 41. Big Thief - “Vampire Empire” 42. Bktherula - “DO IT AGAIN”* 43. Vayda - “Prima Donna” 44. Jonah Yano - “Glow Worms” 45. Hayden Pedigo - “Elsewhere” 46. Sufjan Stevens - “So You Are Tired” 47. Paramore - “Crave” 48. Peter Gabriel - “Four Kinds of Horses” 49. Sampha - “Spirit 2.0”* 50. Loe Shimmy - “Fallin” 51. Mannequin Pussy - “I Got Heaven” 52. Olivia Rodrigo - “Bad Idea, Right?” 53. Swami Sound - “I Said” 54. Fire-toolz - “Novaturient Wave-Form Collapse” 55. SME Taxfree & RRB Duck - “Chief Keef” 56. Sho Madjozi - “Chale” 57. Fireworks - “How Did It Use To Be So Easy 58. Hollow Hand - “I’m Going To Let You Break My Heart” 59. Key Glock - “2 For 1”* 60. Joseph Shabason & Thom Gill - “To Boy With Love” 61. Leo Takami - “Winter Day” 62. L’Rain - “Pet Rock” 63. Marina Herlop - “Cosset” 64. Brent Faiyaz - “On This Side” ft. A$AP Ant & CruddyMurda 65. Mitski - “Bug Like An Angel” 66. Robert Forster - “When I Was A Young Man” 67. That Mexican OT - “Barrio” ft. Lefty SM 68. Latto - “Put It On The Floor Again” ft. Cardi B* 69. Earl Sweatshirt - “Making The Band (Danity Kane)” 70. Burna Boy - “Big 7” 71. Central Cee & Dave - “Sprinter”* 72. Davido - “Unavailable” ft. Musa Keys 73. Baby Keem & Kendrick Lamar - “The Hillbillies” 74. Navy Blue - “Kill Switch” ft. J Rocc 75. Kelly Moonstone - “Digress” 76. PinkPantheress - “Ophelia” 77. Home Front - “Games Of Power” 78. Ralphie Choo & Mura Masa - “MÁQUINA CULONA” 79. Dawn Richard - “Babe Ruth” 80. Eddie Chacon - “Sundown” 81. Kali Uchis - “Muñekita” ft. El Alfa & JT 82. Carly Rae Jepsen - “Shadow” 83. Kenzo B - “BFFR” 84. Squid - “Siphon Song” 85. Tyla - “Water” 86. Kiko El Crazy & Angel Dior - “Pa’ Ti Ya” 87. Victoria Monet - “On My Mama” 88. Durand Jones - “See It Through” 89. YTB Fatt - “Get Back”* 90. Luh Tyler - “You Was Laughing” 91. Peggy Gou - “It Goes Like (Nanana)” 92. Fresh X Reckless - “Blicky” 93. Babyfxce E - “September 17th” 94. Leon Thomas - “Breaking Point” ft. Victoria Monet 95. Paco Panama - “Eviction” 96. Marney’spacedout - “How TF” ft. Blueflag 1900 & Big Sad 1900 97. Ken Carson - “Fighting My Demons” 98. Superviolet - “Overrater” 99. Sparkheem - “No Plans” ft. Tommy Richman, Joony & Lil Gray 100. Zach Bryan - “Hey Driver” ft. The War & Treaty

#jamila woods #car colors #asake #sexyy red #everything but the girl #slowdive #peso pluma #junior h #nourished by time #niontay #ice spice #anycia #anjimile #ratboys #kp skywalka #sister nancy #animal collective #03 greedo #rae sremmurd #libianca

[voodoochili]

My Favorite Albums of 2022

The story of the 2020s–the years keep getting harder, the music keeps getting better. There's nothing I get more pleasure from these days than exploring the vast universe of new music that we are so lucky to be able to access with just a few keystrokes. Keeping up with everything can be overwhelming, but it's so so rewarding.

Here are my favorite albums from a very deep year–there's probably a smaller gap between my #1 and my #25 than ever before. But unranked lists are for cowards!

Check the bottom for the full list and a Spotify playlist with selections from every album.

Onward we go!

10. Fievel Is Glauque - Flaming Swords: Perhaps no album released in 2022 was as jam-packed with seemingly contradictory musical ideas as Flaming Swords. Fievel Is Glauque songwriter/bandleader Zach Phillips aims for sensory overload, cramming complex chords, modal key changes, free jazz freakouts, and hyperactive drum beats into his miniature prog-pop masterpieces. Nearly each one of these 18 songs has a moment of unexpected virtuosity, whether in the composition or the performance. The song that best represents the album’s messy ideal is “Save The Premonition,” a one-minute forty-six second sprint through moments of harmonic inspiration, never settling down for more than a measure at a time.

From my description, it might seem like Flaming Swords is a difficult listen, but though it takes some time to get used to the hyperactivity, these songs are targeted missiles aimed directly towards the pleasure centers of the brain, with sonorous saxophones and liquid keyboards augmenting the dulcet Francophone tones of lead singer Ma Clément. This is pop music filtered through a prism, separating the traditional elements of sound into their essences and reconstituting it into something entirely new.

9. Caracara - New Preoccupations: Philadelphia emo band Caracara isn’t afraid to mine the “embarrassing” sounds of the past in its search for catharsis. If you told the 2005 version of me that one of my favorite albums of 2022 would crib from bands like Snow Patrol or Relient K, I would’ve told you to buzz off before cranking up the volume on “Stay Fly” by Three 6 Mafia. But New Preoccupations won me over with its aching sincerity, its full-throated realization of the melancholy behind mundane moments (“I was listening to the Dirty Projectors in a Volvo by the freeway funeral pyre,” singer Sean Gill exhorts in highlight track “Colorglut”), and some powerhouse performances by the band. Producer (and Memory Music label head) Will Yip keeps things interesting, finding a guitar sound that would’ve fit nicely into WPLJ’s Hot Adult Contemporary lineup in the mid-90s and adding contemporary touches like programmed drums and rolling pianos. My favorite moments on New Preoccupations happen when the band grows tired of midtempo rockers and goes balls to the wall. They bust the door down early on the dissociative anthem “Hyacinth,” and put a bow on the proceedings with the achingly raw “Monoculture”: “I’M FINALLY FREE TO LET GO.”

8. Cash Cobain & Chow Lee - 2 SLIZZY 2 SEXY (Deluxe): 2 Live Crew changed the game in the late 80s by combining the compulsively danceable Miami bass sound with some of the raunchiest songs known to man. Luther Campbell and crew were so gleefully horned-up that they changed America’s copyright laws forever. Nearly 40 years later, NYC duo Cash Cobain and Chow Lee are bravely following in 2 Live Crew’s footsteps, providing a fresh spin on the dominant dance music of their region (in this case, Jersey/Philly club) to further their noble mission to make the horniest music of all time. So yes, Cash and Chow are sex-crazed to the point of obsession, but they’re making some genuinely game-changing shit. Cash is one of the best producers on the planet, a master of flipping a familiar sample into something fresh and unrecognizable. He saves his best beats for himself, from the ethereal and speaker-slamming J. Holiday flip on, um, “JHOLIDAY,” to the audacious Stevie Wonder sample on “SLIZZY LIKE,” to the absolutely beautiful “FREAK OF DI WEEK.” Cash and Chow combine their otherworldly instrumentals with an energy that mirrors teenagers at their first sleepovers after learning all the curse words, bouncing off each other in a competition over who can be the most out-of-pocket (Chow usually wins that competition). Don’t sleep on the deluxe edition, which brings even more brilliant beats and shamelessly lowers the bar X-rated bars even further, inviting some of the best rappers in the Tri-State area to meet them on their libidinous level.

7. Cloakroom - Dissolution Wave: Cloakroom exists on the bleeding edge between shoegaze and stoner metal, overwhelming with punishing soundscapes and entrancing with spectral melodies. Their 2022 album Dissolution Wave is lean and mean, clocking in at 39 minutes (Cloakroom hadn’t previously made an album shorter than 60 minutes), delivering a confident complement of space-age rockers. No album this year was better synthesizing such an intense beauty, its crushing walls of sound enhancing the heartfelt songwriting. On a few songs, including the midtempo “A Force At Play” (featuring keys from Matt Talbott from Cloakroom’s stylistic influence Hum) and the devastating countrified ballad “Doubts,” the band proves that they don’t need fuzz to make a major emotional impact. My favorite headphones album of the year.

6. billy woods - Aethiopes: billy woods is an astonishing wordsmith, crafting bars that can collapse hundreds of years of traumatic history into a single couplet. He’s at his best when he’s shining a light on the grimiest aspects of our society, and our society is grimy enough for multiple albums per year, all of them good, usually created in tandem with a producer. Aethiopes, produced in full by underground hero Preservation, is woods’ grimiest and greatest yet, packed with an array of industrial instrumentals that grind like the gears of a lurching, lumbering, ill-intentioned contraption.

The beat for “Wharves” clinks and clacks like a skeleton playing its own ribcage like a xylophone, a fitting backdrop for woods' story that touches on cannibalistic tribes and the Atlantic slave trade. “Heavy Water” invites Breeze Brewin and El-P to tag team an unbearably tense slice of boom-bap, as woods calls himself “the multiverse Benzino.” “No Hard Feelings” swirls with detuned woodwinds and ethereal synths, sounding like the warmup anthem for a closer on Hell's favorite baseball team, providing a bed for woods to show out in his trademark style–he rhymes with escalating intensity, his booming voice rising along with the music. The tension built in the first three quarters of the album dissipates with the final run of soul-samplers, but those outwardly gorgeous songs contain some of woods’s ugliest bars. From “Remorseless”: “Three rooms filled with Incan treasure/Still strangled the king cause it's now or never/It's a freedom in admitting it's not gonna get better.”

5. Naima Bock - Giant Palm: Naima Bock’s Giant Palm gleams like a greenhouse during golden hour, organic and synthetic elements operating in harmony to create an album unlike any I’ve heard before. The album is a spiritual successor to Mort Garson’s horticultural synth music and Vashti Bunyan’s insular, pastoral ballads, with strains of folk from Brazil and England mixed in for good measure. Created in collaboration with co-producer/arranger Joel Burton, the former Goat Girl bassist’s solo debut is structured like the tree of its title, a variety of frilled fronds emanating from a knotty heart–in this case, everything stems from Bock’s endless wonder at the marvels of our natural world, which she expresses through plaintive, immersive, and unpredictable ballads. Some of my favorite moments: the psychedelically eerie call-and-response that begins “Every Morning”; the whimsically bluesy piano in “Instrumental”; the dissonant waltz that undergirds the haunting “Campervan”; and the beautiful harmonies that adorn the Portuguese-language bossa nova ballad “O Morro,” which ends the album on a nostalgic note.

4. Big Thief - Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You: Big Thief is in a special kind of creative groove right now. Frontwoman Adrienne Lenker has a seemingly bottomless arsenal of amazing songs, and her band has the adventurous mindset, telepathic chemistry, and ace musicianship to execute any of her ideas. The natural next step for a band on this kind of run: dropping a double album to show off the breadth of what they can do. The unwieldily-titled Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You fits that bill, packing in some of their best songs while pushing their sound forward. You want classic Big Thief ballads? They’ve got them, including the immaculate “Change” and plaintive “No Reason.” Prefer the hard-rocking side of the band that they perfected on 2019’s Two Hands? Take “Little Things” or the cathartic “Love Love Love.” They even unveil some new tricks, like the trip-hoppy “Blurred View” and the minimal Magnetic Fields-meets-Springsteen experiment “Wake Me Up To Drive.” My favorites on here, though, channel what the music critic Greil Marcus called “The Old Weird America,” an energy that powers the cosmic hoedown “Spud Infinity,” the slinky and percussive “Time Escaping,” and the joyous, countrified “Red Moon.”

3. Earl Sweatshirt - SICK!: Earl Sweatshirt has been famous since he was sixteen years old, something that must feel particularly strange to the self-professed introvert. On his latest album SICK!, the now-28-year-old rapper seems to open up, inspired by his newfound fatherhood and embracing his role as the leader of a rising wave of left-of-center lyricists. The song sketches that populated 2018’s Some Rap Songs have (mostly) been replaced by fuller statements, its grainy, drumless loops giving way to slicker sounds.

The beats on SICK! are spectacular, from Theravada’s sorrowful and operatic “Tabula Rasa,” to The Alchemist’s menacing and cinematic “Old Friend,” to the multiple soundscapes crafted by Black Noi$e (especially the jazzy closer “Fire In The Hole”). Earl doesn’t rhyme over the instrumentals as much as he inhabits them, his resigned sigh painting contours and filling negative space, and effortlessly unfurling assonant and tangled bars like (from “Tabula Rasa”): “The calcium on my teeth fade/Streets are blazed with the anger complacency and deceit create/Ice sheet break, I couldn't weave weight/All I could say to the times that I couldn't freeze-frame, bleak fate.”

2. Makaya McCraven - In These Times: Producer, drummer, composer, and bandleader Makaya McCraven creates his albums like a mad scientist, laying down hundreds of hours of improvised live sessions and piecing them together to create wholly unique compositions. His music thrives on the moments of brief inspiration that come from a group of brilliant musicians playing together, creating an indelible atmosphere by stretching out and looping sections to form a new groove. Inspired by the legendary output CTI Records in the early ‘70s (home to George Benson, Hubert Laws, Bob James, and many others), McCraven curates a sound that combines the smoother side of fusion with complex, odd-meter rhythms. His percussion work is usually unflashy*, providing a bedrock for his collaborators to express themselves to the fullest. “So Ubuji” finds McCraven laying down a boom-bap style drum pattern as vibraphonist Joel Ross and harpist Brandee Younger elevate the song to the stratosphere, while the tangled polyrhythms of “High Fives” benefits from the virtuosic guitar playing of Jeff Parker. The album climaxes with penultimate track “The Knew Untitled,” a devastating composition that begins with swirling piano-led chaos before guitarist Matt Gold lays down one of the best guitar solos of this young decade. The most transportive and mesmerizing album released in 2022.

*with a notable exception coming on the thrilling “This Place That Place"

1. They Hate Change - Finally, New: They Hate Change (Vonne and Dre, both of whom rap and produce) operate with supreme confidence, creating a singular sonic blend informed, but not defined, by their omnivorous musical influences. Vonne and Dre are both great emcees–Vonne has a style that occupies the unlikely convergence between Big Boi, Ish Butler of Digable Planets/Shabazz Palaces, and Sonny Cheeba of Camp Lo, while Dre's drawling rhymes evoke both E-40 and Pimp C. Though they're clearly in love with hip-hop, the two Tampa natives are equally obsessed with dance music of all stripes, and Finally, New explores the unexpected connections between UK breakbeats and Florida’s club tradition, incorporating notes of Miami bass and Tampa jook alongside UK garage and DnB. The result is an album built for both head-nodding and ass-shaking. It's in constant motion even when it slows down, the two rappers brashly projecting an attitude that makes their flexing hit as hard as their evisceration of societal norms. A key track is “Some Days I Hate My Voice,” a defiant missive from Vonne that explores the nonbinary emcee’s inherent contradictions: “Some days I hate my voice, some days I feel like I'm the Metratron/Some days I'm basic, some days I'm dolled up like pageant debutantе.” I waffled for a long time about what to put at number one. I listened to hundreds of albums this year, and adored many of them, but for the top spot on this year’s list, I decided to just go with the album that sounded the freshest. Bursting with invention and bracing in its fearless experimentation, Finally, New is like nothing I’ve ever heard.

The rest of the list (playlist HERE): 11. 454 - Fast Trax 3 12. Bad Bunny - Un Verano Sin Ti 13. Asake - Mr. Money With The Vibe 14. Duval Timothy - Meeting With A Judas Tree 15. Animal Collective - Time Skiffs 16. DaBoii - Can’t Tame Us 17. The Soft Pink Truth - Is It Going To Get Any Deeper Than This? 18. Obongjayar - Some Nights I Dream Of Doors 19. Sessa - Estrela Acesa 20. Kendrick Lamar - Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers 21. Babyface Ray - FACE/MOB 22. Ron Trent - What Do The Stars Say To You 23. Hagan - Textures 24. WizKid - More Love, Less Ego 25. Smino - Luv 4 Rent 26. SZA - SOS 27. Duke Deuce - CRUNKSTAR 28. Alex G - God Save The Animals 29. Cate Le Bon - Pompeii 30. Panda Bear & Sonic Boom - Reset 31. Arctic Monkeys - The Car 32. PLOSIVS - PLOSIVS 33. Real Lies - Lad Ash 34. Rema - Rave & Roses 35. Drakeo The Ruler - Keep The Truth Alive 36. Beth Orton - Weather Alive 37. Tony Shhnow - Reflexions/Plug Motivation 38. Rosalía - MOTOMAMI 39. Beyonce - RENAISSANCE 40. Shabason & Krgovich - At Scaramouche 41. $ilkMoney - I Don’t Give a F*ck About This Rap Sh*t… 42. Quelle Chris - DEATHFAME 43. Dazegxd - vKISS 44. Phelimuncasi - Ama Gogela 45. Dawn Richard & Spencer Zahn - Pigments 46. Björk - Fossora 47. Roedelius & Tim Story - 4 Hands 48. Valee - VACABULAREE 49. NBA YoungBoy - 3800 Degrees 50. Toro Y Moi - MAHAL 51. Ethel Cain - Preacher’s Daughter 52. Brent Faiyaz - WASTELAND 53. Boldy James - Fair Exchange No Robbery (w/ Nicholas Craven)/ Mr. Ten08 (w/ Futurewave) 54. quinn - quinn  55. Rachika Nayar - Heaven Come Crashing 56. Junior Boys - Waiting Game 57. Friendship - Love The Stranger 58. Saba - Few Good Things 59. Silvana Estrada - Marchita 60. Rauw Alejandro - SATURNO 61. Ralfy The Plug - Skateboard P (Deluxe)/Pastor Ralfy 2 (Deluxe) 62. Sudan Archives - Natural Black Prom Queen 63. Kikagaku Moyo - Kumoyo Island 64. Young Slo-Be - Southeast 65. Death’s Dynamic Shroud - Darklife 66. Mr. Fingers - Around The Sun Pt. 1 67. RealYungPhil - Dr. Philvinci 68. CEO Trayle - HH5 69. Lil Poppa - HEAVY IS THE HEAD 70. Los - Kareem From New Orleans, Vol. 2 71. Fred Again - Actual Life 3 72. Gunna - DS4EVER 73. The Comet Is Coming - Hyper-Dimensional Expansion Beam 74. Ka - Language Arts/Woeful Studies 75. The Beths - Experts In A Dying Field

NOTE: This albums list could’ve gone on for at least another 75, and rest assured it would’ve included your favorite album from 2022! But I’ll make a special shout out to albums that just missed the cut: Luna Li, Nu Genea, Tears For Fears, Bartees Strange, Shawny Binladen, Little Simz, Oso Oso, Hikaru Utada, MAVI, BONES, Central Cee, BlueBucksClan, and Jay Worthy, Larry June & LNDN Drugs. Songs from those albums are included in my Spotify playlist.

#they hate change #makaya mccraven #earl sweatshirt #billy woods #big thief #naima bock #cloakroom #cash cobain #chow lee #caracara #fievel is glauque #454 #duval timothy #Spotify

[voodoochili]

My 100 Favorite Songs of 2022

It's that time of year again, when everyone else has shared their year-end list and I come in and correct everyone's bullshit! I kid, I kid, I don't claim to know or appreciate music better than anyone else, but I'm proud of the list I put together.

This year, I found it hard to narrow my list down to just 100, and even harder to definitely rank them. 2022 was a deep, deep year, full of great songs, but not too many songs that towered above the rest. This is the streaming conundrum–there's a billion songs out there and so many of them are good.

More than ever, I put an emphasis on discovery, moving from sound to sound in a relentless search for songs that would hold my attention. The following are the songs that made me laugh, cry, or just made my jaw drop.

Check HERE for the Spotify playlist and don't forget to scroll all the way down for my full Top 100 list.

Happy listening all, hope you find something you love as much as I do!

THE SONGS

25. Rema - “Calm Down”: “Calm Down” hits like a warm bath, its gently loping guitar and militaristic snare combining to make a soundscape perfectly-suited for YouTube 10-hour mixes. Rema does what he does best, melting into the mix with chant-like melodies and a new flow for every verse. By the time producers Andrevibez and London layer in swelling organs and sumptuous strings, “Calm Down” mesmerizes the listener to the point where they won’t even mind if the DJ is playing the wrong version and Selena Gomez shows up.

24. Yahritza & Su Esencia - “Soy El Unico”: Over the past few years, I’ve grown very fond of corridos and regional Mexican music–the singers are charismatic and those acoustic guitarists can shred. I don’t speak fluent Spanish, though, so I know that whenever I listen to these story-driven ballads, there’s a lot I’m not getting. But there is no misunderstanding Yahritza Martinez in “Soy El Único,” her achingly raw tone radiating the kind of all-encompassing heartbreak that you can only feel when you’re 15 (or 13, which is apparently how old she was when she wrote the song). Backed by her brothers on guitar and bass, she delivers one of the best vocal performances of the year, dousing you in every ounce of her anger and despair.

23. Asian Doll - “Get Jumped” ft. Bandmanrill: I’m gonna be real and say that I did not expect Dallas native Asian Doll to be the first southern rapper to hop on the club rap wave, but it’s a mode that suits her nicely–she’s always been able to rap with the dexterity required for the uptempo style. On “Get Jumped,” Asian goes blow-for-blow with the “godfather” of club rap, Newark’s Bandmanrill, over Bankroll Got It’s sped-up and souped-up sample of David Ruffin’s “I Miss You.” For his part, the Bandman delivers one of his best verses of the year, mixing his uber-confident stick talk with a pathos that reflects the heartbreak of the sample. Asian more than holds her own, returning his volleys with head-spinning speed and exacting precision.

22. Kendrick Lamar - “Rich Spirit”: He’s an ambassador for Compton and the longtime face of L.A.’s most prominent rap label, but Kendrick Lamar never really concerned himself with the prevailing sounds of his home city’s rap scene. Though we’ll never hear 2014-era Kendrick rip apart a DJ Mustard beat, Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers highlight “Rich Spirit” feels like Kendrick’s attempt to make an anthem for the L.A. underground–more specifically, his own version of “Impatient Freestyle,” the modern classic by Drakeo The Ruler. Producers Sounwave, Frano, and DJ Dahi (I’m comfortable crediting him for the ghostly vocal samples that affirmatively answer Kendrick’s pronouncements) craft an immersive soundscape that feels appropriately spiritual*, while retaining that West Coast bounce, allowing space for Kendrick to preach about holistic living (regular fasting, abstention from social media) and credibly compare himself to deities major and minor. *and not dissimilar to the "Impatient" beat Mike WiLL Made It originally made for Jeremih

21. Luh Tyler - “Back Flippin”: This is the most recent song on the list, released on December 14th. I originally had another song by Luh Tyler, the Tallahassee teenager and future megastar, in this slot: ”I Gotta Slide,” a 98-second burst of effortless shit talk and sly wordplay. While “I Gotta Slide” is a sketch, the Xair-produced “Back Flippin” expands upon everything that Tyler does well. It walks the fine line between stupid and clever with aplomb, Tyler’s croaking delivery and signature upward-inflecting flow selling every punchline (and nearly every line is a punchline). Recalling in equal measure the lackadaisical stoner wisdom of Devin The Dude, the conversational sing-song of Kodak Black, and the indefatigable brashness of a young Nef The Pharaoh, Luh Tyler is already a distinct and extremely promising voice in the rap game. As great as it is, “Back Flippin’” feels a lot less like a career peak than the start of the climb.

