We're back at it with some quick fire reviews today, with some older, like 'Bando Stone and the New World' and some newer records like Tyler the Creators 'Chromocopia', but they're all from this year (yay!). A couple of these are pretty out of my wheelhouse in terms of genre, but I'm doing my best to push the boat out a touch with what I'm putting on at the moment, so allow me a little chat about these next five records and what I'm feeling and what I'm not.
Bando Stone and the New World - Childish Gambino - 2024
At its best this record is clean, chaotic and immense. The crescendos and builds, full of introspective lyricism and brilliantly punchy beats make for a tapestry of well thought out and sonically unique tracks that really really work. At its worst however, it takes that chaos and turns it into some truly baffling and bizarre directions that taint the somewhat brilliance of a lot of the tracks and make them almost entirely unlistenable. Lithonia is insanely good, it’s a brilliant track, has so much grandeur and atmosphere with those distorted guitars, but then you get hit with Got to Be and it’s just…a chore to listen to. I have always respected Childish Gambino, his music has always found its way onto my playlists, from vibey tracks like Redbone and Feels Like Summer to the insanity of Bonfire, but the lack of cohesiveness does not gel well with this semi-mature new look, and leaves a lot to be desired, making me go no higher than a 5/10 on this one.
I Love You So Fucking Much - Glass Animals - 2024
Hey, I heard you liked the last one, so like…here’s that all over again, for 30 minutes! By no means reinventing the wheel on this new record, but by all means making some great music inside their own unique indie/R&B fusion they've been pioneering since their last one. It’s easy to listen to, full of random dates and names, and with more weirded out lyricism to make any fan raise an eyebrow, this record is a decent look into a band who know what they’re good at, but sometimes don’t really want to let the new wide world in. It's shortness lends to this accessible and easy to pick up sound, but isn't blowing my mind by nay metrics - it's playing it a little safe to me, and when it's turned up to the nth degree, it does get a little tired after the first few tracks. Instrumentation is clean, production is razor sharp, vocal melodies are cool, but when it always is, you can hardly call the record an experience you want to have over and over again. I'm giving this one a decent 6.5/10.
Amyl and the Sniffers - Cartoon Darkness - 2024
Oozing with punkish repeated guitar and vulgar lyrics, this record is a testament that punk really isn’t dead in our mainstream. Full of distorted guitar, splashy cymbals and some punchy snarled vocals, Amyl and the gang are not to be sniffed at. Sure, some songs revolve around the same guitar riffs for just a second too long they get a little repetitive, but hey who cares, this shit goes pretty damn hard. Plus, strong female voices in the punk scene have often gone unheard, so I’m glad that these guys are out blazing their own path. The lyrics are oozing with meaning, touching on gender norms, climate change, how negativity can impact peoples lives, the highs and lows of love and sex, and most of them are pretty damn good. Some small lyrical misfires are there, and a few tracks are also a little clunky, especially when they decide to strip back their raging speed fuelled tracks to something a little more lowkey. It's good, but good in the sense that its there and kicking and screaming at its best, but needing a little more to get anywhere past that experience, so it needs a 7/10 from me.
Brat and Its Completely Different but also Still Brat - Charli XCX - 2024
Remember when I said that Brat evoked an awesome feeling, but it wasn't really for me? That I reckoned it was a little too one sided for my liking, and that if it had a touch more variety, I would have really enjoyed it? Well, here is that variety ladies and gentlemen! Sure, they're all remixes, but holy shit do a lot of these tracks bring that much needed third dimension to this record. It's no longer about this part girl nature, there's a real vulnerability to some of it, more ragers for sure - with the likes of Troye Sivan, Addison Rae and Billie Eilish, but there's that vital second side to the coin that rounds out the Brat experience. There's this insanely beautiful midway pitstop with I Might Say Something Stupid that is just a master piece - it's in my playlist and I imagine will stay there for a while. If some of these tracks made it to the main record...woof. Sure, a couple don't work for me, or feel more like a secondary remix (because that's what it is) but it scores a 8/10 from me.
Chromokopia - Tyler, The Creator - 2024
I'll be the first to say I'm not well versed in the many faces of Tyler Okonma aka Tyler, The Creator. I know this runs much much deeper than I can understand, but on firat listen I have to say this record sounds pretty great. Even if the production is similar to some of his other work that I've encountered, there’s this real aura of honesty with the song writing on this new record that I really enjoy and respect, and in those emotional beats like Hey Judy, it hits insanely and impossibly hard. However, on those more flashy tunes and indulgent melodies it also nails those parts too, the beats are insanely well built, with some brilliant auxiliary percussion that add real audible texture. On every re-listen you hear something new, some new layer that adds this insane new depth of appreciation to this record and its many faces and styles blurred into one. It's a solid body of work, full of flash and also self reflection, so I'm giving it an 8.5/10.
Overall: Some solid work once again from these five artists. Revisiting the likes of Brat was really cool, and it was really nice to compare and contrast the original record with the new remixed versions. After seeing Amyl and the Sniffers live at the Hella Mega Tour, seeing new music from them was also super exciting - and paid off for the most part. Glass Animals have been a band on my radar for a bit, so I was glad to properly sit down and listen to more than just their most popular tracks, even if they all sound the same! And also these new rap/R&B records from Childish Gambino and Tyler, The Creator. They were different for me, and required me to engage a different part of my brain I haven't for a long time, but here we are, and I really enjoyed something different for a change. Although I didn't enjoy the offerings from Glover, Chromokopia was really something cool to sink my teeth into for a while. Once again, I am having a lovely time with some new music, so how can I complain?!
Highlights: Lithonia, Jerkin', U Should Not Be Doing That, I Might Say Something Stupid, Guess, St Chroma, Hey Jane, I Killed You, Sticky
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