I so wanted to approach the end of the musical decade prepared. (I tend to ignore the things I should prepare for, like, oh, global warming, terrorist attacks, and the zombie apocalypse.)
And despite the distractions (WHP, this year's records, James' Bag of CDs, etc.), I was doing a good job of re-listening to records from the last ten years, but as is usually the case I couldn’t maintain the pace. Something always gets in the way.
So I’m now in a mode I’m all too used to - muddling through. Things have been so all over the place that I’ve been tempted to start posting decade related lists. Alas, neither I nor the decade are quite ready yet.
That hasn’t stopped others from posting their “Best of the Decade” lists. Looking them over I see that I’ve gotten a good number of the rock and roll related albums, which means I’m ahead (or rather, less behind than usual) when it comes to my musical safe-zone.
Where I’m woefully behind - as usual - is in that vast majority of the musical universe known as music made by African Americans. The polls are telling me I’ve got Frank Ocean, Solange and, yes, Beyonce in my near future. This, of course, will elicit those strange looks from Mrs. Jaybee and the Jaybee kids that roughly translate into “What the hell are you listening to?” Accent on “you”.
In the meantime, I still find odd gems here and there. The fact that they are nearly wordless this time around makes them easier to grasp.
Arca: Arca (2017)
But not that easy.
Sounding deliberately formless for a while, its structures eventually reveal themselves, even if they’re unique for each track.
There is singing, and words I don’t understand - this young man is from Caracas. And it’s usually a falsetto that makes the gender seem pretty formless, too. The video below confirms that. Beware, it’s NSFR (Not Suitable for Republicans).
It’s classified, among other things, as hip-hip. If it is, it does as much for that genre as Immunity before it did for dance music.
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“Anoche”
Flying Lotus: Cosmogramma (2010)
Yet another ebb and flow texture album with very little vocalizing as they say. And you’d think after Immunity, Replica, and even Entroducing…, I’d tire of it. But I don’t.
This one’s still sinking in and not quite on the level of the above records, but still very entertaining.
And yet another semi-risque video below. I’d say it was an accident but it’s probably some male gene that - in the old days - would help us find the skin mags at the back of the candy store. It has now mutated for the digital age.
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“Table Tennis”
