By virtue of not having properly blogged in over a year, I've got a LOT of music to get through. Some of the 'new music' I discovered back in 2018, so if you're wondering if I'm the type to procrastinate, wonder no more.
First I want to ruminate a bit on the state of music in the 2010s (since I'm still procrastinating on my epic blog post about the 2010s). It was the decade of women, for sure. The biggest stars (Adele), the most influential songmakers (Florence + the Machine, Sia), the most talked-about (Cardi B), the most iconic (Lady Gaga, Beyonce), the most divisive (Lana del Rey), were all women, and I believe this happened organically. It's simply how the decade played out.
It was also the Decade of Pop. I read an interesting article about how pop slowly became legitimized after the 90s/00s reign of alternative and rock; that hipster music mags and critics could no longer make money turning their noses up at the genre that was taking over everything. And everything went pop: rock, r&b, country, folk - you wouldn't believe how many artists betrayed their early, earnest acoustic or subversive catalogues for bass, synth and reverb. It's so across the board that it seems most just gave up and realized they'd have to follow the pop storm in order to stay relevant. It is very, very interesting to me.
I also love (good) pop, always have. I never thought it was illegitimate. I'm inclined to say that in the 2010s artists discovered how much there was to work with in the genre (which simply means 'popular' but has for decades meant 'pap') and that it could be fun. Sure, there were plenty of other cultural forces at work, but that's definitely a different blog post. It no longer had to mean the ubiquity of made-to-order songs like "Livin' La Vida Loca" or the out-and-out paint-by-numbers pablum of the early Britney Spears and Backstreet Boys days. Now pop is layered, creative, collaborative, and can be made in your bedroom if you've got the setup.
(Remember that brief era of insanity in the mid-2000s when, if an unknown band made it big, their fans wept and gnashed their teeth? They didn't want their favorite band to be popular. They wanted the alt cred that came along with only enjoying things other people had never heard of or couldn't understand or enjoy. Since the music put out by these bands was, to a classically trained ear, utter shit, I've always wondered if maybe those rabid fans were just using shit music to feel untouchably cool. Tragically hip, if you will)
Additionally, those hipsters realized that pop could be made by 'real' musicians, too. Back in the day the definition of a 'real' musician or band was people who wrote their own songs and played their own instruments and made their own way, and while you can't argue with that, it's a bit obtuse. A huge part of the rancor against American Idol was the supposedly foolproof criticism that the contestants and winners weren't real musicians - they just churned out pre-approved albums crafted by the latest Swedish hitmaker. Regardless of your opinion of the show, I wouldn't say that, for example, opera singers weren't real musicians just because they didn't write music or libretto. Someone who sings is a musician, period. But that sort of logic wasn't allowed back in the day. Rules were rules.
Then came along Lady Gaga and Katy Perry. At very first rejected not only for their pop sensibilities but their showiness, the masses complained that they couldn't sing and weren't real musicians. Then the women began performing live everywhere and proved that they could sing. Then it came out that they'd written their songs. Then it came out that they even wrote songs for other big acts. Then we saw them playing piano and guitar, respectively. Wait, whaaa? How is this possible??... People who can sing and write and play, they don't make pop music!! Funnily and obviously enough, those early naysayers were never heard from again.
And so things went from there and it became the Decade of Pop. I personally think it was the best era of music since the 80s which, probably not coincidentally, was also heavy on melodic pop. It will be interesting to see where the 2020s take us; I'm prepared to be let down.
Ok - time for new (to me) music!
Chloe x Halle
More sisters! I discovered them via their short and out-of-nowhere performance on the Grammys last year, where they caught my ear because of their beautifully operatic voices. That particular telecast was unapologetically all about women artists, a gimmick I would normally criticize except that my biggest issue with the Grammys is it only awards the most popular acts; it's not a place for the truly best music to be showcased or discovered. These last two years have started to make up for that. Anyway, all of Chloe x Halle's discography is imminently listenable and enjoyable - it's R&B with an orchestral flair here, an experimental flair there, and really proves that their generation are ready to embrace pretty much anything.
