Category: New Album Review

The newest albums, EPs and singles on the air at WKNC 88.1 FM HD-1/HD-2

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EP Review: “Various Artists 2” by POSSESSION

A candid shot of two DJs serving as the cover for EP 5 of "V/A 2" by Possession.
One of five covers for Possession’s newest EP bundle release

The innovative French underground rave organizer turned record label Possession is back with their first release of 2022, headed by an all-star lineup of various veteran artists and newcomers alike in a bundle of five different EPs. “Various Artists 2” is the second installment of Possession’s “V/A” series that gives a platform for artists across the world to bring their sound of Techno to a wider audience. With the immediate success of “Various Artists 1” back in September 2020, this new bundle of five EPs is even more abrasive, fast, and fun, with tracks from personal favorite’s LSDXOXO, AnD, and Parfait, to rising artists Fractions, Somniac One, and TRANCEMAN2000.

“EP1” sets the tone for the bundle with the first track “Posh & Scary” by Shlømo and Parfait. The thumping bassline coupled with rolling hi-hats and Parfait’s vocals comes together to produce a signature Possession-style track that you would hear at any party of their parties across Europe. TRANCEMAN2000 closes out “EP1” with “Lasserbie”, an early 2000s-esc trance track that sounds like it came straight out of an early DJ Tiësto set.

Anetha’s masterclass set from Possession’s most recent Boiler Room in London. Her track “Gedo Senki” is on “EP3” of “Various Artists 1” released in 2020.

EPs 2, 3, and 4 cuts between all styles of Techno, with tracks like “Disturbed” by Cassie Raptor and “7AM Burning” by AnD keeping the high BPM and heavy basslines but with more elaborate melodies and even an acid breakdown. On the lighter side is “Almost There” by UFO95 and “Dream” by Vizionn, more conventional sounding techno tracks that still, however, would get me to the dance floor at any club or rave.

“EP5” closes out the bundle, featuring my two favorite tracks off of all the EPs, “Green Inferno” by LSDXOXO and “What Doesn’t Kill Me?” by Fractions. Before anyone asks, yes I will admit that I am an LSDXOXO fanboy, he made it into my top tracks of 2021 and I play any track off “Dedicated 2 Disrespect” in my sets whenever I can, but his track production is immaculate with catchy vocals and trance-inducing melodies. Fractions was a nice surprise on this EP, his track reflecting the solid production work with killer hi-hats and an overall mind-melting vibe.

Overall, this EP bundle has featured the best techno tracks of 2022 so far. I have not been playing much techno recently both on and off air because I have had trouble finding interesting tracks. This release is a much needed breath of fresh air and I look forward to playing many of the tracks in my upcoming sets.

Speaking of Possession, I was recently fortunate enough to see Parfait at a club in NYC, but I think that is a story for another blog…..

Stay dancin’,

DJ HRLN

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New Album Review

Album Review: “Multiverse” by Reptaliens

"Multiverse" album cover
"Multiverse" by Reptaliens album cover

A strong concept can go a long way towards the enjoyment of an album. Going beyond drawing meaning from the lines or verses, having a central theme adds more weight to not just the lyrics but the instrumentals too, contextualizing every choice made by an artist. Reptaliens have built a discography on strong concepts with albums that have been focused on complex sci-fi themes, and while everything is brought down in terms of scale here, the storytelling chops remain. There’s more of an urban fantasy vibe on “Multiverse”, with the lyrics signaling an adventure that’s found in the simple act of living.

The lyrics are able to resonate that much more because the songs themselves are stripped down to the bone, allowing the words to feel larger than life. The fuzzy and jangly instrumentals add, if not a bounce, then certainly a spring in the step to the proceedings, with fun solos that convey a sense of motion. Album highlight “Take It” has a really fun opening falsetto that descends as the subject matter gets more serious, the speaker hoping they don’t “go to hell for this.” A lot of the most engaging moments on this album are the inflections lead singer Bambi Browning makes on certain lines, which range from uplifting while soft like the chorus of “Don’t Wait For Me” to the emotive pitch drops on “Go Away”. That layer of fuzz on top of everything works with this vocal style: the highs become these theremin-like cascades of sound while the lows are contrasted even more.

