086
Releases
06
07
REVIEWS
Beach House are remarkably consistent. Since the Baltimore duo, comprised of vocalist and keyboardist Victoria Legrand and guitarist Alex Scally, started releasing music in 2006, they have exuded the same dull glow from the beginning; their back catalogue of woozy dream pop always finds a way to take up whichever space it inhabits: Bloom was guitar heavy, melody-driven, and demanding to be heard, but always on their terms; Depression Cherry took a more morose turn, with the focus on the atmosphere the songs created, rather than the one it already lived in. 7 is their seventh full-length record, and it consciously strips away the distractions and brings the focus back to the instrumentation. While the record is mostly hookless, gaseous in form, it doesn’t disarm them. The main takeaway is a feeling of rosetinted catharsis, and whether or not it’s shared with the listener, a point remains, more obvious than ever: Beach House refuse to compromise their agency over their sound. With 7, Beach House continue to prove that if you say something quietly enough, people will lean in. !
Rachel Grace Almeida
08
John Maus Addendum Domino Records Moomin Yesterday’s Tomorrows Wolf Music
Beach House 7 Matador Records
09
07
The title of Moomin's third LP, Yesterday's Tomorrows alludes to the kind of music that comprises most of the album – past-revering, with nods to more contemporary sounds. The album is in two halves. The first is made up of four very safe, very conservative and totally inoffensive deep house tracks that are difficult to get excited about. The second half is more interesting: two drum ‘n’ bass tracks and two instrumental hip-hop tunes that, while still bound by the conventions of those genres, are identifiably ‘Moomin-esque’; naggingly melancholic, and simple in a profound, pleasing way. Despite only having three chords, Into the Woods is a great example of how to effectively pace a drum ‘n’ bass track. After the first couple of minutes, the tune falls away. Then, the silence is pulverised by the kind of sub-bass that would set ravers grinning, punch-drunkenly, until the break cracked across their eardrums and compelled their weary limbs back to dancing. Fruits, which closes, is another highlight, and showcases Moomin’s talent for blissed-out loops and Dillaesque beats. While neither is groundbreaking stuff, it is refreshing to see a producer known mostly for doing one thing very well try other things. The deep house of complex jazz chords played on a Fender Rhodes chained rigidly to a four-to-the-floor beat is getting increasingly conservative, workmanlike and dull. Moomin deserves praise for trying to break out of it. !
Robert Bates
The thought of music by contemporary intellectuals is often a daunting prospect. Who, after all, hasn’t imagined Slavoj Zizek dropping his muchanticipated debut and winced? Still, there are exceptions and John Maus, perhaps, sits chief among them. A continuation of sorts from 2017’s Screen Memories, Addendum is both what it sets out to be and an album very much in its own right. A collection of 12 songs worthy of their place within the Maus cannon, rather than just a bookend, it’s heavily armed with both a poignancy and a muchneeded kind of dance-yourselfhappy, laissez faire attitude. Opening with sludgy bass notes and tight snare hits, on first impressions Outer Space can’t help bring to mind Mark Mothersbaugh’s irrepressible Life Aquatic score. But, joined quickly by synthesiser chimes more akin to Tears for Fears and Maus’ own recognisably laconic vocals, the combination makes clear very quickly that Addendum is content neither to be a pop culture echo nor a nostalgic tribute. Like Running Man earlier, 1987 makes no bones about betraying the influences it wears so visibly; the former, bizarrely, has tinges of Men Without Hats’ Safety Dance, while the latter – perhaps even more strangely – veers sharply and exhilaratingly at one point towards a convergence with Pulp’s Common People. As a record, Addendum is both a surprising collage of notquite-disparate influences and a whole that nearly sums up Maus’ eclecticism, esotericism and singular vision. Many things at once, it is far from simply a coda. !
Karl Smith
Parquet Courts Wide Awake! Rough Trade Records
Cardi B Invasion of Privacy Atlantic In less than a week on from its release, Cardi B’s debut album Invasion of Privacy reached record-breaking milestones in the charts. Cardi already had a strong foundation in pop culture, but the record was always going to make or break her lasting success. Thankfully, she delivered an album that not only solidifies her place in hip-hop, but also speaks directly to the tone of the times. Cardi arrived in the midst of an era where women were tired of being muted. Movements like #MeToo and #TimesUp were as much about exposing the misogynistic ills of the entertainment industry as having the strength and courage to call out those ills by name and face. Abuse was no longer par for the course, and the notion of “you’ll never work in this town again” was dead in the water. As for Cardi, the former reality TV star went viral during the reunion episode of her season of VH1’s Love & Hip Hop: New York, when she challenged co-star Peter Grunz for suggesting he’s financially supporting his paramours. Part of Cardi B’s televised allure was her brashness, which carried over to her major label debut single Bodak Yellow. Her Instagram videos – often featuring no make-up – were an equal balance of funny and honest, making the artist an accessible superhero. With Invasion of Privacy, Cardi B presents her take on message music. Some might misconstrue the songs’ overtones as being anti-girl power; on the contrary, both Cardi B and her critics’ points read similarly – questioning the desire for women to tear each other down. At a time where women should be unifying and supporting one another, Cardi B continuously echoes the sentiment that there’s enough love, money, and success for all of us. Cardi, after all, is just out to enjoy her unorthodox success story. Songs like Best Life (with Chance the Rapper) paint a portrait of the rapper trying to live while the internet nurtures #CardiBIsSoProblematic trending topics. On tracks like Money Bag, she’s clearly not trying to be anyone but herself: “I been broke my whole life, I have no clue what to do with these racks”. That’s not to say she doesn’t like to flex, as on She Bad, or consistently calling her man a “bitch” on Thru Your Phone. But songs like Ring bring a vulnerability that anyone in love can experience, asking themselves whether or not they can swallow their pride and reach out during tumultuous times. In an era where women are no longer afraid to speak up, Invasion of Privacy is an extension of that movement in her own vision. With bold authenticity and self-awareness, Cardi B proves that a little self-confidence goes a long way. !
Kathy Iandoli
Over the course of this decade, the consistently sharp New York-based band Parquet Courts have made an impression on the consciousness of a generation. With Wide Awake! – their seventh LP if you count their efforts with tweaked line-ups – they make their mark indelible. It’s their angriest work, and yet it’s their most polished. It’s quite possibly their best. Thematically, the band reproach modernism and the penchant for individualism and nihilism that comes with it – territory they have tread before – but this time guitarist and principle singer Andrew Savage seems much more comfortable with his anger. Musically, Wide Awake! is more of a departure – partly because the band recruited Danger Mouse as producer, whose influence can be felt in an added sheen and production flourishes, like the growled narration and g-funk squeal on Violence, a blistering attack on gun culture and tacit acceptance of brutality. More generally, the band embrace the dance: drawing out pure funk with the title track and a crooning groove on closer Tenderness. Austin Brown, who delivers two of his best ever turns as frontman with Mardi Gras Beads and Death Will Bring Change, states that with Wide Awake!, the band aim “to stand in opposition to [hateful culture] — and to the nihilism used to cope with that — with ideas of passion and love”. That they do so with a record so close to boiling point, again switching up their sound, is exactly what makes Parquet Courts such a special band. !
Theo Kotz
