5 new releases we love: Whitney folks around, Little Brother returns, and more
Music Features A-Sides
Photo: Olivia Bee
Joyero, Release The Dogs
[Merge, August 23]
As half of Wye Oak, Andy Stack makes an extraordinary amount of sound for one person: It’s a joy to watch him drum with one hand while playing a keyboard or triggering a sample with the other. So it should come as little surprise that his first solo venture—under the name Joyero—does wonders with layers: a drum loop here, a humming keyboard there, an acoustic guitar poking its head out in just the right way. It’s all balanced by Stack’s heretofore under-heard voice, which is more melancholy intonation than singing for the most part—it’s more like another instrument on Release The Dogs than the focal point. His lyrics are worth craning your neck to decipher, though: These nine songs offer an impressionistic but gorgeous examination of heartbreak. So not only is he proficient in a dozen or more instruments, but at lining up beautiful words with their sounds. With the number of records and bands he’s been a part of, it’s almost unfair that this counts as a debut album—it’s so far ahead of most. [Josh Modell]
Pusha T, “Sociopath” and “Coming Home”
[Getting Out Our Dreams, Inc./Def Jam Recordings]
Pusha T’s got two decades of work playing the villain— the Marlo-quoting, phlegm-spewing, Drake-murdering antichrist of hip-hop. But anyone doing a spit-take over the straitlaced social activism of new single “Coming Home” hasn’t been listening too closely to the emcee, who has never shied away from specifying American conservatism as the fuel to his fire. The track, which is intended to promote the rapper’s commendable Third Strike Campaign, sounds beamed in from 2007, with Kanye layering chipmunk soul beneath an extremely unexpected contribution from Ms. Lauryn Hill. She sounds great, of course, and it all works, but Pusha sounds much more at home rapping through gritted teeth on his other new single, the Daytona outtake “Sociopath.” It’s as close as the rapper’s ever gotten to a love song, extolling his partner’s ruthlessness until she grabs the mic and finishes the song for him like it was a bottle of Veuve he was sipping. Pusha may not be a villain IRL, but there’s a reason he always plays one. [Clayton Purdom]
42 Comments
Who’s that in the headline photo?
The guys of Whitney, whatshisname and the other one
I can only assume someone’s writing a separate piece on Norman Fucking Rockwell because it is AOTY for me
Great album. Exceeded my expectations
Just started it up. First track has St. Vincent vibes. So far, so good.
I’ve been listening to it on repeat since yesterday, and it is excellent. I got a little burned out with Lana a few years ago and hadn’t been following her work for awhile. Glad I gave this one a chance. Listening to “Venice Bitch” as I type this, actually.
TOOL motherfucker
Also, new Future Teens: https://futureteens.bandcamp.com/
Whitney is like if every precious late 00’s indie band with jangly guitars laced their chamomile teas with trazodone. Every Whitney song has vocals delivering the same intonation and drumming that sounds designed to not disturb the neighbors during band practice. Imagine James Blunt joining Real Estate and having an Ambien addiction and you might get close to recreating the boredom of Whitneysongwriting. I saw them live and prayed to God the drummer would sing less and focus more on giving the drumset a reason to be present.During the recently announced Whitney Day everyone in Chicago slept a full 24 hours. It was a catastrophe of anticlimactic proportions.
Well put. I’m listening to the new album’s lead track now, and they make Fleet Foxes sound like the MC5.
“they make Fleet Foxes sound like the MC5.”I remember being young/naive enough to believe 70’s soft rock(aka yacht rock) was as soft as music could ever get and still be referred to as rock music with a straight face.Boy was I wrong.Today there are “rock” bands that make The Little River Band sound like Slayer.
wow got ‘em
I don’t think they like anything? Their entire comment history is negativity. It’s exhausting
I like how every sentence is vying to be its own christgauian gem. Just the lamest shit imaginable, lmao
Soft rock is good
Total borecore.
Indie Yacht-rock.
