GutterPutter

Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & the London Symphony Orchestra – Promises (26 March 2021)

Modern Classics may seldom come along into discussion nowadays, but when you have some avant-garde collaboration with famed Jazz composer & saxophonist Pharoah Sanders & electronic artist Floating Points, it adds a little bit of enchantment that makes a world of difference. Made up of multiple movements that revolve around the same melodic loop of piano, the experimentation pays off with ease for much of its duration. You can pick out the twinkly ambience of synth which, thanks to its more neutered volume thanks to the production, creates an ethereal experience to the listener as the record progresses on to one awe-inspiring crescendos after another. The previously said loop of piano can come off as being repetitive & diluting to the overall listen & rather isolating as it’s from a genre that I seldom touch on due to my lack of knowledge in music theory, but it’s a record to be amazed by. I wouldn’t count it out on it growing on me as time passes by. 4.4/5

Julien Baker – Little Oblivion (26 February 2021)

It might be the hype, it might be the musical direction, it might be the spectre from her fellow friend & acclaimed artist Phoebe Badger’s Punisher, but there’s next to nothing that’s spectacular or even interesting about Julien Baker’s second album. The production fails to raise the classic rock sounds above being completely generic, Baker’s singing & lyricism falters & while the record is around her gripes with her troubled mental health, it doesn’t resonate with me all that well. However confessional it is, it doesn’t take hold on me as much as I would’ve wanted & above all else, it reeks of being too alike to a cookie-cutter musician in the same genre as her. 1.9/5

Cassandra Jenkins – An Overview on Phenomenal Nature (19 February 2021)

The sophomore record from New York’s singer-songwriter is as blissful as its exploration on life and death. It has some light touches on indie-rock, chamber-pop & most prominently, folk music which neither builds nor hinder the listening experience of the album. Every now & then, there is a couple of tracks that stuck out as being beautiful to me like ‘Crosshairs’, but it’s not by all means a hallmark in lyrical music. For a lack of better word, it’s pleasant to the ear & that’s its greatest selling point. Just don’t expect any more from that. 3.5/5

Shame – Drunk Tank Pink (15 January 2021)

It’s danceable, sure, but how long can you hold your attention to an album like this? Out of all of the British Post-Punk albums that came out in 2021, this is among the more bland for that it feels like a stripped-down version of all of the tropes that one might’ve noted in listening to bands in the same scene as them. Same groovy guitar & bass tabs, same frantic drumming, same vaguely cynical lyrics about our society, even the vocals (which I tend to not comment too much on) feels derivative. It’s done well & the execution is admittedly more well-done than some of my more negative reviews which prevents it from sinking under a 2.5, but it never seeks to go beyond its inspiration. 2.8/5

Squid – Bright Green Field (7 May 2021)

The highly anticipated debut from experimental post-punk Squid goes all in on its kaleidoscopic array of genre influences from the likes of kautrock and math-rock to the more new-wave impressions from Talking Heads. You can hear its range very well in all of its tracks & it’s that point which enables it to stick out above much of its peers at first. The main problem being that for all its technical finesse, the lyricism didn’t grab hold of my attention well enough for me to consider looking up & decyphering it sans standouts like ‘Narrator’. Another issue is that on subsequent listens, the aforementioned variety of genre mash-ups can lead to some of the tracks starting to blend in with one another ironically speaking – expect some noises, web-like guitar riffs and glitchy productions on top of maniacal vocal performances. Is it a good album? Yes. Is it a unique album? To a degree. Is it worth taking to an island if you need to listen to just one record for the rest of your life? Not really if I were to be honest. 3.7/5

Shame – Drunk Tank Pink (15 January 2021)

Another one of the bands that find themselves flourishing in the post-punk explosion in the U.K as of recently, their debut album consists primarily of precise drumming pattern that is out of an LCD Soundsystem track, a hypnotic, intertwined exchange between guitar & bass & most notably, a deadpan, spoken-word vocal performance. The dry wit of lead singer Florence Shaw (pun unintended) helps to give the band its identity above many of its contemporaries as much of the record feels a bit too familiar to several other of its peers from my impression so far. Fans of British post-punk are going to have a knack over this but if you’re interested in something that’s notably more post than punk as per say, this might not be the most avant-garde piece of work you’ll ever hear. At least, there’s an effort to try & switch up the dynamic tabs in each track to enhance its enjoyability. 3.7/5

