Hi, everyone! It's crazy to believe we just got through the third quarter of 2020 music in the blink of an eye. With the end of the year fast approaching, I certainly have to get to work on picking out some of my favorite albums and songs. Though September may not have been the best month for albums score-wise, I certainly had a great time revisiting albums that I've enjoyed this year- as well as ones from the past. Here are some of the albums and songs I checked out in September- hope you enjoy!
Future Past Life- STRFKR
I used to be a big STFRKR fan back in the day, but haven’t been listening to a lot of their stuff as much recently. The Portland-based indie vets dropped an ambient LP in late August, reminiscent of the Vault era in their discography. I checked it out, and it was okay. I ended up choosing their release from April because I wanted to see how much their style had changed since the heyday of Miracle Mile and Being No One, Going Nowhere. Right from the get-go, I definitely noticed some significant differences. First of all, the music doesn’t sound as synth-driven as past projects. There’s more inclusion of fuzzy guitar tones that you would be hearing from many of the bedroom and dream pop artists as of late. It’s not necessarily my favorite sound for them, but it’s not as disappointing as my second, and most palpable, a revelation: Future Past Life makes STRFKR look so painfully off their game that it’s not even funny. Across the ten tracks, it didn’t feel like much original thought or feeling was put into this music. Rather, it was more of an excuse for Josh Hedges and company to put something out to stay relevant. They chose to do that by basically ripping off Oracular Spectacular by MGMT, Lonerism by Tame Impala and various sounds from early 2010s Beach House projects like Bloom or Teen Dream. The projects have already been milked to death, so why make another project that is so fungible? While the record starts off fairly clean with cuts like “Dear Stranger,” “Never the Same,” “Deep Dream,” plus “Sea Foam” coming in later on, most of the middle and late stretches of the record are just so damn bizarre. “Second Hand,” “Better Together,” “Budapest” with bazzreviews interviewee Shy Boys, “Palm Reader,” and the one-two ambient finale of “Pink Noise” and “Cold Comfort” really cemented my boredom with the project. It’s definitely a tough loss for me as a fan of the group, but I sort of feel for the band in a way. It might not have ended up being the best for a reason: while I cannot speak on behalf of the band, I’m sure it’s a little difficult to keep switching and tapping into making shortform experimental music and full-fleshed indie pop music. Sure, you could argue that they are somewhat related, but I feel like they should be sticking to one genre going forward. 5.5/10
The Ascension- Sufjan Stevens
I kind of have a weird relationship with Sufjan Stevens. See, he is an artist I love tremendously for such a small body of work - predominantly Illinois and Carrie and Lowell. Yet, every time he releases an album, I am always intrigued to see what he does regardless... but in recent times, I proceed to get let down. The last five years have been a bizarre time for Stevens, for he’s been floating in the headspace of experimental classical music. I really don’t think that’s where he shines. In fact, those who saw my review of his release from earlier this year, Aporia will know I didn’t give it the most favorable score. Upon hearing that The Ascension would be his first “full solo studio album” since Carrie and Lowell, that gave me hope that it could be a return to form. Sufjan is still “reinventing” his style on The Ascension, this time in the form of an electro-pop/folk/rock/ambient soundscape. Those who have heard 2010’s The Age of Adz would argue that this is basically the same premise, but I think this record clearly borrows heavily from different sources: acts like Radiohead, Bjork, and Oneohtrix Point Never are ones that come to mind. Sufjan did find a way to make those ideas sound original, though. Maybe not as much the production, but very much so on the vocal and lyrical sides of things. “Make Me An Offer I Cannot Refuse,” “Run Away with Me,” “Lamentations,” “Ursa Major,” “Landslide,” one of Stevens’ best song in YEARS in “Goodbye To All That,” and the title track were all some big highlights here. I still couldn’t help but feel like there were a few moments across the fifteen tracks where I felt bored. The record’s lead single “Video Game,” “Die Happy,” “Antivan,” and “Gilgamesh,” were some songs I didn’t ever find myself very invested in. I also think it’s of note to discuss the two experimental tracks on the end of the record, “Sugar” and “America.” They’re quite problematic because those two tracks alone make up just over twenty-five percent of the runtime. Yeah, you heard that right. I really was not a fan of “Sugar,” but parts of “America” actually sounded pretty cool in their own right. What might have actually worked out better is if those remnants could have been sprinkled in as an interlude or two across the project? Even though the record is far from perfect, I think Sufjan took a step in the right direction here. I could get down with a more refined record of this sound down the road, provided he doesn’t change course once again. 7.5/10
