Asphalt Meadows – Death Cab For Cutie

This past friday, the 16th, Death Cab for Cutie released a new album, that’s called Asphalt Meadows. I fell in love with Death Cab for Cutie 16 years ago, when i heard their song Soul Meets Body off of their 2005 album Plans, when someone put that song in a video montage of a player versus player video of the computer game World of Warcraft. Can’t remember what video, or who made it, but hats off to you, for introducing Death Cab for Cutie to me.

This american rock band has put out a lot of music since their debut in 1997. Asphalt Meadows is a 11 track album, that stretches over 42 minutes and 5 seconds. And my impressions are that this is an album that sounds very much like a Death Cab for Cutie-album. Some songs that are very gentle and downtempo, some songs that features gentle parts with temposhifts and some songs that goes a bit harder than the other songs, with lyrics that are sung a bit harsher, with an overall tempo that is paced quicker than other tracks.

And this formula is what Death Cab for Cutie is known for, tempo-shifting songs, beatiful lyrics with the angelic voice of Ben Gibbard, that is tightly knit into a package with the help from the very instrumentally strong support from the rest of the band. And this is both a strenght and a weakness from Death Cab for Cutie. You get what you expect, it’s very tight and efficient, but you don’t ever get surprised by a release from them. And i assume that this is what has kept them in the game for so long. The fans, me included, always know what we’re going to get, and it’s often, nearly always, very good. However, i would like to see some experimenting, as i believe that they’re competent enough to make a lot of different genres work. And, you can always fall back and listen to Ben Gibbards other band The Postal Service, that in all honesty sound a bit like DCfC, but it’s also very good.

All in all, to round this text off. I like this album, a lot, i think it’s good, and it will be heavily rotated by me. Have you given it a listen? If not, give it a chance!

Until next time, take care.
SLQT.

Best of Release Radar – Week 37:2022

This week we had some interesting tunes in the Release Radar playlist from Spotify. And as usual, i will pick three songs that i enjoyed, and i will present them in no particual order!

This weeks first track is Take Me High by Kx5, deadmau5, Kaskade. I’d say that you attribute this track to ”Kx5”, which is a collaboration between Kaskade and deadmau5. This is a very good electronic dance track. All around interesting, with some easy lyrics, heavy bass, and with some features that makes it harder not to move your body together with the music, than not do dance along. I’ve been following both deadmau5 and Kaskade for many years now, and whenever they team up together, and collaborate on something, magic tends to be made.

The second tune from this weeks Release Radar-playlist is All Along (Kaytranda Remix) by Rochelle Jordan, KAYTRANDA. I’m familiar with both KAYTRANDA & Rochelle Jordan, however i don’t know much about them, other than this is a very danceable, yet easy listening remix of a somewhat souly-RnB-track. I really like this song, and i believe that it’s going into my regular rotation of tracks!

This weeks last track is DRAIN STORY by Bladee. The swedish draingang prodigy keeps on delivering interesting and unique tracks. He’s been on a roll lately and this is yet another hit in the right direction. When i first heard of, and about Bladee, his tracks confused me, and i didn’t really enjoy it. But with time, and Bladee’s effort to keep on evolving and putting out music consistently, so has my interest for him and his what he touches in musical way, risen.

This week was a fun week, i had a wide variety of tracks, in a wide variety of genres. I hope that you also had some good music that will enter into your new rotation!

Until next time, take care.
SLQT.

Best of Discover Weekly – Week 37:2022.

Another week! Another batch of tracks has been generated and put into our Discover Weekly playlists. And, like every week, i’ll let you know what three tracks were my favourite!

The first track of this week is Unhappy by OutKast from their 2003 album Speakerboxxx/The Love Below. This is a mastodont album, consisting of 40 tracks. I’ve listened a lot to OutKast over the years, i love most of what they’ve done. However i haven’t been listening that much to the Speakerboxxx/The Love Below album, apart from the biggest songs, like Hey Ya!, Roses & The way you move. Unhappy is this beautiful, yet melancholic track, with a groovy groove with a sound of the lyrical elements that brings a eerie, melancholic feeling over this track. This is a well used phenomenon by OutKast, a very happy and upbeat instrumental, with terribly depressive lyrics – like on Hey Ya!. I’m very pleased that i was introduced to this track my Spotify, and it’s going straight into my regular rotation.

