Song of the Day #6, July 3

Ecco2k: Calcium

It's so hard to find but so easy to find 

(Lost my shine, I star and cross my eyes)

And my heart is blind, I star and cross my eyes

(Lost my shine, I star and cross my eyes)

Art Pop/Cloud Rap/R&B

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfx106XZsN0&pp=ygUOY2FsY2l1bSBlY2NvMms%3D

Song of the Day #3, June 3

Song of the Day #3,  June 30

Björk:Pagan Poetry (2001)

On the surface simplicity 

But the darkest pit in me 

And it's pagan poetry

Art Pop/Electronic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wp6tAcjq0N0&ab_channel=Ludibry

Song of the Day #2, June 29

 Song of the Day #2 June 29

Peter Gabriel: Games Without Frontiers

If looks could kill, they probably will

In games without frontiers, war without tears 

Art Rock/Pop

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xZmlUV8muY&ab_channel=PeterGabriel

Fleet Foxes: Shore (2020) (Folk,Pop,Rock)

Much more poppy than last efforts. Many pop ballads work well in their sphere and the punchy drums and colourful instrumentation helps give life to many songs, with many being well written. Some ballads are a bit to watered down. 

Chamber Folk/Folk-Pop/Folk Rock

Taylor Swift: folklore (2020) (Folk, Pop)

As much as the gimmick of lowercase titles may be evidence of quaint rustic indie folk, a sheen of top 40 always remains. "The Woods" are a backdrop for Taylor's pop all crafted meticulously and clean but often effectively written songs about well ... romance and movies? The album is a bit of a bummer and its melancholy can be a bit overbearing not in how sad it is but how passive and similarly many of the songs are, but I can say its value can come from its dreaminess and occasional subtlety.






Chamber Pop/Folk Pop

Arca: KiCk i (2020) (Electronic, Pop)

Arca's usage of texture is intriguing and varied with her performances, ranging from chaotic to open and dramatic, focusing for the most part on sonic sentiment and dynamism rather than harmony and catchiness which allows for left field-like songs that still occasionally manage to fit in the pop sphere(Mequetrefe, KLK, Machote), for the most part, the tunes are for avande garde electronic but much crossover appeal can be found. Most songs are in Spanish, few are in English.







Art-Pop/Avande Garde/Electronic

Bladee: Gluee (2014) (Hip-hop,Pop)

In icy fashion, this tight album is a hazy collection of tunes rapped in a dejected occasionally monotone fashion, but in a drugginess that is intoxicating and beats that glisten and can't help giving a feeling of bliss and euphoria, allowing for a fruitful merger of art-pop and cloud rap. A very similar album to Yung Lean's Unknown Memory released in the same year, but an all-round more concise and stronger finished product. Favourites include Ebay, Shadowface, Everlasting Flames and Unreal.






Art-pop/Alternative R&B/Cloud Rap/Trap

Bladee: 333 (2020) (Hip-hop,Pop)

With excellent production helmed by Whitearmor, Bladee continues his trend of art-pop, rap fusions. Some poppier tracks that surely borrow from older trends such as Don't Worry, Mean Girls and It Girl. With ballads such as Wings in Motion and Only One mixed in, 333 has a range of productions and Bladee's singing and vocals have improved, largely due to a more effective use of autotune. The brevity of the songs does lead to a disjointed listening experience but many of the minuscule songs are refreshing enough both in performance and production. Such as Hero of My Story 3style3 where Bladee alternates between flows and vocal effects over a very ascending ethereal instrumental and the quirky Reality Surf with Bladee's subtle delivery and vocal samples.



Art-pop/Experimental Hip-hop/Trap

Juice WRLD: Legends Never Die (2020) (Hip-hop,Pop,Trap)

Juice WRLD was one of the many prominent figures in the trend of angsty emo-rap who died much too early. On Legends Never Die, Juice WRLD follows this aesthetic but includes some of his most commercial songs like the EDM tune Come & Go, this may be due to his recent passing and likely may not have been completely part of the artistic planning. But Juice WRLD always threaded close to pop and though that may be present in this album more than ever he still expresses a relatively versatile selection of songs all ranging from EDM, pop to trap with occasions of punk. The trap drums can occasionally get a bit stale, but the aesthetic changes that occur later in album keep things interesting. Juice show's himself to be a competent songwriter and rapper as shown in highlights Conversations, Righteous, Wishing Well, Up Up And Away. 