My favorite songs come from their 2018 album The Kids Are Alright (especially the gorgeous and precious "Cool People"); I do notice that of their three albums of original music, each one is less creative and devil-may-care than the last, and Ungodly Hour, released this year, is almost vanilla in comparison. But, they have so much talent, and are so young with so much left to give, I'm not really worried.
Brandi Carlile
Oh my God, where to start? I guess with the text from my best friend telling me to listen to the album By the Way, I Forgive You which was nominated for several Grammys in 2019 including Album of the Year. The sheer depth of wisdom and pain in the lyrics coupled with the heavy harmonies and acoustics of the best folk music made me a believer on first listen. I only knew Carlile from her hit "The Story" from at least fifteen years ago - another song that a best friend made me listen to - and this was like hearing her for the very first time. (Especially since she has gone full country/folk since her early rock-leaning days) It was also like listening to Dolly and Tanya and Carol and Jonny all in one old soul. This truly was the album of the year, even though it lost to the light and feathery The Golden Hour, and quite possibly one of the best of the decade (yes, in the decade of pop!).
Her previous album, The Firewatcher's Daughter, is excellent - a little more color, a slight bit more variety in tone, and an obvious predecessor to Carlile's eventual triumph; listen to them in a row, and thank me later. She is also credited with saving The Secret Sisters (by having them open for her to get back on their feet, and also producing two of their latest albums) and being one of the hardest working women in music today. The only thing I absolutely cannot believe is that we are the exact same age.
Muse
I literally listened to Simulation Theory upon its release in late 2018 because of the album cover. I had a hazy memory of a band called Muse (think they were nominated for a bunch of Grammys one year), but I knew it to be rock band. But this - this was something else entirely. First of all, that album cover screamed Blade Runner and Back to the Future and Stranger Things all at once so I guess you could say I at least knew what I was getting into when I pressed play. And holy 80s was I right. An epic song cycle straight from the darkest alleys and grimiest arcades and tackiest condos and neon-est lights that synthetic decade ever produced, with the theme of waking up and breaking out and fighting the machine, the algorithm, the simulation.
Leadoff song "Algorithm" sets the stage perfectly and betrays the band's intimate knowledge of classical music in between the fits and starts of techno synth; after that, every song has its own 80s personality, with stylings that clearly call to Prince, George Michael, The Eurhythmics, and Queen. (And is "Get Up and Fight" the best Katy Perry song Katy Perry never made? Yes it is! Anachronism notwithstanding) I suggest getting the deluxe edition - it takes at least half of the songs and reimagines them acoustically (since they are rockers who, yes, went Pop); the complete change of "The Dark Side" to a piano-driven ballad showcases the real limits of fantastic songwriting. (Also, "Break It To Me" is the aural equivalent of a male striptease. Sigh)
Maggie Rodgers - she's been heralded as the Next Big Thing and probably for good reason; she's a songwriting wunderkind who has also already made a name for herself as a producer. Her debut album is chunky servings of R&B/pop/soul and several earworms; on repeat listenings some of the songs reveal themselves to be almost-but-not-quite-great, but overall - and seeing as how the record company apparently gave her like three minutes to write an entire album - it's a great forecast of things to come.
Clairo - this teen from Massachusetts is flying a little under the radar but is definitely worth the listen. In a reverse from Amy Shark, her full-length album is much better than her EP, so skip the EP. She has a cool vibe laid over fresh beats and at times the music itself is lovely and evocative, like songs "Alewife" and "Sophia." Clearly a child of the LDR era, Clairo deserves to be better known.
Billie Eilish - there's not much I can say that hasn't already been said, so I'm just including her (and her brother!) here for the record. I do prefer her EP over her proper album, which feels like it's trying too hard to cement her image as "disturbed young woman," and I imagine her Grammy wins this year were really for the double effort. Another child of LDR, the future is bright with this one.
