Top 10 Releases of 2017: Part 3

4. Bjork - Utopia

(2017 One Little Indian)

In some ways, Utopia plays out like an endearing parody of Bjork's past decade of output, piling on the pan flutes, stretching its 10-minute compositions in to frayed bubblegum strands, and wallowing in its own futurist-but-also-naturalist aesthetic: she samples animal sounds in lieu of snare drums on "Body Memory", for God's sake. 

The new effort is wildly pretentious and impenetrably academic, two usually undesirable traits that I'm weirdly always hoping for a Bjork album to embody. Like Kanye West, who's also collaborated with Utopia's co-producer Arca in recent endeavors, the Icelandic art-pop mainstay has the grandiose presence and creative drive to back up her musical hyperbole. And from the new record's explosive blossoms of melody to its diary-entry lyrics that bridge the mundane and divine, it's evident that Bjork has cultivated what might be her most hyperbolic material to date.

Though blooming as slowly as "Stonemilker", the string-swathed opener to Bjork's 2015 effort Vulnicura, Utopia's intro track "Arisen My Senses" produces a flower that's exponentially more fragrant/gaudy/harmonically layered/abstract-expressionist than its predecessor. When Bjork's not belting gale-force cries into the exosphere, she's filling in the space below with the whispered germination of love. "Weaving a mixtape, with every crossfade," she sneaks beneath her own synthesized chorus: the affection here is as seemingly world-changing (and unwieldy) as a teenage crush, carefully curated playlists sent as gifts and all.  

The title track is the album's most solid cut. Beginning with a lengthy instrumental section, its woodwinds and sampled insect sounds are spooky and humid as the alien landscape record's visual accompaniments depict. Digital percussion clicks and shuffles to the speedy rhythm of Chicago's footwork scene. Woozy orchestral arrangements approximate a trap melody, the twittering of "unseen birds never seen or heard before".

Listening, you really feel as if you're walking through a conservatory or an aquarium only to discover that you're what's behind the glass.

3. Neatpop - The Ongoing Tragedies of Spectra and Little Lucille
(2017 Vore Music)

FULL REVIEW

It sounds chewed-up and spit-up. Not quite recycled in the way that hip-hop chops and screws its samples: The Ongoing Tragedies is almost fully digested, tinged with acid burns and vaguely speckled with the folksy bedroom pop it must have been in some earlier state. Detuned keyboards crumble against creaking drum loops, tapping out skeletal beats. Neatpop fills these haunted spaces with the sad-sack spirits they've summoned, which giggle and screech in their own, nightcore-d language. The music's sickly, but oozes a sweetness I almost feel bad for enjoying: The Ongoing Tragedies feels gloomy without trying to, like taking a bite out of a microwaved burrito that's still too cold, or stepping in a lawn you didn't realize was sopping wet from yesterday's storm. 

2. XAMBA XUICE GANG - XAMBA XUICE
(2017 Xamba Xuice)

If you consider the thinking man to be the type of guy who has illegally streamed every episode of Yu Yu Hakusho, flips retro Tommy Hilfiger sweaters on Depop, and is quick to drop a tweet about your mcm's aesthetic shortcomings, then Xamba Xuice is the thinking man's Brockhampton. The Soundcloud collective debuted in July with their self-titled tape, its 12 members exploring their streaming platform's sonic breadth: opening track "YESS" melts jazzy chords across crunchy kicks and snares while SWIMCOACH and Yungbabyman trade laid-back bars between the repetitions of a dancehall chorus on the ultra-hummable "SWITCHIN 180". The gang gets quasi-political atop the the new-agey synthscape of "GEORGE W. BUSH" to hilarious effect and rattle off Nintendo-themed punchlines on "GAMECUBE"'s nimble production. The collective hops from genre to genre with grace, eschewing uniformity in their production for cleverness. Whether Cloudie's comparing himself to Republican presidents or Nicx Alexander is waxing ultraviolent and poetic at the same time, Xamba Xuice oozes originality while still staying at the forefront of Soundcloud's subcultural zeitgeist. 

XAMBA XUICE is a humble tape, clocking in at just below 30 minutes, but it's so loaded with memorable flows and dorky charm that it feels much longer. It's the cool cousin you're only able to see around the holidays--the one who's always down to race you in Double Dash and toss a nerf around in the backyard if it's not too cold. What's sometimes lacking in depth here is always made up for in in dry wit, raw sauce, and a diverse range of timbres and styles. 