20. Joony - “DRIFTING IN TOKYO”: One day, a cultural scholar smarter than me will have to investigate the impact made by the third Fast & Furious film. The movie certainly made an impression on 20-year-old Maryland rapper Joony. To his credit, the “Drifting In Tokyo” instrumental–an easygoing UK garage throwback with supremely chill Rhodes licks and crackling DnB drums, crafted by producer Davy’s archive–evokes the neon-lit nights and seemingly frictionless rides through the Japanese metropolis that Justin Lin captured so memorably in that movie. The cinematic backdrop leaves plenty of space for Joony’s mellow melodies, his plaintive deadpan dripping with paranoia and resignation: “I can't do this shit no more/But I don't wanna die alone.”

19. Babyface Ray - “Me, Wife & Kids”: Babyface Ray rhymes with a world-weary wisdom; the soft-spoken, authoritative croak of a man who’s seen everything. A euphoric soul-sampler (from Detroit’s Pooh Beatz), “Me Wife & Kids” gives a wistful lift to Ray’s hustle-hard witticisms, the Detroit native determined to escape the liminal space between his hardscrabble past and bright future. Ray’s third verse is one of the coldest of the year, methodically and economically laying out the life or death stakes of the rap game and the trap game (“Twenty-five years, brodie still in the game/I told him put the bag down, he say that's how he get paid/He tryna find his way out, you know that shit like a maze”) and exuding the confidence necessary to succeed: “Nah, I ain't trap, I'm just movin' off survival/Tryna figure out how to sell the church Bibles.”

18. Lay Bankz - “In My Bag”: I didn’t realize it was possible to make a slow jam at 150 bpm, but Philly native Lay Bankz sure showed me. The song starts like so many R&B ballads, with sensitive acoustic guitar arpeggios, establishing a tender and confident milieu. Quickly, the song erupts, with an insistent Philly club-style beat powering forward at warp speed, accelerating like a heartbeat fluttering in the presence of a new crush. Lay Bankz doesn’t push herself to keep up with the tempo, but stays calm, layering harmonies as her languid vocal floats above the fray. “In My Bag” is a banger, yes, but more significantly, Lay’s strong sense of structure and facility with sugar-coated melodies expands our conceptions about what East Coast club music can or should sound like, paving a path for the style to make further inroads to the mainstream.

17. Iayze - “556 (Green Tip)”: “556 (Green Tip)” is perhaps the most whimsical song ever written about a deadly weapon. Producer KeyWaza serves up an entrancingly dinky instrumental for the Fort Worth 18-year-old (name pronounced “Jace”) to sink his teeth into. Iayze holds court, slithering between the pootering synths with a stop-starting flow. None of this should work, but it does–it’s a trick that Iayze seems to know that he’s playing: “I just shot a foul ball, it's good because I made the rules.”

16. Black Sherif - “Kwaku The Traveller”: Ghana’s Black Sherif is part rapper, part griot, breaking out in Accra's fertile drill scene with his one-of-a-kind microphone presence. Blessed with a minimal, yet ominous beat (from producer Joker nharnah), the confessional “Kwaku The Traveller” is the best showcase of his unhinged charisma to date*. The first verse thrives on Sherif’s unconventional relationship with rhythm, his motor-mouthed patter paying no attention to beats or bar lines. In the second verse, he hammers home his theme, switching between English and Twi as he compares the always-on-the-move lifestyle of an artist to that of a nomadic hitchhiker on a journey to nowhere. *The “Kwaku The Traveller” experience is incomplete without watching the video

15. Carly Rae Jepsen - “The Loneliest Time” ft. Rufus Wainwright: Carly Rae’s bubblegum era never quite spoke to me; too much sugar sometimes tastes like medicine. “The Loneliest Time” got me, though, cutting CRJ’s saccharine tendencies with a dollop of Rufus Wainwright’s natural melancholy and delivering an anthem that stands with the best of ABBA. Simultaneously campy and tasteful (this is another song where the experience is incomplete without the video), “The Loneliest Time” sounds like a showtune from a musical that doesn’t exist, augmenting the theatrical vibe with the steady 4/4 beat and cinematic strings of the disco era and the pounding pianos of Motown. Both singers stretch their dramatic muscles, hamming up the delivery of key lines (“I’m coming BACK for you, baby!”) without undermining the song’s emotional core. It’s hard not to get swept up in the feeling, especially as the song winds down: the two singers finish harmonizing and the strings play them off into the moonlit night.

14. Friendship - “Hank”*: “Hank” is a song about resisting the void, about absorbing the knowledge of the impermanence of life and unrelentingly soldiering on. Over friendly fingerpicking and a propulsive kick-snare, lead singer Dan Wriggins hammers down with his appealingly flat baritone, painting life as a rusty old machine that you might need to oil or sand, but hey, as long as it’s running today, it might run forever. Fans of David Berman, Lambchop, or Bill Callahan might find something to love here.

*The music video for "Hank" was directed by Joe Pera, so if you dig his whole deal, I'd highly recommend "Hank" and its home album Love The Stranger.

13. Hitkidd & GloRilla - “F.N.F. (Let’s Go)”: Celebratory, confrontational, carefree. GloRilla hits like a bulldozer, Hitkidd’s beat gassing her up with a plonking piano melody. Every line is memorable. What more can I say? B-A-N-G-E-R.

12. Shabason & Krgovich - “I’m Dancing”: Canadian multi-instrumentalist Joseph Shabason first gained recognition for his work on Destroyer’s Kaputt, which used the sonic language of yacht rock to explore the listlessness of modern life. On At Scaramouche, his new album with regular collaborator Nicholas Krgovich, he works with a similar template–sumptuous electric keys, shuffling percussion, chirruping woodwinds–to explore life’s simple pleasures. The mellifluous “I’m Dancing” is a supremely laid back rocker, a slow build that unfolds from a slight giggle to a full belly laugh over the course of five-and-a-half minutes. By the end of the song, as the horns answer the synths and the backbeat grows ever more prominent, Krgovich’s voice drifts into the slipstream, floating away on a pillow of sweet contentment. Call it schooner rock.

11. Asake - “Peace Be Unto You (PBUY)”: Asake makes joyful, crowd-moving music, taking elements of Naija pop and South African amapiano to create a style that’s as inspirational as it is danceable. “Peace Be Unto You (PBUY)” is a perfect summary of his whole deal, starting with a long shaker-and-snare intro that builds and builds until it transforms into one of his trademark choruses: a full-bloom blast of gang vocals, enthusiastic whistles, and pogo-ing 808s. Perfecting a mode that everyone in Africa is trying to catch in a bottle, “PBUY” is an enthusiastic celebration of the communal expression of joy through music, the gang vocals hitting like a full-force gospel choir while the sinuous violin adds a hint of melancholy.

10. Bad Bunny - “Andrea” ft. Buscabulla: Bad Bunny’s opus Un Verano Sin Ti is a rare beast–a streaming era colossus of an album where practically every song is a highlight. There were times that I turned to the beat-shifting “Titi Mi Preguntó” or the scorching “El Apagón” or “Ojitos Lindos,” the sadboy beach anthem, but the song that that impressed me most was “Andrea.” Nestled towards the end of the 23-track runtime, “Andrea” is a masterpiece of downbeat dembow, the insistent riddim transforming amidst the echoing synths and the angelic vocal from Buscabulla’s Raquel Berrios. Over the course of nearly six minutes, El Conejo and Ms. Berrios combine to tell the story of a woman defiantly asserting her independence, judgmental onlookers be damned.

9. Veeze - “let it fly”: Veeze rhymes like he’s in the process of waking from a particularly unrestful night’s sleep, delivering boasts with a guttural monotone in sentences that seem to emerge from a place of half-dreamed logic before trailing off like ellipses. On “Let It Fly,” Veeze proves that his somnambulant style works even better when you speed up the tempo, as he goes in over an aqueous, bass-heavy, Flint-style backing track from Michigan’s own Tye Beats. The Detroit native makes the most of his two minute runtime, perfecting the art of nonchalant flexing (“I hate the strip club, I'm too rich, I don't belong in there”) and piercing his enemies with barbs that dig deeper the more you think about them (“Trappin' ain't for you, boy, you need to get a job”).

8. Nia Archives - “18 & Over”: Nia Archives synthesizes decades’ worth of dance music from across the globe into a kinetic bouillabaisse–listen to her music for more than a minute and you’ll find fully-formed chunks of jungle, samba, R&B, even dubstep. A highlight from her Forbidden Feelingz EP, “18 & Over” is an addictive sonic collage, melding together seemingly disparate elements into a stew that exceeds the sum of its parts. She layers a reggae bassline atop a fast and furious DnB breakbeat, creating a mind-blowing groove that blossoms into a thrilling dubstep throwback before returning to its roots. Graceful, toe-tapping virtuosity.

7. Arctic Monkeys - “There’d Better Be a Mirrorball”: Alex Turner’s transformation from Paul Weller to Jimmy Webb was a sudden and controversial change, one that angered some longtime fans and many of those who hopped on in 2013 with AM (probably the most successful capital R Rock album of the 2010s). It’s unreasonable to expect anyone to make the same kind of music forever, and I love the new Arctic Monkeys, who’ve become an outfit willing and able to fit any stretch of Turner’s songwriting imagination. “There’d Better Be a Mirrorball” is exquisite, an impeccably-arranged picture of a deteriorating love and the last steps taken to save it. Dropping his louche lounge lizard character that dominated the 2019 album Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino on “Mirrorball” and the rest of the recent album The Car, Turner is almost painfully sincere, his voice straining to reach the notes necessary to get his point across. Luckily, the strings are there to help him along, harkening back to a golden era of pop grandeur, when Webb and Glen Campbell made symphonies out of songs.

6. Big Thief - “Spud Infinity”: Life, the universe, and the potato. A cosmic hoedown exploring the eternal questions of our existence, filtered through the lens of the ugliest of our miraculous crops, “Spud Infinity” feels like it’s beamed in from a dimension more peaceful and harmonious than ours. Frontwoman Adrienne Lenker’s sharp pen and playful demeanor elevates the song from stoner silliness to a poignant and good-natured gawking at the absurdity of our everyday lives: “Kiss your body up and down, other than your elbows/'Cause as for your elbows, they're on their own/Wandering like a rolling stone/Rubbing up against the edges of experience." The late John Prine would be proud.

5. Sha EK - “Who You Touch” ft. Mel Glizzy: Bronx drill bruiser Sha EK has a visceral, full-bodied roar that feels like the rap equivalent of that one Spongebob meme. He does not make background music. He’s the rap game Derrick Henry, with the ability to combine that overwhelming power with a finesse that allows him to tip-toe atop lightning fast club beats. He’s at his peak on “Who You Touch,” a high-energy sample-drill masterpiece, jumping out of the speakers and commanding the track like a sergeant. There are multiple versions of “Who You Touch” floating around, including one with Bandmanrill, but the version that made it to streaming pales in comparison to the original*, with its manipulated vox and fluttering guitar painting Sha and Mel as avenging angels who don’t even need to drop their harps before messing you up.

*I sadly haven't been able to find a high-quality reupload anywhere :/

4. The Beths - “Silence Is Golden”: I knew that The Beths had serious chops, and songwriting talent to match, but hot damn did I never expect them to produce something as punishing and exhilarating as “Silence Is Golden.” It combines the spritely melodies of their indie pop forefathers with a backing track furious enough to impress the heaviest of post-hardcore freakazoids (Refused, in particular, would be proud). As always with The Beths, this sound and fury signifies something–they are masters at crafting songs that perfectly suit the subject matter. The squalling noise of the instrumental (“a siren screaming” and “a jet plane engine”) mirrors the narrator’s futile search for a moment’s peace, and though she finds it at the end, I tend to turn on “Silence Is Golden” when I want to embrace the ruckus. The shape of pop to come.

3. Koffee - “Pull Up”: Koffee x Jae5 is an indefatigable combination, his tasteful organ swells and airy vocal samples a perfect match for her ebullient melodies. “Pull Up” was an instant classic–nothing too fancy, just the year’s best chorus augmented with a tasteful bit of sax. It’s an instant mood booster, a party anthem that makes anyone who sings it feel like they’re 100 feet tall.

2. Duke Deuce - “JUST SAY THAT” ft. GloRilla: No artist brought me more joy in 2022 than Duke Deuce, who supplemented two albums worth of head-slamming Memphis music with his hysterical “Gangsta Walk Wednesdays.” “JUST SAY THAT” was his crowning achievement, a gleefully ridiculous and obnoxiously bombastic banger. Metro Boomin and Allen Ritter build a speaker-annihilating monster out of Addinsell’s “Warsaw Concerto,” and both rappers take turns going as dumb as they can. GloRilla leads off with one of the best guest verses of the year, furiously steamrolling chumps through gritted teeth. Duke holds serve, raising the energy level with his signature ad libs. “WHAT THE FUUUUUUUUCK” indeed.

1. Ka - “Ascension”: Brownsville rhymer Ka earns deserved praise for his evocative pen and gravelly gravitas, but he deserves equal praise as a producer. “Ascension” is a work of art: strings thrum like sand falling through an hourglass, distorted voices interject like a choir of the damned, and spiky guitar licks emerge out of the aether. The meditative repetition of the instrumental recalls the best of Philip Glass–call him Ka-yaannisqatsi. The 50-year-rapper does justice to his mesmerizing instrumental, digging deep into his past, analyzing the core memories molded him as a man. His astounding second verse methodically lays out Ka’s struggles to escape generational trauma, a titanic task made more difficult by the mounting tragedies suffered during his upbringing. Ka’s emergence from hell to become one of the voices of his generation is a miracle, and his words are well worth considering, his moral compass pointing true north as he offers sage advice for anyone trying to follow in his footsteps: “If you a deep person, keep searching, amass facts/I believe they call him father, cause you supposed to get past that/If never won, run every one like it's the last lap/Handing ends to family and friends, never expecting that cash back.”

Hope you enjoyed the blurbs, here's the playlist and the rest of the list.

26. Cash Cobain & Chow Lee - “JHoliday” (Prod. by Cash Cobain) 27. Gunna - “flooded” (Prod. by Young Twix) 28. Bad Boy Chiller Crew - “Always Be My Baby Boy” ft. Becce J  29. Skeng - “London” (Prod. by Droptop Records & DiTruth Records) 30. Ice Spice - “Munch (Feelin U)” (Prod. by RIOTUSA) 31. Panda Bear & Sonic Boom - “Edge Of The Edge” 32. Melody’s Echo Chamber - “Alma” 33. Fireboy DML - “Timoti” (Prod. by Kel P) 34. Zahsossa & DSturdy - ”Shake Dhat” (Prod. by DJ Crazy 215) 35. Rosalía - “DESPECHA” 36. Dehd - “Bad Love” 37. TEXAS BOYS - “Awready”  38. Earl Sweatshirt - “Fire In The Hole” (Prod. by Black Noi$e) 39. Residente - “This Is Not America” ft. Ibeyi  40. Yaya Bey - “Alright” 41. PGF Nuk - “Waddup” ft. Polo G (Prod. by Fatman Beatzzz) 42. Makaya McCraven - “So Ubuji” 43. Natanael Cano & Codiciado - “De A De Veras” 44. Alex G - “Runner” 45. Mediopicky - “Ají Titi” ft. Diego Raposo 46. Sault - “Angel” 47. Tony Shhnow - “Show U” (Prod. by GeeohhS) 48. Ari Lennox - “Hoodie” (Prod. by Elite) 49. Toro Y Moi - “Magazine” 50. Wizkid - “Money & Love” 51. Beyoncé - “CHURCH GIRL” (Prod. by No ID, et. al) 52. Cloakroom - “Doubts” 53. Brent Faiyaz - “LOOSE CHANGE” (Prod. by Beat Butcha, No ID, Raphael Saddiq) 54. Octo Octa - “Stars & Water” 55. Burna Boy - “Last Last” (Prod. by Ruuben, MD$, Off & Out & Chopstix) 56. George Riley - “Jealousy” (Prod. by Vegyn) 57. Real Lies - “Your Guiding Hand” 58. Kabza De Small - “Eningi” ft. Njelic, Simmy & Mhaw Keys 59. MJ Lenderman - “Hangover Game” 60. Mr Twin Sister - “Resort” 61. RealYungPhil - “Everything We Need” (Prod. by EvilGiane) 62. Hikaru Utada - “Somewhere Near Marseilles” 63. Cold Mega - “LIGHT IN THE SKY” 64. 03 Greedo - “Pourin” ft. BlueBucksClan (Prod. by Mike Free)  65. Fievel Is Glauque - “The River” 66. Rob49 - “Vulture Island” (Prod. by B.loadin) 67. SG Goodman - “When You Say It” 68. Ralfy The Plug - “Dynamic Duo” ft. Drakeo The Ruler (Prod. by ThankYouFizzle) 69. Sideshow - “SALT KILLS SNAILS” (Prod. by BEATSBYSAV) 70. Zion & Lennox - “Brisa” ft. Danny Ocean (Prod. by Jimmix & Manybeats) 71. Sudan Archives - “Freakalizer” 72. Fred Again… - “Faisal (London Bridge Station” (Piano Version) 73. SleazyWorld Go - “Sleazy Flow” ft. Lil Baby (Prod. by Rage Santana) 74. Jenn Carter - “Joker” (Prod. by YoungMadz) 75. Megan Thee Stallion - “Plan B” (Prod. by Hitmaka, et. al) 76. Junglepussy - “Foreign Exchange” (Prod. by Bohemia Lynch) 77. Sessa - “Canção de Cura” 78. The Afghan Whigs - “Jyja” 79. CEO Trayle - “Alter Ego 2” (Prod. by OG Parker, et. al) 80. Hitkidd & Enchanting - “Kater To Me” (Prod. by Hitkidd) 81. Special Interest - “LA Blues” 82. Charli XCX - “Twice” 83. Dazy - “On My Way” 84. Alvvays - “Pomeranian Spinster” 85. Ade - “Opposites” 86. Pheelz - “Finesse” ft. BNXN (Prod. by Michkel) 87. Stromae - “L’enfer” 88. Metro Boomin - “Metro Spider” ft. Young Thug (Prod. by Metro Boomin) 89. Quelle Chris - “Alive Ain’t Always Living” (Prod. by Quelle Chris & Chris Keys) 90. Tears For Fears - “Rivers Of Mercy” 91. RXK Nephew - “Saoirse Ronan”  92. Wiki & Subject 5 - “Silent Meeting” ft. DJ Lucas (Prod. by Subject 5) 93. Chief Keef - “Chief So” (Prod. by Young Malcolm) 94. Stacks - “Above Ground” 95. Baby Stone Gorillas - “Keep Goin’” (Prod. by Gotdamnitdupri) 96. Stoneda5th ft. R3DaChilliman - “Beat The Odds” (Prod. by Reconboy & Bzbands) 97. Pi’erre Bourne - “Love Drill” 98. Rauw Alejandro - “No Me Sueltes” 99. Romeo - “Halfway Out The Door” 100. Yeat - “Rich Minion” (Prod. by Lotto)

#duke deuce #koffee #sha ek #bandmanrill #the beths #big thief #arctic monkeys #nia archives #veeze #bad bunny #asake #glorilla #carly rae jepsen #babyface ray #black sherif #kendrick lamar #rema #Spotify

[voodoochili]

My Favorite Albums of 2021

Nobody wants to linger on the memory of 2021, a year that started hopeful and ended up miserable (Long Live Dolph, Long Live Drakeo). It’s become a cliche for year-end lists to comment on the overall shittiness of the previous year–our narrative-loving brains organizing our innate sense of malaise into neat 365-day fragments–but it’s clear to me that this is just the way things are now. Maybe some years will be better than the previous, but it’s hard to shake the feeling that we’ve entered a downward spiral that will take dedicated, purposeful action to reverse.

Dark stuff, I know, but instead of wallowing, I’ve been cherishing the fleeting moments of joy even more. Perhaps that’s just me rationalizing the fact that I achieved some vital personal milestones last year, in the face of the death and destruction endemic in a pandemic age, but even in a declining world, our happiness is meaningful. Music is meaningful. And if these silly little lists bring us joy, then dammit, they’re meaningful too.

Below, check out the music that meant the most to me. Like last year, my list goes up to 75, and I think it does a good job of reflecting my listening habits during the year. I hope you enjoy my thoughts about my ten favorite albums of the year and check the bottom for the full list, plus, a Spotify playlist featuring selections from each album.

Let's get it!

10. Rauw Alejandro - VICE VERSA: Blessed with an angelic tenor and an eagerness to experiment, Rauw Alejandro is possibly the hottest property in Latin music right now. His wide-ranging second album VICE VERSA indicates that we might soon have to remove the “Latin” qualifier from the previous sentence. For every reggaeton pop smash on the record like “Sexo Virtual” or “2/Catorce,” there’s an effort that pushes hard against the box that many Latin stars find themselves in. Highlight “Desenfocao’” borrows bass-heavy soundscapes that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Beach House or Phantogram record, and “¿Cuando Fué?” provides the most thrilling moment of the album, when the vocals drop out to make way for a drum n’ bass breakdown. Rauw is a versatile and expressive enough vocalist to fit in any style, and superproducer Tainy’s deft touch makes sure that the album maintains a consistent vibe despite the stylistic detours. Engrossing from start (nostalgic dancefloor filler “Todo De Ti”) to finish (invigorating baile funk banger “Brazilera”), VICE VERSA is my favorite auteurist pop statement of the year, in any language.

9. Isaiah Rashad - The House Is Burning: Hip-hop moves extremely fast these days–it seems like an eternity when an artist goes a full year without releasing music, and when they return, it often feels like they’re playing catch-up. Isaiah Rashad spent an eventful five years after the release of The Sun’s Tirade battling addiction, grief, and writer’s block, but the scintillating, mournful, and meditative The House Is Burning was as immediate as any rap album that dropped in 2021. Steeped in the Southern rap tradition, and infused with TDE’s bassy house sound, The House Is Burning radiates warmth and wisdom, striking a compelling middle ground between Scarface’s bluesy murder ballads, Three 6’s haunted grime, and OutKast’s hazy riders’ anthems. The album’s opening run from “Darkseid” (named after an apocalyptic DC supervillain who likes to steal souls) to “Headshots (4r Da Locals)” is a murderer’s row of soulful slaps, creating a sonic universe that seamlessly absorbs Smino’s nimble melodics, Lil Uzi Vert’s space age speed raps, and Duke Deuce’s boisterous neo-crunk bars into a coherent milieu. For all its musical merit, what elevates The House Is Burning is the turbulent emotional undercurrent that simmers throughout–Zay needed to get his house in order before emerging into a world on fire, but he’s not quite out of the woods yet: “This ain't as hard as it gets/But I'm still on drugs,” intones Rashad on the album’s closing track “HB2U.”

8. Cleo Sol - Mother: Inspired by the birth of her daughter, UK chanteuse Cleo Sol’s latest is a blissful monument to a mother’s love. She pours her soul into each ballad, singing delicately but powerfully as she assures her newborn that she’ll never be alone in “Know That You Are Loved,” reminds herself of her new lifelong responsibilities in “23,” and pleads with her partner for unconditional support in the gorgeous opener “Don’t Let Me Fall.” Produced in full by Inflo–along with Cleo, he's a member of the adventurous alt-R&B collective SAULT–the album adopts a jazz-influenced sonic template that echoes the cosmic soul of the early ‘70s, combining the lushness of Thom Bell’s production for The Stylistics with the raw nerve virtuosity of Minnie Riperton’s classics Perfect Angel and Come To My Garden. Put this album on good speakers, and take care not to float away.

