What's a Listening Log? Well, the idea is quite simple. It's a weekly segment that consolidates all the mini-reviews Dozens Of Donuts has given on RateYourMusic over the past week, split between the Past and Present. A straightforward grading scale has been put in place, ranging from A+ to F-, with C acting as the baseline average. There is no set amount of reviews per week, just however many I get around to reviewing. And don't expect week-of reviews. I wait one month - with at least three listens under my belt - before I rate and review an album. Enjoy!
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2020 | Progressive Electronic | Listen
MELTING SHORTWAVE RADIOS AT IRRADIATED HOTSPOTS
It seems apt that Magic Oneohtrix Point Never is almost nearly a self-titled record, for the 47-minute odyssey into the undefined combines every facet of Daniel Lopatin's career. Most excitedly for me, Chuck Person too, as Vaporwave weaves in and out of the various interludes whilst bolstering the album's sleep-deprived, antiquated shopping network aesthetic. For me, Magic can be neatly arranged into three distinct stratagems: stupefying interludes, unrefined ideas, and expansile set pieces. On the surface, the three avenues mesh horribly. However, Lopatin's maneuvering of puzzle pieces, interchanging gooey textures within rigid confines as the cover postulates, engulfs the listener in a most curious Progressive Electronic experience.
The great, the good, and the ugly. That's how I divide Magic up. The first group up contains such efforts as 'I Don't Love Me Anymore,' 'No Nightmares,' and 'Lost But Never Alone,' The former, performed marvelously on Jimmy Fallon's late-night show, seeps into acid-drenched Post-Punk that borrows from Neo-Psychedelia, Art Punk, and even the dainty bauble of Glam Rock. 'No Nightmares' brings The Weeknd onboard, providing a sort of realistic perspective to OPN's midnight delirium. It also proves that Pop and Experimental music are much closer than frequently believed, as After Hours is only one bridge away. Then there's personal favorite 'Lost But Never Alone,' a cascading slog of desaturated New Romantic. Lopatin never ceases to amaze when conjuring new combinations for his aesthetic-defined music.
Then there's the good, solely composed of Magic's quizzical interludes. Under normal conditions skits are little more than filler to mask a lack of consonance. Not on the 'Cross Talk' series, which implant otherworldly Vaporwave conditions that morph flimflam radio chatter into jumbled communications from a past trying to transmit to the present. Each probe the ear canal with tangible substance, compressed and confounding. The best utilization of skits I've heard in quite some time.
Which leaves the ugly; Oneohtrix Point Never's invasive, deviating, misshapen ideas. Appreciation of production techniques can only go far on tracks like 'Bow Ecco,' 'Imago,' and 'Shifting.' The content within fails to justify presence, as nimble fractures bellow and crest without structure or ulterior motives. They exist in the ether, lost amidst fractals whose whole is far more compelling. 'The Whether Channel' is the best, and only, example of Oneohtrix Point Never taking abstraction to formative heights, toying with ping-pong passages before an unsuspecting verse courtesy of NOLANBEROLLIN. The rest, including the deluge of unsubstantiated gestation following 'Lost But Never Alone,' prevents Magic from achieving the consistency it has in aesthetic, in terms of satisfaction.
B-
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Bang. After two LP's of middling Microhouse, Gidge knock it out of the park with New Light, a sprawling latticework magniloquently fusing the natural with the mechanical. It's a concept not unfamiliar to Electronica, and that is, by and large, the one criticism Gidge has faced for their entire career, New Light now included. Emancipator, Jon Hopkins, Pantha du Prince, Clark, Autechre, their lineage can all be traced in inerasable pen. So what changes here? Well, a vote of confidence for one. There's a slight tonal shift from the plodding Microhouse of yore (Autumn Bells, LNLNN) to a more demanding, ascending brand of Tech House mixed with roaming passages of stainless Ambient haunted by ghosts of Mother Earth. The duality is right up Hopkins' alley, as fragments of Immunity and Singularity can be heard on escalating cuts like 'Perimeter' and 'Cascades,' piercing with crunchy, factorial demand. Gidge's one distinction lies in the vocal samples, which are as gorgeous, serene, and longing as ever. On the standouts 'New Light' and 'Cascades,' these indistinguishable voices plead for congeniality as frantic, multi-layered percussion ignores their dying wishes. Elsewhere, namely closer 'Seems To Be Getting Closer,' roles are reversed as halcyon patterns work in tandem with a celestial presence, deferential and obedient, rather than against it. I'm reminded of Hiatus' sorely under-appreciated LP Ghost Notes here.
All the aforementioned songs listed are among New Light's best, complete with the summative opener 'Quasar,' which does nothing but acclimate to Gidge's newfound style ardently. The rest, while not as exemplary, provide depth and accents worth applying. Take 'Over,' which begins as the album's most salt of the earth cut, before slicing and dicing both the drums and vocals in a transition that leaves the second half breathless and mesmeric. Or 'Always Unfolding,' the album's most unnatural track with its ping-pong synthesizers best suited for an alien colony steeped in cryptic expression. No matter the setting, New Light always manages to remain coherent, consistent, and committed. Prior to New Light, I labelled Gidge one of the best production duo's in Electronica. Now, it's not even a question; they are.
B
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2020 | Contemporary Folk | Listen
GERMAN NOBILITY FAWNING OVER GALLANT SOLICITORS
Before I lose you, let's make one thing clear; 13 Kinds Of Happiness is an excellent debut album, fusing enchanted Dark Folk with playful Indie Rock and soporose Baroque Pop. Go listen to it. Yes, instead of Northern Dancers, which falls behind its predecessor with sparse torpor. Singer/Songwriter through the lens of classical music, be it Baroque Pop or Contemporary Folk, doesn't leave much room for variability. Stella Sommer's second LP provides a consistent, well-mannered view on romantic music. Her vocals, prominent and glistening, radiate against a backdrop of airy, agrestal landscapes. Sometimes, as is the case with 'The Flowers Won't Grow' and '7 Sisters,' sprouting Chamber Pop enlivens said backdrop with a light breeze. Slight percussion and burgeoning harmonies flutter by like heaven's respectful pleasantries, bolstered by Sommer's surprisingly strong command of English poetics, despite her German upbringing. Northern Dancers' greatest asset is undoubtedly her lyrical charm and benevolence, finding comfort in fairy tale depictions of amour and chivalry. It's just a shame the production doesn't engage like 13 Kinds Of Happiness did.
C-
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