on the pulse - 2022 - #18 - rod wave, megan thee stallion, calvin harris, father john misty, wade bowen, doechii, amanda shires, ashenspire
Ashenspire - Hostile Architecture - Hey kids, want a distinctly Scottish, impressively bleak and chaotic exploration of how brutalist and utilitarian architecture of cities under late capitalism can trigger intentional psychological damage to the underclass, all through chugging progressive black metal nearly swallowing the horns and strings? That’s Ashenspire’s second album for you, with a solid improvement in production since their debut to make riffs nastier and textures sharper, though the drum mixing can still be muddy. And while the theatrical delivery reminds me of a humourless Joe Talbot with more visceral poetry, this desperate maelstrom feels more built to terrify the audience living within this trauma, pick at ignored wounds, and without release, it’s more a wallow than galvanizing for the fights ahead. A harrowing, discordant experience… but not one I’m revisiting much.
Amanda Shires - Take It Like A Man - I’ve had a weird relationship with Amanda Shires - her early indie country projects are goddamn excellent and I can’t praise the Highwomen enough, but the one I’ve reviewed from her is the overproduced experiment/misfire To The Sunset, so she deserved another proper shot. And while it’s a return to form in production and Shires’ lilting, witchy delivery, it’s a pretty tough listen, a sexually charged, maturely framed, but heartbreaking examination of midlife crisis misadventures and a relationship on the rocks that might as well be the companion to Jason Isbell’s Reunions in more ways than one. It can feel over-arranged in its attempts at soul, with dicey vocal mixing and smothered in ponderous reverb as Isbell’s guitar smolders and her fiddle saws - spare intimacy might be a better fit - but a theatrical reality still cuts deep. Powerful album, check it out.
Doechii - she/her/black bitch - Okay, Tampa rapper, 2022 XXL Freshman, signed to TDE - less of a good sign these days given their frustrating release methodology, if I’m SZA I’m killing something - but Doechii impressed me with a lot of early Nicki Minaj in her style but with a hornier, quirkier, more vulnerable vibe courtesy of her 2020 EP Oh The Places You’ll Go. This is her newest EP… and it starts out so vicious and cutting that you might wish it was all killer bars against snarled, percussive bangers, she’s that effective, especially on ‘Swamp Bitches’ with Rico Nasty! Unfortunately it takes a dip with the awkward pop of ‘Bitches Be’, but the watery, Noname-esque melancholy of ‘This Bitch Matters’ and the sensual R&B remix of ‘Persuasive’ with SZA bring it back around. And outside some rough percussion mastering, this EP is pretty great, leaves you wanting more. Punch, get on that!
Wade Bowen - Somewhere Between The Secret And The Truth - I’ve said before that Wade Bowen makes the sort of solid, neotraditional Texas honkytonk country that’s easy to like, but difficult to review at length, and that’s true here as well. I have issues with the mastering - there’s some tinny, high frequencies where there shouldn’t be, might be a self-production issue especially in the vocals - and the album isn’t as genre-bending or textured in production or writing as 2018’s Solid Ground. But the hooks and tunes are good, and Bowen’s more thoughtful and mature approach to relationships and especially lingering heartbreak has a lot of pathos, with great guest spots from Vince Gill and Lori McKenna. I wouldn’t put this among his best or the strongest country in 2022, but there’s not a bad song here and it’s a remarkably likable listen all the way through, so check it out.
Father John Misty - Chloë & The Next 20th Century - I know y’all were expecting this months ago… but this has never clicked with me and I can finally pin down why. A pre-rock & roll, light jazz crooner throwback where Josh Tillman feels like less of a presence, where modernizing quirks feel out of place but languid compositions never do enough to differentiate themselves from their influences to pop. But you come to Father John Misty for the writing… and yes, there’s a poetry in the rhyming echo of history amidst femmes fatale, a performative, pathetic, borderline parasocial machismo, and the existential emptiness that comes in the cycle never breaking. But Pure Comedy at least offered a balm and an intimate laugh hitting these themes, salvaging the artifice here feels flimsier than reality. Oscar Wilde might appreciate this cultivation of beauty, guess I’m corrupt looking for a bit more.
Calvin Harris - Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 2 - I feel like we should have had this two or three years ago, before I’d point to Emotional Oranges’ The Juicebox as the better version. But outside of Calvin Harris remaining a weirdly unsubtle producer which leads to slapdash mastering in some crunchy but canned high frequencies left in - not ideal for as smoothly midtempo as this is trying to be outside of some guitar flash - it’s a shallow singles grabbag that lives and dies on guest performances. So… ‘Woman of the Year’ with Stefflon Don, Coi Leray and Chloe, the opulent ‘New to You’ with Normani, Tinashe and Offset going off, the new wave bounce of ‘Stay With Me’ with Halsey, Justin Timberlake, and Pharrell, the sizzling funk of ‘Somebody Else’ with Jorja Smith and Lil Durk, low key vibes on ‘Nothing More To Say’ with 6LACK, and Pusha T owning this vibe on ‘Day One’. The rest… hit and miss at best.
Megan Thee Stallion - Traumazine - This album is trying to do too much - satiate a mainstream audience with pop crossovers, feed the hot girls with bangers, showcase more diversity in sound, emotionality, and content, and deliver just enough material to hopefully get out of her contract with 1501 and become the sought-after free agent. And to Megan’s credit, it’s the best showcase of her potential to date: better production, sharper bars, more vulnerability where even as a weak singer she’s got real presence. But between hit-and-miss guest verses and hooks - keep Rico Nasty, Jhene Aiko, and the posse cut ‘Southside Royalty Freestyle’ and throw out everyone else - wonky sequencing, and a niggling feeling her attempts at expressiveness feel tentative or underdeveloped, in a crowded field there’s a more distinctive leap still to be made. So yeah, it’s good, not yet great.
Rod Wave - Beautiful Mind - I don’t think Rod Wave is living up to his potential, hate to say it. This is the third album I’m covering from him and while production has gotten better, between undercooked compositions and repetitive come-up / heartbreak angst subject matter, Rod Wave found a formula and isn’t budging from it. But it’s also way too long with pointless skits and first draft compositions, likely padding for stream trolling. What’s worse is that many are only memorable for a sample, production flourish, or interpolation, or could use a guest verse or two to switch it up - like Jack Harlow of all people on ‘Yungen’ - and it makes an increasingly petulant wallow sour with overexposure, with nothing better than ‘Street Runner’. Treat it like a grabbag playlist, for me… ‘I Know It’, ‘Forever’, ‘Time Kills (Love Birds)’, ‘Mafia’, ‘Everything’, maybe ‘Cold December’. You’ve already heard the rest.