NEW MUSIC / LISTS
Fresh Picks: Best of July from Dehd, SPARKLE DIVISION and illuminati hotties
Albums that I have been listening to in July seem to capture the displacement of current times, but my top three highlight the most fun and vibrant sounds. Dehd’s “Flower of Devotion” is instantly captivating, SPARKLE DIVISION is a luscious blend on “To Feel Embraced” and illuminati hotties leave no holds barred on “FREE I.H: This Is Not the One You’ve Been Waiting For.”
July is a wrap and it seems that my personal highlights in new music trend towards electronic and post-punk releases. As the world firmly settles in to pandemic routine and is ever more digitally attached, perhaps it is the futuristic or dystopian feel of electronica and the contrasting immediacy of assertive punk indignation that resonates most right now. Whether it is an artist-lead trend or a listener’s interpretation, a lot of new music seems to speak to themes of distance or digitalisation or doubt. There has also been a steady stream of surprise releases, including many of this week’s featured albums. Of course I can’t mention July surprise releases without segueing to Taylor Swift’s folklore so if you are here for that, head to the end of this article to see my thoughts. Isolation album releases see artists perhaps drawing (or perhaps withdrawing) from global uncertainty to find expressive freedom in their music.
My favourite electronic albums span along the pop to ambient spectrum. Fellow Australian Katie Dey’s glitchy bedroom electro-pop mydata is decidedly digital-aged and combines layered rippling tracks with her processed soporific vocals that draw on Björk. Julianna Barwick’s celestial and sonorous Healing Is a Miracle is a gentle balm to modern anxieties. Demian Licht’s debut DIE KRAFT explores her femininity and Berlin-by-Mexico cross-cultural experience through bona fide techno. Nicolás Jaar’s Telas is his third LP released this year and falls at the more atmospheric end of his spectrum, with a delicate sparseness to the hour-long, four-track offering. Jessy Lanza takes the baton this month from the cool groovy pop of Jessie Ware’s release last month, and brings chilled out glossiness on All The Time.
Punk influences range in and around post- to rock to pop. Protomartyr continue to speak to the moment with their LP Ultimate Success Today. Fontaines D.C. have brought out their second album A Hero’s Death, written in and around a time of strenuous global touring following their lauded debut Dogrel, and subsequent cancellations (including for a gig I was meant to see) due to coronavirus. On earlier tracks there is a mix of cynicism emanating from Chatten’s resigned vocals and a storminess harkening to Joy Division. They go to a calm prettiness later down the list with a few additions in between that maintain the galloping energy of Dogrel. The reflective and moody A Hero’s Death reveals Fontaines D.C. as less scrappy, but as defiant. Dehd and illuminati hotties resonate this month with an earnestness that made me immediately ingratiated to these albums so, finally, here’s more on that.
illuminati hotties, “FREE I.H: This Is Not the One You’ve Been Waiting For”
Sarah Tudzin, the self-styled tenderpunk pioneer of illuminati hotties, stays intimidatingly current with her (middle) finger fully on the pulse in her Not-Album FREE I.H: This Is Not the One You’ve Been Waiting For. From the #FreeBritney reference, to the knowing meta track title “will i get cancelled if i write a song called, “if you were a man you’d be so cancelled,”” to the entire album being a diss tape to her record label — Tudzin lashes out at capitalism. Tudzin explicitly does not want this to be considered her sophomore album, it is more a mixtape, recorded and released in part to pay out contractual obligations with her beleaguered ex-label Tiny Engines. The label has been accused of delayed or non-payment of royalties to artists and, as a result, Tudzin sought to buy out her contract though it carried a stipulation that royalties from a future release were to be paid to Tiny Engines. This is that future release, and it is truly the mother of all break up albums, except the ex is literally “The Man.”
Tudzin describes the overwhelming influence of the sound on this mixtape as feeling trapped. Most clearly, her grievances with her label ring throughout like on “Free Dumb”, “While the world burns, why would you care about a fucking record? […] There was no love lost until you deemed that I was non-essential / I guess it’s my fault for being good at something sentimental.” A more gentle ballad, this song culminates in anthemic “oohs” and drum clashes that play into a sense of catharsis. Even here however there are hints of more general dissatisfaction at the broader state of affairs. On “Free Peoples” Tudzin sings “Free peoples all over the place, there are no / Free peoples living any place I know of / Free peoples in another location but the / Free peoples hate the people who want to become / Free!” and explicitly mentions “sheeples.” Ever witty, IH takes us on a gallivanting and riotous ride. While Taylor Swift might be similarly referencing record label dramas on her folklore track “My Tears Ricochet”, it’s Tudzin who gets the satisfaction of a mic drop because she is totally unafraid to pull punches.