Plumb - Christian contemporary alert! If you listen to Beautifully Broken just once you'll end up listening a dozen times and maybe even considering conversion. Plumb (the mononym of lead singer Tiffany Arbuckle as well as the name of her band) has been around since the 90s; you may have heard their song "God-Shaped Hole" as it was featured in Bruce Almighty. I was only slightly familiar with them but knew they had the goods; I randomly clicked on Plumb's latest album last year and that was it. This pop/dance/electronica wonderland (with even a touch of dubstep!) is just about as good as it gets in the arena of contemporary religious music, and as for the lyrics, they are just this side of more realistic and confessional than the usual "God is great."
And now, for music from some of my faves that has been released since the last music roundup:
Bon Iver - or as he'll insist you call him, Justin Vernon, is one of those artists I kept in the back of my mind in waiting for the day when they finally release music that aligns with my preferred ear palette. I cottoned on early to his debut, For Emma, Forever Ago, which has the great "Skinny Lover," but it was not on a whole a repeat listener for me. Neither were the next two albums, and now we have i,i. With this album it feels like Bon Iver finally gave in and let the melodies flow while keeping all of their lo-fi quirkiness intact, and "Hey, Ma" is kind of the perfect song.
Ellie Goulding - She's back. (Sobs loudly) In 2015 I roundly denounced her third album Delirium for being a bare-faced cash grab calculated to capitalize on her rising star that ended up being the worst of what pop is capable of. Not only do I stand by that, but Ellie agrees with me. And she took the time to find herself again (five years, to be exact), and is back with Brightest Blue. It doesn't reach the heights of Halcyon - but nothing does. It is her music, and it is honest, and it is so very welcomed. She's found that she still needs to write about the relationship(s) that forever changed her, and having come out on the other side her lyrics represent the soul finding love in itself before anything else. I am so heartened to know that when I needed to know someone understood my pain, she was there with Halcyon, and now when I can look back on the skin I shed and left behind, she is here to put those feelings to words too. Thank you, Ellie. I love you.
Hozier - I loved the short iTunes review by a fan who called him a forest witch, because that's what he is: made of beautiful feminine magic. How he can consistently create such haunting songs, such rapturous melodies, and still jam like it's 1963 I will never understand, I simply must accept it, and accept it I do. His lyrics are every bit as stunning and poetic and when you really listen to them, they change you. Listening to Hozier is like dreaming a numinous dream.
Banks - Another artist I held out hope for, and with her latest album III she has delivered on the promises made by her first studio efforts. She took the bones of what worked with her synthy, almost dream pop and strengthened them with bigger melodies, crunchier beats, and a wider variety of both acoustic and eletronic tones. It's almost a new sound - color-wise it's burnt orange, as opposed to blacks and grays, and so it seems to feel more deeply and affect more immediately. Over time I have begun to think of it as one of the better albums of the decade - definitely tune in.
James Blake - Since he already put out one of the top two albums of the 2010s with The Colour in Anything, I did not expect him to top that with Assume Form, and he didn't, but then each album came from a completely different place. Again I maintain that heartache ultimately creates better music than love, and right now he is In Love, and so his latest album is more upbeat, lighter, not over-thought. There are definitely highlights and the album deserves repeated listens. Apocryphal story alert!: back in 2017 I tweeted about him while using his handle, and then one of my next tweets was some lame rumination like 'neo-post-alt-brostep lullaby." What's the last song on Assume Form? "Lullaby." (Ok, "Lullaby For My Insomniac" but he had to connect it to his life somehow)
Lo-Fang - I guess the important thing is he is still alive. While not ingesting mushrooms in a cave in Portugal, Matthew Hemmerlein managed to cobble together an album of sounds based on his recent years spent discovering the secrets of the universe through psychotropics. So, I haven't listened to it. It may be the greatest thing I've ever heard. I will probably never know. But again, the important thing is that this unheralded musical genius still has the will to share his art with us.
Haim - The sisters are back and right on schedule. They've said that their main goal with this album was to just experiment and accept the results. Something to Tell You was pure, pure pop and now Women in Music 3 pulls back into more acoustic stylings, with a breezy summer sound that dips into the 70s more than a few times (even giving us those Joni Mitchell shivers). For me it's not as track-by-track affecting as STTY but it is very fun to listen to in its own way and I think they made the perfect follow-up.
