on the pulse - 2020 - week 23 - ungodly art of love

So very little came out this week. It was shockingly slow, which meant that I went scrabbling for whatever I could find - full disclosure, it’s going to get strange this week.. On The Pulse!

Katie Pruitt - Expectations - So full disclosure, I only included this on my schedule because I got a few helpful Twitter recommendations and had to drop some metal albums from my schedule because of less-than-helpful politics - and it turns out the antidote to getting recommended NSBM is some great lesbian dream country! And I mean that a lot more than you might think: the themes of Katie Pruitt’s storytelling are not subtle in making raw, confessional love longs for girls and juxtaposing them with a Catholic high school environment deep in the American South, which allows her to draw on some rich chamber pop touches to accentuate the romance of the spacious, reverb-touched country tones while in contrast with her slightly rougher vocal tone. She reminds me a fair bit of a younger, slightly less controlled Caitlyn Smith with some faint touches of Fleetwood Mac - who probably could use a more robust vocal arrangement as a whole, especially when songs like ‘Grace Has A Gun’ go bigger - but that girlishness is an asset, at least for now, especially when it comes to those high school scenes of ‘Normal’ and especially the heartbreaking ‘Georgia’. And while country has become - mostly agonizingly slowly - accepting of queerness, Pruitt is writing more for the girls struggling to conform to heteronormative standards but find love in different and valid spaces… and then for when they act out, break against both internal and external expectations, and you’ll be damned if you stand in their way. But then she takes the extra step to add some stunningly romantic and tragic cuts like ‘Wishful Thinking’ and especially ‘Out Of The Blue’, and then the bouncier romantic moments like ‘Loving Her’ and ‘It’s Always Been You’, ending on a high and mostly optimistic note, which I really do appreciate. I do have a few quibbles - I made the Caitlyn Smith comparison and that does mean there are notes of oversinging, and as much as I really like the dream country vibe, it’s a project that feels a bit sleepy and could use a few more moments to really kick into gear. But while I’m months late to this one… I can’t think of a better time to cover this than right now. Strong 8/10, what a great debut, y’all need to hear this.

Xibalba - Años en Infierno - …You know, I could queue my regular, ‘oh, this is out of my regular comfort zone spheal’, but at this point I started to wonder if I was getting trolled here: a bilingual band out of Southern California most well-known for htting the huge, pummelling cross-section between doom metal, death metal and hardcore, does this sound like something that’s likely up my alley? Well, I did my due diligence and listened to their entire discography… and yet can I say I kind of get it? Again, it’s not particularly tuneful and get deep into one of their albums and it can feel painfully one-dimensional, but there is a thunderous organic texture that has the feel of getting crushed by a grinding sandstorm full of gravel, and I dug how Sunn 0)) guitarist Greg Anderson stepped up to throw down on their second album Hasta La Muerte. Now this is their fourth album after five years and a third album pivot towards even sharper pivot towards death metal, and… honestly, I wish I was all that impressed. For one, it feels shockingly short - normally projects that bring in this many doom elements seem like they go on forever but this does not stick around long - and while we’re there, it seems like some of the old punishing impact isn’t here either. You can clearly tell there was more focus on diversifying their percussion section than switching up their entire groove, which can lead to some pretty interesting percussion like on ‘Saka’… shame that kickdrum can sound clipped in slappy at spots instead of blended more effectively. But the riffs don’t feel as thunderous or dynamic - some of the same grinding texture comes through but even the faint melodies we used to get have slid back, and that’s not even touching on the more reverbed, cleanly sung death-doom experiment for the two-part end where the hollow vocal filter kills the intensity. And it’s not like I can say the content really puts this above and beyond - some potent stuff surrounding bucking against real injustice but ultmately succumbing more to rage and despair and yet struggling for forgiveness because we’re all human - but the poetry didn’t precisely go above and beyond in the same way END did last week. That said, I do think this is a bit better - slightly stronger compositional instincts and some of the drumwork was impressive as all hell - but while I get this a bit more, just not for me. 6/10

