Each month the team compiles a list of new releases that we didn’t have a chance to critique and writes a series of mini reviews for the new issue of What We Missed. The June edition features some of 2014′s most evocative artists: from the slick rap paradigms of Ab-Soul to the icy-coated pop sounds of Lust For Youth. Each act offers a unique mode of expression and diverse writing style, but one similarity is how enjoyable they all are. Have a read below and see if any of these releases appeal to your sonic sensibilities.
Ab-Soul - These Days | June 24th | Top Dawg Entertainment | Stream
If Kendrick Lamar is Black Hippy’s ascendant pop star, Schoolboy Q its party animal, and Jay Rock its hired muscle, then Ab-Soul is the group’s Swiss army knife. Though he’s lacked the crossover appeal of his labelmates, Ab-Soul has developed the ability to effortlessly adjust to his surroundings, trading sex rhymes with Danny Brown one minute and detailing the mind opening effects of psychedelic drugs the next. In what continues to be a banner year for Black Hippy and TDE as a whole, Ab-Soul’s chameleon nature continues to be his defining trait, for better and for worse.
His newest full length, These Days…, isn’t the star making artist statement that Kendrick and Schoolboy’s most recent releases were, but it serves as a more than adequate platform for Ab-Soul to spit in a variety of styles with an equally wide range of guests. It’s hard to think of another rap record that could feature verses from Rick Ross, Action Bronson, and Lupe Fiasco as well as most of the TDE roster without falling apart at the seams. Soul’s beat selection helps keep things cohesive. Though he branches out into Bay Area hyphy (‘Twact”) and jazz sampling (“Kendrick’s Interlude”), most of the production on These Days… sticks to the moody, synth heavy style that was prevalent on his last full length. It’s an effective sound, but not one that bursts with character, making Ab-Soul do most of the heavy lifting when providing a specific point of view. And while he certainly has a favored set of topics (imagine anyone else writing a song like “Sapiosexual”), his versatility can just as easily be read as a lack of focus. These Days… is another quality release from the TDE, matching the bar set by the rest of the crew, but not raising it. – Ian Cory
Alex G – DSU | June 17th | Orchid Tapes | Stream
Up until a few months ago, a quick Google search for Alex G yielded a singer-songwriter woman’s MTV page. Now after the release of DSU, Alex Giannascoli finally gets his well deserved due as the first Google result.
After years of putting out albums straight to the Internet, the 21-year old artist’s sixth full-length record was released to much acclaim on Brooklyn’s Orchid Tapes (also as one of the label’s first vinyl releases). The acclaim around the album is accompanied with much discussion of Giannascoli’s age and the development of his music. While a young artist at 21, his extensive history of producing content makes DSU a mature album both lyrically and musically; it’s obvious he knows what he is trying to achieve. There is an obvious tension between leaving the past behind and grasping at a new future; it’s hopeful but at the same time it’s clear that Giannascoli is leaving something behind.
As an album, DSU gets progressively more intense; it could be that the album ends on a louder note than it begins on, but it is moreso just the compiling of Giannascoli’s impressively honest songwriting, which by the end of the last track will leave you contemplating your own emotional state for hours (with the album on repeat, of course). The closing track “Boy”, with the refrain of, “I am not the boy you knew,” is not only strategically placed as a great piece of contemplation for a listener, but also promises further transformation for Giannascoli.
Running at just under 33 minutes DSU is a powerhouse of raw feeling and beautiful melodies. An artist with an already extensive catalog, Alex G has created the album that his die-hard fans have been waiting years for, and an album that is a perfect starter for anyone looking for something wonderfully, refreshingly real. – Shannon Thomas
Austra – Habitat EP | June 17th | Domino Records | Stream
Last June saw the release of Austra’s second LP, Olympia, which had the group brightening their dark synth-pop into more warm-hearted tracks. The record also tapped into their dance sensibilities with the band utilizing their four-on-the-floor beats to its full potential. A year later, the band returns with a new four-track EP, Habitat, revealing even more of their electro grooves.