7. Genesis Owusu - Smiling With No Teeth: Genesis Owusu’s Smiling With No Teeth is a vocal tour-de-force, but not in the way you might expect. He doesn’t have a perfect tone, or a wide range. What he has in spades is a fierce delivery–he performs every song with a p-popping, spittle-flecking intensity that adds venom to each evocative  lyric. Whether he’s singing over spiky guitars or spitting over industrial percussion, Owusu is animated by a pugilistic spirit, forcefully reprimanding those who think that capitalism holds the key for Black liberation on “The Other Black Dog” and shitting on “neo-Nazi spew” on the gleefully violent “Whip Cracker.” The album establishes the Australian artist as an uncompromising voice with a point to make and a bottomless musical arsenal to help him get it across.

6. Men I Trust - Untourable Album: Faced with the prospect of no live shows for the foreseeable future, Montreal’s Men I Trust decided to let their minds wander and indulge the ideas they'd hesitated to try in front of an audience. The result was the Untourable Album, an enveloping lounge pop odyssey ideal for at-home listening. Untourable Album is a mellifluous mish mash of the last 30 years or so of mellow music–some Moby-esque lite electronica here (“Serenade Of Water”), some chillwave there (“Before Dawn”)–glossed over with a fashionable French-Canadian sheen. Freed from crowd-pleasing constraints, the band experiments with languid song structures and washed-out texture–when you listen to the album, it feels like it’s emanating from the bottom of a peaceful lagoon. Highlights? The winding, sighing “Tree Among Shrubs”; the gently yacht-rockin “Oh Dove,” and bubbling, bass-heavy “Always Lone.”

5. Mr Twin Sister - Al Mundo Azul: Mr Twin Sister is the finest band from Long Island since…Taking Back Sunday? Blue Öyster Cult? Well, they’re not emo institutions or classic rock Godzillas, but the band’s transcendent mishmash of club music styles–ranging from house to ballroom to Hi-NRG–grows more compelling with each release. While their 2018 album Salt was the epitome of disaffected cool, Al Mundo Azul embraces camp, making magic with chintzy sounds and deliberately dramatic lyrics about silent movie stars, opera heroines, and desolate cliffside rocks. For the first time, frontwoman Andrea Estrella sings some lyrics in Spanish, adding to the lysergic, Balearic atmosphere. All the bells and whistles are fun, but the real attraction is the singular groove and sonic alchemy that Mr. Twin Sister have achieved as an ensemble. The five-person group seamlessly incorporates dub textures into “The Pine Tree,” weaves gentle acoustic guitar throughout the high-octane “Carmen,” and turns “Ballarino” into a symphony of synthetic percussion.

4. Mach-Hommy - Pray For Haiti: Ever since the country won independence from France following a slave revolt in the late 18th century, Haiti seems to have led a cursed existence. In recent years, the country’s been plagued by hurricanes, devastating earthquakes, and political assassinations. Dig deep, though, and you’ll find that the country’s problems are the product of much more than misfortune: in 1825, France forced the young country to pay hundreds of millions of Francs in reparations, saddling Haiti with a debt that would take centuries to pay off and consigning its people to poverty. The Haitian diaspora has played an outsized role in hip-hop history, from Wyclef to Kodak, but it’s Mach-Hommy who most evocatively channels the country’s turbulent history, rich culture, and revolutionary spirit on his album Pray For Haiti. The best album to ever be released under the Griselda label, Pray For Haiti is guttural, grimy, and shockingly smart. Mach is fearless behind the mic, frequently uttering lines that make you wonder, “how does he…can he say that??” Curated by Westside Gunn, who’s a far better A&R than emcee (his squawking verses and introductions threaten to derail the album before it starts), the beats alternately clunk and squeak, immersing the Newark native’s words in a sludge that befits the pitch black world he creates with his rhymes. The ever-busy Mach-Hommy dropped a couple other albums in 2021 that are worth mentioning: the melodic and haunting Balens Cho and the lo-fi DUCK CZN: Chinese Algebra.

3. Flock Of Dimes - Head Of Roses: Jenn Wasner has been making soul-baring and shockingly beautiful indie rock for over a decade now, mainly alongside with Andy Stack as a member of Wye Oak. The continuation of an astonishing artistic run that includes 2018’s Wye Oak album The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs and production for artists like Madeline Kenney, Wasner reached new heights as a solo artist with her production and composition on Head Of Roses, her second album under the Flock Of Dimes moniker. Wasner is a master of mixing synthetic and organic sounds, weaving synthesizer doodles around chugging guitars and syncopated drums. Her most impressive skill, however, is vocal production–she transforms her own voice into a multi-layered choir, a flourish that adds immediacy to the rockers and ballads alike. Opener “2 Heads” is a tapestry of ecstatic exhortations, and highlight “One More Hour” combines earthly singing with heavenly harmonies. Wasner has managed to channel the frisson of the most emotional Wye Oak stunners into nearly every track, including blown-out stomper “Price Of Blue,” and “Two,” with its graceful 7/8 gallop. My favorite moment is the closer, “Head Of Roses,” in which Wasner strips away everything but her voice and piano, as she laments being unable to save the world from stubbornness and greed.

2. Arooj Aftab - Vulture Prince: Vulture Prince is transfixing, an instantly immersive phantasmagoria that combines neo-Sufi music with jazz and modern classical. As a composer, Aftab is an expert craftswoman, sketching out haunting melodies that communicate passion and grief in equal measure. Each of the album’s six songs creates its own realm, each with its own distinct ensemble of musicians, genre inspirations, and stylistic touches. Strong as she is as a composer, Aftab is an even stronger singer, her smoky alto cutting straight to the bone and effortlessly communicating her feelings, no matter what language she sings in. The Pakistan-born artist earned some very official seals of approval–GRAMMY nominations, Barack Obama’s playlists–but don’t be discouraged: this album is truly fantastic. I refuse to put this on in my car, out of a somewhat reasonable fear that I’ll get too mesmerized and cause a crash.

1. Dean Blunt - BLACK METAL 2: Indulge me in a little “self-scouting” of my taste for a moment. My favorite album of 2019 was The Same But By Different Means, a sprawling collection of ideas by Yves Jarvis, an album that radically switches from sound to sound at the drop of the hat. My 2020 fav was I Think I’m Good, Kassa Overall’s gorgeous jazz gem about processing grief, funneling the talents of NYC’s finest musicians into a single chaotic vision. My favorite 2021 album is similarly unpredictable, but though the previous years’ top picks feel like they’re bursting at the seams, Dean Blunt’s BLACK METAL 2 is succinct and almost eerily calm–an admirable response to the uncertainty that haunts our lives in a precarious time.

Dean Blunt is a restless creative, a shapeshifter who sounds like a totally different artist from album to album, sometimes even from song to song. His willingness to constantly change his style, his extreme personal privacy, and his tendency to obfuscate meaning with deliberately obtuse lyrics have intrigued me in the past, but have frequently left me cold. On BLACK METAL 2, a sequel to his 2014 album BLACK METAL, Blunt finally opens up and decides to let us in, and yeah, I'm all in. The first BLACK METAL juxtaposed lush arrangements with bursts of distortion, but BM2 is much quieter, placing the focus firmly on Blunt’s affectless baritone and his harmonies with Joanne Robertson, whose presence graces six of the album’s tracks like a lighthouse beaming through seafoam haze. Spanning just 10 songs and 23 minutes, less than half the length of its predecessor, the album is perfectly suited for repeat listens, which is to its benefit—the album is filled with hooks, but they’re oblique, seeming to dart out of earshot if you try too hard to focus on them. Moments that stick with me include the string dirge that rings throughout the opener “VIGIL,” the call and response horns of “WOOSAH,” and the skeletal guitar that rings throughout “SKETAMINE.” BLACK METAL 2 culminates with “the rot,” a Robinson duet that finds Blunt in a moment of zen, as he calmly resigns to the possibility that we might never reach a brighter future: “You might as well relax/’Cause the fear is going down, down, down.”

SPOTIFY PLAYLIST: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3k7260p2ajong76MRlwCiR?si=ef104ac269ad4f24

The best of the rest:

11. TRESOR, DJ Maphorisa & Kabza De Small - Rumble In The Jungle 12. Damon Locks & Black Monument Ensemble - NOW 13. Maria Arnal i Marcel Bagés - CLAMOR 14. Ka - A Martyr’s Reward 15. Duke Deuce - Duke Nukem 16. Sons Of Kemet - Black To The Future 17. Rochelle Jordan - Play With The Changes 18. Key Glock - Yellow Tape 2 19. Bruiser Wolf - Dope Game $tupid 20. Quickly, Quickly - The Long & Short Of It 21. Spellling - The Turning Wheel 22. EST Gee - Bigger Than Life Or Death 23. Boldy James - Bo Jackson/Tecmo Bowl Bo 24. Really From - Really From 25. G Herbo - 25 26. Quadry - They Think We Ghetto 27. Eli Keszler - Icons 28. C. Tangana - El Madrileño 29. Fred again.. - Actual Life (April 14-December 17, 2020) 30. Irreversible Entanglements - Open The Gates 31. Japanese Breakfast - Jubilee 32. Angel Du$t - YAK: A Collection Of Truck Songs 33. Goat Girl - On All Fours 34. Papo2oo4, DJ Lucas & Suspect - Dirty Designer 35. Dawn Richard - Second Line 36. Faye Webster - I Know I’m Funny haha 37. Foodman - Yasuragi Land 38. 42 Dugg - Free Dem Boyz 39. Duval Timothy & Rosie Lowe - Son 40. Little Simz - Sometimes I Might Be Introvert 41. Parannoul - To See The Next Part Of The Dream 42. Dos Santos - City of Mirrors 43. Juls - Sounds Of My World 44. Joeboy - Somewhere Between Beauty & Magic 45. BandGang Lonnie Bands - Hard 2 Kill 46. Wolf Alice - Blue Weekend 47. Low - HEY WHAT 48. Topaz Jones - Don’t Go Tellin’ Your Momma 49. Loraine James - Reflection 50. YUNGMORPHEUS & ewonee - Thumbing Thru Foliage 51. Tonstartssbandht - Petunia 52. Wiki - Half God 53. Conclave - Conclave 54. Tyler, The Creator - CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST 55. Jazmine Sullivan - Heaux Tales 56. YL - SODA CLUB 57. Erika de Casier - Sensational 58. Breeze Brewin - Hindsight 59. Zeelooperz - Van Goghs Left Ear 60. Car Culture - Dead Rock 61. Yu Su - Yellow River Blue 62. SAULT - Nine 63. Helado Negro - Far In 64. TisaKorean - mr.siLLyfLow 65. BfB Da Packman - Fat N****s Need Love Too 66. Summer Walker - Still Over It 67. Valee & AYOCHILLMAN - The Trappiest Elevator Music Ever/The Trappiest Disco Music Ever 68. Squid - Bright Green Field 69. Tony Seltzer - HEY TONY 70. Remble - It’s Remble 71. Theon Cross - Intra-I 72. Lil Poppa - Blessed, I Guess 73. Sahbabii - Do It For Demon 74. Shelley FKA DRAM - Shelley FKA DRAM 75. LAYCON - Shall We Begin

#rauw alejandro #isaiah rashad #cleo sol #genesis owusu #men i trust #mr twin sister #Spotify

[voodoochili]

My 100 Favorite Songs of 2021

2021 was a strange year for music–it was a year of dashed hopes, full of unmet expectations and unimaginable loss. There were some great tunes, though. There always are.

My listening was a bit all over the place this year, but as a result, my list is probably as geographically and stylistically diverse as any I’ve made in the past. Check below to read about my favorite songs from the calendar year, with a Spotify playlist at the bottom. Hopefully you’ll find something you like!

Without further ado, my faves:

25. DJ Black Low - “Jaiva Low” ft. Hapas Music, DJ KS & Patna: Amapiano, a style that dominates its native South Africa and is gaining steam on the rest of the continent, is first and foremost music meant for the bleary post-midnight hours of a crowded club. But if amapiano has a secondary function, it’s to freak out your friends and neighbors. “Jaiva Low,” by 20-year-old producer DJ Black Low, succeeds wildly on both counts. The insistent snare and wobbly bass keep you moving your feet, but the vocal–which rests halfway between didactic dancefloor direction and a summoning ritual–might have you running for your life.

24. Esperanza Spalding- “Formwela 10”: “Formwela 10” comes from Spalding’s Songwrights Apocethary Lab, a music therapy project and now full-length album that “seeks to develop a structure for the collaborative development of new compositions designed to offer enhanced salutary benefit to listeners.” I don’t know about all that, and many of the “Formwelas” on the album leave me a bit cold, but I definitely pick up some of those salutary benefits from “Formwela 10.” Divided into two distinct halves, “Formwela 10” starts as a minimal, yet theatrical vamp, Spalding singing tentatively and curiously as she plucks her harp like an upright bass and describes her aimlessness in life and love. The second half is a vocal tour-de-force, as she’s touched by divine intervention in the form of a dramatic grand piano that echoes her immaculate descending melody. A reminder, in Spalding’s words, to “make space and time for your elders,” “Formwela 10” is the perfect prescription to gracefully wind down from an overstimulating day.

23. Chubby & The Gang - “I Hate The Radio”: They’re known for their lightning-quick bursts of pub punk, but English group Chubby & The Gang is the rare hardcore group whose ballads are as strong as their bangers. Joining a growing list of heartfelt highlights that includes last year’s “Trouble (You Were Always On My Mind)” and “Grenfell Forever,” the closing track on their 2021 album The Mutt’s Nuts is a clever inversion of rock music’s most well-worn tropes–Chubby Charles knows that the conglomerated radio of today doesn’t quite compare to the power of the AM Jonathan Richman so joyfully sang about in 1972. Instead, the Gang bemoans the format’s calcification, only playing “the songs we used to know,” songs that evoke happier times in the life of the narrator and the world at large.

22. TisaKorean - “How i walk in the club”: TisaKorean is one of the most restlessly creative artists in the game today, constantly brainstorming new ways to get your body moving. His songs often feel like pop hits beamed in from another dimension, none more so than “How i walk in the club,” a mutating, low-key number brimming with hooks, tempo changes, and Tisa’s silly flows. In a fairer world, this song would’ve been at least as big as that Makonnen song about molly.

21. Wiardon - “Stay Down”: Austin, TX producer/rapper Wiardon is younger than Tom Brady’s first Super Bowl win, but he has the confidence and suavity of a man twice his age (to be very clear, twice his age = 38). On “Stay Down,” he initially stumbles over the opening words of his verse, before collecting himself and calmly intoning preternaturally wise bars about staying true to your roots. Wiardon helps his own case by layering pizzicato strings over one of the year’s finest basslines, creating an instrumental that begs to be blasted out of boxframe muscle cars.

20. Axel Rulay - “Si Es Trucho Es Trucho”/”Si Es Trucho Es Trucho” (Remix) ft. El Alfa & Farruko: This was a big year for dembow, and Rulay’s expansive breakout track showed just how much a determined artist can do with the genre’s signature riddim. “Si Es Trucho Es Trucho'' does away with any sort of song structure, eliminating verses and choruses in favor of clipped chants, children’s choirs, and organic percussion to supplement the relentless beat. The remix takes the track in a more traditional direction, adding verses from undisputed dembow don El Alfa and imperial reggaetonero Farruko, sacrificing some of the unpredictability for ratcheted-up energy.

19. Olivia Rodrigo - “deja vu”: Olivia Rodrigo hit the music world like a comet this year, armed with a knack for writing and singing about heartache with the kind of poise, skill, and relatability that only comes around once a decade or so (and as Adele and Taylor Swift prove again and again, this is practically a license to print money). She found a perfect partner in producer Dan Nigro, who complements her with tasteful arrangement touches, never repeating the same trick twice on her debut album SOUR. “deja vu,” to me, is the perfect blend of song and production, with militant percussion and buzzing guitars that evoke Nigro’s work with erstwhile indie star Sky Ferreira.

The song is less theatrical and outwardly emotional than many of the album’s other highlights, but Rodrigo’s delicate, almost sickly-sweet falsetto makes her words sting that much more. What I love about “deja vu” and Rodrigo’s songwriting in general: despite the worldly affect and venomous barbs, the song still manages to capture the uniquely-teenaged kind of naïveté that makes one think that they were the first person to discover Billy Joel (not really something to brag about, but I digress).

18. Rauw Alejandro - “Desenfocao’”: It’s time to stop messing around and state the obvious: Tainy is one of the best producers working in any genre right now. He’s a master of atmosphere, creating wistful compositions that inspire the world’s most macho reggaetoneros to express some vulnerability for a change. On “Desenfocao’,” he fills space with cavernous bass, open hi-hats, and underwater, out-of-time synths, creating an anthem that owes as much to Beach House as it does Bad Bunny (it feels like a spiritual sequel to “Callaíta,” another Tainy-produced jam). As great as he is, Tainy is only half the equation here–Rauw fulfills his side of the bargain admirably, toe-tagging the programmed percussion with mathematical precision and floating over the swelling production with his achingly pure tenor as he tells a story of unfathomable heartbreak.

17. Bawo - “Starts With A Text”: “I’m hard-pressed for a reason to come out tonight,” intones West London emcee Bawo on the hook for “Starts With A Text,” a half-asleep pronouncement that echoed through my head during a year where leaving the house was a proposition that fell somewhere between unappealing and unsafe. Accompanied by liquid keys from producer Daniel Ness, Bawo’s delivery is somehow both lackadaisical and technical, as he sets about navigating the world of digital dating, and exploring how intentions get obscured when communicated through blue (or, heaven forbid, green) bubbles.

16. New Pagans - “Natural Beauty”: How come there aren’t more songs about frenemies? Perhaps the liminal nature of that relationship doesn’t provide the same kind of emotional clarity that more straightforward relationships do, and are thus not as translatable to pop song form? If that’s true, then nobody told Lyndsey McConnell, the frontwoman of Northern Irish indie rockers New Pagans. “Natural Beauty” walks a fine line between envy and pity, between worshipful affection and blazing contempt. It’s these contradictions that make the song such a fascinating character study. It empathizes with the subject’s need to live up to the expectations of those who idealize her, but wishes that she weren’t such a dick all the time.

15. Loraine James - “Running Like That” ft. Eden Samara: Loraine James specializes in finding the beauty within harsh, glitchy, distorted digital landscapes. She manipulates her voice and the voices of her collaborators to create a dense tapestry of sound, taking a jagged and unexpected path towards transcendence. “Running Like That” is frenetic and propulsive, but also probably the most traditionally beautiful composition James has ever put to tape, largely thanks to the performance of guest vocalist Eden Samara. James weaves Samara’s angelic paeans and conversational banter into a dialogue about trying desperately to escape the urges of your worst self.

14. Young Dolph & Key Glock - “Aspen”: Listen to Bandplay’s soulful blasts of organ; to Dolph’s ad-libs, especially when he helpfully clarifies that Aspen is in Colorado; to Glock’s confident, career-spanning verse. Look at their wide smiles in the song’s incredible music video. It’s cruel that such a joyful and triumphant piece of art will remain forever bittersweet. Long Live Dolph.

13. Yaw Tog - “SORE”: It boggles my mind how drill music, a street style pioneered by Chicago teenagers, has made such a large and varied global impact. It’s both an inspiring bit of cultural connection and a depressing realization that such a bleak style can be so resonant in so many different locales. The Ghanaian flavor of drill is one that I still need to get more familiar with, but it’s hard to deny a banger like “SORE,” with its apocalyptic, yet danceable beat and invigorating, intimidating hook. I slightly prefer the original, but the UK-ified remix (released in Feb 2021) does a solid job of refining the song for mass consumption, confirming that Kumasi, Ghana's Yaw Tog has enough charisma to be the strongest presence on a song with Stormzy on it.

12. Isaiah Rashad - “Lay Wit Ya” ft. Duke Deuce: “Lay Wit Ya” is as grimy as the mud caked on old rain boots. It slithers along at ground level, powered by Rashad’s understated charisma, before Duke Deuce arrives halfway through and busts the whole thing wide open. Duke’s entrance is probably my favorite single moment from a hip-hop song this year, a jolt of cantankerous comedic energy that doubles as an irresistible urge to do your best gangsta walk.

11. Anz - “You Could Be” ft. George Riley: “You Could Be” combines an irresistible pentatonic synth melody (I was racking my brain to figure out what it reminded me of and it turns out, it’s a syncopated version of the stereotypical “Oriental riff”), yammering bass, and sci-fi percussion into the year’s most delectable dancefloor confection. Tapping into the production's playful vibe, George Riley occupies a flirtatious, almost taunting mien, scolding the object of her affection for not leaping at the opportunity of a lifetime.

10. Cassandra Jenkins - “Hard Drive”: Mesmerizing and thought-provoking, “Hard Drive” is what would happen if Kaputt-era Destroyer collaborated with Carl Sagan. The song is structured as a series of conversations, Jenkins matter-of-factly weaving the dialogues into a tapestry about the digitalization of the human body and mind–our brains are mere hard drives, with limited memory, prone to overheating. Guided by the ringing guitars and wailing saxophone, Jenkins attempts to reunite our overstimulated minds with our spiritual selves, and for five-and-a-half glorious minutes, she nearly succeeds.

9. Bankulli & Not3s - “Foreign”: An immensely joyful, cross-generation collab between an Afro-Rap pioneer and a smooth-singing Brit, “Foreign” is a glorious celebration of all things imported. The song is gleefully nonsensical: Not3s smoothly delivers his hook in one of the most-pronounced London accents ever put to tape (his only competition, and with a totally different kind of London brogue, is that guy from “Parklife”), while Bankulli complements with a rugged Yoruba verse. The victorious synth horn fanfare in this song makes me feel like I’m 100 feet tall.

8. Irreversible Entanglements - “Open The Gates”: It starts with Tcheser Holmes’ clattering percussion, a manic and invigorating jolt that awakens a higher consciousness. It continues with Luke Stewart’s bass, laying down a primal, impulsively danceable beat to add a bit of sashay to the song’s stomp. Conducting the affair is Camae Aweya, the poet and performing artist known as Moor Mother, authoritative as she utters incantations powerful enough to collapse the walls of Jericho. Answering her call is the horn section, Keir Neuringer on sax and Aquiles Navarro on trumpet, who oscillate between recognizable melodies (do I hear “Camptown Races”?) and free expression.

That’s “Open The Gates.” Just listen, trust me it’s better than my silly description.

7. Armand Hammer - “Falling Out the Sky” ft. Earl Sweatshirt: The world lost producer Lee “Scratch” Perry and bassist Robbie Shakespeare in 2021, two dub masters who were directly responsible for a shocking amount of the best music ever made. Folks try every day to approximate the vibe created in the Black Ark, Perry’s studio, but few are able to capture the hallucinatory, haunted magic of its heyday. The Alchemist comes damn close with his beat for “Falling Out the Sky,” a reverie-inducing bit of ear candy that I could happily listen to for hours on a loop.

As an added bonus, we get three of the most thoughtful and philosophical rap verses of the year: Earl reflects on the loss of his father and reminds us that all life originated as matter from dying stars, Billy Woods harkens back to a summer he spent in a blissful haze of weed smoke before being rudely awakened by a state trooper, and Elucid makes sure we all recognize how the Isley Brothers paved the way for The Beatles.

6. Pa Salieu - “Style & Fashion” ft. Obongjayar: Pa Salieu has an uncanny ability to fuse African, UK, and American styles into an alchemy that is 100% his own. “Style & Fashion” isn’t really a mix or a fusion of anything, though, just Pa’s charismatic and darkly shimmering take on amapiano. An engaging master of ceremonies, Pa struts atop the syncopated snares like he’s the flyest person on the planet, while guest artist Obongjayar’s rasp arises from the ashes like an ancient voice heralding a very fashionable apocalypse. As Pa says on the hook, “welcome to the party.”

