Deep Cuts. An idea spurred by those countless playlist drifters, jumping from single to single, without investigating albums further. Here you'll find the five best 2021 songs discovered by Dozens Of Donuts in the previous month, not given exposure via the duty of lead single. The only condition I've imposed upon myself is that no artist can have more than one song.
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Emmanuelle Parrenin - Hephaistos Breeze
Jours De Grève | Free Folk
Tribal Ambient typically sides with delirium and danger, as mania and claustrophobia compound foreign locations through overbearing percussion and Wall of Sound Drone. Not 'Hephaistos Breeze,' which takes a lighter approach. There's still the element of mystery, the otherworldly patterns and levels of allurement. But here, Parrenin and Weinrich's vocal ensemble prance gayly around a burning fire, maracas in one hand leaving the other free to pound stationary drums. It's either a welcome invitation or a group of cultists too far gone, 'Hephaistos Breeze' is sure to never let facts known.
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Pom Poko - Danger Baby
Cheater | Noise Pop
Pom Poko's style is one both obvious and eccentric. It includes unhinged Math Rock freak-outs and dainty, almost prepubescent vocals. A duality that resembles Twee Pop if each extreme was taken to the limit. On 'Danger Baby,' Ragnhild Fangel's tender presence calms her bandmates, if only modestly, as they swoop and slice through the track's eviscerating hook. It's not until the bewitching and hypnotizing coda, where layers of vocals quell a rising tide, where Fangel's siren call proves its invaluable worth. 'Danger Baby' finds Pom Poko at their best; massaging lightning in a bottle.
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At a stout nine minutes, composed primarily of Free Improvisation destruction, 'Alkisah I' certainly isn't for everyone. Malevolent vocals conjure demons, beasts, and succubi as clangorous drums crash against Industrial combustion. Unorthodox instrumentation disguised as DIY discharge fills the gap between this unending, entrenching loop, building through earthquake hysterics that are both unnatural and bestial. Hypnotizing only byway of force, like the eye torture scene in Clockwork Orange. A crescendoing riff provides some tolerance midway through, before it itself is consumed by the exorcising abyss. 'Alkisah I' never lets off, never lets up. It is an exorcism of Satan.
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Genesis Owusu - No Looking Back
Smiling With No Teeth | Neo-Soul
By this point in Smiling With No Teeth, one would've guessed that all the stops had been pulled out. Then Genesis Owusu goes full-blown Gospel, the kind that shined a kind light on Kanye West, Common, and Chance The Rapper during their come-up. Harmonizing vocals and a soulful organ play second fiddle to Owusu's preaching positivity. One can feel the smile bending at his dimples as he sings. Then there's the horns. Those glorious, triumphant, blaring horns. 'No Looking Back' is a song to play when escape from adverse conditions can be felt. Quite apt, from multiple angles, for 2021.
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Gossamer Girls - Gossamer Girls
What A Time To Be Alive | Indietronica
Cheating perhaps, given it's nestled amidst a compilation record given to Black Country, New Road's biggest fans, but one can't easily ignore 'Gossamer Girls.' By all accounts, it's the band's only song. Their identity, unknown not by choice but sheer insignificance. Here's hoping this'll change that ever so slightly. For through the eight, genre-bending minutes, generations are combined and upheld, a Post-Post masterpiece that incorporates ideas from Indietronica, Art Rock, Rock Opera, even Brill Building. A weighty, beetling piano jaunts briskly around Doo-Wop inspired vocals, with their chivalrous poise and charismatic yap. Structure, a thing of the past. 'Gossamer Girls' moves fluidly through feeling and grooves. A tempered, innocent LCD Soundsystem if you will. Give it a chance.
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