On “Multiverse”, Reptaliens achieve something that a lot of jangly indie rock bands strive for but don’t always nail: resonating with emotional purity with vague, universal statements while also constructing an entire world with just a few short verses. A lot of very core themes are tapped into, like a lot of references to peer pressure and reluctantly going along with what’s happening and in the process losing agency, like the central character who is “sniffing glue” on I Feel Fine. And when combined with fun instrumentals that keep the serious parts weightless this becomes an album that’s instantly enjoyable but leaves a lot to think about later. For me it usually takes a few months for a given year of music to produce a classic album but we aren’t even out of January before Reptaliens came through with one that I’m sure will stick with me for a long time.

-Erie

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New Album Review

Album Review: “An Evening With Silk Sonic” by Silk Sonic

ALBUM: “An Evening With Silk Sonic” by Bruno Mars, Anderson .Paak, Silk Sonic

RELEASE YEAR: 2021

LABEL: Aftermath Entertainment and Atlantic Recording Corporation

RATING: 8.4/10

BEST TRACKS: “Leave The Door Open,” “After Last Night (with Thundercat & Bootsy Collins),” “Smokin Out The Window,” “Skate”

FCC: Track 7 – “777”

Paying homage to the classics, this short and sweet record by Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak is a must-listen. Thanks to their stellar execution, this exciting new release manages to live up to the hype. For those who wish that R&B was more mainstream, or miss the classic soul from the 1970s that we all know and love, Silk Sonic’s debut project is exactly what you’ve been waiting for. 

As cohesive as “An Evening With Silk Sonic” is, this album still covers a wide range of topics and sounds. Mars and .Paak offer upbeat bangers such as “Fly As Me” and “Skate,” (although I must admit the former sounds like it was made for an Old Navy commercial), while still producing gorgeous ballads such as “Put On A Smile.” They explore feelings of love and lust towards someone on “After Last Night (with Thundercat & Bootsy Collins),” my personal favorite from the album. They immediately pivot to feeling heartbroken and betrayed on the singalong-able track, “Smokin Out The Window.” Whether they’re excited, emotional, or ecstatic, they know exactly how to express what they’re feeling. 

Vocally, Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak deliver solid performances, managing to blend their unique identities into a smooth, cohesive sound. Their chemistry is stellar, and it’s difficult to imagine two artists working together as well as they do. While both of their vocals showcase their individual talents and identities, they still just work together — they sound as if they’ve been singing together for years. Whether it’s due to their experience or their natural chemistry, their vocal performances leave little room for improvement.

With the majority of production done by Bruno Mars and D’Mile, the instrumentation on “An Evening With Silk Sonic” sounds exactly how you’d expect – but in a good way. The sultry, flirtatious, and emotional themes discussed in the songwriting are very appropriately mirrored by the production choices. Sonically, every song is filled to the brim with soul and passion, yet contains an impressive amount of detail. The production choices may not be ambitious or boundary-pushing, but there’s so much intent behind every decision that you don’t even notice. Additionally, it’s unfair to expect progressive production choices on an album that was made to revive and celebrate the classics of R&B.

And if we’re being honest, Silk Sonic’s take on classic soul doesn’t hold a candle to legends such as Marvin Gaye or Curtis Mayfield. This is mainly because Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak aren’t taking themselves too seriously on this project – which makes their execution that much more impressive. They can get away with lyrics like “I’m sipping wine (sip, sip)” because their vocals and production are so well done. They can get away with production that isn’t very ambitious or experimental because every song is orchestrated in such a thoughtful and meticulous way.

While “An Evening With Silk Sonic” may not be as much of a classic as its inspirations, the amount of passion and detail on this record is too great for any comparison to be made. Mars and .Paak have further proved their capabilities as musicians and producers by creating a project that not only celebrates the music of the past, but is capable of standing on its own. Silk Sonic clearly knows how to deliver; let’s just hope they keep delivering.

