{"id":10091,"date":"2023-12-05T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-05T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/?p=10091"},"modified":"2023-12-05T00:42:45","modified_gmt":"2023-12-05T05:42:45","slug":"music-update-november-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/2023\/12\/05\/music-update-november-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Music update, November 2023."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>November is usually the last big month for new music, and this year\u2019s didn\u2019t disappoint, between some of the year\u2019s best albums and a lot of songs teasing 2024 releases. This month\u2019s playlist probably has the most genres of any I\u2019ve posted, which I think speaks to how strong the month was for new tracks. As always, if you can\u2019t see the Spotify widget below you can <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/playlist\/4uEig0CrEoopRrxtX9bNhG?si=2051dfbf36524e05\">access the playlist here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-spotify wp-block-embed-spotify wp-embed-aspect-21-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Spotify Embed: Klaw&amp;apos;s November 2023 new music update\" style=\"border-radius: 12px\" width=\"100%\" height=\"352\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/playlist\/4uEig0CrEoopRrxtX9bNhG?si=0e98848fffc2480b&#038;utm_source=oembed\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Billy Porter \u2013 Children.<\/strong> Billy Porter\u2019s a Broadway superstar and an Emmy winner for his portrayal of Pray Tell on the groundbreaking show <em>Pose<\/em>, but his fifth album, <em>Black Mona Lisa<\/em>, is his first full-length foray into any part of popular music \u2013 and it\u2019s a blast. This track is my favorite so far for the incredible earworm in the chorus, \u201cGotta let these children know what time it is,\u201d but so much of the album is so ebullient that even when Porter\u2019s lyrics turn serious you\u2019re still glued to the music. The LP closes with another version of this song that also features Lady Blackbird.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Megan Thee Stallion \u2013 Cobra. <\/strong>The lead single from her upcoming third album has MTS rapping about depression, betrayal, and the hangers-on who didn\u2019t seem to care or notice when she was struggling. It also concludes with a brief guitar solo that\u2019s one of the best of the year. Just listen for that one half-note change in the riff and hear how it changes the entire tenor of the solo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Consensus feat. Moses Boyd \u2013 Out of this World.<\/strong> Consensus is a British rapper who\u2019s obsessed with physics, especially particle physics; his 2017 debut album, <em>ConCERNED<\/em>, was inspired by a trip to the CERN laboratory on the Swiss-French border, with songs like \u201cAntimatter,\u201d \u201cHiggs,\u201d and \u201cStandard Model.\u201d His second album, <em>Original Conscience<\/em>, is more inspired by the origins of the universe and its lyrics are a little more metaphorical, although he does have a track about the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment just called \u201cD.U.N.E. (Deep Underground).\u201d This track includes the incredible jazz drummer Moses Boyd, giving it the best beat on the record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>BEAM \u2013 FU.<\/strong> A cover, sort of, of \u201cTrue Fu-Schnick\u201d \u2013 BEAM, a Jamaican-American rapper, loved the fast-rap style of The Fu-Schnickens, and here drops new verses over the same beat along with the original chorus. It\u2019s part of an upcoming EP to celebrate hip-hop\u2019s 50<sup>th<\/sup> anniversary where artists will reimagine tracks from rap\u2019s golden era.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brittany Howard \u2013 Red Flags.<\/strong> Two singles in and I can\u2019t wait for Howard\u2019s sophomore album, <em>What Now<\/em>, due out on February 2<sup>nd<\/sup>. This track is all over the place, from psychedelic rock to gospel to electronica, all anchored by Howard\u2019s powerful vocals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>CVC \u2013 The Remortgage Anthem.<\/strong> This Welsh band reworked their own track \u201cThe Mortgage Anthem\u201d with a disco influence and a hint of \u201870s funk, and it works extremely well for an upbeat working-class anthem that gets you moving while the anticapitalist lyrics seep into your head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Egyptian Blue \u2013 A Living Commodity.<\/strong> The title track from this English post-punk band\u2019s debut album is both one of the LP\u2019s best and also shows that they\u2019re a good bit more than the post-punk label might apply, combining some of the abrasiveness of early Gang of Four or Television with very early new wave sounds like U2 circa <em>Boy <\/em>or <em>October<\/em>. They\u2019re definitely a band to watch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Weakened Friends \u2013 Awkward. <\/strong>I absolutely thought this was Sleater-Kinney or at least Corin Tucker when I first heard it, but it\u2019s this Maine trio, with their first new single since 2021\u2019s <em>Quitter<\/em>. It\u2019s probably more like Sleater-Kinney meets jangle-pop, now that I know who\u2019s actually behind the track.