1105 West Idaho Street Boise, Idaho (208)-344-8010

« Previous Page — Next Page »

THE RECORD EXCHANGE REVIEW: ZACH ON DEATH GRIPS’ ‘NO LOVE DEEP WEB’

  • Home
  • /
    • Tag: staff picks
August 26, 2024 - The Record Exchange Blog - by - No Comments

Artist: Death Grips
Album: No Love Deep Web
Reviewer: Zach Bores

The year is 2012. The Mayan calendar was coming to an end, and in high school my friends and I were preparing to say our goodbyes come December at the end of the year. I was happy enough to have The Money Store by Death Grips as a soundtrack for the apocalypse, as it helped me get through the rapture of the previous year 2011 unscathed. I was very excited and following the band closely for info about their new album to be released through Epic, and after listening to The Money Store and Ex Military hundreds of times at that point I was champing at the bit for more. Apparently the band had said that the new album wouldn’t be out for another year, and I knew by then that it wouldn’t matter (Mayan calendar), but they kept hinting to look out in October for something. At the time I remember kind of just assuming it would be a few songs or maybe a single or whatever, which was still exciting. And then it happened. Leaked by the band October 1, No Love Deep Web was released with an album cover that still holds controversy, but has good reason and artistic value.

I remember spending a lot of time walking alone listening to this record at full volume on my iPod Nano and feeling insane (in a really great way). The album is 13 tracks full of punishing electronics and lyrics of dystopia, isolation and esotericism from MC Ride, and sometimes lush and danceable, sometimes polyrhythmic V-drum punishment from Zach Hill. The title track “Come Up and Get Me” is a disorienting assault of lyrics and pulsating synth drums and boom claps that feel like a train on fire randomly glitching up a hundred feet in the air and hitting the ground. “Lil Boy” starts with a smokers anthem-like chorus repeated throughout, and then a four-on-the-floor house banger here and there, turned into a collapsing floor of V-drum patterns from Zach with MC Ride rapping, “I’m inside my T.V. where everyone but I can see me.” Love it. “No Love” is a very lyric-heavy, organic drum back and forth between Zach and Ride that feels like you’re in an empty wasteland at sunset. “Black Dice” is probably the one that makes me dance the most, the beautiful synth lines and breaks with Ride’s lyrics and minimal instrumentation making for one of my favorites. “World of Dogs”…… WELCOME TO THE SPIRAL!!!! Have to be in the right headspace for this one. “Lock Your Doors” is beautifully atmospheric with heavy sound echoes and lyric repetitions that have more of that wasteland feeling. The lyrics feel like an ask for sacrifice. “Whammy” has my favorite drum performance from Hill, which feels like a blast into the future to the first half of the double album The Powers That B. Love the vocal sample chop-up on this one. And of course, WH-WH-WH-WH-WH-WH-WH-WHAMMY!!! “Hunger Games” is a stripped-down, lopsided bass slammer with some hardass words from Ride. “Deep Web” feels like being blasted in the face by a barcode scanner in the eyes at night in a wave pool. “Stockton” is exactly what MC Ride is talking about in the song. Pummeling. It feels like you’re in a secret factory that’s machine-welding massive parts in a secret government location. “Pop” has some of my favorite instrumentation, with high-end synth arpeggiations and soundscapes and offbeat drum lines with Ride floating on top of everything. “Bass Rattle Stars Out the Sky” is sporadic insanity with Ride and Hill going on 11/10. All of the sounds are burning in the atmosphere on the way down. “Artificial Death in the West” feels like a space futuristic heavy dub song in the instrumentation at points, with piercing and fading synth lines and lyrics from Ride that fill every space of the speakers, hitting from every angle and direction, echoing away slowly.

In retrospect, with all of the work Death Grips has put out now, No Love Deep Web still holds up as one of my favorites by the group. I feel it holds a good balance of the sound of their first two full-length albums and really shows where their sound was going on the projects that were to come. I’m happy that this album was released by their choice and under their control, and I’m so thankful that they singlehandedly negated the oncoming apocalypse we all thought was sure to come due to the prophecy of the end of the Mayan calendar.

Tags:

Recent Posts

SATURDAY STAFF PICK: JOHN O RECOMMENDS MINT MILE’S ‘ROUGHRIDER’

  • Home
  • /
    • Tag: staff picks
August 24, 2024 - The Record Exchange Blog - by - No Comments

Roughrider by Mint Mile is magnificent. It’s their second full-length album and fifth record overall, which is remarkable considering the band was formed in 2014. Things take their own time and form in the band’s universe. The music is complex but simple at the same time. Not easy to do. It’s both a band and a collaboration.The sound is full, but not overly busy. Pedal steel, cello and saxophone weave in and out of the songs, the baritone guitar anchors everything, the singing and lyrical content are perfect in the setting.