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Blog New Album Review

Album Review: “Spiral” by Rezz

"Spiral" album cover
"Spiral" by Rezz album cover

I’ve found that I’ve often discovered artists at slightly the wrong time to really get the most out of their work. I got into Car Seat Headrest a month after they came to Cat’s Cradle and it seemed like everyone in The National started releasing solo projects the moment I became a fan. But just this once, the stars aligned. I started DJing during the afterhours block this semester, which means I had to go from an electronic music novice to someone qualified to run a weekly show about it. Rezz was my gateway into a world of thumping bass and hard-hitting kick drums, and I was waiting for this album with a feverish anticipation. Spoiler alert: it was worth the wait.

Sounding effortless to me is one of the best things an artist can do, having instantly iconic moments feel like they are just dispensed without a care in the world adds another level to any music. I normally don’t feel this from EDM, with its meticulously crafted structures, but here it feels like this album is good without even trying to be. Rezz is swimming in so much quality production that “Levitate”, a song that spends half of its runtime over a repeated guitar loop that barely rises above the backbeat, still comes together as a quality track with a sneaky bassline that isn’t really a drop but propels the song in a great direction regardless. It’s all uphill from here, “Sacrificial” makes great use of individual bass notes underneath perfectly arranged vocal harmonies, this is probably my favorite track on the album. “Let Me In” starts slow but continues ramping up the pace with the drop becoming more and more urgent.

The release of this album wasn’t just perfect because of when I got into Rezz’s music either. “Spiral” marks somewhat of a transformation of what a Rezz song means. She built her career off a very specific type of fusion of dark techno and dubstep now called “midtempo”, where songs have house and techno elements but are slowed down to 100-110 BPM, really letting the listener hear the technical aspects of the basslines. Her work in this genre is amazing, and we get all of that here, but she opens up the soundscape with more of a focus on the highs, with offbeat notes and clicks making even the bass drops more fleshed out. Some tracks adhere more to her older style, such as “Spun” and the extremely hard-hitting “Chemical Bond”, but this more balanced approach can be felt across the whole album. Her previous albums were also almost entirely lacking in vocals, but “Spiral” has features from singers on more than half its tracks, and they deliver. “Taste of You” features a restrained buildup that lets Dove Cameron inject a compelling edge to the song before exploding into the drop, and Metric’s Emily Haines arguably carries “Paper Walls” with a vulnerability that matches the moody instrumental until a switch is flipped and the kicks start going stratospheric.

Perhaps the best part of the listening experience is that it’s only going to get better the more I listen to the project. As varied and amazing as the deep cuts were, the singles were still the best songs for a variety of reasons, which means that the high points on an album that at time of writing came out under twelve hours ago were songs I’ve been bumping for months. As we draw further from the release day, this line will blur more and I’ll be able to appreciate “Spiral” as a body of work more. 

And Rezz, if you’re somehow reading this, please announce a show closer than DC.

-Erie

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New Album Review

“Hyd” EP Review

"Hyd" EP cover

Pop is a genre that’s very hard to pin down because of just how broad that classification is. The term “pop” changes drastically across time periods and even geographic locations, and music classified as pop can often fall into other genres as well. Over the past few years record label PC Music has become known for pushing the boundaries of what pop can be, and they’ve found another winner here.

“Hyd” is the self-titled debut EP by Hayden Dunham under the Hyd moniker, but it’s not their first rodeo with PC Music. In 2015 they came through with the instantly iconic “Hey QT” under the name QT, a song that is very much in PC Music’s wheelhouse of hyperpop, the experimental and maximalist take on electropop that have defined so many of my DJ sets this semester. The song is bright and polished to a sheen, with extremely autotuned vocals dancing over bassy kicks, it’s a really fun song. I bring it up here because while it shares some similarities with the tracks on “Hyd”, their fundamental approach to constructing a song has changed a lot over the past six years.

Let me explain. The actual instruments and effects that appear on the EP are classic hyperpop, lots of off-kilter synths and rapid-fire hi-hats, but they are used in a much different way. For a project with these tricks up its sleeve, the most prominent element here is actually the quiet. From the sudden stops at the height of the chorus on “Skin 2 Skin” to adding a thoughtful, pensive tone to “No Shadow”, restraint plays a massive role in this pop record, two concepts that don’t often go together. Songs are structured around this too, taking their time in building themselves up and slowly widening the soundscape before kicking into overdrive in the final minute. There are verses and choruses, but the instrumental is doing its own thing, treating the entire song as one long exhale.

