MELOMANIA here to shine its headlights on the road ahead and fiddle with the radio but
let you do the driving.
HOW THE GAME IS PLAYED
It was quite a week to dig deep into the new offerings. However, the trend of a great single not necessarily leading to a great album continues. Do not misunderstand. This is not us espousing some belief that perhaps these records are prey to false expectations. The artists that have truly stood out this year have succeeded in both “captive” listening (where we sit down with a clear head and listen with intent,) and “surprise” listening (where different tracks from an album are randomly programmed or occur without influencing pre-announcement or knowledge.)
Here’s what ran the gauntlet last week and made it out alive. A few straight-up burners that still have not grown old and songs that are admittedly “growers” that needed a few more plays to leap into consciousness. (No, we will not reveal which one is which.) Having intimated this data and offered a slightly worthy explanation, these all started as “captive” and several actually grew more in our favor from “random” play. So with this hypothesis, now you choose an album to enjoy from here - but then let it play out and see what the fates bring you.
IMMY OWUSU - Lo-Life! [LP](Hope Street/Fat Beats/AMPED)
With a voice like Gregory Isaacs and a presentation that regularly falls between Tim Maia and Fela, Immy Owusu makes African Polyrhythmic and Highlife music that sounds both positive and romantic. “What A Love” is a blazing Summer jam with Owusu leading the song and its backup singers through a true love song. “The World Is Here For You” is a classic call-and-response that morphs into some Marley-esque storytelling over an awesome organ part. Owusu can be so relaxed at times, that when he lets his band just go (“Sunsum Dware,”) you feel like they might not return to Earth. The Australian Owusu has gathered quite a group including members of Surprise Chef and Karate Boogaloo. However, they may interweave James Brown-like African Funk (“Nyame Kasa",”) or roll out of a subtle synth-led pulsating softer Zamrock (“Holy Shoulders,”) Owusu infuses it all with the joy of living.
GRENTPEREZ - When We Were Younger [LP](Fast Friends Co. AUS/AWAL)
Sydney's grentperez would like to either be the next Soft Rock superstar or a throwback to the enchanted MPB of the Seventies. Like Rex Orange County and those of that style, grentperez has already mastered the sunny love song. The title track toys with electronics, 60's Cocktail music, and Doobie Brothers chords. While grentperez is adept at using the familiar sounds that garner response (the Mac DeMarco/Steve Lacy guitar on "Stuck On You,") he smartly augments them with soulful touches. He clearly takes joy in what he has written as opposed to trying to compose the next big thing. Rest assured, he will do that - and have a ball doing it.
FAR CASPIAN - The Last Remaining Light [LP](UK Dance To Radio)
Ireland’s Joel Johnston’s Far Caspian is part Acetone/part Postal Service on the much-varied follow-up to “Ways To Get Out.” Johnston’s production shows new depth (“First Warning Shot” seems to emerge from abstract sound ideas,) and a balance of instruments in the mix (the sublime “Own” keeps his high-register vocals slightly above the Red House Painters switch from melodic-to-dissonant without getting lost.) While the fragility and languidity are still here, Johnston seems now more interested in making songs that unveil themselves as you listen. “Arbitrary Task” is a speedy, Shoegaze quick diversion that catches fire when it is stripped down to chiming guitars and drums. Nonetheless, “Light” is a step in the right direction for Johnston whose bittersweet songwriting neatly captures both being consumed with emotion and then feeling like you have nothing left.
MIKE COOPER - Milan Live Acoustic 2018 EP [CD](Paradise of Bachelors/AMPED)
Released with the reissue of his 1974 album “Life & Death in Paradise,” this 2018 set of acoustic/slide guitar plus electronics is mesmerizing. All of Cooper’s influences come into play here: Blues, Polynesian, American Primitive, and a weirdly “bent” Folk strain. On “Approaching Zero,” Cooper furiously lets his National-style slide guitar do the wailing so he can sing with an eerie sweetness. Then, as it peaks toward the middle, Cooper activates a cadre of primitive electronics with squealing square waves and oscillations that run wild. Just at the moment where you understand the union before you and how those streams of notes on strings are the same emissions coming from transistors, Cooper takes it back to the steel guitar where he conjures the smoothest melodies and heavenly harmonics before making noise that rivals his electronic improvisation on “Industrial Hazard.” Fascinating.
LISTENING JOURNAL
DEFTONES - Adrenaline (1995)/Around The Fur (1997)/White Pony (2000)
Combining their teenage love of Hardcore (Bad Brains) and gloom (The Cure,) Sacramento's Deftones teetered on the precipice of inclusion into three subgenres but wisely never plunged into complete categorization. The defiance of pigeonholing and managing expectations is likely the reason their music is still so appreciated (while others fell by the wayside.)
A key to Deftones' ongoing success is their production from Terry Date. "Minus Blindfold" on their debut has all the hallmarks of Rap/Rock (turntable sounds, spitting verses), but the meaty, boxy crunch that Date puts on Stephen Carpenter's guitar makes it jackhammer-hard and (looking forward to Metallers) captures every string squeal. There is a lot of rage packed into a Bruce Lee-like one-inch punch. Chino Moreno regularly proves his singing, screaming, and (yes) rapping are like no other. Their debut single, "7 Words," is a buzzing post-Nirvana Rage-esque dose of thunder. However, Moreno's desperate close-miked talking during the verse is no preparation for that bolt of lightning chorus. While everyone wanted to sound as marital and hard as Helmet, Deftones had a different path in mind. Abe Cunningham's precision drumming and the rolling bass lines of the late Chi Cheng were drawn from Smashing Pumpkins (check that chorus on "One Weak.") This connection proved to be among the wisest choices Deftones would make.
