{"id":7653,"date":"2019-06-02T08:00:01","date_gmt":"2019-06-02T12:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/?p=7653"},"modified":"2019-06-01T12:54:05","modified_gmt":"2019-06-01T16:54:05","slug":"music-update-may-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/2019\/06\/02\/music-update-may-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Music update, May 2019."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Huge month for new music, boosted by the presence of five Fridays (the day most new music appears online now). I&#8217;ve tried to organize the playlist a little by genre, so the two rap songs and five metal songs are towards the end if you don&#8217;t share my interest in those styles. If you can&#8217;t access the playlist widget below you can go  directly to <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/user\/keithlaw1\/playlist\/1bvaGNeuxQxJTadNgwSQQv?si=-DM6rhG3TU60Jw9brfocoA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the Spotify link<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/user\/keithlaw1\/playlist\/1bvaGNeuxQxJTadNgwSQQv\" width=\"300\" height=\"380\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allow=\"encrypted-media\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Of Monsters and Men \u2013 Alligator<\/strong>. The Icelandic stars will release their third album, <em>Fever Dream<\/em>, on July 26th, their first new album since 2015. This song seems to signal a more rock-oriented and lusher sound, which would be a welcome shift after their last album, <em>Beneath the Skin<\/em>, which was very good but more sedate.<\/p>\n<p><strong>WOOZE \u2013 I&#8217;ll Have What She&#8217;s Having<\/strong>. So I added this track to my running playlist before realizing that WOOZE is half of the band Screaming Peaches, previously known as Movie, who appeared at #31 on <a href=\"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/2014\/12\/12\/top-100-songs-of-2014\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">my top 100 songs of 2014<\/a> with &#8220;Mr. Fist.&#8221; This song and WOOZE&#8217;s entire EP is more bouncy, flamboyant, faintly ridiculous pop goodness.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Ninth Wave \u2013 First Encounters<\/strong>. A Glaswegian quartet with members who sound like they came straight out of the same post-punk, synth-heavy new wave movement that gave us Joy Division, The Cure, or Heaven 17.<\/p>\n<p><strong>whenyoung \u2013 The Others<\/strong>. This Irish trio&#8217;s debut album, <em>Reasons to Dream<\/em>, dropped on May 24th, featuring this track and the single &#8220;Future,&#8221; albeit none of the tracks from their 2018 EP. I really like Aiofe Power&#8217;s voice (and accent) regardless of song style or tempo, but they&#8217;re never getting away from Cranberries comparisons with her singing.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Mysterines \u2013 Gasoline<\/strong>. This new post-punk trio is led by singer-guitarist Lia Metcalfe, whose voice is snarling and captivating, especially on the earworm chorus &#8220;I just love to hate you.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Johnny Hostile feat. Jehnny Beth \u2013 Let It Out<\/strong>. Johnny Hostile is a music producer who produced the Savages&#8217; two albums to date; Savages singer Jehnny Beth is Hostile&#8217;s partner, and the two collaborated to score an upcoming documentary on Chelsea Manning called <em>Chelsea XY<\/em>. This is the lead single from the soundtrack, a dark atmospheric number that also shows another side of Beth&#8217;s vocals.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Holly Herndon \u2013 Frontier<\/strong>. Herndon is a musician and &#8220;sound artist&#8221; who co-created an AI program called Spawn to help write and record her new album <em>Proto<\/em>. Her statement on the record said that she &#8220;assembled a contemporary ensemble of vocalists, developers and an inhuman intelligence housed in a DIY souped-up gaming PC to create a record that encompasses live vocal processing and timeless folk singing, and places an emphasis on alien song craft and new forms of communion.&#8221; You go parse that sentence while I move on to the next track.<\/p>\n<p><strong>black midi \u2013 Talking Heads<\/strong>. Black MIDI is a weird subgenre of online music where the MIDI files in question contain so many notes that, if you displayed it on sheet music it would be <a href=\"http:\/\/rhizome.org\/editorial\/2013\/sep\/23\/impossible-music-black-midi\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">almost solid black<\/a>, meaning it&#8217;s impossible for a human to play. The band black midi don&#8217;t go to those extreme, but these four British lads \u2013 they look like teenagers \u2013 have turned out some fascinating, difficult, experimental music that seems to draw upon math rock as well as art-punk icons like Television and Suicide.