Nectar- Joji
Joji is another artist I’ve been wanting to get back into recently, and what perfect time to do it with the release of Nectar. Dropping at the end of this past month, the former Internet sensation-turned-musician George Miller is currently signed to 88rising. Many returning viewers will know this is a label I’ve talked about quite a bit before. They revived Rich Brian (fka Rich Chigga) with The Sailor last year, as well as Miller’s new personality as Joji across the last three years. Both of his projects, 2017’s In Tongues and 2018’s Ballads 1 sport some really awesome cuts. After hearing two of the lead singles for this record, “Gimme Love” and “Daylight,” some eyebrows were raised on my end. This “happier” sound was not a great look for him. I don’t know if that’s a choice on his part or the part of his record label, but, I digress. After diving into the record, I was kind of relieved to see that it ended up aligning with the ethos of past Joji projects: rather emotionally-charged, sad-boy music. It had more diverse, high-fidelity production, but, here’s the catch: nothing ever feels grounded. A lot of instrumentals never really clicked with Joji’s overall style, leaving all of these cooks in the kitchen to have Nectar end up being a mess sonically. While I think the opener “Ew,” isn’t a half-bad effort, its follow-ups “MODUS” and “Tick Tock” are arguably some of the worst and most vanilla tracks on the record. Pair that with other duds like “Run,” last year’s single release “Sanctuary,” and “NITROUS,” plus the majority of the cuts on the back half, and you’re really not left with much to savor. I think the two Joji-only tracks I somewhat enjoyed somewhat were “777,” and “Your Man.” They were the only genre-bending cuts that fit in on here, I guess. Now, let’s break down the feature tracks, because those were another story. He certainly picked a unique cast of characters to come on here, and some worked out better than others: For starters, Lil Yachty on “Pretty Boy?” Bad. Omar Apollo on “High Hopes?” Not great. “Afterthought” with BENEE? Pretty good. “Normal People” with Rei Brown? Surprisingly decent. I think out of the bunch, and the one that took me by absolute surprise, was Yves Tumor’s contributions on “Reanimator.” This tandem seemed like it wouldn’t work out at all, but it somehow… did? Not amazing, but still not too bad. Anyways, despite the two-year wait for new Joji music, Nectar goes down as one of the more underwhelming projects that has come out in 2020. It’s long, unfocused, and really doesn’t represent who George Miller is as a musician. As I mentioned earlier, I’ve now become a little more concerned that he’s starting to fall into that industry trap of having to make music for other people and not himself. I’ve been rooting for his music career since the beginning, and I’m hoping that he can figure out where he wants to go stylistically for future releases. 6/10
Punisher- Phoebe Bridgers
Well, various sources have been saying this is one of the best albums of 2020. To think that I have gone three years without hearing one of the LA folk star’s solo albums feels like a crime in the music reviewing world. Sure, I’ve reviewed Bridgers’ work before - last year’s Better Oblivion Community Center with Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst - but that wasn’t a project I was all too fond of. Going into Punisher blind allowed me to come out with open eyes. I can’t believe how incredible this record was. The compositions, the lyrics, the vocals, nothing seems to be faltering. In a sense, I thought I was listening to a female counterpart of Justin Vernon. Unlike the disaster of an album STRFKR created, Phoebe doesn’t seem to be mocking him or trying to recreate a performance. Rather, she’s building more of the foundation of a hypothetical building from where Vernon’s i, i left off. I kind of like this new neo-folk sound that these artists are pioneering, which you see on tracks like “Garden Song,” the title track, “Halloween,” “Chinese Satellite,” and “Savior Complex.” You can’t help but just sit there and be overwhelmed with what Bridgers is creating throughout. Gone are the days of this very skeletal, acoustic folk-rock of the late 90s and early to mid-2000s; I think it’s a nice breath of fresh air to see these quieter artists go with a little more maximalism in their mixes. Even the tracks that don’t conform to the folk ethos- the bedroom poppy “ICU” and garage-rock influenced “Kyoto” both fit beautifully within the tracklist as well. Like I mentioned above, nearly everything about this record is pretty damn incredible. The only two songs I really didn’t find myself getting into that much were “Moon Song” and “Graceland Too.” Both were beautifully-crafted, but just not my thing. After quite a few listens, I hope that it’s clear to see how much Punisher left an impact on me. Last year, I made some very bold predictions early in the year about which would end up being in my top ten, but I think that ended up failing miserably. As the third quarter of music is coming to a close, there are some songs that became some of my favorites of the year, maybe the album itself ending up in the top ten… so, who wants to put a wager on that? 9.5/10
