April was a rainy back and forth kind of month. By that I mean the weather as well as mood; thus my goal for this month's Playlist, of which the first track I added was what would remain as its title; Sometimes it Snows in April. It was also another month where I had more music out there than I could fit into one newsletter! Such a tremendous bounty of great music, this year is shaping up to be one of many return rotations! What were some songs that kept you going this month?
Bad Live - BOB DYLAN to FRANK OCEAN AND OTHERS
Coachella is one of the BIGGEST (and most expensive) festivals in the music world today. Artist upon artist will trip over themselves to get on one of its many coveted stages. We can’t expect a history making moment every year, such as Beyonce’s pregnancy reveal or even a Prince cover of Radiohead’s ‘Creep,’ but when one hears that everyone’s favorite musical hermit, Frank Ocean, is breaking his 6 year non-performance streak to headline, there’s reason to get excited. It did make headlines, as anticipated, but not for the reasons that anyone wanted.
In the long and storied history of live performance there are many that live in infamy. Bob Dylan’s transition to electric guitar in the Newport, 1965 set is one of the most notorious, with a lot of debate around the reason why it was so controversial. Some say that forsaking the acoustic foundations of folk music for the more ‘modern’ electric guitar was too much for the crowd to stand and they rebelled. The other reading, which I’m more inclined to believe, is that the sound levels were just bad. That same decade the Rolling Stones also joined the ranks of the shameful when they hired a local Hell’s Angels chapter for security at a concert that ended in a riot and a fatal stabbing. Arguably, the Rolling Stones deserve a bigger slice of the shame-cake since Dylan wasn’t tangentially responsible for anyone’s death but I feel like Dylan’s concert rings more loudly in the memory of bad concerts (though I’m willing to entertain arguments to the contrary.) Perhaps, sometimes disappointment hits harder than callous disregard for public safety.
Modern concert goers may in some ways be more forgiving when someone brings out an electric guitar and modern bands may be less likely to hire a violent biker gang as security, however corporate greed can often be just as debilitating or deadly. Many artists have gone public (Santigold, Arlo Parks and many more) speaking that the emotional toll and often prohibitive costs have forced them into cancelling scheduled tours. It doesn’t make sense to go into debt just to travel around and play music, especially in a digital age where music travels much more easily. Further more, festivals such as Woodstock ‘99 descended into unimaginable chaos in large part to predatory pricing of water and food; and even more recently Travis Scott’s Astroworld made headlines after crowd safety was undercut and gave way to a crowd packed so tightly it resulted in the death of 10 people.
I mention all of this in attempt to contextualize the insult felt by Frank Ocean fans for the middling and often confusing performance at this years Coachella. People not only spent ungodly amounts of money to see Frank live, many of them also skipped other performers to secure a prime location. Their patience was rewarded with an hour late arrival, poorly constructed set(allegedly ‘re-constructed after a last minute change) where even those right up front rarely saw Frank, only a handful of songs actually performed live, and the set closing early due to the state imposed curfew. While some people have said that those few moments where Frank did actually perform were euphoric, the grand majority agreed it was not worth it, and footage of people leaving early, a mic-less Frank dancing to his own music, and one of the many lengthy pauses was not hard to find online. When someone like Frank Ocean seemingly squanders, whether through grief (as some have speculated) or simple apathy (he dropped out the following week) it stings just that much more. Again, maybe disappointment is a more potent memory maker.
I’ve never been one for big crowds so I don’t get around to see much live music, but I always feel for those who do attend and leave disappointed. Personally, I feel like if Frank just wants to make an album and stay home, I think we’d all be happier.
Yves Tumor - 'PRAISE A LORD WHO CHEWS, BUT WHICH DOES NOT CONSUME; (OR SIMPLY, HOT BETWEEN WORLDS)
Yves Tumor is one of the most fascinating and dramatic acts out there today. Over the course of the past few years, they’ve been blending pop-tinged art-noise coupled with subversive religious themes, creating a moody vibe too chaotic to ignore. With their most recent release (deep breath) Praise A Lord Who Consumes But Which Does Not Chew; (Or Simply Hot Between Worlds) we get a further exploration of the themes we’ve grown to know but with a touch of optimism as well.
Right out of the gate with ‘God is a Circle’* a crash, and a shriek throws us into a void of heavy breathing, droning guitars and bass with the vocals dejected and yearning.
*Sometimes, I wake up, I feel like I'm fluorescent holding you
Whole time, it felt like someone else was looking up at me
Like I was a new born baby
Everything around us feels unclean
My momma said that God sees everything
And my daddy always taught me to say
"Thank you, yes, ma'am", "No, sir, yes, please"
The second track is my favorite on the album; ‘Lovely Sewer’ which lives up to its evocative title with a Joy Division like drum and riff that breaks into a full-on post-punk chorus that soars with a stunning vocal guest appearance by singer Kida. While ‘Lovely Sewer’ is an early and easy peak there are plenty of exciting moments of experimentation and surprise throughout. Tracks like the dreamy ‘Meteora Blues’ with its wall of distortion and red-lip-infatuated lyrics; the magical and intimate ‘Echolalia’* with its whispered vocals and driving groove shine with the pitch perfect production and creeping synths lines really ground the album in a world of love and infatuation that may cross over into an unhealthy obsession.