5. Mr Twin Sister - ”Expressions”: “Expressions” is a post-disco carnival, a glorious mess of bizarre interlocking parts that come together to create a well-oiled machine. You hear the disparate elements come together on the song’s intro, creating a groove that stops and starts but keeps pushing forward. My favorite touch in the song’s immaculate arrangement is the underlying current of acoustic guitar, which comes to the forefront during Andrea Estrella’s sighing bridge, adding a touch of ‘90s adult contemporary to mellow out the Chic Organization energy of the rest of the track. It seems chaotic and in lesser hands, it probably would be, but Mr Twin Sister specializes in taking what could be chintzy and making it sublime.

4. Burna Boy - ”Kilometre”: The ultimate heat check–can you make a banger about the metric system? Most can’t, but Burna Boy can, rolling the titular word on his tongue and releasing it like a missile targeted at the pleasure center of your brain. Produced by Chopstix, a regular collaborator of Burna’s who always seems to nudge him in a dancehall direction, “Kilometre” emphasizes the upbeat, punctuating Burna’s chatter with reverbed guitar strums and emphasizing his pugilistic boasts with perfectly-timed live drum fills. The dialogue between dancehall and Afrobeats has always fascinated me, and songs like “Kilometre” that exist halfway between the two are near-guaranteed bangers. Hopefully we’ll see more of this side of Burna in 2022.

3. PinkPantheress - “just for me”: I’m a natural curmudgeon, always skeptical of things that have 100% approval rating. It can’t be that good if it appeals to everybody, can it? PinkPantheress’s music is one of those things that is just suspiciously good, unlocking the secret sauce that unites ravers, indie kids, and TikTok teens. The earliest PinkPantheress tracks had lots of DIY charm, with their obvious samples and tender vocals, but she leveled up when she connected with Mura Masa for “just for me.”

Rather than using samples of songs by the likes of Crystal Waters and Adam F. as a nostalgic cheat code, Mura Masa creates a perfect homage to chill room UK garage, with backwards strings, record scratches, and an indelible guitar arpeggio embellishing the traditional 2-step percussion. The arrangement is complex, but not busy, and it leaves plenty of space for PP to lay down a sighing, oblique, and ornate melody that messes with meter and never resolves where you expect it to. The vocal is so soft-spoken that you almost miss how delightfully deranged the lyrics are, lines like “I found the street of the house in which you stay” and “I followed you today, I was in my car” (accompanied by the playful tooting of her car’s horn) eliminating the divide between devotion and dangerous obsession.

2. Remble - “Touchable”: Remble became a meme of sorts because of his crisp elocution. Lyricists of any genre rarely use such writerly syntax, and the combination of his precise enunciation and his songs’ gruesome subject matter provides the tension that animates his music. His style could come off as gimmicky if he weren’t so darn good at stringing together one-liners into the kind of song you want to memorize and recite. On “Touchable,” in particular, Remble rhymes like the very model of a modern major general, calmly attacking 10Fifty’s minimalist, bell-tolling horror movie instrumental and dropping more memorable lines than you can count: “I know a lot of demons, I can summon any one of 'em/Bodies holding bodies, it was as if they were cuddling”; “Put 30 in my chop', and then I turned him to a huxtable/Came a long way from Pre-K and eating Lunchables”; “Peter piper picked a pack of bullets, now they're touching you.”

1. Ayra Starr - “Bloody Samaritan”: There’s a certain type of confidence that only teenagers have, the absolute surety that there couldn’t possibly be anyone smarter or funnier or cooler than you and your friends. “Bloody Samaritan” takes that feeling and bottles it. Ayra Starr cannot fail, she can only be failed; her immaculate vibe unassailable, unable to be touched by the killjoys in her midst. When she’s not taking dead aim at bores and lames, she’s aggressively, almost confrontationally flirtatious, accosting the object of her intentions with a series of come-ons that beg to be IG captions: “I see you watchin' my stories/I see you gaugin' my lifestyle/I see you watchin' my movements/This bad bitch bad every day.” Listening to her tiptoe among mournful violins and slinky saxophone, you believe her every word–maybe the 19 & Dangerous artist is the coolest person on the planet??

Thanks for reading! HERE is the Spotify playlist of the full 100 songs in order.

And here's the rest of the list:

26. EST Gee - “Riata Dada” 27. Tokischa - “LINDA” ft. Rosalía 28. Casper Nyovest - “Siyathandana” ft. Abidoza & Boohle 29. Abra - “Unlock It” ft. Playboi Carti 30. DJ Manny - “Signals In My Head” 31. Monaleo - “Beating Down Yo Block” 32. Blxst - “Don’t Forget” ft. Drakeo The Ruler 33. Car Culture - “Sell Out” 34. Rio Da Yung OG - “Last Day Out” 35. Valee & AYOCHILLMAN - “HIMMYyimmy” 36. Tems - “Found” ft. Brent Faiyaz 37. Rx Papi - “A Man Apart” 38. Sybyr - “The Mill” 39. ComptonAsstg - “Colder & Colder” 40. The Goon Sax - “The Chance” 41. Key Glock - “Ambition For Cash” 42. Ethel Cain - “Michelle Pfeiffer” ft. lil aaron 43. Doja Cat - “Kiss Me More” ft. SZA 44. Duke Deuce - “Intro: Coming Out Hard” 45. Erika De Casier - “Polite” 46. Bandgang Lonnie Bands - “Glocks & Choppas” ft. Young Nudy 47. Low - “Days Like These” 48. The Peacers - Ghost Of A Motherfucker 49. Lucy Dacus - “Thumbs” 50. YN Jay - “Summer Time” 51. 42 Dugg - “4 Da Gang” ft. Roddy Ricch 52. Farruko - “PEPAS” 53. Peewee Longway & Cassius Jay - “Pink Salmon” 54. Really From - “Yellow Fever” 55. Maxwell - “Off” 56. Tiwa Savage - “Tales By Moonlight” ft. Amaarae 57. CEO Trayle - “Loose Lips” 58. Japanese Breakfast - “Be Sweet” 59. The Narcotix - “Esther” 60. Noname - “Rainforest” 61. SPELLLING - “Little Deer” 62. Wolf Alice - “Safe From Heartbreak” 63. BfB Da Packman - “Weekend At Solomon’s” 64. Heather Trost - “Love It Grows” 65. Cktrl - “zero” ft. Mereba 66. Natanael Cano - “Diamantes” 67. Faye Webster - “Cheers” 68. Tonstartssbandht - “What Has Happened” 69. Nao - “Antidote” ft. Adekunle Gold 70. Chvrches - “Asking For A Friend” 71. Kaytranada - “$payforhaiti” ft. Mach-Hommy 72. Bruiser Wolf - “Momma Was A Dopefiend” 73. Offset Jim - “Face Card” ft. Kenny Beats 74. Dawn Richard - “Bussifame” 75. Bad Bunny - “Yonaguni” 76. Moneybagg Yo - “Wockesha” 77. Sloppy Jane - “Party Anthem” 78. Tony Seltzer - “Joyride” ft. Eartheater 79. Magdalena Bay - “You Lose” 80. The Weather Station - “Atlantic” 81. Yg Teck - “Question For You” 82. VanJess - “Caught Up” ft. Phony Ppl 83. Lushlife - “Depaysment” ft. Dalek 84. Payroll Giovanni & Cardo - “Eyez Closed” 85. MAVI - “Time Travel” 86. 03 Greedo - "Liar Liar" 87. Babyface Ray - “Foreva” (prod. Top$ide) 88. Polo G - “GNF (OK OK OK)” 89. AG Club - “Noho” ft. ICECOLDBISHOP 90. Yves Jarvis - “Projection” 91. 30 Deep Grimeyy - “First Day Out” 92. Summer Walker - “Constant Bullshit” 93. Drego - “Dis Dat” 94. BONES - “TwasTheDarkestNight” 95. Shelley fka DRAM - “Exposure” 96. Surf Gang - “CINDERELLA” 97. Baby Keem - “Family Ties” ft. Kendrick Lamar 98. Billie Eilish - “Happier Than Ever” 99. Daemoney - “Moments Of Drugs” 100. Lou Hayter - “Time Out Of Mind”

#ayra starr #olivia rodrigo #remble #burna boy #mr twin sister #pa salieu #earl sweatshirt #moor mother #isaiah rashad #Spotify

[voodoochili]

My 75 Favorite Albums of 2020

Every year produces excellent music and 2020 was no exception. The exceptional thing about this year, though, is the loss of livelihood so many musicians suffered as a result of the pandemic. To better celebrate all I’ve listened to and loved this year, I’ve expanded my albums list from 50 to 75 albums and included a highlight track from each in the Spotify playlist below. If you like what you hear, why not throw the artist a few dollars on Bandcamp?

Check the Spotify playlist HERE.

Without further ado, my favorite albums of 2020. Happy New Year, and happy listening!

10. Playboi Carti - Whole Lotta Red: Carti’s long-awaited opus has only been out for a week, which is probably not a long enough time to give an album as sprawling and surprising as this one a full critical evaluation. But I do know when I’m hearing something that’s unlike anything I’ve ever heard: this album rearranges hip-hop at the molecular level. 

Whole Lotta Red is overstuffed with invention, the glitchy, expansive production giving Carti ample opportunity to glom onto the contours of the beat and experiment with his voice. That voice is the album’s main attraction: it squeaks, it squeals, it roars, it spits, it shudders, and organizes itself into irresistibly ignorant mantras (my current favorite is “Lamborghini parked outside, it’s purple like lean”). 

Across its 24 tracks (which feels like too many, sure, but only the 5-minute long Kid Cudi-infected droner “Metamorphosis” overstays its welcome), Carti plays with listener expectations, annihilating rap songwriting conventions (why do you need verse-chorus structure if every line is a hook) as he defiantly proclaims his desire to be unlike anybody else. Though it bears some resemblance in sound and subject matter to Future’s Monster (and much of the production owes a debt to the work of Lil Uzi Vert’s favored Working Of Dying collective), Whole Lotta Red firmly establishes Carti as a totemic figure connecting mainstream and underground sounds.

9. BbyMutha - Muthaland: BbyMutha is a natural born spitter, armed with a drawly stutter-stepping flow that routinely annihilates unconventional instrumentals. She glows with supreme confidence and comfort in her own skin, especially when she’s dripping with disdain with those who’d dare refuse her the respect she deserves. A 25-track opus that earns every minute of its runtime, Muthaland is an engrossing immersion into Mutha’s world, balancing a fascination with the occult (“Sorry I don’t fuck with n****s who don’t fuck with Satan”) with grounding interjections from close friends and her four children. Boasting rockstar fantasies like “Heavy Metal,” bad girl anthems like “Nice Guy,” and dancefloor-ready jams like “Cocaine Catwalk,” Muthaland is a tour-de-force by one of rap’s singular voices, and if she’s really finished with music as she’s claimed (rappers never really retire, but Mutha has indicated she wants to focus full time on her Apothecary), the game will greatly miss her incisive punchlines and crudely empowering perspective.

8. Westerman - Your Hero Is Not Dead: In 2020, Mid-’80s sophistipop grew into one of my favorite comfort foods. Westerman’s Your Hero Is Not Dead struck me directly in the sophistipop sweet spot, evoking the attention-to-detail and synth-heavy craftsmanship of that era and pairing it with harmonic complexity and a piercing emotionalism that recalls his idol Neil Young. On songs like “Blue Comanche” and “The Line,” Westerman constructs tales as twisty as his melodies, economically exploring how people relate to each other at the beginning and end of romantic relationships. Westerman complements his tasteful palette of synth sounds with intricate and lyrical guitar playing, most notably on the sighing, gorgeous instrumental “Float Over,” which softly segues into the title track to end the album on a gently-rising high note.

7. WizKid - Made In Lagos: The focal point of the sub-Saharan Afrobeats renaissance, Lagos is having one of the most exciting musical moments of any city since Kingston in the early ‘70s. WizKid is one of the scene’s biggest stars, with an ability to combine the sonic tapestry of his hometown with Caribbean-influenced beats and vocal styles. Made In Lagos is a masterwork of sound design, bringing creamy bass, chicken-scratch speckles of guitar, tasteful interjections of saxophone and brass, and an intoxicating mix of acoustic and electronic percussion, all offered in service to an immaculate vibe that matches the album cover’s shiny, monochromatic color scheme. Made with lockdown in mind, the album eschews uptempo dancefloor workouts in favor of stress-relief and romance. WizKid plays the perfect host, tamping down his melodic flights of fancy and embracing a song-serving smoothness. He’s a warm and inviting presence throughout, laying out the red carpet for a cross-continental cast of collaborators like H.E.R., Skepta, Burna Boy, and Damian Marley. The result is a truly global pop masterpiece, capable of brightening even the dourest day of a miserable year.

6. Ka - Descendants of Cain: Firefighter by day and rapper/producer by night, Ka is a master of allusion. He organizes his thoughts into themed collections of metaphor, illustrating the bleak realities of street life with gnomic symbolism. On Descendants Of Cain, Ka’s strongest work to date, the enigmatic rapper expresses himself through a litany of biblical references, drawing parallels between ancient parables (he goes far deeper than the Cain/’caine double entendre that rappers have been using for decades) and the stark code of morality with which he lives his life. The 48-year-old hermit produced the project himself, creating an immersive sonic realm, crafting expansive, noir-ish backing tracks populated by late-night saxophones, sparkling pianos, and the occasional shot of sweeping strings. Once again, Ka’s music comes almost entirely without drums (certainly without “beats” in the traditional hip-hop sense–every once in a while, he adds an open hi-hat or a subdued shaker), the artist preferring to let his music swirl around his half-whispered words of wisdom. The album ends on a tearful, sentimental note with “I Love (Mimi, Moms, Kev),” in which the artist ditches the biblical lyrical conceit and expresses his love for his wife, his mom, and his best friend atop light percussion and a warm soul sample.

5. SAULT - Untitled (Rise): Rise is the second part of a diptych that SAULT recorded in response to the movement that exploded in the wake of George Floyd’s death. Black Is, the first part, is a great album (you’ll find it in the lower reaches of my 2020 list), but the mysterious UK collective fulfilled their immense potential with Rise, a propulsive, powerful, and danceable album that doubles as a thought-provoking examination of the nature of freedom and liberation. The album tackles weighty topics–police violence, fake-woke “allies,” protest, cultural appropriation–but handles them with an inspiring effervescence and a propulsion meant to usher right-thinking people into the streets. The music itself is an intoxicating marvel, combining elements from every trendy musical movement from the early ‘80s (post-disco, post-punk, house, hip-hop, whatever the hell ESG was) into a percussive and surprisingly cohesive cocktail. The album immediately makes its greatness known with its first four songs, one of the strongest opening runs of any album in recent memory: the swaggering, funky, keep-your-head-up anthem “Strong,” which features a drum solo from SAULT architect Inflo, the soaring, club-ready vamp “Fearless,” concept-establishing, string-heavy interlude “Rise,” and especially “I Just Want to Dance,” the best song ESG never wrote. 

4. Fiona Apple - Fetch The Bolt Cutters: Fetch The Bolt Cutters arrived with the kind of universal acclaim that can make some people suspicious. The Pitchfork review got a lot of attention, not just for its perfect score but for its bold statement that “no music has ever sounded quite like it.” 

That statement might’ve been slightly hyperbolic. Fetch The Bolt Cutters has the kind of propulsive left-hand piano figures, chest-thumping percussion, and impassioned vocal performances that we haven’t heard since...the last Fiona Apple album. But the album deserves its experimental reputation. These songs mess around with song structure and melody in ways that resemble avant-garde singers like Meredith Monk, use overlapping vocals that occasionally evoke the works of post-modern composers like Luciano Berio, and echoing modernist composers like Edgard Varese in the way she wrings pathos out of rhythmic elements.

Though Fetch might be a slight step down from The Idler Wheel, it’s an invigorating listen, packed with the soul-baring confessionals that only Fiona is capable of executing. Combining literary wordplay with plainspoken directness, Fiona forces the listener to confront her trauma and contemplate her diagnoses of patriarchal ills. The songs are uniformly excellent–especially opener “I Want You To Love Me,” the most “traditional” song on the record, and “Shameika,” a burrowing childhood rumination with a happy ending–but Fetch The Bolt Cutters stands out to me as a collection of amazing moments: when the jig-like “For Her” fades into an unforgettably painful cadence (“Good mornin’, good mornin’/You raped me in the same bed your daughter was born in”), Fiona’s ground-shaking vocal intensity at the end of “Newspaper,” her dogs howling over the outro of “Fetch The Bolt Cutters,” the winking repetition of the title phrase on “Ladies.” Her albums display more than enough ambition to forgive the long gestation periods, but hopefully we won’t have to wait another 8 years for Fiona to bare her soul once again.

3. Drakeo The Ruler - Thank You For Using GTL: Embroiled in a Kafkaesque legal saga that shines a light on the worst aspects of our horrendous justice system, Drakeo The Ruler spent more than three years wrongly incarcerated for a crime he not only did not commit, but for which he was acquitted (for more info on Drakeo’s ordeal, read Jeff Weiss). He’s now mercifully a free man, mostly due to the work of his lawyer, but at least partially because of publicity generated by Thank You For Using GTL. Recorded over the phone from prison during the height of the pandemic, it’s a miracle that an album created under such sub-optimal conditions sounds as excellent as it does, but credit producer JoogSzn–who not only supplied the creeping, head-nodding backing tracks but recorded Drakeo’s phoned-in vocals–and engineer MixedByNavin for the project’s astonishing fidelity. Drakeo and Joog spent hours on the phone to record the album, in the process paying thousands of dollars to GTL, the predatory telecom company of choice for the L.A. corrections system, whose mechanical interjections serve as a constant reminder of the injustice that made the album necessary. Of course, a good story is a good story, but that alone doesn’t get an album on 2020’s most prestigious Best Albums list (mine). It’s a classic rap album, perhaps the best ever released by an incarcerated rapper, and a thumb directly in the nose of the D.A. and the LAPD. The album is a lyrical marvel, packed with winding wordplay and outlandish flexes, as Mr. Mosley takes aim at 6ix9ine, cackles at sorry-ass Instagram haters, and sneers at American-made cars (“To be honest, a Hellcat isn’t a foreign”). Each song has a carefully considered concept, the rapper’s punchlines building upon one another to make an airtight case for his status as L.A.’s top dog. He contrasts his own whip-crashing lifestyle with flashy wannabes on “GTA VI” and “Backflip or Sumn,” mourns a favorite department store on “RIP Barneys,” and proves he still doesn’t rap beef on “Maestro’s Tension.” The album’s masterstroke comes with “Fictional,” the final track, in which Drakeo exposes the prosecution’s use of his lyrics as evidence in criminal proceedings as the farce it is: “It might sound real, but it’s fictional/I love that my imagination gets to you.” Drakeo’s story was a rare bright spot in 2020, and a rare one with a happy ending. Just last week, the rapper released Because Y’All Asked, a studio-recorded version of Thank You For Using GTL, giving the album’s songs the clarity they deserve. But I think I’ll mostly return to the original, which will live on as an excellent album and a vital document of post-George Floyd America.

2. Pa Salieu - Send Them to Coventry: Hailing from the middle of nowhere–or, more accurately city in the English Midlands only known in the states for its middling Premier League team–Gambian-British artist Pa Salieu served up the most distinctive, visceral, and daring rap debut of the year. His style fuses elements of grime, drill, afro-trap, dancehall, and the darker edges of U.S. hip-hop into a percussive slurry, injected with the urgency of his struggle to survive. The magic of the album comes from the way Pa’s fluid flows interact with the shimmering and foreboding production (Felix Joseph and Aod lead the cast of the project’s sound architects), which is perfectly suited for cold city nights. He slips effortlessly into the pocket, toe-tagging the beats with a combination of aggression and trance-like meditation and uttering casually powerful pronouncements (“I'd make a killa riddim offa any riddim/The grind can never stop 'til I'm wrapped in linen”) that make you believe he’s Britain’s next great rapper. Pa keeps the vibe consistent throughout, but the moments that stand out are the moments when he locks into an unbreakable groove over no-frills production, like on singles “Block Boy,” “Betty,” and “B***K.” The artist’s wry sense of humor and brash confidence keeps the album from feeling bleak, but Send Them To Coventry wisely ends on “Energy,” a warm and bright ode to keeping your creative spark safe from the prying forces of fame and fortune.

1. Kassa Overall - I Think I’m Good: “I think I’m good”–a phrase that’s ran through my head throughout this shitstorm of a year. Sure, I postponed a wedding, cancelled trips, and saw my friends and family much less often than I would like, but I count myself among the lucky ones. Still breathing, still sane. Though it was recorded and released before the pandemic started, Kassa Overall’s I Think I’m Good became a lodestar of sorts for me. It’s a brilliantly introspective and deeply personal album about existing in enclosed spaces–whether a jail cell, an NYC subway car, or the inescapable prison of your own body.

Kassa Overall made his name as a jazz drummer, touring with icons like Geri Allen, but his solo music incorporates elements of hip-hop, classical, and trap to create a wholly original milieu. The album features contributions from over 30 accomplished voices, ranging from luminary Vijay Iyer, to Kassa’s saxophonist brother Carlos Overall, to virtuosic pianist Sullivan Fortner, to venerated activist Angela Davis. But all the disparate elements come together in service of Kassa’s deeply personal and engrossing vision.

Taking partial inspiration from Kassa’s struggle with manic depression, the music fluctuates between meditative calm and unbearable tension, mimicking the patter of an unquiet mind. Album opener “Visible Walls,” is a mesmerizing prayer for salvation soundtracked by fluttering harps, piercing woodwinds, and heartbeat percussion. “Find Me” buries a plea for help within a cacophony of sampled voices and rattling piano notes. Fortner’s piano guides us through the hauntingly devastating “Halfway House” and the Chopin-indebted “Darkness In Mind,” each highlighting a different stage of grief (despair and acceptance, respectively). The arc of I Think I’m Good concludes with the hopeful “Got Me A Plan” and “Was She Happy (For Geri Allen),” a Vijay Iyer-assisted tribute to his late friend and mentor. 

It’s ironic that an album that so deeply explores the feeling of isolation vibrates with such a collaborative spirit. I Think I’m Good feels like an answered prayer–a community coming together to check on a beloved friend who’s gone through a tough time: “You good, man?” “I think so.”

Here’s the rest of my list.

