Newer Music:
Sufjan Stevens : The Ascension and Convocations
Sufjan Stevens is a popular, well-known musician by any measure. He’s received plenty of well-deserved acclaim over his career. He has twice released arguably the best album of the year: first, his early career full-band masterpiece Illinois in 2005; and then his largely acoustic mid-career masterpiece Carrie and Lowell in 2015. Seeing Sufjan up close during that Carrie and Lowell Tour is one of my favorite live music experiences ever. And yet, I am convinced that he and his impressive body of work are significantly underappreciated.
Sufjan continues to operate at a prolific, genius level unmatched in contemporary popular music. In the space of just over a year, he has released three separate excellent projects: a collaborative LP with his stepfather Lowell Brams called Aporia; my second favorite record from last year The Ascension; and now this month the release of Convocations, an enormous 49 track ambient tribute album to his recently deceased biological father.
The Ascension, a standout conventional album, has lost none of its impact and the title track remains one of Sufjan’s most beautiful pieces of music. Convocations, on the other hand, is another example of an unconventional project where he demonstrates his artistic integrity. Has any mainstream artist asked his fans to follow him somewhere unexpected as often as Sufjan? He has recorded 100 holiday songs as part of two Christmas box sets, released an EP about Tonya Harding, contributed to the soundtrack for the film Call Me By Your Name, and wrote an orchestral composition tribute the Brooklyn Queens Expressway. I thought I was familiar with his entire discography; however, I recently stumbled upon a delightful track he did a few years ago with R&B artist Moses Sumney entitled Make Out In My Car. An afterthought track for Sufjan Stevens that has nearly 20 million streams on Spotify. What an amazing career! Who could possibly guess what he will do next?!
Standout Tracks: The Ascension; America; Sugar; Run Away With Me; Tell Me You Love Me; Video Game; The Runaround; Meditation I and V; Lamentation II; Make Out In My Car
Billy Nomates : Emergency Telephone EP
Billy Nomates is the solo project of English artist Victoria Ann Maries. Started in 2019, her early home recordings and live performances caught the attention of UK punk band Sleaford Mods, who invited her to support them on tour. She gives a standout guest performance on their brilliant track Mork N Mindy off recent album Spare Ribs (reviewed in this column in January) and more than holds her own.
Billy Nomates released her self-titled debut last August to not much fanfare. In March, she released this new EP that will surely solidify her place as an indie rock artist to watch. She melds the wit, attitude, and narrative chops of Sleaford Mods or Mike Skinner (of The Streets fame) with great pop sensibility and a distinctive voice. Heels and the title track are the buzziest singles, but tasty synthpop gem Petrol Fumes is my favorite track.
Standout Tracks: Heels, Petrol Fumes, Emergency Telephone, Right Behind You
Leon Vynehall : Rare, Forever
This new record by British producer and DJ Leon Vynehall continues an exceedingly strong year for electronic music. Rare, Forever, put out on the influential electronic label Ninja Tune, strikes a nice balance—not wholly a dance record like the new Bicep release, but more upbeat than some of the darker electronic albums such as the new Andy Stott LP we showcased in last week’s column. Vynehall, who honed his craft in the clubs of Brighton, put out likely the best electronic record of 2018 in Nothing Is Still, is responsible for perhaps the best edition of the DJ Kicks compilation series, and remains one of the premier DJs making music right now.
Standout Tracks: Mothra; Ecce! Ego!; Snakeskin Has Been; An Exhale; Dumbo
Squid : Bright Green Field
The other genre of music that seems to be offering buzzy records this year with no end in sight is the UK postpunk scene. So far this year, we’ve already highlighted hyped releases from Dry Cleaning, Shame, and Black Country, New Road and the highly anticipated sophomore album from Black Midi will be arriving later this month.
The latest entry is from Brighton five-piece Squid. Started in 2017, they signed to Warp Records last year and just released their debut album last Friday. Bright Green Field compares favorably to the records of their 2021 postpunk fellows—ample chaotic guitar work, unpredictable structure, occasional brass flourishes, and aggressive vocals. Bonus points to them for their catchy 2019 single Houseplants.
Standout Tracks: Paddling; Pamphlets; Narrator; Peel St.; G.S.K.
Throwback Selection:
M.I.A. : Arular
Popular, but pricey vinyl subscription service Vinyl Me Please recently released exclusive reissues of the first three albums from groundbreaking British rapper M.I.A.: Arular (2005); Kala (2007; and MAYA (2010). It had been a few years since I had last listened to M.I.A. and I had forgotten just how revelatory her debut Arular was in the mid 00s.
M.I.A. has a pretty amazing backstory—grew up in Sri Lanka until age 11 when her family moved to London as refugees escaping civil war; attended St. Martin’s College and befriended musicians Justine Frischmann of Elastica (through Damon Albarn of Blur) and Peaches and sold art to Jude Law; and became a case study on utilizing the internet to promote her music leading to her signing by respected label XL Recordings in 2004. And that quick overview barely covers a fraction of her fascinating bio.
Her debut record Arular began a roughly 8 year period where she became one of the most prominent artists in music, releasing four full albums and reaching widespread notoriety from massive singles Paper Planes and Bad Girls. Still, her debut remains perhaps the most interesting and satisfying listen of her catalog. It is difficult to remember just how fresh and revolutionary tracks like Galang, Bingo, and Bucky Done Gun sounded. She is a true music pioneer and it will be interesting to see if we get a new record from her at some point.
Standout Tracks: Bucky Done Gun; Bingo; Galang; Pull Up The People; Sunshowers
More Related Music You Should Also Check Out: Andrew Bird : My Finest Work Yet; The Streets : Everything Is Borrowed ; Leon Vynehall : DJ Kicks; Protomartyr : Relatives in Descent; Major Lazer : Free The Universe
