https://zoomercore.com Zoomercore Fri, 13 Sep 2024 20:40:54 +0000 https://zoomercore.com en https://zoomercore.com/Alex-G-God-Save-The-Animals-Review Sun, 02 Oct 2022 21:33:14 +0000 Zoomercore https://zoomercore.com/Alex-G-God-Save-The-Animals-Review ZOOMERCORE <img width="640" height="640" width_o="640" height_o="640" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/87a1dc4b58329ff0f7eb57f037217187651dddd1e06fbc1d10d291c8617420e7/0n1gs4duh0691.png" data-mid="154643795" border="0" data-scale="58" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/640/i/87a1dc4b58329ff0f7eb57f037217187651dddd1e06fbc1d10d291c8617420e7/0n1gs4duh0691.png" /> Alex G - God Save the Animals &nbsp; &nbsp; On his 9th album God Save the Animals, Alex tackles religion, morality and forgiveness, all while upping his musical chops with a fresh, uniquely modern instrumental backing. As a modern legend in the indie music scene, Alex is bringing his signature songwriting to this project, though he has shed the lo-fi aesthetic for a polished, studio approach. He combines old-school folk and indie rock tunes with hyperpop beats and auto-tuned vocals, and does so with reckless abandon, sometimes even on the same song. Although Alex has stated repeatedly in interviews that he is not religious, the album feels uniquely Christian, leaving fans wondering if he has found God, found sobriety, or some other epiphany in his personal life. Whatever it is, on God Save the Animals, Alex feels like a whole new man. &nbsp; &nbsp; If there is one thing that is apparent on God Save the Animals, it’s that Alex G is a Zoomer at heart. Gen Z’s obsession with Y2K has seen the comeback of early-aughts bands like Deftones and Korn, and as a friend of mine pointed out, “Blessings” actually sounds a lot like early 2000s staple The Fray. The New York Times recent article “New York’s Hottest New Club is the Catholic Church” lays out the case that Christianity is a rising fad for the youth. Alex’s newfound obsession with Christ is no doubt a reflection of this changing attitude. Even the song “No Blessings” has an interlude that sounds a lot like zoomer-favorite Ecco2K. It is simultaneously his most drained and christian album to date. &nbsp; &nbsp; Previously I thought that some of Alex's albums tended to feel directionless. His grab-bag approach to tracking can make the albums feel more like a playlist or youtube compilation than a full LP. If you simply shuffled songs from Alex’s discography, apart from the particularly folky Rocket cuts, or the Oneohtrix Point Never-style electronic beats of House of Sugar, I would have a very hard time telling you which album they belonged to. I think that this approach has helped Alex gain traction with folks in the TikTok and YouTube algorithm cycle, as if you have heard one Alex G song you have basically heard them all. And if you like that sound, well, congrats because there are hundreds of unreleased cuts, secret bandcamp songs and side projects for you to dive into. That being said, God Save the Animals feels different. It is not the shuffle-and-forget-about-it Alex G album of the past, and it’s not due to some drastic difference in songwriting approach. While this album has an eclectic and somewhat idiosyncratic sound palette, the songs follow similar structure to his previous tunes. &nbsp; &nbsp; The major difference on God Save the Animals is Alex’s lyrics, which are so finely tuned and poignant that they can make you cry. The album opens up with the powerful, devout line “people come and people go away, but God with me he stayed.” On “Runner”, easily one of the best songs he has ever written, he raps about opening up to people, his triggers, the morality of his actions, getting hit with rolled up magazines. “Ain’t It Easy” tells the story of a struggling relationship, one where Alex feels as if he should have known his partner had lost control. This song is particularly emotionally poignant, with lush backing of strings and an understated drum beat that puts Alex’s singing on full display. &nbsp; &nbsp; Alex has always been concerned with morality - on House of Sugar’s “Bad Man”, he sings “I’m a bad man, how about that?” On “Runner,” he confesses that he has done a “couple bad things.” But it seems as if his newfound faith, sobriety or