Sports Team - Deep Down Happy - It took me a second to recognize that I had already talked about this band once before on my song review series on IGTV - @SpectrumPulse, like and follow, beat the rush - where my initial impression was that they were a younger, yelpier, slightly less thoughtful Parquet Courts, and now covering their debut album… yeah, that’s an impression that certainly sticks onto their full-length album, which kind of leaves me underwhelmed and frustrated with this. For one, as much as the band takes potshots at other upstarts in their scene that come from a more privileged background, especially HMLTD - about a solid half of this album is ripping on over-privileged ennui and I’ll credit them for their sense of detail - you’d think the production would be a little more scrappy or textured, not just cribbing from a cleaner set of tones from the last post-punk revivial and that Parquet Courts does better… or on some songs just sounding like a complete mess, especially with the drums. But more to the point, as much as I’ll credit power and precision in making political points, this album isn’t really populist, and another parallel comes with early Arctic Monkeys, in that the sour bitterness that infuses the entire project kind of makes them hard to like - and yes, I get this is a British thing when it comes to content, but at least when Arctic Monkeys were doing it they had a little more scrappy belligerence and better hooks. Now granted, some of this could have been curtailed or switched up if the band didn’t just pull redundant older songs from EPs, but I’ll give them credit for some great basslines and at least something of a subtextual wake-up call where the band is aware how much they’re propped up, either in listless relationships or their own relatively stable dissatisfaction, or even just how they need their fans keep themselves afloat - which they frame as an erectile dysfunction joke. On the flip side, there are some ugly guitar tones that don’t have the texture or punch to really amplify some good song construction, hooks, and really good solos - it’s weird, this is a band that is more polished than I think they might want to be to amplify their message, especially when their influences are so obvious. And I think that’s the root of my frustration: they can make some derivative but lively and likable music… despite the best efforts of their content. 6/10

Jehnny Beth - To Love Is To Live - You know, I remember reviewing Savages’ debut album in 2013 and even though I was relatively new to the game I still think that album is fantastic, a tempestuous and fiercely political project that was so potent and visceral and intelligent that I’ve been desperately hoping we’d get a steady stream of material - but outside of a few abstract collaborative efforts and 2016’s kind of underwhelming Adore Life - which I’ll admit hasn’t quite held up as strongly as I’ve hoped. it feels like we’ve just gotten way less than we could have. But hey, frontwoman Jehnny Beth now has a solo album that’s a little more pop/electronic focus, and that should lead to something, right? Well, remember that Ed O’Brien album I covered about a month or so back, that was certainly tasteful and stuffed with name producers and collaborators and potent songs… but kind of felt a little muted and might have you wishing more for the original article? Yeah, that’s kind of what Jehnny Beth’s solo debut feels like - she’s got Flood and Atticus Ross and Joe Talbot of IDLES and Romy Madley Croft of The xx, but there’s a part of me that struggles to put this opposite the best of Savages, mostly because of a persistent issue in juxtaposition that came between writing and production that was first apparent on Adore Life. A lot of Beth’s writing and delivery is curt and stripped down and blunt and it gets its power through visceral, declarative statements, which gain a lot of power when the production is tempestuous and unsettled and bleak… and yet that’s often not what we get, so the sharper implication just doesn’t have the same impact. Which is really frustrating because I like a lot of the writing and delivery - Beth grapples with gender norms and her bisexuality in halting but impressively potent ways, and she can absolutely sell the drama of these scenes, and I like the circular construction of the album, returning to a primal point where she must keep drawing breath despite those visceral questions of humanity - and I really wish the music could match it. Maybe I just miss the huge, coursing basslines of Silence Yourself too much, but the grooves here are more stiff and obviously programmed opposite more lush melodies, and the album only really clicks on cuts with the skittering glitch that plays off the sober pianos of ‘We Will Sin Together’ or the manic electronics of ‘How Could You’, the bassy roil off the horns on ‘Heroine’, or the aching pianos of ‘French Countryside’. Still, more positives than negatives overall, and this is a promising, albeit oddly short-feeling solo effort, so… light 7/10

