The June Album Round-Up
It's a Beautiful Day, What a Beautiful Day by Skinhead
If you’ve spent any time on this site (which thanks for 1,500 views btw) it’s pretty safe to assume I am far too pensive and cerebral for jokey novelty shit. Especially in the renaissance of the one-hit wonders we are in where a ten-second bridge or chorus can cement generational wealth if it hits the algorithm just right, anything too stupid or nonsensical is a no-go for me. There’s just too little time. I say all this blatantly obvious stuff not to reiterate nor pat myself on the back for my grouchy under-socialized seriousness, but rather to assure you that Skinhead’s It's a Beautiful Day, What a Beautiful Day is well worth its weight in humor and levity. While the shouty vocals and hardcore riffs can certainly be startling, if you can ride the wavelength long enough what you are able to access is perhaps the current iteration of Dead Milkmen-esque anti-punk. Of course, any reviews lay into the hyperbolic machismo laid into previous albums from this project, but I think the nuanced use of violence, laughs, and sentimentality prove this isn’t just an overproduced dick joke.
Switcheroo by Gelli Haha
If you’ve asked me about music since April or read my six-month reflection previously posted, you know I was extremely excited for this debut album from Gelli Haha. Something about the sophisticated sugariness of the singles and the meticulously crafted aesthetic of the project just had me jonesing for a full-strength injection of prismatic pop. I am so happy to say the hype was anything but too high and if anything I was even more impressed seeing how Gelli Haha would sink or swim when given more than just a few singles to prove one’s artistic endurance. With a well-choregraphed track list, what could’ve easily been any number of self-described hypnogogic/retro-futuristic synth pop acts is instead this generation’s The Ann Steel Album in which the genre itself is utilized as a vehicle for true splendor and optimism. Either the highlight or lowlight of the album depending on your sensibilities, the track Piss Artist is reminiscent of Anne Clark’s spoken word interludes which captivates without overly indulgent on the “out-of-the-box” nature of putting such a track on what is packaged and sold as a straightforward electronic pop album. All this namedropping is to say that this is a well-rounded and well-informed project and if you’re tired of Brat Summer and its consequences and want something with uninhibited post-ironic energy that you definitely need to take a step into the funhouse that is Switcheroo.
Primordial Slot Machine by Getdown Services
In a first for this site, I am talking about rap. I totally forgot to discuss my feelings towards Kanye West’s album Cuck when the time was appropriate so there may still be more thoughts to come at the year-end review (if such feelings are still as prevalent), but to say I generally avoid the scene let alone talking about it in either good or bad light is pretty apt. In this instance however, I was pretty much instantly hooked to the groovy and rambling nature of the Getdown Services’ EP Primordial Slot Machine. When I have partaken in the rap previously mostly off of recommendations from good friends, one of the standouts that feels very geographically and musically similar was the artist The Streets and the album Original Pirate Material. Just airy and cheeky enough to pair well with a hot summer night or lazy weekend morning, the album has plenty of earworms despite it’s six-track runtime that’ll keep you whistling through the sweat and humidity.
Best of Kings by Attention Bird Utopia
For a band will only 500 or so followers on Instagram and 35,000 listeners on Spotify, the amount of polish right out the gates from Attention Bird Utopia is shocking up until the moment you realize Harrison Whitford (Phoebe Bridgers and Conor Oberst collaborator) is one of the band members. While this softens the blow, it does anything to detract from how wistfully folksy and poetic the album is across its many emotions and sounds. With any less care this project would seem like a proof-of-concept sampler of abilities, but given the low-profile nature and extremely limited release along with buttery smooth transitions it’s clear to me this is a labor of love more than anything.
McCartney, It'll Be OK by UNIVERSITY
With Brave Little Abacus only the fleeting memory to those in the know and/or stumble upon some flowchart of modern Midwest emo, having such chaotic and cathartic stylings so perfectly replicated come across the pond is truly amazing thanks to UK’s UNIVERSITY. Letting the song Curwen speak for itself: “I will lick you and your organs I will I swear I will stick you like an orchid Watch me dance oh watch me baby I'm worth it, worth it I will wait until you're happy I will wait until you're happy In my hair, you're already there Check my hair, you're already there I don't care, but I'll care if you're there I will lick you and your organs Watch me dance oh watch me baby I'm worth it I can't wait til, I can't wait til you're happy I can't wait til I can't wait til you're happy, til you're happy.” I mean, what else do you really need?