some other enlightenment has caused Alex to be more at peace with himself. He now knows that despite his wrongdoings, Jesus is his lawyer. On “Forgive,” he pleads: “forgive yesterday, I choose today.” For lifelong fans of Alex, it is interesting to see his boyish early lyrics about guilt mature into the sober, thoughtful request for forgiveness. If House of Sugar was Alex’s “Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll” album, God Save the Animals is his a-few-months-out-of-rehab, working-the-12-steps album. This maturity is reflected in his sound palette as well, eschewing the lo-fi bedroom sound recording technique for an actual studio. It was a big deal when Alex changed microphones from a $90 direct-to-USB microphone to a legit one in 2017, and now Alex is even taking his instruments out of his bedroom into a physical studio. He’s growing up right before our eyes, and what he has to show for it is his best album to date, and easily one of the best albums of the year. https://zoomercore.com/MJ-Lenderman-Manning-Fireworks-Review Fri, 13 Sep 2024 20:40:54 +0000 Zoomercore https://zoomercore.com/MJ-Lenderman-Manning-Fireworks-Review ZOOMERCORE <img width="1000" height="1000" width_o="1000" height_o="1000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/02fa20f295ea07799c1f0876a18cf85704159cd56d5e4ef1260e1925c5b1dfd1/mjlend.png" data-mid="218042307" border="0" data-scale="58" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/02fa20f295ea07799c1f0876a18cf85704159cd56d5e4ef1260e1925c5b1dfd1/mjlend.png" /> MJ Lenderman - Manning Fireworks &nbsp; &nbsp; Combining Alt-Country, Americana and Indie Rock, MJ Lenderman impresses on his third album Manning Fireworks. Musically, the album is rich with fiddles, pedal steels, trombones and guitars. The music is close to the folk rock style of Neil Young, Drive-By Truckers, and The Band, while also incorporating edgier, alternative influences akin to those of Yo La Tengo and Wilco. Lenderman takes a major step forward as one of indie rock’s favorite guitar heroes, proving that his compositions are welcoming to a whole slew of bluegrass instruments. Sonically, Manning Fireworks is a major upgrade from the lo-fi tunes of his previous albums, and while the instrumentation is colorful and dynamic, the real growth in Lenderman's latest lies in his lyrics. &nbsp; &nbsp; Lenderman’s stories are tragic-comedies, containing mostly down-on-their-luck half-wits nursing hangovers, broken hearts, and unfulfilled dreams. Elements in his stories include: motels, houseboats, Bibles, McDonalds and “DUI scooters.” The album’s lyrical themes evoke the kind of southern Americana that has always been both fascinating to me and made me laugh. As someone hailing from Jackson, Mississippi, I was thrilled to read that Lenderman got inspiration from Southern-royalty authors such as Barry Hannah and Larry Brown. Like those authors, Lenderman excels in portraying the humor in prideful, moronic losers bragging about their wristwatches and houseboats - and even making the listener feel a twinge of sympathy for them. &nbsp; &nbsp; The lead single is “She’s Leaving You,” an excellent breakup song in which Lenderman employs his own ex-girlfriend (Karly Hartzman of Wednesday) to add backing vocals to the chorus. I can’t help but be reminded of when David Berman used his ex-wife to star in a Purple Mountains music video. Another great song is “On My Knees,” which sounds like a lost Uncle Tupelo tune. My favorite song on the album is “You Don’t Know the Shape I’m In,” a beautiful guitar ballad over an understated drum kit. He opens this track with “Some say distance grows the heart, but I know sometimes we just drift apart.” The track sways with slide guitars and clarinets, culminating in the realization: “all you had to do was be nice.” Lenderman lifts a chorus from The Band, showcasing his ability to drag and drop influences in fresh ways. &nbsp; &nbsp; On previous albums, Lenderman was still funny and sharp-witted, but his lyrics had a kind of slapstick, first-thought quality to them. Some of his previous quips like “someone get that grill out of the rain,” and “I bought you a shirt from the local merch at the airport,” felt a little cheesy to me. On this album, his lyrics have the kind of meticulously