Top 10 Releases of 2017: Part 2

7. By the End of Summer - Laughing
(2017 Sango Records)

It's easy to forget that emo's emotional breadth can extend beyond sadness: you're only reminded of what the genre can do when you hear it pushed to its fullest potential. Cap'n Jazz could do it back in the day, layering sheets of ruddy-cheeked chords and lyrics about "kitty-cats" over punk-rock blast beats. Empire! Empire! did it too, centering around their honest and nostalgic storytelling. Kyoto's By The End of Summer's Laughing EP is one of the more recent installments in the "emotionally diverse emo" canon, bridging the gap between TTNG's wonky math-rock riffage and the teenage adventure of early Blink-182.

The four-song EP is addictively immediate. BTEOS arrangements roar to life without introduction, hurling riff after riff at the listener while frontman Miyazaki's voice cracks in surges of bittersweet catharsis. "Even Now", which takes its instrumental cues from late-80s skate rock, is the standout cut of the bunch, featuring enough hooks and swooping chord changes to fill an entire album in just two minutes.

BTEOS isn't flashy: like Cloud Nothings before them, the quartet pounds out raw, quick tracks that hit right in the sweet spot. The feelings are real and the lyrics are grounded.

"regret and remembrance / it's completely changed around here / the old vending machine / the running children / they were gone"

6. Playboi Carti - Playboi Carti

(2017 Interscope)

If Young Thug's the Cocteau Twins of mumble rap (at least according to this semi-popular Tumblr post) then Playboi Carti may well be the sub-genre's answer to Galaxie 500. Like the now-defunct Cambridge trio, he has a penchant for two-chord instrumentals and staccato melodies, haunting these dronescapes with dreamy phrases that roll off the tongue like December sighs: in a cloud of vapor.

Maybe it'd be even more accurate to compare Carti to The Velvet Underground. From the playful experimentation of his self-titled tape's interchangeable cover art to his penchant for lyrics that are iconic and intentionally shallow, he's a Warholian figure: a fourth-wall-breaking protagonist who's as fascinated by stardom in the conceptual sense. "I'm a rockstar," he asserts in the intro to lead single "wokeuplikethis*". Somehow it makes perfect sense. It's intrinsic. 

He's William Carlos Williams, too, neatly filing syllables into their perfect instrumental slots while offering just enough information to convey the outline of an image. The aesthetic's executed best on opnener "Location", in which Carti drops a fragmented series of interjections and descriptions that avoid do their best to dodge verbs: ("tats on my neck on my arms" ad nauseam). It's ideogrammatic, exchewing the third-person perspective images that the written word conjures in our minds for the swirl of sensory stimulus that passes through the cortex on the daily. Also, the Harry Fraud beat that carries the track is incredible, especially at 1:31 when its (dare I say) vaporwavey guitar sample screeches to the forefront of the mix. 

Carti is everyone that shaped rock 'n' roll and he's all the ideas that let it fall to trap music. Effortlessly, he became the zeitgeist. At least for the 50-minute duration of his mixtape, that is.

 
5. Girls Rituals - EMERGENCY!
(2017 Visual Disturbances)

Speaking of Warhol, Girls Rituals' EMERGENCY! does 21st century Pop-Art better than any Dean Blunt/Vektroid/Ferraro project I've heard in recent memory, and she does so by just being herself. Like its creator, the record's a product of low-brow mid-00s internet ephemera: Soulja Boy's early MySpace material, DeviantArt's amateurish digital paintings, the neurotic/hyberbolic humor of imageboard sub-cultures, and pretty much anything tangentially related to Newgrounds. 

Unlike many of the other "post-internet" artists that populate Bandcamp and Soundcloud, Girls Rituals isn't adopting this aesthetic ironically. The musical and aesthetic ideas she appropriates are borrowed out of sincere appreciation. On "xXx DNA xXx", the west-coast hip-hop synths are squelchy and out of tune because they want to be, in a way that's legitimately pretty. Girls Rituals' murmured vocals tame the bombast: she's a languid calm in a dissonant storm, just barely missing her notes. It's hypnotic. Strangely soothing.

According to nearly everyone who's reviewed EMERGENCY on Bandcamp, "Black Crow" is the cream of this 17-track crop. I'm inclined to agree. Painfully dysphoric lyrics, delivered dryly as usual, are paired with a carnivalesque arrangement of 16-bit riffs that moan and squeak like the Earthbound soundtrack. How do you feel listening to this? How can you feel? "Dig and dig and dig," she sings. "I smash and curse this skin." Breezy chords prop up a melting melody. "I'll be a black crow in my next life flying over an office park."