Dawes
Dawes
Marco Benevento just dropped a new single:
Thoughts on the new Tool album from a once huge fan… Pretty disappointing. Sounds more like a jam session with Maynard popping in every once in a while. 13 years later and they still need to recycle riffs and sounds for half the album? Everything is played well as expected, but none of the songs are interesting or dynamic enough to justify them all going 10+ minutes. 7empest is pretty cool, but otherwise pretty boring. Maybe it’s a grower, but we’ll see…
This record was never going to be good. Just in my opinion, Tool has been trending down pretty much from the beginning, Undertows better than Aenima ,Aenima better than Lateralus,Lateralus better than 10K Days. Now, it could be I just burned out on Tool during the Undertow explosion (I probably saw them 8 or 10 times between 92-96), to the point I banned them from the jukebox at my bar. And Perfect Circle was never very good. So it kinda cracked me up that the fanboys expected a masterpiece at this point.
Well, I totally disagree with both of these takes. I think it’s an evolution of their style, it’s unmistakenly them, and showcases Adam Jones and especially Danny Carey in a great way. But the first Tool album I got into was Lateralus, and it’s still my favorite, and the new album feels like a direct descendant of that. I don’t care that Maynard isn’t front and center. Plus, 7empest is a beast, and I love that it’s like a walk through their history.A lot of people were lukewarm on 10,000 Days when it came out but have since come around. I think the same thing is going to happen with FI.
The actual recording is a mess though. So much clipping.
What are you talking about? I don’t hear any besides saturation
I dunno what album you’re listening to, man, but from where I’m sitting it’s crystal clear.
You are absolutely correct about 7empest being a walk through their history. I got into the band at Undertow and adore this album.
Yeah I don’t know. It’s pretty much receiving universal praise. The above wet blanket takes are definitely the minority. Just because someone says something is a fact doesn’t really change that it’s just their shitty opinion.
Second this! Personally I think the album’s a fucking beauty. Pneuma, Tempest, Invincible and Descending are all phenomenal, and Culling Voices and Fear Inoculum are less immediately impactful but still wonderful songs. CCTrip is a lovely bit of weirdness in the mix. I mean, I know it usually takes a while to digest Tool albums but this one had me hooked straight from the off. It’s everything I’d hoped it would be so.
It’s a shame that Maynard can’t scream anymore but fuck it, he’s in his fifties, and the instrumentation – particularly from Carey and Jones – is so good that it doesn’t matter.I absolutely love it.
Tool’s fans are insufferable. The band themselves are fine but have never been anything terribly special.
“to the point I banned them from the jukebox at my bar.”Several years ago I was at a bar and someone cued up a bunch of Tool songs in a row on the jukebox. It legitimately sounded like just one 45-minute song.
undertow is not better than Aenima. Aenima is the good one.
I honestly think this is their best cd of all time, I couldnt disagree with you more.
How does an article about new music released this week not mention Norman Fucking Rockwell?
Honestly, got kind of excited when I saw the picture. I thought Tanlines put out a new album.
“Unlike most whisper-sung indie rock albums of late. . .”
Whisper-sung “rock” music. That’s what it’s come to.
The most non-rocking music in existence routinely gets lumped into “indie rock” simply because people in positions of influence have been too lazy to invent a better descriptor. Get a new name for this shit.
Fear Inoculum is a masterpiece.
Kinjatest.
Ever heard of a band called tool?They released new music. It is the best new music in quite some time.
Just heard “Sociopath” before reading this article and now I’m listening to “Coming Home”. I’m elated, I thought it would be years until we got something other than features. The one with Gibbs was nice but not enough! That Third Strike campaign is doing some real good in the world and I’m glad to see someone who knows the deal using his voice to speak up for those who are kept silent.
The new Futureheads album has far exceeded my expectations. Powerful, kickass songs about middle-age, depression, birth, death, existential anxiety, all that shit.
One Whitney = Two Demarcos.