Notes on a Conditional Form- the 1975
The 1975 is one of those bands that I’ve heard a lot of buzz about, but heard little music from… based on all of the other album blurbs so far, you can only imagine what I’ll be saying here: “Yep, haven’t heard any music from this group, so I’m gonna change that!” Notes on a Conditional Form was an interesting listen, to say the least. Part rock, part dance, park folk, part... classical? Yes, all four of those completely unrelated genres all end up playing a major role in this album. I really don’t know if that was the best look for them. Of course, I’m saying this as the idiot who only knows “Chocolate” and “Sex” by these guys. But, I think that driving rock sound that allowed them to shoot into the spotlight is very strong on this record. Songs like “People,” “Me & You Together Song,” “Nothing Revealed/Everything Denied” and “If You’re Too Shy (Let Me Know),” and “Guys” were probably the best songs that the group had to offer here. When you consider that this record is twenty-two tracks and coming in at a whopping eighty minutes long, that’s a little concerning to have only picked a handful to say were “enjoyable.” Most of the record’s other songs just never struck a chord with me. Nothing is exceptionally good, nor is anything remarkably awful; it’s all just there, in its cluttered, oversaturated glory. I’ll give the guys this: the two classical tracks on the first half sound pretty great on their own, but it’s sort of annoying to have to sit through that, followed by a track with a completely different style, then that again. I also took offense to the acid house fusion tracks on here. That’s a genre I really love hearing, especially from guys like Mall Grab and Ross From Friends. Aside from “Having No Head” later on the record, this idea ends up being an idea that fell flat on its ass. I don’t like the mellower tracks, specifically “The Birthday Party.” It’s an increasingly worse display of sheer incompetence by the group. After going through this a few times, what might have ended up being a unique idea was if the band made it a four-part record; by devoting each quadrant of the overall album to each of the musical ideas the group wanted to explore, everything would have become a little more coherent and easy to listen to. They could have put the familiar 1975 style on side one, then the other experimental styles being added to the subsequent sides. I definitely want to review one of the 1975’s earlier releases in January-March when I review and revisit classic albums, but let’s just say my first impression was a little less than ideal. 6/10
SONGS OF THE MONTH:
Hey Lover- Wabie
O Descobridor Dos Sete Mares- Tim Maia
Funny Thing- Thundercat
September 10- lvusm
Into Dust- Bladee
Blueberry Hill- Elvis Presley
Please Stay- The Cryin’ Shames
Too Close- Alex Clare
Confused ?- Confusing Guy
Long Distance- Sam Gellaitry
BONUS MATERIAL- SINGLE REVIEW:
“Maple Blue”- Honeyboys
A very big shoutout to Sebastian Cowsill, Honeyboys’ manager, for reaching out to me to give a review on their music. It’s not often that I am asked to do that, but just know that I am always happy to take your submissions!
A little bit of background on these guys: After an explosive debut single earlier this year, “I Just Wanna Know,” the San Luis Obispo, California-based band Honeyboys are dropping their newest single, “Maple Blue” on October 7th. The group has gathered a lot of support from the incredibly rich music community that is SLO, and I’m very happy that I am giving them the coverage they rightfully deserve.
I really liked the direction the group is taking here. I don’t want this to sound cliched, but “Maple Blue” definitely sounds like something you’d hear on Spotify’s curated playlist, “Bedroom Pop.” From the reverby vocals, driving bassline and jazzy synths, there is certainly a lot of potential for these guys down the road. I really hope you guys enjoy this song as I do! Once again, the song will be released this coming Wednesday!
As always, I hope you are able to find something from this list that you want to check out. For those of you who have already listened to these projects, do you agree with my takes? Was there an album you thought I rated too high, too low, or an album you think I should be reviewing? If so, feel free to reach out to me! I'm always interested to hear what my "fans" are listening to.
I also want to give a quick update on BazzFest. We are just about two weeks away from launch date, and I will be announcing the streaming time for it within the next week. Donations are still open for Campaign Zero, and you can Venmo me, the_bazz_28_ if you'd like to help out. No amount is too small, and I hope you will join me in this cause to help fight for a better tomorrow. In the meantime, October certainly has some exciting content coming up, and I hope to see you back here checking it all out!