At a time when Nu-Metal was pushing its way onto Alternative radio stations, Deftones turned in that direction on "Around The Fur." Take "Root" from the 1995 album, it has that moment where Moreno gets both guttural and rhythmic. You think it might turn loose into Korn-ish territory, but Deftones are reining it in to stay in the realm where this is more reminiscent of H.R. fronting Bad Brains ("House of Suffering.") However working on their own sound with Terry Date, "Around The Fur" opens the door for the gut punch of "Adrenaline" to be rebroadcast in Cinemascope. Moreno's close-miked vocals now hover above the entire mix as he alternates between ghostly whispers and full-throated wails. Cunningham's rhythmic work is stripped down and his cymbal crashes surprise you at least once per song. The spiritual predecessor to their biggest hits, "My Own Summer (Shove It)" remains a blistering song that sacrifices that ridiculous stop-start aspect of Nu-Metal to pummel you consistently like true Metal.
Sculpting a new aural image pays off richly throughout "Fur." The room-sound dynamite of "Adrenaline" now has scope (the central chorus riff and the end buildup on "Lhabia,") and dynamic range ("Mascara" gets eerily quiet and the screaming choruses on the title cut are elegantly expanded with effects breaks.) The flood of guitars on "Headup," Moreno's percussive whispering against Cunningham's fills on "Rickets," and The Cure-ian ("Push") propulsion of "Dai The Flu" are moments where their ideas are coalescing - even if the songwriting has not quite solidified yet. The moment on "Fur" where past, present, and future come together is the astonishing single "Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away.") Robustly written to sound more like Alternative Rock like Hum ("The Pod,") the guitars grind away throughout the entire song and the tight rhythmic changes make perfect sense in contrast to Moreno's long, wailing vocals. In addition, those Drop-D runs against Cheng and Moreno make the song so dense that the stop is welcome. "Around The Fur" is Deftones defining themselves outside the lines everyone else is trying to color them into.
Three years later Nu-Metal is the stuff on MTV's Total Request Live, and Rap-Rock is morphing into Linkin Park. Confident about their power and charged up with the first dose of the high life, "White Pony" may be the smartest F-You to actually try to produce manufactured hits. Date and Deftones' production is everywhere. "Digital Bath" throbs like a Depeche Mode song with airtight drums driving its sensuous undertones. The epic "Passenger" with Maynard James Keenan from Tool makes Deftones sound like a seasoned band capable of handling those same Tool-like changes but with an erotic spark. While most Nu-Metal/Rap-whatever was excessively male, "White Pony" is timed like a conquest. The consistency of "Adrenaline" is traded for a multi-faceted, slow-release time bomb ("Knife Prty" and "Rx Queen" are as druggy as Urge Overkill's "Exit The Dragon.")
The biggest change on "White Pony" is the appearance of a multitude of wild sounds. The Grammy-winning "Elite" predates the Active Rock radio hits of today with Moreno showing a different gravelly vocal before it is "dialed" in as if were coming from a radio. While "Teenager" is a mood piece where the drum programming works with and against it like a turntablist would. Finally, the muscular "Korea" takes its influence from Jeff Buckley ("Eternal Life") to thunder without being yet another loud song. (Extra points for creative turntablism from Frank Delgado and the hushed madness of the bass break.)
However, the entire effort centers around what will become their biggest hit and strangely their signature song. "Change (In The House of Flies)" Short verse. Short chorus. Staggering imagery ("I pulled off your wings/Then I laughed.") A song so sinister that is then sweetened with a wordless chorus. Finally, when it climaxes Nine Inch Nails-style, it is with a barely-audible whisper (Give you the gun/blow me away.") The gloomy guitar lines are 80's Goth-gloom strum, almost like Johnny Marr traveled to a minor, dissonant place. The color of feedback is almost like ambient music, and in summary - a "heavy" song that still feels light.
"White Pony" was Deftones in a truly dark place, but it had more in common with Alternative music than Metal. While it was still crunchy and pounding out great riffs, this was not for the backward hat brigade. Deftones were eerie and vampiric, and that music speaks to everyone that does not want to jump up and down. Metalheads could bang their heads to it. The outlier kids could relate to its angst and gloom. Even the post-Hardcore/Emo types could revel in how different it was than everything else. In an instant, Deftones found commercial success on their own terms with parallels being drawn to Art Rock, Shoegaze, and even Trip-Hop. Today, crossing the spectrum of sound has earned them another round of discovery from a generation that parses everything into comparisons thus making them far more pliable than those who charted ahead of them when these albums were originally released.
We hope you enjoyed this music. We always leave hoping that there is something on the list or the page for everyone. Support these artists. They are working on music that they love and firmly believe could be loved by others too. Glad to be your musical sifter/selector. Thank you.
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