Obviously, a lot of care and work went into the construction of Roughrider, but it doesn’t seem overworked and sterile. It has more in common with Jason Molina than Steely Dan, but it truly is a sound of its own. Fans of Tim Midyett’s work in his previous bands (Silkworm, Bottomless Pit) will welcome the presence of Joel RL Phelps of Vancouver, Canada, who contributes alto sax to two songs. Nina Nastasia contributes vocals to the closing number on the album, “I Hope It’s Different,” an absolutely devastating finale.

This eight-song album is a perfect soundtrack to consider possibilities, and life itself. I love it, and maybe you will, too. If you like music that exists on its own terms, and doesn’t pander to expectations, then buy everything this band has put out. Fans of Wilco, Songs: Ohia or Silkworm will definitely find much to like here. – John O

Tags:

THE RECORD EXCHANGE REVIEW: CHAD ON BRIJEAN’S ‘MACRO’

  • Home
  • /
    • Tag: staff picks
August 19, 2024 - The Record Exchange Blog - by - No Comments

Artist: Brijean
Album: Macro
Reviewer: Chad Dryden

Brijean’s Treefort Music Hall set was a Top 5 highlight of my 2023 Treefort, and quite possibly the top of the top. Following the duo’s performance, my wife Erica and I beelined to the merch table and bought their entire discography, which consisted, at the time, of the debut full-length Feelings (2021) and the 2022 EP Angelo.

Macro is Brijean’s second full-length and third record overall (all for Matthew Dear’s forward-thinking Ghostly International label), and it picks up right where Angelo left off with 12 tracks of buttery nu-disco and lush psych-pop. Vocalist/percussionist Brijean Murphy and multi-instrumentalist/producer Doug Stuart – whose fluid musical interplay on stage is a treat to watch in person – call their sound “back-room disco,” which paints an enticing portrait but only hints at the influences that color Macro: string-laden 60s pop, bossa nova, deep house, downtempo electronica and yes, disco. But the sum is better than its parts, and Macro is the best testament yet to the duo’s seemingly effortless ability to fuse disparate sounds into something wholly singular.

Not to mention immediately infectious and fun. Inside the space-age exotica lounge, if Air and Nightmares on Wax were the mood-setters and Thievery Corporation the late-night comedown, Brijean would be the peak-hour party starter, the heart of the warm groove that smoothly glides the evening into cosmic euphoria.

Tags:

THE RECORD EXCHANGE REVIEW: TATIANA ON REYNA TROPICAL’S MUST-LISTEN DEBUT DOCU-ALBUM ‘MALEGRÍA’

  • Home
  • /
    • Tag: staff picks
August 12, 2024 - The Record Exchange Blog - by - No Comments

Artist: Reyna Tropical
Album: Malegría
Reviewer: Tatiana Silva

Reyna Tropical expresses what it is like to traverse this universe as a diasporic person on her debut album Malegría, released by Psychic Hotline, an artist-led label founded by Amelia Meath and Nicholas Sanborn of Sylvan Esso. Malegría documents the past four years of Fabi Reyna’s life – an exploration of identity, voice and grief told through entrancing riffs, chilling sound clips and sultry vocals. Reyna Tropical is the unapologetically queer guitarist who is running where the likes of Chavela Vargas paved to be a voice in the Latin and queer diaspora. Malegría‘s 20 tracks, ringing in at 43 minutes, take us through the bittersweetness of being everything and nothing all at once and more importantly, what it’s like to be happy and sad at once.

Malegría’s cover art depicts Fabi crouched with her bare back to us and with a blue-and-yellow macaw acting as her wings. This image perfectly captures the sounds that carry us through the process of grief on the album. We hear sound clips of intimate conversations as interludes detailing moments of shared joys and struggles. “Radio Esperanza” brings the message, “We do not need your permission to be liberated.” “Singing” is a conversation between Fabi and her late bandmate Sumo about Fabi finding a purpose in using her voice. Another, “Mestizaje,” details the struggle of colonization and conflicting views of legacy in mixed families. Fabi admits to choosing these interludes a little last-minute, which ultimately allowed for her intuition to shine as an artist and a storyteller because they are easily what I think made this album a must-listen, if even just to hear the story once.

Beyond the vulnerability Fabi gives us, it is nearly impossible to not dance when listening to any of Malegría’s musical tracks. Fabi is no stranger to getting hot on the dance floor and brings in a leading light of the new global dance underground, Busy Twist, and Colombia’s Best Electronic Act winner, percussionist Franklin Tejedor, on the track “Suavecito.” The lush landscapes Fabi paints layer the space with refreshing, revitalizing and raw energy that instantly lifts your spirit. You can find yourself in a completely different dimension if you allow yourself to succumb to the movement of the cumbia-based beats colored with nature and cityscape samples. Malegría can transcend even the most stagnant perspective.