11. Yves Tumor - Heaven To A Tortured Mind 12. Shackleton & Waclaw Zimpel - Primal Forms 13. Bob Dylan - Rough & Rowdy Ways 14. Duval Timothy - Help 15. Lil Uzi Vert - Eternal Atake 16. Moodymann - Taken Away 17. Secret Drum Band - Chuva 18. J Hus - Big Conspiracy 19. Headie One & Fred Again - GANG 20. Tiwa Savage - Celia 21. Andras - Joyful 22. Bill Callahan - Gold Record 23. King Von - Welcome To O’Block 24. Flo Milli - Ho, Why Is You Here? 25. Chubby & The Gang - Speed Kills 26. Madeline Kenney - Sucker’s Lunch 27. Empty Country - Empty Country 28. Smino - She Already Decided 29. Destroyer - Have We Met 30. Yves Jarvis - Sundry Rock Song Stock 31. Ela Minus - Acts Of Rebellion 32. Creeper - Sex, Death & The Infinite Void 33. Alabaster DePlume - To Cy & Lee: Instrumentals, Vol. 1 34. Good Sad Happy Bad - Shades 35. The 1975 - Notes On a Conditional Form 36. Kate NV - Room For The Moon 37. $ilkmoney - Attack of the Future Shocked, Flesh Covered, Meatbags of the 85 38. Eddie Chacon - Pleasure, Joy and Happiness 39. Kenny Segal & Serengeti - Ajai 40. Bad Bunny - YHLQMDLG 41. Kahlil Blu - DOG 42. Califone - Echo Mine 43. Boldy James - The Price of Tea in China/Manger On McNichols/The Versace Tape 44. Bufiman - Albumsi 45. Moses Boyd - Dark Matter 46. Thanya Iyer - KIND 47. Jyoti - Mama You Can Bet! 48. Obongjayar - Which Way Is Forward? 49. Rio Da Yung OG - City On My Back 50. Young Jesus - Welcome To Conceptual Beach 51. Owen Pallett - Island 52. Oceanator - Things I Never Said 53. Shootergang Kony - Red Paint Reverend 54. Shabason, Krgovich & Harris - Philadelphia 55. Six Organs of Admittance - Companion Rises 56. Lido Pimienta - Miss Colombia 57. Kelly Lee Owens - Inner Song 58. Polo G - The GOAT 59. Actress - Karma & Desire 60. Phoebe Bridgers - Punisher 61. Porridge Radio - Every Bad 62. Yg Teck - Eyes Won’t Close 63. Mozzy - Beyond Bulletproof 64. Ratboys - Printer’s Devil 65. R.A.P. Ferreira - Purple Moonlight Pages 66. Ulver - Flowers of Evil 67. Rina Sawayama - SAWAYAMA 68. SAULT - Untitled (Black Is) 69. Ezra Feinberg - Recumbent Speech 70. Davido - A Better Time 71. Hailu Mergia - Yene Mircha 72. HAIM - Women In Music Pt. III 73. Half Waif - The Caretaker 74. Key Glock - Yellow Tape 75. KeiyAa - Forever Your Girl

#kassa overall #pa salieu #drakeo the ruler #fiona apple #sault #ka #wizkid #westerman #playboi carti #bbymutha

[voodoochili]

My Favorite Songs of 2020

With nowhere to go and nothing to do in 2020, I had plenty of time to listen to as much music as I could stand. Luckily for me and for everyone else, 2020 supplied an embarrassment of musical riches; the endless creativity of our artists providing necessary emotional support during the Worst Year Ever™.

I’ve compiled my favorite 100 songs of 2020. Again, I limited my selections to only one song per artist, but as you’ll see, I couldn’t quite stick to it this year. Narrowing the list down to 100 was a painful process, with many excellent songs left on the cutting room floor. 

Check below for Spotify playlists

Top 100 Songs of 2020: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3ySKk19paBFgO698vw7HTs?si=-al-SyEsTqWzqKfmEraNFw Best Songs of 2020 (Refined):  https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1ET0aA5TPj5JDsUtosaCVv?si=MyDxjcXKQpy3SNs7dV0wIQ Best Songs of 2020 (Catch-All):  https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0XxtEo0PrNSyZDWBCjJtuR?si=pBZWRoNGSGWBCaqxJrHoyw

Without further ado, my favorite songs of 2020.:

25. Yg Teck - “What You Know”: Yg Teck has one of the more prominent Baltimore accents in rap music, elongating “ooh” sounds and shortening “er” sounds with reckless abandon. “What You Know” is buried towards the end of his excellent mixtape Eyes Won’t Close 2, but it stands out as one of Teck’s strongest songs. The buoyant piano-led beat offers Teck an opportunity to reflect on his struggle with heart-breaking directness: “So what if they hate me, sometimes I hate myself.”

24. Brian Brown - “Runnin” ft. Reaux Marquez:  Filtering the conventions of southern rap through his easy-going drawl and omnivorous musical appetite, Brian Brown is the brightest light in Nashville’s burgeoning hip-hop scene. Built around producer Black Metaphor’s circuitous jazz piano, “Runnin” is a soulful and poetic meditation on breaking out of the staid existence that can creep up on you if you stay still for long enough. Brown serves up the song’s irresistible hook and provides a grounding presence on his second verse, evoking the styles of two Tennessee rap titans: Chattanooga’s Isaiah Rashad and Cashville’s own Starlito.

23. 42 Dugg - “One Of One” ft. Babyface Ray: Detroit producer Helluva’s beats provide the tissue that connects the Motor City with the West Coast, creating anthems that mix D-Town propulsion with soundscapes perfect for a top-down drive down PCH. The Helluva-produced “One Of One” is an electric duet between two of the D’s most distinct voices: low-talking, whistle-happy guest verse god 42 Dugg and nonchalantly fly Babyface Ray. They trade bars throughout the track, weaving between squelches of bass to talk about the ways women have done them wrong.

22. PG Ra & jetsonmade - “Keeping Time”: The phrase “young OG” was invented for guys like PG Ra, who is somehow only 20-years-old. On “Keeping Time,” the South Carolina rapper spits sage-like wisdom about street life over Jetsonmade’s signature trampoline 808s, decrying nihilism and emphasizing the importance of holding strong convictions in a deliberate, raspy drawl: “Oh, you don't give a fuck 'bout nothing, then you damn wrong/Cause every soldier stand for something if he stand strong.”

21. Empty Country - “Marian”: After spending a decade as the main songwriter for Cymbals Eat Guitars, Joseph D'Agostino is an expert at crafting widescreen indie anthems. CEG is no more, but D’Agostino is still doing his thing, opening the self-titled album of his new entity Empty Country with “Marian,” a chiming and heartfelt power ballad with sunny vocal harmonies and a fist-pumping riff. It’s hard to make out the lyrics on the first few spins, but a closer listen reveals some striking imagery (“In a sea of Virginia pines/A burnt bus”), as the narrator imagines the life that lies ahead for his newborn daughter.

20. Raveena - “Headaches”: Raveena’s music is a soothing balm, capable of transforming any negative emotion into peaceful reverie. “Headaches” starts as a sensual, woozy, reverbed-out slow jam–typical Raveena territory, perfect for emphasizing the enlightened sensuality that she exudes in her vocals. The song mutates in its second half into an invigorating bit of dream pop, picking up a ringing guitar riff and a prominent backbeat as Raveena struggles to stay close to the one she loves (“There's no sunset, without you”).

19. Los & Nutty - “I’m Jus Fuckin Around” ft. WB Cash: In which three Detroit emcees receive an instrumental funky enough for ‘90s DJ Quik and proceed to not only not ride the beat but to fight so hard against it you’d think they’re training to get in the ring with Mayweather. I love Michigan rap.

18. Sufjan Stevens - “My Rajneesh”: I’ve never seen Wild Wild Country, or read about Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and his cult, so I don’t know too much about the subject matter of “My Rajneesh.” I do know, however, that it’s a story that involves crises of faith and the state of Oregon, which means it fits perfectly into Sufjan’s milieu. “My Rajneesh” does an excellent job of relaying the ecstasy of a devout believer, layering celebratory chants, South Asian traditional percussion, and glitchy electronics into a 10-minute epic. As the song progresses, the sonic tapestry grows distorted, mimicking the emptiness that lies beneath Rajneesh’s surface and the darkness and confusion faced by his followers when the illusion fades.

17. Koffee - “Lockdown”: Leave it to rising dancehall superstar Koffee to find ebullient joy in a situation as bleak as quarantine. Weaving around piercing guitar licks and euphoric vocal samples, Koffee schemes to turn her lockdown romance (”quarantine ting”) into a long-term deal, fantasizing about travel with her love even as she’s content to just spend time in her apartment. Everything is dandy as long as they're in the same room.

16. Rio Da Yung OG & Louie Ray - “Movie”: Flint’s answer to Detroit’s “Bloxk Party,” one of the best rap songs of the past decade. Rio and Louie trade verses throughout the song, competing with one another to see who can be the most disrespectful.

Rio’s best line: “Ma don't drink that pop in there, I got purple in it/I know it look like Alka-Seltzer, it's a perky in it”

Louie’s best line: “Let me cut my arms off before I ball, make it fair”

15. Ratboys - “My Hands Grow”: “My Hands Grow” shines like an early-morning sunbeam, hitting that circa-2001 Saddle Creek* sweet spot with aplomb. But “My Hands Grow” is more than just a throwback–it’s an oasis, populated by sweeping acoustic guitars, electric leads with just the right amount of distortion, and especially Julia Steiner’s affectionate vocal, which blooms into gorgeous self-harmonies during the bridge.

*Obligated to add that this song came out before Azure Ray signed to Saddle Creek, but the point stands.

14. J Hus - “Triumph”: J Hus and Jae5 have the kind of telepathic artistic connection and song-elevating chemistry only present in the best rapper-producer pairs. A great example of how their alchemy blurs the lines between genres, “Triumph” is the J Hus/Jae5 version of a boom-bap rap track. Hus rides Jae5’s woodblock-and-horn-accented beat with unassailable confidence, gradually elevating his intensity level as he sprays his unflappable threats. Like most of Hus’s best songs, “Triumph” is home to an irresistible hook, which I can’t help but recite whenever I hear the words “violence,” “silence,” or “alliance” (more often than you think!).

13. Sada Baby - “Aktivated”: Every post-disco classic from the early ‘80s could use a little bit of Sada Baby’s wild-eyed intensity and dextrous flow. On “Aktivated,” Sada runs roughshod atop Kool & The Gang’s ‘81 classic “Get Down On It,” turning it into an irresistible and danceable anthem about going dumb off a Percocet. Sada is a master of controlled chaos, modulating his voice from a simmer to a full-throated yell within the space of a single bar. It really makes lines like “Coochie made me cry like Herb in the turtleneck” pop.

12. Yves Tumor - “Kerosene!”: Prince is one of the most-imitated artists on the planet, but while most artists can only grasp at his heels, Yves Tumor’s “Kerosene!” reaches a level of burning passion and sexual literacy that would make The Purple One proud. A duet with Diana Gordon, “Kerosene!” is a desperate plea for connection, each duet partner thinking that a passionate dalliance might cure the emptiness inside. The song vamps for five minutes, filled with guitar pyrotechnics and moaning vocals, its extended runtime and gradual comedown consigning the partners to a futile search for a self-sustaining love that won’t burn itself out when the passion fades.

11. Special Interest - “Street Pulse Beat”: “Street Pulse Beat” sounds like “Seven Nation Army,” as performed by post-punk legends Killing Joke. It’s a strutting, wild, propulsive anthem–part come-on, part self-actualization, all-powerful. Dominated by an insistent industrial beat and the fiery vocals of frontperson Alli Logout, whose performance more than lives up to the song’s grandiose lyrics (““I go by many names such as Mistress, Goddess, Allah, Jah, and Jesus Christ”), “Street Pulse Beat” was the song released this year that made me miss live music the most. 

10. Megan Thee Stallion - “Savage” (Remix) ft. Beyonce: The first-ever collaboration between these two H-Town royals was the most quotable song of the year, firing off hot lines and memorable moments with an effortless majesty. Megan does her thing, bringing classy, bougie, and ratchet punchlines about the men who grovel at her feet, but it’s who Beyoncé elevates the track to transcendence. She prances around the outskirts of Megan’s verses, applying the full force of her lower register to her ad-libs (“THEM JEANS”), and during her verses, the Queen proves once again that you can count the number of rappers better than her on your fingers.

9. DJ Tunez - “Cool Me Down” ft. Wizkid: WizKid is almost alarmingly prolific, releasing enough amazing songs per year that he would be a worthy subject of his own “best-of” list. My favorite WizKid song of 2020 didn’t come from his excellent album Made In Lagos–instead it was this team-up with Brooklyn-based DJ Tunez. A favored collaborator of WizKid (Tunez is partially responsible for career highlights like 2019’s “Cover Me” and 2020’s “PAMI”), Tunez’s organic and textured approach to Afrobeats is an excellent fit for his voice, mixing swelling organs, 808 blocks, and the occasional stab of saxophone into a percolating concoction. The “Starboy” rises to the occasion, hypnotically repeating phrases in English and Yoruba, making octave-sized leaps in his vocal register, and stretching syllables like taffy as he sings the praises of his lady love.

8. Sorry - “Rock ‘n’ Roll Star”: Part swaggering indie anthem and part skronking no wave, “Rock ‘n’ Roll Star” struts with the woozy confidence of someone who’s had just the right amount to drink. It’s the ideal throwback to late L.E.S. (or Shoreditch) nights, sung with irresistible gang vocals on the chorus and a detached sneer on the verse that jibes with the sinister undertones of the deliberately off-key backing track.

7. Destroyer - “Cue Synthesizer”: As Dan Bejar ages, he becomes less like a singer and more like a shaman, his incantatory near-spoken word verses grounding his band’s instrumental heroics. On “Cue Synthesizer,” Bejar plays the role of conjurer, summoning synthesizers and electric guitars in celebration of music’s ability to breathe life into modern mundanity.

6. Chloe x Halle - “Do It”: Pillow-soft R&B that walks the fine line between retro and futuristic, powered by the Bailey Sisters’ playfully twisty melodies and sumptuous production from a somewhat unexpected source. That’s right, piano man Scott Storch took a break from smoking blunts with Berner to deliver his smoothest beat since he teamed with Chloe x Halle mentor Beyoncé for “Me Myself & I” in 2003.

5. Fireboy DML - “ELI”: Nigeria singer Fireboy DML is an unabashed fan of ‘90s adult contemporary, worshipping idols (‘90s Elton John, Celine Dion) that even some devout poptimists wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole. A modern-day retelling of the Biblical fable of Samson and Delilah, “ELI” seems to take inspiration from Ace of Base’s “All That She Wants,” its rocksteady beat, wobbling bassline, snake-charming flute, and “lonely girl, lonely world” lyrics recalling the 1994 Swedish pop smash. It’s a testament to Fireboy’s charisma and melodic mastery that “ELI” is as invigorating as “All That She Wants” is annoying. He switches from playful flirtation on the verse, to hopeless devotion on the chorus, to lascivious swagger on the bridge, gently ratcheting up the intensity in his vocals until the song’s climactic guitar solo* grants glorious release. *The build-up on “ELI” is so great that it makes it easy to ignore that the guitar solo itself is a mess. It sounds like the producers couldn’t get Carlos Santana, so they settled for Andre 3000 instead. 

4. The Beths - “Dying To Believe”: If you’ve ever audibly cringed while thinking about something you’ve said or done in the past, The Beths have the song for you. Carried by its driving backbeat, “Dying To Believe” chronicles singer Liz Stokes’s rumination on a crumbling friendship, her fear of confrontation preventing her from removing her toxic friend from her life. Though the lyric is pained and uncertain, there’s no such lack of confidence in the music. An adrenaline rush of muscular, sugary power pop, “Dying To Believe” is an immaculate construction, each fuzzy guitar riff arriving with mathematical precision and each “whoa-oh” chorus hitting like a ton of bricks. Jump Rope Gazers might not have been as consistent as the Auckland, NZ band’s self-titled debut, but “Dying To Believe” is as good as anything on that album and helps solidify The Beths’ deserved reputation as some of the best songwriters and tightest performers on either side of the International Date Line. 

3. The 1975 - “What Should I Say”/“If You’re Too Shy (Let Me Know)”: I know, I know. I was supposed to only pick one song per artist, but sue me, this is my list and I just could not decide between these two. The 1975 have always balanced their affinity for ‘80s-style pop anthems with an interest in experimental electronic music. In 2020, they released the two very best songs of their career, each seemingly fitting into one of those two boxes. On its face, “If You’re Too Shy (Let Me Know)” is the band’s transparent attempt at recording their own “Everybody Wants To Rule The World”–it’s in D Major, it has a chugging backbeat, an echoing two-chord riff in the verse, and an ascending E Minor progression in the pre-chorus. Where the Tears For Fears classic takes a birds-eye look at the yuppie generation, Matty Healy uses his song’s swelling bombast and gleefully cheesy sax solo to explore the awkward intimacy of cyber sex. The burbling Eno-style synth that opens up “If You’re Too Shy” evokes a dial-up connection, simulating the thrill of discovery felt by those whose only connection to the outside world comes through their screens.

“What Should I Say,” meanwhile, combines Boards Of Canada-esque bloops with bassline that strongly resembles Mr. Fingers’ oft-sampled “Mystery Of Love”, over which Healy sings in a heavily-manipulated voice that sounds like the lovechild of Travis Scott and Sam Smith. Fittingly for a song about loss for words, the best moments of  “What Should I Say” spring from vocal manipulations, imparting more emotional resonance than mere words could ever hope to provide. The final minute of “What Should I Say” is almost tear-jerkingly beautiful, as a single computerized voice cuts through cacophony, determined to let the world know how it feels, language be damned.

2. King Von - “Took Her To The O”: His career was far too short, but King Von had plenty of chances to demonstrate his god-given storytelling ability before he passed away in November. Accompanied by regular collaborator Chopsquad DJ’s chaotic, circular pianos, Von recounts an eventful night in his home neighborhood of O’Block. Von’s gripping narrative is packed with writerly detail (“Nine missed calls, three of them from ‘Mom,’ other six say ‘Duck’”), peeking into his justifiably paranoid state-of-mind (“My Glock on my lap, I'm just thinkin' smart”) and ending with a smirk on a bit of gallows humor that recalls prime Ghostface. Long Live Von.

1.  Bob Dylan - “I’ve Made Up My Mind To Give Myself to You”: It’s impossible to escape that 2020 was a year of mass devastation, on a scale not seen in American life since the second World War. In the midst of the cascading chaos of this year, I married my best friend. So it’s fitting that the song that resonated most with me this year was “Throat Baby (Go Baby)” by BRS Kash.

*Ahem* Excuse me. It was a love song, and not just any love song: the finest love song of Bob Dylan’s six-decade, Nobel Prize-winning career. 

Bob Dylan spent much of the 2010s trying his hand at the Great American Songbook, applying his craggy croon to standards made famous by Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra. It felt like a weird turn for such an iconoclastic figure, one known for his massive (and valuable) library of originals. “I’ve Made Up My Mind To Give Myself To You” proves that Bob’s covers and Christmas albums weren’t larks or cash grabs, but an old dog’s attempt to learn new tricks by digging into the past.

“IMUMMTGMTY” shares a lot of DNA with “The Way You Look Tonight” and “I’ve Got You Under My Skin,” bringing florid metaphors and touching pledges of devotion, but it also inherently understands that love is a decision–a weighty decision that imparts great responsibility–as much as it’s a feeling. What really makes “IMUMM” sing is the tastefully folksy arrangement, which ties into the old weird America explored by Dylan’s compadres in The Band, filled with bright Telecaster leads and easily-hummed choruses. And the lyrics are excellent even by Bob’s elevated standards. It turns me into a puddle every time I listen. I’ll let Bob take it from here:

Well, my heart's like a river, a river that sings Just takes me a while to realize things I've seen the sunrise, I've seen the dawn I'll lay down beside you when everyone's gone

Here’s the rest of the list. Check back later this week for my albums list!

26. Katie Gately - “Waltz” 27. Bonny Light Horseman - “Bonny Light Horseman” 28. Bullion - “Hula” 29. Omah Lay - “Lo Lo” 30. Greg Dulli - “Sempre” 31. Fiona Apple - “Shameika” 32. Anjimilie - “Your Tree” 33. Key Glock - “Look At They Face” 34. Lido Pimienta - “Te Queria” 35. Morray - “Quicksand” 36. Obongjayar - “10K” 37. Xenia Rubinos - “Who Shot Ya?” 38. Kiana Lede - “Protection” 39. Flo Milli - “Weak” 40. G.T. - “What You Gon Do” 41. Chris Crack - “Hoes At Trader Joe’s” 42. Lil Baby - “The Bigger Picture” 43. The Orielles - “Memoirs of Miso” 44. Shoreline Mafia - “Change Ya Life” 45. Masego - “Mystery Lady” ft. Don Toliver 46. Junglepussy - “Out My Window” ft. Ian Isiah 47. Siete Gang Yabbie - “Gift Of Gab” 48. Rosalía - “Juro Que” 49. Black Noi$e - “Mutha Magick” ft. BbyMutha 50. BFB Da Packman - “Free Joe Exotic” ft. Sada Baby 51. Andras - “Poppy” 52. Lianne La Havas - “Weird Fishes” 53. Crack Cloud - “Tunnel Vision” 54. Lil Uzi Vert - “No Auto” ft. Lil Durk 55. Fred again… - “Kyle (I Found You)” 56. Burna Boy - “Wonderful” 57. Lonnie Holliday - “Crystal Doorknob” 58. Mozzy - “Bulletproofly” 59. Tiwa Savage - “Koroba” 60. Frances Quinlan - “Your Reply” 61. Ariana Grande - “my hair” 62. Bad Bunny - “Safaera” ft. Jowell & Randy & Ñengo Flow 63. Yhung T.O. & DaBoii - “Forever Ballin” 64. Katie Pruitt - “Out Of The Blue” 65. Sleepy Hallow - “Molly” ft. Sheff G 66. Niniola - “Addicted” 67. Prado - “STEPHEN” 68. Drakeo The Ruler - “GTA VI” 69. Boldy James - “Monte Cristo” 70. Caribou - “Like I Loved You” 71. Andy Shauf - “Living Room” 72. Hailu Mergia - “Yene Mircha” 73. Kabza de Small & DJ Maphorisa - “eMcimbini” ft Aymos, Samthing Soweto, Mas Musiq 74. Gunna - “Dollaz On My Head” ft. Young Thug 75. Roddy Ricch - “The Box” 76. The Lemon Twigs - “Hell On Wheels” 77. Sun-El Musician - “Emoyeni” ft. Simmy & Khuzani 78. Madeline Kenney - “Sucker” 79. Natanael Cano - “Que Benedicion” 80. ShooterGang Kony - “Jungle” 81. Don Toliver - “After Party” 82. Chicano Batman - “Color my life” 83. Pa Salieu - “Betty” 84. Chubby & The Gang - “Trouble (You Were Always On My Mind)” 85. Dua Lipa - “Love Again” 86. Rucci - “Understand” ft. Blxst 87. Skilla Baby - “Carmelo Bryant” ft. Sada Baby 88. Bartees Strange - “Boomer” 89. Jessie Ware - “Read My Lips” 90. The Hernandez Bros. & LUSTBASS - “At The End Of Time” 91. Brokeasf - “How” ft. 42 Dugg 92. Mulatto - “No Hook” 93. Eddie Chacon - “Outside” 94. Veeze - “Law N Order” 95. Polo G - “33” 96. Bktherula - “Summer” 97. Jessy Lanza - “Anyone Around” 98. Perfume Genius - “On The Floor” 99. ComptonAssTg - “I’m Thuggin’” 100. Mario Judah - “Die Very Rough”

Honorable Mentions: Jamila Woods - “SULA (Paperback)” Demae - “Stuck In A Daze” ft. Ego Ella May Good Sad Happy Bad - “Bubble” Guerilla Toss - “Human Girl” Kaash Paige - “Grammy Week” ft. Don Toliver Kre8 & CJ Santana - “Slide!” Laura Veirs - “Another Space & Time” Angelica Garcia - “Jicama” Malome Vector - “Dumelang” ft. Blaq Diamond OMB Bloodbath - “Dropout” ft. Maxo Kream SahBabii - “Soulja Slim” Shabason, Krgovich & Harris - “Friday Afternoon” Skillibeng - “Mr. Universe” Waxahatchee - “Fire” Westerman - “Float Over”

[voodoochili]

Bandcamp is Waiving Its Cut - Here’s What I’m Buying

Today, March 20th, Bandcamp has decided to waive the 20% cut it usually takes on all purchases–this means the proceeds of whatever you buy on Bandcamp will go 100% to the artist. Though it may not seem like much, each purchase goes directly to the artist, and since artists can't perform, physical and digital purchases are their main source of income.

