The 2023 Music Thread

[METALMAN]

Oh Fall Out Boy trying to be arch and knowing and coming across as a bunch of try-hards. I would never have expected this from the band that wrote Our Lawyer Made Us Change the Name of This Song so We Wouldn't Get Sued or I'm Like a Lawyer with the Way I'm Always Trying to Get You Off.

[RPS]

I thought the Anohni and the Johnstons album very good, maybe even great. The standout is certainly Why Am I Alive Now. It's a departure for Anohni. Very rock minded, but still has the same passion in their voice. 

Look up Unruly Records Anthology - 1991-1995 (the Early Years). It's a compilation from the aforementioned Unruly Records, but the ideas are truly ahead of their time. The production is obviously not as crisp, but it feels like a decade ahead of its time. 

Julie Brynes new album is really incredible. I think it's probably labeled a folk album, but I think that is a little reductive. I think it's what if minimalist, almost ambient music was mixed with a breath taking folk vocalist. There is lots of minimal electronic elements and flourishes. If somber was my mood, this would be in album of the year contender. 

Joanna Sternberg album I've Got Me is incredibly special and singular. It reminds me of Daniel Johnston. There is an innocent, confident perspective mixed with lo fi surroundings. It's great, if not overwhelming. 

I enjoyed the Lucinda Williams album. I'll likely never listen to it again.

Sweeping Promises album Good Living is Coming For You is a riot girl lo fi fever dream for 2023. If you told me this was a Huggy Bear or Bikini Kill album from 1993, I would believe you. 

 

[apsham]

On 30/06/2023 at 09:08, Hobo said:

The Fall Out Boy cover is just a mash-up of events that jump around in time and they really mess with the structure of the original. The 9/11 line it's calling back to "JFK/Blown Away/What else do I have to say?" is the end of the second last verse in the original (as opposed to the final in this version).

The thing that gets me the most about this was the use of 'Shinzo Abe blown away' earlier in a structure that doesn't match at all. And how awkward it was to end that verse with 'Venus and Serena' that didn't go with anything. And how they just said 'Ever Given, Suez' instead of 'Ever Given in the SUUUUUUUUUEZ' which was RIGHT THERE.

[The Buscher]

Was reading about how Miranda Lambert stopped a show and gave a lecture to some girls who were taking selfies instead of listening to the music.

It's not like a movie or a play where even a singular person on the phone could ruin it for everyone.  I would understand doing this if it was something that was causing a huge distraction or disruption to the audience, but by all accounts it wasn't. 

I don't understand paying good money to go to a concert and spend a bunch of time on your phone, but that's the customers' own choice and poor decision making.  Feeling the need to lecture a bunch of paying customers because they're not giving you undivided attention just seems like an ego thing.  Just be glad they're there at all.

[METALMAN]

This makes me want to go a show with Miranda Lambert and take a load of selfies 

[Hobo]

 

On the one hand John Darnielle needs to slow down. The Mountain Goats have been pumping out albums like crazy lately.

On the other an All Hail West Texas sequel!? Sign me up!

[Pooker]

On 18/07/2023 at 09:37, I Think You Should Busch said:

Was reading about how Miranda Lambert stopped a show and gave a lecture to some girls who were taking selfies instead of listening to the music.

It's not like a movie or a play where even a singular person on the phone could ruin it for everyone.  I would understand doing this if it was something that was causing a huge distraction or disruption to the audience, but by all accounts it wasn't. 

I don't understand paying good money to go to a concert and spend a bunch of time on your phone, but that's the customers' own choice and poor decision making.  Feeling the need to lecture a bunch of paying customers because they're not giving you undivided attention just seems like an ego thing.  Just be glad they're there at all.

I've been a huge Miranda fan since she first came onto the scene. I love her music, but would never want to meet her. From all accounts, she's not the nicest person. It really sucks for her to do this. Especially after seeing the picture, it would have been really cool for these ladies to have, but now that memory is ruined for them and I can only imagine what other fans will be thinking about at her shows from now on.

[RPS]

BAMBII's debut release, INFINITY CLUB, is an outstanding release. It's twenty minutes of music designed to get you on the dance floor. It's a mix of dance hall, techno and 90s pop music. 

