A monthly musical diary, so I can look back in future on what was going on in my musical world. Music i’ve enjoyed, gigs I’ve been to and general stuff in the musical world.
As so often, I spent a big chunk of the month listening to music for a BlueSky music challenge, this time on Black Pop History 1986-1989. I do enjoy these polls, as I discover excellent new (to me) music and get to share (inflict?) my own favourites on others .However, I do tend to get a bit too obsessive about them (I have a big spreadsheet) to the exclusion of other music listening. This can have the effect of making listening to music feel like admin or work rather than the joyous experience it should be. I may try to cut down on the number I’m involved in.
The new music I have enjoyed this month has me wondering about my taste in music. Is there any kind of through line that ties the music I like together? What connects the brief blasts of angular punk from Lex Walton (below) to the twenty minutes of jazz skronking of Tyshawn Sorey’s Effi. Possibly nothing. I find it easier to describe the qualities I dislike than the ones I like (essentially anything too smooth or that I perceive to be insincere in some way). I feel like there is some essential quality to the music I love, but I would struggle to define it. At least it will make it tough for the algorithms to figure me out. Anyway, have a listen to the playlist at the end of this post and judge for yourself if it is coherent in any way.
One of my favourites this month was Miss Delicious by Rebecca Black. I wasn’t as terminally online in 2011 as I am now, so whilst I was aware that at age 13 she had a released a song called Friday that had been widely mocked, I had never actually heard it (still haven’t in fact) or thought much about her. It turns out that in the intervening 15 years she has become a most excellent queer dance-pop icon, and Miss Delicious is merely the highlight of a very good album Age of the Exhibitionist. Never write anyone off completely seems to be the lesson here.
Charlotte Adigery & Boris Pupul return with a song about parenthood. Usually such songs are extremely soppy and/or tender ballads, ranging from the terrible (Isn’t She Lovely by Stevie Wonder) to the ineffably beautiful (In Metal by Low), Googoo Gaga is different though, a synth pop epic that captures the exhaustion and confusion of new motherhood as well as the joy. It’s also very different from the deadpan semi-spoken tracks from their previous album Topical Dancer, but equally good if not better.
Me Rex are another artist trying something new. They’re an underrated band, and in as much as they are known ata all they are thought of as indie rock band with some emo tendencies. Protection Runes is all eerie falsetto vocals and clattering breakbeat drums, closer to electronica than landfill indie. Not sure if this heralds a new direction or is a one off experiment, but very enjoyable either way.
DJ Koze’s remix of Elvau by Paul Valentin & Liv Lisa Fries, is a tough one to describe. The drums give me early Burial vibes, as do the heavily treated vocals, but it feels like there’s the influence of West African music in there somewhere (although I’m far from expert in music from that part of the world). One of those tracks that really rewards multiple listens.
No live music for me this month, but at least I have a few shows booked in for next year. I’m off to see Anna Erhard at Project House in Leeds, a venue I have still never been to despite it being open for proabbly 5 years now (I still think of it as a new venue). Also Kraftwerk at the Piece Hall in Halifax & my now seemingly annual trip to Manchester Psych Fest to look forward to,
Linked is my playlist of the month, on Apple Music, but you can use Tunemymusic.com to convert to a streaming service of your choice should you wish.