Have You Heard of the High Elves by lord snow
If you told me I’d be featuring a band of nonbinaries with an album referencing Elder Scrolls, I’d have a hard time believing you. But that just goes to show the absolute powerhouse that is Chicago’s premier screamo outfit lord snow. I stumbled across the band last year in a rabbit hole of playlists and with anything screamo/skramz related it was assumed the band had was together for an EP and immediately broken up (the whole genre has the life expectancy of a June bug) so when unrolled my eyes after reading the album title in my list of new releases I was very much thrilled to have another slice of mathy and kinetic shouts into the void.
Soft New Magic Dream by Black Moth Super Rainbow
Having just dusted off my CD copy of Falling Through a Field for a longer road trip out to the northern border of the city, I rediscovered how satiating the gloopy nature of Black Moth Super Rainbow is. Especially after the rise and thankful fall of the “Lofi Beats to Study To” era of YouTube suggestions, returning to this sonic landscape that shimmers with fried arpeggios and nearly undecipherable vocals just feels right for the melted stints of summer.
The Knowing by Sean Nicholas Savage
As the only artist I’ve regretted selling my records of, I’ve unexpectedly become a big fan of Sean Nicholas Savage and follow his rather plentiful output fairly closely. Even at its most routine, Savage’s troubadour persona paired with a time-honored and honed palate of instrumentation envelopes you with an innocent and rejuvenating sense of love. That said, the unique flourishes on The Knowing make it one of the more surprisingly releases in his catalogue (not that anything can really top the full-fledged musical he wrote and performed) as we get an intentionally oversaturated autotune as well as a full-on cover of Iggy Pop’s Lust for Life. The latter point is certainly done better than the former, but it’s fascinating watching an artist who has crafted an air-tight formula still get the itch to play around and find ways to change the trajectory for future releases.
Late Great by Laura Stevenson
I was a Laura Stevenson fan before I knew I was a Laura Stevenson fan. This oxymoronic statement is only true due to the fact she was part of perhaps the most important band to my teenage years – Bomb the Music Industry. While the mainstay head of the band Jeff Rosenstock has and will be the person I think of most in connection to BtMI, Stevenson’s solo work should not die in the dark and be only seen in comparison or connection. The veteran qualities of Late Great by way of fuzzy yet comforting guitar tones as well as the cohesive orchestration in general make the album another testament to a soulfully spirited career.
Complete Fool by Chloe Foy
On top of the general (however self-imposed) schedule this site has, the other biggest challenge comes in the form of discerning differences between media that scratches the same itch. This is because Chloe Foy certainly falls under the same umbrella of moody female singer-songwriters I usually pepper into these lists. What separates Foy from the rest is not only her distinctively English accent but also the intricacies in both her vocal and instrumental melodies. Think The Divine Comedy or XTC with their lush understandings of strings and swoonings. To get caught up in the pedantics of it all, the album is clearly more baroque than bedroom – if that really means anything. But just give it a listen! You’d be a complete fool not to.
Come On, Mary by Gary Wilson
Up there with the likes of Tonetta and R. Stevie Moore as the literal grandfathers of outsider pop, there’s a pleasure in seeing Gary Wilson put out music with as much consistency as he is. Has anything lately gotten close to You Think You Really Know Me? No of course not. But that doesn’t mean there’s any less heart in it and it’s reflective in the casiotone croonings sung for the joys of Wilson and Wilson alone.
Honerable mentions: Honorable Mentions: Forward by First Day Back, Ocean Path by Lisa/Liza, Music Excitement Action Beauty by Motherfuckers JMB & Co, My Inner Rest by Briana Marela, Sky Record by Dan English, TOP HEAVY by Skegss, Shoals by Earth and Bones, mock by Rehash, Metamusik Festival Berlin '74 by Salamat Ali Khan, Grzyby by Błoto, Til Vinden I Dine Øjne by øjeRum, From Way Down Here by Jess Kerber, Different Talking by Frankie Cosmos, Performing Philip Glass: Music with Changing Parts by Dedalus Ensemble, Interior of an Edifice Under the Sea by Pan American & Kramer, If Only You Can Find It by Model Release, Since Always by Andy Jenkins, Surface Disorder by Jonathan Uliel Saldanha, too many Grateful Dead compilations
