Category: Quickspins

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A.A.L. – 2012-2017

A.A.L. – 2012-2017 (Other People)

Nicolas Jaar’s latest release under A.A.L. is a remarkably complex and deftly produced album of house and electro-funk with enough soul for the dancefloor and enough sleekness for the club. 2012-2017 is an album that’s unattached from the passage of time; its timeless songs breathe new life into sample heavy electronica music. Jaar doesn’t hold back, delving deep into a instrumental palette of snares, high-hats and piano loops. The rest of the album’s space is filled to the gills with excellent production work. Jaar is tinkering his fingers to the proverbial bone. There’s a familiarity to 2012-2017 that engages equally with genres of the past and present. But the final product is woven so effortlessly that you can’t help but get lost in its ageless appeal.

Rating: 8.9/10

Trial Track: “I Never Dream”

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Music Quickspins

Rich the Kid – The World Is Yours

Rich the Kid – The World Is Yours  (Interscope Records, 2018)

Rich the Kid’s debut album, The World Is Yours, is exactly what you would expect from the New York/Atlanta rapper. Considered the fourth Migos by some, Rich the Kid borrows heavily from his contemporaries, using dark uptempo trap beats, a triplet flow and dramatic ad libs. However, one thing that sets Rich the Kid apart is his ability to actually rap, which he only puts on full display during the album’s final track, “Dead Friends.” At 14 tracks and 46 minutes long, The World Is Yours doesn’t overstay its welcome. However, Rich the Kid does very little to keep the listener’s attention for that long. Many of the songs blend into one another, leaving the project a little one-dimensional. Songs like “Plug Walk” and “New Freezer” featuring Kendrick Lamar keep this project afloat, while some of the other features, like Quavo and Offset from Migos, are underwhelming.

Trial Track: “Plug Walk”

Score: 5.5/10

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Music Quickspins

Paris Louis – Deathcolors

Paris Louis – Deathcolors

Paris Louis, an artist I discovered through a local buying-and-selling sneaker group on Facebook, has released his debut mixtape, Deathcolors. The Montreal rapper is a breath of fresh air, not only because of his ability to craft songs and hooks but also because of his songs’ lengths. Unlike many rappers of his ilk, Paris Louis isn’t afraid to make three-and-a-half-minute-long songs, instead of following the two-minute song trend SoundCloud has cultivated. This allows each track to be a more satisfying listen, with more room for verses and sustained hooks. Paris Louis’s sound blends those of Travis Scott and Jay Critch, while maintaining his own unique vocals. All seven songs on this tape are catchy and feature moody, attention-keeping trap beats. With this tape, Paris Louis proves himself to be an artist to watch out for in the years to come.

Trial Track: “Apt 200”

Score: 9/10

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Music Quickspins

The Neighbourhood – The Neighbourhood

The Neighbourhood – The Neighbourhood (Columbia, 2018)

The self-titled album of California indie rock band The Neighbourhood is a mess. The album is a mix of angesty lyrics, dark beats and strange vocal performances by lead singer Jesse Rutherford. While some of the instrumentation is pleasant, like the 80s bells on the song “Void,” the vocals are unbearable. The lyrics are basically comprised of clichéd rhymes and simple platitudes. The lyrics on “Softcore” made me cringe: “I’ve been confused as of late (yeah) / Watching my youth slip away (yeah) / You’re like the sun, you make me young.” The vocals are processed and the melody is uninspiring. This album is a unexceptional collection of songs that are competently made, and although sometimes pleasant, not worth your time.

