Montreal’s Feeling Figures touch about every “indie” genre on their debut long-player, Migration Magic, which is out now on K/perennialdeath. There’s garage punk (“Dream Death”), jangle pop (“Across The Line”), the noisy Sonic Youth-ish “Sink”, and even a saloon-style piano ballad (“I Should Tell You”). Not to mention that every song is covered in an infectious direct to VHS grime.
Migration Magic is rad from start to finish. There’s really no other way to say it. I wish I would have gotten to it sooner, it would have been in my top releases of the year for sure. I am sorry I slept on it!
Go buy Migration Magic from the Figs Bandcamp page or from us right now. Enjoy.
I challenge any musical outfit in the world to create a more thought-provoking and challenging piece of music than Armand Hammer’s We Buy Diabetic Test Strips, because I haven’t heard one this year. Just as their past three albums have, this release makes me feel like I’ll need to listen to it a thousand times in order to adequately peel back the meaning behind the lyrical layers that woods and ELUCID have laid. That’s the kind of challenge that puts them among my favorite musical artists of the present moment, ever brooding and exuding political acumen. In my opinion, their uniquely bold style and flows make them the most interesting rappers around.
In this release, they continue to demonstrate a deep understanding of the bleak and corrupt environment created by the powers that be, though they do it with personal anecdotes and poignant lyrical tact. Much of their language is subtle enough that we’ll need to rely on the Genius community to help us decode it little by little (despite woods’ line in this album that says “SMH Rap Genius improbable readings”), including the many apt historical and pop culture references. They’re anticolonial and anti-establishment in the most informed way. The title itself provides a clear critique of the greed involved in the American healthcare system.
With an all-star producer cast, the album presents an even more complex and mind-blowing soundscape of beats than their previous releases (which is saying a lot). Despite already having successfully “Scar[ed] the Hoes” this year, JPEGMAFIA appears as producer on tracks throughout the album in all his glitched-out majesty. Aside from Peggy, El-P and DJ Haram bring the biggest and most memorable beats. In addition, heralded woods collaborators Messiah Musik, Preservation, Kenny Segal, Jeff Markey, and Moor Mother also contributed their production skills, bringing the distorted, off-kilter, and abruptly changing sound that keeps me coming back to Armand Hammer albums again and again.
The album opens with a sound collage of lo-fi and sometimes backmasked spoken-word clips and dreamy echoes. These types of sounds resurface throughout the track list, complementing the unrelenting and dour raps. They blur seemingly mundane details and observations into deeper concepts with obscure references. Fans will recognize certain refrains from their previous work (i.e., “You don’t work, you don’t eat”). Whether they’re callbacks to past tracks, or simply their own mantras, you could never mistake woods and ELUCID for anyone else. You can feel that there’s deeper meaning in their haunting verses, but you don’t need to be able to interpret every word to appreciate their inherent poetic value and relevance.
Some of my favorite tracks are as follows, though there isn’t a dull track on the album:
“Woke Up and Asked Siri How I’m Gonna Die” is JPEGMAFIA at his best. woods paints a surrealistic picture of life that matches the vibe of the backing track: “Life’s a trip, if you live long enough you gon’ see it all / Life’s a blip, I flew in under the radar / Beat up spaceships, sliding under the light of a dead star / Still made my shift, appropriately lit for the graveyard.”
The aptly named Trauma Mic brings the sickest and most austere rumble from DJ Haram, complemented so well by ELUCID’s confrontational verse.
The Gods Must Be Crazy just has the best beat with the best groove (from El-P), and every verse flows so well with it. ELUCID references the novel 1984 with the line, “Why I still gotta dress for a thought crime?”. woods, who I can’t quote enough, raps, “White women with pepper spray in they purse interpolating Beyonce”.
Y’all Can’t Stand Right Here is a biased favorite due to the MF DOOM sample. woods includes one of his best verses: “Passed my own crime bill / It said if you scared, go to church, you could still get killed / Life’s hell / Natural life, If your lies put somebody in the cell / Ten years for trading stocks, enhancements for brokering deals / CFOs pleading out junior traders flipping / Flip you for real.”
On Empire BLVD, Junglepussy and Curly Castro’s features complement the sinister bassline and dark tone of a track that ends up being a banger. woods’ verse blows my mind on this one, and ELUCID absolutely destroys it as well, spitting fire at the end of the track and including the line “If you can’t be used, you’re useless.”
We Buy Diabetic Test Strips is out now via Fat Possum. You can get it from their Bandcamp page or from us here.
Roman Ruins (aka Graham Hill) is back with a brand new single, “Drum Machine”, as well as announcing a new album (his first since 2014’s incredible Source of Pride), entitled Isotropes.
“Drum Machine” is a head-nodding affair, full of many layers of sound and texture, coupled with Hill’s ghostly vocals. This single could be, possibly, considered a tad on the bedroom-pop side of things, except for the incredible amount of depth contained within. In fact, the album cover describes what Hill is doing on this track (I assume the rest of the album as well) perfectly.
