on the pulse - 2021 - #25 - aries, r.a.p. ferreira, jon hopkins, silent planet, bent knee, patricia taxxon

So this is going to be a weird week - we’re heading into what looks to be a relatively quiet year’s end, so I have no clue if any of this will get traction, but I’m grateful for those who care enough to check it out regardless - let’s get On The Pulse!

Patricia Taxxon - The Flowers Of Robert Mapplethorpe - I swear, I feel like I’m prepping to take an art history class half the time when I review Patricia Taxxon albums, especially one that before it was released was being compared to projects like Foley Artist and was described as more dense and also her ‘furry album’ - so who is Robert Mapplethorpe? Well, he was a gay photographer in the 70s and 80s, known for some extremely striking still life shots and a lot of extremely graphic and transgressive material that in some circles pushed the bounds of obscenity and what art was worth funding by government endowments. So immediately I grasped a surface philosophical parallels and themes - where Mapplethorpe was powerfully transgressive in the 80s by showcasing gay sexuality in framing of stark beauty, so does Taxxon seem to want to approach her queerness and furry identity and sexual proclivities in this framing… at least before the album seems to fragment in an apocalyptic, quasi-submissive search for companionship and confronting father figures - we’ll come back to this. And that fragmentation leads into the shuddering, stuttering glitch of the project where the SOPHIE and Autechre influences to drive the angular but oily synths and jagged percussion juxtaposed with cleaner, yearning but mournful ambient moments that don’t quite hit with the same texture it used to; you’d think for the wildness of much of the content that she’d have kept some of that organic-sounding texture in the mix instead of keeping things so jittery and fragile, with the glitch as more accent to the grooves especially as her singing is clearer and more emotive than ever, but no, a lot of these beats feel way more brittle, sputtering and stiff in their low-end. Coupled with moments that feel less tuneful overall on a project that definitely can meander on the back half, I would not call this one of my favourites from Taxxon, but back to the content, where I had originally put together a piece about how the juxtaposition of internet queer furry subculture in 2021 with gay culture in the 80s especially with the AIDS crisis felt a little tactless. In truth, it’s a lot less of this album in comparison with the deeply held, heartbroken loneliness in the face of a absent or neglectful father figure that if you’re just focusing on the furry aesthetic and framing, you’re missing the point. Ergo like with Foley Artist, it’s deeply intimate and vulnerable, but where that album had a defined arc, this album is more sprawling and scattered, a lilting flower in bloom, with a lot of ideas but feeling a little tenuous tying them all together. Still a good project, strong 6/10… but not one of my favourites of hers, even if I know for a fact to a specific audience this’ll be way more resonant.

Bent Knee - Frosting - I heard about the controversy for this album before I actually heard it… mostly because when I see an art rock / prog rock group with a lengthy catalog, they tend to wind up on my back burner, which is exactly what happened with this Boston group. But now we’re reaching the end of the year and I’ll admit it’s a catalog I could probably afford to peel through… and oh boy, where to start with this one? Okay, imagine one of the more operatically inclined women out of the 90s like a Tori Amos or early Fiona Apple or even a little Bjork… paired with some of the most fractured and awkwardly produced prog in the vein of a Battles or Everything Everything I’ve heard in recent memory. And it’s honestly tough to quantify: I like the theatricality and self-serious weirdness that contributes to a distinctive sound, and there’s some potent lyrical moments, but I find the execution to be incredibly hit-and-miss especially in terms of structuring a coherent groove or hook, and the production shows serious limitations. That said, the greater swagger infused into 2019’s You Know What They Mean gave it a bit more sticking power for me, so I was ready to dive into the controversy with this one… and unsurprisingly it’s kind of a mess, but not one that’s particularly surprising? Yes, going hyperpop by way of some obvious 2000s pop rock influences across some songs was inevitably going to throw some prog audiences, but Bent Knee has had a modern pop theatricality for years now, and even if it’s led to mixed results, it wasn’t a bad idea. But man, the execution feels haphazard, and let’s start with vocals: if you have a frontwoman in Courtney Swain who is arguably one of your biggest selling points as a band, smothering her least impressive performance in chipmunk effects and autotune to render her more anonymous alongside contorted vocals from Jessica Kion strikes me as a complete misstep; it comes across like hopping on a trend rather than adapting or warping it to suit their more unique elements, at least at first. By the time we get to ‘The Upward Spiral’ curdled and ominous riffs are trying to fight through the goopy synths, and even as the synthetic elements persist and the songs remain fractured and the grooves remain undercooked - and ‘Pause’ was speaker-destroyingly pointless - a fair few of the underlying compositions still have that offkilter, but distinctly cinematic scope that shows Bent Knee at their best like ‘Queer Gods’ or ‘The Floor Is Lava’ or especially ‘Not This Time’. But now let’s get to the lyrics, where Bent Knee… look, they have moments, but I’ve never been grabbed by the writing, and that’s kind of true here as well. Thematically, it has touches of the ‘quarantine’ album but it’s more introspective than that - in seeing a world full of systems beyond their understanding or control, a lot of this project collapses inwards, with language that implies a regression to childhood but more as a safe space to test boundaries of queerness and conventional morality, making use of morally ambiguous framing that’s been one of Bent Knee’s great lyrical strengths, and I like how it ends on a desperate but optimistic note. At the same time, though… I’m torn wondering if Bent Knee are writing what they’re supposed to do in this subgenre, especially as song like ‘Have It All’ and ‘Invest In Breakfast’ feel a little obvious in their quirk, even if other moments feel genuinely heartfelt. So look, while this is messy there’s a method here and ultimately it’s weird and interesting enough to be worth hearing… but it’s also not a project that plays to the band’s strengths and the execution is still really haphazard, with only spots that come together for me. Strong 6/10, it’s absolutely worth hearing… but it won’t be for everyone, I can say that.