Fabi finds resolve in the last track “Huitzilin”:

Al fin me siento
Mi alma, mi mente, mi cuerpo
Estoy aprendiendo, ah
Sonido de un respiro, antes no lo había oído

Translation:

I finally feel
My soul, my mind, my body
I’m learning, ah
Sound of a breath, I had not heard it before
This is my moment, the rest is the movement

“Huitzilin” translates to “hummingbird” in Nahuatl, an Uto-Aztecan language, who is said to be a fallen soldier who reincarnated into a hummingbird after a battle. His wife Xochitl reincarnated into a flower so as to keep their vow to always be with each other in every realm. I take this as a promise Fabi makes to always honor the earth, the beauty of our existence and the gift of being able to connect through a plethora of realms and have all of them be true. There is no doubt Reyna Tropical is one of the top global artists of 2024, and for now let’s cross our toes and fingers she makes a stop in Boise soon!

Tags:

RECORD EXCHANGE 2024 STAFF PICKS (THUS FAR): JOHN O (HE/HIM)

  • Home
  • /
    • Tag: staff picks
August 11, 2024 - The Record Exchange Blog - by - No Comments

We’re halfway through the year and sharing our favorite albums of 2024 thus far!

Below, John O tells us about some of his favs and what he’s looking forward to later this year.

MIDYEAR MEGA-FEST

I hate to be that old guy, but…WHERE DID THE TIME GO? Like the skyscraper next door, time is moving fast. And, as usual, the music comes at us at a rapid clip. Like many people at my age, I’m spending a lot of time listening and reassessing music that I heard a long time ago. You know it’s all still out there. I know, because we sell it. Every day. I’m heartened by the young people who roll through the store, snapping up John Denver, Jim Croce and Fleetwood Mac (Rumours) records as quickly as we put them out. They are genre-agnostic, which I can relate to. The atomization of culture is not all bad.

So, my favorites, circa 2024:

BOISE MUSIC

Local label Moon Ruins debuted with a compilation called Untold Stories, which I loved from beginning to end. One side is curated by Moon Ruins, the other by Mishap Records, run by Shadrach of Trauma Kit. It’s great, and the pressing is beautiful. They followed it up with the debut of Floating Witch’s Head, the psych/garagey/groovy Boise band. It’s a real headphone record, although that is not required. It’s truly inspiring. The upcoming Rodeo Screams cassette promises that Moon Ruins will be batting 1.000.

Sugar Pox released Bite, their first LP, but they have a long history in the Boise music scene. The album is priced about $10 less than it should be, so you should snap it up before they come to their senses.

There are a ton of great bands coming out right now, of all genres, and the scene here has never been healthier.

OUTSIDE BOISE

I’ve been an Emily Nenni fan from the moment I heard her, and her new record Drive and Cry continues her hot streak. A great voice, great songs and she kicks serious ass live.

Grace Cummings’ Ramona is an emotional ride, with a powerful voice leading the way. I usually don’t like things this theatrical, but great theater can be just as charged as great songwriting, and she does both.

Kaitlyn Butts’ Roadrunner has a twang to it that I find irresistible. She tells great stories, like my beloved Margo Price, Miranda Lambert and Kacey Musgraves.

Dasha’s What Happens Now? is another ass-kicker. Think Morgan Wade. Serious attitude. Fantastic singer.

There are tons more. I just saw Britti in New Orleans recently, and was so knocked out I went right out and got her LP, Hello, I’m Britti. Produced by The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach, who showcases her phenomenal voice with some silky soulful grooves. I was also super impressed by Denitia, an up and coming country artist who manages to upend expectations and country cliches all at the same time. Her album, Sunset Drive, comes out September 6. Sierra Ferrell, just astounding. Her music has echoes of Emmylou with the Hot Band. Nominally folk, nominally bluegrass, very compelling and original. Every time she plays Boise, we sell out of her records. The Mavericks’ album Moon & Stars I ignored, until I heard “Overnight Success” on Elizabeth Cook’s Apron Strings show on Sirius, which is where I also heard Silverada. They are a BAND! “Americana is a myth/I told you.” I’m going to see them September 24 at the Olympic, even though it’s on a Tuesday night. I’m sold.

I could go on and on. And, do sometimes.

The last Shellac album, To All Trains, is a great and fitting, however unexpected finale from this band. #thankyoustevealbini. Bed Maker’s S/T LP on Dischord. The Messthetics with James Brandon Lewis. Messer Chups’ Dark Side of Paradise. It’s just a line list now!

BEFORE WE KNOW IT

Looking forward to listening to the new Osees album SORCS 80, Margo Price’s Strays II (out in November) and digging up the next 45 RPM 12” treasure, regardless of genre. Here’s to the forward motion. Here’s to the next great thing that I’m not aware of yet, but will blow me away. Keep sharing your gifts, everybody.

Tags:

« Previous Page — Next Page »