Joseph - More sisters, more music. Good Luck, Kid is their third full-length album and yet again a force to be reckoned with. The harmonies, the lyrics, the hooks, they're still all here in a testament to their artistry. Now no longer ostensibly a folk group, this set of songs sounds big - really big - almost 2013 big, and therefore just a little bit off-center of the current musical landscape. It may even be the last Big Pop album of the decade, as things start to quiet down a bit. Of course that hasn't stopped me from listening to the whole thing approximately 983 times.
Lady Gaga - she's back from her post-ARTPOP wandering years, back from singing "Edelweiss" and kicking it with Tony Bennett and wearing no makeup in a feature film. With Chromatica she has returned, even if only temporarily, to the dance pop she's famous for (and best at). But God, "Stupid Love" is insanely catchy, as is "Plastic Doll" and the random duet with Elton John ("Sine From Above") that makes him sound the best he has in years. On a whole the album is not as torturously epic as ARTPOP but it still cannot reclaim the effortlessness of The Fame Monster (maybe still her best album). I'm glad she's back, though. We need a big dose of the familiar right now.
Secret Sisters - Yup, they are back again. Now wives and mothers to a little girl each (and, as mentioned, produced again by Brandi MF'n Carlile), their music has gotten even more profound and sentimental. The sound has widened on Saturn Return to include more instrumentation for a folk-rock feel, but the sweetest moments are still undeniably gorgeous and as beautiful as the best songs on You Don't Own Me Anymore. I never thought I'd say this, but I'm kind of hoping on their next album to see a few rays of light.
Ray Lamontagne - Yup, he's finally back. Ray had one of the top albums of the 2000s with Trouble, and he followed up with albums slightly grander and deeper but still delivering on his debut's perfectly folksy promise. Then he met Jack Antonoff and spun into a 60s/70s psychedelic rock phase that lasted like three freaking albums. Again - I have protested before the general public's inability to allow artists to grow and change, but sometimes the general public has a point. Ray is a folk god. That is all. Some years ago I found bootlegs of his pre-Trouble recordings and I swear those songs are still some of the best ever written. Therefore, one album experimenting? Eh, ok. Three?! Oh hell no. Anyway, this year he released Monovision which is all folk and beautiful melodies and lyrics just like we've been praying for. Although I think the sarcastic album title belies how he feels about how we rejected his pet projects.
Alanis - for those who don't know, Alanis Morisette is one of my favorite artists of all time and that is saying a lot for someone who has spent a life drowning in great music. Her words, like Ellie's, have quite often helped to bring my own life into focus, even if I didn't understand how to make good on them in that moment. Her discography retains varying levels of success - not in album sales but in artistic honesty, as you can always tell when someone has been forced by the label to worry about making a buck. Perhaps her best album has been Feast On Scraps, a full-length collection of songs left off of her third album Under Rug Swept; a giant confirmation that she is rarely, if ever, totally in control.
Until now, I suppose. Such Pretty Forks in the Road - and I know I've used a lot of superlatives in this blog post - is so far the best album of 2020 to me. A lot of artists have put off releasing their new work due to not being able to tour because of COVID, but you can't just wait around forever. After a four-month pause Alanis gave us this, and as someone who has imbibed every note since Jagged Little Pill, I feel that this album (coming after a seven-year hiatus) is somehow her strongest. It's not rock. Of course she had to go pop like everyone else but it's still her, and the lyrics are more devastating than ever. Again, I likely feel that way because I've grown up with her (we're close in age) and now as she sings about finally giving up on things that don't matter, about learning to live with one's self as no longer just an extension of someone else, it hits hard. She has always been bracingly honest in all of her song lyrics, in almost too much detail, and here on SPFITR I feel her letting go, into the almost zen-like state that people who feel and love too much must eventually find their rest. Alanis is still a titan of music, ever bearing her soul just as brazenly as she did 25 years ago, and I look forward to our next leg of the journey together.
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