on the pulse - 2023 - #9 - niall horan, janelle monae, foo fighters, ben folds, mckinley dixon, amaarae, arlo parks, protomartyr
Protomartyr - Formal Growth In The Desert - I think I came onboard with Protomartyr at the wrong point in 2020 - they’re a solid act, especially lyrically, but that sort of desaturated, downbeat throwback post-punk was starting to get stale for me. So I had no expectations for this… so colour me surprised in a huge way when they pivoted towards a western, desert-rock-esque sound that reminds me more of early 90s Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds! And that textural high from the windswept, hazy guitars and pealing pedal steel carries a lot, even through some weirdly abbreviated songs, even if that thematically works for songs accepting endings to claw itself free of the spectre of death and keep staggering forward, keep living amidst the creaking decay of late capitalism, try to find wry humour and life amidst the exorcism. Not their catchiest, but easily their most expansive and perversely optimistic… I think it’s great, check it out!
Arlo Parks - My Soft Machine - I felt really bad that I didn’t like Arlo Parks’ debut as much as everyone else - the lyrical talent, the soft-focus delivery, the tastefully pleasant vibes recalling 2000s adult alternative and neo soul… maybe too polished, missing some kick, it was nice but not exceptional? So I was intrigued by Arlo Parks expanding her sound, inspired by acts like Fontaines D.C. and with a Phoebe Bridgers feature, and… well, it’s rougher and more groove-driven, dabbling into bedroom pop, smoldering R&B and even rock with mixed success, mostly because Parks’ soft-spoken delivery can be an awkward fit, not meshing as cleanly with clunky tonal choices. Her detail-rich poetry is still the biggest draw, but thematically it starts feeling one-dimensional, awkward but direct yearning young love songs without more pop impact. I dunno, it’s got cute if muted moments, it’s more musically interesting… it’s still not sticking, though.
Amaarae - Fountain Baby - I felt at arm’s length from Amaarae’s full-length debut - some of it in the tropical vibe unleashed in November of 2020, but her flighty, baby voiced singing and lightweight content just didn’t click like I wanted. Thus it was a pleasant surprise that I like Fountain Baby a lot more - still not a big fan of Amaarae’s voice across cooing, autotuned warbles, and even a punk yell, but this feels way more lush and diverse, with warm guitars, sweeping strings, burbling synths, rich basslines and supple Afrobeat percussion, with way catchier melodies! Ironically a lot of the gorgeous production and opulent horniness would fit well with Janelle Monae’s The Age Of Pleasure - shows the benefit of letting the songs fully unwind to cultivate the vibe - but there’s a darker, humid melodrama with bite and swagger, reminding me of the mid-2000s M.I.A. songs I actually liked! So I get the hype this time - it’s great, check it out!
McKinley Dixon - Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!? - So… McKinley Dixon’s For My Mama And Anyone Who Look Like Her was my top album of 2021, a dizzying and gorgeous display of dense jazz rap, it felt I was stumbling on a magnum opus! This has a lot of the same DNA in its composition and flair and density with a leaner package, where outside of the intro quoted from Toni Morrison, an interlude, and a remade song from 2018, there’s only seven songs. And that might be enough, expanding the angelic metaphors to show ascendancy where actually finding success in a rap hierarchy adds new, terrifying urgency, as he tries to cling to grounded humanity, family, and life itself. It’s metacommentary on rap blurred into allusions to poetry, jazz, and anime stacked against incredibly lush horns and percussion… it just feels like an expanded coda to For My Mama. So this is absolutely excellent, a must-hear in 2023… just temper expectations a bit.
Ben Folds - What Matters Most - I’ve never actually talked about Ben Folds on any platform before, so for his first album in eight years… look, I get the appeal of this sort of relatable piano rock, splitting between wry humour and subtle emotionality, but between the over-polished but underpowered production and hit-or-miss vocals, I appreciate more moments than full albums and that’s just as true here. His quirky misadventures with fame have more poignancy and humour than I expected, and the melodic complexity of his pianowork has improved by leaps and bounds, but it’s still very blandly produced, and for every glancing human observation that feels emotionally insightful, the relationship melodrama feels flimsy or his political musings feel embarrassingly basic. I dunno, Ben Folds called this his most generous album in terms of care in construction and its easy pleasures… perhaps just a gift with questionable returns.
Foo Fighters - But Here We Are - Look, I want to be charitable. In pure compositional prowess or performance, it’s the best album they’ve made since Wasting Light. The hooks are mostly lean and sharp, Dave Grohl’s singing hasn’t sounded this expressive and potent in years, notes lifted from Queens of the Stone Age and The Cure are well-executed, and the lyrics hit that painful point of struggling to process death that are written to feel universal but you know are devastatingly specific around Taylor Hawkins’ and Dave Grohl’s mother’s passing. So much raw emotion and tangible quality… slammed into an overcompressed mix that leaves in distractingly tinny highs, the bass crushed and formless, and the cymbals suffocating anything that’s not a vocal lead - it sounds better the worse your headphones or system is! So while I know these’ll hit like a ton of bricks live… on record this is a remaster away from greatness.
Janelle Monae - The Age Of Pleasure - So remember when Janelle Monae made ‘Screwed’ on Dirty Computer and said ‘everything is sex, except sex, which is power’? This album is the natural outgrowth of that, and if you missed the Afrofuturism metaphor the past decade, the subtext is now strikingly horny text, fusing synthfunk, Afrobeat, reggae, swaggering trap, and horn-inflected classic R&B with Beyonce-esque bravado. And while the loose, free-flowing but abbreviated songs don’t quite build the cinematic moments of their best albums, Janelle Monae is really good making these languid, sensual vibes endlessly lush and tropical - although the communal flex starts to lose some emotional dimensionality along with stronger hooks - reminiscent of The Juicebox by Emotional Oranges - until the slow-burn closers recenter the romance. It’s a great summer vibe with terrific organic production and flow… just a little less special.
Niall Horan - The Show - …look, in the best timeline Heartbreak Weather wouldn’t have dropped in mid-March 2020, it could have gotten traction, there’d be an attempt to work one of the most underrated albums of recent memory. We’re not that lucky, so instead of leaning into his slick, groovy soft rock, we have a change in producers and Niall effectively making a Harry Styles album with blockier percussion, more misty reverb, and more direct, unambiguous songwriting. Now it’s still very good for what it is - Niall's throwback charisma and sincerity translates whenever tempos ramp up, the production is lush and well-balanced, he’s better on a bigger, theatrical stage than I expected - but Niall’s messier relationship melodrama had a mature swagger that is sorely missed on the simpler love songs here. It’s good, but it lacks the personality that made him special as a songwriter - I wanted to like this more.