Silent Planet - Iridescent - I sincerely suspect some of you think that by flooding my schedule with metalcore that at some point I’ll get more into it. Which… I mean, it’s not unfeasible, especially if you give me the legit good stuff, and to give Silent Planet some credit, going through their back catalog I was close to getting onboard with this one - the vocals were visceral, the band had a pretty solid command of atmospherics, and it became very obvious the writing was a major focal point and on average was surprisingly strong… and then the downtuned riffs came back and I realized I wasn’t nearly as into this as I wanted to be. This time around it came with a shift in their production team, specifically bringing in Drew Fulk who has worked all across the mainstream in a number of genres, and that’s certainly reflected in the cleaner, sharper downtuned guitars with the occasional math rock flourish, and the occasional inclusion of drum machines or more spacious elements to add a bit of colour… shame that the actual drums often sound underpowered and formless, especially in the cymbals, and the bass grooves are nowhere near as filthy or punchy as they previously were, and the distorted touches of electronics show exactly how much Code Orange’s innovations are becoming the template. Yeah, the atmospherics and cleaner hooks do help a few of these songs stand out a little more, and when you go towards the content there are some potent ideas touching on mental illness and its juxtaposition with medical and police systems that aren’t always equipped to deal with it… at least until we get a song like ‘Panopticon’ that feel like your standard anti-tech screeds that missed the memo from Code Orange last year that you need to take these themes in more nuanced directions to make them interesting. And that’s the frustrating thing: as much as I can respect Silent Planet for their earnestness and politically charged themes on songs like the pro-environment and anti-capitalist ‘Anhedonia’ and more descriptive writing, it feels like it came at the expense of production that lacks a potent or unique identity for a chugging metalcore sound that just doesn’t stick for me. Just feels scattered, oddly paced, and lacking more tune for me, especially for something that’s still not my genre - light 6/10, I don’t think this is bad and metalcore fans might enjoy this more, but it’s not for me.

Jon Hopkins - Music For Psychedelic Therapy - have to be honest, I’m a little shocked folks wanted me to cover this. Not saying I was against it - I like Jon Hopkins as a producer and going into this sort of ambient soundscape would be a natural fit for him… and yet as someone who’s gotten more into ambient music this year, I found myself a little less impressed with this than I was expecting. Because while of course the synths hit that blissful, crystalline swell with very gentle murmurs of keys, the occasional gentle shudder within the mix, touches of birdsong and field recordings with splashes of water, all set to produce that ethereal, new age vibe… that’s kind of all it does for a solid hour, with very little in the way that reflects anything actually psychedelic or weird. You can absolutely tell a greater focus is on ‘therapy’ - this is material designed to soothe and relax, where if I were to bring back my ASMR experiment it would not be out of place in the slightest, and while your mileage may vary on new age meditation material, especially including the surprisingly decent monologue from the late Ram Dass on the final song, I can’t deny that in a specific lane, this is doing exactly what it’s designed to do. But even setting aside an expectation of psychedelia, you’d think there’d be more melodic or textural diversity here - there’s very modulation, transitions are minimal, and even if there’s enough sparkle to let you know it’s a Jon Hopkins album, it feels like the soft focus, sanitized version of where this ambient music could take us. Not bad, per se, because again, I think for a certain audience it’ll absolutely fit the bill, but the larger spectrum of ambient music this is not special. Light 6/10, even by the standards of the genre you’ll forget this quickly.

