music. only music, but music.
released 2018, epic records.
Mariah Carey’s fifteenth studio album “Caution” arrives in style today and sees Carey at her most moody and introspective, a near perfect blend of modern takes on pop and RnB that faithfully maintain what makes Mariah’s music so unique. Continue reading “【review/rate】mariah carey / caution”
In what could possibly be the wildest music chart event of the year, the black sheep of Mariah Carey’s discography, conceptual 1980’s disco pop LP “Glitter” (that also doubled as the soundtrack for Carey’s critically maligned box-office failure companion film) has shot up the iTunes charts in multiple countries across the world for virtually no reason.
As of 3PM my time, the album is currently seated firmly at #4 on the Top Albums chart.
While this phenomena can easily be attributed to Carey’s fervent fandom, affectionately known as the ‘Lambily’, it all seems so bizarre, just days shy of the 15th Mariah Carey album, “Caution”‘s release date. Lest we forget that it’s almost the holiday season, which is an automatic time of profit for Mariah, as her Christmas classic (All I Want for Christmas is You) is virtually guaranteed a high sales and charting run, two decades on.
If you ask me though, I’m just happy that all of this press for her is positive. The media have never been particularly kind to Mariah in this decade, articles never seemed to get published about any of the great things she’s done over the last few years, instead opting to bring every single “vocal fail” or “missing the mark” moment out for the general public and media to pick apart and criticize. Carey is quite frankly, one of the last remaining musical greats we have living amongst us, and I truly think she doesn’t get the credit she deserves. Carey has only just been nominated for induction into the Songwriters’ Hall of Fame, which is baffling to me, considering she’s primarily written her own material since debuting in 1990.
In closing, I’d like to say that it makes me proud to see that one of Mariah’s most tragically underrated works has finally received the attention that it so rightfully deserved 17 years ago. #JusticeForGlitter has been served, now if only they could hurry up and get it up on streaming services so I could share it with those of you who haven’t listened to it yet!
keshi’s got a new mini out now, four slices of chill tinged pop boppery topped with suave vocals like a cherry on a sundae. The title track and ‘2 soon’ are the highlights for me.
It’s been a quiet 6 years since Dido’s last activity, who released “Girl Who Got Away” in 2013, followed by a Greatest Hits that signaled a hiatus, but i’m quite excited to say that she’s back in action!
Dido’s fifth full album “Still on my Mind” will be released on 3/8 in 2019, and along with the announcement, she’s also revealed a short run of tour dates, her first in 15 years.
We’ve also got a new single “Hurricanes”, available for streaming and download now!
Give it a listen.
Tour dates below :
5/26 – Glasgow, Royal Concert Hall
5/27 – Dublin, Olympia Theatre
5/29 – Manchester, Albert Hall
5/30 – London, Roundhouse
The final release of Roisin Murphy’s 2018 collaborative series of singles with Maurice Fulton, “The Rumble / World’s Crazy” is out now, and with it, the final music video has arrived for “The Rumble”. It’s a six minute dancefloor romp complete with visuals of what basically translates to uninhibited love and good vibes. Hope you enjoy, and be sure to check out the rest of the Fulton collaborative singles series if you haven’t.
“All my dreams”
“Plaything”
“Jacuzzi Rollercoaster”
released 2018, bip ling.
Okay, I really can’t say I ever expected an actual album to come out of UK blogger/socialite Bipasha Ling (affectionately referred to as Bip). She’s spent the last couple of years dropping random one off PC-music inspired tracks of varying degrees of quality, and earlier this week a collection of tracks titled “Church of Bop” seemingly dropped out of nowhere. While I think it’s a bit short to be considered an album, it’s the first release longer than one track by Bip and as such, we may as well consider it her debut.
Like I said with the singles, the material on Church of Bop varies from low-budget to pretty tightly produced, and the PC influence is on prominent display. “Ocean Queen” has shades of 90’s house, “Bopcorn” sounds like something SOPHIE could have thrown together in 10 minutes, and it’s nice to finally have “Bip Burger” outside of a soundcloud link. The rest of the material here I can’t particularly recommend, since it’s largely filler aside from “Galloping”, but your mileage may vary. Surprisingly, Bip’s signature track “Bipping” was excluded from this album, and I can’t seem to figure out why!
Must-listen : Bip Burger, Ocean Queen
Skip : Curry, Donna Trope, Pizza Slice
Bip Burger (NSFW)
Stream “Church of Bop” on Apple Music and Spotify.
I’m almost convinced that there’s no real explanation for this fascinating phenomenon.
Now, I’m as big of a Cardigans fan as any one else out there, but I can’t name another country besides Japan that has put out so many awesome covers for one band, and i’m going to post them here so that you can get a taste.
Electro-pop goddesses Perfume unleashed a short cover of “Lovefool” for a Pepsi ad campaign in 2010, and a full version remains unreleased.
My personal favorite japanese electronic unit of all time LIL covered “Carnival” and released it as a single from their second major album “Synchronize” in 2011.
Dream Ami offers the most faithful recreation of “Lovefool” with the only sonical difference being that it’s performed entirely in Japanese.
Nanba Shiho also covered “Lovefool”, adding her very unique flair to the track.
Mademoiselle EB has unleashed the first cut from her forthcoming orchestral-arranged greatest hits album (release date to be determined!), and it’s a fantastic reworking of her debut single, a cover of Cher’s classic “Take Me Home”.
The strings sound amazing, and I love that the rest of the instruments retain the original disco feel perfectly. I was initially worried about the concept of this album, but “Take Me Home” sounds absolutely stellar in this style and I can’t wait to hear the rest of Sophie’s best rearranged!
released 1999, dohb discs.
Supercar had only just burst onto the fledgling japanese alternative rock scene with their epic debut “Three Out Change” in April of ’98, before almost immediately starting their follow up era with “Sunday People” in September that same year. It wasn’t as punk rock or upbeat as most of the first album’s fare, and seemed to signal a slight shift in direction for the band, one that ultimately defines “Jump Up” from start to finish.
The sounds of crisp, cracking vinyl rest over the entire recording, as if “Jump Up” is some sort of ancient musical relic of a time long past. It might actually be a relic at the time of this writing (nearly 20 years later), because there may never be another album as perfect as this one. “My Girl” and “Love Forever” are timeless odes to romance in its purest form, as well as fantastic single choices. Shoegaze and dream pop connoisseurs will have a field day sinking their teeth into deeper cuts “Wonderful World”, “Skyphone Speaker” and “Talk Talk”, and I promise that by the time this record comes to a close, it will have earned a spot in your heart and library for life.
Must-Listen : My Girl, Love forever, Talk talk, Skyphone speaker
(the midsection is where Jump Up shines, but this is one of my favorite albums of all time, and it was hard not just recommending the entire tracklist.)
Skip : NO
Further Listening : Seven front, Electric sea
(Track down the Sunday People and Love Forever singles for these brilliant B-sides.)
Listen to “Jump Up” below.
Manabu Madix