GEMS – KILL THE ONE YOU LOVE – Released October 31, 2015
Not to sound lame, but this album was TRULY a gem.
I found this D.C. duo the way I discover a lot of new music – from the album art. One of their songs were in my YouTube “suggested” feed, so I opted to take a listen. I actually ended up REALLY feeling their sound – almost instantly. I really liked the clean, icy, minimal imagery which translated a really clear aesthetic that summarized their sound. Just layers, upon layers of atmosphere, voices, and guitars and all of it blended together to create almost a dream-like state.
The melodies are very future, but very 80’s. Very gloomy, but also very dreamy and beach-y. To even out their amazing harmonies and vocal clarity, a lot of the guitar riffs and synths on the album are heavily distorted (i.e. “w/o u”, “Epitaph”, “Living As A Ghost”,etc). This gives the album such an edge to me, where it could have been so predictable to keep the sound at 100%. The production is seamless, but the distortion definitely takes it up a notch.
I don’t like to categorize or persuade – but you can see for yourself here.
I do not know if they’ll ever do a US tour, but I’ll surely make a point to catch these two no matter what. Go listen to their Medusa EP too – just as good, but a little less conceptual overall.
Quality over quantity – here are some of my favorites from 2015’s Kill The One You Love (plus 1 from the Medusa EP because I physically HAVE TO share it)
UPDATE! The band is prepping to release new music and have just dropped a new track! Listen here!
GRIMES – ARTANGELS – Released November 6, 2016
Even by mid-2015 I was super ignorant to Grimes and who she was as a producer, musician, and artist. All I knew about Grimes was that she was kind of quirky, unusual, and made super high-pitched, child-like voices in her songs. I didn’t really delve into her work because it was a little too much for me to take in at once. When there was a Grimes song that I liked, I only appreciated it from a pretty vague standpoint.
After missing two back-to-back sold out shows here at the Metro – I was like:
WHAT IS THE BIG DEAL? DO PEOPLE REALLY LOVE GRIMES?
Naturally, I got on YouTube and did some research. I came across the most recent video regarding the album she was touring, Artangels. It was a Fader documentary about the inspiration and work that went into making the record. I had NO IDEA that Claire Boucher was making ALL OF HER OWN MUSIC HERSELF – like on the floor at home, or at a computer by herself just experimenting by trial and error.
Just like that, my opinion changed, her intentions made sense, and I was completely blown away by her intelligence and work ethic. I then immediately understood her artistry and everything that confused me before made perfect sense right away. This girl wrote, produced, and engineered this entire album alone and that was reason enough to give this album listen.
Artangels was the perfect record for me to start with and I feel like she’d just never been given a huge enough platform to explain herself to her fans.
The tracks on the album range from lighthearted and sweet, to super aggressive and abrasive. I appreciate both ends of the spectrum because that’s what a well rounded artist should do – experiment.
Artangels played on repeat all that summer, and more recently I was able to catch her front row at Lollapalooza – REDEMPTION!
Here’s a few of my favorite visuals from the album, and if you want to see the full The AC!D Reign Chronicles film, watch here!
JAMIE XX – IN COLOUR – Released May 29, 2015
The obsession with In Colour all began when I seriously kept hearing “Loud Places” everywhere. I was like is this old? New? A remix? Who IS THIS? I could never catch enough of the song to Shazaam it and this plagued me for months and months on end.
Then I heard it again at work and a friend very casually told me it was Jamie xx. I still didn’t put two and two together and connect the English record producer/ DJ to band The xx – even though it was so blatant. Once I realized it was The xx’s Romy’s vocals on the track – it all made perfect sense.
Then I heard “Girl” playing somewhere while I was out shopping, and once I saw that it was from the same album – I immediately purchased it.
No I literally walked around the corner to the record store and bought it.
Minimal. striking, calming. The visual for “Girl” where a normal person would see just moving shapes – what’s really going on is that every piece of the “puzzle”r epresents another element or layer of the song’s composition, and moves accordingly in rhythm (beat, bassline, synth, atmosphere,etc). I was floored by the meticulous thought that went into what I assumed was just a basic visual – and the epic sound and cleanliness of the video for the single “Gosh” was no different.
Can we talk about this video???
By the time my mind was blown, I was already too late to the game and had just missed his set at Pitchfork!! BUTTTTTTT a few months later, I was able to snag a ticket to a sold out show at Concord Music Hall, and it was probably the best show of 2015 hands down – just check out my videos!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7uRCEJHZMw&list=PLLrz3VWwGXoNXlGx6xoggnGU7BxEitgmB
And that concludes my top picks from 2015! What were some of your favorites? Do you agree or disagree with any of these? Let me know what you think!
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