Top 10 Releases of 2017: Part 1

10. Mormon Toasterhead - monocarpic

(2017 Self-Released)

adjective [BOTANY]

(of a plant) flowering only once and then dying.

...and what it leaves behind is prickly, sturdy, and puzzling. Aligning itself with the pineapples and durians of the botanical world, Mormon Toasterhead's first of two 2017 LPs houses acid-sweet flesh inside its tough shell, which admittedly took a few attempts for me to peel. 

Toasterhead frontman Ben Klawans isn't the most hospitable host on monocarpic: the Chicagoan songwriter loads the first 15 minutes of the record with its most challenging, incoherent content. Opener "drooling, delirious, red," for example, is constructed around a rapidly looping sample that sounds like throttled windchimes, throwing back to the glitchy atonality of Animal Collective's 2002 live album Hollinndagain: Klawans mumbles a spoken word poem, his vocal fry acting as a coagulant that holds the spooky soundscape together long enough to phase into "more than monotony" and "hollow rain," two cuts that nod to Alex G's cherubic college-rock delivery while dipping into Sonic Youth's tertiary palette of free-jazz asides and ambient cooldowns.

Clocking in at six and eight minutes respectively, the pair of tracks give the listener ample time to get used to their too-trebly mastering and almost non-existent structures, filled out by full-band arrangements that defy Mormon Toasterhead's cozy, lo-fi back catalogue. As if writing a sentence that travels for pages, full of parenthetical phrases and em-dashes, Klawans jerks the reader by the wrist from dissonant riff to keyboard drone, and it's all worth it because these weird little asides are just as fascinating as the free-associative lyrics that bridge the gaps. 

Finally making your way to closer "Bright Green" is worth the price of admission. Materializing in a pretty cloud of feedback and harmonics, Klawans and Co. trudge their way through a cocktail of narcotic alt-country haze and rubber-band guitar twang that recalls Doug Martsch's work with Built to Spill. 

"remember how teeth and dandruff used to show up bright green? 

under UV disco lights, 

at your favorite bowling alley"

Metal fences rise from the gutters to catch you as you glide down the waxed lane, into the reversed guitar samples that cap the album off like the faded edge of a watercolor stroke. 

9. Aria Rostami - Reform

(2017 Zoom Lens)

FULL REVIEW

Among the ZOOM LENS label's discography of washed-out blues and cyberpunk gloom, Aria Rostami's Reform is a fragrant explosion of olives and pinks, huffing warm synth-pop melodies against IDM drums that rattle and hiss. It's wordless, but mouthed by samples and patches that could be mistaken for human voices: a chorus of hushed tones and yawns. For nearly an hour, Rostami sustains the feeling of stretching out in bed after a hard day's work, dozing off as the soreness circulates from your shins to your chest, leaving the body as a sigh of relief. If "Flim" is your favorite Aphex Twin song, this record is right in your wheelhouse.

8. youthcomics - Shower of 411 sec.

(2017 Miles Apart Records)

Kyoto quartet youthcomics stretch toward the future while still keeping a back foot planted in the pastry-flake crackle of 90's twee-punk. Their first and only release to date is this lone cassingle, but there's enough power-pop fizzed bottled up into its seven minutes of tape to overshadow many full albums released within the genre this year. 

A-side "Youth in Our Backyards" defies language barriers to supply an impossibly-catchy chorus, bookended by echoing vocals, kaleidoscopic chord changes, and crisp guitar solos that feel as hypnotic as anything DIIV pressed on their 2011 debut, Oshin. Narutoshi Ohino's vocals phase and flange beneath the cramped instrumentation, and they sound almost autotuned in a beautiful way--through vaguely folky, the record is bursting with mechatronic energy, powered by air-tight drumbreaks that'll win over any fans of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. 

B-side "Falling" feels a bit more delicate, peeling back the distortion to let Ohino extend syllables against gummy basslines and bluesy licks. If you've ever jammed to The Field Mice, Joanna Gruesome, or early Yuck, you won't be able to resist Shower of 311 sec.

Top 10 Tracks of 2016: Part 2

7. Moving In - "Water Garden"

The fluorescent yellow, full-body rain slicker Thom Yorke wore to Pinkpop Festival 1996 now navigates the surface of a mercurial pool brimming with reverb. The discarded garment's limp folds undulate against the anxious ripples of fluid that keep it afloat, its waterproof topography cupping puddles of rainfall. 

Moving In's lo-fi folk meditations are as tranquil as the newspaper's stray comics page, a faint, balled splash of faded primary colors nestled cozily in a snow-draped public park. They seem to answer only to the forces of nature, their airy tufts of acoustic chords and hypnotic keyboard drones piloting a dry winter breeze. 

