Amaarae — THE ANGEL YOU DON’T KNOW

PopAfropop
Written By Akhil Srivatsan

Amaarae's THE ANGEL YOU DON’T KNOW is a reverb-heavy mix of Afropop, trap, hip-hop and R&B. With unbelievably tight production, the album's sound is a cohesive formulation of hip-swinging baselines, head-bopping beats, and just-so melodies, all topped off with Amaarae's self-assured vocal delivery that alternates between whispers, sing-song rapping and straight singing. The Accra-based Ghanaian-American singer has released one of the most infectious 35 minutes of pop I've heard in a years.

It conjures images of airy dance spaces with great music, slow-motion montages of dancing and looking beautiful against a backdrop of out-of-focus string lights hanging from parapet walls: wooden roofs, salty sea breeze. Pre-covid I assumed I’d one day be a part of those montages; that I’d live a life that consisted of real-life slow-dancing on cool sea shanty shacks. Hazy nocturnal comfort: much-needed sometimes. Life has a way of being hard sometimes; honeydrop beauty can sometimes be just the antidote. 

I miss missing untaken beach vacations, dancing under thatch, drink in hand. I feel like I want to go back to doing it. I miss imagining being happy for no good reason, not being worried about the future, not being weighed down by responsibility, mostly to myself, but also to those around me. It's objectively a horrible way to go through life, but the mental vacations are plentiful, and they're enjoyable. 

Maybe once this is done, I can graduate to actually taking those vacations.

The Music Box
Teeth of the Sea – Hive
Teeth of the Sea – Hive

Teeth of the Sea’s 2023 record, Hive, is one of my favourite records of the year. It’s a tightly produced alt-psych rock record. It’s low on lyrics, high on sonic exploration. And it manages to occupy this fairly unique space without sounding like a prog record (thank goodness). 

Thou - Umbilical
Thou - Umbilical

I have yet to hear an underwhelming Thou record. A decade after Heathen, Thou’s 2024 release, Umbilical, is just as fantastic a representation of Thou’s brand of sludgy doom. Or is it doomy sludge?

Model/Actriz - Dogsbody
Model/Actriz - Dogsbody

Post-punk has made a strong resurgence of late. On some other occasion, I’ll list out some of the great post-punk records from the last few years here so I can better commit them to memory: Squid’s Bright Green World and the song Houseplants, Wet Leg’s self-titled records, Dry Cleaning’s New Long Leg and particularly the album opener Scratchcard Lanyard, others. 

Nourished by Time - Erotic Probiotic 2
Nourished by Time - Erotic Probiotic 2

Nourished by Time’s Erotic Probiotic 2 is – far and away – my favourite record made in 2023. I love its simplicity, a feature it shares with Sleaford Mods’ UK GRIM, another favourite from 2023. However, it shares its vocabulary with synth-based R&B unlike UK GRIM’s post-punk.

Pinegrove – Pinegrove on Audiotree Live
Pinegrove – Pinegrove on Audiotree Live

In this piece, I navigate the intricate soundscapes of Pinegrove's Audiotree performance, set against the backdrop of the bustling city and its ubiquitous cafes. My exploration of indie studio sounds, alongside an introspective study of key indie bands, unravels a tale of life, hope, rejection, and the unending rhythm of the urban existence.

Basement – Colourmeinkindness
Basement – Colourmeinkindness

I don’t believe I’m in a position to share any facts about the band Basement except that, in the 2010s, they played lightly distorted mildly noisy alternative rock. And that in 2012, they recorded an album called Colourmeinkindness, which has a sound that serves as a great backing track for the part of one’s life that’s punctuated by deeply introspective walks in the blistering heat.

12 RODS – My Year (This Is Going To Be)
12 RODS – My Year (This Is Going To Be)

12 RODS sit high on the list of all-time favourites I never expected to hear from again; in fact, until a week ago, they perhaps sat atop that list. A week ago, that is, when they released their latest single, My Year (This Is Going To Be), and announced an album to be released later this year, their first since 2002’s Lost Time.

Lady Gaga – The Fame Monster
Lady Gaga – The Fame Monster

The hypermodel before me sticks her arm out a couple feet to take what must be an immaculately captured self-portrait that’d put Van Gogh’s to shame. In doing so, she reveals her pronounced wristbones, bony arms, pale and sunken pits, textbook indicators of poor nourishment.

Nouvelle Vague – Nouvelle Vague
Nouvelle Vague – Nouvelle Vague

The one thing that kept her going through a set was the promise of a beer, some fries, and a big burger on the other end. As she breezed through one lounge cover after another – from a smouldering rendition of Love Will Tear Us Apart through an absent-minded interpretation of Making Plans For Nigel to a non-punk version Teenage Kicks – all she would visualise was that meal: bar food on bar china.

Radiohead – The Bends
Radiohead – The Bends

You’re in mainland Europe – somewhere in the continent’s northwest. Alone in an English pub run by the English, frequented by the English. Most brownfolk with a sense of history would likely find much of the imagery here discomforting, but most would overlook it. The pub’s been playing the Bends, all the way from Planet Telex on; this is a strange sort of place.

Akhil Srivatsan
Previous

Miles Davis — Big Fun
Next

Courtney Barnett — Sometimes I Sit and Think, Sometimes I Just Sit