Weekly Roundup - Unreviewed Releases: September 30 - October 31, 2023

 

Calliope Music Weekly Roundup

Unreviewed Releases

September 30 - October 31, 2023

Rated Albums

Slauson Malone 1 - EXCELSIOR

6/10

Best Tracks: House Music -- New Joy -- Half-Life -- Voyager -- Us (Tower of Love)

    A vast repertoire of clean guitar, moody double bass, crackling synths, dub drums, and ambient keys engage in ravishing Art Pop and Neo-Psychedelics cuts. Slauson Malone 1 adds abstract lyricism symbolizing growth, masculinity, and sexuality as instrumentals morph from slow Soul bass lines to brisk hypnogogic drum patterns.

While the sounds presented on the project are delectable on their own, a complete lack of continuity and direction fizzle out engaging concepts. Often times, EXCELSIOR becomes disoriented in its own dark spaces, before suddenly cutting to a brand new concept void of prior sonic context.

Although a consistent flow is non existent, Slauson Malone 1 still manages to craft an alluring soundscape that is worth checking in to on occasion.

Oneohtrix Point Never - Again

7/10

Best Tracks: Again -- Krumville -- Locrian Midwest -- Plastic Antique -- Nightmare Point -- Memories of Music -- Ubiquity Road -- A Barely Lit Path

A Deep Sea Dive into Peculiar Electronica

Shifting synths, yearning strings, midi drums, and undulating phasers fashion cavernous chambers of lustrous electronics. Scintillating keys hold extended chords while striking piano, wavy organ, and a barrage of dissolving electronic effects ebb and flow in liquid displays of cathodic submergence.

Where there isn't much to the oral concepts of the project, it well makes up for it through tremendous depth in environment. Some progressions feel longer than others, but an overall fluidity to sonic rearrangements bring about a sense of wonder, as if discovering a lost civilization or a new species in the deep sea.

Dark ambiance is the base of the project, but glowing violin, viola and cello shed light on the beauteous liquidity that is Again.

KNOWER - KNOWER FOREVOR

6.5/10

Best Tracks: Real Nice Moment -- Nightmare -- Do Hot Girls Like Chords? -- Ride That Dolphin -- It Will Get Real

Fizzling Funk, both in Attitude and Longevity

Buzzy synth is the bedrock to slapping rhythms and bossy bass lines. While an upbeat and synthetically infused Jazz sound rile up great grooves, flat falsettos and slapstick lyrics fail to create an impact on otherwise sleek distributions of Funk and Pop.

Reverend Kristin Michael Hayter - SAVED!

7.5/10

Best Tracks: All of My Friends Are Going to Hell -- Idumea -- I Will Be With You Always -- May This Comfort and Protect You -- The Poor Wayfaring Stranger -- I Know His Blood Can Make Me Whole -- How Can I Keep From Singing

Bloody Hymns for a Tortured Soul

Grand piano based gospel is deconstructed through lo-fi production and searing distortion. Reverberating keys set a heavy atmosphere as Hayter delivers an angelic vocal performance, dawning an incredible range and intensity. Electroacoustic chords are frail and messy, leaving the project with a warped sense of dread, despite concepts of worship and even pious celebration.

Christian Hymns of old are thus transformed into beacons of trauma, highlighting both the beauty and deformity of confronting one's sins. While a couple of the shorter developments leave much to be desired instrumentally, the spectacle of Hayter's voice powers through.

The dark drama of the piano, utterly gorgeous vocals, and strangely gnarled production elevate the eerie spirit that is SAVED! Even through such malformity, Hayter resets the psyche with a truly magnificent divine release.

betcover -  馬 (Uma)

7.5/10

Best Tracks: 翔け夜の匂い草 (Habatake Yoruno Nioigusa) -- 鏡 (Kagami) -- フラメンコ(Flamenco) -- 火祭りの踊り(Himatsuri No Odori) -- 炎天の日 (Enten No Hi)

Relentless Jazz-Rock Dynamism

Purring guitar, buzzing bass, and punching kicks make up bursts of battering Rock. Sentimental keyboard, flying flute and subtle saxophone decorate brazen progressions, detailing a light-hearted, but fiery Prog sound.

Sitting at just under a half hour, Uma offers a brief, but thorough look at the band's blazing theatrics. Quirky lyrics of lust, love and summer reminiscence add an energetic cadence that flirts between the lines of jovial and somber memory.

Although a few developments lack individuality among betcover!!'s discography and the Art Rock genre as a whole, there is no denying the infectious head-bobbing nature of the album. betcover!! once again delivers a bold and burning display of elaborate Rock music.