"Water Garden" connects on an abstract, almost spiritual level. No particular sound or riff seems to stand out in its mix. Its stomach rising and falling in slumber to Jordan Fox's strumming pattern, the tune is a single, hibernating organism taking its yearly nap in a warm, analogue den.

6. Father - "Heartthrob"

Speaking of yellow garments and live performances, Father's in-studio performance for webzine COLORS Berlin provides a crisp 120 second primer in the "twee-trap" aesthetic that seemed to dominate Soundcloud's digital airwaves for the better part of the year. Alongside choice cuts sliced by fellow Atlanta-based artists Lil Yachty and Pollari, "Heartthrob" represents the most charming aural emissions that internet rap has to offer. Lounging on a buoyant bed of producer Meltycanon's xylophonic synths, Father flows with the enthusiasm of a plump housecat, freshly awakened from a long nap. 

Smash the snooze button; wile out in kawaii dreams.

"Use your hands, fusion dance, stay in school"

5. Rosehip Teahouse - "No Gloom"

Cut through the post-"Heartthrob" eye crust with yet another sleepy tune: Rosehip Teahouse's "No Gloom" is a somber bedroom pop reverie in the tradition of The Sundays and The Softies, keyboard tones shimmering like strands of expatriate hair revealed by the dawn's glow. The tune exists in the realm of speculation: it points its lens at dates that might be, hypothetical conversations, and a sense of hopeful optimism. Faye Rodgers and her translucent instrumentation feel like phantasmal observers in these imagined dreamscapes: their presence is not quite sensed, but it can be metaphysically detected. "No Gloom" spans the spectrum of emotion before landing squarely in the center: it's the happiest sad song this side of Bandcamp. 

Guest Review: Clifford Parody's Top 10 Albums of 2014

Running a label makes creating a year-end album list quite difficult. When I sat down, a large part of me wanted to load this up with all the albums we released this year on Swan City Sounds because really, I love everything we put out. BUT I figured that would come off snarky so to avoid feeling/looking like a self-aggrandizing asshole I decided to leave them all out (although I still encourage you to give them a listen). So, the list: this is really in no particular order, was very hard to narrow down, and the numbers are here for no other reason than to make the list a little more listy.

1. OFF! – Wasted Years (Vice Records)

            This album just rips. The longest track clocks in at a little over two minutes and the majority of them never reach the minute and a half mark. If you are looking for some quality stripped-down hardcore punk to destroy your eardrums with, this is a good place to start. Favorite track: “Death Trip on the Party Train”

2. Mac DeMarco – Salad Days (Captured Tracks)

            My wife isn’t a fan of a lot of the music I listen to, but this was one of a handful of albums dropped out this year that both of us can agree on.  I have talked to some other people who burned out on Salad Days after a number of listens but for me, this album gets better every time. This is bedroom pop for people who don’t really get down on most bedroom pop. The guitar tone is         killer and DeMarco’s gap-toothed croon shines. I love everything about it. Plus, judging from interviews and live performances I have seen, DeMarco may very well be the coolest dude in rock music today. Favorite track: “Let Her Go”

3. Supervixens – Nature and Culture

            My introduction to Supervixens came with the video for Loud Loud Loud!, a live recording of the band working in what I think is the studio but may just be their practice space, I don’t know. Either way, I was pretty blown away. Supervixens mesh beat driven guitar and bass riffs with straight noise so seamlessly that I have a hard time classifying just what kind of music it is. Loud Loud Loud is most definitely the stand out track and shifts back and forth from some of the most aggressive minutes of music I heard all year to some of the most haunting bits of ambience/noise I may ever hear in my life. These dudes incorporate hammers, chains and even power saws into their jams. What more do you need to know? Go listen to it. Favorite track: “Loud Loud Loud/Split Head”

4. Big Waves of Pretty – It Is a Sight He Never Forgets (Bridgetown Records)

            I met these guys when they played in the kitchen of my buddy Sam Martin’s (Three-Brained Robot) house last year when they were on tour with Kevin Greenspon taking on 100 dates in four months (seriously, holy shit). Not only were they both just super sweet guys, they absolutely tore it up to a crowd of maybe 20 or so people, which leads me to believe that the track “If You’re Not Going to Sparkle What the Fuck Did You Come For?” is more than just a song title – it’s words these dudes live by. BWOP is tapping into something real special on this album. They have managed to break into some kind of hyperactive spirit world and come out on the other side with six out of        control yet controlled freak out sessions to share with the masses. Favorite Track: “If You’re Not Going to Sparkle What the Fuck Did You Come For?”

