New Music Friday!

My list for today:

Car Seat Headrest - Making a Door Less Open
Diet Cig - Do You Wonder About Me?
JoJo - Good to Know
Austra - HiRUDiN
Man Man - Dream Hunting in the Valley of the In Between
Ghostpoet - I Grow Tired But Dare Not Fall Asleep
Chicano Batman - Invisible People
Damien Jurado - What's New, Tomboy?
Caleb Landry Jones - The Mother Stone
Markus Floats - Third Album
Pure X - Pure X
The Soft Pink Truth - Shall We Go Sinning So Grace May Increase?
Country Westerns - Country Westerns
Elcamino - Money for Bail


Hate to say it but I was less than blown away by Car Seat and Chicano Batman. Big hopes for Diet Cig though
 
I’m not sure where else to put this, but I’m feeling little burned by Car Seat Headrest. Got my vinyl on Monday (cool) and I’ve been listening to it all week. I’m not amazed, but I’d give it a solid “B.” Been telling myself all week that it seems like it’d warrant a headphone listen. So I pull it up on Spotify, and the mixes and track arrangement are all different. A little digging and I find that, as typical, the pressing plant needed the album six months ago, and they’ve been tinkering with the album in the interim.


I don’t hate the vinyl version, but it kind of feels like a rip-off, like I received an unfinished product.

edit: I emailed Matador asking about the discrepancy, and here's the response I got:
There are a number of different versions. The vinyl mix is not unfinished, it is as the artist intended. You can access 4 different mixes and track lists using your download code. It's confusing, but it's what Will wanted to do.

I agree, it's confusing.
 
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Here’s what I have listened to that is new this week, so far:

Chicano Batman - five time!!! It’s great. Their best to date. Straddles the fence if last record’s accessibility and the more pyschedelic funk of their earlier efforts.

El Michels Affair - like this a lot. Feels like Axelrod updated.

Car Seat Headrest - this is quite enjoyable, first album of his that didn’t make me wonder what all the hype is about.

Austra - well this is fucking weird. Classical pop, think Sarah Brightman or Charlotte Church with a beat

Kenny Chesny - well fuck, this is good. I’m confused.
 
Austra - well this is fucking weird. Classical pop, think Sarah Brightman or Charlotte Church with a beat
I've been a fan of Austra, a Canadian electronic music band, founded by composer, singer-songwriter, and producer Katie Stelmanis, since the release of their debut album "Feel It Break" in 2011. Stelmanis is the only permanent member of the project, with a rotating live band but I still like what she puts out. She took classical music back in university hence the classical pop influences on her albums. 👌
 
I've been a fan of Austra, a Canadian electronic music band, founded by composer, singer-songwriter, and producer Katie Stelmanis, since the release of their debut album "Feel It Break" in 2011. Stelmanis is the only permanent member of the project, with a rotating live band but I still like what she puts out. She took classical music back in university hence the classical pop influences on her albums. 👌
It was neat. I didn’t hate it. It is really weird though.
 
I’m not sure where else to put this, but I’m feeling little burned by Car Seat Headrest. Got my vinyl on Monday (cool) and I’ve been listening to it all week. I’m not amazed, but I’d give it a solid “B.” Been telling myself all week that it seems like it’d warrant a headphone listen. So I pull it up on Spotify, and the mixes and track arrangement are all different. A little digging and I find that, as typical, the pressing plant needed the album six months ago, and they’ve been tinkering with the album in the interim.


I don’t hate the vinyl version, but it kind of feels like a rip-off, like I received an unfinished product.

edit: I emailed Matador asking about the discrepancy, and here's the response I got:
There are a number of different versions. The vinyl mix is not unfinished, it is as the artist intended. You can access 4 different mixes and track lists using your download code. It's confusing, but it's what Will wanted to do.

I agree, it's confusing.
I agree. I loathe this idea/strategy/whatever the hell it is. I also am not the biggest CSH fan. I never really fully got it. Certainly not enough to sit through 4 different mixes of a mediocre album. Now I probably won’t listen to one. It is, of course his prerogative to do what he wants, but nothing about this is appealing to me.
 
I agree. I loathe this idea/strategy/whatever the hell it is. I also am not the biggest CSH fan. I never really fully got it. Certainly not enough to sit through 4 different mixes of a mediocre album. Now I probably won’t listen to one. It is, of course his prerogative to do what he wants, but nothing about this is appealing to me.
I blame Kanye.

I’m also curious if I’d like the vinyl version. @Bull Shannon - is the vinyl closer to older CSH?
 
Kanye. I was just telling my wife that I put on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy the other day which is arguably one of the greatest hip hop albums of all time but all I can see is him with that god damn MAGA hat on and I had to shut it off. I just can’t make the separation with him and it’s MADDENING.
Yeah, I can’t listen to any of the albums any more either and I was on the ride for a long time.
 
