on the pulse - 2023 - #13 - hozier, genesis owusu, that mexican ot, emotional oranges, grupo frontera, home is where, fully involved, jason eady
Jason Eady - Mississippi - So normally reviewing Jason Eady’s very spare, very subtle country music can be a challenge, especially album over album where you're talking about the slightest of small differences that the majority of folks will not notice. That is not the case with Mississippi, which is easily Jason Eady’s biggest genre shift in his career: it's a straight up country blues album, with more electric guitar, sharper percussion, firmer basslines, organ, soulful backing vocals from his wife Courtney Patton, and even a trumpet, deeply indebted to classic early blues and gospel music from the deep south that developed alongside the traditionalist country where Jason Eady normally works! Granted, once I got past the initial surprise, it does make sense - Jason Eady is from Mississippi originally even though he now hails from Texas, he probably grew up around this sound, and you can tell he's going to treat this stylistic shift with the veteran focus and spare refinement that makes his indie country music so damn potent, and the natural organic warmth in his mix gives his greater focus on groove a remarkable amount of low-key swagger - but where I have the biggest question is Eady as a singer; he doesn't sound uncomfortable in this sound, there’s always been traces of that deeper foundation across his catalog which has helped so many of his cuts feel so weighty, but his subtle restraint as a vocalist doesn't exactly map to a blues texture, or fit quite as well when he tries for something with a bit more funk like ‘Whistle’ or R&B like ‘Mean Time’. That said, it helps that the writing is once again really strong, with a fair few songs just focused on Jason Eady stepping out of his comfort zone into a bluesier sound, where he knows it’s always been with him in some way, but it still feels a little like uncharted territory. But alongside the textured and pretty funny ‘Once Upon A Time In New Orleans’, he also brings his knack for moral ambiguity to bear and it fits well in this genre, from the ode to self-destruction on ‘Burn It Down’ to the post-breakup jabs of ‘Getting Even’ to by far one of the darkest songs he’s ever cut on ‘Mile Over 45’, where a working man is tempted to take matters into his own hands ruined by years in the sawmill to get even on a wealthy and corrupt landowner. But overall, I’m really enthused by Jason Eady stepping out of his comfort zone and bringing his very deft touch in production and writing to a sound that he knows well, but maybe can’t quite pull off as well as his traditionalist country; it doesn’t feel like a put-on or gentrified so much as his performance style might come across as too understated to really hit hard. But Eady also has such good taste in production and is such a great writing that it makes up for a lot, probably the most I’ve liked one of his albums since 2017; excellent stuff, it’s going to be slept on, check it out!
Fully Involved - Cold Blood - So last time I covered Mark Berman’s rock band project Fully Involved was his EP from 2018, which I mostly liked for a pretty sharp lyrical and thematic progression exploring chronic illness and a decent bit of punch, wearing its throwback rock influences pretty starkly but relatively well-executed. This is his first proper full-length since 2017 and you can tell he’s upgraded his setup and sound significantly - still indebted to the more jagged sides of 80s/90s garage and college rock, but now with a healthy infusion of vintage so-Cal surf rock, The Cars-esque power pop, winsome singer-songwriter material, and even ska. And let me say this right now: the production and mixing on this album is ridiculously good, in cranking the big, Weezer-esque melodies to eleven and at more than a few points giving some Ric Ocasek vibes in its impeccably clean but still sinewy, groove-driven snarl. It’s almost so good that it reveals that Berman’s vocals can be a little shaky - he’s not always positioned to have the most power, and while there’s some alternative charm and it can function well thematically, for me it got a bit distracting when he slipped off key or a turn of phrase didn’t feel as sharp as it could to match the melodic construction. That said, the reason it can work thematically is because I think the writing is quite strong in its exploration of neurodivergence, not just in the moments of hyper-earnestness balanced out with near-crippling anxiety and a lot of self-consciousness in how one is perceived, but also how the world often engages with that awkward humanity, often appreciating way more what can be delivered from it than the complicated people themselves on songs like ‘The Cover’ or ‘Horton Hess’, or not even realizing that someone is neurodivergent and might not be able to fully respond well to colloquial “common sense” solutions or scenes. And I really like just how much focus there is on smaller, less-discussed moments, like on the title track in how it explores social exchange of empathy, or how satiating a presumed social expectation can manifest on ‘Dopamine’ or ‘Wait No Don’t Go’. That said, this album does have its quirkier, overwritten side that can get a little kitschy with some of the keyboard choices, but I also think that’s balanced out by some of the go-for-broke moments like that key-change on the solo of ‘Paralyzed (Anew)’ and strong hooks overall - if you’ve been frustrated with Weezer since… well, insert date from the past twenty years here, I think you’ll have a lot of fun with this as a tighter, smarter, pretty colourful collection of songs. I’m kind of shocked how much I enjoyed this, but I really did - check it out!