The second track this week is A Dozen Roses by Braid. This track comes off of Braids 1998 album Frame and Canvas. This was the first time i ever heard this song, and the first time i heard of this band. AllMusic says that Braid is: ”Influential emo band from the days when the genre still had a connection to hardcore”, and i feel like that describes this song very well. You have this gritty sound, with changes of the tempo that you often find in emo songs, combined with the lyrics and the way the singer sings – this feels like a good representation of the emo wave.

The third and last track this week is I’ll Fight You by Open Mike Eagle. This track is a single that was released the 9th of August, 2022, so it’s right off the press! I’ve heard of Open Mike Eagle, but i have never really listened to his music before. I think this track is very easy to listen to, the voice of Open Mike Eagle is soothing and he’s very much on the beat. I loved the beat straight away, and as i kept on listening to the track a couple of more times, it just grew on me. And i very much enjoy how well the flow, beat and voice grows together to make this track a reality.

This week was a good week, i had a lot of good songs, and it was tough to choose tracks this week. And, only one song was in a language i don’t understand, i believe it is sung in Dutch.

I hope you give these tracks a listen, and i hope that you’ve gotten some good tracks on your Discover Weekly, this week!

Until next time, take care.
SLQT.

Best of Release Radar – Week 36:2022.

This weeks three picks from my Release Radar playlist from Spotify is as follows:

The first track that i pick this week is Atopos by Björk. The icelandic musical prodigy Björk has finally released some new music. This new single of hers is very interesting and gives me great hope for the future of Björk!

The second track of this week is Tonight (feat. Ezra Koenig) by Phoenix & Ezra Koenig. I have no prior knowledge about Ezra Koenig, but i’m going to look him up and see what else he has been involved with. Phoenix and i go way back, and i’ve been listening to their music for quiet a while now – and it always brings me big joy whenever these french musicians release new music. Looking forward to see what they have been brewing together inside of the studio.

The last track from this weeks Release Radar-playlist is Rocksteady by Built To Spill. I am not sure really how to motivate this song other than i thought that it is a nice track that’s rather easy to listen to! I have very little prior knowledge about Built To Spill, so i will be sure to check them out.

Until next time, take care.
SLQT.

Best of Release Radar – Week 35:2022

The three picks from my Release Radar-playlist week 35 on Spotify is as follows, without any particular order!

The first song is We are the Children by Fat Soul, Prop Dylan. This is a nice track from Fat Soul with help from Prop Dylan. Easy listening, indie pop rock with some good instrumentals and what sounds like a usage of the organ.

The second song is Another Broken Heart by Tove Styrke. Tove Styrke has been a roll, dropping excellent tracks lately in the form of singles and EPs. Another Broken Heart is a track from her newly released album HARD. Another Broken Heart is a beatiful, and danceable popsong with electronic influences – combined with Tove Styrkes angelic voice. You can not go wrong with this track. I’ll be sure to look into this new album of hers.

The third and last song from this weeks Release Radar is Hidden Land by Ninajirachi, Raj Mahal. I’m not sure how to describe this track. It’s a song with a heavy hitting bass, quick features and dope singing. It intrigued me in a way, and that’s why it made this weeks list.

Honorable mention as this weeks worst track. It’s We Are Fucking Fucked by Muse. I mean guys, what happened here? I love Muse, but holy geez, this new album is out there.

Until next time, take care.
SLQT.

Cracker Island – Gorillaz

Yesterday there was some news that Gorillaz is releasing a new album in February 24th, 2023! And let me tell you, i am very intrigued! I got their debut album Gorillaz, as a kid and it blew me away – ever since i’ve been a very big fan of theirs. I even had the fortune of being able to attend their first ever live concert in Sweden a couple of years ago, and it was amazing. So, new music from Gorillaz always gets me intrigued.

We’ve gotten two singles so far, and my first impression of them is that they are very nice, and very promising!