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Phantom Planet \u2013 BALISONG<\/strong>. They&#8217;re back, sans Jason Silverman, although I don&#8217;t think their sound has changed all that much even with the hiatus.<\/p>\n<p><strong>C\u0153ur De Pirate \u2013 Ne m&#8217;appelle pas<\/strong>. It&#8217;s been less than a year since her last album, but B\u00e9atrice Martin just dropped the very Europop-style new single, along with <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/g__iNTJ19cs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">an inventive video<\/a> that also shows a more playful side of her than her prior musical output ever suggested.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Charly Bliss \u2013 Young Enough<\/strong>. I don&#8217;t do a lot of straight pop on these playlists, but the title track from this Brooklyn band&#8217;s second album is a strong, smart, and unusually long pop song that I think is a harbinger that they&#8217;re going to break out this summer.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Hatchie \u2013 Obsessed<\/strong>. More dream-pop goodness from Hatchie, whose debut album <em>Keepsake<\/em> comes out on June 21st.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Joy Williams \u2013 When Creation Was Young<\/strong>. Williams&#8217; second solo album since the end of The Civil Wars, <em>Front Porch<\/em>, came out on May 3rd. &#8220;Canary&#8221; remains my top track from this album, although this is a solid second.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The National \u2013 Rylan<\/strong>. The National&#8217;s latest album, <em>I Am Easy to Find<\/em>, feels like a huge stylistic departure for the band \u2013 you can certainly hear singer Matt Berninger better than before, but he&#8217;s also no longer the gravitational singularity at the heart of every song. This is one of the more conventional tracks on the record, but I think it takes the kind of melody the National have done and pairs it with vocals that no longer detract from the music.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Raconteurs \u2013 Help Me Stranger<\/strong>. Jack White&#8217;s side projects, at their best, serve as reminders of what a magnetic guitarist he can be.<\/p>\n<p><strong>YONAKA \u2013 Don&#8217;t Wait &#8216;Til Tomorrow<\/strong>. I&#8217;ve had a handful of YONAKA songs on playlists the last few years, with &#8220;Creature&#8221; and &#8220;Teach Me to Fight&#8221; on my top 100 songs of 2018 and &#8220;Wouldn&#8217;t Wanna Be Ya&#8221; on my top 100 of 2017, but their debut album, <em>Don&#8217;t Wait &#8216;Til Tomorrow<\/em>, just came out on Friday, with this title track and &#8220;Creature&#8221; both on the record. Their sound has matured even over the two years since I first heard of them, although lead singer Theresa Jarvis&#8217; strong vocals are still the centerpiece.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Imperial Teen \u2013 We Do What We Do Best<\/strong>. I had no idea Imperial Teen, which features Faith No More keyboardist Roddy Bottum on lead vocals and guitar, was still active after its brief &#8217;90s peak with &#8220;You&#8217;re One&#8221; and &#8220;Yoo Hoo,&#8221; but they have a new single out, their first since 2012, and it sounds like it could have come from 1996&#8217;s <em>Seasick<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sleater-Kinney \u2013 Hurry On Home<\/strong>. We&#8217;re just not going to talk about the cover photo.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Safer \u2013 Good Things<\/strong>. Mattie Safer, a founding member of The Rapture who left that group in 2009, has a new band under his surname, with this first single more rock-tinged but still in the dance\/funk vein that his other projects have also incorporated.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Lower Dens \u2013 Young Republicans<\/strong>. The Baltimore indie-pop duo are back with a rather unsubtle commentary on modern American politics.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Amazons \u2013 End Of Wonder<\/strong>. The British quartet&#8217;s latest album, <em>Future Dust<\/em>, came out on May 24th, and features more of the muscular guitar-driven sound that they had on previous singles like &#8220;Black Magic&#8221; but didn&#8217;t hold through entire albums.