There is exciting news coming up for this issue of my Capsule Review series as I have myself a good array of hot takes and pretty snappy one-liners if you are in it for my personality. I would say, as a bit of a taster, that some of the records I have managed to listen to are surprisingly good. There are a couple of gems that you would not expect (at least in my eyes) and certain records that I consider to be duds no matter their acclaim. Hopefully with the power of precision and wit, this latest issue will keep you company with the next one coming up soon. In the next few weeks, I want to do one Under the Label article which tackles what Berliners would call Neulle Deutsch Welle. Sounds interesting, don’t you think?
Taylor Swift – The Tortured Poets’ Department (19 April 2024)
While I won’t go as far as to call Taylor Swift one of my favourite mainstream artists, she does tend to have a knack at writing personal pop songs that hit her devout fanbase in the heart. The Tortured Poets’ Department attempts to distance itself away from her wave of remakes and folk/country-centred projects as she hits her thirties with the synths and self-assured confidence from 2014’s 1989. Listeners who are hoping for a change from her elegies on exes and love would feel let down due to her subliminal disses against her alleged former lovers like Matt Haley. That and there are some really, really weird comments such as how she wanted to get married in the 1830s without any racism. That comes off as a tad bit out of touch doesn’t it? This album will definitely go down as being among some of her weakest possible efforts so far. At least on the bright side, she did give a shout-out to one of the finest records in the 1980s in Hats by the Blue Nile. 1.4/5
Beyoncé – Cowboy Carter (29 March 2024)
At the time of writing, Beyonce is known to be one of the biggest names in music; a diva whose vocal singing commands boundary-pushing stylistics in the second half of her career so far. Following on from Renaissance back in 2022, Cowboy Carter tries to reclaim country music from its predominantly white songwriters into the contributions made by black cowboys and musicians between the 1800s up to now. While the ambition is something to admire, there is just something that just feels a bit off about the album. The tracks try to meld hip hop, R&B, soul, and an assortment of more black-dominated genres into the country music attempt only for it to feel too much like a hodge-podge. The #SlayQueen lyricism that Beyoncé tries to elicit in certain tracks like the cover of ‘Jolene’ feels undermined given how prolific her husband Jay-Z is in his extramarital affairs. In other words, Cowboy Carter works largely on its premise of black representation and experimentation rather than its execution where a lot of the music doesn’t sound as appealing as it could have been. 2/5
Kim Gordon – The Collective (8 March 2024)
The one half of one of America’s greatest proto-indie bands in Sonic Youth has turned toward a different avenue from her strand of post-punk. She heads off toward industrial hip hop with all the hipstery risks that could arise from it. She does not crumble under the pressure of hanging around in a young man’s game, she manages to stand tall in spite of her age. She does not try to flow, she does not evoke some form of wisdom, she does not need to prove that she’s relevant in today’s scene. What she turns toward is stream-of-conscious comments on anxieties and liberties over stuttering synths and altered samples pushed to its most deranged. Rappers have sought to push the limits of their genre and some names like Injury Reserve/By Storm or Death Grips do show potential at least. Kim Gordon goes the mile and redefines her style even forty years after she began her career. 3.9/5
Zachary McClellan – Little Raven (12 April 2024)
I would like to say that my initial reaction for Zachary McClellan’s debut from two years ago is a bit overblown in how solid the musicianship is despite the quality-check risks that come with a self-released project. Little Raven deviates from The Gyres with its acoustic instrumentation and sombre metaphors surrounding the titular raven. Similar to Edgar Allan Poe, the concept is reliant on the fleeting memories of love in all its little anguishes. The singing is more melodic, the guitarwork has a bit of emotive quality in it thanks to the fast fingerstyle picking, and the high-note violins add to the sentimentality. The issue is that it can feel overproduced with its hazy attempt at pulling off a dream pop-esque vibration in many of the tracks with its most ambient piece, ‘With Roses in her Hair’ being vibrant dullness. The competency is there, but the consistency is not unfortunately. 3.4/5
St. Vincent – All Born Screaming (26 April 2024)
The indie pop diva emerges from her 2021 record Daddy’s Home with a new and oft-so-unique work in All Born Screaming. The album is markedly produced in a way that feels spacious and alien which compliments the artist’s experimental songwriting and singing. Think fading ins and outs, the subtle vocal layerings, the harshness that is commonplace in industrial music, so on and so forth. What is especially interesting is the lyrical themes. Much as one can comment on the apparent entendres that are evocative of sexual tension, they also echo some religious pondering about the afterlife or spirituality. It is the kind of artistic work that rewards the studio as an instrument and while its overt tinkering might not be as uptight in execution as it could have been, it does offer an unconventional type of bop. 3.5/5
Julia Holter – Something in the Room She Moves (22 March 2024)
Julia Holter rose to fame as one of the most well-respected independent singer-songwriters over the course of the past decade thanks to the efforts made in 2015’s Have You in My Wilderness. Something in the Room She Moves is a more ambient piece where the mixing of the percussion is lowered in favour of minimalistic jazz. The record is inspired by her young daughter who was born during the Covid pandemic, a fact that echoes throughout each track through introspections on living, familiarity, and spirituality. It is a fascinating instance of art pop even if much of the content eschews a more pronounced instrumentation for its atmosphere. As a result, it can feel like a sleepy listen if it fails to click with you. Maybe a bedtime story is a good time to make use of this? 2.6/5
Still House Plants – If I Don’t Make It, I Love U (12 April 2024)
