Jams of the Week(end): 11/17/19
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.
We’ve got tunes, dammit! Tunes!
This week, we’re taking a look at a release from last week that slipped by me, along with a gargantuan double album and an EP from a singer-songwriter that, if memory serves, is one of the first artists I wrote about a good seven years ago.
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.
Grum - DEEP STATE
A far cry from the bubbly, neon-drenched love affair of Heartbeats, Grum’s first release in nearly a decade is a much moodier, reserved affair. There’s still plenty of building drum beats, swooping sidechains, and a fair share of guest vocalists who make their mark on many of the album’s longer tracks. It’s an album that makes for excellent drive-time music but doesn’t really linger with you beyond the listen.
Deep State kind of feels like a product of an earlier era in EDM, before synthwave rose up to dominate the electronic scene in the potent, 80’s-obsessed way it seems to these days. Hell, there’s even a weird lifting of lyrics from “Don’t Fear the Reaper" on the track “Ascent.” There’s nothing terribly challenging or innovative about the album, but it is patently true-to-form dance hall electronic music. I kinda miss the peppy, life-affirming joy of Heartbeats, that album hitting me at such a profoundly crucial point in my musical awakening. It was this new, vibrant sound, and even when it got moodier, there was still this sense of wanting to move forward, to see what’s around the next bend of highway.
In comparison, Deep State…kind of feels like an album I’ve already heard.
Recommended Tracks: “The Ascent,” “Lose Control,” “Home”
Jenny Owen Youngs - Night Shift (EP)
Though Jenny Owen Youngs hasn’t put out a big, proper album since 2012’s exceptional An Unwavering Band of Light, she hasn’t been quiet. An EP in 2015, two podcasts, and plenty of co-writing credits have kept the New Jersey-born singer-songwriter afloat, and in Night Shift, it’s clear that she’s still as cutthroat a lyricist and songwriter as ever.
Through a brisk seventeen minutes, Youngs ruminates on lost love, the fleeting nature of summers, and not being able to move on when someone else has. It’s familiar fare for her, but the songs still feel fresh and raw, with a stripped down, slightly grittier feel than the slicker production on Unwavering. I find songs about lost love far more interesting and real than chintzy, glistening songs about how perfect the world is and how immaculate the writer’s partner is, and Jenny Owen Youngs manages to deftly translate the lingering feeling of sorrowful emotions into words.
It’s a short enough EP that makes me wish we had more codified music from her, but Night Shift also makes a great entry point for folks to get into her music, and you should! It’s very good if you like being sad but determined.
Recommended Tracks: “Living Room,” “Gravitron,” “Dream Was About,”
the whole thing is only seventeen minutes, just listen to the whole thing
DJ Shadow - Our Pathetic Age
We close out our weekend with an enormous double album from one of electronic music’s grandfathers. If you haven’t heard his impeccable debut, Endtroducing, you should probably remedy that first. Regardless, the 32-track double-LP, Our Pathetic Age, is split neatly between a largely-instrumental first half and a much more traditional, hip-hoppy second half bursting with guest spots and Shadow’s signature sound.
Thematically, both halves feel very solemn, upset with the world and unsure of what we can do to fix it. There’s no real overt political bent to Our Pathetic Age, opting instead for a more general tone of, “hey, we’re all human, and everything is kind of crazy dark and polarizing right now. This sucks.” The back half is full of sad stories, expressions of horror at police brutality, loss of loved ones, and dire stories from Run the Jewels in “Kings & Queens.” It is disdainful at times, and frustration seeps through these beats.
On my first listen, I thought this album was kind of interminable and too long, but on a second listen today as I write, it feels much more in line with what I was expecting. It is still long, and the clean nature of the break between halves make it easier to walk away for a little bit and come back. It’s weird to think of DJ Shadow as a persistent force these days, but since his explosion back onto the forefront of electronic music with 2016’s The Mountain Will Fall, there’s a comfort to seeing his name in the conversation again.
Recommended Tracks: “Rosie,” “Kings & Queens,” “Juggernaut,” “Our Pathetic Age”
I thought Thanksgiving was next week up until…yesterday afternoon. It’s kind of a blessing to realize you’ve got a whole extra week to hunt down jams. At the same time, I’m kinda ready for 2019 to be over with, y’know? Next week, I think I’ll post my “short list” playlist for albums that will be in my own personal conversation for The 19 Best Albums of 2019. It’s been a pretty darned good year for music as a whole, and there’s still a few weeks left for some dark horse candidate to show up and release some spectacular surprise.
Until next time, enjoy the start of your week, and find a song that speaks to you!
