Collecting various ephemera associated with the release of Solange's When I Come Home here.
When I Come Home was the work of art I cherished the most in this last calendar year. Don't know that I could ever fully put into words my connection with the album but my words should not be the point of reference anyway.
To start, here are a few influences on the album worth noting:
1. Here is a playlist Solange curated for the birthday of Sun Ra, a clear forerunner for When I Get Home
2. Here is a very solid selfie with fellow Houston legend Bun B, who Solange repurposes lines from in the album
3. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Christophe Chassol (a pianist on When I Get Home) spoke about the album-writing process:
"We listened to a lot of music. We listened a lot to Steve Reich, to Minnie Riperton, to Stevie Wonder’s wife’s [Syreeta] albums from the Seventies. It’s really crazy, sophisticated black music from the Seventies, really good. You know the Minnie Riperton album Come to My Garden? These are models."
Maybe my personal favorite social media moment of the When I Get Home era would be Solange getting down to "Sweetner" by Ariana Grande in a speeding convertible, getting spanked by Kelela.
Finally, in the last week, Solange has seemingly brought an end to this era with two events:
1. She appeared with a whole ensemble to perform a medley of songs from When I Get Home, surely the most unique and accomplished television event in many years. A victory lap to close out the decade.
2. Solange also has made the director's cut to When I Come Home (the film companion to the album) available on YouTube. Watch when you get the chance. I hope it is as refreshing and nurturing for you as it has been me.
In keeping with his status as "most prolific artist of our time outside of Lil B", Four Tet has self-released a live album of two sets from consecutive nights performed earlier this year.
The album mostly consists of songs (or rather pieces of songs) from his last two full-length albums, all phasing into each other without note or respite. The structure of the recording is reflexive, putting the climax of one set in immediate juxtaposition with the climax of the other, each set acting as a strange mirror image of each other.
"Part 3", which seems to be the concluding piece of the 1st night, is especially worthy of notice, featuring some of Four Tet's best vocal sampling since 2011's There Is Love In You and builds to a hypnotic drum section that calls to mind early-Aphex Twin.
I have been to one Four Tet show in my life and it irrevocably altered my understanding of DJing, composition and electronic music as a whole. Four Tet's often gentile aural arsenal may not be everyone's preferred aesthetic but he is a master of juxtaposition and structure, with his live recordings being the best showcase for these talents.
(Note: If you are looking for this release on streaming services, it is listed under the artist "4TLR", which stands for Four Tet Live Recordings.)
Jai Paul has returned. The long-absent
singer/songwriter/guitarist/bassist/drummer/mixer has reappeared, making his
leaked album (now titled Leak 04-13 (Bait
Ones)) available on streaming services for the first time, as well as
dropping a new “double b-side” to the album, “Do You Love Her Now / He”.
This marks Paul’s first official release since “Jasmine –
demo” (released in March 2012) and his first public comments since 16 tracks of
his music were sold without his consent by unknown parties on Bandcamp in April
2013. Paul issued a statement saying he was not behind the release and urging fans not to buy the album. Since that
moment, Paul had not released any music under his own name nor made any public
remarks.
Along with the new material, he has included a message to
fans with a pay-what-you-want download of his leaked album. I would absolutely
encourage you to read his letter, which you can see in full here. In it, Paul goes to great lengths to explain his side of what happened six
years ago and the frustrations (both long-term and short-term) that ensued. He
also speaks about rehabilitation, both through therapy and with the creation of
the Paul Institute, an artist collective/label founded to nurture creative
growth and release music from new, unique artists (more context on that here).
As if his sheer reappearance isn’t
gracious enough, he has released these two new tracks as an expression of, in
his words, “how grateful and appreciative I am for the friends, artists,
colleagues and strangers that have stuck by me and shown so much love, support
and mad patience over the last however many years.”
These two songs are a welcome gift for anyone who
fell in love with Jai Paul’s music back in the first half of this decade. “Do You Love Her
Now” staggers in unassumingly, with a creeping bass guitar that almost imitates
John Williams’ Jaws theme. A snare
fill makes way for a familiar duo: Paul’s lilting falsetto and his bright jazz
guitar darting in and out of syncopated rhythms. Those two elements, along with
plenty of synths and hand claps, were the foundational DNA of Paul’s songs like
“Str8 Outta Mumbai”, “Jasmine – demo” and “Genevieve – Unfinished”; to hear
them in brand-new compositions is in of itself exhilarating.