On one hand, the UK experimental rock band’s third album has shown a lot of studio competency in its effects. On the other hand, the instrumentation feels too grating and I would say that as a start. Its riffs fall into ear-ripping drone too often, the singing decent but out of place, and the drumming comes off as a failed attempt to mimic what makes unconventional time signatures exciting. While there are moments where it feels as if there are moments of clarity in how performance converges, If I Don’t Make It, I Love U is more akin to a second-rate Captain Beefheart cover band than it is an attempt to break rock music out of its mould. There’s a good chance that avant aficionados are going to appreciate this a lot more than I do. 1.7/5
RiTchie – Triple Digits (112) (5 April 2024)
Injury Reserve/By Storm’s main emcee has his solo debut drop in what could be best described as a hip hop shitshow. This is not to say that it’s bad at all as the beats sound as if the selected producers took their time to listen to an hour’s worth of DistantCry content. RiTchie shakes away his moroseness in favour of humour as he bemused on being the best rapper (like many) with such forcefulness that it’s blatant postmodern satire. Backing him up are effects pushed to its fullest extent like the high-pitched autotune that reeks of Carl Wheezer in his alt-right phase in ‘RiTchie Valens’, glitchy percussion in ‘Dizzy’, and ‘The Thing’s deranged offbeat jazz samples. True to his name, RiTchie is asking to make his tea bitter as possible for shits and giggles. This is not a project that needs to be taken seriously but that doesn’t mean that it’s bad at all. It’s just a bit rough around the edges with its comedy. 2.8/5
English Teacher – This Could Be Texas (12 April 2024)
The British band’s debut happens to snap like a dragon. True to the band’s name, they find in their music an elegant type of lyricism that is more admirable than many pretentious names. It sticks close to being classic rock with a handful of keyboard usage and while its sound might not come off as being the most distinct, it does offer a certain Windmill-esque kick with its riffs. The lyrics pave the way toward feelings of coming of age, romance, and the humanities which isn’t too much to write home about. Yet, the phrasings within this album are reminiscent of Morrissey’s working-class charms. Overall, this record is definitely one of the better rock projects in that while it might not break new grounds, it does inch close to its inspirations’ very best. 4/5
Kimanourke – Binjari (31 January 2024)
The Korean singer-songwriter’s debut album (based on the lack of information from their Bandcamp) is a yearnful, but beautiful piece that moves at its own pace. As the Bandcamp page hints, Binjari fixates itself on the titular theme of absence, whether that be a longing for nostalgia or a dulled breakup that changes how our normal life looks now. The scales are as smooth as butter, its wave-like ringing from each note feeling like being outside on a beach at night. It’s tranquil, delicate, angelic in its charm and the way that it makes use of other instrumentation is nicely nuanced. It only engulfs itself in its chamber orchestration at specific points like in ‘Oddities’ without overstaying its welcome. This is a gem worth protecting. 4.4/5
Kali Uchis – ORQUÍDEAS (12 January 2024)
Kali Uchis is one of America’s more hyped pop artists who, compared to many of her contemporaries, is more into making Reggaeton-influenced albums in Spanish. Meaning ‘Orchids’ in the mentioned language, ORQUÍDEAS takes its dembow riddim seriously as virtually all of the tracks offer their own kind of groove. The ways that the electronic kicks mesh well with the synths in its own syncopated ways is a pleasure to listen to. Production-wise, it is sharp as a knife. Mark ‘Sounwave’ Spears, Nolan Lambroza, Richard ‘P2J’ Isong, and many others have helped to give the album its seductive, sensual, and sensitive edge. That being said, I would admit that Uchis’s singing in general just sounds impressive without having much flexibility over the tone or expressiveness outside of alluring whispers. If it does break out as being influential in the future, ORQUÍDEAS is more likely going to be looked back on for the behind-the-scenes works than its headlining star. 3.4/5
The Jesus and Mary Chain – Glasgow Eyes (22 March 2024)
In the 1980s, the Jesus and Mary Chain were among one of the most influential bands to have come out of Britain as their heavy reverberations have long influenced noise rock and the later shoegaze genre. In Glasgow Eyes, released nearly forty years after their debut Psychocandy, the band sticks to their guns and push forward tracks with hazy guitar feedback and echoey vocals. It does not work out as well as the band would have liked relative to some of their contemporaries now let alone at its peak. Some parts of drone, reverbs, or feedback feels too superficial to evoke any sense of tingling to our ears. The themes feel generic with nothing else that sticks out. What this record feels like is a byproduct of a byproduct of the 80s. It’s not one that aficionados are going to enter. Instead, it’s for the fans. 1.2/5
Yard Act – Where’s My Utopia? (1 March 2024)
The follow-up to 2021’s The Overload carries on the certain dance-punk specialisation from the UK band although the half-assed half-rap half-sung vocals wasn’t as prominent as it once was. What could be deduced however was its transparent ode to a certain Damon Albarn project called Gorillaz. From its bored intonations to the sharper pronunciations of the bassline, the record funks around, but it doesn’t pop as often as it could have. It instead passes off more as a c-side project from one of David Bowie’s less avant-garde phases. The production only serves to amplify the absolute monotony of the whole project. Check yourself out if you are more fussy with rhythmic kinds of music. 1.9/5
Tapir! – The Pilgrim, Their God and the King of My Decrepit Mountain (26 January 2024)
Tapir! is an avant-folk British band who decides to set their foot at the door to greatness through a concept album about a fantastical journey between the traveller and the monster called the Pilgrim. Compared to many other folk records for this year, it’s a more idiosyncratic effort with relatively unconventional time signatures, electronic accompaniments, and post-rock’s crescending song structures. While this lends credence towards its epic highs, it does sometimes feel a bit extravagant in how it tries to convey the modern odyssey. The instrumental interludes especially might have pushed the pseudo-rock opera inspirations a tad bit too far when it’s made into an individual track without being a part of another, clearer-intended track. Feel free to give it a listen if a seemingly strange kind of folk record is up to your liking. 3.4/5
GutterPutter 
Leave a comment