The first single is called Cracker Island (feat. Thundercat) and it shares the name of the upcoming album. The second single that has been released is called New Gold (feat. Tame Impala and Bootie Brown). One of the things that is so fun with Gorillaz is these sometimes bonkers collaborations on tracks, and that big artists really want to be on Gorillaz tracks, it opens up so many possibilities of potential bangers. And most of the time the Gorillaz projects and tracks has a very interesting way of utilizing the featuring artists in ways that make the whole track pop off.

Both of these singles are, in my opinion certified and absolute bangers, i couldn’t help myself but dance along as i’ve been listening to them. I think the features are used in very good, and interesting ways. Thundercat absolute nails his participation on Cracker Island and how Tame Impala and Bootie Brown bounces off of eachother on New Gold is just beautiful. Thundercat and Tame Impala’s music am i familiar with, but this is the first time i get to experience Bootie Brown, and i like what i’m hearing – and i’ll make sure to inspect what more he has been doing.

I’m sure it’s been seeping through this text, but i am very much looking forward to the release of the new music from Gorillaz. Cracker Island is out February 24, 2023. It’s far away, but i have faith that the waiting is worth it!

Until next time, take care.
SLQT.

Best of Discover Weekly – Week 35:2022

Spotify has a feature that is called Discover Weekly, it’s a playlist that contains 30 songs based on similar things to what you already listen to, and it gets updated every monday with 30 new tracks. It’s a nice way to find some new music, and rediscover old music that you haven’t been listening to for a while. Spotify describes it as: ”Your weekly mixtape of fresh music. Enjoy new music and deep cuts picked for you. Updates every monday.”

As with my post the other day where i went through my three favourite tracks from my Release Radar playlist, i figured i would do the same thing with my Discover Weekly playlist! I will pick my three favourite tracks from this weeks Discover Weekly and i’ll give some explanation as to why. Since both of these playlists updates weekly, i figure that this could be a good weekly feature of this website. And as with the Release Radar, the three tracks i pick are in no particular order. An interesting thing about my Discover Weekly, that i know of other that have aswell is that some of the tracks i get every week is in languages i don’t speak, it’s often 1-2 tracks in finnish, and sometimes there are some tracks in german. But the only constant is that there’s atleast 1 track in finnish, every week. I don’t mind tho, sometimes they’re good, even tho i don’t know what they’re singing, and sometimes they have excellent band names – like Teksti-TV 666. And as i wrote for the Release Radar text – some weeks you get 10 fantastic songs that you can’t live without, and some weeks you’re scraping by, trying your absolute hardest to even find one track that has some redeeming qualities. And that’s a part of the charm – like Forrest Gumps mom said, ”[…]you never know what you get.”

Anyway, here’s my three picks from this weeks Discover Weekly:

The first track is Another Morning Stoner by …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead. It’s a heavy hitting track, that i don’t really know how to categorize, but it sounds a bit like some like post-punk, gritty sounding, heavy rock with some doom-metal and maybe a splash of shoegazey-ness mashed into it, and i’m all for it. Let me tell you. …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead is a band that i’ve never heard of before, so, i will be sure to check them out! And i belive that this is one of the great features of the Discover Weekly playlist. You get a sort of small introduction to a band, or a sound, or an idea and then you can keep on digging into that hole and discover even more great music on your own!

The second track from this weeks Discover Weekly is Turtle Neck by Bosnian Rainbows. I noticed a pattern during this weeks playlist, and it’s been a lot of shogazey sounding tracks. This song by Bosnian Rainbows stood out a bit, and i do very much enjoy the vocalist and her voice. The production is on par and all the different elements of this track bounces off of eachother. As this sometime’s is a problem with these sort of tracks, that part of either the instrumentals or the songs gets drowned out by other parts of the song. I do enjoy this track a lot, and i’ll be sure to look into Bosnian Rainbows discography.

The third and final track from this weeks Discover Weekly is Revolution 1993 by Jamiroquai. It’s this 10 minute and some long song featuring a lot of different elements, but it is fun, and it is dancey, and it is groovy. It’s like you get a few different songs, in one song, since it features so many different elements and that’s rather fun and interesting to listen to. And it was a good break from all the heavy shoegazy tracks that i got this week. And we got this fabolous trumpet solo towards the end of the track, which lifts the song to new levels.

