3/2: Honeyblood – Honeyblood: Closer “Braid Burn Valley” best exemplifies their blend of noise pop and evocative lyrics.
Why? Spotify included “Killer Bangs” on my Discover Weekly playlist and I decided to check out the rest of their stuff.
Additional Thoughts: I enjoy this album. I love the drive and bounce of “Killer Bangs” and how “Joey” and “Bud” show flares of 50s/60s girl groups. However, I feel like it leans too heavily on reverb and Smith-esque haze, especially in the beginning. And of course I’ve enjoyed dream pop type stuff in the past, but getting heavy with reverb can lead to problems. Not only can it cause multiple songs to run together and become less distinct (which can work, but doesn’t always), but it can also hurt individual songs and hamper reaching their full potential. Take “Fortune Cookie,” which has a great melody but buries the vocals under so much fuzz and haze. That said, Honeyblood has potential, so I look forward to keeping up with them.
3/3: Otis Redding & Carla Thomas – King & Queen: “Are You Lonely For Me, Baby?” allows them to both blend and hold their own.
Why? I’ve been working through Redding’s discography since he’s been on my list for a while.
Additional Thoughts: It’s… okay. Unfortunately, I don’t know if this is due to how it was recorded or how it was mixed, but Otis sounds far away. Not metaphorically either. He sounds backed up away from the microphone and/or Carla. Once I noticed it, I couldn’t ignore it and it really hurts the album. It’s a duet record, after all, part of the appeal is the interplay and chemistry between the performers and it’s hard to pick up on that when one of them sounds like he’s five feet away most of the time. That said, Carla does have a lovely voice, Otis is great, of course, and “Lovey Dovey” is an awesome track with some great interaction.
3/8: Otis Redding – The Dock of the Bay: Bittersweet that this posthumous release contains some of his happiest tracks.
Why? Finishing up his discography.
Additional Thoughts: I can’t go too deep into this compilation here, because it’s part of the RS500. However, I will say that this is where I’m going to stop with his work, at least as far as the daily album tweets are concerned. A couple of his other posthumous releases and concert recordings are on the RS500 and I’ll probably get to them eventually. I have very conflicted feelings when it comes to any artist’s posthumous work, but I made an exception for this one since it was released quite close to his death. Also, it’s apparently mostly B-sides and older album tracks, which isn’t the same as releasing unfinished demos or stuff that had been shelved.
3/8: Lily & Madeleine – Keep It Together: Sometimes jangley, sometimes trippy, always held together by ethereal vocals.
Why? 2016 release.
Additional Thoughts: It’s alright. I like the music itself and the mood I think the album might be going for, but I still wish there was more variety in the vocals. The album already has a 60s/70s soft rock sorta vibe, which can make distinguishing the individual song difficult and the vocals staying at mostly the same intensity and emotion throughout adds to that difficulty. But I dig the beat of “Hotel Pool” and “Hourglass,” which is one of the more upbeat tracks, relatively speaking. The lyrics didn’t jump out at me much, except for one very relatable line from “Westfield,” which goes “Talk about the next five years, it makes me feel weird.”
3/10: Whitney Houston – Just Whitney: A sonic back to basics with great vocals, but the spotlight has taken its toll.
Why? I’ve been working through her studio discography as well.
Additional Thoughts: I mean, it definitely has its strengths and good songs, but damn a lot of it is uncomfortable to listen to and I doubt my discomfort is just a result of everything that occurred in Whitney’s life afterward. There’s no way this content wasn’t uncomfortable for some to listen to in the wake of the “crack is whack” debacle, especially songs like “Unashamed,” “Whatchulookinat,” “Try It On My Own,” and “Tell Me No” (“Tell me no and I’ll dig my feet right in.”) I feel like there’s a fine line between defiant and defensive and “Tell Me No” “Whatchulookinat” in particular fit into the latter for me. There’s also the awkward juxtaposition of “My Love,” a duet with Bobby Brown, and sort of pre-break up song “Dear John Letter,” the one track Whitney receives a writing credit on. I mean, given their subsequent divorce lyrics like “I tried to stay, but it never got better” ring far more true than they’re attempt to prove the strength of their love. I wish I could listen to this record literally any other way, but that seems impossible.
3/11: Cardiknox – Portrait: Their anthemic synthpop falls flat for me, but “Supermodel” and “Bloodlust” show potential.
Why? New release and I saw they’re on tour with Carly Rae Jepsen, which piqued my interest.
Additional Thoughts: Let me be honest, it’s not a terrible album, really. However, as someone who listens to a lot of synthpop this was sort of run of the mill. That said, it could be a decent intro into genre and style and given CRJ’s recent work I can see why they were chosen for the tour. Still. In addition to all the synthpop I listen to, another problem with this record that I just can’t ignore is vocalist Lonnie Angle’s pronunciation and inflection. I don’t know why, it just causes a visceral reaction in me and breaks any immersion I could’ve had. It’s not any one word and it happens throughout the record, so I can’t pin it down or really avoid it. So, yeah, not a record for me.
