The Music Box.
Entries about the music I like.
Kelly Lee Owens — Inner Song
There’s two things Kelly Lee Owens’s Inner Song gets on point, leading it to ace the distractingly good test(TM) for good music in the Age Of Distraction. One is the textures of its instruments and how they evolve, the second is the answers it gives for the age-old question of popular music: how to write a good hook? These are remarkably difficult things to do, especially for an album of minimal electronica.
DJ Python — Mas Amable
True to its name, Brian Piñeyro’s second full-length under his DJ Python moniker is a calm, tropical, reggaeton-infused minimal house record. Combining the reggaeton that was ubiquitous in his time living in Miami with deep-house, the New York-based DJ’s latest work pushes the confines of a genre of his own creation — deep reggaeton.
Aesop Rock — Spirit World Field Guide
Aesop Rock is the wordiest storyteller in hip-hop today. He has the most unique take on the art of storytelling in hip-hop today. His wordy hip-hop tome, the Impossible Kid was among the best albums of 2016. His latest offering, Spirit World Field Guide, is more of exactly what you'd expect from him. Check it out to see the master of how to write lyrics practice his art.
Taylor Swift — evermore
Taylor Swift released her second album of the year, evermore. In many ways it continues the indie-themed acoustic guitar rock of folklore. But it has a bite: an evolution on the themes of storytelling in folklore. It’s a marriage of two important question for every songwriter: how to write a good hook and how to write lyrics.
Gorillaz — Song Machine, Season One, Strange Timez
On my first listen of this album, I was reminded of the story of my seeking out the first Gorillaz cassette in Dubai. I had been watching the Gorillaz’ music videos on MTV for months, thinking, this is the future of storytelling. Blur’s frontman creates a band of cartoon characters with elaborate backstories. What a cutting-edge way to explore the art of storytelling.
Helena Deland — Someone New
The basics of rock kind of remain the same. It's 🎸 + 🎸 + 🥁+🎤 = 🎶. That simple. But there's so much that can happen with those raw materials. Perhaps it's because my rabid love of music coincided with my discovery of post-punk, but I'm always blown away by simple evocative music. Drawing a bath and settling in for my nth listen-through of Canadian indie gold: Helena Deland’s Someone New.
Tarun Balani — The Shape Of Things To Come
I spoke about GoGo Penguin’s latest album earlier this year. Spoke about enjoying empty-white-room contemporary jazz. I also spoke about New Delhi jazz drummer Tarun Balani’s electronic project, Seasonal Affected Beats earlier this year. His latest as bandleader, a 31-minute (empty-white-room contemporary) jazz EP The Shape Of Things To Come [1] is a lot more diverse than his material as Seasonal Affected Beats, while also being airy and very enjoyable. Check it out here.
System Of A Down — Protect The Land / Genocidal Humanoidz
There’s a time and place for a conversation on how much System Of A Down impacted my preteen and teenage years. There’s also a time and place for a conversation on how much that impact carried into my post-teenage years. The time and place is likely to be soon and here. But for now, it’s enough to say this. System Of A Down has released new material for the first time in 15 years.
REASON — New Beginnings
I’ve been struggling with hip-hop for a long time now. Like I haven’t had any ‘gang’ experience. And it’d be disingenuous to pretend much of hip-hop doesn’t harbour shitty attitudes towards fifty percent of the human population. That stuff is often explained away: playing a character, truthfully portraying a life led by a section of society over-represented in hip-hop — ‘gangbangers’. We’ve broadly accepted that hip-hop plays by a different set of rules from the rest of us. Well I’ve been struggling with that, and as a consequence, I’ve been speaking about hip-hop less frequently than I would’ve earlier in my life.
Neil Cicierega — Mouth Dreams
Every one of Neil Cicierega’s mashup albums is delightful. And the recently released Mouth Dreams continues this trend. Cicierega’s music is comical, dripping with references to (American) pop culture, and always surprising. In Times Like These (TM), it feels good to have a few laughs and listen to happy-happy music.
KennyHoopla — how will i rest in peace if i’m buried by a highway?//
Ok, prediction. Some future version of 23-year-old KennyHoopla will become quite huge, likely in the short to medium term. I’m basing this off of how will i rest in peace if i’m buried by a highway?//, his really good post-punk inspired electro-rock EP. Expect driving rhythmic percussion, muted synth stabs, jangly guitars, emotive (but often childish) vocals, all passed through rich reverb. Think Joy Division and Bloc Party, but with a richly inventive approach to vox.
Treble Puns — Sounds Like Treble
The other day, this guy asked me, ‘so you support local artists and all, huh?’ I said yes I do, then for some reason felt the need to justify that I support good art no matter where it’s from; it just so happens that a fair bit of it is from India. The justification’s purpose: to give due respect to the likes of this Bengaluru-based instrumental rock band, Treble Puns, whose debut EP, Sound Like Treble, I’ve really enjoyed. It’s loud/soft/loud instru-rock that stands out from other post-rock acts because of Abhimanyu Roy’s Indian-folk-inspired scales and Sohini Bhattacharya’s hard-hitting robotic drums.
Clams Casino - Instrumental Relics
A new compilation of old favourites by vaporous hippity-hop producer behind the first albums of Lil B and A$AP Rock. Nostalgia-filled listening session of smoky parties with old friends. Vibe-heavy instrumentals 👌👌👌