The Music Dispatch: April 19th, 2022
Inside: Taeyong & Wonstein, Lizzo, SAULT, Phoebe Bridgers, a verse by fka twigs, and text-to-speech nonsense
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 Tuesday. All mentioned songs are available on your streaming platform of choice unless stated otherwise.
So over the past couple days, which was the Easter weekend — my first holiday in a while — I got into a situation in which my old laptop bit the bullet, and not just that, over some copy process (and, let’s be honest, utter Windows nonsense more than anything) I also managed to corrupt the external hard drive. I can at least use this laptop. The hard drive... well. I guess that’s a work in progress. To the computer scientists among you: shit’s bad when Linux tells you to use Windows. Like horrendously so. Which meant that I couldn’t write my short summaries on Monday and instead got creative: I spoke them to my phone and let speech to text sort out the rest. Meaning that I had to correct sentences that read “poop poop poop poop” (the phrase in question was pop punk and a lot of laughter.)
EPs and Albums
This is neither here nor there, but I hope you are able to catch Doja Cat’s Coachella set, which was excellent. Really just incredibly well done. There's torrents of it around; if you can find it, I hope you'll check it out. I haven’t enjoyed myself like this in a long while.
Also, I’m missing that Anitta record, Versions of Me — I’m sure it’s fine. Envolver is pretty good.
Primer — Incubator
So I checked this out because of the album cover — it looks really neat, just really appealing — but the songs themselves are just as excellent. I heard Depeche Mode in the opener, and elsewhere I felt very reminded of Jakuzi. Needless to say, it’s a darkwave album, somthing for the night time. Primer's vocals are excellent on this thing, as well, very expressive. Also, a big shoutout to the beautiful beautiful transitioning throughout. I absolutely enjoyed this one. Highlights to me were Hypercube, Anything, and opener Impossible Thoughts.
SAULT — Air
After the good (but gimmicky; only available on streaming for ninety-nine days, really?) NINE, the anonymous British collective — of which it has long been rumored that it is actually British producer Inflo behind it — released a new album this Friday. It is very orchestral, which comes as no surprise if you've been following some of the big British releases of the past year, notably Sometimes I Might Be Introvert by Little Simz and 30 by Adele. Here the beats are given a lot more space, coupled with a choir that lends the entire album a feel of the soundtrack to a space opera that you should be writing on. It’s a very solid release, although this kind of album is not something you got on your heavy rotation unless there’s studying/writing/reading ahead of you.
Singles
Yung Lean (and most of that Drain Gang) is not a rapper on my radar, but on his new album, he’s brought out the fka twigs on a feature; lucky for me, Bliss is the album opener, and my God I’m so glad to hear twigs so animated and joyous. Her voice is like rubber, able to stretch and bend itself any way she likes. It’s a very solid song. I’m sure the album’s fine too.
Taeyong & Wonstein — Love Theory
Oh that is the kind of rnb pop song that is very fun; a catchy hook, solid verses, and I loved the nod to Yoo Youngjin at the bridge, it made me laugh out loud! I suggest that if you do listen to the song that you also check out the MV, as I thought that complemented the song really well. Taeyong and Wonstein make a very good match.
Beach Bunny — Fire Escape
Beach Bunny is a pop punk outfit from Chicago, Illnois, spearheaded by Lili Trifliio. With Fire Escpae came the album announcement as well, which has me pretty hyped! So far, we are two for two when it comes to catchy melodies and riffs. They’re one of the few pop punk outfits that actually know how to write a hook, and not a single miss in sight — this might be even better than Oxygen because it won’t randomly slow down the final chorus. I'm looking forward to the release!
Kay Flock feat. Cardi B, Dougie B, Bory300 — Shake It
Cardi B hopped onto a verse with New York drill artist Kay Flock on Shake It. This song hits hard and the verses are all animated, but of course none come close to Cardi B. This might be her best rap verse yet — I hope she will release some solo music soon? What worries me most about this song is that it clocks in under 2 minutes (that, and I hope that wasn’t the r slur said in Cardi’s verse...). Under two minutes! I hope nobody follows suit. The future of music will be... in a precarious situation if all popular music gets under two minutes.
Conan Gray — Memories
It’s not Telepath. It’s actually a very, “I studied Taylor Swift’s pen and ear for melody and this is what came out” kind of song. If you like Taylor Swift but wish she was a man I guess this one’s for you, because there is not much else other than that. I also find Gray unengaging as a vocalist when he isn’t backed by a fast paced beat. No, this isn’t me implying I wish he only released *Telepath-*esque kind of songs. This is me implying that if I wanted Taylor Swift, I’d listen to Taylor Alison Swift.
Lizzo — About Damn Time
About Damn Time. Right, exactly! It’s been three years! Finally we have an album title and a release date for Lizzo’s second release, Special coming out July 13th. I’m incredibly excited for it! About this single... Lizzo is very lucky to release this now as opposed to two months later; I feel like we’re slowly finishing up with disco and funk. The song itself sounds very much made for radio, which means that expect this one to climb up to #1 within a couple months. (You can read more about it here) Me? I think the song’s very charming, falling more in line with Lizzo’s feel-good hits like Good as Hell and Juice, which suits her very well; the song is far better than Rumors, which is one of the most uninteresting for-the-haters song there is in my opinion. I’m holding out for this album’s Tempo though.
Phoebe Brigers — Sidelines
This kind of song only works when you’re sad. Case in point: when I first heard this on Friday, it breezed by me, but earlier today I was very sad and the song suddenly sounded incredible. In short, if you like Stranger in the Alps you’ll love this one, but don’t expect an insane sense of scale and narration both in the way that Punisher offered. I think the Beach House-esque backing instrumentals were interesting at the intro, but soon rescinded. I guess that makes sense, because when you are tuned in to Phoebe Bridgers it’s usually the lyricism that takes center stage. Sad music for sad people.
Something you missed? Your opinion on one of the tracks? Let me know over in the comments, on my Twitter @nymphspond, or, if you want something totally anonymous, you can try the Retrospring!