I’m not sure where else to put this, but I’m feeling little burned by Car Seat Headrest. Got my vinyl on Monday (cool) and I’ve been listening to it all week. I’m not amazed, but I’d give it a solid “B.” Been telling myself all week that it seems like it’d warrant a headphone listen. So I pull it up on Spotify, and the mixes and track arrangement are all different. A little digging and I find that, as typical, the pressing plant needed the album six months ago, and they’ve been tinkering with the album in the interim.


I don’t hate the vinyl version, but it kind of feels like a rip-off, like I received an unfinished product.

edit: I emailed Matador asking about the discrepancy, and here's the response I got:
There are a number of different versions. The vinyl mix is not unfinished, it is as the artist intended. You can access 4 different mixes and track lists using your download code. It's confusing, but it's what Will wanted to do.

I agree, it's confusing.
I agree. I loathe this idea/strategy/whatever the hell it is. I also am not the biggest CSH fan. I never really fully got it. Certainly not enough to sit through 4 different mixes of a mediocre album. Now I probably won’t listen to one. It is, of course his prerogative to do what he wants, but nothing about this is appealing to me.
I kind of love this. If you've ever recorded an album, there are so many versions of songs and lyrics and arrangements and song order that can go multiple directions. While of course there is something to be said about finishing a thing and just letting it be (what's the saying? Art is never finished, only abandoned"?), I love that he's decided to play with the variations of vision that are so much more common than the singular vision we mythologize. But I do understand the frustration as a consumer.
 
I blame Kanye.

I’m also curious if I’d like the vinyl version. @Bull Shannon - is the vinyl closer to older CSH?

I need to give the digital version a few more listens, but the vinyl reminds me a lot of older CSH, but maybe with the production of the Twin Fantasy re-recording? But it's definitely a step away from Teens of Denial.

I kind of love this. If you've ever recorded an album, there are so many versions of songs and lyrics and arrangements and song order that can go multiple directions. While of course there is something to be said about finishing a thing and just letting it be (what's the saying? Art is never finished, only abandoned"?), I love that he's decided to play with the variations of vision that are so much more common than the singular vision we mythologize. But I do understand the frustration as a consumer.

It is a pretty cool notion, I suppose. And catch me six months from now, when I've listened to each version enough to spot the differences and tell you which version of each song is the best. My initial reaction to the discrepancy was to assume Will Toledo was on a deadline (maybe I got the notion from the song "Deadlines," which is entirely about being pressured to write and record songs), submitted the tracks we hear on the vinyl release, then continued to tinker up 'til the last minute, something he had the luxury of doing when he released purely digitally on Bandcamp.
 
Kanye. I was just telling my wife that I put on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy the other day which is arguably one of the greatest hip hop albums of all time but all I can see is him with that god damn MAGA hat on and I had to shut it off. I just can’t make the separation with him and it’s MADDENING.
I think one of the most notable storylines of the 10s was the decline and fall of Kanye. From MBDTF and the highs of Watch The Throne to what he has put out recently is such a large decline, yet he is as much of a celebrity now as he ever was.
 
I feel like I'm missing something but here is my list for now:

Kehlani - It Was Good Until It Wasn't
Hayley Williams - Petals for Armor
Bishop Nehru - Nehruvia: My Disregarded Thoughts
Little Simz - Drop 6
Natalie Lafourcade - Un canto por México
I Break Horses - Warnings
White Denim - World As A Waiting Room
Ric Wilson & Terrace Martin - They Call Me Disco
Daedelus - What Wands Won't Break
Jamo Gang - Walking With Lions
Deau Eyes - Let It Leave
Modern Studies - The Weight of the Sun
Eve Owen - Don't Let The Ink Dry
T. Gowdy - Therapy With Colour
Choir Boy - Gathering Swans
 
I feel like I'm missing something but here is my list for now:

Kehlani - It Was Good Until It Wasn't
Hayley Williams - Petals for Armor
Bishop Nehru - Nehruvia: My Disregarded Thoughts
Little Simz - Drop 6
Natalie Lafourcade - Un canto por México
I Break Horses - Warnings
White Denim - World As A Waiting Room
Ric Wilson & Terrace Martin - They Call Me Disco
Daedelus - What Wands Won't Break
Jamo Gang - Walking With Lions
Deau Eyes - Let It Leave
Modern Studies - The Weight of the Sun
Eve Owen - Don't Let The Ink Dry
T. Gowdy - Therapy With Colour
Choir Boy - Gathering Swans
I'm going to add this one to the list

 
After sampling the songs on NPR's playlist I'm excited to check out these today:

Bishop Nehru - Nehruvia: My Disregarded Thoughts
Kehlani - It Was Good Until It Wasn't
Shakey Graves - Look Alive EP

I've seen a couple people mention I Break Horses already today. I have no idea what that is haha but I'll have to check that one out too.
 
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