Chloe x Halle - Ungodly Hour - I’ll admit I’m a little surprised I missed talking about Chloe x Halle the first time, given that the duo got started on YouTube and when one of their covers got noticed by Beyonce, she signed them to her label directly. Along with a lot of acting side projects, the duo released their debut album in 2018, which I’d say is pretty good - a little underwritten and kind of patchy, but they had great harmonies and the production was more varied and eclectic than I expected, so I did have expectations going into this. And… I kept wishing I liked this more than I do, and it’s tough to pin down exactly why this isn’t clicking as strongly. I think at least some part of it comes down to production - I’ve said it before that I tend to prefer a more earthy, organic tone to R&B, but if you’re going to go for the obvious drum machines, maybe not have them sound so obviously clipped and canned, especially juxtaposed against how sweet Chloe and Halle’s voices sound? Granted, when you consider how the vocal production doesn’t really give them a lot of room to breathe either against melodies that can sound really wonky and offkilter - Scott Storch’s production credits are all over this and you can kind of tell, and as someone who didn’t like what he gave Beyonce in the 2000s I’m not really a fan of what he’s giving her proteges here - and I’m not always sure this production flatters their weirder, more varied influences, which actually go a fair bit beyond R&B and do come through in the compositions - hell, Chloe herself has production credits and I’d argue she delivers more here! And yet while we’re on the subject of Beyonce’s obvious influence, I’m reminded a fair bit of why I didn’t really like her material in the 2000s, especially when she leaned into her capricious side - it’s funny, everyone bags on Jhene Aiko for making toxic ratchet R&B for girls to get high to in their cars, but when your album opens with “don’t ever ask for permission, ask for forgiveness’, right before a pretty unapologetic breakup song where the forgiveness being asked is for going too hard and being awesome to this guy being a possible cheater and emotional drain… look, swap the weed out for Cristal and the emotional throughline is not far removed. Which would not be a bad thing if I thought the context and complexity was there, or the tones adequately supported the vibe… and again, it’s kind of patchy, and I also know that the empowerment fantasies across the first half of the album aren’t intended for me and will absolutely hit their target audience better - even the flirty murder ballad of ‘Tipsey’. That said, when the album gets into some of the messy relationship complexity on cuts like ‘Don’t Make It Harder On Me’ or pulling a Reba/Linda Davis ‘Does He Love You’ with ‘Wonder What She Thinks Of Me’, there’s more meat to the songs - hell, I can even groove with the more subtle, sensual cuts like the title track, ‘Lonely’ or the funkier vibe of ‘Busy Boy’ where they know this guy is a player but they’ll still fuck him out of convenience; again, they’re great singers, they can sell it, even if they’re stuck opposite Swae Lee who just can’t bring the same attitude. But as a whole… I get the feeling with a little more refinement and some more lush, organic production I’d been entirely onboard with Chloe x Halle, but as it is I’m not there yet so… extremely strong 6/10, I see the potential for more.

RMR - DRUG DEALING IS A LOST ART - …I almost don’t even want to review this, just marvel at how damn inspired this act might seem to be. So do y’all remember that video for the song ‘RASCAL’ that went viral a few months ago of a bunch of guys in ski masks pointing guns at the camera and harmonizing through a Rascal Flatts interpolation that I’m fairly certain is better than anything Rascal Flatts has ever made? Yeah, the guy behind this is RMR, who is a new country-trap artist with this as his debut EP… and while have said he’s an obvious industry plant because again, the sample got cleared and he has been working with Mike Dean and he’s got frankly amazing guest verse connections right out of the gate from Future, Lil Baby, Westside Gunn and Young Thug, my counterpoint is that it’s still kind of amazing anyway because I’ve been waiting for trap artists to layer more harmonies and pulling from a country direction is all the more appealing to me, and juxtaposed with the content there’s potential! So, given that for some reason I’m treating this as legitimate, how’s the EP? Honestly, both a fair bit better and worse than I was expecting, because if you were hoping for more of the unique tones that made ‘RASCAL’ so distinctive, you’re not really going to get it, which has the feel of a meme artist getting rushed into the studio and when they can’t strike the same inspired genius again without becoming a gimmick, they default to an easy formula, especially in the content. And if there’s a big disappointment with this in comparison with other country trap fusions, it’s that the country elements don’t get the same flair in the compositions and especially the content - yeah, a few sharper guitar flourishes, but that was a pretty sizable missed opportunity. That said, once you’ve accepted that this is going to be more of a conventional trap/R&B project with leanings towards country and empty content, I found up liking this a surprising amount - a lot of RMR’s flavour comes with having a distinctive and well-layered voice and his arrangements and command of melody is considerably more robust than a lot of the field, and his production is way better than many of his peers, especially on tunes like ‘WELFARE’ and ‘BEST FRIEND’. Honestly, it’s easy for me to put him in a similar tier as Rod Wave, and while he’s less soulful and conscious, tighter construction, better hooks, and as of now the best song with ‘RASCAL’, I think there’s a place for this. So… light 7/10, if you’re curious it’s worth hearing.