worked-over quality that David Berman’s writing contains. I love lyrics like “Is it the quiet hiss of a midnight piss or a river turned to creek?” and “Everybody's walking in two's, Leaving Noah's Ark.” It’s clear Lenderman is a student of the game - if you were raised on Alt-country or Folk Rock, digging into Manning Fireworks will have you recognizing old motifs and references that you haven’t heard in years. While he doesn't reinvent the genre, his vivid portrayal of Southern America - something like Flannery O’Connor meets Zuma, firmly establishes his place among alt-country's best. https://zoomercore.com/Tyler-Review Fri, 16 Jul 2021 18:25:28 +0000 Zoomercore https://zoomercore.com/Tyler-Review ZOOMERCORE <img width="999" height="999" width_o="999" height_o="999" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/15f1bbdc2b21623605db837e2f223c4b12561e0a79cee801db87ff9653cc0092/9b50709a30fbb0eee802ba391af0eb43.999x999x1.png" data-mid="113995075" border="0" data-scale="68" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/999/i/15f1bbdc2b21623605db837e2f223c4b12561e0a79cee801db87ff9653cc0092/9b50709a30fbb0eee802ba391af0eb43.999x999x1.png" /> Tyler, The Creator - Call Me If You Get Lost When Tyler, The Creator first started making music, he shocked rap fans by establishing himself as an horrorcore ringleader of the no-holds-barred, spit in your face rap collective Odd Future. His beats were made on pirated copies of FL studio, and his lyrics consisted of violent fantasies, disturbing desires and a distaste for authority. As Tyler matured, he expanded his music pallet and became a seriously competent beat maker. On Wolf and Cherry Bomb, Tyler’s progress in the studio is apparent. The lush, Neptunes-inspired synth ballads are paired with raw, frantic bangers which led to Tyler’s status as a hip hop wunderkind. After rising to fame and establishing himself as a mainstay in the rap game, he had serious comments and questions about fame. Tyler’s opus, Flower Boy, finds himself dealing with real issues: the morality of stardom, heartbreak, and his own sexuality. His next album, Igor, was a step back from Flower Boy lyrically, and, oh boy, if Igor was lyrically shallow, I don’t even know what to say about Call Me If You Get Lost. On CMIYGL, Tyler isn’t expressing grief about fame anymore; He isn’t painting a cohesive story of love and heartbreak, he isn’t telling us horror fiction about stalker home invasions, he isn’t inciting anarchism, he isn’t making offensive nonsensical bangers with his skateboarding friends, he isn’t even innovating on a production front. So what IS he doing exactly? If you want to hear Tyler rap about his passport, eating Ciabatta bread, scuba diving and his skincare routine, this is the album for you. After Tyler’s first verse in the studio about driving a McLauren in Tulum, did no one mention that maybe we wouldn’t want to listen to 50 minutes of that? Tyler delivers some truly terrible verses over the course of CMIYGL, including an obnoxious quip on institutional racism "whips on whips, my ancestors got they backs out." In the past year we’ve heard Lil Baby have more profound things to say on race in America. The album opens with a narrative motif comparing his life to an 1800s poet Baudelaire (side note: It was already a lot of work to listen to 50 minutes of Tyler, now I’m having to read a Wikipedia of some French poet too). His Baudelaire character falls extremely flat in comparison to a lot of his earlier “personas.” If he wants to make music about his insane wealth, material luxury and traveling the world, then it seems like a slap in the face to then spit half a verse on racism or whine about how fans 10 years ago tried to cancel him. Tyler’s signature production is here in full force, and his synth work provides an easy-listening, smooth silver lining to the lyrics. Tyler has a knack for finding catchy chord changes and sticky, sweet melodies. His jazzy synths and flipped samples provide a warm, lush environment that remains cohesive throughout the 53 minutes. However, it's not exactly a step forward from any of his previous work. It seems that in 2018, Tyler was given a Rhodes keyboard and learned what 7th chords are and said “okay I’m just gonna stay here forever.”