While these songs aren’t 100% recent works (Paul stated they
are two tracks he was working on at the time
of the leak), they clearly are not relics dusted off for fan satiation
either. “Do You Love Her Now” features a beautiful vocal bridge by Paul
Institute artist Fabiana Palladino, which not only adds another texture in the
swirling concoction but also marks a stark change
from his previous, very solitary recordings. In his letter, Paul refers to his
all of the leaked material as “stuff that I began writing as a teenager in my
room just for fun” and to the 2013 album’s great benefit, that is exactly how
it sounds. The goofy skits, the raucous layering of samples and instrumentation, and the unhinged energy of the whole project all feel so delightfully
unconstrained in their composition. Despite Paul having been signed to XL
Recordings since 2010, Leak 04-13 (Bait
Ones) was so representative of our present Soundcloud-centric generation of musicians
and producers working out of their own bedroom studios. In opposition, Palladino’s presence
(she also helped on the lyrics of “He”)
grounds Paul’s new release as his first made with collaboration in mind
(if not directly meant to be viewed as part of a collective.)
“Do You Love Her Now” also demonstrates another major
development in Paul’s strongest talent: his mixing. Leak 04-13’s audio mix was its most
idiosyncratic quality, from the overwhelming synths on songs like “Zion Wolf
Theme – Unfinished” and “100,000 – Unfinished” to the violent volume modulation
on songs like “BTSTU – demo” and “Crush – Unfinished”. My personal favorite of
Jai Paul’s songs, “Genevieve – Unfinished”, is a perfection of his
perpetual balancing act: drums, hand claps, buzzing synths, cowbell, warped
samples and Paul’s ever-active guitar all combine in near-cacophony. In most contemporary music, mixing only reaches the listener as an unnoticed effect, a process that stabilizes and hides the seams. In contrast, Paul's mixes on Leak 04-13 are the shifting tectonic plates
his music is built on, as they amplify, elide and crystallize each of Paul’s
bittersweet yearnings.
Even then, the mix on “Do You Love Her Now” releases a different
energy than his previous work; more patient and discreetly-layered (but still obviously
crafted by Paul’s hands.)Volume
modulations are less turbulent, the tunneling bassline leads but never overwhelms
and the high-end elements of the song (Paul’s falsetto and guitar) skirt above
the track gracefully. The (brilliant) harshness associated with Leak 04-13 has, at least to a degree,
been alleviated. “Do You Love Her Now” goes down smooth, each instrument
complimenting each other in a serene jam, reminiscent of a blissed-out Prince
song. The whole track is balance by way of restraint, much more of a seduction
than an aural barrage. And for those Jai
Paul fans that do preferred a more aggressive hand in his mixing, Paul graces the
listener with an alien-like intro to his second verse: a fade-in of his vocals with a metallic-sounding filter that makes Paul’s lush vocals only sound
more inhuman. "Do You Love Her Now" is not the product of 2012 Jai Paul breaking onto the scene, but instead the product of a later Jai Paul evolving and furthering his craft.
The second half of the double B-side, “He” returns to solo-Jai
Paul mode, starting with a delicate guitar intro accompanied by drum kicks and
a little falsetto repeating the title. Gliding synths sneak into the procession
of instruments as the song builds. Then, the quiet tension releases as a drum machine
fill leads into a warped bass groove bouncing in between
echoing hand claps. This bassline operates as the backbone of the track (as Paul's bass often does) with lyrics sounding like emotional intonations rather than actual words. “He” does feel like the lesser of the two new songs, an
entertaining sketch more than a finished song. Ultimately though, what could be more in
keeping with the release of Leak 04-13, where almost every track ends in “demo” or “unfinished”?
What Jai Paul’s work will continue to sound like in the
future, or even when we might hear from him next, is uncertain. In his letter, Paul makes it especially clear his absence was due to circumstances surrounding the robbery of his music. Speaking of the time after the leak, Paul says: "There was a lot going through my mind, but the hardest thing to grasp was that I’d been denied the opportunity to finish my work and share it in its best possible form." Like Young Thug, Charli XCX or Playboi Carti, Jai Paul is just one of our generation's defining musical voices who has been hurt, both personally and professionally, by leaks. Paul's experience is especially unfortunate considering he seems (from the outside, at least) to be an artist who has avoided the mechanisms of the recording industry that destroy young artists. How much his artistic
growth has been stunted is not clear (imagining hypotheticals is a short-sided
game to play) but Paul does speak of “having therapy of various kinds” which “has
helped [him] get to a place where [he] can begin to think about returning to
music.” While leaks can't entirely be stopped, their propagation within music communities absolutely can be. The damage done to Jai Paul, both as an artist and a person, is a signal of the impact that fans and consumers have, especially in an internet-driven world.
Just days after Paul's return, singer-songwriter Mitski responded to backlash over her decision to step away from touring music. While Paul has never even played a live show, their problems have a similar source: the constant need to release music, to tour, to force artists to exist on the consumer's whim. This pressure, originally generated by the music industry but now emboldened by fandoms, is not only a cancer to creativity but a poison to healthy living. Art should not exist at the will of those consuming it and being a fan of an artist needs to come with respect for an artist's personhoodin addition to their creative will. In an age of surprise albums, instant availability and hyper-active stan culture (all positive things in theory), it's easy to see how and why this basic dignity has not been afforded. But it is up to fans, as a community and as a culture, to work with artists rather than against them.