Below, I've listed a few of the albums I plan on purchasing to support artists that I want to keep making music. If you have a favorite indie artist, and you have some cash to spare, consider throwing them a bone, too.

Yves Jarvis - The Same But By Different Means: My favorite album of 2019. Bought it digitally last year, but I’m gonna splurge on the vinyl this year. Check the link to read my thoughts on this incredible record.

Chubby & The Gang - Speed Kills: Snotty, big-hearted English punk, with a shambolic bar band energy. They sound like The Pogues one minute, Motorhead the next.

Andras - Joyful: I love deep and tactile ambient electronic, and Australian DJ Andras delivered a brilliant collection earlier this year, rearranging the signature sounds of 80s house music into a peaceful and pastoral, but still danceable configuration.

Ratboys - Printer’s Devil: Emo-adjacent indie with tuneful songwriting and lyrical pathos--and they can shred when they want to. If you like Hop Along, you’ll like this.

Bufiman - Albumsi: Immersive house music with a cheeky sense of humor and an infinite array of incredible drum sounds. 

glass beach - the first glass beach album: My 10th favorite album of 2019. Impossible to describe this record, just put on the first track and go for the ride. Check my thoughts on it here.

Great Grandpa - Four Of Arrows: Anthemic Saddle Creek-style indie with a penchant for gang vocals and 90s MOR-style guitars. They should be on tour right now, so buy an album instead of a ticket.

Porridge Radio - Every Bad: Frontwoman Dana Margolin is a fucking monster, and this album sits in the unlikely triangulation of Sonic Youth, PJ Harvey, and ‘60s Scott Walker.

Check out these albums and please give these artists money so they can keep making music. If you have a favorite artist, consider giving them a hand as well.

<3 Dan

[voodoochili]

My Favorite Albums of 2019

As we bid adieu to a decade and a year that many of us would like to forget, let’s take the time to run through some albums that deserve to stay in our rotations at least until the onset of the imminent apocalypse. It’s a cliche, and we say it every year, but as bad as 2019 might have been in the real world, it was an excellent year for music. I listened to at least 300 albums this year and found at least 150 that I liked! Here’s the stuff that made me think, made me happy, and made me drop my jaw last year.

Some themes I found in my listening--I really like rap music from L.A. and Detroit; A few artists who I admired more than loved in the past came out with albums that I completely adored; the nebulous genre often called “afrobeats” or “afropop” has the highest hit percentage of any international scene since dub/reggae in the 1970s (the African Heat playlist on Spotify might be my actual album of the year); a lot of my favorite albums this year came from people who are clearly the product of music schools; my top four contains two excellent bedroom pop albums, and two excellent treatises on race relations in the USA.

I made a Spotify playlist with highlights from my albums list: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6S9kSm5xG3U1vPxhVyBpQc?si=0PHLV0-XQOyNY3XAVRzzAA

And in case you missed it, here’s my list of the year’s best songs: https://voodoochili.tumblr.com/post/189890284724/my-favorite-songs-of-2019

THE BEST:

10. glass beach - the first glass beach album - the first glass beach album combines chiptune synths, frayed emo vocals, jazz piano, and suite-like song structure into an exhilaratingly chaotic mishmash. Mix it with a strong dose of theater-kid earnestness and the result is the most ambitious debut album of the year and possibly of the decade, providing a peek into an alternate dimension where Los Campesinos! wrote the La La Land soundtrack. It sounds like it shouldn’t work, and it wouldn’t if glass beach didn’t buttress their boundless invention with well-crafted songs, like “classic j dies and goes to hell part 1,” the suitably bonkers intro, the prog-pop opus “bedroom community,” and “cold weather,” which shifts from ska-punk to math rock and back in 2 minutes and 20 seconds.

9. Jenny Lewis - On The Line - Long one of indie’s pre-eminent songsmiths, Jenny Lewis’s On The Line is her most personal album yet, digging deep into her childhood trauma and emerging out the other side with pearls of cheeky wisdom. Jenny’s lived more lives than most, enduring an entire career as an in-demand child star before ever even picking up a guitar; when she reached her teenage years, she learned most of her earnings fed directly into her mother’s heroin habit. Some songs like “Wasted Youth” and “Little White Dove” confront it directly (“Wasted Youth” takes the form of a conversaqtion between Lewis and her sister about their late mother), while other songs like “On The Line” and “Rabbit Hole” are testaments to the strength Lewis gained after fending for herself for so long. Appropriately for an album so focused on the past, Lewis enlists the help of rock legends like Ringo Starr, Don Was, and Benmont Tench, whose organ lends a lush poignancy throughout the album, and transforms opener “Heads Gonna Roll” from a pretty ballad to a genuine tearjerker.

8. Burna Boy - African Giant - West African music continued its quest for global hegemony in 2019, flooding the airwaves with passionate, uptempo party music. Though it was a massive year for artists like Mr Eazi, Zlatan, and do-everything superstar Wizkid, the year belonged to Burna Boy of Nigeria, his sonorous deep voice lending authority to each extravagant boast. Following up last year’s promising Outside, African Giant unleashes Burna’s full potential, drawing a through-line between Africa’s past and present--his use of multilingual lyrics, outspoken politics, and supernatural sense of rhythm updates the famous formula of Afrobeat founding father Fela Kuti for the new era. Aided by frequent collaborator and unheralded genius Kel-P, whose lush and genre-bending beats perfectly complement Burna’s melodic strengths, African Giant was 2019’s most reliable mood booster, presenting standout singles like the irresistible “Anybody,” the ambitious and easygoing “Dangote,” and the romantic club anthem “Secret,” before taking time to explain the history of colonialism in Nigeria on “Another Story.”

7. The Comet Is Coming - Trust In The Lifeforce of the Deep Mystery/The Afterlife - With a long list of collaborators and an even longer list of influences, London-born saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings’ musical ambitions can’t be confined to a single form or style. While his work with Sons of Kemet emphasizes percussion-heavy Caribbean influences and radical spoken word poetry, Hutchings aims squarely for the stratosphere with his The Comet Is Coming project, which continued its progressive jazz odyssey with two worthy albums in 2019. Elevated by the interplay between Hutchings (calling himself King Shabaka), synth wizard Danalogue, and drummer Betamax, Trust In The Lifeforce of Deep Mystery is a mesmerizing cycle of songs. Boasting titles like “The Universe Wakes Up” and “Super Zodiac,” each song searches for (and finds) a trance-like groove, transporting listeners to the far-flung locales of the song titles before reaching an emotional conclusion. A more contemplative, but still ceaselessly propulsive follow-up, The Afterlife is music for the “stargate” sequence from 2001: A Space Odyssey, providing a more optimistic counterpoint to Trust while refining the trio’s unique group dynamic. Together, the two works make an immensely satisfying head trip, offering a thrilling soundtrack for the end of the universe and whatever comes next.

6. Moodymann - Sinner - “I don’t even know what you need, but I’ll provide,” grunts Moodymann on Sinner’s simmering opener “I’ll Provide,” “Cause I got something for all your dirty nasty needs.” Possibly the most singular and beloved figure in a Detroit electronic scene overflowing with singular and beloved figures, Moodymann is known for sublimely tasteful DJ sets and sprawling solo works that fuse house music with elements of R&B, gospel, blues, and funk. By his standards, Sinner is slight, spanning only 7 tracks and 44 minutes, but it benefits from a tight focus, showcasing Moodymann’s effortless creativity. Throughout the project, the artist born Kenny Dixon approaches familiar elements from odd angles: jazzy changes and burbling Fender Rhodes invade an intoxicating two-chord vamp on “Downtown”; fellow Detroiter Amp Fiddler adds soulful auto-tune to the blissful “Got Me Coming Back Right Now.” He even manages to find a fresh way to incorporate Camille Yarbrough’s “Take Yo’ Praise,” most famously sampled by Fatboy Slim, into one of the album’s hardest-charging tracks.

5. Polo G - Die A Legend - Way back in 2011, long before he became rap’s first Pulitzer Prize winner, Kendrick Lamar took a moment to explain his ethos on the outro to his breakthrough Section.80 tape: “I'm not on the outside looking in/I'm not on the inside looking out/I'm in the dead fucking center, looking around.” It was a bold statement, but one that Kendrick’s managed to live up to, and finally we’ve found another artist with the ability to achieve all-seeing perspective on record: Chicago 20-year-old Polo G.

It’s been a long time since I’ve been blown away by a new rapper like I was by Polo G in 2019. He possesses a rare combination of melodic mastery and writerly observation, painting a vivid (if bleak) picture of his life on the South Side. His debut project Die A Legend is packed with unflinching observations about the reality of his situation, he touches on his former pill addiction on “Battle Cry” and he reminisces about talking to his younger sister through a prison phone on “Through Da Storm.” As dark as the subject matter can get, Polo never crumbles under the pressures of poverty or fame, staying afloat with crisp melodies that mix the emotional honesty of Lil Durk with the radio-ready slickness of Wiz Khalifa. He’s already mastered the art of the rap ballad, and I can’t wait to see what’s next.

4. Helado Negro - This Is How You Smile - This Is How You Smile overflows with warmth, inspiring a feeling I don’t often get from music. Listening to it feels like a long-awaited return to a physical place of comfort--a childhood bedroom, perhaps, or a reading nook in a favorite library. Our tour guide is Roberto Carlos Lange, an expert sound designer whose plainspoken, pleasantly nasal voice might be the friendliest sound in music today. The album is comforting, yet unpredictable, with songs that range from synth folk to bedroom pop to ambient field recordings, and feature lyrics that vacillate between English and Spanish. Highlights include the bouncy “Seen My Aura,” calling to mind a collaboration between The Brothers Johnson and Ariel Pink, the sweeping and mesmerizing “Running,” combining trap drums and Budd/Eno piano, and my favorite, the devastating acoustic ballad “Todo lo que me falta.”

3. Jamila Woods - LEGACY, LEGACY! - Jamila Woods has a gift for expressing complex intellectual and musical ideas in deceptively simple ways. Her melodies are like nursery rhymes, her lyrics are cutting and conversational, and with LEGACY, LEGACY! she delivers a fiery blend of artistry and activism that rivals peak Gil Scott-Heron. These songs are bold and truthful, tackling heavy subject matter with a delicate touch, commenting on cultural appropriation on “MUDDY” (“They can study my fingers/They can mirror my pose/They can talk your good ear off/On what they think they know”), sexual assault in “SONIA” (“I remember saying no to things that happened anyway/ things that happened/I remember feeling low the mirror took my face away”), and the value of protest on “OCTAVIA” (“It used to be the worst crime to write a line/Our great great greats risked their lives, learned letters fireside/Like a seat on a bus, like heel in a march/Like we holdin' a torch, it's our inheritance”). With songs named after her artistic heroes (a convention that has become a bit trendy, as Rapsody and Sons of Kemet have pulled similar tricks for their recent projects), LEGACY! LEGACY! Is Woods’ audacious attempt to establish herself as an heir to that formidable tradition--one that succeeds without reservation.

2. Raphael Saadiq - Jimmy Lee - A force of nature with one of the most underrated back catalogs in the game (he made hits with Toni, Tony, Tone in the 80s, was a major force behind Neosoul in the 90s and 00s, and produced Solange’s A Seat At The Table in 2015), Raphael Saadiq’s latest is his most powerful effort yet, inspired by the tragic tale of his older brother Jimmy Lee, a heroin addict who died of HIV.  Jimmy Lee tries to find the universal through the personal, taking a deep look into how drug addiction can tear a family apart. Throughout the project, Saadiq approaches his brother’s illness with radical empathy, singing from his perspective on the dangerously alluring “Something Keeps Calling,” and the zonked out “I’m Feeling Love.” He uses his personal tragedy as a springboard to talk about larger issues on the twinkling, self-explanatory “This World Is Drunk,” and the seething spiritual “Rikers Island.” The album veers from style to style, connected with a sound effect that mimics a channel changing on an analog TV, encompassing Prince-like grooves, languid quiet storm, simmering funk in the late Sly Stone mold, and taking detours into hip-hop and traditional gospel. Connecting it all is Saadiq’s raw passion, echoing the pain of everyone who’s lost someone to substance abuse, and singing as if his tenor is the only weapon powerful enough to end the epidemic.

1. Yves Jarvis - The Same But By Different Means - There’s a song on The Same But By Different Means called “Constant Change,” in which Jean-Sebastian Audet layers his voice into a cacophonous symphony and repeats the title phrase for 30 seconds til he reaches an abrupt crescendo. In his first project under the name Yves Jarvis (the 22-year Montreal native used to record under the name Un Blonde), “Constant Change” is his animating philosophy, guiding each second of the most surprising masterpiece of the year. A thrilling and unpredictable effort, The Same But By Different Means overflows with sonic and melodic ideas, shifting and beguiling with unexpected shifts and sounds. The album gets its power from this fluidity--sounds burst into the mix and fade away without notice; songs mutate from one genre to another (traces of freak-folk, tropicalía, funk, and a lot more) within the span of 2 or 3 minutes. It’s a hazy, dream-like collage, at times evoking the likes of Nick Drake, Joni Mitchell, and Nicolas Jaar; the least expected sound-a-like occurs on “That Don’t Make It So,” which could easily be mistaken for an outtake from D’Angelo’s Voodoo. No hour of music in 2019 was more calming, yet more invigorating than this one--an eclectic and restless monument to Audet’s creativity and an addicting, absorbing soundscape. I listened to hundreds of albums this year, but none of them hit me quite like this one.

THE REST:

11. Cate Le Bon - Reward  12. Big Thief - U.F.O.F./Two Hands  13. Vampire Weekend - Father Of The Bride 14. Jay Som - Anak Ko 15. Raveena - Lucid 16. American Football - American Football 17. Purple Mountains - Purple Mountains  18. Kelsey Lu - Blood 19. Pivot Gang - You Can’t Sit With Us 20. Gunna - Drip Or Drown 2 21. Great Grandpa - Four Of Arrows 22. G.S. Schray - First Appearance 23. Bandgang Lonnie Bands - KOD 24. Marika Hackman - Any Human Friend 25. Mavi - Let The Sun In 26. Spellling - Mazy Fly 27. SAULT - 5 / 7 28. Juan Wauters - La Onda De Juan Pablo 29. 75 Dollar Bill - I Was Real 30. Maxo Kream - Brandon Banks 31. Brittany Howard - Jaime 32. J Balvin & Bad Bunny - Oasis 33. Rio Da Yung OG - 2 Faced 34. Desperate Journalist - In Search Of The Miraculous  35. Angel Olsen - All Mirrors 36. 03 Greedo - Netflix & Deal/Still Summer In The Projects 37. Doja Cat - Hot Pink 38. Lambchop - This (Is What I Wanted To Tell You) 39. Sada Baby - Bartier Bounty 40. Rucci - Tako’s Son 41. Floating Points - Crush 42. Bat For Lashes - Lost Girls 43. Young Thug - So Much Fun 44. Samthing Soweto - Isphithiphithi 45. Kim Gordon - No Home Record 46. Sandro Perri - Soft Landing 47. Anthony Naples - Fog FM 48. Quelle Chris - Guns 49. Sleater-Kinney - The Center Won’t Hold 50. Tyler, The Creator - IGOR

Honorable Mentions:

Billy Woods & Kenny Segal - Hiding Places Caroline Shaw & The Attaca Quartet - Orange Leo Svirsky - River Without Banks Martha - Love Keeps Kicking Nilüfer Yanya - Miss Universe Drego & Beno - Sorry For The Get Off The Japanese House - Good At Falling Tree & Vic Spencer - Nothing IS Something Spielbergs - This Is Not The End Fireboy DML - Laughter, Tears & Goosebumps Dee Watkins - Problem Child Daniel Norgren - Wooh Dang

TOO MANY MORE TO NAME--could’ve listed up to 80

#Burna Boy #polo g #yves jarvis #glass beach #raphael saadiq #jamila woods #helado negro #moodymann #jenny lewis #the comet is coming #shabaka hutchings

[voodoochili]

My Favorite Songs of 2019

2019 was a fantastic year for music, but then again every year is. We as listeners have been blessed with abundance, and tasked with the delightful work of sifting through freshwater to find gold. This year, the most reliably golden genres were West African pop and West Coast Rap. Go figure.

The following represents my favorite 100 songs of the year. My only rules: 1) one song per lead artist (a lucky few earned multiple placements through the “featured artist” loophole).

Below are the write-ups (everyone’s favorite part) and stay tuned for my albums list, coming next week. Don’t forget to scroll all the way down for a Spotify playlist of the full list!

25. Desperate Journalist - “Satellite” - A sweeping, emotional rock song by a veteran rock band that can uncork one of these in their sleep. What makes this one special? The dynamic changes in the pre-chorus, the soaring guitar solo, and the passionate performance from lead singer Jo Bevan.

24. Jacques Greene - “Stars” - A brilliant bit of ambient techno that evokes the seminal electronic classic “Little Fluffy Clouds,” by The Orb. Instead of desert clouds, the anonymous female narrator describes a pastoral dream about the night skies of her youth. A transporting piece of music that should’ve been twice as long--five minutes is a cruelly short lifespan for this kind of bliss.

23. Rosalía - “Con Altura” ft. J Balvin - After the brilliant and singular El Mal Querer demonstrated Rosalía’s singular talent, “Con Altura” announced her intentions for worldwide domination. Created with frequent Rosalía collaborator El Guincho and chameleonic superstar J Balvin, “Con Altura” contains two of the year’s most insidious hooks--the soft-spoken call-and-response chorus, and Rosalía’s snake-charming bridge, the strongest indication yet that global stardom won’t stop the Catalonian chanteuse from pushing music forward.

22. Faye Webster - “Room Temperature” – 2019’s answer to “Swingin’ Party,” the Replacements’ great anthem for introverts, the introductory track on Webster’s Atlanta Millionaire’s Club album drifts along with Hawaiian-flavored pedal steel and a palpable sense of regret, as the 21-year-old singer longs to escape her perfectly comfortable surroundings. 21. Yhung T.O. - “Lately” ft. Lil Sheik - Easy, breezy, beautiful Bay Area rap, carried by T.O.’s dulcet tones and Sheik’s unrepentant dirtbaggery. The beat by Armani Depaul is one of my favorite retro-facing rap beats in a while, complete with smooth digital strings and security-pad synths. 20. The New Pornographers - “You’ll Need a New Backseat Driver” - Every five years or so, A.C. Newman writes a melody so strong that it requires Neko Case’s ultra-powerful alto to properly do it justice. This year, that song is “You’ll Need a New Backseat Driver,” which strives for, and nearly approaches, the heights of previous Pornos stunners like “The Laws Have Changed” and “Champions of Red Wine.” 

19. Floating Points - “LesAlpx” - Surrounded by outré synth experiments and beatless soundscapes on Crush, the first Floating Points album since 2015, “LesAlpx” is Sam Shepherd’s gift to club-goers everywhere. It’s a lean and mean house track, foregrounding propulsive percussion and rubbery bass, but it’s also deeply cerebral, creating a sense of foreboding urgency with detuned synths and ambient sine waves. 18. Daphni - “Sizzling” ft. Paradise - Built around a sample of Paradise’s seminal single “Sizzlin’ Hot,” Dan Snaith’s “Sizzling” extends the best moments of the classic post-disco smash to create five minutes of pure euphoria. The song starts in media res, with the groove in full form, and peaks at the end, when Snaith finally allows Paradise’s June Ventzos to finish her thought atop jubilant trumpets. 17. J Hus - “Must Be” - The latest genre-blending collaboration between J Hus and genius producer JAE5 proves that no man is safe from Hus’s dazzling logic, as he stacks syllogism after syllogism over an irresistible, afropop-flavored groove: “If it walk like an opp/Talk like an opp/Smell like an opp/Then it must be.” 16. Vampire Weekend - “Jerusalem, New York, Berlin” - Ever indulging his literary ambitions, Ezra Koenig uses the final track on Father Of The Bride to examine his Jewish identity, and to reckon with a world that hasn’t made sense since World War I. The prettiest melody on an album dripping with pretty melodies, “Jerusalem, New York, Berlin” packs enough symbolism into three minutes to inspire a seminar at Koenig’s Ivy League alma mater. Supported by yearning, spritely piano, Koenig ends the song with a poignant plea for peace, within reason: “So let them win the battle/But don't let them restart/That genocidal feeling/That beats in every heart.” 15. Great Grandpa - “Bloom” - The highlight from Great Grandpa’s outstanding Four Of Arrows album, “Bloom” is two songs in one. Part one brings punchy acoustic guitar that recalls ‘90s adult alternative (think Matchbox 20) and prime-era Saddle Creek (think Rilo Kiley) in equal measure. The second par tcompletes the song’s emotional arc, slowing down for a hypnotic wordless chorus, backed by weeping violins,. The key line here: “Please say I’m young enough to change.” 14. Spellling - “Real Fun” – Gleefully dramatic and overflowing with evil-sounding synths, “Real Fun” synthesizes Neneh Cherry, Bauhaus, and Cabaret into something that sounds like a villain’s theme in an animated musical that hasn’t been written yet.   13. Earthgang - “Proud Of U” ft. Young Thug – There’s no straight man to ground this ATL trio, as all three emcees lean into their vocal eccentricities while expressing their thanks to the women in their lives atop a mutating, guitar-driven beat. 12. Stella Donnelly - “Tricks” – In which the young heroine attempts to rid herself of a particularly toxic ex, who isn’t just misogynist, but a potential white supremacist sympathizer (her subject’s “Southern Cross Tattoo” is like an Aussie version of the MAGA hat). Heavy stuff, but Donnelly delivers everything with a grin, as if she’s wondering in real time why the hell she ever bothered with this jamoke. 11. Jenny Lewis - “On The Line” - The title track and emotional climax of Jenny Lewis’ latest album, “On The Line” boasts one of the finest vocal performances in her long career, sweetly assassinating her cheating ex-lover with a lilting melody and wry smile.

10. Lucinda Chua - “Whatever It Takes” – Lucinda Chua makes languid art pop in the tradition of fka twigs, but I prefer her understated longing to twigs herself. Her main instrument is the cello, but this track foregoes that sound almost entirely, opting instead for resonant Wurlitzer keys and multi-layered vocal harmonies, and shunting traditional song structure aside in favor of one enigmatic verse, repeating at odd intervals throughout: “Wait/The demons I carry are fake/I will fight our fire, too late.” 9. ShooterGang Kony - “Charlie” – The year’s most cold-blooded mob banger starts with the line “fuck the police and your mama if you ask me” and only escalates from there. Rhyming without affect over hiccuping bass, Kony mercilessly ethers cops, R&B singers, and women named Ashley before threatening to shoot you with a gun that sounds like Fozzy Bear. 8. KEY! - “Miami Too Much” – My favorite Atlanta rap song of the year gets its power from its hilariously specific central conceit, with KEY’s impassioned vocal selling the bit: “If you seen that ass, you'd make a song too.” How often must someone visit Dade County before it becomes an irreconcilable difference in an otherwise healthy relationship? 7. Raphael Saadiq - “Something Keeps Calling” ft. Rob Bacon - Named after his older brother, Raphael Saddiq’s towering Jimmy Lee album examines the personal cost of the crack epidemic, and the outsized role addiction plays in the lives of the destitute. “Something Keeps Calling” is the album’s crushing centerpiece, painting substances as at once a seductive lover and a heavy burden, one that overrides all common sense and decency: “My friends say I can never pull it together/Well they might be right, at least tonight/My kids say I'll never come home again/And I know they're right, at least tonight.” The song climaxes with Rob Bacon’s wailing guitar solo, which tries in vain to reach out to those beyond hope. 6. Bad Bunny & J Balvin - “La Canción” - Nestled in the middle of Balvin and Bunny’s summer smash OASIS, “La Canción” takes a break from the party to dwell on the inherent emptiness of their hedonistic lifestyle, as a mournful trumpet echoes the Reggaetoneros’ longing for meaningful connection amidst their chaotic lives. 5. Polo G - “Pop Out” ft. Lil TJay – Only Polo G would interrupt his own robbery to examine the sociological causes of his behavior: “We come from poverty, man, we ain't have a thing.” But on the rest of “Pop Out,” Polo leans into the dark side of his persona, before 2019’s most unlikely guest verse assassin Lil TJay brings the pathos: “If I showed you all my charges, you won't look at me the same.” In contrast to how effortless the two rappers sound atop the dramatic piano loop, listening to Lil Baby and Gunna wheeze through the remix hammers home the high degree of difficulty of such nimble melodics. It’s a testament to how fast rap music moves these days that Polo and TJay can make last year’s It Duo sound like geezers. 4. Octo Octa - “I Need You” – It starts as an intoxicatingly minimal expression of dancefloor lust, but halfway through, “I Need You” morphs into a sincere and moving tribute to everybody who helped Octo Octa become the woman she is today. It’s a moving moment tucked within an epic club track that works equally well as build-up or comedown.

