The Music Box.
Entries about the music I like.
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.
Evolution // Music of the Week / WS 21 Feb 2021
I know it isn't good to toot one's own horn, but I really love the new-look Music of the Week. I spend most of the week really looking forward to writing it. It feels like a cathartic outburst of untrammeled self-expression, and reminds me of the reason I started writing stories in the first place. Twelve years ago, I published my first story online.
Arlo Parks – Collapsed in Sunbeams
You’re not alone / Like you think you are / We all have scars / I know it’s hard. In the chorus of Hope, song 4 from her debut album, Collapsed in Sunbeams, 20-year-old British singer-songwriter Arlo Parks repeats this simple message of, well, hope. This song, and the forty-minute album of which it is a standout track is like a warm breeze in the middle of a frigid winter.
Taylor Swift — evermore
Taylor Swift released her second album of the year, evermore. In many ways it continues the indie-themed acoustic guitar rock of folklore. But it has a bite: an evolution on the themes of storytelling in folklore. It’s a marriage of two important question for every songwriter: how to write a good hook and how to write lyrics.
Gorillaz — Song Machine, Season One, Strange Timez
On my first listen of this album, I was reminded of the story of my seeking out the first Gorillaz cassette in Dubai. I had been watching the Gorillaz’ music videos on MTV for months, thinking, this is the future of storytelling. Blur’s frontman creates a band of cartoon characters with elaborate backstories. What a cutting-edge way to explore the art of storytelling.
The Magnetic Fields — 69 Love Songs
With deft pop sensibilities and a strong commitment to the central theme of the loneliness of idealised love, the Magnetic Fields make light of the two hardest questions to answer in popular music: how to write a good hook and how to write good lyrics.
Amaarae — THE ANGEL YOU DON’T KNOW
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.
Neil Cicierega — Mouth Dreams
Every one of Neil Cicierega’s mashup albums is delightful. And the recently released Mouth Dreams continues this trend. Cicierega’s music is comical, dripping with references to (American) pop culture, and always surprising. In Times Like These (TM), it feels good to have a few laughs and listen to happy-happy music.
Taylor Swift — folklore
Often I feel like folklore is attempting to pander to the parts of me that listen to indie electronic folk. Toned down percussions, muted snares, acoustic kicks, more or less completely absent hi-hats, a solid dollop of reverb. And often, spare vocals. Often on this album, the emphasis with the vocals seems to be on a central melody sung simply, naturally.
Peter Gabriel — So
A classic of experimental pop, striking a deliciously fine balance between those two words that are unfortunately (read: incorrectly) often seen as contradictory: experimental and pop.
Klô Pelgag — Notre-Dame-des-Sept-Douleurs
On 26 July, Québécois Canadian singer-songwriter Klô Pelgag released a jaw-droppingly stunning baroque pop album, Notre-Dame-des-Sept-Douleurs.