[VerbalPuke]

On 13/07/2023 at 14:59, RPS said:

I thought the Anohni and the Johnstons album very good, maybe even great. The standout is certainly Why Am I Alive Now. It's a departure for Anohni. Very rock minded, but still has the same passion in their voice. 

Look up Unruly Records Anthology - 1991-1995 (the Early Years). It's a compilation from the aforementioned Unruly Records, but the ideas are truly ahead of their time. The production is obviously not as crisp, but it feels like a decade ahead of its time. 

Julie Brynes new album is really incredible. I think it's probably labeled a folk album, but I think that is a little reductive. I think it's what if minimalist, almost ambient music was mixed with a breath taking folk vocalist. There is lots of minimal electronic elements and flourishes. If somber was my mood, this would be in album of the year contender. 

Joanna Sternberg album I've Got Me is incredibly special and singular. It reminds me of Daniel Johnston. There is an innocent, confident perspective mixed with lo fi surroundings. It's great, if not overwhelming. 

I enjoyed the Lucinda Williams album. I'll likely never listen to it again.

Sweeping Promises album Good Living is Coming For You is a riot girl lo fi fever dream for 2023. If you told me this was a Huggy Bear or Bikini Kill album from 1993, I would believe you. 

 

I just heard of Sweeping Promises and it's really good. I get more of a post punk vibe out of them, like Gang of Four or Bush Tetras with the deep grooving bass lines. 

[Benji]

Kim Petras blessing us with not just one but two albums this year

[Benji]

Don't get how Problematique was dropped as an album. This bangs from start to end. Feed The Beast was solid, but this album is definitely the missing link between it and Slut Pop.

[RPS]

Trauma drips from every Sufjan Stevens album. It is obvious now that Carrie and Lowell came out. But even dating back to Illinois and further you could feel the trauma baked into the narratives of other people. In the last decade or so, Sufjan Steven's has seemed interested in exploring trauma through his own life. The Age of Adz felt like an exploration of Sufjan Stevens from a surreal, often times opaque way. Carrie and Lowell was very obviously Sufjan Stevens trying to reckon with the death of his mother, a complicated and unreliable figure. Javelin feels like a culmination of this arc, but Sufjan Stevens himself is now the focus of his gaze.

Javelin is an album about Sufjan Stevens coming to reckoning with love, loss and rejection, but trauma is still there. Will Anybody Ever Love Me? brought me to tears because I felt it in me, I felt it in my husband, I felt it in every person who ever was rejected for being who they were. Sufjan Stevens begins the song by wishing harm on himself. This is Sufjans internal thoughts; we are not led to believe that Sufjan's partner won't love him. Sufjan himself believes he's not worthy of love. The shifts through the song recontextualize the titular question. I believe by the end of the song, Sufjan has come to believe someone will love him and he has reclaimed his trauma and each doubt is now an affirmation that he is worthy of love.

Javelin as a whole deals with trauma, but Sufjan Stevens explores moments of beauty, tranquility, and peace. But punctuating these moments with devastating statements about Sufjan feeling inadequate, unworthy, full of doubt reminds the audience of the devastating impact trauma has on his life. Moments of beauty and tranquility when framed in the wake of unimaginable pain gain new dimensions. Even your happy moments force you to reckon with the times you were abandoned. 

In so many ways, Sufjan Steven's has meant so much to me. When I heard Illinois, it was revelatory to hear a compassionate, empathetic singer songwriter. He provided his subjects with such love, depth and care. Age of Adz came to me at a time when I felt so insecure, so alone, and coming to terms with the world around me. The desire to want to feel good despite the obstacles and walls of the world felt warmed me. Carrie and Lowell came to me at a time when my father in law passed away and my husband and I bonded over Sufjan. We would stay up late listening to the album, livestreaming his set from the Pitchfork Music Festival where he performed the album in its entirety. It was a way for my husband to process his grief and for me to support him. Sufjan Steven's has been an institution in my life. He has been the voice of so many moments and feelings. The soundtrack to the mountains and valleys of my life is Sufjan Stevens. 