3. Purple Mountains - “All My Happiness Is Gone” - It’s hard to find the words for this one, a matter-of-fact documentation of a man slowly losing his will to live--which became heartbreakingly clear when David Berman committed suicide in August. But because it’s Berman, “All My Happiness Is Gone” is packed with genius-level wordplay and devastating observations, and enough gallows humor to truly emphasize the gravity of his situation: “Friends are warmer than gold when you're old/And keeping them is harder than you might suppose//Lately, I tend to make strangers wherever I go/Some of them were once people I was happy to know.” I’ll keep going: “Ten thousand afternoons ago/All my happiness just overflowed/That was life at first and goal to go.” And one more: “Where nothing's wrong and no one's asking/But the fear's so strong it leaves you gasping/No way to last out here like this for long.”

2. Big Thief - “Not” - A torrid, slow-burning rocker, “Not” showcases lead singer-songwriter Adrienne Lenker’s skill with oblique imagery and wild-eyed intensity. Lenker rattles off a long list of poetic observations, trying to get to the heart of something (everything?) without ever finding a satisfactory answer, as the music morphs from a controlled simmer to a cacophonous freakout. “Not” climaxes with a riotous guitar solo from Lenker herself, one that reaches towards the cosmos and echoes her frayed vocal. As always with Big Thief, though, the song soars in the smallest moments, like when guitarist Buck Meek enters with plainspoken backing vocals, and at the beginning of the second verse when the guitars drop out and Lenker’s voice stands alone.

1. Burna Boy - “Anybody” - Sometimes the best song of the year is the one that makes you feel the best, and no song this year made me feel better than ��Anybody.” “Anybody” is both inviting and aloof, urgent and relaxing. Riding an irresistible groove defined by syncopated keys, driving percussion, and an eager-to-please saxophone, Burna Boy slides between Pidgin English and Yoruba chasing a feeling that resonates beyond the capabilities of language. It’s a song about demanding and receiving respect, dripping with the contagious confidence of an African Giant. And for three minutes, you’ll feel like a giant too.

THE REST: 26. DaBaby - “Intro” 27. Perfume Genius - “Eye On The Wall” 28. Yves Jarvis - “To Say That Is Easy” 29. Doja Cat - “Cyber Sex” 30. Mannequin Pussy - “Drunk II” 31. Better Oblivion Community Center - “Dylan Thomas” 32. Shoreline Mafia - “Wings” 33. Kehlani - “Footsteps” ft. Musiq Soulchild 34. Obangjayar - “Frens” 35. Ariana Grande - “NASA” 36. Mustard ft. Roddy Ricch - “Ballin” 37. Baby Keem - “ORANGE SODA” 38. Jessie Ware - “Adore You” 39. 03 Greedo x Kenny Beats - “Disco Shit” ft. Freddie Gibbs 40. Martha - “Love Keeps Kicking” 41. Lucki - “More Than Ever” 42. Park Hye-Jin - “Call Me” 43. DaVido - “Disturbance” ft. Peruzzi 44. The Japanese House - “Worms” 45. Spencer Radcliffe - “Here Comes The Snow” 46. Dawn Richard - “Dreams And Converse” 47. ALLBLACK & Offset Jim - “Fees” ft. Capolow 48. David Kilgour - “Smoke You Right Out Of Here” 49. Sandro Perri - “Wrong About The Rain” 50. Nilüfer Yanya - “In Your Head” 51. Julia Jacklin - “Don’t Know How To Keep Loving You” 52. Miraa May - “Angles” ft. JME 53. (Sandy) Alex G - “Gretel” 54. Kelsey Lu - “Due West” 55. glass beach - “classic j dies and goes to hell, pt. 1” 56. Peggy Gou - “Starry Night” 57. Cate Le Bon - “Home To You” 58. Busy Signal - “Balloon” 59. NLE Choppa - “Shotta Flow” 60. Dee Watkins - “Hell Raiser” 61. Ari Lennox - “I Been” 62. The National - “Not In Kansas” 63. Shordie Shordie - “Both Sides” ft. Shoreline Mafia 64. Alex Lahey - “Don’t Be So Hard On Yourself” 65. Angel Olsen - “New Love Cassette” 66. Young Dolph - “Tric Or Treat” 67. Koffee - “Throne” 68. Freddie Gibbs & Madlib - “Half Manne, Half Cocaine” 69. Noname - “Song 32” 70. Anthony Naples - “A.I.R.” 71. Samthing Soweto - “Omama Bomthandazo (feat Makhafula Vilakazi)” 72. KAYTRANADA - “10%” ft. Kali Uchis 73. Moodymann - “Got Me Coming Back Right Now” 74. Drakeo The Ruler - “Let’s Go” ft. 03 Greedo 75. Teejayx6 - “Dark Web” 76. Cass McCombs - “I Followed The River South to What” 77. Gunna - “Idk Why” 78. Sharon Van Etten - “You Shadow” 79. Tresor - “Sondela” ft. Msaki 80. E-40 - “Chase The Money” ft. Quavo, Roddy Ricch, ScHoolboy Q & A$AP Ferg 81. Spielbergs - “Running All The Way Home” 82. 24kGoldn - “Valentino” 83. Quelle Chris - “Box of Wheaties” 84. Emily King - “Go Back” 85. AzChike - “Yadda Mean” ft. Keak Da Sneak 86. Club Night - “Path” 87. Zeelooperz - “Easter Sunday” ft. Earl Sweatshirt 88. Kim Gordon - “Murdered Out” 89. YS - “Bompton” (Remix) ft. 1TakeJay & OhGeesy 90. Future - “Never Stop” 91. Lowly - “baglaens” 92. SAULT - “Masterpiece” 93. Earl Sweatshirt - “TISK TISK/COOKIES” 94. Fireboy DML - “Energy” 95. Rio Da Young OG & Lil E - “Buy The Block” 96. Sacred Paws - “Write This Down” 97. Wilco - “Everyone Hides” 98. Black Belt Eagle Scout - “Real Lovin” 99. Sleepy Hallow - “Breakin Bad (Okay)” ft. Sheff G 100. Aimee Leigh & Baby Billy - “Misbehavin’ (1989)”

Here’s a Spotify playlist of the full list: 

#burna boy #big thief #purple mountains #octo octa #polo g #bad bunny #j balvin #raphael saadiq #jenny lewis #shootergang kony #key! #lucinda chua #stella donnelly #earthgang

[voodoochili]

My Top 50 Albums of 2018

I know that the first thing you’ll probably think is “wow, 50 is a lot of albums, he must just be listing every album he heard this year.” You would be wrong. The magic of Spotify Premium allowed me to listen to dozens upon dozens of new albums this year. I tried to listen to a new album every day. And I found a hell of a lot of great ones. Here are my top ten, with a full list of fifty after the jump.

10. Natalie Prass – The Future & The Past – Three years ago, Natalie Prass shared her self-titled debut album, a sweeping and dramatic collection of orchestral pop. It was not my thing. So I was completely blindsided when I heard “Short Court Style,” the lead single from The Future & The Past, a complete left-turn into taut and sultry R&B. The album finds Prass and producer Matthew E. White mining deep grooves and jazzy chord progressions, trading in the wide-open spaces of her debut for a tightly-wound quiet storm. Most intriguing is “Hot For the Mountain,” a modal, low-key call-to-arms, defined by Prass’s minimal piano and swirling Middle Eastern strings.

9. Amen Dunes – Freedom – Conjuring a room-enveloping sound out of surprisingly few parts, Amen Dunes’ latest is meant for the open road. Its tracks are spacious and propulsive, slowly building into rumbling colossi, seemingly constructed out of spare parts. Throughout Freedom, Damon McMahon’s voice is a guiding light, yearning and world-weary, as he organizes his thoughts into hypnotic mantras that cut straight to the core of a wanderer’s soul. “Things were simpler baby, you hear everyone say,” sings McMahon on album highlight “Believe,” “But that don’t make it true.”

8. Sandro Perri – In Another Life – Splitting the difference between twinkling, static ambient and sun-drenched post-rock, In Another Life is pure meditation—a salve for the stress caused by, well, everything. Taking 45 minutes to complete just four songs, In Another Life ambles along, hardly changing, easing you into Sandro Perri’s blissful world of yawning guitar and glistening, metallic bells. The album’s back half makes room for three interpretations of a song called “Everybody’s Paris,” one by Perri, one by Andre Ethier (not the Andre Ethier from the Dodgers), and one by Destroyer’s Dan Bejar, who accent Perri’s soundscapes with softly-sung, yet moving, nonsense.

7. Meshell Ndegeocello – Ventriloquism – Trying her hand at covering some of the most indelible R&B hits of the ‘80s and ‘90s, Ventriloquism establishes perennially underrated neosoul songstress Meshell Ndegeocello as one of the premier interpreters of our time. Her versions of established classics like “Waterfalls” and “Smooth Operator” exist in dialogue with the originals, helping us find new things to love in songs we know by heart. Sometimes she emphasizes certain lyrics that have dimmed in impact due to overexposure—it’s easy to forget that the verse lyrics to “Waterfalls” are so damn heavy. Other times, she brings to the forefront hidden elements that always existed in the music—accentuating the superb backbeat on Lisa Lisa’s classic “I Wonder If I Take You Home,” morphing George Clinton’s “Atomic Dog” into a snarling, guitar led romper, and finding the spectral jazz within the New Jack Swing of Al B. Sure’s “Nite and Day.” And she turns a Jam & Lewis classic, “Tender Love” by the Force MDs, into a straight-up country song. But perhaps her most affecting cover is her most faithful: a transposition of Prince’s “Sometimes It Snows in April,” the late genius’s saddest song, from piano to guitar, forever transforming the song into a stunning, heart-wrenching tribute to the Purple One himself.

6. The Breeders – All Nerve – Inventive and ferocious as ever at the age of 57, Kim Deal combines bracing distortion and soaring melody in her songs, songs that follow jagged paths that spit in the face of traditional verse-chorus-verse structure. Reuniting the classic lineup from 1993’s classic Last Splash, The Breeders’ latest effort doesn’t dwell on the past, but paves an intoxicating and adventurous way forward. Forsaking the shiny alt-rock that dominated Last Splash, All Nerve instead seems guided by the spirit of Pod, the group’s mysterious debut, offering muscular highlights like the menacing opener “Nervous Mary,” the gleeful “Wait In The Car,” and the stunning blown-out ballad “Dawn: Making an Effort.” At the center of it all is Kim Deal’s voice, a world-weary rasp that’s lost none of the fervor of her “Gigantic” heyday.

5. Arctic Monkeys – Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino – A pantheon entry into the storied history of difficult follow-ups, joining the likes of Tusk and In Utero, the Arctic Monkeys’ latest is a louche and lounge-y evisceration of late capitalism. Alex Turner and company could have kept the gravy train rolling by delivering a proper sequel to AM, arguably the most popular rock album of the 2010s, but instead the 32-year old lead singer and songwriter drastically changed his approach. Inspired by late-era Pulp, French film soundtracks and Harry Nilsson’s most zonked-out moments, the songs on TBHAC are packed with quotable lines that hold a funhouse mirror to our warped political moment. Oh, and it’s loosely based around the concept of Monkeys as the house band at a tacky hotel/casino on the moon, colonized and gentrified by the world’s elite while on the run from global warming. Sure it’s dystopian, but the bar is full and the Tacqueria...it got great reviews.

4. Future – Beastmode 2 – Of the four projects that comprise Future’s 2014-15 run of unimpeachable greatness, Beast Mode was my favorite—a vibrant and soulful offering and an effective counterpart to the unfeeling nihilism expressed in tapes like DS2 and 56 Nights. In 2018, Future and producer Zaytoven delivered a sequel that surpassed the original. Ever the showman, Zaytoven leveled up his keyboard skills on Beastmode 2, layering cascades of acoustic piano with warm organ and glossy Rhodes. Future just sounds different over Zay’s production—the organic textures emphasize the bluesy world-weariness of Future’s voice, imbuing even the most extravagant boasts with a hint of sadness. It’s a combination that can make questions like “What I'm supposed to do when these racks blue?” feel vital to the human condition. When Future truly grows introspective, on the tape’s strongest songs “Hate The Real Me” and “When I Think About It,” Beastmode 2 reaches a level of emotional profundity that few rappers—or artists of any genre--can match: “A sober mind wasn't good for me/ Cause I love you way more than this music.”

3. Mr Twin Sister – SALT – Mr Twin Sister’s music bridges the divide between our current world and the world that might exist if everyone could just fucking relax a bit. The sleek and sexy sonic world of SALT seems beamed in from that utopia, drowning in otherworldly dance grooves, slinky basslines, and smooth sax. It’s the midway point between Sade and Stereolab, with some credible nods to early ‘00s diva house mixed in. Dominating the atmosphere with her elastic vibrato, Andrea Estrella rages against the societal laws and pressures that prevent people from living their fullest lives, confronting predatory men and body image police on “Tops and Bottoms” (pronounced tops and boooo-ahh-tums) and decrying prudes who don’t share her “Taste In Movies” (movies, a word which here means “adult films”). On album highlight “Jaipur,” Estrella returns to reality, praying for the strength to love and be loved amidst sweeping strings and percolating bass.

2. Hop Along – Bark Your Head Off, Dog – Frances Quinlan’s voice is almost a cheat code, able to switch from sweet to serrated often within a single lyric, communicating directly with whichever center of the brain induces goosebumps. A worthy follow-up to their brilliant 2015 record Painted Shut, Bark Your Head Off Dog is a record you feel in your bones. The Philadelphia band’s third album is their most baroque and sonically expansive, welcoming electric piano and weeping violins for maximum emotional impact. Though Quinlan’s dense and literary songs can evade meaning on casual listens, her lyricism hits a new peak here as well, coalescing around simple, moving phrases that take a turn for the sublime when she sings them: “Don’t worry we will both find out, just not together,” “So strange to be shaped by such strange men,” “I don’t know why I’m so mean each time I come to visit,” “That little lower road.” The result is a small-scale epic, exploring and exposing the sense of helplessness that lies deep within us all.

1. Saba - CARE FOR ME - CARE FOR ME is an album-length meditation on loss—how it affects the mind, how it affects the soul, and how life goes on. In 2017, Saba lost his cousin Walter, an artist who performed under the names John Walt and dinnerwithjohn. Walter was Saba’s best friend. He died after a stranger on a CTA train took an interest in his coat. The stranger followed Walter off the train, started a fight, and stabbed him to death. Many rappers would turn this moment into an origin story, moving past the pain, using it as fuel to turn to a promising future. But not Saba. Saba just misses his friend, a man who understood him in a way nobody else could, and CARE FOR ME is a monument to Jon. Walt and a thorough examination of Saba’s grief.

If I make CARE FOR ME sound like a difficult or punishing listen, I don’t mean to. It’s gorgeous, jazz-informed hip-hop with soul and wit. It’s warm and lived-in, like a Christmas sweater, and joyful like a wake. Saba uses the ten tracks to explore his full state of mind, tackling social media, depression, and the perils of fame. The memory of Walter pervades the project, most fully realized in the climactic “PROM / KING,” a two-part saga illustrating the evolution of Tahj and Walter’s relationship from childhood rivalry to inseparability. Gripping over its 7:32 runtime, the track gains an unbearable intensity as it hurdles towards its inevitable conclusion. But the album doesn’t end there—it ends with “Heaven All Around Me,” a lush coda highlighted by an angelic, playful choir. Walter will live on in Saba’s memory, and thanks to CARE FOR ME, he’ll live in ours too.

The Rest:

11. Kali Uchis – Isolation

12. The Beths – Future Me Hates Me

13. Wye Oak – The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs

14. Leon Vynehall – Nothing Is Still

15. Jean Grae & Quelle Chris – Everything’s Fine

16. Superchunk – What A Time To Be Alive

17. Sun-el Musician – Africa to the World

18. Noname – Room 25

19. Richard Swift – The Hex

20. Foxing – Nearer My God

21. Hermit & The Recluse – Orpheus vs. The Sirens

22. Maxo Kream – Punken

23. Petal – Magic Gone

24. Madeline Kenney – Perfect Shapes

25. Beach House – 7

26. Ezra Furman – Transangelic Exodus

27. Hailu Mergia – Lala Belu

28. Nils Frahm – All Melody

29. Mitski – Be The cowboy

30. Robyn – Honey

31. The 1975 – A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships

32. Low – Double Negative

33. Georgia Anne Muldrow – Overload

34. Kendrick Lamar & Friends – Black Panther The Album

35. Payroll Giovanni & Cardo – Big Bossin Vol. 2

36. Blood Orange – Negro Swan

37. Wild Pink – Yolk In The Fur

38. MGMT – Little Dark Ages

39. Chris Crack – Being Woke Ain’t Fun/Just Gimme a Minute

40. Vince Staples – FM!

41. Sheck Wes – Mudboy

42. Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever – Hope Downs

43. Pusha T – Daytona

44. Khruangbin – Con Todo El Mundo

45. Camp Cope – How to Socialise & Alienate People

46. U.S. Girls – In A Poem Unlimited

47. SiR – November

48. Cut Worms – Hollow Ground

49. Takeoff – The Last Rocket

50. Shy Layers - Midnight Marker

[voodoochili]

Created a playlist for my band’s Spotify a couple weeks ago, meant for a windows-down drive down the Pacific Coast Highway. It’s perfect for the Dog Days, so check it out.

#california #summer music #windows down

[voodoochili]

Halftime Rap ‘18

here are my fav rap traxx of 2018. ask somebody.

10. Payroll Giovanni & Cardo – “Mail Long” ft. E-40 - "LET THE COUNSELOR SPEAK!" "Mail Long" is a downtempo highlight from Big Bossin' Vol. 2, trading in the summery expanses and soaring synths of the rest of the album for menacing, vaguely Latin piano, and fluttering jazz flute. "Mail Long" delivers the same pleasures that make BBV2 such an engaging listen--cleverly-told hustler stories over pristine, widescreen production. But what "Mail Long" has that the rest of the great BBV2 songs don't is E-40, who contributes his signature eccentric lyricism with a rubbery, halting flow: "Pack a good Glock for the enemy, extra clips/Tote a chino that will take the head off a T-Rex/I love money more than I love sex/I gotta Patek Phillipe and a Rolex." BIATCH!

9. Migos – “Too Much Jewelry” - Culture II was an ambitious epic--24 tracks, 100 minutes, 1000 ad-libs. As talented the three Migos are as technicians and songwriters, they aren't among the few artists who can masterfully vary their styles enough to make an album of that size worth listening to from start to finish. Still, we have to give them points for trying, as they delivered highlights like the Latin-inflected "Narcos" and the Neptunes-enhanced "Stir Fry." My favorite track on the album is "Too Much Jewelry," possibly the track that most exemplifies the grandiosity of the album it's on, a gleefully maximalist Takeoff showcase. The youngest Migo carries the track with only the slightest of assistance from Quavo, honing his smooth rapid-fire over a  high-def Zaytoven instrumental. The track climaxes with a surrender to excess as Quavo channels his inner Roger Troutman and switches on his vocoder. Never too much, never too much, so much.

8. Jean Grae & Quelle Chris – “My Contribution to This Scam”: Jean Grae and Quelle Chris are two of the cleverest underground emcees in the game, who just happen to be a married couple. On Everything's Fine, the duo's fantastic 2018 album, they look directly into the abyss enveloping nation and our world with an acid wit and a forced smile on their faces. "My Contribution to This Scam" is the first full track on the album, with Chris and Jean trying out twisty flows above an industrial boom-bap beat, alternately celebrating and mocking the state of hip-hop in 2018, taking on backpackers, ignorant teens, viral stars and their vanity rap albums, and more.

Chris's best line: "Against slight odds and long arms of blue bloods and white hoods/Mad 'cause we young black niggas hangin' out in white hoods/Low-budget studios, pop stopper mama pantyhose/now the CO's got Grammy cameos"

Jean's best line: "You're Dot in the Wiz, you bring nothing, you ruin shit/Douchey Axe body spray influences/Why I gotta deus ex machina things? I'm done doing this/Save yourself, useless, untie the neck nooses."

7. SOB x RBE – “Paramedic!”: The most furiously energetic moment on the wide-ranging Black Panther soundtrack, "Paramedic!" demonstrates an amount of breathless enthusiasm and ferocious hunger that most artists don't exhibit in their entire careers. After a quick intro from Kendrick Lamar, all four of the SOB x RBE boys demonstrate their skillsets, with Slimmy B driving the track with his fevered rasp, Lul G with a playground sing-song, and DaBoii's doubletime heralding a sinister beat shift. Most impressive is Yhung T.O., who shows why he's the best young rap singer in the game. This is a song that really earns the exclamation point in its title.

6. 03 Greedo – “Bacc to Bacc” ft. Yhung T.O.: Known mostly for his inventive approach to rap melodicism, "Bacc to Bacc" proves that 03 Greedo can hang with the best lyricists in the business. Rocking a conversational flow and locking into a dual-syllable cadence when he wants to drive his point home, Greedo shows off a facility with internal rhyme and savage wordplay: "Rosé everything, got expensive taste/bitch 'How you clean your ice?'/Bitch, I use toothpaste." The Wolf of Grape Street highlight finds Greedo trading verses with the aforementioned SOB x RBE upstart Yhung T.O., another melodic master who shows off his versatility with relentless, clever bars.

5. Gunna – “Oh Okay” ft. Young Thug & Lil Baby: One of the more delightfully confusing songs of 2018--if you can tell me where one rapper stops and the other begins without the aid of the internet, I will give you a cookie. Gunna has always been a favored protege of Young Thug, adopting a few of the rapper's idiosyncrasies, but building a career out of Thug's more conventional flows. Lil Baby, ATL's biggest new star, draws more inspiration from Thug's melodic flights of fancy, but relying more on emotion and inflection than surrealist wordplay. On "Oh Okay," Gunna dispenses with the traditional trap playbook to create a subtle banger, as the three rappers combine to form a SuperThug (no N.O.R.E.) over gently plucked acoustic guitars, creating one of the year's least likely and most deserving radio hits.