Home Is Where - the whaler - yes, I know, I took way too long to get to this one… in all due fairness, I also missed their critically adored breakthrough in 2021 with I Became Birds, a short but wildly colourful explosion of post-hardcore and midwestern emo that was pretty good even if it leaned into the twee side, but never stuck as deeply as I was hoping, especially against the influx of competition over the past few years. But I figured I’d finally get around to this… and okay, I feel like I have to start with the thematic core of the album because if I don’t, to a certain age demographic it’s going to overshadow the entire album. And that is, ‘what if the world just kept going and aging as usual, but it was 9/11 every single day, so the societal weight of that event just piles up over and over again.’ Now I would argue it’s being used more as metaphor than anything, mostly because as this band is younger, 9/11 feels like more half-formed hazy memory and meme rather than the hard reality of said event - the tone of this album can feel wonky, there’s a bit of dissociative detachment balanced against the very raw struggle to continue trudging forth under the weight of trauma, and that serves as a biting critique of American ‘resiliency’; we should not be getting used to things continuing to get worse. And credit to Brandon McDonald’s writing, there’s an intensely tactile, graphic tangibility to her words where the blur of trans subtext and howling rage at God has the rawness and swell in the mix of working with Jack Shirley, the producer behind Deafheaven’s run in the 2010s. But then the second half of the album happens, which is a swerve back to the band’s old home in Florida where it tonally gets more southern-fried, jangling and bright, and living amidst that slow-motion collapse picks up a different texture where maybe amidst the gore and decay, you can still find something - or someone - worth it all. So in terms of concept, there’s a lot of colour and intensity to appreciate, and it helps that the execution delivers this sort of fifth-wave emo with more varied instrumentation coming through in horns, harmonica, banjo, mandolin, and even a singing saw and tape recordings to add more granular, lived-in but utterly wild melodic texture - think Cap’n Jazz with a little more deep south flavour, although that can be a mixed blessing when despite how bright these melodies are, Home Is Where still only has a passing relationship with hooks, and I don’t always think Brandon McDonald’s nasal sung vocals always work; definitely an acquired taste and I personally prefer more of her visceral screaming. Still, I’m inclined to call this one of the more uniquely potent emo albums you’ll hear this year, and if it’s not great, it’s really damn close - check it out!
Grupo Frontera - El Comienzo - You know, even if it is a slow week, I was genuinely curious to dig into the debut from this regional Mexican act, especially as there’s no guarantee they get an album bomb without the industry push that Peso Pluma received. And I’ve liked Grupo Frontera a bit more anyways - their tones and grooves have tended to be more fluid, I like their singers more, and the Bad Bunny cosign led to a pretty good song. Ergo with this full-length debut clocking just over a half hour… I feel obliged to mention that I still have limitations with this genre - beyond the language barrier, the production is more built for the communal live performance and the mixing can feel awkward or slapdash, there is less focus on hooks, and between all the brittle acoustics and post-breakup melodrama, it can start running together, especially as Grupo Frontera feels like a more traditional-leaning act than, say, Peso Pluma, who proved willing to make bigger swings. And unsurprisingly the guest features can be very hit-and-miss, with Bad Bunny and Carin Leon probably doing the best to mesh with Grupo Frontera’s more stately, dramatic vibe and Junior H and Yahritza su Esencia in the bottom tier. Kind of a shame in the latter case because the brighter, chiming if a bit dated keyboards were certainly an interesting choice - even if the vocal mixing on that song is rough - and when Grupo Frontera dabble in Latin country on ‘Cuidala’, it’s both really well arranged with the pedal steel and probably the most mature song they’ve ever written, big highlight! Coupled with some surprisingly developed basslines and a better sense of groove… look, I’ve come to realize over the past several months of covering this subgenre that it’s not really my thing, but I can recognize a sound that does more of what I like, and this is it. It’s a debut with promise, I think Grupo Frontera delivered - if you’re curious, it’s worth a listen.
