Jams of the Week(end): 11/10/19
I listen to a lot of music over the course of any given year. That’s not (intentional) bragging, because a lot of it ends up being mediocre or just plain boring. It made sense to start writing about some of the stuff I listen to here and there, so we’re gonna try this out: albums generally release on Fridays, and I’ll talk about three of them on Sundays.
A quieter week in the release schedule gave me a chance to scrounge through my 2019 playlist and re-listen to some stuff I hadn’t quite gotten the chance to really internalize and dig on. We’ve still got a new release, though, so hop on down and let’s start talkin’ ‘bout them tuuuuunes.
TUUUUUUUUNES.
As always, clicking on the album art will take you to the Spotify page for that album, just in case a blurb gets you interested.
FKA twigs - MAGDALENE
MAGDALENE is an intensely unsettling album, and I do mean that as a compliment. It’s haunting, erratic, and sort of beautiful. I hesitate to call it “pop music,” because it feels too melancholy. There are moments of trap beats, glistening clean piano, and a surprisingly enjoyable feature from Future. Twigs harmonizes with herself and builds a portrait of someone hurt, someone striving to just keep on when cast aside while still in the spotlight of fame. The album’s closer, “Cellophane,” is particularly fraught, the lines “I just want to feel you’re there, I don’t want to have to share our love,” resonating before the slow beat kicks in alongside increasingly discordant piano.
This is an album that will stick with me, but I’m not sure if it’s the kind that I’ll be throwing on repeat, to be honest. I enjoyed my time with it, and I deeply respect the willingness to put out something so personal and vulnerable, but it feels like a project that requires a certain state of mind. Perhaps it’s good for winter nights when things seem bleak, but you’re still going to find a way forward, to forge past those insecurities inside of yourself.
Recommended Tracks: “mary magdalene,” “holy terrain,” “cellophane”
Tycho - Weather
I fell in love with Tycho’s musical stylings through 2014’s Hohokum, a visual feast of a game that included several of his low-key, vibe-able jams. With 2019’s Weather, he’s made a distinct departure, enlisting the help of vocalist Saint Sinner to inject a bit of wispy wistfulness into driving guitars, plucky synth, and crisp drum riffs. It works really well, making for one of the better albums I’ve heard in months. Tracks build and fall with ease, exemplified in the push and pull of “Japan” or the echo-y vocal doubling of “Skate.” It’s also a very brisk album, clocking in at just 29 minutes, and luckily that means there’s little in terms of fluff or filler tracks: they get in, make their statement, and get out.
Tycho’s music has always made for excellent writing background music, and that’s maybe the one way in which Weather doesn’t quite hold up: weirdly enough, having vocals makes it a lot easier to focus on the music instead of what I’m actively working on. That could be a personal failing, who knows? Regardless, I’m very comfortable with this new direction, and there are still a few tracks on Weather that are entirely instrumental. If it happens to be music I’m naturally drawn to focusing on, that’s not a bad thing by any stretch of the imagination.
Recommended Tracks: “Japan,” “Skate,” “No Stress”
Lena Raine - ONEKNOWING
Every year, there are a couple albums I don’t get around to listening to until November or December, and when I finally do, I say, “Oh dang it, I’ve been missing out on this all year long! What gives, Dylan?”
Oneknowing is absolutely one of those albums for 2019. The debut album from Lena Raine proper (as opposed to alternate name “Kuraine”), it’s a contemplative, soothing journey that feels of a time and place where things are allowed to stand still, to just breathe and be for a moment or two. I think it could probably fall somewhere in the “lo-fi hip-hop beats to chill/study to” umbrella, but that ultimately feels a little dismissive and pigeon-hole-y. It feels like there’s more going on here, especially as the album takes a sonic shift from the first half to the second, where moody synths dominate. The penultimate track, “Wake Up,” builds and builds in such a majestic way, with the Vocaloid fading in and out alongside a beautiful, forlorn violin. After that build, the release of “Aurora” feels soothing and reassuring, as if it’s saying, “you’ve made it through, not everything is fixed, but you can keep trying and keep growing from here.”
I know I kind of just groused about vocals in tracks not letting me focus on writing while I’m listening to them, but the otherworldliness of the Vocaloid throughout Oneknowing is removed enough that I think much of this album will end up on my writing playlist for some time to come.
Recommended Tracks: “Light Rail,” “Momodani,” “Wake Up”
The end of the third week is here! It’s honestly terrifying to think this is already the third one of these I’ve put up here. Time moves so quickly! It’s horrific!
It also feels like we might be in the part of the year where all of the Big Stuff has dropped, which leaves me with some time to recalibrate, check back in on stuff I only listened to once or twice (or missed entirely, as was the case with Oneknowing), and start to put together a proper list of The 19 Best Albums of 2019.
Until next time, enjoy the start of your week, and find a song that speaks to you!
