Wednesday, June 22, 2016

2016 Music Mid-Year Report: "meh."

It's been hard to follow the music scene this year. It's been a year of "meh." Whatever my vote is for Album Of The Year, it will come in the second half of this year. At least I hope so. Because yeah, I've heard some good and great albums so far. But nothing beyond that. I'm still waiting for the big one.
If anything is interesting in the music world this year, it's where the best music is coming from. In February, two of the most entrepreneurial artists from last decade (Animal Collective + Kanye West) released albums in the same week!
...And they were both "meh."
When the underground experimental icons Animal Collective become irrelevant and the beat-making machine Kanye West becomes lazy, we know something's awry in the music world. But let's judge what the music scene's like by looking at some of my favorite albums of 2016 so far.

The Old Guys Strike Back
Radiohead A Moon Shaped Pool 
Age of average band member: 46.8. I didn't think I'd be a fan of a new Radiohead album. Everything's felt like an electronica-flavored downhill slope after In Rainbows. Yet Johnny Greenwood's recently taken to composing symphonic movie soundtracks, which shows on every track on this album. The production from Nigel Godrich sounds as up-to-date as ever. Thom Yorke is an old fart now and can no longer vocalize paranoia like he used to. Here, he instead plays a sentimentally existential narrator. The album may seem boring to some, but I hear aging music prophets admitting that they've considered giving up (love? music? life itself? something). Backed by some of their most complex harmonies yet, it fills a missing space in their catalog.
Sturgill Simpson A Sailor's Guide to Earth 
Age: 38. A major-label country album? On a Scott list? Say it ain't so! I'll admit, this album is as corny as it is wise. An unlikely favorite. It's a concept album based on Sturgill's letters to his wife and son while he was serving for the U.S. Navy, based in Japan. The strings sound nostalgic and the horns sound raw throughout the album. He gives an album full of life lessons while making references to Kim Jong-il and Nintendo 64. The album's center-pieced by a Waylon Jennings-esque cover of Nirvana's "In Bloom," which flows remarkably, strangely natural with the album in both theme and composition. Then he wraps up the album with an old-man rant about the media where he violently sums up all the beautiful life lessons he's given us: "The bullshit's got to go!" 
David Bowie Blackstar 
Age: 69 (deceased). I had a hunch this album was gonna be good with its two lead singles "Blackstar" and "Lazarus." The album did not disappoint. Now when we listen to this, it's hard not to think about his death that closely followed its release. Almost every song on here talks about death. Dying between a Sunday night and a Monday morning, we now have the only logical (and prophetic) interpretation of the lyric "Where the f*** did Monday go?" And even without his death, you can't deny that Bowie worked his butt off on this album, which contains his most consistently exciting work in years. This might be my favorite album of the year so far.
And that's what's wrong with 2016. Upon first listen, I imagined this song making my top 10 list at the end of the year. But #1? We still have 6 months...

Hip-Hop, etc
Anderson .Paak Malibu
R&B songwriter Anderson .Paak showed up on last year's Dr. Dre album. If he didn't have a proper follow-up album, his name could be easily forgotten with time. But Paak delivers a different story track-after-track on Malibu. The music is R&B, but the beats are hip-hop. Frank Ocean hasn't released in album in 4 years, so this might be as close as we're gonna get.
Kendrick Lamar untitled unmastered.
It's no surprise that Kendrick Lamar is on this list. What's surprising is that this is what his music sounds like when he's not even trying! 34 minutes of demo tracks, and it's still the most quality jazz instrumentals and straight rapping I've heard all year. Without any glossy production work (or even song titles), Kendrick shows versatality in his songwriting with his least commercial release yet.
Chance The Rapper Coloring Book
I've always passed Chance The Rapper off as "meh." I've loved a couple tracks by him, but he hasn't kept me invested for an entire album until now. These songs are beautifully textured with gospel and jazz elements. The production is top-notch, especially on "No Problem" and "Angels." I guess that out of all 14 tracks, there are a couple duds. But the high moments are glorious; themed around family, memories and praise. Actually, this album might be my favorite album of the year so far.
And this is also a problem with 2016. The actually "rapping" on here is easily beat out by Kendrick, among others. But if anything, the aesthetic of this album is possibly this year's most colorful. Chance The Rapper could respectively be renamed Chance The Producer. I guess with so many "scene" rappers trying to make their own Dark Fantasy, it's nice to have a Coloring Book.

More Than "meh." 
--Beyonce's Lemonade is actually pretty memorable. I'm glad popular artists like her are getting more personal. But on the other hand, where's the commercial love for Benji? Everybody in America wants to know who "Becky with the good hair" is, but nobody asks about "the girls at Panera Bread." 
--James Blake's The Colour In Anything is way too long, but if you like James Blake, it's worth it just to hear his voice for 75 minutes.
--Car Seat Headrest's Teens Of Denial proves that they're more than just some middle-of-the-road indie rock band. The songs are musically epic and lyrically intriguing. It's growing on me.
--Parquet Courts' Human Performance is their best in 3 years. It's not scrappy minimalist punk by any means. I'd say the guitars sound "cold."
--Swans' The Glowing Man would fall under the "old guys" category, but I have so much to write about it, I can't help but be overly brief: It's scary.
--King Gizzard & The Lizard's Wizard Nanagon Infinity has the most random shtick any album's ever had: The beginning literally loops with the album's end. You can hit the CD repeat button a CD player and there will be no hiccup between listen 1 and listen 2. I mean, the album itself is pretty good. Some violent, weird, psych-rock/garage-rock. Not sure what it all means though...
--David Cobb gets various country artists on his Southern Family compilation concept album. All songs written and produced by Cobb, we hear artists like Jason Isbell, Jamey Johnson and Miranda Lambert present individual members of a southern family.
--Death Grips' Bottomless Pit sounds like a Death Grips album.

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