Habitat focuses more on the production side of Austra. The title track is the only full vocal-led pop song while the rest are instrumentals that feature brief parts from frontwoman Katie Stelmanis. When she does sing, Stelmanis works in tune with the beat at hand, pulling out the teasing quality of the seductive synths in “Habitat”, and hushing down her sky-reaching voice for the percussive “Hulluu”.
Austra also branches out of their usual kit for new sounds on this EP. “Doepfer” loops the harshest and wonkiest synths the group has used. “Bass Drums Dance” goes away with their familiar dance floor kick in favor of a complex rhythm. The drums run more intricate and colorful, peppered with a tangled web of crisp claps and skittering hits. Though these new tracks sound like detours from Olympia, they show more of the fascinating component to Austra’s music that was often set in the background. – Ryo Miyauchi
Julianna Barwick - Rosabi EP | June 13th | Dead Oceans | Stream
Not long after her pristine full-length, Nepenthe, from last year, Julianna Barwick took on another exciting venture with the Rosabi EP. The musician’s four-track record complements her latest beer, Rosabi, which she made in collaboration with Dogfish Head Craft Brewery. Though it’s accompanied by a more casual occasion, Barwick keeps up her serious business and once again impresses with her unique, mesmerizing chorus.
Barwick’s ambient music consists of multiple layers and loops of her own voice, constantly evolving from start to finish. The first half, “Pure” and “Meet You at Midnight”, follows a familiar terrain as distant echoes slowly fill the tracks to create a sublime vocal chamber. The last two songs get more exciting. “Two Moon” introduces a warm bass synth that climbs alongside Barwick’s voice and gives something physical to hang on to while you drift along. “Blood Brothers” is the darkest Barwick song yet as she works a stark, spiraling vocal melody and a searing organ-like synth. In the background, industrial noise clanks with the percussion; presumably a sampled sound from the brewing process as advertised on the cover. Those at Dogfish probably didn’t imagine that an obscure sound at their brewery could be repurposed into such a sinister piece. – Ryo Miyauchi
Lust For Youth – International | June 9th | Sacred Bones Records | Stream
For readers who enjoy basking in the darker recesses of Scandinavian post-punk, you may already be a fan of Sweden’s Lust For Youth. For others, the band’s glacial offerings won’t have you coming back for seconds. Frontman Hannes Norvidde, a sulky-mouthed, ghost-eyed youth, is no stranger to ennui, and his disconnection with the modern world ebbed into Lust For Youth’s previous two albums, the frosty Growing Seeds and Perfect View.
For his third album, Norvidde screws with the formula a little; bringing in two bandmates, Loke Rahbek and Malthe Fisher, who help brighten up Lust For Youth’s shadowed interiors. At first, International‘s backdrop feels familiar, inspired by the “rootless, sometimes almost inhuman, nature of traveling and touring.” This foreign land of hotel rooms, strangers’ beds and neon-lit clubs twists into the nightmarish; perfect fodder for Norvidde’s tormented art, but a lonely canvas we’ve seen before. It’s the band’s execution that takes us by surprise, however. The newly renovated Lust For Youth craft a retro tinged, synth-pop treasure that brims with infectious melodies and a lighter aesthetic.
There are instances on International that can be accused of being filler. The spoken word piece, “Lungomare”, ripples elegantly but is little more than an interlude, while the band’s lovely instrumentals feel like missed opportunities. Who can complain, though, when given a dark pop diamond like “Illume” with its tropical palate and buoyant chorus? With many other songs written in a similar vein, International‘s greatest moments range from the new-age chorus on “Almina” to the 80′s dance beat on “New Boys”. Take these tracks, plus the exceptional opener, “Elpoetin Alfa”, and the crystalline electronica of “Running”, and you have the best Lust For Youth album ever released. – Kimberley Ballard
Miniature Tigers – Cruel Runnings | June 17th | Yebo Music | Stream
I don’t know if I’d say that Miniature Tigers “Used To Be The Shit” (the lead single off their latest album Cruel Runnings), but they sure used to be a lot more fun.
