The Music Dispatch: June 7, 2022
Inside: Sıla, Lykke Li, Angel Olsen, Post Malone, and releases for the pop-music liking gay person
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!
I’ve been playing Need For Speed Underground 2 again and I’m working on a story again. The Boyz is touring and catching up on their updates is wonderful. My coworkers and I joke around and I get to be loud and talkative again. Sometimes it doesn’t take much to restore your balance in mental health. This isn’t really a PSA on self-help, but times like these, when things seem — and are — so incredibly bleak, I really can only recommend you to find your thing that will make you feel slightly more sane and keep at it.
EPs and Albums
There’s a Kalben album that I want to get to next week!
Sıla — Şarkıcı One of Turkey's biggest stars has made her return on this intimate, dramatic record with her trademark blend of pop and alaturka has made her a radio mainstay for years. I didn't care for her pre-pandemic much (mostly because I was so miffed that she didn't continue ...dan sonra's path and instead went full alaturka) but post-pandemic this sounds like a balm. There’s also so much heartbreak and healing on a record, which makes sense given the last time we’ve heard of her in a big fashion was when she recounted the domestic abuse she’s received from her ex-partner, actor Ahmet Kural. (He has been sentenced a prison sentence of a year, four months, and twenty days; his attorney says “he will not go to prison” and hes been actively taking projects, so you see how people do not care). sen ağla is my personal favorite, but then I’m a big Sezen Aksu fan.
Lykke Li — EYEYE I heard this when it came out but missed to include it in a roundup - far better than her last album, this record is short but expansive, very dramatic and polished throughout. If you got half an hour to spare, this is a record well worth your time.
iamamiwhoami & ionnalee — Be Here Soon So it's the same person split in two distinct acts. The cover really dictates the sound, as it feels like you're in the dark in a forest with all its woody, bewitching, and also eerie elements.
Angel Olsen — Big Time Her first album since coming out, Olsen's newest is more like her older records, so if you heard her from All Mirrors on - this is not All Mirrors. You could hear all these songs as an emotional insert in an A24 movie or an artsy HBO drama, and it would consistently hit; it's a very good record.
Post Malone — Twelve Carat Toothache Another act who we haven't heard of during the pandemic, Post Malone has totally pivoted over to singing (really crooning) and heartbreak. Some songs feel like playing catch-up and will only hit the charts because it's this guy doing it, like Insane, and then others feature Malone singing so much and honestly so emotionally I walked away as a new fan.
Purity Ring — graves I'm afraid to say that only soshy captured the angular, ethereal, and quirky nature of this Canadian outfit that people have grown to love; the first single off this record really dictated the tone of the poppy elements of the production barely fitting in with Megan James' airy vocals, and those pop songs being rehashes of things you will likely hear elsewhere and better.
Tove Stryke — HARD With a name and cover like this, you'd think that Tove Stryke's newest project would have the same raunchy, sweaty, sexy energy of Tove Lo's projects, but whenever this wasn't cookie-cutter pop music with not much personality to speak of, it's only a minor upgrade to b-list pop girls; besides YouYouYou, Hardcore has something of an improved Kim Petras, and Start Walking, which is a minor downgrade to Zara Larsson's FFF. This is a must-listen that traverses a specific subreddit and specific forum I won't name; for everyone else, your time is better spent elsewhere. Sway is much better than this.
Singles
aespa — illusion The first single before the mini album girls drops, this song is fine and pleasant, really very much a b-side song. Do you see the problem? I'm not tuning in to aespa for fine and pleasant. ICONIC from the last album was also a b-side, but does what this song does much better and is far more exciting as well.
I’ve been thinking of lines that I find really romantic. Here’s a short list that I didn’t think through much:
Sezen Aksu’s Sarışınım: Yanıyor içim, eriyor içim, eskisinden de beter (My insides burn, my insides melt, it’s worse than before); even though I just said this is not a list I thought through a lot, it still wouldn’t be complete without at least one Sezen Aksu song and one reference to burning.
Playboi Carti’s Control: Basically, what I'm saying is, I can't change, but / But for you, I would do things and / Maybe one day I'd get on my knees and give you a diamond ring, uh / All sorts of things, yeah — this is exactly what I mean when I say this is one of the most romantic songs there is. Who needs grand declarations when you could do it straightforward too?
Wolfgang Ambros’ Die Blume Aus Dem Gemeindebau: Du Blume aus dem Gemeindebau / Ohne dich wär’ dieser Bau so grau (You flower from the apartment complex / without you, this place would be so grey) — okay, this entire song is romantic, and also very Viennese. Gemeindebau is more than just an apartment complex; these places are owned by the state, meaning that the state is your landlord. They have also historically been far cheaper than owning a place or an actual landlord and represent an important part of the socialdemocrat “red” Vienna after WW II. So there’s a kind of worker’s background with this song that I also really like.
Teoman’s Kupa Kızı Ve Sinek Valesi’s chorus has the romantic and erotic Bir kar tanesi ol kon dilimin ucuna / bir kar tanesi eri ağzımda (Be a snowflake and land on my tongue / a snowflake, melt in my mouth) that I’m always obsessed with.
and the reason why I even thought of this list, Aylin Aslım’s Senin Gibi, in which the chorus goes: Senin gibi beni kimse sevmedi (Nobody loved me like you did). Maybe it sounds plain but I am totally okay with a lot of plain lyrics as long as they sound pretty. Also under this category: Björk’s Pagan Poetry.