The long sections where the instrumentals step back mean that the vocals become the star of the show, and they certainly perform under the spotlight. Dunham is working with a lot of conflicting vocal styles that are often used simultaneously, yet don’t clash at all. “The light defines us” is delivered with a robotic cadence while also sounding emotional and filled with wonder, and they often switch between husky and whispering to soaring and passionate on a dime. Lyrically there’s actually quite a lot of repetition, with a drawn out bridge of the line “Away from the light” repeated seven times on “No Shadow” or the multiple choruses in a row in the back end of “The Look on Your Face”. But unlike songs where repetition feels like it prevents the song from advancing, here it’s used to create mantras that drive

On first listen, this might be a bit of a surprise from a PC Music release labeled as pop by streaming services. It’s a pretty slow paced and restrained project that, when presented with the opportunity to go big and overblown, takes the reflective route instead. But if your opinions of what a pop record has to be aren’t totally set in stone, this EP will fit the bill, packaging its complicated themes and unorthodox structures into an easily enjoyable and rewindable experience. And if that isn’t pop then I don’t know what is.

-Erie

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New Album Review

Illuminati Hotties: “Let Me Do One More” Album Review

Let Me Do One More Album Cover
Let Me Do One More Album Cover

Illuminati hotties first came to my attention through a genius stealth marketing campaign. Releasing an unannounced album on a blank Bandcamp page, the band was only promoted by two cryptic tweets from Lucy Dacus and the drummer for the band Pup. The music, now released as “FREE I.H This Is Not the One You’ve Been Waiting For,” after being deleted from record for several months. Now, it seems, we have the one we’ve been waiting for.

“Let Me Do One More” is, as you might guess based on her friends, a pop-punk singer-songwriter album. This particular genre mashup is suprisingly not explored all that well, but the Hotties make it feel natural, layering hooks on top of hooks until the songs get quite wordy and obtuse. On the faster songs, lyrics clash and bleed together fast enough that it often borders on free word association. The common refrain of “The DNC is playing dirty; I’m so sad I can’t do laundry,” is a good example, as it makes no sense on any level, but it sure does *feel* right.

Its the album’s ballads that really shine though. While high-energy pop numbers are what hook you in, the album takes you to sad emo boy hours pretty early in the tracklist. Normally the “emotional tracks” on any given pop-punk album are the worst part, but this is where that key endorsement from Lucy Dacus begins to make sense. Frontwoman Sarah Tudzin may be able to light things up with her energy, but you can tell melancholic indie chick is her true form, and so her ballads never fail to tug at my heartstrings.

There’s very little more to analyze about Illuminati Hotties, everything that’s great about them is right there on the surface. The band wears their hearts on their sleeves, and I wouldn’t want it any other way.

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New Album Review

“a touch of the beat…” by Aly and AJ review

Cover art for A Touch of the Beat by Aly and AJ> Features a collage background and a picture of both of them smiling

ALBUM: “a touch of the beat gets you up on your feet gets you out into the sun” by Aly & AJ

RELEASE YEAR: 2021

LABEL: Aly & AJ Music

RATING: 9.5/10

BEST TRACKS: “Pretty Places” “Slow Dancing” “Personal Cathedrals” “Listen!!!”

FCC: Clean

“a touch of the beat gets you up on your feet gets you out into the sun” could not be a more apt title for this mellow pop comeback-album by Aly & AJ. With a long, Fiona Apple-esque title, songwriting assistance from Sky Ferreira, production by Yves Rothman and an 80s synthpop aura, the influences on this record are tangible but never redundant or gaudy. The upbeat tracks make you want to run through a meadow on a cool 70 degree day and the more melancholic tracks are more a warm hug than a pity party.

There were never “Oh my gosh this is so good I could cry” moments but I think that’s what makes this album special. There are no high-highs and thus there are no low-lows; it’s not mountains and valleys, it’s a steady force, an old reliable. It doesn’t feel bound in time either, it’s definitely an album I could revisit years from now and feel similarly about.

The lyricism has the vagueness that makes a pop album. However, I like the honesty that comes with specificity in lyrics, which is why I love folk music, and pop/indie music that leans folk. This album lacks some of that personality that I look for a record, but I wouldn’t necessarily say that the vagueness works against the quality of the album as a whole.