Clocking in at a concise 24 minutes Sarah Tudzin nonetheless manages to flex her ample songwriting muscles, which itself is the point of illuminati hotties. Tudzin is a well-rounded creative, her sound engineering and production credits span from Porches to Amen Dunes to Hamilton (The Musical). Outside the scrappy clash of tenderpunk, she includes mixtape-ready fillers and interludes like on “Free4All” which is a distorted electronic dredge that sounds like it could be Actress, or skits like “K — Hot Am 818” or the chant of “Content (T-E-E-E) / Bedtime (V-E-E-E) / E-motivational deadline / (W-W-dot-Illuminati-Hotties)” in “Content//Bedtime” that mimic the commercial dystopia of Gorillaz’s Plastic Beach, particularly “Superfast Jellyfish.” There are self-aware and reflective points that can be fun like on “freequent letdown” or gently pensive like “Reasons 2 Live.” The DIY nature of this mixtape provides a perfect platform for creative spill and Tudzin assuredly rises up to it.
If this one is IH just killing time I know my excitement for the fully baked One You’ve Been Waiting For album is off the charts. Still, it is the slapdash charm of sharp jibes and tender moments in this mixtape that make it special, it isn’t overwrought or laboured, and for me at least it is freeing.
Released 17 July 2020, Self-Released
Rating: 7/10
SPARKLE DIVISION, “To Feel Embraced”
To Feel Embraced offers comforting escapism on this record that feels both modern and vintage simultaneously. From analogue record crackles and smooth old Hollywood brassiness, to fun, exclamatory track names and electronic precision, these seeming contradictions marry effortlessly to offer nostalgic escapism that feels timeless.
SPARKLE DIVISION is the collaborative project of experimental ambient composer William Basinski and his Los Angeles studio assistant Preston Wendel. Wendel engaged his prolific mentor by sharing his own work and convincing Basinski to pull out his saxophone, an instrument he specialised in when he was a student of classical jazz. While William Basinski has been an active composer since the 1980s he is known for spacious minimalist avant-garde music. His style is best exemplified by his early 2000s albums “The Disintegration Loops” which were created from tape recordings of found sounds which had been catalogued by Basinski in the 1980s and through the process of digitisation had begun to degenerate as the tape loops passed through equipment. The mood of those albums range from blissful to surreal to sombre, as the works have come to represent the September 11 attacks, which is the day the Basinski finished his project. His works were dedicated to the victims of 9/11. To Feel Embraced is dense and melodic compared to the William Basinski of old. So clearly euphoric was this album, that the duo decided to delay its release when they began and nearly completed the album in 2016, citing a sense of inappropriateness in a political and environmental backdrop which was so disparate to the tone of their output. But it seems like 2020 has been no match for these two, a dose of carefree abandon is the heady relief that we now deserve on To Feel Embraced.
There are big and generous tracks on this album which have a downright infectious groove from the glamorous “You Go Girl!” or the glittery lava lamp pull of “Slappin’ Yo Face.” Meanwhile there is still tidy sparseness in tracks like “Sparkle On Sad Sister Mother Queen.” These elements combine, like in the spacey “To Feel,” which is a prelude to the title track featuring London singer Xeli Grana who lends her soothing and meditative vocals over choppy electronic staggers. “Oh Henry” begins with drum brushes which slip into more regimented electronic beats that move into properly digital blips. The song features, and is dedicated to, recently deceased free jazz bassist, the late Henry Grimes. The ethereal “To the Stars Major Tom” is an obvious nod to David Bowie, who Basinski once opened for, and to whom he has a longstanding admiration. Lastly, the album features and pays tribute to Mrs. Leonora Russo, known as the Queen of Williamsburg, who passed away in 2016. She sings on “Queenie Got Her Blues” and is pictured on the cover of this digital release. Perhaps it isn’t such a shock that an artist like Basinski, so clearly thoughtful about the experience of history would enshrine these artists memories in such a joyous and beautiful project.