&nbsp; The real highlight to the album is the features. The album has great verses from Lil Uzi Vert, Lil Wayne and Pharrel. By the time any of them come into the song, their verses sound like a breath of fresh air. When Lil Uzi comes into JUGGERNAUT, for a second you remember what solid rapping sounds like. Overall, Call Me if You Get Lost seems like a step back for an artist who has delivered some of the best music of the 2010s. He does not innovate on the production front, and lyrically Tyler seems as lost as the islands he vacations on. The TikTok zoomers will surely love this album, and I can’t really blame them. It seems that these days Tyler gets by more on aesthetic and personal brand than actual musical chops, and for kids that wear Depop bedazzled jorts and constantly post pictures of their jawline, who really gives a shit. The thing is, usually I agree with the TikTokers, this is ZOOMERcore afterall. However, on the Tyler front, I’ll stick with the oldies and go out like a boomer listening to Goblin and Flower Boy. This album gets a minor yikes/10 https://zoomercore.com/YOAX-review Wed, 27 Jul 2022 03:21:32 +0000 Zoomercore https://zoomercore.com/YOAX-review ZOOMERCORE <img width="3000" height="3000" width_o="3000" height_o="3000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7f9f4e109d819509a329e3cab5a22e654566ee3ef623e006ea01a2c28e5db0f1/YOAX.jpeg" data-mid="148871388" border="0" data-scale="68" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/7f9f4e109d819509a329e3cab5a22e654566ee3ef623e006ea01a2c28e5db0f1/YOAX.jpeg" /> YOAX - All My Songs for You Me “Sleeping by ourselves, what a hurtful thing to do” At the center of YOAX’s sophomore album All My Songs For You is an exploration of a relationship on its last legs. Centerpiece Carter French’s ability to tap into dark parts of the human psyche, the romantic and emotional crevices of his brain, make the album a deeply personal and emotive experience. Noise, drum machines and feedback are used liberally, yet Songs never feels far from the humans behind the music. Throughout the deep experimentation in Songs is a palpable heartbeat. Standout songs “For You (I’d Do Anything)” and “All My Songs For You” bring the listener into the world of Carter French’s emotional surroundings: at once melancholic, emotionally vulnerable, and hopeful. His alt-rock, experimental sensibilities recall artists like Jeff Tweedy, Broken Social Scene and Women. The recording techniques used in Songs are also notable. The lofi, home-recording style recording works well with the bare bone, vulnerable lyrical themes. If the album were recorded any cleaner, it would lack the bedroom intimacy that the themes require. The album clocks in at 1 hour 8 minutes, making it a long stay inside the hazy, heartbroken universe of YOAX. After the album, the listener may find themselves wanting to take a cold shower, go on a quick jog, or clean their room to avoid the feeling this album produces. But I’d recommend staying in the YOAX-included melancholy, and appreciate the simple fact that all things have a beginning and an end. Some special artists like YOAX can prove that this impermanence, while painful, is beautiful. https://zoomercore.com/Low-HEY-WHAT-review Mon, 13 Sep 2021 17:09:20 +0000 Zoomercore https://zoomercore.com/Low-HEY-WHAT-review ZOOMERCORE <img width="1000" height="1000" width_o="1000" height_o="1000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/01386a0f757714b18814db8df4dfd6c27cd272b3f39a8543eb0856e57ba564e8/low.jpeg" data-mid="118809910" border="0" data-scale="61" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/01386a0f757714b18814db8df4dfd6c27cd272b3f39a8543eb0856e57ba564e8/low.jpeg" /> Low - HEY WHAT I remember reading once, from an interview with Clipping., that the group introduces rigid rules to each of their albums. These come in various forms: only using samples to make up a beat, never using the word “I” in their verses, or limiting an instrumental pallet to different pitches of harsh noise. There has been much said about the creative productivity of limitation, and Low’s amazing new album HEY WHAT is no exception. The album is solely focused on the human voice and harsh drone compression as the center of its artistic statement.