Actually, “Used To Be The Shit” is one of the few places the the indie-band-gone-synthpoppers got it right. The melody is catchy and lines like, “Our love was warm like a VHS tape of Aladdin / Now our love is so cool / Laser disk of Cruel Intentions” recall the unabashed silliness that fans latched onto when the band released their debut LP, Tell It To The Volcano, in 2008.
Even that lyric might make you groan, but I can get behind cheeky lyrics when there’s a giant wink involved. Just like a slew of pop-punk bands in 1999 asking “What’s My Age Again?”, it’s all in the spirit of not taking things too seriously. But this same wit just never resurfaces on the album — it’s replaced with track after track of relationships starting and failing with (truly groanworthy) lyrics like, “Now she got me / Can’t get her off my mind / Now I want her for all time.”
I don’t think all music should be judged the same. Indie pop is fun — the backdrop to summer parties — but honestly this isn’t even fun. It is inoffensive enough, though. There are 10 perfectly pretty synth-led pop tunes here. But unfortunately, there’s not much to be inspired by if you’re not already a fan. - Susan Kemp
Tomas Barfod - Love Me | June 10th | Secretly Canadian | Stream
Tomas is back at it again; “jack of all trades, plays well with others” should be on his theoretical business card. A follow up to his Pulsing EP from earlier in the year, Barfod has graced us with another full length featuring a range of feels. The man behind Friend of Friends and WhoMadeWho, Secretly Canadian brings us the cool electronic birth child from a Moderat and Icona Pop one night stand.
Borrowing friend and recurring guest Nina K for a good majority of the tracks, Barfod gives us a poppy face but sets it to a muted electronic backdrop as seen on “Pulsing”. The Swedish sweetness plays a good foil for the darker and more rhythmic deeper beats that you see showcased on “Destiny’s Child”. Barfod’s blend of sounds also reflects his dual life between Los Angeles and Berlin. For example, “Mandalay” exhibits the feel that Droog would be proud to play, where there’s a short progressive build but within a minimal and contained range. “Sell You” (featuring Night Beds) and the transition into “Lost” (featuring Pell) provide the balance that we know Tomas Barfod for: a deeper slower groove followed by a bedroom banger. Overall, Love Me is a great roller coaster of a listen – range is key and Barfod has friends that help him get there. – Leisha Bereson
Tom Vek - Luck | June 10th | Moshi Moshi | Stream
A young graphic design graduate wrote a debut album nearly a decade ago that changed the landscape of electro and indie music. Those ten-tracks defined a new generation of British music and marked the last time I ran to buy a physical CD as soon as it was released. Tom Vek became something of a cult hero, and after a long elusive break from the limelight, returned in 2011 to hungry ears. Album #3, Luck, dropped June 9th and was a huge reminder of just how special this artist is in the mix of 2014’s musical output.
Holed up in his bespoke studio in East London, Vek has shown yet again he is a master of delivering melodies, beats and riffs that are unrivalled by his peers. He’s a man who thrives on the sonic experience of his music, admittedly writing lyrics as an afterthought to flesh out the song. Playful with his timbre throughout and experimenting more so with tones and loops than previous work, I can see this appealing to fans of Foals, Klaxons, Phantogram and perhaps tapping on the door of those who appreciate left field genres.
If you’re after a pumped up head-bopping number, why not try “Sherman (Animals In the Jungle)” for starters; if not for that infectious bassline (a Vek-speciality), but for the oddly catchy chorus. Want something a little smoother to ease yourself into his discography? “The Girl You Wouldn’t Leave For Any Other Girl”, as well as being a mouthful of a song title, showcases a classical dexterity that is rarely seen outside of jazz. This is another album that skillfully juxtaposes upbeat indie anthems with complex moments to drag even the most unwilling of listeners along through the full tracklist. – Elise Cobain