Released in May of 2021, this 12 track album clocks in at just over 47 minutes. If you’re in need of a pick-me-up as we’re on the cusp of winter and as the days get shorter, it is impossible to listen to “a touch of the beat…” without feeling at least an iota happier. As my dear friend, Deethony Jaythony says about his favorite feel-good albums, this LP is a “glimmer of happiness in an uncaring void.”

Be sure to listen to this album on Spotify, or wherever you choose to consume your music. 

Happy listening,

Caitlin

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New Album Review

New Album Review: “HOUSE OF CONFUSION” by Trace Mountains

"HOUSE OF CONFUSION" album cover
"HOUSE OF CONFUSION" by Trace Mountains album cover

Trace Mountains’ 2020 debut album was a pleasant surprise in a year whose surprises were generally for the wrong reasons. That album, “Lost in the Country”, was this blend of optimism and realness, tackling tough subject matters like mental illness and uncertainty about the future ahead and packaging it in this very neat, jangly project that used all of these themes as undercurrents while its characters journeyed forward into the unknown. Something about the soft, breezy vocals and the hopeful sounding guitar lines really made the album click and was a source of comfort in a scary time. 

“HOUSE OF CONFUSION” is a different animal. The winding road in the distance is no longer the focus, the journey has already begun and the speaker is reflecting on the present and past. Album highlight “7 ANGELS” looks at a relationship as a series of plans, both to continue loving and knowing when it’s time to depart. Structurally this doesn’t unfold like a beginning to middle to end narrative, rather it touches on everything at once, the relationship is both coming apart and being forged through shared experience. “AMERICA” uses recognizable iconography of an “open sky” and “moonlit road”, subjects that have defined countless songs, but it uses those as a snapshot of emotions felt around them, asking “makes you feel like you lost it a distance back there, don’t it?” and ruminating on what America is now and what it’s like living in it.

The instrumentals contribute to this light melancholy with a slower, weightier feel. Both “Lost in the Country” and this album have more than just a little helping of country to go along with their indie-rock sensibilities, but here I never feel like the instrumental is trying to pull ahead of the vocals; they’re both sort of staggering side by side. The drumbeat of “ON MY KNEES” is hesitant, it feels like it wants to take off sprinting in a direction but not knowing where to go it instead takes things slow.

On Apple Music, the lyrics aren’t presented in a standard line-by-line structure and rather as a paragraph. I’m not sure if this is an intentional choice, other lyrics sites like Genius have them in the more conventional form, but I really like the visual of seeing every line back to back. It really shows how much of a stream of consciousness this album really is, using roads and nature as a suit of armor to protect from what’s really going on under the surface: a general feeling that life could be better and it’s getting harder to live with increasingly negative thoughts. Trace Mountains don’t offer any solutions to this, rather it sits back and lets the listener connect with the universal concepts, acting as a bath to soak in one’s own uncertainties.

-Erie

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New Album Review

Album Review: “Valentine” by Snail Mail

"Valentine" album cover
"Valentine" by Snail Mail album cover

When I heard that Snail Mail was releasing a new album, I was taken right back to when I first heard their previous album, “Lush”. That album was one of the defining musical moments of my time in high school, and I’ve been anticipating the project that would eventually become “Valentine” ever since. Now this came out among several disappointing releases for me, but I’m happy to say that “Valentine” did not disappoint.

It starts off with a bang, both the title track and “Ben Franklin” are singles for a reason, and both play heavily to the band’s strengths. Lindsey Jordan’s compelling lyrics have been the face of the Snail Mail brand since its inception, and the way “Valentine” takes what on the surface seems to be a straightforward love song and weaves in themes of jealousy and transience while maintaining an overall fun and driving tone. Pacing is something this album does very well; an album like this where there isn’t that much instrumental variety can often drag but Snail Mail comes at this type of slow, synthy indie rock/pop at all different angles to make it work. The strength of the instrumentals acted almost wavelike across the tracklist, with songs like “Madonna” and “Glory” coming in to balance out slower songs like “c. Et Al.” and keep the album chugging along.

