The Friday Refrain: A bit of what's new in music... (finally)
Thursday, January 12, 2017 at 8:23PM
Becca Ruiz in Friday Refrain, Music

I know. I mean I hope I know. I hope you all have figured it out by now, a week passing without a peep from me means illness in the house or Fridays without naps or the dishes really needed to be washed. Some sort of life thing. And I'm just going to assume you understand and just roll with it. So thanks (if I'm assuming correctly). Anyway, there hadn't been too much to talk about until last week anyhoot. But last week...

I just have this need to listen to at least one track from the Bowie EP almost every day. Maybe it's the anniversary. Maybe it's the way it's in sync with a Northern winter. I don't know, but there it is. Also in the last weeks, Brian Eno released Reflection. Dropkick Murphys brought us 11 Stories of Pain & Glory. And I'm really digging the country collaboration of Dale Watson & Ray Benson on Dale & Ray. As fun as the Nelson/Haggard collaboration last year, and the Watson/Benson collab includes a song tribute to the late Mr. Haggard. In short, there hasn't been much yet this year, but there's been some good stuff to hibernate with.

And then there's today. The flood doors of releases are slowly opening again and there are things to be had. First off, there is The Flaming Lips with Oczy Mlody. I'm interested to see where this lands on the spectrum of the Lips' output. I'm hoping for good. I really liked The Terror but the timing of it made it hard to fold into the rotation. I continually go back and think about that album though. Next up, we have not quite so psychedelic or as experimental, but certainly grooving with their own sounds, The xx released I See You. Let's fade even more to the EDM side of things with Bonobo's Migration. And holy cannoli everyone, shut up and sit down - SEPULTURA has a new album! All i know is that the dancey low key xx album to the metal of Sepultura is going to be a little bit of a shock but hopefully so worth it.

The first album list of the year!

Last week was really light, so I only have a couple more mentions and then I'll include my Spotify playlist where you can check it all out:

Information Flash, Ego Murda Sound - Sometimes, rarely, but sometimes I have patience to sit down and let an electronica album get into my head, and this falls into that frame of mind.

Alluvial, The Deep Longing for Annihilation - I love instrumental metal. It's the best kind. It looks like they tried finding a vocalist to add to the tracks but decided to keep it instrumental in the end and I think it was the best decision. Vocals in metal are my pickiest thing. I will love the 2 minute intro of a song, start to get into and then the vocalist starts in and it's too cookie monster or too tenor or too much vibrato or too whiny... Anyway, back to Alluvial. It's got some great guitar riffs and it all comes together really well - thinking about it, I perceive the music as one whole instead of focusing on the drums or the bass or whatever. Cohesion is not easily achieved.

The Dogs, Death By Drowning - This is some great straight up rock.

 

All right, need to get that playlist together before the boy awakens, so it's time to wrap up the writing. I'm pretty excited about waht 2017 has to bring in music. Starting off pretty strong again. Oh. My. Granola. This Sepultura album is making me very happy. Yes. So you know, whatever else 2017 has to bring - at least we can be looking forward to some good music. I've been thinking about it, and I don't know if it's because I listen to 50 bands a week or if the quality of music has really gone up. I know, Trent Reznor just came out saying that (interruption, seriously latin + metal? Oh Sepultura you really get me) music is too safe - but I disagree. There is a lot of safe music out there but if you just dig, listen to 50 bands a week I guess, you really can find something more. I mean, last year I had at least 2 albums I couldn't even quantify for completely different reasons. Daevid Allen Weird Quartet's Elevenses would probably be lumped as jazz, but it was so abstract and pushed boundaries in a way like Les Claypool. Jaimeo Brown Transcendence's Works Songs was a powerful musical tableau. And the metal album Skuggsjá? A musical telling of Norway's history? That wasn't safe or mainstream. But I get it. That feeling is exactly why I'm sitting here today writing this - I knew there had to be more than the music I was being served and I decided to find it myself. And if I'm already listening, why not share it? Wow, hi there tangent, how are you today? Okay, so check out the Spotify playlist for things I've mentioned and Happy Listening!

 

Article originally appeared on bunkamade (http://rrmusicandmore.squarespace.com/).
See website for complete article licensing information.