I tried to change it with my hair
Continuing my trip up #album-of-the-day...
20.09.29 : Slide - George Clanton (2018)
I was a bit worried when I initially saw this because I didn't really like the stuff George Clinton did with Parliament or Funkadelic (with the exception of the track "Maggot Brain", of course, which is impressive even if you don't like it - the rest of the album isn't too bad either). But then I realised I can't read and he's got nothing to do with this album - even if I was still expecting some old school funk (whilst knowing it wouldn't be!).
And it actually is a bit funky in places but it's definitely not old school funk - Nao's description of her music as "wonky funk" springing to mind. It also reminded me of Tom Vek, but with slightly smoother vocals. I can't say any one track jumped out at me, but I didn't mind this at all.
The channel gave this 5 thumbs up and a couple of positive comments. Wikipedia has a bit on the album but nothing of particular interest other than it was generally favourably reviewed. What is of interest however is the musical genres this album is listed under including "vaporwave" and "hypnogogic pop". Errrr - OK.
"Customers also listened to" a load of people with fantastic names - Ariel Pink (who I was amazed to have heard of), Yves Tumor (who I was even more amazed to have actually reviewed), Neon Indian, Ducktails and Negative Gemini. But this was a pleasant surprise from zero expectations. And what a lot of links there are in this section - none of which really have anything to do with George!
20.09.30 : Polygondwanaland - King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard (2017)
I've taken against this from the start because of the silly title and artist name - it's going to have to go some to get me to change my mind. But actually, I didn't mind it - it's a bit of a "kitchen sink" album but it all combines to make a pleasant enough retro sound. It REALLY reminded me of something I quite like - and I dredged the furthest reaches of my mind to remember what but came up blank. Impressive, huh? They've still got a silly name though.
The channel gave this 7 thumbs up and a LOT of positive comments - it went down really well. It also mentioned that they released 5 albums in 2017 - which is a few I guess. Wikipedia has entries for all their albums, including this one which tells me that the title is "a portmanteau of the words polygon and Gondwanaland" - well I'm glad we cleared that up. It had an interesting release process whereby the band released it free on the internet, complete with artwork for you to print off at home - which resulted in a load of record labels (88 globally) announcing physical releases, which further resulted in the band issuing an "official" physical release. Talk about complicated - but it was well received critically in whatever form was available for review.
"Customers also listened to" a load more people with fantastic names - Frankie & The Witch Fingers, Nolan Potter's Nightmare and Psychedelic Porn Crumble - and I've definitely never heard of any of them (because I'd remember it!). But this was also a pleasant surprise from (unfairly) negative expectations.
20.10.01 : A Seat At The Table - Solange (2016)
One I'd listened to before, but I said I'd give it a relisten and (of course) had never done so, so I gave it another go this time around. And yeah, it's still a fine album! I imagine it has quite a lot to say to some people, but I'll leave that to people whose skin colour is slightly darker than mine.
The channel gave this 4 thumbs and a few positive comments - all the albums in this selection have gone down well.
I quite liked all of these - there were some interesting sounds across the lot of them. I think the win has to go to Solange on the current levels of experience I have with them, but I have a sneaking suspicion George Clanton could overtake her given the opportunity (which he won't be, unfortunately!).
Comments
Post a Comment