The mix of clattering electronic influences, the spontaneity of jazz and the ability to manage pregnant pauses with the light touch of ambient expertise strikes such a perfect balance between the contemporary vibrancy of Preston Wendel and the considered skill of William Basinski. This album is so evocative, of smoky jazz dens turned turned modern club or whisky lounge it is truly offers comfort and nourishment.
Released 24 July 2020, physical release due September 18th, 2020 on Temporary Residence
Rating: 7/10
Dehd, “Flower of Devotion”
On their latest LP, Dehd have ripened (or dare I say, flowered) so as to reap in a harvest of prime pickings on . Flower of Devotion shows a conceptual and musical maturation while balancing the distinctive rawness that make Dehd so bewitching.
The Chicago trio consist of Emily Kempf on bass, Jason Balla on guitar and drummer Eric McGrady. The rudimentary ensemble of instruments play a guitar-driven pop-punk gait that is pleasantly accessible. Dehd competently explore the extremities of passion from points of joy to melancholy, all within this familiar rhythm.
On Flower of Devotion Dehd’s production has progressed to a less jangly, more rounded and refined sound. The vocals themselves are a distinct instrument, the to-and-fro between Balla’s gruff slacker drawl and Kempf guttural embellishments. The percussive hollow tongue clicks in “Haha,” the yelp/bark on “Disappear,” and the gutsy “huh” emphasis’ on “Desire,” consistently ornament the album. Kempf, in particular, flavours Dehd’s sound with her full-bodied but controlled vocals, which I’m sure would be a treat to see performed live. The bending of “Fluh-yeed” in the song “Flood,” or the blow-out bellows of “Bayyy-ee-by, Tru-oo blu-oo” in “Letter,” prioritise shape over diction in a similar way to the Cocteau Twins or Slowdive, drawing shoegaze comparisons.
The newly elevated sound of this album is explored through the bands similarly changed experiences. Kempf and Balla sing about the fallout after their romantic relationship ended, and the space that has allowed a unique bond to form between the pair since. That break-up was only just fresh one year ago when it became the subject of their self-released album Water. Now, the shades of their partnership range from the frustration of “Loner” with Kempf singing “I’ve had enough of each other / Want nothing more than to be a loner” — to stasis and repetition in “Month” where tidal harmonies drone “it comes and it goes” — to the bite and jealousy of Kempf in “Letter” announcing “I was there first / Yeah, you’re just following me / Good luck with that, girl / I’m a tough act to beat” while the counter-melody perhaps subconsciously drones the more gracious sentiment, “I don’t mind, I don’t mind, I don’t mind, I don’t mind.” The balance is also audible between points of energetic humour like the plucky “Haha,” bouncy even while howling “All I know is cry, cry cry,” and the more plaintive moments such as the stripped back “Flood,” spilling out “I still love you even as I leave you” with veracity. Kempf’s yell of “five, four, three, two, one, I’m gone” over a rollicking beat in “Disappear” playfully reverses the punk-rock drummer intro trope as a big bow out instead of a lead-in. Indeed, both the masks of comedy and tragedy, the black and white, are openly embraced in Flower of Devotion.
There’s no emotional repression or half-measures here. From the get go we hear a declaration of “Baby, I love you” on the confessional “Desire,” where the iconic wrenching vocals breathe their first breath. The succinct lyrics manage to express so much and signpost the themes that are to come. It goes from the contradiction and inescapability of “These are long days, that are longer at night / Been a long day, as long as the night,” to the sanguine toast “Here’s to this hoping” to the cycling plea for escape “Desire / Let me Out.” By the closing track, the album sums up by coming full circle saying “Am I in heaven or in hell? / I can’t tell” in “Flying.” While reflective, this song is still a straightforward and earnest outpouring and is a wise understanding that change and growth doesn’t culminate into a decisive endpoint or make life any more concrete. This song sounds like — and forgive me for this comparison — the arpeggioed progression of Adele’s aching “Someone Like You” mashed with a slowed down, less tinny, less Peep Show meme-worthy version of the noisy one-hit-wonder “Flagpole Sitta” by Harvey Danger. I do feel like there’s some other resemblance that I can’t quite put my finger on with this track, but regardless, the sentiment throughout is just as sincere and raucous as the best pop. On first listen Dehd’s Flower of Devotion already seemed, to me, like a classic, it is catchy from head to tail and canters through with clarity from song to song. Dehd straddle the light and shade of interpersonal spaces in connections that are both giddy and morose and always unrestrained.