Isotropes is coming in February via Gold Robot. You can spin “Drum Machine” in all the usual places, including below. Enjoy.
billy woods, half of Armand Hammer, dropped his 13th studio album, Maps. This is his second album with producer Kenny Segal following their critically acclaimed 2019 album, Hiding Places. The duo keep building on their early 2010s underground, experimental hip-hop sound – giving vulnerable, eerie, and tense vibes throughout.
The sounds and emotions of Maps remind the listener of the self-reflection and wisdom you get while traveling. Maps leans into the honest – and sometimes frustrating – feeling of travel as well. woods and Segal brought in more featured artists this time around – including indie hip-hop heavies like Quelle Chris and Aesop Rock. And teamwork makes the dream work: the eighth track, “Year Zero,” has some of the hardest bars we have heard all year with Danny Brown bringing his heavy hitter sound of the underground hip-hop.
Guilherme Coutinho e o Grupo Stalo is the Brazilian album that you both never knew existed and never knew you needed. A true treasure of a find, the album incorporates elements of funk, fast-paced samba, tropicália, MPB (música popular brasileira, or Brazilian popular music), American-style jazz, and bossa nova. It’s lo-fi but highly technical, surprising, and interesting throughout.
Little is known about Guilherme Coutinho, who both plays keyboard and sings on the album. The record was pressed in 1978 at an obscure pressing plant in Belém, a city in northern Brazil seated at the mouth of the Amazon river. (The two major pressing plants, Polysom and Vinil Brasil, are located thousands of miles away in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, respectively.)
Guilherme Coutinho e o Grupo Stalo opens with perhaps the album’s most beautiful track, Atalaia, which greets us with a bossa nova chord structure, Coutinho’s soft vocals, and a backing melody played on what seems to be a theremin. A soft wah-wah effect, which stands as a characterizing element throughout the album, pulses within each instrumental layer. The same effect intensifies in “As Feras”, a funky, space-age-sounding track that shows off Coutinho’s technical prowess. Other standout moments include the breakdown of “Macaréu”, where an upbeat samba guitar (resembling a cavaquinho) picks up tempo and leads into “Fuga” which similarly plays with alternating rhythms in an interesting way.
The album closes on a high note with “Tema Pro Alvarito”, a 7-minute improvisational jazz track that more closely resembles the sound of an American jazz trio rather than a Brazilian bossa. Coutinho’s electric piano (not unlike a Rhodes–though it’s difficult to find information about the instruments used) stands alongside a pleasant, plucky upright bass melody and carries the track with impressive licks, fills, and runs.
Ultimately, you won’t regret spending a quick 32 minutes delving into one of the most interesting albums that Brazil’s underground has to offer.
Guilherme Coutinho e o Grupo Stalo is available now via MR BONGO’s Bandcamp page. Go and get it.
L.A.’s Mo Dotti is back with a brand new single, “For Anyone And You”, as a teaser for their upcoming LP release in 2024. The track is an in-your-face shoegaze-pop song slightly reminiscent of the heavier, more upbeat MBV stuff. It’s a rad track and I’m excited for the new album to come.
Mint Field are a duo out of Mexico City, Mexico. Their new album Aprender a Ser (Learning To Be) is a shimmery ride through bits of dream pop, shoegaze and trip hop (that’s a bit of a stretch, but I’m going with it). The slightly blurry, yet shiny image used for the album cover describes their sound better that I ever could. If I were to rate this it would be 5 wooden nickles!
Aprender a Ser is out on Friday 10/27/2023. You need this album in your life. You can check out the singles “El Suspiro Cambia Todo”, “Nuevo Sol” and “Orquídea” below. They represent the album well. Enjoy.
Glasgow’s Dancer are back, nine months removed from releasing their self-titled EP back in February. Their new EP, As Well, is five more tracks of sharp-edged, jangly, post-punk-ish goodness. Get a load of “Chill Pill” and “Pulp Thriller” below; you’re going to dig them if you don’t already.
As Well is out now on cassette and digitally via Gold Mold Records. I’m super stoked on it. I know you’ll be stoked on it. Go and get it, and enjoy.
New Jersey band LIGHTHEADED is releasing their latest cassette EP, Good Good Great!, on Friday, (10/13/2023). It’s a fantastic 20 or so minutes of five shimmery, jangle pop tracks that are sure to keep you warm—in your heart—on these cooler autumn days. Check out “Mercury Girl” and “Love Is Overrated” (below) for a taste.
Flooding is a three-piece band out of Kansas City, Missouri. They are releasing their new album, Silhouette Machine, today (09/29/2023).
Listening to Silhouette Machine is like watching a horror movie, even more so after the initial shock and surprise of album opener “Run”. We know the person running from evil on the big screen is headed for their ultimate demise, and we anticipate the shock of it happening even though we know it’s going to happen, and it’s still thrilling and works every time—it’s a tried and true formula. Silhouette Machine works just like that. Most of the songs have a soothing, almost ethereal beginning, and you know what’s coming. Then they strike and pummel your senses with a brutal onslaught of heavy guitars, drums, and Rose’s incredible shredded vocals. It works every time. I love it.
Check out “Run”, “Muzzle”, and “Transept Exit” below for a little example. As I was told regarding this album “don’t sleep”. Go get it. Silhouette Machine is out on vinyl via The Ghost Is Clear, on cassette via Manor, and digitally via Flooding. Enjoy.
