This week, reviews come to you courtesy of Myst Milano, multidisciplinary artist, community advocate, DJ, performer and musician in nightlife and ballroom (vogue) scenes.
Their latest album, "Shapeshyfter," was on the 2022 Polaris Music Prize longlist. Buy it on Bandcamp HERE
SUDAN ARCHIVES - NATURAL BROWN PROM QUEEN
Production, songwriting and composition prowess aside, Brittney Denise Parks (or Sudan Archives, as we’ve come to know her) exhibits a rare by opening her sophomore album Natural Brown Prom Queen with a five-minute song. In the TikTok era, where fans aren’t expected to know the lyrics past the viral chorus, and where bands with millions of monthly Spotify listeners struggle to fill 200-person venues IRL, announcing your arrival in 5 minutes instead of one and a half displays confidence beyond measure. The record that follows lives up to that subtle act of self-belief.
Talent, expression and creative prowess abound on this sprawling, 18-track epic that utilizes the glorious angst of a jazz standard, indie guitars lush enough for your favourite early ’10s flavour of the week, and the same unabashed bad-bitchery you’d find on any Cardi B cut, all cohesive and married and happy together. Dazzling, pounding drums; poignant, honest vocals; this record has as many close and intimate moments as it has fun and bright ones. Modern without being obvious, and showing off her many influences without feeling self-indulgent, this record would pair perfectly with some mushrooms and a handful of good friends. Allegedly. 5 stars (out of 5).
Buy it on Bandcamp HERE
ALEX G - GOD SAVE THE ANIMALS
The upgrade indie rock is getting by musicians like Alex G and Spirit of the Beehive (who put out my favourite record of 2021) is a sight to behold. Did anyone else think that era of our lives was done? That we’d collectively grown up and out of the P4K-core and into something a little more abrasive? A little more daring, even? Music that would be hard to put in commercials? No personal affront to Alex G and his band, but watching indie-folk adopt ideas it would have turned its nose up at 10 years ago is very amusing. To watch them take to the ideas like a fish would take to water? Even more so.
This album breaks out of being country or folk or alt rock or anything and brings us into new waters: waters with equal parts robotic autotune and human emotion. You get the sense that you can trust the music to reveal itself as you let it play. Though Alex Giannascoli claims to write from the perspectives of different characters on a song-to-song basis, the themes seem revealing and personal in a way the nonchalant singer-songwriter would probably rather we try not to decipher. Regardless, this record is a master class of catchy pop-rock writing and storytelling, with all the gentleness of Sigur Ros and all the uneasiness of Slint, a little Smashing Pumpkins and some Steely Dan, too. What other bands start with S? Stone Temple Pilots? Throw them in there. If it involved a guitar at some point in the last 40 years, it seems like fair influential game on God Save the Animals.
All in all, this album is a breath of fresh air. And that breath has a little bit of whiskey on it. 5 stars.
Buy it on Bandcamp HERE
FREDDIE GIBBS - $OUL $OLD $EPERATELY
Freddie’s undeniable status as an in-the-pocket, best-of-the-best technical rapper carries what is otherwise a passable but not earth-shattering album through to the end. We've been here before: RnB samples and booming 808s. It never graduates beyond the one-note ideas it presents and reiterates, and doesn’t really go above or beyond what it sets out to do at any point. Like I said, Freddie is carrying this whole album. But that’s a good thing, right? And what better for a rapper to do? It’s his show. Hopefully next time we can expect features that don’t lack so much lustre and beats that push boundaries, or the envelope, or hell, maybe even some drugs. Great for rap fans. Great for Freddie Gibbs fans. Not all that great for the culture. 3 stars.
Stream on Spotify HERE
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