Trial track: “Void”

Rating: 3.7/10

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Music Quickspins

Mount Eerie – Now Only

Mount Eerie – Now Only (P.W. Elverum & Sun, 2018)

Phil Elverum, who performs under the moniker Mount Eerie, sings with an incredible sadness and self-reflection on Now Only. Like his last album, A Crow Looked at Me , Elverum reflects on life after his wife’s death on this newest album. Elverum’s soft, melancholic voice is accompanied by minimalistic guitars, sparse drums and the occasional distorted instruments. The songs are just as emotional as when he performed them live last year in Montreal. People were crying during every song, and I was struck by the honest in Elverum’s lyrics—it’s like reading someone’s diary and understanding how they truly feel. On the titular song, Elverum reflects on how touring has affected him personally, singing: “As my grief becomes calcified, frozen in stories / And in these songs I keep singing, numbing it down.” Elverum has come out with another special and emotionally challenging album. Highly recommended.

Trial track: “Now Only”

Rating: 9.5/10

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Music Quickspins

Lil Yachty – Lil Boat 2

Lil Yachty – Lil Boat 2 (Quality Control)

Lil Yachty’s latest mixtape is a sequel to his debut mixtape, Lil Boat. The original Lil Boat featured the autotuned crooner switching between two personas: Lil Yachty and Lil Boat. Yachty is the sensitive singing artist, while Boat focused more on rapping and was more aggressive. Lil Boat 2 deviates from this formula with more of the Boat persona shining through. On the majority of the 18 tracks, Yachty trades in bubbly beats for more ominous and cavernous trap production. His rapping has come a long way since the Lil Boat tape, with the flows being more pronounced and hard-hitting. Songs like “She Ready” and “Love Me Forever” are examples of when Yachty goes for a singing approach, but it works. Not to mention songs like “BOOM!” and “66” are certified bangers. This project’s big weak spot is its length, with over half the songs running too short and too generic.

Trial Track: “BOOM!” ft. Ugly God

Score: 6/10

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Music Quickspins

XXXTentacion – ?

XXXTentacion – ? (Capitol)

The infamous Florida rapper is back with his second full-length album, a follow-up to August’s 17. Unlike 17, which was only 27 minutes long, ? nearly doubles that with a plethora of tracks ranging in various music styles. XXXTentacion’s talent is his ability to operate within many different genres. Songs like “Moonlight” and “SAD!” are a mix between hip hop and sad emo rock, while the hilariously titled “I don’t even speak Spanish lol” is a reggaeton track that is not only rhythmic but catchy as hell. Other highlights on the album are “$$$” featuring pre-teen rap sensation Matt Ox and “SMASH!” with PnB Rock. Warning though, like all XXX albums, there are a lot of cringy emo rap tracks that will leave you with a bad taste in your mouth. ? is a huge improvement on 17, but the recent domestic violence case against XXX is definitely a turnoff. If you really want to listen to this, I suggest pirating it rather than buying it.

Trial Track: “SAD!”

Score: 7/10

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Music Quickspins

Beauty >> Forward – AtomTM

Beauty >> Forward – AtomTM (Audio Archiv)

Having released music under 72 different aliases (no joke), it really is tricky to keep up with Uwe Schmidt’s output. The Berlin-born producer, label manager and designer and Berghain resident is busier than most, yet manages to release music at an alarming rate. Regardless, the newest album from his AtomTM project, Beauty >> Forward, should not slip under the radar. The nine tracks range from glitchy and abrasive “Phonopollution” to the smooth and dreamy “Petrified Rimshot,” each with nods to the many styles Schmidt has experimented with before— with a particular emphasis on electro and dub techno. While Beauty >> Forward doesn’t necessarily bring anything new to the table, it definitely features a few club-ready stormers that are hard not to move to. Having said that, listen for highlight track “Recycled Term” on a dancefloor near you.