<\/p>\n<p><strong>White Reaper \u2013 Might Be Right<\/strong>. White Reaper just signed to Elektra Records and released this new single. There&#8217;s no word of a new album, although with a heavy summer touring schedule, there&#8217;s probably one coming.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Hives \u2013 I&#8217;m Alive<\/strong>. The Hives have released just one album in the last dozen years, 2012&#8217;s <em>Lex Hives<\/em>, but they&#8217;re back together \u2013 without longtime bassist Dr. Matt Destruction \u2013 with this new single. It&#8217;s not &#8220;Hate to Say I Told You So&#8221; or even &#8220;Walk Idiot Walk,&#8221; but it&#8217;s promising.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Wu-Tang Clan \u2013 Seen a Lot of Things (feat. Ghostface Killah, Raekwon &amp; Harley)<\/strong>. The Killer Bees released an EP to go along with the four-part Showtime documentary on the group, <em>Of Mics and Men<\/em>; this is the strongest track on the record.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Flying Lotus feat. Anderson .Paak \u2013 More<\/strong>. Flying Lotus isn&#8217;t really my jam, but I do like Anderson .Paak&#8217;s voice, and this is the best track from either of their new albums, which both came out within the last eight weeks.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sky Valley Mistress \u2013 You Got Nothin&#8217;<\/strong>. This new British group headed by Kayley Davies gets comps to Led Zeppelin, but I don&#8217;t think that&#8217;s apt for this song, which is bluesy but in more of a bar-band sense than Zeppelin&#8217;s progressive reworking of blues classics.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Black Mountain \u2013 Licensed to Drive<\/strong>. Black Mountain go a little heavier than their normal psychedelic-rock here with a dark, metal riff driving (pun intended) this intricate track from their latest album, <em>Destroyer<\/em>, which came out on May 24th.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Paladin \u2013 Awakening<\/strong>. A new band from Atlanta who are producing unapologetically old sounds \u2013 this is dead-on 1980s classic thrash in the vein of Flotsam and Jetsam, Vio-lence, or early Testament.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Death Angel \u2013 The Pack<\/strong>. Speaking of which, these Bay Area thrash icons seem utterly unapologetic that their sound hasn&#8217;t changed in thirty years, and I&#8217;m here for it. <em>Humanicide<\/em>, their ninth full-length, dropped on Friday.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sabaton \u2013 Fields of Verdun<\/strong>. I do like the song, but there&#8217;s no way I can hear this chorus as anything other than &#8220;feels overdone.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Destruction \u2013 Born To Perish<\/strong>. One of the leaders of the Teutonic thrash scene, Destruction have been at it since 1982, but this song sounds remarkably fresh \u2013 it&#8217;d fit right in with their &#8217;80s peak, or with the best stuff from their German compatriots Kreator.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Memoriam \u2013 Undefeated<\/strong>. I thought this was going to be a one-off project \u2013 the band&#8217;s name was a tribute to Martin Kearns, the late drummer of British death metal icons Bolt Thrower \u2013 but they&#8217;re about to release their third album in as many years. Karl Willets (also of Bolt Thrower) has a difficult vocal style to take, but I&#8217;m into the heavy riffing behind his growls, darker than thrash but not impenetrable like Bolt Thrower&#8217;s grindcore origins.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Huge month for new music, boosted by the presence of five Fridays (the day most new music appears online now). I&#8217;ve tried to organize the playlist a little by genre, so the two rap songs and five metal songs are towards the end if you don&#8217;t share my interest in those styles. If you can&#8217;t [&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":[852,261,1114],"class_list":["post-7653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-music","tag-rap","tag-thrash","entry"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7653","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=7653"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7653\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7654,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7653\/revisions\/7654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}