&nbsp; I am (obviously) a huge nerd about music, and yet I cannot think of a comparable sound. It’s like if Merzbow produced a Weyes Blood album. Or like if Nine Inch Nails produced a Joanna Newsom album. Or like if your iPhone was stuck in a steel drum with a buzzing vibrator while playin Fleet Foxes. This album sounds huge. Cavernous. It can easily blow you away. With production so crisp and complete, it’s a truly amazing achievement. The voices of Mimi Parker and Alan Sparhawk, along with industrial drone, make up 90% of the sounds present on HEY WHAT.&nbsp; The harsh industrial drone present on this album is in such juxtaposition to the beautiful, sincere harmonies which lay on top of it, that it takes a few listens to get used to the sound of HEY WHAT. “White Horses”, the album’s opening track, throws the listener right into the exciting, melodic noise factory. Compression has never sounded so heartfelt. This opening track to the sixth track “Days Like These” represents the best six-track run of any album in recent memory. This album is a truly original musical moment, which is not a typical statement to describe a band’s 13 studio album. Low emerged in the music scene 27 years ago with the slow-core classic I Could Live in Hope, and followed this album with a run of quality indie rock albums. 2018’s excellent Double Negative found the band playing with more Post-Industrial sounds, and HEY WHAT took those ideas and ran with them. The album sounds like nothing else I have ever heard, and it will be on repeat for some time. It’s the kind of album that is meant for the“we can turn this off if you guys don’t like it” meme, but if it strikes a chord with you, chances are you will fall in love with HEY WHAT’s noisy, passionate sound. https://zoomercore.com/Rx-Papi-Gud-Foreign-Exchange Tue, 23 Nov 2021 03:34:24 +0000 Zoomercore https://zoomercore.com/Rx-Papi-Gud-Foreign-Exchange ZOOMERCORE <img width="640" height="640" width_o="640" height_o="640" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/4ece0ee71c82a63d2879f41aa49adeafb5535c2970f61fac5611d2b2c09b97e9/ab67616d0000b2735031e3f64a3671960333ae89.jpeg" data-mid="125379579" border="0" data-scale="57" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/640/i/4ece0ee71c82a63d2879f41aa49adeafb5535c2970f61fac5611d2b2c09b97e9/ab67616d0000b2735031e3f64a3671960333ae89.jpeg" /> Rx Papi &amp; Gud - Foreign Exchange &nbsp; &nbsp; Hookless New York crime rapper Rx Papi teams up with ethereal Swedish cloud producer Yung Gud on “Foreign Exchange,” delivering one of the most exciting rap albums in recent memory. I’m going to ignore the backstory of both of these artists and pretend that the album came to fruition from the following scenario: In the increasingly emotionally empathetic global landscape, the Swedish embassy realizes that the utopian country could do more to help the underprivileged people of the world. The country starts a foreign exchange program with the New York borough of Harlem, and none other than Rx Papi is selected to study abroad for a semester. Pap arrives in Sweden to find a land of free healthcare, pristine public transportation, and low incarceration rates. He meets a fellow hip hop artist Yung Gud, who tries to show Pap the enlightened Swedish lifestyle, but something is off. Pap starts to get in trouble, not interested in the banal bourgeoisie way of Swedish life. Instead of spending his time learning how to play tennis, he opts to spend his time gobbling percs, crashing Audis, and of course rapping. Before Pap gets kicked out of the country for bad behavior, he and Gud produce 19 minutes of pure eclectic bliss, combining both of their cultures for a collaboration that is both playful and psychedelic as well as violent and aggressive. &nbsp; &nbsp; However, of course, the real way this album emerged was through Gud DMing Rx Papi on Instagram to link up. The two texted beats and verses back and forth over 8 months (before Pap went to jail, where he is currently) in order to make “Foreign Exchange”. Rx Papi’s harrowing stories of crack addiction, gun violence and imprisonment flow oddly well over the silky, atmospheric Gud production. The first song, “12 Stout Street,” is monumental, with the kind of beat that hijacks you and shifts you into a place. The rest of the album does not quite live up to this standout, but for 19 minutes