So, I'll throw it back to Jai Paul's letter one last time:
"I believe it’s important for artists as creators to have some control over the way in which their work is presented, at a time that they consider it complete and ready.”
In what will surely be one of the stranger major label singles released this year, pop-futurist (and my personal messiah) Charli XCX has dropped a new song called "Gone", a cathartic duet with French songstress Christine and the Queens, as the second single from her new album titled Charli. “Gone” is another step in Charli XCX's prolific warpath to unite experimental pop production with major label hooks.
Thudding yet bouncy synths are the foundation of the single, a regular element in Charli's recent music with producer and P.C. Music founder A.G. Cook (who co-produced "Gone" with Ö and Lotus IV). Charli sings first, with a verse detailing feelings of isolation and animosity at a party. The pre-chorus follows, highlighting one of Charli XCX's great songwriting talents: her ability to bounce syllables in and out of rhythm with production. Her melody drives the proclamations in perfect syncopation ("I feel so unstable, fucking hate these people/How they making me feel lately/They making me weird, baby, lately"). Charli's ability to fit angular and complex lyrics in (and through) very commercial beats is one of her virtues and this carries over to the hyper-poetic chorus, a series of questions sung in rhetorical duet.
Why do we keep when the water runs?
Why do we love if we're so mistaken?
Why do we leave when the chase is done?
Don't search me in here, I'm already gone, baby
Why do we keep when the water runs?
Why do we love?
The very ornate lyrics were written mostly by Christine and she sings solo on the second verse with phrases about partying that could only ever exist on a Charli XCX/Christine and the Queens collab ("Am I a smoke?/Am I the sun?/And who decides?"). The chorus returns and the track builds to a thudding, clicking breakdown of chopped-up vocals and deep, undulating synths. A quiet, shimmering SOPHIE-esque synth melody adds just another complication to the arch creation already at hand.
While Christine takes the lead lyrically, the song (like many of Charli's collaborations over the last two years) still fits under Charli's recent house style. Here, Charli is as much curator as pop star. The song was born out of sessions between Charli, frequent Charli co-writer Noonie Bao and producer Lotus IV. Charli then sent a rough draft of the song to Christine, Christine provided lyrics and Charli brought in A.G. Cook (who has been her most significant collaborator of the past three years) to help with production.
How precisely "the sausage was made" usually stays behind closed doors on a major label release but it’s clear Charli is the point of convergence. More than even most pop stars, her artistic identity is often declared most by her choice of collaborators. Her constantly rotating cavalcade of co-writers, producers and featured artists allow Charli to constantly push her own songwriting in new, boundless directions. Charli’s Vroom Vroom EP, produced by SOPHIE and released in 2016, was a violent expansion of what experimental pop music was and could be. Each project released by Charli since has followed in Vroom Vroom’sfootsteps: disrupting, cannibalizing and inverting pop music. “Gone” is a sign of hope that Charli will do the same.
The accompanying music video was directed by Colin Solal Cardo, who also recently made the lovely Ever Again video for Robyn. It features Charli and Christine initially tied down against a generic sedan (surely the most unsexy car that's ever been in a Charli video), two women bound to the same machine. As the ode to loneliness continues, the women start to break free, helping each other escape their confines and then dance with (and for) each other.
The visual makeup of the video is often frustratingly bound by convention to ever feel truly groundbreaking, with lazily-conjured effects (fire, rain, smoke and sparks) that add visual texture but stale quickly. This limitation is only amplified by the fact that Charli and Christine have incredible chemistry, their energy feeding and stoking each other, giving the very physical video a compassionate (and homoerotic) warmth. The video ultimately works, but only due to their magnetism that creates a unique space for catharsis, empathy and intimacy between two talented female performers.
Pratt's voice sounds like something you hear being reverberated throughout out a dark basement at the very end of your dream. In the crevices of the room you listen to this album in is where her voice resides.
Might write something about Africa Speaks, America Answers soon idk. The continent serving as a projection of imaginations, dreams that have no chance of existing, memories that were never reality, realities drenched in appropriation.
As part of Warp's three day takeover of NTS for the label's 30th anniversary, queen of ethereal R&B Kelela has shared a project uniting her vocals with "ambient/drum-less" music. The instrumentals include recordings from artists such as Jaco Pastorious, Autechre, Susumu Yokota and Aphex Twin. The project, made in collaboration with Asmara, is called Aquaphoria.
Check it out below, as well as Kelela's post on the release which includes an explanation of the project's creation and a full tracklist of the instrumentals used.
Esteemed Los Angeles hip hop duo Substance Abuse is back with UK remix
of the hit song "Bridges" featuring the legendary Aceyalone of Freestyle
Fellowship.
