Brief Encounters: New Albums 2-3-23- 2-9-23 Reviewed
Blood And Butter – Caroline Polachek – the former Chairlift Caroline Polachek has been on fire since you went solo and decided to see how far you can stretch pop without it going hyper, on her new EP Blood And Butter here are two of her best songs to date, “Sunset” and “Bunny Is A Rider” and since she is off on tour it might break her pop – A-
Heart On My Sleeve (Deluxe Edition) – Ella Mai – the booo gal returns, adding three songs to her 2022 release of old school r&b – B
BIG TALK – Jarrod Dickenson – a classicist sense of rock and roll from the 2010s folkie still building up on a terrific album – B+
Lully: Acis et Galatée – Jean-Baptiste Lully – Lully’s late 17th century renaissance concluder is a very straight form three act pastoral brought to life by the gifted Christophe Rousset – B+
: I I . – John Frusciante – the RHCP guitarist with a high end modern classical sound variations. well, it’s better than RHCP – B-
Requiem Mass (Deluxe Edition) – Korn – a livestreamed 300-person intimate ceremony and epic performance at the Hollywood United Methodist Church in Los Angeles honoring souls that had passed, especially those lost during the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic where music from that evening is being officially released for the first time from the nu metal giants – B
Cautionary Tales of Youth – Låpsley – this is where singer songwriter confessional meets EDM for a set of moody, with louder percussion than you might expect or want – C+
Let’s Start Here. – Lil Yachty – remember when Lil Wayne decided to become a rock star and all be derailed his career? Lil Yachty doesn’t with a complete remake of the brand where he becomes an indie alty acid rocker with walls of sound and strangeness that seem to have not a damn thing to do with rap. Yachty, a first rate rapper, can also handle indie rock and does so on this terrific and adventurous album – Album Of The Week – A-
3 Songs At A Time Sampler – Morgan Wallen – though he does have competition, the Erics and Lukes, his best buddy HARDY’s album wasn’t much and this three song sampler (a great idea, what took so long?) is much: just straightforward love songs played well and sung well; that twang guitar on the rewrite of Gregg Allman’s “Midnight Rider” is worth the price of admission – A-
After the Magic – Pannoul – K-Pop goes shoegaze and the more thrilling the walls of guitar tethered to melody, the better it is on a dreamy hour of thunder – B+
My 21st Century Blues – RAYE – after the smash hit “Escapism”, Raye got straight to work on this electronic blues and souls workout with shattering vocals. The songs are a touch anemic – B+
The Candle and the Flame – Robert Forster – The Go Betweens great remains somewhat cult-y doing alt folk with an edge of classic rock and a set of fine songs – B
Honey – Samia – the best act I saw at the 2022 Gov Ball, I’ve admired the bedsitland singer songwriter since her cover of “Heart Shaped Box” and while her intensity can be too quiet, the songs reveal themselves and the livelier she gets (especially live) the better she is, kudos to harmonizer papa mbye on “Mad At Me” – B+
Get Up Sequences Part Two – The Go! Team – 20 years later, Ninja remains the centrifugal force in the middle and the experimental pop surrounds em in Part Two – B+
The WAEVE – The WAEVE – Blur have a lot to answer for, the Pipettes don’t, but together they manage a hugely tedious set of art rock – C-
Heavy Heavy – Young Fathers – will the Scottish trio ever improve on the brilliant debut White Men Are Black Men Too? whatever, because Heavy Heavy is an intoxicating and brutal album even needs more time to settle in to his post-punk Heavy Heavy vibe… pass on the experimentally stuff like “Tell Somebody” – B+
