The Music Dispatch: August 2nd, 2022
Inside: Perfume, Maggie Rogers, Girl Ultra, NewJeans, Charli's club singles, and a surprise return from...
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. Is there an album you want to recommend me? @ me on Twitter or head on over to the Retrospring!
Something to be said about my father watching more anime than I do these days — he tunes in to One Piece’s German dub regularly, which is now in the Wano arc, meaning he’s ahead of me in that series. The anime block in German cable TV is now on Pro7 MAXX, running sometime in the evening until primetime. One of the shows that runs earlier in the evening is Dragonball Super. My dad asked me if that’s a new Dragonball sequel, and I was like “Nah that’s just a cashgrab.” (Internet osmosis has always helped me). Really anyone who is into Dragonball, especially whatever went down on Z, knows that the show has always had a problem with plot continuity and famously creator Akira Toriyama has said that the editor called the shots with what happened next on a weekly basis back when the manga ran. But the thing about Dragonball Super is that it always brings to mind this video. I’ve enjoyed my fair share of creative writing classes and lingo thereof, but giving a character a “Toriyama handjob” is still the the most memorable term I’ve heard. Crude? Certainly. But it also perfectly describes that moment when you can really tell an author loves a character more than anyone else, when they suddenly become better without any progress shown. It’s what I think of anytime the glossy, plastic artstyle on Dragonball Super is on television. And also, one evening over dinner, I saw two pudgy alien characters delete a universe on something looking like an iPad at the end of one episode and thought to myself that this has got to be the single most unserious shonen franchise ever created. Compels me, though. It’s worth exploring seriously… the deleting universes on an iPad part, I know Charlie Brooker prays for ideas like these for another installment of his show Black Mirror.
EPs and Albums
Perfume — PLASMA The best album from Perfume since Cosmic Explorer. There’s no new mixes, but Mawaru Kagami has made it in its studio version and sounds excellent. It’s not necessarily maximalist like the previous albums are, which is for the best for now, because let’s be honest, Future Pop wasn’t very futuristic anyway. No, PLASMA is very balanced in its electropop flourishes and is competently made, all killer, no filler (and predictably, Flow makes for a very good b-side rather than a single). Besides highlights and previous singles Spinning World and Polygon Wave, two bright spots on the album is Hanabito (answering the age-old question how a vocal melody on Super Mario’s Rainbow Road would sound like: very good) and the song following right after, Android&, which is very typical Perfume with its robotic keyboard underpinning most of the song.
Maggie Rogers — Surrender Improving on her debut in every way whilst adding rock flourishes to Rogers’ solid pop foundation, this album really feels like an album in sequencing and flow. The most interesting song on here is Shatter, with background vocals by Florence Welch (of Florence + the Machine) with its jagged guitars straight out of St. Vincent’s self-titled and 80s synths throughout, both rocky and pure pop fun — understandable why it hasn’t been made a single over the capital-B belter Horses or straightforward pop offerings That’s Where I Am and the playful Want Want. And on Symphony Rogers leans heavily into her own Welch impression, which is pretty cool. Cherry on top is the dreampop closer Different Kind of World.
Purple Kiss — Geekyland A major improvement to memeM and even Zombie, the B-sides leans a lot into G-IDLE territory — where rapper Yuki originally sounded like EXID’s L.E, now her flow resembles Jeon Soyeon’s. The best of these is Love is Dead because it could come straight out of I Burn. Lead single Nerdy is a necessary course correction with a bass lifted from Billie Eilish’s smash Bad Guy, but Zombie is still the ebullient title track to beat.
Girl Ultra — EL SUR The Mexican R&B songstress spoke of her origins coming from the club, which explains the club underpinning that run thorugh her newest EP, EL SUR. The results is a well-executed, breezy EP that recalls the progressive R&B of Rochelle Jordan; most notable of these is lead single Punk, which interpolates Gwen Stefani’s Bubble Pop Electric to a sultry, syrupy effect, as well as the haunting cover Para q te acuerdes de mi. (Thank you Alexis for the recommendation!)