Mach-Hommy – Pray for Haiti (21 May 2021)

The most recent record from the anonymous East Coast rapper with some ancestry from the eponymous country has its moments of memorable bars and references, but it lacks neither the abstract lyrical charm of MF DOOM or Aesop Rock nor does the beat work out as well or as distinctively as it could’ve been. There were some features from some of the larger names like Westside Gunn but they haven’t given the record a big rise. I like some of the ad-libs every now & then with ‘Pen Rale’ for instance and its socially conscious skits is admirably done, but it’s mainly just your around-the-mill record with just about enough solid traits to barely stand above some of its peers. That being said, there is one decent cut in ‘The Stellar Ray Theory’ with its intertextual inspiration from Jay-Z’s ‘Takeover’ into a comparison with fantasising the gangsta lifestyle. 3.2/5

Parannoul – To See the Next Part of the Dream (23 February 2021)

This is another record from another anonymous artist – this time, we’re looking at one who comes from South Korea with a focus on mixing shoegaze with emo. The lyrics, as they’re sung in the artist’s native language, is one obstacle that does require translating over before getting into grips but once you can get to it, you would find a lot of self-deprecation, inner-doubt & even a teeny bit of hope amidst all of the pessimism. The bombastic layers of the instruments helps to add to the hazy feeling of the album even if they’re not necessarily the most original nor are they executed as well as what I would’ve liked. The vocal performance is a definite love-it-or-hate-it where it’s clear that the artist himself isn’t the most gifted in terms with his singing orthodoxly speaking so it can remind you a bit of Bob Dylan or Stephen Malkmus. All in all, it’s a record that is deserving of your attention if you wanted to branch out beyond the Western music scene. 4/5

Maria Arnal i Marcel Bages – Clamor (5 March 2021)

The beats are worth giving a listen to with its glitchy electronics on top of the melodic singing which I enjoy listening to, but it’s one that only gives me a rather satisfied feeling in the end. The lyrics, with some translation as it’s in Spanish, mixes up fantastical imagery with the theme of liberty, time and freedom. Needless to say, I can’t comment too much on the lyricism as I don’t know enough about the Spanish language to point out some good literary techniques, but it’s not one that have won me over all that much in the end. The production helps to further add to the epic feeling of listening to the record, but it’s also another aspect that I found little to write home about. Compared to Parannoul, there’s a more experimental sonic direction that would’ve worked well in theory, but the execution can leave more to be desired. 3.4/5

Iceage – Seek Shelter (7 May 2021)

The Danish art punk band’s most recent output proves itself to be capable of giving the whole scene its share of anthemic choruses & pulsating hits from the underground alike to Arcade Fire. The mixing can be muddled & repeated listening for the instrumentals as you can’t hear the bassline as well as you could’ve but much of the record more than makes up for its inspired singing & energetic technicalities despite the aforementioned dodgy production. With an expanded array of instruments that includes trumpets & more percussive tools to throw into the rhythm, the ambitious attempt to mix high-brow taste with an accessible pop format sticks out well above many. Whatever direction the band are planning on taking next, I can’t wait for them to iron out the befuddled production & deliver an intricate piece of alt-rock. 4/5

Lord Huron – Long Lost (21 May 2021)

Usually, I would get into detail over what I think is decent or what I think is weak, but this album fails to do much for me at all. I used to listen to Lord Huron a lot when I was starting to get into indie music more often, yet now I have grown out of it by a considerate amount at the time this new album is dropped. Much of the album is made up of tracks that is virtually the same as one another wherever it be the resigned singing or some talk about old flames over the slow rhythm of the guitar. It’s until the whopping 14 minutes’ worth of ambience in ‘Time’s Blur’ when my final impression is that it’s by all account a budget version of Wilco’s more beloved, more expansive & more innovative Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Do me a favour & go listen to that record instead because it’s more fun than this cookie-cutter outing. 2/5