The (Late) Music Dispatch: September 25, 2021
Inside: ITZY, Nao, Purity Ring but pop, and what I've been digging for my writing
Welcome to The Music Dispatch! This is a weekly part of this Substack where I shortly review every new(-ish) release I listened to. Out every Saturday, or whenever I listened to everything I wanted to.
You think people don’t read these until you look at your Substack stats and see that half of the people that get mails from me do open it (at the very least) and you get asked “where’s the new Substack” and they don’t mean your latest longform essay, but this post.
EPs and Albums
I held this Dispatch off because I thought I should listen to Alessia Cara’s new record, but then I realized I haven’t listened to her for years, am really not hyped enough for it, so I’m not going to start now when I really can’t bring myself to care all that much.
Park Hye Jin - Before We Die
Occasionally brilliant, but mostly an album that does three different things and none of them are really all that well done. Park’s non-rapping and non-singing don’t always work here, especially when she’s doing it in such an unaffected manner. It’s a shame that I haven’t really enjoyed a work of hers since IF U WANT IT.
ITZY - Crazy in Love
JYPE’s trend of naming releases after Beyoncé songs (labelmate miss A has a release named Independent Women pt. III, please) continues to be fruitful, as ITZY’s newest album has them hit back the club again. I think most of your enjoyment of ITZY will boil down to whether or not you like club beats and Ryujin sing-rapping her way through most of these tracks. I do enjoy it quite a bit, though, and the songs that lean all the way towards that were my favorite: Swipe and Gas Me Up, for instance. The title track Loco is definitely listenable, though I still think the chorus is completely drowned out the first time, but hey, I liked it. I can’t say that for the last release Ma.fi.a In The Morning. I’m very happy I don’t have to write off ITZY as doing Blackpink but slightly worse anymore.
Nao - And Then Life Was Beautiful
Nao’s newest record gave me a little of a shock - it’s been a while since I last heard anything from her, and it struck me again how high her voice is. All of these songs are at an insane level of quality however; you know an album is good if the piano solo is a genuine highlight. The collab with serpentwithfeet and Lucky Daye are also very well done. Overall another stunning record, though for me, For All We Know still looms large in her discography.
Perfume - Polygon Wave
Japanese electronic legends (to me, so you know it’s correct) Perfume throw it back sometime JPN era with this release. There’s the usual perfect balance between pop and electronica here, and all the songs are high quality. It’s good to know this group is slowly finding it back to their peaks. Not that I didn’t like Cosmic Explorer or even Future Pop (though pleasantly forgettable this one was) like most of the fanbase seems to, but I’ve been missing this level of quality from them.
Singles
Kacy Hill - Easy Going
Kacy Hill’s last record had her on a moody, rnb territory. This is a little lighter, stronger on the synths, very nostalgic. Hill’s vocals are beautiful here, floating over the guitar and percussion both. It’s a very pleasant track.
Cosmic Girls - Let Me In
To my knowledge, this is the second group to actually have a good song for paid app / subscription service Universe (the first was, of course, the obscenely excellent Drink It by The Boyz). Very bubbly unlike their recent material, but it sounds, dare I say it, cosmic unlike the last title track Unnatural. I absolutely enjoy this one.
Yukika - Loving You
A Lovelyz song not by Lovelyz. God, I miss that group so much. Anybody from my readers know if Woollim Entertainment has a comeback planned for them? I need to know!
Oh Wonder - 22 Break
Last I checked with these people, which was sometime around their second album, this woman didn’t sing like she does here. And she wasn’t the only one singing, the male-female duo used to sing together all the time. Now it’s just her, and she’s doing proper vocal things. There’s a saxophone floating in the production, and there’s a moving drum pattern behind, but I’m still not entirely convinced. It’s a little too clean for my taste.
Dorian Electra feat. Danny Brown - Gentleman (d0llywood1 remix)
What in the world is this combination? But I mean this in a good way. I think. It’s just two names I’d never have thought of together. Over a stuttering beat, Brown is obviously at home here, calling attention to a very frantic beat. Electra floats over most of it, but the almost two-minute runtime length makes it near-impossible to really form an opinion. I get TikTok is a valuable source of income now, but can we go back to normal-sized songs? Please?
Magdalena Bay - You Lose!
I forgot to review this last week, though I had planned to call them “Purity Ring but pop” all Sunday. Well, here it is: Purity Ring but pop are three-on-three with their singles rollout (though I still think the stunning Secrets is the best among the three). I adore Micah Tenenbaum’s vocals completely washed over by these electronics, it gives the whole sound a more desperate edge, I feel. I’m immensely curious what Mercurial World will sound like as a cohesive whole.
A Selection of The Albums I Played For This WIP
As detailed in Müellif and something I never really tire of mentioning, I write to albums. And the sound has to work with the tone that I’m trying to nail. Though that said, I haven’t been actively trying to get a soundscape down for this WIP, just something that would fade enough into the background, until I noticed there was a soundscape emerging from it, and I started doing it deliberately (I can never escape my own brain’s games…) If you can figure out what the writing will be like based on all this, then I think you’re an actual superstar. If you can’t, no worries, but maybe you’ll enjoy this selection of mostly guitar-based music:
Slowdive - Souvlaki
My Bloody Valentine - You Made Me Realize and Feed Me With Your Kiss
Hyukoh - 20
Nilüfer Yanya - Miss Universe
Amy Winehouse - Frank
Ariana Grande on Live Lounge 1 in 2018
Carly Rae Jepsen’s Comeback and Let’s Get Lost
Maybe there’s something in there that you’ll like! Or maybe there’s something you like that you want me to listen to, in which case, please let me know over at Twitter @nymphspond, or, if you want something totally anonymous, chat me up on Curiouscat!