Rating: 7/10

Trial track: “Recycled Term”

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Music Quickspins

Jean-Luc Guionnet & Daichi Yoshikawa – Intervivos

Jean-Luc Guionnet & Daichi Yoshikawa – Intervivos (Empty Editions) *Editor’s Pick

Intervivos begins without warning. An alto saxophone blasts with urgency, wailing away with a curious elusiveness that begs to be explored. The sound is dissonant, pausing every few seconds or so, only to release again with a heightened sense of tension. It’s a fitting introduction to an album replete with sonics that both challenge and intrigue; it’s an utterly fascinating take on technicality. The record is a set of four improvisations between alto saxophonist Jean-Luc Guionnet and electronic feedback aficionado Daichi Yoshikawa. Every piece finds the two subverting established norms of structure, creating sounds that congeal at the seams. Intervivos doesn’t dictate its path, but rather constructs a highway of vacancy, speculation and expression. But this method of recontextualization is a cognitive tactic, lingering in its own cryptic aura, never quite finding a linear pace.

Rating: 8.4/10

Trial Track: Intervivos I

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Music Quickspins

Loma – Loma

Loma – Loma (Sub Pop) *Editor’s Pick

Shearwater’s Jonathan Meiburg pairs with Cross Record on a record that moves with the glacial pace of a deteriorating relationship, interwoven by a template of cavernous chamber pop and 90s slowcore. Cross Record’s multi-instrumentalist Dan Duszynski and lead singer Emily Cross were married when they began this collaboration, but split at some point during the recording process. It’s not clear whether their breakup influenced the direction of the album, but the record unfolds with layers of overwhelming melancholy that make a strong case for it. Isolation can be quite purifying. The compositions feel heavy with the burden of Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, an album bred from destructive inner-band tension. Despite the toxicity lying underneath, Loma displays a kind of artistic chemistry that coheres almost inherently. Tracks “Dark Oscillations” and “Who is Speaking?” ripple with a veneer of ornate string arrangements and acoustic balladry. Loma is a rare record that actually makes use of organic tones to amplify emotional expression, rather than using it to relish in gratuitous sentimentality. The musicality feels natural, like the instinct of breathing.

Rating: 8.5/10

Trial Track: “Dark Oscillations”

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Music Quickspins

U.S. Girls – In a Poem Unlimited

U.S. Girls – In a Poem Unlimited (4AD) *Editor’s pick

Meg Remy’s approach to music, an idiosyncratic mix of post-punk fury and sultry pop-rock, finally takes shape on her fantastic new album. In a Poem Unlimited is the sound of frustration taking form in a vacuum of pensive meditations. “You’ve been sleeping with one eye open because he always could come back, ya know?” she sings on “Velvet 4 Sale.” This is channelled through a near-transcendental level of lyrical observation. The music shines with the spirit of disco-leaning pop idols like ABBA and Cyndi Lauper, while churning out lyrics informed by skepticism and the delegation of male authority. But these nods act as an aesthetic backdrop to Remy’s more complex compositional ideas. “Time,” the album’s thrilling seven-minute epic, hurls forward an impetus of screeching sax and post-punk dance beats; Remy’s vocals are absolutely commanding among them. The album rages with a cathartic force, pleading for change in a world that refuses to.

Rating: 8.8/10

Trial Track: “Rosebud”

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Music Quickspins

Car Seat Headrest – Twin Fantasy (2018)

Car Seat Headrest – Twin Fantasy (2018) (Matador) *Editor’s pick

Will Toledo’s re-recording of his 2011 album, Twin Fantasy, has been making love with my ears for weeks. The original version was a home-spun package of neurotic lo-fi pop, rich with quirk and wit that managed to load enough melodic sensibilities and muscular riffage to jumpstart a promising career. With this revamped rendition, Toledo has churned out his first mini-masterpiece under the Car Seat Headrest moniker, an album born of eroticism, biting irony, sexual confusion and self-medication. Now evolved from a charming imitation of his most obvious influences, Toledo zeroes in on the teenage experience with remarkable insight, all the while proving himself to be a miraculous talent capable of crafting some of the most forward-thinking guitar pop out there. Seriously, if you consider yourself a fan of transformative indie rock, you need to listen to this album.

Rating: 9.1/10

Trial Track: “Beach Life-in-Death”

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