Gud and Pap take the listener on an intriguing odyssey into the lives of two underground rap standouts. It is extremely interesting to hear two artists communicate over this medium, with Papi expressing deeply personal anecdotes and Gud delivering equally emotional, melodic production. I think the timespan of this album is perfect; at 19 minutes we are fully submerged in this odd world without it overstaying its welcome or becoming bloated. “Foreign Exchange” delivers a wholly unique sound, and serves as a promising expression of post-internet rap. https://zoomercore.com/ZelooperZ-Van-Gogh-s-Left-Ear-Review Mon, 13 Sep 2021 16:57:39 +0000 Zoomercore https://zoomercore.com/ZelooperZ-Van-Gogh-s-Left-Ear-Review ZOOMERCORE <img width="1200" height="1200" width_o="1200" height_o="1200" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8abaf73099f0eafbb2e91be7d20774267ceab8ee0f1df422baa300180e417f91/zelooperz.jpeg" data-mid="118808717" border="0" data-scale="68" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/8abaf73099f0eafbb2e91be7d20774267ceab8ee0f1df422baa300180e417f91/zelooperz.jpeg" /> ZelooperZ - Van Gogh’s Left Ear The first thing you notice when you listen to ZelooperZ’s album Van Gogh’s Left Ear is his insanely frantic, high-pitched, off-the-wall flow. ZelooperZ has an ear for classic ‘Detroit rap’ beats: loud, sometimes convoluted beats with blaring horns samples and banging 808s. Yet no matter how maximalist his beats are, the second Z starts rapping, his voice is the overwhelming center of the song. To say Z bodies the beat would be an understatement, a more apt statement would be that Z beats the absolute shit out of the beat. Vocal comparisons range from Ol’ Dirty Bastard to his mentor Danny Brown, although I would argue that Z’s off-the-wall flow is even more wild than these two rap icons. During a full listen to VGLE, you might find yourself wanting him to pump the breaks on some of his over-the-top delivery. Song after song of this manic energy can leave you aching for a moment of calmness amidst the chaos.&nbsp; However, ZelooperZ’s ambition and energy on the track is so endearing that you can’t help but root for the guy. There is a line on “Each and Every Moment” that perfectly sums up the ethos of ZelooperZ: “When you listen to my music you like damn he really want it” ZeeloperZ’s presence on Van Gogh’s Left Ear leaves me grasping to a intersectional comparison, albeit a slightly odd one. His music reminds me of the way Russel Westbrook plays basketball. Russel Westbrook plays with extreme energy and ambition, and watching such a raw athlete can be really inspiring. However, Westbrook is often a terrible decision maker, and his teammates and coaches frequently look like they want to kill him. That’s how I feel about Van Gogh’s Left Ear: most songs are highly energetic, animated slam dunks, yet there is the occasional brick that bangs off the side of the backboard. Van Gogh’s Left Ear is by no means a perfect album, just a really, really fun one. https://zoomercore.com/Dean-Blunt-Black-Metal-2-Review Fri, 16 Jul 2021 18:38:13 +0000 Zoomercore https://zoomercore.com/Dean-Blunt-Black-Metal-2-Review ZOOMERCORE <img width="2048" height="2048" width_o="2048" height_o="2048" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/de0cab3b9cd9c4f18a38bafa7abbc24f70aa36e22b18baefaf19ff6d32063109/BlackMetal2_2048x2048.jpeg" data-mid="113995532" border="0" data-scale="48" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/de0cab3b9cd9c4f18a38bafa7abbc24f70aa36e22b18baefaf19ff6d32063109/BlackMetal2_2048x2048.jpeg" /> Dean Blunt - Black Metal 2 as you scan the dry horizon for an oasis, you instead come across a strange piece of black metal you wipe the dust off of the cover and the mescaline kick in. you’re surrounded by ruins of warped skyscrapers. a hooded figure mugs a woman in a flickering alley. you strain to remember the face of your past lover. he exists in a timeless realm; or maybe he doesn’t exist at all. the taxis have places to go. you’re in an abandoned saloon of a ghost town; no, you’re in purgatory and you faintly remember the once-familiar faces that have fallen to overdoses and gang violence. A small white church materializes in the distance. the Dean greets you with the Blunt end of his gun. there are