The Music Dispatch: January 17, 2022
Inside: fka twigs, Years & Years, tunnels leading to the afterlife, and more of the same being a recipe to success (allegedly)
I’m currently playing a game with friends — maybe game’s too strong a word for what we’re doing. It’s called Musicleague. You get together with people of this league and each round, you submit songs to a given topic. The winner (the person that submits the highest ranking song) gets to decide the topic of the next week. This topic has a title, and a description. This week’s topic is Songs you have never listened to. Yes, I know how this sounds. But it made me think of this weekly thing here. I’m sure there’s songs you’ve listened to, but I also like to think that some you have not.
This week’s title? I’m sure it’s fine.
Welcome to The Music Dispatch, the first of 2022! For those of you new here, this is a weekly part of this Substack where I shortly give my first impression of every new(-ish) release I listened to. It is usually out Mondays or Tuesdays.
All mentioned songs are available on your streaming platform of choice unless stated otherwise.
EPs and Albums
Eric Nam — There And Back Again
Not an artist I listen to regularly, it’s the cover that got me to hit play. I think I liked most of these, it’s an all around decent pop record. It says a lot that I just absolutely cannot remember anything regarding it right now, a couple days after it came out.
The Weeknd — Dawn FM
The Weeknd’s newest album after After Hours had me first think that it’s good in a way that won’t move me. It’s well produced, transitions well, and the concept — “you are in a tunnel stuck in traffic and this is what plays and by the way at the end of the tunnel is the afterlife” — really hits the nail on the head with these songs that range from house, synth, Daft Punk-esque moments all the way to Michael Jackson pastiche (including and certainly not limited to an entire interlude by Quincy Jones). It’s just that there’s no sense of drama to me, nothing that is the character examination that After Hours was. Do all albums have to be that way? No. But the scope being so subdued did no favors to me.
In either case, the review would’ve just about ended here had I written this on Friday. But then over the weekend I didn’t feel like closing my music player after Take My Breath (a stunning song), which means I heard the crisp guitar intro to Sacrifice, the entire song an immaculately produced pop song, and it got stuck into my head, so I just fully expect this album to creep up to my top list come by December.
fka twigs — CAPRISONGS
Meanwhile, I don’t have to listen to a song by chance to know this is an incredible new effort by auteur fka twigs. There’s so much to love here, be it the fact that twigs’ carefully constructed and tight artful rnb and pop feel loose and relaxed now, blending so many genres together in a framework that is strongly reminicsent of Charli XCX’s usual fare, or just the amount of collaborators — in the first time of her discography, too! — that play off well with twigs for the most part. At turns sultry, at turns melancholy, but at every moment so incredibly engaging, this is an exciting new chapter for twigs. Even though for Capricorns like her, chaos is probably just as much a controlled affair as everything else, it’s seriously refreshing to hear her so loose. Obvious points of comparison for this record I’d say are Tinashe’s 333 and Charli XCX’s 2017 mixtapes, or more precisely Pop 2.
Earl Sweatshirt — SICK!
Earl Sweatshirt’s long-awaited newest record runs for twenty-four minutes, like a Kpop idol — but which is hilariously longer than his last project, Feet of Clay. This feels far more open than the last one, though, and while Sweatshirt doesn’t reinvent himself here, it’s still one of the clearest crystalizations on his skill and his vision. I especially like the early single 2010 but also Lobby (int), both of which come... almost close to more conventional trap songs, almost catchy, rather than the kind of Sweatshirt’s fare where you have to listen to it five hundred times to even begin to understand, and even then don’t.
OnlyOneOf — Instinct, pt. 2
Sometimes you avoid groups not because they’re awful, but moreso because the fans kind of irritate you. There’s just something about fans of a group that have well-produced music, but aren’t popular; it invites people to be scholars in the worst ways, and in the Korean pop stan world, I can hardly think of a group more irritating. Well, I can, but outside of that. Anyhow, OnlyOneOf became one such group to me, but as their new mini came out Friday, I wanted to listen what that was all about. skinz is NCT 127 but even more abrasive, which worked well for me. On the other hand, while I think both suit dance and gaslighting (especially gaslighting) were great pop b-sides, ultimate bliss kind of came short. It’s overall a fun release, though.
