NEW LOCAL MUSIC ANALOGUE ADVERTISING LAYZI
I came across Layzi on a poster for a show at the Rockwell I saw on Cambridge Street. Carissa Myre, the person behind Layzi, is a meteoric rising star here in Boston. Layzi started releasing music on Spotify in 2020, performed their first live shows in 2021, and has already performed at the Boston Music Awards and has been signed to the music label Spirit Goth. Layzi currently has 3,079 monthly listeners on Spotify and 2,953 followers on Instagram. They literally make bedroom pop, as in Layzi creates all of their songs out of their bedroom. Layzi’s latest EP, “What’s Left to Lose’’ was released on November 10, 2021. The songs on “What’s Left to Lose” are what I want to listen to while crying in the shower or taking a long, pensieve walk. The lo-fi, calming vibe of the EP created by the elements of Layzi’s bell-like, calming voice and the vintage inspired instrumentals make me want to deeply reflect upon everything. While the entire EP is clearly vintage inspired, “If U Want Me 2” and “WL2L” sound like updated 80’s love ballads. What I like about Layzi in particular is how they managed to capture the lo-fi, calm, indie pop vibe but still created something I can kind
of dance to. I personally hate when songs are torturously slow. I wasn’t the biggest fan of Clairo’s “Sling” and “What’s Left to Lose” is more of what I wanted that album to sound like. I’m usually not a person who pays attention to lyrics at all but there are some lines throughout this E.P. that jumped out at me. “Nothing Ever Feels Right” is a track that is so poignant and relatable after the past year full of stress and disease and turmoil. The lines “I feel dead and lost inside my head” “why do I waste my time” and “it’s probably because I don’t sleep enough” really hit home for me. In my favorite song off of the EP, “Shoes” Layzi sings “I’m so tired” over and over again. The instrumental melody in this song is so engaging and catchy I feel like I might catch myself singing it instead of the vocals of the song in the next few weeks. I deeply relate being inescapably tired looking back across the year, but especially since Daylight Savings Time kicked in. Layzi is an amazing bedroom pop project and I hope to see them climb up the same rapid trajectory to success they have ridden over the past year.
------------------------------- GANNOPY URENA
EXPERIMENTAL EXCURSION The last year in New England’s experimental underground was a hecticly beautiful conglomeration of sound art that shouldn’t be overlooked. Ending the year off with 3 releases to relax your mind, alert your senses and to find your inner-self. 1. Luke Jumes - The Collected Luke Jumes Volume 5 Luke Jumes has been roaming greater boston with melancholy and outlandish folk lullabies for about a decade now and Volume 5 is now a lofi songbird’s go-to driving CD . I’ve always admired Luke’s ability to make practically any loosely connected ideas and thoughts into eloquent and divine collections of tracks. As well as revisiting and evolving old tracks like one of my favorites Out Of All, Luke produces some new originals like Saucer song which has spoken word sampling and extraterrestrial lyrics that almost make you question if Earth is a simulation. This compilation is from start to finish, a cosmic CD where every song leaves you intrigued.
2.
THE MASSACHUSETTS MINUTE CONNIS AND BBY.J UNITE FOR ‘CRASHING’
Representing the ever prominent city of Cambridge, Massachusetts is Connis – an unfiltered rapper who’s discography is full of heartfelt emotion and deep self-expression. Constantly putting his truest form of being at the forefront of his musical journey, Connis has time and time again delivered powerful music to his consistently widening base of listeners. Just last month, the promising artist collaborated alongside fellow Massachusetts native, bby.j, to gift fans an exceptional body of work titled Crashing. Fresh off of the release of his debut instrumental tape, Songs to Sleep On a Bus To, bby.j has seen an immense amount of progression within his catalog of music this year. Both as a solo-producer and alongside theworldbirdie as bby.bird, bby.j has unleashed more music in 2021 than ever before – attributing to the successful development of a plethora of local artists along the way. On Crashing, he furthered this narrative by providing a soundscape for Connis to flow freely. Taking on a mystical feel throughout, Crashing’s eleven minutes of runtime becomes a sonic escape into the worlds of both Connis and bby.j. Utilizing elements of R&B, Hip-Hop, Lo-Fi, and Drum and
Bass production, the sonic structure of this EP constantly grapples the listener’s mind. Floating atop the underlying instrumentals with autotune-laced vocals is Connis, who’s work here becomes reminiscent of Mac Miller on Delusional Thomas. Seeking nothing but the approval of themselves on this tape, Crashing is a fully-fleshed piece of art that local music fans should not be casting aside. When asked about the inspiration behind this project, Connis tweeted “I feel like j & I really put this project out for ourselves. We weren’t trippin over how to let it fly because these songs are weird and otherwise never would’ve seen the light of day.” Rather than appealing to what the pair thought their listeners wanted to hear, Crashing ultimately stuck to making the music that they wanted to create. No matter what the final output ended up being, having fun throughout the process was the ultimate goal – something which should inspire creatives everywhere to stay true to themselves no matter what. If you’re someone that enjoyed this EP, then I strongly suggest streaming Connis’ most recent album, Somebody, which debuted this past October.
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AFFECTED ACCENT THE BLUES DREAM BOX
3. Little Priest - 1000 Days Unchanged The Boston bugrat himself, Shawnie Brando’s solo effort Little Priest has been on my radar for a while. Listening to this ascends you in a world of apocalyptic drum-machine and guitar loops with ethereal vocals layered on top of each other smoothly. Listening to this album feels like you’re starring in the aftermath of a post-apocalyptic space movie that involves at least one alien abduction. Little Priest has proven again to practice more than preach in this recording and I am looking forward to what’s next in the sonic journey.
Uttered In Tongues Ego Listening to Ego is like entering a sonic journey of catharsis and healing. Riveting and calming your nerves at the same time heavily. When not a mental health counselor, Uttered In Tongues (FKA Arthur Tuttle) provides harshambient noise in forms of heavy meditation That is all for this month and to submit a tracks and visuals. Almost 40 minutes in length split into 2 tracks Ego has an astounding harsh/experimental/noise/jug band project ability to have you fully mindful and centered for the next issue. DM @floweryspeech1 on of what you hear in the present moment, This Instagram. tape is well worth playing when you need to ------------------ MICHAEL MAMBRINO rest or lay down but not fall asleep.
Strip It For Parts, the new album by local band the Blues Dream Box, defies classification— wild excursions into jazz infused chaos exist over a skeleton of blues rock. The interplay between guitar, bass, and drums is loose, free flowing, and feels heavily improvised. The songs with vocals evoke the barroom blues of Captain Beefheart and Col. Bruce Hampton with an eagerness to veer off in any other stylistic direction. The album’s instrumental songs are more in the jazz, post-rock vein. Think John Scofield and Medeski Martin & Wood in the late ‘90s, Tortoise, the Lounge Lizards (or for a more recent touchstone Three-Layer Cake). What I like most about the album is the combination of an open, confident, laid-back
feel with a dissonant and disjointed edge and eagerness to jump between tempos and styles with hammer blows of distortion and the occasional moment of absurdity. These qualities shine in “Opposite Stencil,” “Loose 50,” and “Nu Think as Beans.” They start with catchy beats and licks then devolve and crash into disjointed noise. The end of the album takes a final unexpected turn with “Cool Alphabet,” a polished kids song consisting of a jumbled alphabet— UHSKLMJBNTORPZICFXGQIDWAEV. Give Strip It For Parts a listen. It can be found on Bandcamp and the major streaming services.
----------------------------------------------------------------------- STEVE B