R.A.P. Ferreira - the Light Emitting Diamond Cutter Scriptures - so yeah, I’m surprised that R.A.P. Ferreira is putting out another album this year; even though he dropped his first back in January, he’s a poet with dense sensibilities, so I was looking forward to untangling this one, even if it wound up surprisingly short, under a half hour. And… you know, I think I like this a decent bit more than Bob’s Son, even if I think overall the album is looser, more playful, and seems to carry lower stakes - it builds off of the sly hedonism of cuts like ‘abomunist manifesto’, where on his Ruby Yacht journeys across America he enjoys sidestepping definition and embracing poetic abstraction in his odd flexes almost for its own sake; after all, the flower’s duty is to blossom. And while the postmodernist in him will still see a certain amount of disinterest towards defined idealism, the framing is expanded a bit more to encompass the general absurdities he sees in chasing a capitalist hip-hop environment - hell, just how much he doesn’t seem to care about those conventional accolades or algorithmic prioritization beyond art for its own sake anymore is defiance in and of itself, even as I appreciate some self awareness that comes in noting the folks who don’t stick around to hear more, or the feeling of loneliness that comes on the road when it doesn’t quite land, or the fear that comes with trying something new, where the Jackson Pollock reference was very telling. More than ever, though, in the scatter painting of bars I’m getting a much starker parallel with MF DOOM beyond the samples and interpolations, although with less villainy and more a traveling bluesman or pirate or outlaw who’ll find himself on the outskirts and stigmatized just by ignoring those systems… which in certain moments isn’t far from where DOOM was himself. Overall it just feels like a more balanced, thoughtful project that gets around the stuffier poetic abstraction that was starting to run dry on the last project, and I think his production helps a decent bit too. The mix shambles across supple bass, textured stutters of percussion, and wheedling keys and warping synths that splash off the occasional touch of horns, which fits the dreamlike but organic vibe that lends a short album a lot of subtle groove - not a lot of production moments that really jump off the page in terms of hooks, but it’s such a pleasant listen overall that it’s hard not to keep engaged, especially as it’s remains short and sweet. And as such… yeah, very light 8/10, I really enjoyed this - not quite as grandiose as purple moonlight pages was, but the lower stakes and easier vibe made this as likable as R.A.P. Ferreira has been in a while, definitely check it out.

Aries - BELIEVE IN ME, WHO BELIEVES IN YOU - Well, the hype behind this one has been pretty damn significant, and not altogether surprising. So background: Aries is a rapper, producer, and YouTuber who I actually covered briefly in a song review about a year ago - definitely plays more to the pop trap, genre-blurring tones where his solid compositional instincts did a lot of heavy lifting in comparison with production and delivery and content that didn’t quite impress me much. But hey, he’s got more of a budget this time around, tilting a little bit more into modern pop trends, and this was a short enough project to take in… and I’m not sure I’m getting all the hype with this one. For one, it’s really hard to avoid a Post Malone comparison circa Beerbongs & Bentleys with slightly rougher guitars, clunkier percussion, less reverb, blown out mixes, better hooks but a less interesting vocalist. If anything, what Aries reminds me of is one of the pop punk frontmen of the late 90s / early 2000s who had a bit more grit in his voice when he sings, but not enough to rock that hard - which might as well be the story for any groove or guitar texture on this project that is absolutely pulling from that era but with trap percussion, which seems laser-targeted for a very specific nostalgic sweet spot. And yeah, the hooks are good on cuts like ‘BOUNTY HUNTER’, ‘ETA’, ‘KIDS ON MOLLY’, ‘WHEN THE LIGHTS GO OUT’, and especially ‘ONE PUNCH’, but this is an album that locks into a singular lane and doesn’t vary as much as it really could - this is where more organic basslines and a more distinctive delivery or explosiveness would be really appreciated, but Aries never quite gets there. Honestly, it feels safe in a way it really shouldn’t, and then we get to the content… where I can’t escape the feeling this should have more punch than it does. It’s playing very self-aware with how his newfound success might be able to provide some form of relief to those around him or at very least his state of mind away from his vices and angst and bad relationships… but that’s not where he’s drawn a lot of his inspiration, and thus the struggle comes in finding a balance amidst a hedonistic Los Angeles scene. But there’s a loose, scattered quality to how Aries creates imagery that seems to resist coalescing into more even if it’s rarely obnoxious or actively annoying - odd when so many of the lyrics feel adjacent to basic emo trap cliches - and yet I don’t think that helps these hooks hit as hard as they could. So yes, the hooks are good… but they’re rarely great and they’re not amplified by a mix or delivery that aren’t that strong, to say nothing of content that doesn’t really come together. Strong 6/10, I get the appeal of this one, I just wanted to like it more.