I swear I’m not just playing contrarian here but I’ve got to break up the fawning circle jerk of praise that’s been surrounding Flying Lotus ’ newest record Until the Quiet Comes . This doesn’t mean I think it’s a bad record as it certainly has some interesting and engaging moments (I’m especially fond of opener “All In”) but there are also a lot of middling seemingly half-formed vignettes that don’t really leave any impression whatsoever. Until the Quiet Comes is wilfully less bonkers than Cosmogramma and it’s not like I want musicians to repeat themselves but Quiet ’s lowest moments are downright uninspired; it’s as if instead of trying to build or progress Quiet just kind of sits there stewing about with self-consciously “classy” blips and wonky production that’ll probably be playing in the background of yuppie cocktail bars for the next few months. Muzak for the quote-unquote “future.”
Between marketing campaigns and perpetual boomer nostalgia by now you’ve probably had some sort of exposure to Bob Dylan ’s newest record Tempest . Decidedly less people have paid attention to the release of Glad All Over the err comeback album (I suppose) from Jacob Dylan’s The Wallflowers . Of course this is probably because it’s The Wallflowers and nobody has listened to The Wallflowers since either Now! 3 or the 1998 Godzilla soundtrack.
The most pleasant surprise this week came from Music on Hold a new collaboration between Calgary’s own Valiska and Norway’s MHVA . If you’ve got an ear for lush evocative and highly textured electronic music à la Tim Hecker or pre-New Order worship Belong direct your browser over to Black Hymn Records’ bandcamp page for a free stream and we’ll all pretend to live in a world where “hold music” is no longer synonymous with waiting on the phone.
I’m also happy to say that my first handful of listens to Transcendental Youth the newest from the Mountain Goats have been more enjoyable than expected. This may sound backhanded but it’s more a comment on John Darnielle’s consistency — dude puts out a new album every year or so. They’re usually pretty good and my early impression of Transcendental Youth is that it’s one of the better ones in recent memory. Not sure how big the crowd for “folky pop/rock with an earnest and nasally singer who loves to reference biblical allegory” is nowadays (unless that’s what Mumford and Sons do on Babel — I don’t hate myself enough to warrant giving that laughable gimmick of a band a serious listen) but Transcendental Youth is a pretty nice record all around; really great for those autumns that we just never have in Calgary y’dig?