That Mexican OT - Lonestar Luchador - Yes, I’m covering this because of ‘Johnny Dang’ hit the Hot 100 and I was legit curious to see if that Texas rap revival scene had juice, so I went back to check out That Mexican OT’s mixtape from last year… and I really liked it! That Mexican OT reminds me a lot of early DaBaby - a gruff but also somewhat goofy and over-the-top presence that can be funny without overselling it, but with more double-time flows and a lot more Texas swagger deeply indebted to the Geto Boys, Scarface, and specifically the mid-2000s Texas rap scene, maybe a bit of Busta Rhymes as well. This is his full-length debut - the eighteen tracks is deceptive, there are five skits on this album that add flavour but the humour is pretty eyerolling - and it’s a pretty wild listen… and by that I mean it’s wildly uneven as you can tell That Mexican OT is pulling from a grabbag of ideas and colourful experimentation and it doesn’t always coalesce, especially when he slides into melodies rooted in Latin blues and rap rock that are swerves unlike anything you’ll hear on record; I don’t know if they ‘work’, per se, but they sure as hell feel unique. On that note, the writing can feel both very familiar to gangsta hedonism in the gunplay, rough sex, and drug abuse, but also full of whiplash tonal changes between more slick Texas cool, an unstable and personal darkness reminiscent of early Scarface, and some very broad, borderline cartoonish moments that remind me of Eminem at his silliest, for better or worse. But that makes sense: the ‘lonestar luchador’ framing goes beyond the skits for an exaggerated outlaw persona, the tragicomic wrestling heel that you like as much as you root against him; I just wish that we got a few more personal moments to add some dimension, and while we’re here, there are more than a few iffy bars - especially around sex - or points where That Mexican OT slides off the beat that show there’s work to do in tightening up his flow. What I can say is that the production is often really good, especially with the guitarlines - a few guest verses don’t quite blend but that’s a minor quibble on beats spanning trap to throwback Texas rap with a lot of well-balanced and well-mastered southern swagger that sounds more expensive than it probably was. Overall… yes, it’s goofy, it’s probably for the best that it doesn’t take itself that seriously, there’s going to be growing pains, but for a full-length debut it shows a ton of promise and potential and the best songs here have so much personality and charisma that I can overlook some smaller issues. Good stuff, give this guy a shot!
Emotional Oranges - STILL EMO - I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that Emotional Oranges dropped another project so quickly after concluding their The Juice trilogy - another tight eight songs full of balanced, well-produced organic R&B, and similar to The Juicebox bringing in a suite of guest stars for half the tracks. And… look, the floor of Emotional Oranges’ sound is so high in terms of liquid, well-balanced grooves, pretty sharp melodic construction, and interplay between the lead singers that it’s hard to dislike - although the drums sounded more stiff and canned that I liked on ‘Justified’ and the melody didn’t quite click - but we’re five projects in and I’m not sure there’s been as much growth in that formula as you could hope since the two albums in 2019, especially when Emotional Oranges are at their best when digging into the more complicated relationship drama and angst and making use of their internal chemistry, and I still think there’s more room to flesh out those scenes with more detail, or build a more robust thematic arc or story. To their credit, they’re still experimenting sonically to somewhat mixed results - Tkay Maidza joining for the flex on ‘Be Somebody’ was fun but she kind of overpowers the track, as does ZHU’s sharper, dance-leaning synths on ‘Not Like This’, it works better on the sex jam ‘Olympics’ with Aayanna or the angsty wallow of ‘Not Worthy’ trending more towards afrobeat with Nonso Amadi. But as a whole… I think Emotional Oranges have the fundamentals so rock solid that they can afford to take bigger swings, this feels like slipping into a comfort zone and a reassurance to their audience that they’re still capable after concluding The Juice; that’s not a bad thing, I still really enjoyed this and Emotional Oranges deserve to be way bigger than they are, but like with The Juicebox it can feel occasionally like they’re sliding away from their greatest strengths and it didn’t quite wow me as much. Still probably on the cusp of greatness, incredibly easy to like… I’m looking for the one I can really love again.