Released 17 July 2020, Fire Talk
Rating: 8/10
Welcome to the B-Side: Review of Taylor Swift, folkore
Swift’s “indie” album folklore features production by the stalwart Jack Antonoff and new recruit, The National’s Aaron Dessner. It sent indiecore diehards into a hilarious tailspin with someone on a Facebook music meme group that I am in posting “are we all Swifters now?” The album features Bon Iver and many musicians who have long been in, or been associated with, The National (Bryce Dessner, Bryan Devendorf, Thomas Bartlett (aka Doveman), Ben Lanz and Yuki Resnick plus more). I think the absence of public scrutiny and wholesome nurturing collaboration with the Dessner brothers et al. has done wonders for Taylor Swift.
This album is a return to her singer-songwriter roots, encompassing her country and pop origins with a real focus on storytelling. Taylor is always at her best when she follows anecdotal narratives close to her heart (1989 and Red), she’s less great when wrestling with public perception or preaching political (Reputation and Lover). On folklore there are elements of nostalgia that are comforting reminders of the youthful Taylor who leant on classic Romeo & Juliet tropes. Here her third-person references to “never have I ever” (“august”) and “vintage tee, brand new phone, high heels on cobblestones” (“cardigan”) are throwbacks to that era. All the while there is still a thread of contemplative maturity in songs like “the last great american dynasty” and “mad woman.” Here, Taylor Swift is refined and reflective, complemented delicately by linchpin American indie-folk influences and a quiet pop drive.
While it doesn’t rise to be one of my top three albums that I am excited about in July, nor do I consider it the most exciting album in her catalogue, I nonetheless think folklore is an excellent and logical step within the Taylor Swift chronology. There are parts of the album I am definitely excited about, the “cardigan,” “august,” “betty,” love triangle is exemplary of that quintessential Taylor songwriting that can hit all the right spots. So too is “invisible string,” with its rollicking enjambment and Sufjan Stevens-esque plucky guitar. Yet, there are many clumsy and prosaic lyrics that break this enchantment, and often the instrumentation can’t help but sound borrowed and derivative, casting this archetypal cabin-dwelling folk aesthetic filter over all the tracks. From the lower case stylisation to the conspicuous album title to the black and white cover, the whole things feels a bit cliché. But honestly, isn’t that sort of why we love Taylor Swift? She’s unapologetic and transparent, deftly flipping through the picture book pulses on an album with wholehearted sincerity.
It is difficult to make an assessment as to whether Taylor Swift should mostly be held up against her own discography and pop contemporaries or be considered on her “folk” or “indie” album in an of itself. The answer to the second standard is an emphatic ‘No’ from me. Even if I can hear the influence of a folk tradition that may include Taylor’s collaborators alongside the likes of boygenius (Lucy Dacus, Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers), Sharon Van Etten, Aldous Harding, The Fleet Foxes, Beirut and indeed, Sufjan — Taylor Swift still doesn’t hold up conceptually. But honestly there will be times when I would happily listen to folklore over these top-shelf folksters. It is hard to ignore Taylor’s cultural significance and she deserves credit for this immensely self-assured and comfortable album.
Also Fresh:
Kamaal Williams Wu Hen (Black Focus) // Makaya McCraven, Beings E&F Sides (International Anthem) // Nicolás Jaar, Telas (Other People) // Demian Licht DIE KRAFT (Motus Records) // Julianna Barwick Healing is a Miracle (Ninja Tune) // Apollo Brown & Ché Noir, As God Intended (Mello Music Group) // Katie Dey, mydata (Run For Cover) // Protomartyr, Ultimate Success Today (Domino) // Taylor Swift folklore (Republic) // Jessy Lanza All The Time (Hyperdub) // Fontaines D.C. A Hero’s Death (Partisan) // Peel Dream Magazine Moral Panics EP (Tough Love) //
Also I’m obsessed with this July release, SOPHIE’s HEAVEN SUSPEND3D Livestream:
words by Joy Qin