ruins, new and old, flashing before your eyes as the passage of time eludes you. queasy and bloodied, you bury a cracked iPhone in the crust of the earth as another wave of jamais vu grips your frontal lobe. you’re not sure where you exist, but it doesn’t matter. the fear and loathing are gone. the faces are gone. all that exists resides within you https://zoomercore.com/black-midi-Cavalcade-review Fri, 16 Jul 2021 18:43:42 +0000 Zoomercore https://zoomercore.com/black-midi-Cavalcade-review ZOOMERCORE <img width="2000" height="2000" width_o="2000" height_o="2000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/1a272176cf010194bcf74dc1b0d4439686350749f2a962d0196286bf288c2c3b/Cavalcadedigicover2kx2k_2048x2048.jpeg" data-mid="113995758" border="0" data-scale="75" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/1a272176cf010194bcf74dc1b0d4439686350749f2a962d0196286bf288c2c3b/Cavalcadedigicover2kx2k_2048x2048.jpeg" /> black midi - Cavalcade On black midi’s sophomore album Cavalcade, the British Prog Rock band cement themselves as modern music royalty. Following the overwhelmingly positive reception of their debut album Schlagenheim, black midi fans have been as jitteringly hyped for their sophomore album as any fan base in recent memory. Black midi’s first album left music nerds eager to point out reference-points for the band - Slint, King Crimson, and Frank Zappa. And while elements of this sound still remain on Cavalcade, we also get sounds familiar of Steely Dan, Love and Radiohead. If Schlagenheim was black midi’s OK Computer, then Cavalcade is In Rainbows. We hear elements that fans fell in love with on Schlagenheim - electric guitars, technical freak-out drums, chunky bass and Geordie Greep’s signature monotone signing - however, we also get the new sounds of serene acoustic guitars, humming drone organs, and swooning and subdued twittering horns.&nbsp; The album’s highlights are Chondromalacia Patella, Diamond Stuff, Dethroned, and closer Ascending Forth. Cavalcade takes the cold, chaotic and anti-social and mixes it with beautifully surreal and emotional. It’s like listening to a robot gain sentience and shed a tear to Miles Davis. Even with immense hype, black midi was able to deliver a modern classic on Cavalcade. And amazingly I haven’t mentioned yet that the band’s median age is 21 years old. Here at zoomercore, we have been huge fans of black midi since we heard their debut single “bmbmbmbm.” We hope that Calvalde will bring the band’s fresh sound to new audience, and everyone will finally understand why Grace and I have been muttering “She moves with a puuuuurpose” for the past two years. https://zoomercore.com/harvey_dug-Nu-Grip-review Fri, 16 Jul 2021 18:46:50 +0000 Zoomercore https://zoomercore.com/harvey_dug-Nu-Grip-review ZOOMERCORE <img width="900" height="900" width_o="900" height_o="900" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/40e7c1ffbfbaaa62f71d7ec2473055cb8202557f34b9abb85740736b9e757aa1/channels4_profile.jpeg" data-mid="113995988" border="0" data-scale="75" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/900/i/40e7c1ffbfbaaa62f71d7ec2473055cb8202557f34b9abb85740736b9e757aa1/channels4_profile.jpeg" /> harvey_dug - Nu Grip Harvey_dug’s debut album Nu Grip is a marriage between one man’s SP 404 Sx and another’s stream of conscious poetry. Foreground static crackles like a lead vocal, abstract clatters of percussion keep time, and twirling samples act as the main instrumental pallet of Nu Grip. The tape’s often-used stretched-out dance hall samples give the album the feeling of a broken down carnival ride. One can imagine the bedroom that this album occupies - dozens of scribbled notebooks on the bed, stacks of LPs to sample from on the floor, and an ashtray mounting a pile of spliffs. The standout songs from the tape are “truluv4ever,” a poetic, upbeat abstract hip hop answer to a love song, and “for my brother, jonk ft. Doof” a raw, melancholic tune with some of the best rapping on the album. Harvey_dug’s debut album is an exciting moment the recent resurgence of abstract hip hop and jazz rap, lead by artists like Earl Sweatshirt, MIKE, and Standing on the Corner. With Nu Grip, harvey_dug has established themselves as an duo to watch, and we’re excited to see what the group does next.