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Cloud Nothings \u2013 Final Summer.<\/strong> This was Cloud Nothings\u2019 first new track since their EP titled <em>July 2021<\/em>, the release date of which I\u2019ll let you work out, and their first for Pure Noise Records, so I presume it\u2019s a harbinger of a new album at some point next year. Their production values have improved over time but their sound really hasn\u2019t changed and I for one am very happy with that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Peace \u2013 Happy Cars.<\/strong> Peace have been around for over a decade, so I\u2019m a bit ashamed to admit this was the first track I\u2019d ever heard from the band, who are now a duo after releasing three albums as a quartet. Their fourth record, <em>Utopia<\/em>, got a full release in November and features this shimmering Britpop-like track that reminded me a ton of the \u201890s act Geneva.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Heartworms \u2013 May I Comply.<\/strong> Heartworms is Jojo Orme, although it\u2019s more than just a one-woman show here \u2013 it\u2019s a whole character, named for The Shins\u2019 2017 album, replete with military imagery and gothic styling, melding post-punk, hard rock, and darkwave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Pip Blom \u2013 Not Tonight.<\/strong> A Dutch pop band who first came to my attention with their collaboration with Franz Ferdinand\u2019s Alex Kapranos, \u201cIs This Love,\u201d Pip Blom have another banger here with this bouncy pop-rock track with what seem to be nonsense lyrics. (At least, I hope they are.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Kid Kapichi \u2013 Tamagotchi.<\/strong> I\u2019m not a big fan of rock singers trying to rap, and I don\u2019t think it goes especially well here, but there\u2019s a great guitar riff here and both the bridge and chorus \u2013 which have actual singing \u2013 are up to the high Kid Kapichi standard, so I\u2019ll tolerate a little cringe to get to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Courting \u2013 Throw.<\/strong> Courting\u2019s second album, <em>New Last Name<\/em>, comes out January 26<sup>th<\/sup>, and based on the first two singles (this and \u201cFlex\u201d) it\u2019ll be more guitar-focused but every bit as raucous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Momma \u2013 Sunday. <\/strong>Momma and Narrow Head, a post-hardcore band from Texas, trade covers on this split single, with Momma covering Narrow Head\u2019s \u201cSunday\u201d while Narrow Head took on Momma\u2019s \u201cMedicine.\u201d I\u2019m not wild about Narrow Head\u2019s vocals, so I prefer Momma\u2019s versions of both songs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Suede \u2013 The Sadness in You, the Sadness in Me.<\/strong> Suede (yes, the London Suede, sue me) are planning a massive deluxe edition of last year\u2019s LP <em>Autofiction<\/em>, including this track, which really should have been on the record because it\u2019s pretty much peak Suede for me. The song also previously appeared on the 2022 EP <em>She Still Leads Me On<\/em>, which was only available for a week, so don\u2019t feel bad if you missed it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>flowerovlove \u2013 a girl like me.<\/strong> flowerovlove might be the next Griff, who first burst on the scene as a teenager with a sophisticated take on modern pop music. flowerovlove&#8217;s sound is different, a little more light with vocals that recall beabadoobee (and who also eschews capitalization), but with the same sense of \u201chow does someone so young have such a strong grasp on pop history?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Sampha \u2013 Suspended.<\/strong> <em>Lahai<\/em>, Sampha\u2019s sophomore album, is one of the best new records of the year and I think a step forward from his Mercury Prize-winning debut, with lusher arrangements and better use of his unique higher-register voice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>NIJI \u2013 Somewhere in the Middle.<\/strong> The title track from Niji Adeleye\u2019s new EP, his first under the NIJI moniker, is a piano-and-horns jazz piece with a strong hook from the brass section, while the EP as a whole has more influence from the music of Nigeria, where his parents were born.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Arlo Parks \u2013 Jasmine.<\/strong> The deluxe edition of Parks\u2019 sophomore album <em>My Soft Machine<\/em> includes this cover of Jai Paul\u2019s obscure but highly influential single \u201cJasmine,\u201d starting out with a sparse arrangement of mostly synths and drum machine but building to a layered finish that brings in more guitar and bass while staying authentic to the original\u2019s soft, reverbed vocals. Apparently Jai Paul even gave his approval to the cover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Mary Timony \u2013 Dominoes.