ICYMI is a series featuring new and notable releases you (and we) may have missed
WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? – Billie Eilish
Everyone’s trying to figure out what’s going on with this teen’s debut album. Is it genius? It is trying too hard? Is it… even good? Some say she’s the new Lorde but that’s a cheap comparison. They’re young teen female songwriters within the pop realm but that’s kind of where the the similarities stop. Billie’s approached this debut album as an experimental artist, and what’s art if you’re not taking risks? Some of them paid off, some of them not so much; the Michael Scott samples are fun at first but have already gotten old. That line “I just kinda wish you were gay,” feels a little weird no matter how well intentioned. But that shaky effect on the bass and vocals in more than one track (“bad guy” and “xanny,” the first two actual songs) that makes it sound like you’re playing them too loud and your whole house is shaking – it makes you aware of the fact that you’re listening to music in a physical space. It’s coming from a physical part of this planet. The sampling of an airplane’s lift off in “i love you” does the same thing in a different way by taking you up away from this earth and into the sky. You feel physically lifted. Really makes ya wonder… WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? Somewhere away from these bodies. This album is a tactile experience that’s given pop music something to think about, layered most prominently the voice of a very self-aware emo teen. And that voice is just so good.
– Grace Eire
“Into the Iris” – Flat Worms
I will be the first to admit I slept on the most recent Flat Worms release. This is my own fault and I take full responsibility for my shortcomings. While their latest release with Drag City Records was recorded in Ty Segall’s home, this live video has me wanting to book a flight to LA to see them in the flesh. “Into the Iris” is exactly how modern punk music should sound like. It veers in a different direction than most punk-leaning UK bands are going, while still being more interesting melodically than a lot of stateside punk outfits. Flat Worms might seem like the underground band you can still catch at a backroom on a Thursday night now, but I don’t think that’s going to last for very long.
“Crow’s Perch” – black midi
My new favorite conspiracy theory is that black midi is actually an industry plant. It’s not too far-fetched seeing the immense amount of hype surrounding an off-the-grid group of underage, experimental math rock prodigies from the UK. Until now it’s even been difficult to stream their music. Everything I heard about them (or from them) was word of mouth, recommendations from other bands, two soundcloud tracks, and unlisted youtube videos. Finally, they’ve released “Crow’s Perch” for the masses. It’s a whining, spinning, dizzying track. Non-linear, non-conforming, and clashing, it’s the kind of music that makes you upset that your brain will never compose something as uniquely interesting.
“Face the Facts” – Foxygen
“Face the Facts” is definitely a weirder, synth-ier, endeavor than songs I typically think of when Foxygen is mentioned — “Avalon”, “Shuggie”, “How Can You Really”. The band seems to have graduated from the seventies to the eighties (or at least to a more disco 70s place) and have incorporated the off-kilter, dissonant, nostalgia tactics of friends and co-collaborators The Lemon Twigs. The track is a clear representation that the upcoming album marks a new chapter for the band personally and apparently stylistically — the end of the era of partying and drugs and decadence and into a more grounded, based in reality, no-fucks-given head space.