The pain and grief that he sings about on Javelin makes my heartbreak. There are times in relationships where we experience the lows, but we always gave our partners to turn too and guide us. Sufjan lost his anchor and you can feel the devastation.

[Benji]

It kills me to say this being one of the biggest blink marks on the board,but I'm hoping blinks new album is cohesive because the individual song releases feel a bit underwhelming for the most part. It feels like a bunch of cast-offs from California rather than an evolution of their sound. Maybe it will grow with time but that is not something I have ever had to say before about a blink album.

[Benji]

On 19/10/2023 at 13:22, Benji said:

It kills me to say this being one of the biggest blink marks on the board,but I'm hoping blinks new album is cohesive because the individual song releases feel a bit underwhelming for the most part. It feels like a bunch of cast-offs from California rather than an evolution of their sound. Maybe it will grow with time but that is not something I have ever had to say before about a blink album.

Lol, shouldn't have worried. It's ace. Turpentine is a banger.

[Roster Depth Sicko No. 2]

Boys Like Girls album is great, Blink album is great, Creeper album is great, I'm having a wonderful time.

[Hobo]

On 19/07/2023 at 16:12, Hobo said:

 

On the one hand John Darnielle needs to slow down. The Mountain Goats have been pumping out albums like crazy lately.

On the other an All Hail West Texas sequel!? Sign me up!

 Ive listened to the full album and i definitely like a few songs on it. Fresh Tattoo is probably my favourite. Getting some All Hail West Texas callbacks was interesting. Darnielle has joked about wanting this album to be a musical. Which I can kinda see in it.

I can't say I've completely loved an album by the Mountain Goats since Goths. Usually there's one or two tracks I'll enjoy per song.

I think there's just part of it that the songs don't resonate with me as much now. But also I'm just not into listening to full albums anymore and I stopped having music on my phone when Google Music or whatever that was went away so I just listen to music as much and sit with them like I used to.

[RPS]

There is a new Matmos album and it is fantastic. Everytime they release a new album, my heart warms up. Matmos are experimental/glitchy music that is about concept albums. Every album isn't base around a narrative theme, but a sonic idea - what if we released an album only using sounds found in a hospital? What if we limited ourselves only to the sounds a washing machine makes? 

What I find so interesting is that they understand melody and what could be considered conventional music. They have moments of making a catchy melody or a hook. But they seem completely disinterested in that. There new album uses sounds archived in 1948 trying to catalogue the sounds of the world. It is interesting seeing disparate sounds and ideas clash. Unlike other artists, they never try to obscure their samples. You have an idea what each blip, voice or sound may be. It's ambient music, but the interest is how did this all come together. 

Matmos are routine listening for me because they don't feel compelled to clarify. It is silly to make an album using the sound of someone having an orgasm as a vocal hook, but they never take anything seriously. It's art, but they never take the themes, themselves or the industry all that seriously. They are fine releasing a pulsating club jam using animal/insect sounds and not expecting you to take it seriously. They seem content saying "here is an album we made of plastic sounds, make of it what you want". There is something so pretentious and genuine at the same time.

[RPS]

Sofia Kourtesis new album Madres is an incredibly invigorating album. Pastiche is a word often associated with dance music. The point of dance music is first and foremost to get your audience to move. So imitation or reliance upon pre existing work and beats is not a faux pas. Duck Sauce repurposing Boney M isn't egregious; just dance stupid and have fun. Dance music can have layers, but our focus is on getting the crowd moving and the feeling that the music evokes can be nostalgia.  

Great dance music thinks about textures and sounds and asks "how can I make you move AND it feel novel and new". Madres feels like the freshest house album I have heard all year. Just listen to the absolute banger (and best song released in 2023). It starts with a dub like plodding and ominous feeling. It's the hook of the track. But Sofia takes it to such unexpected places. Mixing techno, glitch and EDM, it becomes a canvas to dance but to feel. The lyrics are innocuous and at times unknowable, but the whole package makes you feel a rush of emotions. Roses from a lover. The sensation of buying yourself that new phone you wanted. The release of sexual tension.  Without words or narrative, Sofia makes the audience move and feel these emotions. Incredible stuff.