Genesis Owusu - STRUGGLER - So Genesis Owusu’s debut album Smiling With No Teeth was the sort of genre-bending breakthrough that suggests so much potential for an artist that he really could have gone in any direction for his follow-up and I would have been intrigued, especially given how that debut was easily one of the best of 2021, even if it was absolutely in a debut in some overlong construction and wonky flows and grooves that didn’t quite click for me. And thus with some promising singles heading into this, this looked to be a much leaner, focused project… and that’s kind of what we got, although I think the buzz suggesting this is only doing one thing is a bit overstated; yes, it streamlines towards more wiry, jagged dance punk, but there’s still plenty of R&B and Prince-esque funk to flesh out the ballads and Genesis Owusu is still a propulsive rapper, even if there are points where his flows feel a bit stiffer, borderline 80s-inspired in their cadences. But I do understand some of that critique based on production - the grooves are tighter overall, but it translates to an album that’s less flashy and colourful; beyond the fact that I don’t think there’s a hook here that stands with his best, there are also some guitar and synth choices that are so brittle and weedy like on ‘Stay Blessed’ and ‘Tied Up’ that they just don’t compliment Genesis Owusu’s more textured, craggy, but also occasionally buttery smooth vocals. Now I like the concept - with the protagonist as a morally ambiguous cockroach trying to survive the predations of a colossal angry god, the Kafkaesque imagery maps pretty cleanly onto a Black man’s experience under late capitalism, which then peels through nihilism, existentialism, and lands ultimately at absurdism where it’s not quite a happy ending, but one that works for him in the moment. It’s pretty philosophically loaded and high concept, and I’m normally a sucker for that sort of journey, especially with all the references to Waiting For Godot… but I also can’t help but shake the feeling there’s a deeper emotive connection that’s just not translating as well compared to the more visceral symbolism on Smiling With No Teeth; some points feel a bit obvious, the metaphors a little loose and not fully realized in the lyrical detail which could afford to embrace a bit more psychological nightmare fuel, where the streamlining of themes and sound mean some of the wilder flair has been lost. Overall it’s a little odd, because on many levels I’d consider this an improvement in terms of tightening and focusing his material and making a sharper release overall… but I’m not sure he sees enough of the benefits of it outside of isolated cuts like ‘Freak Boy’, ‘Balthazar’, and especially the opener ‘Leaving The Light’, which unfortunately runs away as the best song here, giving the album the feel of peaking early. And while Genesis Owusu albums tend to grow on me more than I expect, I’m not sure this matches the debut or hits greatness in the same way, even if it is absolutely worth hearing.
Hozier - Unreal Unearth - Look, I’ve been a big Hozier fan for a while, I still hold his self-titled debut’s swampy blend of romantic folk and soul with sleazy, swaggering blues rock was one of the best albums of the 2010s. But Wasteland, Baby! felt like a series of missteps across the board in production and songwriting that I’m now comfortable calling a sophomore slump, a push for a more optimistic and accessible sound that only worked in patches for me. Now thankfully Markus Dravs was nowhere near production on this album… but Rob Kirwan was gone too, and with so many more producers in the kitchen, even despite the surprising amount of critical acclaim, I was really worried about this album… and not without good reason, because I’m once again torn on this. Let me start with the obvious positives: Hozier himself is one of the most potent singers and performers in his scene, with a hugely expressive vocal range and even if he doesn’t go into his lower register as often as I’d like, there’s so much warmth and charm that it’s hard not to get pulled in; I even started liking his falsetto! And while the mixing and mastering can still feel uneven from track to track - and I’m not remotely convinced that Hozier is loose enough to pull off the dabbling towards more dance-ready funk and soul grooves - you can tell the label threw a larger budget to help Hozier bring in much more robust orchestration while still being anchored in more traditional Irish folk structures; the strings and percussion sound massive, there are backing choirs, he’s bringing in more synths, and given the album runs over an hour as his longest to date, it would not be out of place to call this album cinematic, even if I think it lags a bit on the back half. And you need that for the thematic arc Hozier is looking to explore, which loosely tracks along with Dante’s Inferno in a journey through the Nine Hells across songs of love, passion, and heartbreak, along with a few darker, left-leaning jabs at late capitalism on ‘Eat Your Young’ and colonialism on ‘Butchered Tongue’. Honestly, I would have preferred more of them, because on a tonal level, this album continues Hozier’s progression towards more accessible, brighter melodies and production, and while on the one hand it does fit the distinctly Italian melodrama of the historical Bible fanfiction that is Inferno - the level of fine detail in his references is impressive, Hozier’s done the reading - for an album plumbing the depths of hell, this is lacking much of the cosmic evil, the graphic or macabre in the sound or even transgressively horny in the writing; when the album art might alienate more people than the lyrics or musicality where you could have gotten away with more moral ambiguity and the opportunity to make the darkest, wildest music of his career, it feels like playing it safe, especially given how grimy and dark Hozier got on his debut. And I think Hozier could have gotten away with it too - I don’t think his largely female or tumblr fanbase would have complained if this project got more sexually charged or twisted - and that gives me the impression that like with Wasteland, Baby!, the label is pushing the wrong direction to play it safe both sonically and lyrically; yes, it’s ‘bigger’, but I feel like a major opportunity was missed, especially with these themes. Now to be fair, this is better than Wasteland, Baby - it’s more tuneful and the sound feels fleshed out, and I do applaud Hozier’s thoughtful ambition and his modest success with this, even if I’m not sure there’s an out-of-the-park standout like a few songs on his first two albums, though I’d say ‘Francesca’, ‘First Light’, and ‘Damage Gets Done’ with Brandi Carlile are close - but this has the feel of a project where it’s set up to be glorious and there’s enough detail to get me digging, but I’m not finding as much treasure - or many bodies - in the yard. Very good, not great.