I had some trouble picking the three tracks this week, as very many of them was rather similar, and none of them really jumped at you. But the three tracks i’ve chosen are solid, and i recommend that you give them a listen! Fun side note, this week the playlist only featured three songs in finnish, which is fewer than usual!

Until next time, take care.
SLQT.

EP: Lice Two: Still Buggin’ – Lice, Aesop Rock, Homeboy Sandman

The second EP from Lice, also known as Aesop Rock and Homeboy Sandman has been released to streaming platforms. Just like the first Lice EP, this music is entirely new to me, it somehow flew over my head. Probably because it hasn’t been available at Spotify, which is my absolute go to for music.

So, i see this as a completely new release, which is fantastic. Lice Two: Still Buggin’ is a 5 song EP that spans over 16 minutes and 9 seconds and the tracks are performed by Aesop Rock and Homeboy Sandman. There seems to be different producers on almost all of the tracks, and you can hear that while listening to the tracks. The different tracks have very distinct sound that separates them from each other. I think the difference in sounds makes this EP even more interesting, however i do believe that i enjoyed the first Lice EP a bit more.

My favourite tracks off of this new-old EP is Oatmeal Cookies, it goes really hard and it just spoke to me in a way.

I hope that you give this EP a listen, and let me know what you think!

Until next time, take care.
SLQT.

Single: There’d Better Be a Mirrorball – Arctic Monkeys

The other day Arctic Monkeys revealed that they’re putting out a new album – the first new music from the brittish band in four years. The new album is called The Car and will be released on the 21st of October, 2022.

However, today they shared a video for their new song, There’d Better Be a Mirrorball, thats supposedly the opening track from their upcoming album, The Car.

My first impressions from the single, There’d Better Be a Mirrorball, is that they’re keeping a bit with the sounds that they worked with on their last album, Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino. A somewhat slow paced, melodramatic and scaled down sort of song. I think it sounds very good, and very promising, Alex Turner has the voice of an angelic creature so these kind of scaled down songs that focuses heavily on the vocal fits him and his voice excellently.

As someone who’s been listening to Arctic Monkeys since day one, i must admit that i love their earlier, fast paced, hard hitting albums and tracks. I do however enjoy this new direction that they’ve been taking lately, as i love when a band let’s their creativity live on and that they feel like that they can experiment with different styles and genres. Nothing is more boring than a band that gets stuck in a sound, and refuses to leave it. Since you’re always able to go back and listen to those earlier releases, whenever you want to.

I am very intrigued and i am looking forward for the release of the new music, and upcoming album from Arctic Monkeys. Give this new single a listen, will you!

Until next time, take care.
SLQT.

Lazy Summer Day / Chinese Restaurant – Yung Lean

Today Yung Lean dropped some new music. A two track single featuring the songs Lazy Summer Day & Chinese Restaurant. I always get a bit excited whenever the swedish phenomenon Yung Lean drops new music, and i’m always quick to check it out, whether it’s an album or a single.

I love these strange, no context, tracks that drops as singles whenever he, Yung Lean, feels like it. It’s one of those things that the internet and streaming platforms has made possible, and i think that it’s very fun that it is possible for the creators to just throw it out there, without long waiting times and always having to do a big release out of it. These two tracks has a combined lenght of 3 minutes and 37 seconds – so it’s two songs in a short fashion, which is straight out of Yung Leans playbook. The production is interesting and Spotify lists Rami Dawod as the producer. According to Genius these are the first two tracks that Rami Dawod produces for Yung Lean, however he’s listed as producer for a Frank Ocean track, and also a Camila Cabello track.

Both of these songs sound like Yung Lean tracks, and i got more excited and intrigued by Chinese Restaurant, than i got by Lazy Summer Day. However, i find both track intriguing and interesting. Chinese Restaurant is going straight into my regular rotation!

Give these new singles from Yung Lean a listen, and make your own opinion. I, recommend both of them!

Until next time, take care.
SLQT.