*Looked up to God (Uh-uh, uh-uh, uh)
She looked so good (Mm-mm, mm-mm, mm)
Want you to knock it off (Uh-uh, uh-uh, uh)
You look so good (Mm-mm, mm-mm, mm, mm)
Can we take a day off? (Uh-uh, uh-uh, uh)
Treat me like a doll (Uh-uh, uh-uh, uh)
Just put me in a house with a dog and a shiny car
We can play the part (Uh-uh, uh-uh, uh)
In ‘Heaven Surrounds Us like a Hood’ and in the chorus of ‘In Spite of War’* we delve even more into the relationship of a broken soul that may have found something to hold on to. It’s like a discovery of a world of broken people finding solace and love in each other, with emotions laid bare in what eventually amounts to a moment of hopefulness at the close of the album.
*I just wanna know
Will you by my side
Dressed in the devil's clothes?
I hear that angels lie too
I just wanna know
Will you by my side
Dressed in the devil's clothes?
The album starts its conclusion most out of place track is the instrumental ‘Purified By the Fire’ which starts with a low-fi hip hop style sample that descends into industrial chaos in the latter half, it feels almost like a demo track for something from Yves’ previous record Heaven to a Tortured Mind, though in a way it still works as a bit of landing pad for the synth-pop of the closer ‘Ebony Eye’ where there’s a palpable optimism with all the glam, synth, goth and noise coming together in an fantastic glow.
Praise a Lord (you know the rest) beautifully mixes elements from the Goth hey-day of the Mid 80’s to 90’s grunge and shoegaze, but there are also so many fresh ideas coming to the forefront that this is my favorite Yves Tumor release yet and its one of the freshest of the year.
JPEGMAFIA x Danny Brown - SCARING THE HOES
First off, fuck Elon Musk
Eight dollars too much, bitch, that's expensive
For the hoes in the back and the crackers in they slacks
If I tweet then delete then I meant it
I don't really need a check 'cause I got enough respect
And these niggas bitin' on me like a dentist
Said he all about free speech
'til he hear some shit and then get offended
These are the opening lines of Danny Brown and JPEGMAFIA’s first collaboration Scaring the Hoes and there is rarely a moment of rest from that point forward. This album comes swinging with a spiked baseball bat and aside from a few moments of respite in its exhilarating 40-minute run time it never lets up.
'Lean Beef Patty' is the opening track that comes in with a sped-up sample where JPEG before blasting off with speaker breaking bass drop and cracking beat with the chopped up and deep-fried synths that shines with JPEGs typical flair turned up to 11. By the time Danny jumps in, with his playful yet forceful flow, its immediately apparent that this collaboration is more than just a couple of guys jamming. This album is little more than a declaration of aural war where each track is a fresh wave in a shock-and-awe campaign.
'Garbage Pale Kids' comes in with a stutter stop sample of a Famicom Commercial from the 90's and breaks off with a slamming guitar chorus. Title track ‘Scaring The Hoes’* opens with the echoed and meaty claps and lives up to it potential with the squeaky horn refrain and volcanic bars.
*Stop scarin' the hoes
Play that shit that'll have them touch they toes
We don't wanna hear that weird shit no more
What the fuck is that? Give me back my aux cord (yeah)
Stop scarin' the hoes
Play that shit that'll have them touch they toes
We don't wanna hear that weird shit no more
What the fuck is that? Give me back my aux cord
The sampling on this album and the production blending them with the often-hilarious bars is astonishing to say the least. One moment can have a sample of a Japanese Pop song, ‘Kingdom Hearts Key,’ and another a gospel deep cut over some of the most raunchy and sacrilegious bars imaginable (just linking the full lyric sheet instead of picking a single section, enjoy!) in 'God Loves You.' We also get moments of blissful beauty mixed amongst all the anarchic magic such as the This conclusion to 'HOE (Heaven On Earth)’* with the gospel, ‘I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes’ sample coming fully to the front and the easy Michael Jackson vocal groove in 'Orange Juice Jones.'
*I was taught, bring it back in, let it off
My dawg caught a charge with the fentanyl
Now we pray up to above
Hopin' in court that the judge show him love
Only in church when somebody passed
No hope for the future, we stuck in the past
Now we ante up on the bag, we makin' a killin', how long will that last?
This album is a volcanic burst from top to bottom with its God-tier samples, limit-breaking production, the best title list of the last five years (I didn’t even mention ‘Steppa Pig’), and top tier bars from JPEG and Danny. Scaring The Hoes is an album I can’t stop playing, a probable classic and I hope it's not the final time we see these two powerhouses collaborate.