It’s been over three years since the last Snail Mail album dropped, and Jordan had been 19 when debut album “Lush” was released. This means that between albums cycles a lot has gone on in her life and the perspective the songwriting takes has now changed from someone who is just getting started with adult life to someone who would have graduated college if they weren’t busy being a super famous singer. And with the change in perspective comes a change in tone, and in doing so it loses one of my favorite elements of “Lush” when I first heard it. This was such an earnest album, with a bright tone making the songs really come to life and a lot of shouted choruses that made even ruminations on lost love sound fun and upbeat at times, and the album balanced these clashing styles perfectly. For me in high school this was a winning combination that really made “Lush” stand apart from its peers and it’s something “Valentine” has largely eschewed, this is a more weary album. “Automate” features Jordan talking about a rocky relationship, but it feels like a longer meditation delivered with a sigh, the very concept reducing love to machine-like motions.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with this. Wanting an artist to never evolve and always to sound like their debut is creatively stifling for them, this is just to say that as a listener you might need to alter what you think a Snail Mail album should sound like in 2021. And if you’re able to do that, you’ll find an album that’s perhaps less immediate, but with just as much substance and heart.

-Erie

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Blog New Album Review

“Shut the f⁠— up talking to me” Zack Fox Album Review

Editor’s Note: If you can’t tell by the title, this article contains mature themes and language. Reader discretion is advised

ALBUM: “shut the f⁠— up talking to me” by Zack Fox

RELEASE YEAR: 2021

LABEL: Parasang

RATING: 6.2/10

BEST TRACKS: “mind your business” and “get off my d⁠—⁠”

FCC: Explicit language

Twitter personality, comedian, album art designer, and rapper Zack Fox blends humor with pure chaos on his new album, “shut the f— up talking to me.” Fox, well-known for his collaboration with Kenny Beats on their single “Jesus is the One (I Got Depression),” hasn’t exactly won over music critics with his controversial lyrics and outlandish humor. However, his reputation of making “joke rap” doesn’t mean that he isn’t capable of putting out an enjoyable product.

At just under twenty minutes, this album isn’t meant to be revolutionary or inspiring. It’s clear that the goal of this project was to create a short and enjoyable collection of songs that would get some laughs out of the listener. And in my opinion, goal achieved.

Fox’s humor, which is crude and ruthless, is present throughout the entire project. Here are some of my favorite lines:

Raise my hand up in the class and told the teacher, “Suck my d—“

“fafo” – Zack Fox

Kick a b—- n—- off a cliff without no parachute

F— n—- prolly callin’ 12 just like a Karen do

“uhh” – Zack Fox

My n—– barbaric, s— could get ugly as f— like Ed Sheeran

“shut the f⁠—⁠ up talking to me” – Zack Fox

And that’s only a few of them.

While every song has quotable bars, “mind your business” and “get off my d⁠—” are favorites of mine, and not necessarily because of the lyrics. They’re both incredibly fun and catchy, and they give Zack Fox a great opportunity to deliver solid punchlines over some of the smoothest beats I’ve heard this year. Sonically, the other tracks seem to suffer in comparison. For some of the other songs, the vocals reach a level of intensity that isn’t quite matched by the beats, which makes for a slightly awkward experience for the listener.

One example of this is Fox’s collaboration with The Alchemist on the title track, “shut the f⁠— up talking to me.” Here, Zack Fox raps about throwing someone’s baby out of their carriage over a somewhat repetitive instrumental that doesn’t seem to reach a climax.

While these stylistic decisions are interesting, I’m not convinced that they belong together. And although it is nice to see Zack Fox delve into other styles of hip-hop, I would have preferred for the energy in “mind your business” and “get off my d⁠—” to be present throughout the entire project, and I hope his future releases contain more of that energy.

Despite my criticisms of this project, it’s still worth a listen. Fox may not be the most skilled songwriter in the world, but “shut the f⁠— up talking to me” manages to stand out in an ocean of new hip-hop releases. This album is a lot of things, but it’s certainly not forgettable.

Is this an AOTY? No, at least, not for me. But it has some catchy, well-produced songs that you can play at a party. And sometimes, that’s all you really need.

-Marshall Morgan