Max Changmin — Devil
TVXQ’s Max (Choikang Changmin) is an impressive vocalist and for over a decade now, SM has not tired to let us know just how amazing he is. (Rising Sun, for instance, opens with his high note). The issue with such incredible vocalists is that producers often seem to think that gives them free reign to do as little as possible because the vocals alone will carry the song; this is also why most Korean ballads flat-out suck (to a listener who is only now picking up Korean for good, I might add). Devil, especially that very irritating title track, falls into this problem for the most part, but there’s a few good moments on it too, like Alien or closer Airplane Mode. It’s fun, but I kind of like my vocalists a little less capable. It makes for more exciting songs.
Singles
Joey Bada$$ — THE REV3NGE
I can’t believe he’s back making songs! I hope this means an album’s coming soon. This is also more pop than ever, so I hope any upcoming project means it’ll finally make his breakthrough. He for sure deserves it.
Stromae — L’enfer
The chorus kind of sounded like The Chainsmoker’s Something Just Like This in a yassified version. It didn’t make for a very great listen, but we’ll see how it fares in an album context.
Gayle — abcdefu
The new marketing tactic that pushed this song up to the top spots of the most streamed songs worldwide was making it look like it was a naturally made hit, sort of like the accidental (organic) explosive debuts of the likes of Lil Nas X and Pinkpantheress. This is to be expected, but the song’s just utterly boring. There’s just about nothing to it.
Years & Years — Sooner or Later
The fourth single of Olly Alexander’s first album alone finally makes things interesting and synthy. It helps that he’s a very good vocalist, of course, but I was very worried that Nightcall would be an overall dud. One out of four is not a very good indication to me, though.
Foxes — Absolute
Foxes over here doesn’t need to be bothered though, as her newest single is four out of four great ones so far. I’m so incredibly excited for The Kick, you have no idea. It’s going to be an insane pop moment for sure.
Mitski — Love Me More
This doesn’t add to anything, but the song I listened to just before this was Kim Jaejoong’s Love You More, which is a funny coincidence. Mitski’s fourth single is also a pop moment and very well produced. It did make me wonder if I overestimated Mitski’s didactic vocals up until this point though, as her usual distant style just didn’t mesh well with this beat to me. It’s still very good, that being said; perfect for a metaphorical night ride on the highway.
CHAI — WHOLE
Between this and the last record you’d almost forget that originally Japanese outfit CHAI was a rock group. Pop suits them very well though and this was a very pleasant listen.
JID — Surround Sound (feat. 21 Savage & Baby Tate)
I love hearing 21 Savage on anything, but the song felt a little too long for my taste.
Yeule — Too Dead Inside
Another song that I felt ran on for a little too long. I know it’s not my problem because Victim by The War On Drugs runs for six minutes and I never tired of listening to that.
Father John Misty — Funny Girl
I’m so glad that Father John Misty’s new album is forthcoming, mostly because it means I get to listen to his wonderful, clean vocals in a new context. This one’s really good, more in a Hollywood Jazz context than the last one was.
Yukika & Kim Mi Jeong — Moonset
Yukika’s brand of vaguely retro pop music kind of highlights the problem I have with all artists that stick so closely to their brand: at some point, it becomes the expected and it bores more than it excites. But K-Pop stans who were also in the second generation as I am swear up and down that’s what you need to be popular or good or iconic in their little fantasy world. This is a pleasant song. It’s also forgettable to me, but if you like Yukika, you’ll enjoy this a lot.
Halsey — People disappear here, Nightmare (Reprise)
The two new tracks for the extended version of IF I CAN’T HAVE LOVE I WANT POWER are both stunners in their own right. Nightmare (Reprise) is the NIN-version of Nightmare and stands head and shoulders above the original. People disappear here takes also closely from Nine Inch Nails, I’d say something from Closer era, and Halsey’s dreamy vocals make for a perfect match. The chorus feels especially cinematic. I can’t believe this was a Target Exclusive for this long, honestly.
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, let me know over at Twitter @nymphspond, or, if you want something totally anonymous, you can try Retrospring!