5. Spooky Black – Black Silk (Self-released)

            What can I say about this? I admit, the first time I saw the video for “Without You” I thought I was being trolled. Who is this white dude in a doo rag and turtleneck? How old is he? Is he wearing a FUBU jersey? What the hell am I watching? But I kept watching, over and over again, and I soon realized   Spooky Black is not only legit, but has quickly become one of my favorite R&B             singers to date. The production on this album (album? mixtape?) is crucial – lo-fi spacy synthy beats that you can’t help but want to make babies to – and Spooky Black’s laid back and really just beautiful vocals make for the perfect compliment. Oh, and did I mention he is SIXTEEN!! Favorite track: “Without You”

6. NOTHING – Guilty of Everything (Relapse)

            Before this album came out I heard the first single, “Dig,” and I already knew it was going to be in my top ten, top five, and maybe even be my favorite album of the year period. It is. This album is, in my opinion, perfect. The hyper-present elements of shoegaze combined with the aggression of punk   and near-anthemic riffs littered throughout create something completely fresh and well-worthy of all the praise this band has received so far this year. The way the album crashes in, a minute and a half into the opening track “Hymn to the Pillory,” give me goosebumps every time. The mixing is spot on   and every tone is given just the right amount of room to burn through. Yeah, this is my favorite album of the year. And seriously, Guilty of Everything? Can you think of a more bad ass name for an album? Favorite Track: “Bent Nail”

7. Avishai Cohen’s Triveni – Dark Nights (Anzic Records)

            In many ways this was the year of jazz for me. For some reason I felt myself dragged towards Mingus, Coltrane, Davis, The Dave Brubeck Quartet, and a slew of other old-school dudes that changed the face of music as we know it. As I dug deeper into the older stuff I got to wondering if any contemporary cats were keeping those traditions alive and continue to push the envelope in the jazz-realm. Then I found Avishai Cohen. Cohen knows his way around a trumpet and, from what I have heard from him in interviews, is staying true to the improvisational and experimental motives of his predecessors. This   album was recorded in one day with only two takes of each track laid down – the best of both was then chosen for the record. Cohen’s sister pops in for a track and a couple other guest appearances round out the ever present bass-trumpet-drums trio. This album burns at the perfect speed and Cohen seems to know just when to drop in the flourishes. This is soul. Favorite track: “Dark Nights, Darker Days”

8. Mantar – Death By Burning (Svart)

            So yeah, in many ways this was the year of jazz for me, but I also found myself gravitating towards the heavier stuff. Out of all the metal I treated my ears to this year, Mantar are the stand-outs. I listened to this album four or five times before I started doing a little research on the band and couldn’t   believe when I found out it was just two guys. Seriously, this shit is soooo thick; I figured there were two guitars and a bass but no – just a drummer and guitarist. If you are looking for a little something special to bang your head to, check this album out. This guys are the future of the genre. Favorite track: “Cult Witness”

9. Kairon; IRSE! – Ujubasajuba (Self-Released)

            2014 was an amazing year for shoegaze and while bands like NOTHING and Whirr seem to be leading the charge, Kairon; IRSE! are by no means brining up the rear. This Finnish quartet, like their contemporaries, owes a debt of gratitude to the late 80’s/early 90’s ‘gazers but, again, like their contemporaries, are taking the genre and putting their own spin on it. The Kairon; IRSE! spin comes in the form of saxophone and clarinet. What? Sax and clarinet in a shoegaze track? Yes. Exactly. It’s awesome. Listen to it.   Favorite track: “Valorians”

10. Clearance – Catologue Nos. (Unsatisfied Records)

            Somehow this band flew under my radar in 2013 and I never caught wind of either of the two 7”s they released in that time. That’s okay though because now I know, and Catalogue Nos. puts both of those first 7”, some digital singles, and a couple unreleased tracks all in one place. This is quintessential 90’s slacker rock a-la everybody’s favorite band Pavement. If you love             Crooked Rain you will love Catalogue Nos. Simple as that.  Favorite track: “She’s a Peach”

Honorable Mentions:

Man Watching the Stars – “Dusk”

Kvulthammer – “Kvulthammer”

Whirr – “Sway”

Whirr/Nothing – Split

Flying Lotus – “You’re Dead!”

Iron Regan – “The Tyranny of Will”

Pup – “Pup”

thestand4rd – “thestand4rd”

Perfect Pussy – “Say Yes To Love”

Aphex Twin – “Syro”