3/15: Esperanza Spalding – Emily’s D+Evolution: Exceptional and lovely with a seamless combination of jazz and prog rock.
Why? 2016 release.
Additional Thoughts: While I do think great works can and do need as much (if not more) examination and analysis as bad ones, sometimes I find actually doing so to be very difficult. Emily’s D+Evolution is one such example, an album that just oozes greatness and by a brilliant artist who can more than certainly speak and show for herself. I think my original tweet stands as a good summation with tracks like “Earth to Heaven” being exemplary of my description. That track also might work as a good gauge for whether or not one might like the album as a whole, as would “Ebony and Ivy” which has a fantastic acapella opening. The album also contains a cover of “I Want It Now” from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, which totally works in context and on its own. Another quick note, Esperanza plays both double bass and bass guitar and it definitely shows in her work, such as “Judas” and the general funkiness throughout the record.
3/17: Whitney Houston – One Wish: The Holiday Album: The funk-infused “Deck the Halls/Silent Night” is a major highlight.
Why? Working through her non-soundtrack work.
Additional Thoughts: I very nearly repeated the tweet I wrote about Hanson’s Christmas album, Snowed In, because this is the Christmas album I’d expect from Whitney. I find in a lot of music writing when an artist is described as doing what is expected of them it’s meant as a negative, but that’s not my intent. I mean, sure, sometimes it is a bad thing and with good reason; what’s the point in going on as an artist if you’re out of ideas and just covering yourself? But, meeting expectations or “being predictable” isn’t always bad in and of itself. Consider Christmas music as an example, very few modern songs have been added to the Christmas song canon, because no matter what, people like some familiarity and there’s comfort in knowing what you’ll get from something. Anyway, Whitney! Her Christmas record is a lot of classy soul/R&B and gospel, which again, seems very appropriate coming from her. Some good examples of this would be the cover of “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” and “O Come O Come Emmanuel,” which focus a lot on the vocals, appropriately. I already mentioned it in the tweet, but I think the reason I love “Deck the Halls/Silent Night” so much is that so many renditions of “Silent Night” are, understandably, quite somber, so it’s nice to hear one that’s so joyous. Another highlight is the adorable though very bittersweet “Little Drummer Boy” with Bobbi Kristina Brown. I don’t even know what else to say about that song, except it makes me wish so badly that so many things had turned out different. But, yes, this is a great record and likely one of her best.
3/29: She Is We – War: The soul of “Fight for Me” stands out among the electro-pop tracks that tend to blend together.
Why? 2016 release.
Additional Thoughts: Another big problem I had with this album is Rachel Taylor’s (She Is We) tendency to do the singing-through-Novocain indie girl voice. It’s a big pet peeve of mine, which I am very aware, not everyone shares, as evidenced by the success of Lorde and others. The lyrics were also a big problem for me and I’m not entirely sure why. Often it seems like Rachel is going for open and blunt, but something about it doesn’t work (such as the line, “Hanging by my heartstrings”) and she ends up sounding like she wanted to be overwrought and melodramatic but fell short. But this album appears to be Rachel's first time writing about her own experiences and point of view, so perhaps that explains it and she will improve with time.
3/30: The Coathangers – Suck My Shirt: Punk that knows when to bounce, growl, and swing, but not when to stop a track.
Why? Amazon recommended it to me because of my search for Honeyblood.
Additional Thoughts: Okay, let’s start with some positives: “Drive” is bouncy fun with a 50s/60s flare, “Smother” has great energy, and “Merry Go Round” feels like a dark Franz Ferdinand track. Now. Maybe one issue is that I’m just not connecting to this album, but I do stand by my original tweet. They certainly have good ideas, energy, and hooks and they know how to start a good song, but when it comes to developing them or knowing a good time to end them, not so much. I mean, the opener “Follow Me” goes on maybe two minutes longer than it needs to, which is not a could indication for the rest of the record. Even a short track like “I Wait,” it clock in at only about two minutes and still could’ve used a trim. “Zombie” has something of a coda, but for the most part they seem to have one idea and that’s it, the songs don’t build or change much once they start and if they do go longer than two minutes it feels like they’re just filling the time for the sake of it.
3/31: Whitney Houston – I Look To You: Sadly, “I Didn’t Know My Own Strength” is painful now instead of inspirational.
Why? Finishing up her non-soundtrack discography.
Additional Thoughts: I don’t really have much to say about this album. I think the disco-y “Million Dollar Bill” and “Call You Tonight” are some of the best tracks, but even they don’t reach anything beyond “pretty nice.” Again, “I Didn’t Know My Own Strength” is quite hard to listen to in retrospect and the same goes for “A Song For You,” which is a decent tune, but takes on a bittersweet feeling with lyrics like “And when my life is over remember when we were together.” Granted, it’s better than Just Whitney, but it still sucks that what turned out to be her last record ended up so lackluster.
All albums available to stream on Spotify.
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