NewJeans — New Jeans If you’re into K-Pop, you probably know and are already tired of the discourse surrounding it, but it bears repeating that the fact that minors sing thinly veiled invitations to sex (Cookie) and have music videos that are uncomfortable extreme close-ups (Hurt) is terrible. The EP itself, mostly produced by 250, is an exponential curve downward — what starts off promising and interesting with Attention and the refreshing vocal sample looping throughout the R&B jam ends up subdued and flat by the time we arrive to the last song, Hurt. Although last week I said Hypeboy had the best chorus, on the EP listen it almost bordered on forgettable right after Attention. The slowdown just before the chorus hits is its biggest strength, however.
Singles
MorMor — Far Apart Canadian artist MorMor makes r&b synth music that Majid Jordan got popular with. For his return Far Apart the soundscape is a tad brighter and less murky and hypnotizing, with a stronger focus on r&b than his last offering. Very interesting how the rest of the project will shake out if there is one attached to this!
Charli XCX’s singles which repeat a phrase over and over
When Charli XCX’s contribution to the A24 slasher Bodies Bodies Bodies came out — produced by her current boyfriend, The 1975’s George Daniel, but really sounding like A.G Cook — I realized this is now her second single containing the word hot, and her third time she’s doing something club-ready (more so than normal). Accordingly, I caught up to her hot ways.
Out Out Never insult my Belgian king Stromae ever again. If I can’t finish a song, just know it really is that bad. Nomen est omen, I suppose.
Hot In It Tiesto has yet to make an interesting song. The chorus does stick though, maybe because Charli sounds very robotic on it.
Hot Girl (Bodies Bodies Bodies) The single that played in the trailer is a recall to Charli’s glory days with PC Music, although not as immediate as Vroom Vroom was. Not seeing A.G Cook on the credits was the biggest surprise here!
Rina Sawayama — Hold The Girl Third singles in and Rina’s really channeling her inner Lady Gaga, which would be fine… if Lady Gaga was dead. Yes, it sounds bitter and mean to cry about the old music being better, but the old music was at least Rina. This and a healing rock anthem Catch Me In The Air are both pastiche.
Tove Lo — 2 Die 4 Meanwhile, every single we’ve heard of Dirt Femme has only gotten better. All of this is going to sound absolutely great in album context, but Eurodance banger 2 Die 4 with its pixel melody and thumping bass is her catchiest, most accomplished offering yet.
Rosalía — DESPECHÁ Rosalía is good at both the high-concept gloss and the low-stakes summer fun that this song is.
Sudan Archives’ singles run to her upcoming album NATURAL BROWN PROM QUEEN:
I spend more time thinking about Sudan Archives’ Athena than I actually do listening to the record. The tight, formal exercise in art pop with that beautiful violin front and center hasn’t invited me to repeated listens, but did leave a lasting impression three years since its release. (And that cover! So beautiful!) So imagine my surprise when I see her Song Exploder episode and “album in the second half of the year”!! It’s called NATURAL BROWN PROM QUEEN and comes out September 5th. Here’s my rundown of the singles leading up to it.
Home Maker This is a straightforward r&b offering with a very fun nu disco element to it. Very… vibes. The music video is very fun though!
Selfish Soul The cascading vocals and claps already make the song fun as it is, but the violin turns this to a pop song more fun, and a little smarter, than Alexander Rybak’s Fairytale.
NBPQ (Topless) This is the best one yet! The violin is taken to the club, and the stuttering beat leads to Brittney Parks rapping with swagger and flourish.
This is a very far cry from the art pop exercise on Athena. I know I said that the last time and got disappointed, but this sounds much more promising and exciting.
So where’s Renaissance? What did I think of it? I love the record, and I want to give it a bigger review — but due to time and deadline constraints, not to mention general technical ailments, I haven’t had the time to really sit down and get to it. If nobody huge is releasing this month (besides The Boyz who release in two weeks), I want to dedicate one week to Beyoncé, and another to the first part of the Nine Inch Nails discography post (yes, first part. Covering thirty years on a post is a lot!) which is stalling because of research, but is close-ish to completion. If you tuned into this week’s dispatch because of Beyoncé, I’m sorry for all these non-Beyoncés and I thank you for your patience.