<\/strong> Timony, the lead singer and guitarist for Helium back in the 1990s and Ex Hex in the 2010s, returns with her first solo album in 15 years, <em>Untame the Tiger<\/em>, due out February 23<sup>rd<\/sup>. This lead single has none of the dissonance or harder edges from her prior work, but don\u2019t we all mellow out as we get older?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brigitte Calls Me Baby \u2013 Impressively Average.<\/strong> This Chicago band\u2019s music would sound like a lot of other alternative acts if singer\/songwriter Wes Leavins didn\u2019t have such a distinctive vocal style, which I\u2019ve seen compared to Morrissey, Roy Orbison, and Elvis by various critics. His voice has a real personality, and it\u2019s definitely something you don\u2019t hear much in any genre of music right now; in an earlier era he would have been a crooner, and maybe that\u2019ll be his second act in twenty years. This is the best track from the band\u2019s latest EP, <em>This House Is Made of Corners.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Vince Clarke \u2013 White Rabbit.<\/strong> Yep, that Vince Clarke, of Erasure and previously of Depeche Mode and Yaz, releasing his first solo album at age 63. It\u2019s not a synth-pop record, as you might expect, but an experimental electronic one, with each track focused around a single note, often held through the entire song. I would have expected such music to sound monotonous, but \u201cWhite Rabbit\u201d is anything but \u2013 it\u2019s a whole soundscape, with shifting moods and tones that are only held together by that slender core of the original tone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Floating Points \u2013 Birth4000.<\/strong> Dr. Samuel Shepherd returns to his EDM roots after the 2021 album <em>Promises<\/em>, recorded with saxophonist Pharaoh Sanders not long before the latter died at age 81. This track has a slow build before the main hook comes in around the one-minute mark, and Shepherd layers his sounds beautifully for an immersive track that\u2019s as accessible as anything he\u2019s done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Sen Morimoto \u2013 If the Answer Isn\u2019t Love.<\/strong> Morimoto\u2019s some sort of musical genius, I think, with music that ignores all attempts to categorize it (you could call it jazz, but that\u2019s neither fair to Morimoto or actual jazz) \u2026 but I also don\u2019t hear a lot of hooks on his album <em>Diagnosis<\/em>. This was the most compelling track and I think shows off what he does well as a songwriter and guitarist in particular.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>SPRINTS \u2013 Shadow of a Doubt.<\/strong> SPRINTS put out an EP in November that includes this track, \u201cUp and Comer,\u201d and \u201cAdore Adore Adore,\u201d the last two of which have appeared on my playlists already this year. \u201cShadow\u201d actually starts out slow and quiet, but you can hear the tension in Karla Chubb\u2019s vocals, and you know the explosion of punk guitars is just around the bend. When it arrives, it flips the whole track upside down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Sheer Mag \u2013 Playing Favorites.<\/strong> I actually thought Sheer Mag might have called it quits, as they hadn\u2019t released any new music since 2019\u2019s <em>A Distant Call<\/em>, but they put out a new track in August and then this one, the title track from their upcoming album due out March 1<sup>st<\/sup>, which sounds like this punk revival band never left us at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Wayfarer \u2013 Reaper on the Oilfields.<\/strong> Wayfarer combines death-doom with traditional country music sounds \u2013 not modern country, but country music from 70+ years ago \u2013 in a sound I have never heard anywhere before. Encyclopedia Metallum calls it \u201catmospheric black\/folk metal,\u201d and, sure, that works too. Their latest album, <em>American Gothic<\/em>, would easily be my metal album of the year if they didn\u2019t resort so often to deep, guttural death growls that too often overshadow the fascinating musical blend that makes them unique. This track has very little of that, so perhaps you can better appreciate what they\u2019re doing without that distraction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>November is usually the last big month for new music, and this year\u2019s didn\u2019t disappoint, between some of the year\u2019s best albums and a lot of songs teasing 2024 releases. This month\u2019s playlist probably has the most genres of any I\u2019ve posted, which I think speaks to how strong the month was for new tracks. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1328,359,1096,167,1127,852,261],"class_list":["post-10091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-2023-in-music","tag-alternative","tag-doom-metal","tag-indie","tag-jazz","tag-music","tag-rap","entry"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10091"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10091\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10092,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10091\/revisions\/10092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}