4. Rae Sremmurd (Swae Lee) – “Offshore” ft. Young Thug: SR3MM was a bit too long and the three discs were not quite distinct enough from each other to justify the gimmick, but there were still a boatload of great songs. Speaking of boats, I've come to admire Swae Lee's Swaecation more as the year has gone on, a record that mostly just serves beautiful empty calories, pleasantly gliding by without making much of a mark--call it yacht rap. "Offshore" is the moment where the idea behind Swaecation comes into sharp relief--a union of two of ATL's most gifted melodists at their most laid-back, yet unhinged. Swae Lee softly croons clipped, declarative statements, weaving within Mike WiLL's thousand thread count instrumental with glorious self-harmonies. But he mostly takes a backseat to Young Thug, who turns in one of his most virtuosic vocal performances, alternating languid yelps with rapid-fire rhymes, setting sail into the furthest reaches of his subconscious.

3. Valee – “Womp Womp” ft. Jeremih: A restlessly catchy bouncer, in which Jeremih ventures far from his comfort zone and proves that he could create musical chemistry with a turtle, or even a piece of moss. Luckily for us, he doesn't have to wring brilliance out of vegetation, because he has Valee, who continues his tradition of twirling off-beat cadences into street rap gems.

2. Maxo Kream – “Roaches”: Showing off his signature one-two one-two flow over a dusty piano-driven instrumental worthy of Pete Rock, Maxo Kream explains why he stands apart on "Roaches." Half a lyrical stunt on SoundCloud mumblers and half a harrowing portrait of Maxo's past and present life in Houston, "Roaches" is a moving portrait of the young rapper, as he details the desperate measures he's taken to survive and succeed. In the song's moving second verse, Maxo exposes a raw nerve, talking about how Hurricane Harvey affected his family: "She worked her whole life to move the family out the hood/Just to lose everything she had in the flood/Donald Trump and Red Cross actin' like some hoes/People drownin' in their homes 'cause they couldn't get a boat/Pops got a bad heart, last year he had a stroke/In his bed, off meds, couldn't swim, sink, or float/On the roof for three days before rescue by FEMA/12 years later, same day as Katrina/If you was in my shoes, you would prolly be stressin'.../But sometimes, God, He will bless you with tension.”

1. Sada Baby – “Bloxk Party” ft. Drego: With an animated snarl that sounds like a gremlin trying its hardest to crawl out of your speakers, Sada Baby spins a unique strain of high-energy Detroit rap. Teaming up with fellow D-town rapper Drego, Sada Baby earned a surprise hit with "Bloxk Party," partially boosted by its exuberant music video.  Accompanied by a whirlwind of sinister keys and synths, with the rapidly variating arpeggios endemic to Detroit, Sada and Drego swap boasts and threats, toting shotguns that look like Lauri Markannen and bricks as big as Brock Lesnar on this hookless mini-masterpiece, powered entirely by the rappers' chemistry and ferocious energy. Sure Sada and Drego are more than willing to resort to violence, but all they wanna do is get money and "fuck the party up with [their] dance moves." Listen to "Bloxk Party" and you'll fuck it up too.

Honorable Mentions:

Playboi Carti – “Lean 4 Real” ft. Skepta

LUCKI - "Switchlanes"

SiR - "Something Foreign" ft. ScHoolboy Q

Pusha T – “Infrared”

Ski Mask The Slump God - "Coolest Monkey in the Jungle" ft. SahBabii

OMB Peezy & Sherwood Marty - "Crash Out"

Future - "Walk On Minks"

Black Milk - Laugh Now, Cry Later

If you just can’t get enough, check out my 2018 rap playlists:

Jan/Feb/March: https://open.spotify.com/user/dcobert30/playlist/0zGv0cR06YgecM9LHkpmed?si=Xw_NNvrLTiem-1_mMfyb1A

April/May: https://open.spotify.com/user/dcobert30/playlist/6SCzk2zlBMjYCwhM0oWbEk?si=72nh4nqzScWSp8GAx3ldoQ

June/July/cont'd: https://open.spotify.com/user/dcobert30/playlist/46XtgQpzsQGN9lyvjnVIXc?si=dsDNjhKzTM-VyR8ffec3xA

#maxo kream #young thug #rae sremmurd #gunna #lil baby #sada baby #valee #jeremih #sob x rbe #03 greedo #jean grae #quelle chris #migos #e-40

[voodoochili]

i participated in internet culture today

#21 savage #florida #georgia #line #lana del rey #migos #lil pump

[voodoochili]

My Favorite Albums of 2017

Thanks to the magic of Spotify Premium, I was able to listen to over 150 new albums this year. Most of them were pretty good! It took weeks, but I was finally able to piece together a list of the year’s best that I’m happy with! Here is the list of my favorites, spanning several genres and countries of origin. Hopefully, you enjoy the read and maybe find something you’ll love!

And, oh, while you’re here, check out In Itinere, the new EP by my band The Chordaes: https://open.spotify.com/album/79kKlk7OYfu1G62AjD3nlk

Check below for the Top 20, plus a ranked list from 21-50, and honorable mentions. I’ve included Spotify links for each of the top 20. Happy New Year and Happy Listening!

The Top 20:

20. Future – HNDRXX: Departing from his usual dark-night-of-the-soul-trap aesthetic, HNDRXX shows another side of Future—the unapologetic pop star. Packed with potential hits, (none of which, obviously, connected at actual radio), HNDRXX paints a glorious picture of a future (no pun intended) where pop, R&B, and rap meld into an invigorating hybrid. The stretch from “Damage” to “Fresh Air” represents some of the most accessible, emotional, and best work of Future’s prolific career.

19. Björk – Utopia: People often lament that the influence of the smartphone has driven people to isolate themselves from the physical world. Not Björk. On Utopia, which she describes as her “Tinder album,” technology has the power of bringing people closer together—“I literally think I am five minutes away from love,” she warbles on “Features Creatures.” Moving beyond the harsh, metallic soundscapes of Vulnicura, written and recorded at the end of a decades-long relationship, Utopia is a blissful and pastoral record, populated by flutes and bird sounds and overflowing with joy.

18. Smino – Blkswn: Powered by future funk production courtesy of Monte Booker, Smino’s first proper album makes good on years of promising SoundCloud singles. The perfect antidote of the flat-voiced rap-n-b perpetrated by Drake and PartyNextDoor, Smino’s voice has an underlying bluesiness and soul that grounds Booker’s soundscapes and paints a picture of the rapper’s life as a St. Louis transplant in Chicago. Highlights from Blkswn include the sweetly sung, romantic “Netflix & Dusse,” the unconventionally lustful “Anita,” and the gorgeous “Glass Flows,” a duet with frequent collaborator Ravyn Lenae.

17. Playboi Carti – Playboi Carti: Dancing on the perimeter of his own cavernous cloud-trap, Playboi Carti is hip-hop’s pre-eminent wave-rider Blessed by the wizardry of producer Pi’erre Bourne, a master of counter-melodies whose beats are as danceable as they are sonically absorbing, Playboi Carti might be mindless ear candy, but rarely has that candy been this sweet.

16. Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever – The French Press: A Melbourne-based five-piece with three distinct singers and lead guitarists, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever overwhelm with a veritable avalanche of jangly guitars.  With overlapping lyrics and guitar lines that evoke a conversation with constant interruptions, The French Press is a decidedly Aussie take on guitar pop—an album-length exploration of the guitar tornado from The Velvet Underground’s “What Goes On.”

15. Tyler, The Creator – Flower Boy: Ditching the shock tactics and abrasive sonics of his earlier projects, Tyler, The Creator creates a vibrant, pastoral, even peaceful, jazz-influenced soundscape on Flower Boy. As you can possibly tell by the tongue-in-cheek title, Flower Boy is Tyler’s “sensitive” record, and the one that feels more in-touch with Tyler Okonma, not the monster he Created. Whether exploring his loneliness on “911,” existential ennui on “Boredom,” or casually revealing his fluid sexuality on the album’s hardest rap track “I Ain’t Got Time,” Tyler manages to subvert rap tropes even on his most mainstream release.

14. Ulver – The Assassination of Julius Caesar: Straight outta Norway, where the sun shines for approximately 5 minutes in the winter, erstwhile Black Metal band Ulver’s latest is a goth-industrial epic, foregoing noise for Depeche Mode-esque orchestral pop. The songwriting is as ambitious and accomplished as the music, imbuing important events in modern history (the Battle of Dunkirk, the death of Princess Diana) with the grandeur and majesty of Greek (or Norse) myth. It’s easy to get lost in the band’s world as it lights up the sunless sky with cascading falsetto harmonies, sweeping strings, and massive drums.

13. Bedouine – Bedouine: Born in Aleppo, Syria, raised in Saudi Arabia and three of the United States before eventually settling in California, Azniv Korkejian is as nomadic as the tribe that inspired her name. Her gentle, gorgeous debut album as Bedouine reflects the sunshine of her adopted home, but retains a lived-in melancholy that reflects her turbulent past. Evoking the big names in singer-songwriter-ing in equal measure (Bob, Joni, Carole, and especially Leonard on the single “Solitary Daughter”), her best track is her most atypical: the mournful, haunting sound collage “Summer Cold,” about the transformation of Aleppo from a vibrant city to a horrific war zone.

12. Algiers – The Underside of Power: Cataloging hundreds of years of oppression in one densely-packed fusion of DC hardcore, post-punk, and southern soul, The Underside of Power is a tough, but invigorating listen, explaining our nation’s bitterest conflicts with a beat you can dance, or at least mosh, to.

11. Oxbow – Thin Black Duke: A heavy, and loosely conceptual album, Thin Black Duke is a theatrical blend of noise rock, avant-jazz, and blues, dominated by frontman Eugene Robinson’s inimitable baritone, which gurgles, bellows, and stretches out syllables like taffy.

10. Mozzy – 1 Up Top Ahk: The game’s most reliable purveyor of starkly honest and soulful slaps, Sacramento rapper Mozzy had a prolific 2017, releasing five projects in the year’s first eight months. Though they were all worth a listen, the strongest and most substantial of these releases was 1 Up Top Ahk, his “official” album. Somehow only 30-years-old, Mozzy has the presence of a grizzled vet, relaying empathetic and violent street tales, flashing internal rhyme, and stacking syllables with the most pronounced NorCal accent in modern hip-hop. Despite the glistening mob instrumentals from frequent collaborator Juneonnabeat (don’t shoot him in the street) and other Bay Area mainstays, Mozzy’s life is not glamorous—the violence he depicts is not stylish, just an ugly fact of life about providing for his family. Featuring appearances from kindred spirits like Boosie, Jay Rock, and (in one of the project’s highlights) the late The Jacka, 1 Up Top Ahk proves Mozzy’s worth as a successor to the struggle rap throne.

9. Moses Sumney – Aromanticism: Dripping with emotion and otherworldly sexuality, Moses Sumney’s voice might be the purest and most versatile instrument in modern music. On Aromanticism, Sumney stacks, loops, and manipulates his voice to create an unclassifiable hybrid of art rock, neo-soul, and cosmic jazz. The songs on the album generally follow a similar structure, with Sumney’s angelic falsetto rising above plaintive piano chords or a snaking guitar line or rippling harp, gradually opening up into an orchestral tapestry at the song’s climax. But the lush beauty of the arrangements, coupled with Sumney’s emotional songwriting and unique voice, ensures that the album never grows stale. There’s no need to tinker with a formula that works as well as Sumney’s—after all, Monet never got tired of painting water lilies, did he?

8. Migos – Culture: It’s hard to believe when you think about it now, but in Summer 2016, Migos was an afterthought--an act that despite its youth seemed to be past their peak of popularity, latching onto the “Dab” craze as if their career depended on it. That changed in October 2016, when the trio dropped “Bad & Boujee,” a titanic banger that built enough momentum to reach #1 on the Billboard charts. How could Migos possibly live up to the massive expectations they built with “Bad and Boujee”? Well, an easy way is to make an album where “Bad & Boujee” is only the 4th or 5th best track. Culture was the most consistently replayable and enjoyable rap album of 2017, overflowing with infectious ad-libs and an impressive arsenal of distinct flows (not just the triplets!). The highlight of the album, and possibly of human civilization, is “T-Shirt,” a lurching drug dealers’ anthem that showcases the individual talents of the three-headed monster: Quavo’s smooth melodicism, Takeoff’s blunt-force bars, and Offset’s chameleonic and charismatic combination of the best qualities of the other two.

7. Alex Lahey – I Love You Like a Brother: Combining the dry witticism (and Aussie-ness) of Courtney Barnett with the bubblegum overdrive guitar riffs and emotional sincerity of Weezer, Alex Lahey’s I Love You Like a Brother was my biggest surprise of 2017. Shamelessly layering her tracks with unstoppable melodies, “whoa-ohs,” and “wee-ooohs,” Lahey has the acuity to make those massive moments feel earned. Even if you don’t normally go for pop-punk (which I don’t), Lahey’s debut is insanely fun, with sing-along anthems like the surprisingly literal title track, the grungy “Lotto In Reverse,” the plaintive vocal standout “There’s No Money,” and the standout, generation-defining “I Haven’t Been Taking Care of Myself,” highlighting the hookiest rock record I heard all year.

6. King Krule – The OOZ: On The OOZ, Archy Marshall piles trip-hop, lounge jazz, rock-n-roll, and beat poetry into a blender and arrives at the most evocative imagination of the grimy underworld of the soul since peak-era Tom Waits. Though they have similar low, scratchy, bellowing voices, King Krule doesn’t sound like Waits (except on “Vidual” which is a dead-wringer for the first side of Rain Dogs), but The OOZ is an engrossing, hour-long trip through the 23-year-old’s mind. The album wallows in an unconventional sort of beauty, with Marshall airing his anxieties with his ungodly growl over clean, snaking guitar lines, creating an unforgettable ambience that sounds like the late-night act at the last jazz club standing after a nuclear apocalypse. Explained Marshall, “The Ooz for me represents … your sweat, your nails, the sleep that comes out of your eyes, your dead skin. All of those creations that you have to refine.” It’s a perfect title and a great metaphor—The OOZ synthesizes Marshall’s ugly thoughts and disparate influences and refines them into a style that is all his own, topped off with his striking, evocative, and poetic lyrics: “She sits as dust, with an earthly pus in a capsule on my tongue/And I think of what we've done and sink into where she sunk.”

5. Susanne Sundfor – Music For People in Trouble: When I first heard Music For People in Trouble, I was slightly disappointed. Ten Love Songs, the last album by Norwegian pop artist Susanne Sundfør, was a gothic masterpiece—a maximalist pop epic that resembled the lovechild of ABBA, Siouxsie Sioux, and Johann Sebastian Bach. Music For People in Trouble, on the other hand, is a relatively simple record, eschewing the grandiose arrangements of Ten Love Songs in favor of sparse recordings that feature only one or two accompanying instruments. As I spent more time with the album, however, I began to focus more on the songs on their own terms, and marvel at the power of Sundfør’s quivering soprano. Few living songwriters can write a melody like the classically-trained Sundfør; they lilt one moment, soar the next, and always reach unexpected, yet natural resolutions. If Ten Love Songs was an ode to the turbulent heart, Music For People in Trouble offers serenity for the aggrieved with gorgeous folk songs like “Mantra” or “Reincarnation,” pop power ballads like “Undercover,” and the pastoral dirge “No One Believes in Love Anymore.”

4. Sacred Paws – Strike a Match: An erudite indie pop group that uses African polyrhythms and snaking guitars to explore the intricacies of modern life—where have I heard that before? While Vampire Weekend is a great band, they often seemed like dilettantes when dipping their toes into African waters; not so for Sacred Paws, the muscular brainchild of guitar/drums duo Rachel Aggs and Elidh Rodgers. On Strike A Match, the duo adds a horn section to the revue, imbuing bouncy, skeletal pop songs like “Nothing” and “Everyday” with an added grandeur, in the process creating the most invigorating and danceable rock album of the year.

3. Slowdive – Slowdive: The most melodic and majestic of the English bands that comprised the Shoegaze movement’s late ‘80s/early ‘90s heyday, Slowdive reunited after a 21-year absence to deliver their second magnum opus. Filled with buzzing guitar riffs and heavenly harmonies, Slowdive is enveloping and engrossing, a triumph of atmospheric dream pop. Foregoing the ornate space operatics of 1996’s Pygmalion, the group’s self-titled 2017 album is a proper follow-up to 1993’s classic Souvlaki, one of my all-time favorite albums. Couching gorgeous, soaring melodies within circular bursts of noise and distortion, the band augmented their signature strain of shoegaze with tighter songwriting and a broader palette of musical ideas, whether embracing Glass-like minimalism on “Falling Ashes,” incorporating massive ‘80s drums on “No Longer Making Time,” or schooling imitators with dream-pop classics like “Sugar For The Pill” or “Don’t Know Why.” A master class in emotional dynamics, Slowdive establishes the band as not just genre stalwarts, but as uniquely gifted in the realm of sonic world-building.

2. Big Thief – Capacity: Last year, Big Thief drew national attention with the album Masterpiece, a cathartic and intelligent set of songs. Turns out, they might have used that title a year too early. Delicate and devastating, Capacity is a leap forward for the young band—a mature and varied collection of stories and moods, and an intimate exploration of human emotion. Led by Adrienne Lenker, with her literary gift for finding the extraordinary in mundane moments, the album derives its strength from its simple, yet note-perfect arrangements that augment and provide emphasis for the lyrics. Make no mistake, Capacity is a heavy album—the gorgeous “Mythological Beauty” embodies the point of view of a mother during a child’s graphic near-death experience, and the astonishing “Haley” finds Lenker in the bargaining stage of grief—but it’s buoyed by the inventive arrangements, the power of the band, and the winsome fragility of Lenker’s voice. But beyond all that, Capacity feels necessary, like if Lenker didn’t write these songs, the emotional weight would have been too much to bear. As a listener, I’m eternally grateful she decided to grace us with her music.

1. Kendrick Lamar – DAMN.: Ladies and gentlemen, the artist of the decade. I listened to well over 200 new albums in 2017, but this is the one to which I kept coming back, the one that never left my rotation. Only Kendrick could make three (four if you count untitled unmastered) straight albums of rap tracks deep and innovative enough to satisfy critics, while also landing at #1 on the Billboard 200 year-end chart. It’s so haaaard to be humble…

2015′s To Pimp a Butterfly was an insanely ambitious future jazz odyssey, with Kendrick Lamar looking outward, trying to find a universal theory of race relations in the United States, but never quite coming up with a satisfactory answer. On DAMN., Kendrick looks inward, reckoning with his own rising star and asking a simple question: is it possible to live the life of a rap star and still be accepted into the Kingdom of Heaven? With songs with titles that tackle the multitude of feelings, values, and desires we all contain, DAMN. paints a vivid portrait of the artist as a 30-year-old man, expertly rendering Kendrick’s inner conflict into his most “traditional” rap album to date. There are plenty of themes and lines that repeat throughout the project (Kendrick, like everybody else, really hates FOX News), but there is no overarching storyline or unifying concept. Instead, Kendrick gives us the clearest glimpse yet into his personality and what drives him—his love for his high school sweetheart-turned-fiancé on the gorgeous “LOVE,” his fear of death on “FEAR,” (man, these titles really spell out the themes, don’t they?), and the difficulty of remaining level-headed despite being so goddamned dope that it should be illegal on the smash hit “HUMBLE.” And it all ends at the beginning with “DUCKWORTH,” a superhero origin story (or more accurately, a prequel) that explains how small decisions can have life-altering consequences. 

Best of the Rest:

21. Nick Hakim – Green Twins 22. The Clientele – Music for the Age of Miracles 23. Cornelius – Mellow Waves 24. Anna Wise – The Feminine: Act II 25. Young Thug – Beautiful Thugger Girls 26. Broken Social Scene – Hug of Thunder 27. SZA – Ctrl 28. Kelly Lee Owens – Kelly Lee Owens 29. Nadine Shah – Holiday Destination 30. Guerilla Toss – GT Ultra 31. Jens Lekman – Life Will See You Now 32. Deem Spencer – We Think We’re Alone 33. Jay-Z – 4:44 34. The Mountain Goats - Goths 35. Forest Swords – Compassion 36. Ty Dolla $ign – Beach House 3 37. Run The Jewels – Run The Jewels 3 38. Ibeyi – Ash 39. Daniel Caesar – Freudian 40. Charly Bliss – Guppy 41. Sinkane – Life & Livin’ It 42. Kamasi Washington – The Harmony of Difference 43. Bicep – Bicep 44. Rexx Life Raj – Father Figure 2: Flourish 45. Vince Staples – Big Fish Theory 46. YoungBoy Never Broke Again – AI Youngboy 47. Jason Isbell – The Nashville Sound 48. Do Make Say Think – Stubborn Persisent Illusions 49. Pile – A Hairshirt of Purpose 50. Fred Thomas – Changer

Honorable Mentions: Jay Som – Everybody Works Kelela – Take Me Apart Blanck Mass - World Eater Drab Majesty – The Demonstration Caddywhompus – Odd Hours Talaboman – The Night Land Kelela – Take Me Apart Lowly – Heba Jidenna – The Chief Landlady – The World is a Loud Place J Hus – Common Sense Miguel – War & Leisure

[voodoochili]

Blending blue-eyed soul, old-time rock n’ roll, and traditional Irish folk into a cosmic brew, Van Morrison is a conduit, moving fluidly between the earthly and spiritual realms. Whether his piercing gaze is focused on the wonders of nature or the complexities inside himself, his music radiates an inviting warmth, beckoning kindred spirits to bask in the wonders and horrors of the world.

Even for an audience used to his eccentric whims--after all, Van is the man who followed up “Brown Eyed Girl” with the phantasmagorical folk odyssey Astral Weeks--his 1974 album Veedon Fleece must have been a curveball. Gone were the gospel and blues trappings that defined Moondance and its immediate successors. And gone were the songs of youthful sensuality, replaced by deeply introspective meditations on his homeland and his abrupt split with his fiancé. 

Side One of Veedon Fleece is one of the best and most unique collections of songs in Van Morrison’s career, dotted with expressionistic piano, lush acoustic guitar, and haunting recorders and flutes floating above the fray. Instead of his distinctive brash tenor, Van greets us with a gentler croon in the upper reaches of his register on “Fair Play,” a meandering ballad with free associative lyrics about Native American folklore, Irish Geography, and American transcendentalism. He further showcases his falsetto on the gently swung “Who Was That Masked Man?,” as his heavenly tone waltzes with teardrop pianos and acoustic guitar. Though the side climaxes with the rollicking 12/8 epic “You Don’t Pull No Punches, But You Don’t Push the River,” the twin highlights are the hauntingly dramatic “Streets of Arklow” and the stunningly gorgeous “Linden Arden Stole The Highlights,” featuring some of Van’s best vocal acrobatics and a beautiful piano loop courtesy of James Trumbo.

Side Two is more conventional Van, with a prominent backbeat throughout, boasting a minor-key Moondance-style classic in “Bulbs,” which also offers the fairly amusing picture of the famously portly and diminutive Van as a center forward in soccer, and features the gospel-inflected, scat-heavy “Cul De Sac.” If Side One is the journey outward, Side Two is the return home, a gradual decline from the impossible heights of the first half.

On “You Don’t Pull No Punches, But You Don’t Push The River,” Van references William Blake, possibly the greatest poet to ever breathe, whose work romanticized the mysteries that lie just beyond our human perception. Like Blake, Van Morrison’s chief concern is finding a higher plane of existence in this earthly life. With Veedon Fleece, like Astral Weeks six years earlier, he opened up a portal, carrying us to a world where the Eternals, and the Sisters of Mercy, and the Argonauts, and Elvis Presley can all laugh and dance and play soccer together in The Oval stadium in Belfast. And in the center of it all is The Man himself, welcoming us with open arms.

#van morrison #veedon fleece #indie rock #classic rock #irish folk #william blake #fair play #bulbs