2023 musical recordings

https://cravenfaults.bandcamp.com/album/standers

My "most anticipated" release in quite a while, comes out tomorrow/tonight/whatever.

undo wrote:https://cravenfaults.bandcamp.com/album/standers

My "most anticipated" release in quite a while, comes out tomorrow/tonight/whatever.

At the end of the 70-minute album there's a "bonus track" that's not even listed on the album listing on Bandcamp, (not updated even after the release day), and it's 74 minutes long! There isn't a single comment about it online or mention of it anywhere until you download the album. (No, it is not a "continuous mix" of all the previous tracks.)

And it slays!

Or maybe I shouldn't say that since I still haven't listened to the entire thing yet, but 45 minutes in and it's still great.

I’m gonna check that out. Listened to a few minutes yesterday and it sounds like something id like.

I’ve been wanting to post a few albums in here that I’ve liked this year and keep forgetting, so here’s an almost mid year album rec dump

Prairiewolf - Prairiewolf (kinda kraut, kinda Americana, soft instrumental music.)

Colin Stetson - When We We’re That What Wept For The Sea (please listen immediately. This guys ability on the saxophone is beyond words. Technical and transcendent, highly HIGHLY recommended. The music is mostly ambient)

Ben Bondy - Spirit Desire (textured ambient beats. Like Aphex twin but less jagged.)

James Holden - Imagine This Is A High Dimensional… (tribal drum loops and other rhythms that melt into your soul)

Luke Sanger - Salt Water Motifs (the second release on quiet details, the label which released the humble bee album. This one is similar but less melancholic)

Rob Mazurek and Exploding Star Orchestra - Lightning Dreamers (similar to their last album, funky, jazzy, and the last two tracks make up a psychedelic masterpiece that I can only imagine was influenced by an ayahuasca voyage. If you like the psychedelic stuff, come here next)

All I can think of for now, give ‘em a go!

It almost goes without saying that I love the new Oval album. It’s called Romantiq and aside from last years Ovidono, this one is definitely one of his more romantic albums. They aren’t love songs per day, I’d say it’s more the feeling and emotions that surround true love. Playful rolling around in the covers, seeing her flash that smile from across the room at a dinner party, etc.

Keith Fullerton Whitman - Reciprocals

According to definitions laid out by pitchfork this is some corporate ambient and you might wanna steer clear. But if you like KFW, and recognize his place in experimental/ambient music history, then I wouldn’t worry too much about the label. As with much of his tonal work, this one focuses on pure tones with shades of softly strummed guitar, and other ephemera. I get that corporations are latching onto this stuff which is why the label came around in the first place but what are artists who’ve built their entire career on making this stuff supposed to do? Just all of a sudden get into harsh noise? Or make a terrible album like Tim Heckers? I’ve given that album a few more listens and it’s not an enjoyable experience. Even harsh noise is more enjoyable, at least it knows what it is. Anyway, this KFW album is great and dives into dark territory enough that it may assuage some of the apprehensions about listening to ambient in 2023.

Kind of obsessed with this.

Janelle Monae album gets better every time I hear it.

https://thesmile.bandcamp.com/track/bending-hectic

This is the number 2 song in the United States of America.



If YouTube is to be believed, it doesn't actually have a music video? All the top results for it are from "Lyric Video" channels with names like The Vibe Guide, Country Vibes, TheGoodVibe, 7Clouds, Music Box, Vibes Only, etc. This upload above is from the channel "Pizza Music." All of these together don't even add up to 10 million views, most have a few thousand views. What's the deal?

I was curious to see if he would change the lyrics to make it first person but he still sings "you still ain't got a job, so I work in the market as a checkout girl" which is both... weird as hell but also good?

I don't know why this exists. Is it good for the world?

Feels like this would be career suicide for a bro country artist in 2023 but nothing could be further from the truth?

For me this joins "Life Is a Highway" where someone takes a perfect piece of the 90's and changes nothing about it except having a way worse singer and somehow scores a massive hit. "Fast Car" compounds it with a superfluous third go around on the chorus, at once cheapening the emotional lift it brings as well as lending a feeling of endlessness to the proceedings.

tl;dr Shocker! Yeahduff doesn't like the country song.

It's pretty cool though he doesn't gender swap it though, sure.

https://stevenjulien.bandcamp.com/album/crown


This is a good album. It’s short and filled with walkable dance rhythms. Perfect for gliding across the floor from your cutting board to the frying pan. Enjoy!

If you like field recordings, come party with a master and a legend!

Chris Watson & Philip Jeck - Oxmardyke

https://philipjeck.bandcamp.com/album/oxmardyke

Also on the field recording front are these two pieces. I never contemplated what the sound of lava flowing might sound like but now I know that it sounds kinda like someone rolling a bag of metal and glass down a hill slowly. At times it sounds like the earth exhaling. Again, I’m sure it’s not everyone’s taste, but I’d say give them a shot for a science experience.

https://benfrost.bandcamp.com/album/vakning
https://benfrost.bandcamp.com/album/meradalir

BGwaves wrote:If you like field recordings, come party with a master and a legend!

Chris Watson & Philip Jeck - Oxmardyke

https://philipjeck.bandcamp.com/album/oxmardyke

Some of the strangest sounds I've heard in many moons, wow

BGwaves wrote:Keith Fullerton Whitman - Reciprocals

He’s added 4 more tracks to this and apparently will be adding more. Glad I bought it!

Some things I've enjoyed in the first half of this calendar year:

Jessie Ware | That! Feels Good!
New Pornographers | Continue As a Guest
Ric Wilson, Chromeo, and A-Trak | CLUSTERFUNK
Rae Sremmurd | Sremm 4 Life
SZA | SOS
Kayo | It Was Fun While It Lasted
Water From Your Eyes | Everyone's Crushed
Yazmin Lacey | Voice Notes
Blondshell | Blondshell
Yaeji | With a Hammer
Kali Uchis | Red Moon In Venus
boy genius | the record
Kalela | Raven
Black Belt Eagle Scout | The Land, The Water, The Sky
Liv.e | Girl In the Half Pearl

Nick wrote:

Duff... wrote:

Kind of obsessed with this.

Entire album (which I realize is only 32 minutes) took about 4 times to really click with me but when it did I thought of this post.

Somehow missed this post, but yeah. Takes some spins to make sense of but I'm really liking it.

The new Carly b-sides album is no E•MO•TION, but I enjoy it.  The song, Stadium Love, is some massive shit:

matthewdavid - Mycelium Music

An ode to mushrooms. Mostly electronic ambient, a mixture of tones and texture.

Started listening to the Caroline Polachek album and it was okay, maybe even good, definitely interesting, and then it just keeps drawing me in more and more in a way that I've never experienced before and it starts to feel like a doorway into a new world

And then all of a sudden Grimes is on a track and maybe this is a "me" problem but that just brought me back down to earth super fast and super hard. I hate her so much and everything she stands for and even if this album isn't a part of her world of "interesting" technofascist ideas, AI art and NFTs, just knowing that it's adjacent to it is such a fucking bummer.

undo wrote:Started listening to the Caroline Polachek album and it was okay, maybe even good, definitely interesting, and then it just keeps drawing me in more and more in a way that I've never experienced before and it starts to feel like a doorway into a new world

And then all of a sudden Grimes is on a track and maybe this is a "me" problem but that just brought me back down to earth super fast and super hard. I hate her so much and everything she stands for and even if this album isn't a part of her world of "interesting" technofascist ideas, AI art and NFTs, just knowing that it's adjacent to it is such a fucking bummer.

Biggest Bitch Post of the year?