From A Strong Plaid King's Room In The Night: 5 New Albums Worth Hearing Today
From Nas' jaw-dropping return to some melodic IDM from the ever-dependable Plaid to a very ambient and strange guitar album from Bill Nace, here are a few of today's must-hear albums.
photo: November 11, 1918, Armistice Day
It's pouring down rain in Austin. I'm camped out at Epoch Coffee, my temporary office and home-away-from-home-away-from-home down here in the South. It's like something God would warn Noah about, and here I put my ark in storage. I'm not going out into that yuck; all the better reason to post up and listen through a bunch of today's new releases.
What a strange, eclectic day! Many of today's albums feel particularly slight and abstract. Bill Nace's Through A Room sounds more like rubbing tinfoil than anything sourced from six strings. Some of Plaid's Feorm Falorx feels more like strobing exit signs in a pea-soup fog than anything you'd hear on a dancefloor.
It's not that November 11's new releases are without catchiness or immediacy. Nas' beyond-excellent new entry is full of bangers that will leave you humming along with his "soul samples." Plaid's fondness for steel drums could be plotted on a piano roll. Drudkh's scathing, scouring black metal is built around riffs, as virtually all great metal is, they're just buried beneath a half-mile of hiss, vomitous bellows, and relentless blastbeats.
And, of course, you can always count on New Jersey's favourite son to deliver the hooks. Bruce Springsteen's loving ode to beloved soul music has more hooks than an angler's convention. It makes an excellent palate cleanser after a few hours of hiss and fuzz.
So wherever you are, whether it's cold and rainy or hot and dry, wrap yrself in a blanket or throw open the windows and let some of November 11's best new music.
5 New Albums Out November 11 Worth Hearing
Plaid - Feorm Falorx
Plaid are an institution in IDM. On Feorm Falorx, they make a strong case that IDM is so much more than academic music or Hi-Fi test records. It's also a reminder that they're capable of so much more than simply making glitched-out drillbeats.
Instead, they deliver a compelling compendium of various forms of club music, from low-slung bass music to bouncy house to throbbing low-key techno, all delivered with a playfulness that's a reminder that not all ravers are uber-serious black-clad programmers.
Bill Nace - Through A Room
It's almost impossible to believe that Bill Nace's second album of experimental guitar works for Drag City. These nine oblique compositions sound more like something from a concrete mixer or like being caught in a gravel slide than something from Lightnin' Hopkins.
It's a truly strange, unique record - more delicate and nuanced than your run-of-the-mill harsh noise record but waay more experimental than even the most far-out experimental guitar record. Thurston Moore sounds like Pat Boone in comparison (shoutout to my buddy Will Connor/King Seesar for that hilarious image!)
Nas - King's Disease III
Damn, this is dense! It's beyond thrilling to hear a rapper so jammed full of ideas instead of repeating the same 4 bars like some product slogan. The fact that Nas can even remember all of these lyrics makes King's Disease III one of the most striking hip-hop releases of the year, let alone deliver them with the speed and precision of Mohammad Ali. Add in some masterful sampling, jammed to bursting with Ray Charles pianos and obscure 70s synths over tasty boom-bap beats like an overflowing hallway closet, and King's Disease III is simply jaw-dropping.
Bonus points for the very timely Black Panther 2: Wakanda Forever ref!
Drudkh - All Belong to the Night
We interrupt the ambience with 4 tracks of face-melting black metal from Ukraine's Drudkh. Not too much, though, as All Belong to the Night's churning power chords, minimalist leads, atmospheric synths, and unholy growls and yowls, are wrapped in a soft grey woolen blanket of hiss and fuzz, as black metal is wont to do (and, depending on who you ask, should do).
All Belong to the Night is intended as a soundtrack for the late autumn, making it a very welcome complement to their excellent Autumn Aurora (a perennial autumnal favourite in these parts)
Bruce Springsteen - Only The Strong Survive
Those familiar with the music i tend to cover may be surprised to find The Boss gracing one of my new music roundups. You shouldn't be. First and most importantly, I'm an enormous fan of soul music and the blues. Secondly, there's simply no discounting experience. Anyone who's managed to stay relevant and making music for nearly half-a-century deserves at least a cursory a listen.
Thirdly, there's something to be said for an album dedicated to the music they love. I mean, why else are we in this? Forget that fact at your peril. Simply hearing Springsteen singing "Nightshift" or "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted" with his silky smooth soulful vocals is a thrill, especially when paired with some sophisticated string and horn arrangements.
Anyone out there listening to any of these 5 albums today? If so, what do you think? If not, why not?
If you want to a taste or just to hear a few of my favourite songs from each of these releases, i've compiled some of my favourite singles and out-takes onto my November 2022 singles playlist!
That's all for now! Stay dry! Stay cool! Have a great weekend! And don't forget to…
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