Emo Rap/Pop/Trap

Bladee: Exeter (2020) (Hip-hop,Pop)

"Spring is never far" Bladee sings which is a good descriptor for EXETER, a mini album at on 18 minutes in length vaguely bright quirky and blissful. Not as overtly sombre as previous works, there is a stronger sense of playfulness on EXTER, though often leaving much to be wanted in terms of a fully fleshed-out song, the intriguing aesthetics of Draingang remain, crossing trap, art-pop and electronic music but never truly realized. Bladee's performances remain for the most part expressionless chants and autocroning. Highlights include RAIN3OW STAR (LOVE IS ALL), DNA RAIN, LOVESTORY

Art-Pop/Electronic/Experimental Rap

Perfume Genius: Set My Heart on Fire Immediately (Pop) (2020)

Some sentimental romantic tunes with melancholic taint. Though some ballads may be a bit melodramatic and skeletal, tending to float in the ether (Leave, Moonbend), Perfume Genius succeeds in crafting a fruitful collection of art-pop tunes while maintaining intimacy. The singing, though often wispy can be very soulful and slightly desolate. While instrumentally the album can quickly change allowing for versatility through merging an array of indie sounds, synths, classical music, quirky and more rock-oriented tunes, while still maintaining the cohesion of the album. Worth listening to for pop fans. Highlights include Describe, Jason, On the Floor, Your Body Changes Everything, Some Dream.

Art Pop/ Chamber Pop/ Indie Pop

Kate Bush: Hounds of Love (1985) (Pop)

Lovey-dovey art-pop, with lavish violins, pianos, bells and all things baroque complemented by fruitful recording techniques, bordering on glitch and new wave (Waking The Witch, Watching You Without Me), Hounds of Love has the wide range of performances expected from art-pop acts while still feeling incredibly cohesive, intimate and sensual. With her dreamy but powerful performances, Hounds of Love is a masterpiece and easily one of the apexes in the 80s art-pop scene. 


Art-pop/Baroque Pop/Progressive Pop

Paul Simon: Graceland (1986) (Pop,Rock)

Some trendies will be writhing in contempt as the white saviour comes to appropriate many ethnic styles, most of the South African origin. But, Paul is respected enough as a musician and for the most part genuine enough in his adoption of these styles that much of this criticism becomes baseless and ideological. The songs are translated into poppier, more refined songs for a western audience with bright showy instrumentation that is well-produced and will make listeners believe themselves to be fans of "world" music.

Best Tracks: The Boy in the Bubble, Graceland, Gumboots, Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes, You Can Call Me Al*, Under African Skies*, Crazy Love, Vol. II, All Around the World or the Myth of Fingerprints*






Pop Rock/ Zulu Music

Love: Forever Changes (1967) (Folk,Pop,Rock)

It would be easy to say Forever Changes is just one of many feel-good hippie albums of the 60s, but in listening closer, it transcends that moniker. With its enduring, socially potent lyrics, bright, lush instrumentation and excellent songwriting, shifting from melancholy, longing and fervour all in a poetic existential tone, Forever Changes is a timeless well-defined linchpin of 60s era psychedelia. A lighting in the bottle moment, effectively encapsulating it's era in such a cohesive manner to point that it is everlasting. The news of today will be the movies of tomorrow. 

Best Tracks: Alone Again Or*, A House Is Not a Motel*, Andmoreagain*, The Daily Planet*, Old Man, The Red Telephone*, Maybe the People Would Be the Times or Between Clark and Hilldale*, Live and Let Live*, The Good Humor Man He Sees Everything Like This*, Bummer in the Summer, You Set the Scene


S+ Summer Vibes/ Baroque Pop/ Pop Rock/ Psychadelic Folk 

Charli XCX: how i'm feeling now (2020) (Pop)

For better or worse, most of how i'm feeling now sounds like it was made cooped up in forced isolation with little company but her significant other. The beats remain futuristic and glitchy, like her previous album, but this time more evident spots of industrial influence and a more intimate bedroom-pop-like aesthetic are found. Many of the songs read as confessional odes to love and anxiety but often the songs are not fully realized and rather feel like vague snippets of how she's feeling. A few songs may lack in instrumental progression as well (forever, enemy) leading how i'm feeling now to not be the packed pop experience but rather a collection of intimate sketches.

Best Tracks: claws, 7 years, i finally understand, anthems


C



Avant-pop/Bubblegum Bass/Electropop/Glitch-pop

Charli XCX: Charli (2019) (Pop)

A shiny cyborg of an album, half human from the energetic, innocent nature of many songs, half steel and sheen from the futuristic but bright production, drawing heavily from bubblegum bass and dance-pop, much like her previous project, Pop 2, this time with subtler more introspective songs. However, in consequence, many of these do not develop fruitfully (Warm, I Don't Wanna Know, Official). Plenty of excellent production choices, earworm choruses and vocal performances allow for this album to become an intriguing listen for pop fans.

Best Tracks: Next Level Charli, Gone, 1999*, Thoughts, Blame It on Your Love, White Mercedes*, Silver Cross*, February 2017

A-

Avant-pop/Bubblegum Bass/Dance-pop/Electropop

Steely Dan: Can't Buy a Thrill (1972) (Pop, Rock)

With lush, warm instrumentation, Steely Dan make an easy-going but very satisfying album that reeks of summer fun. The tunes are poppy in composition, very soul-inspired and consistently an easy listen yet instrumentally coloured with bright horns, catchy piano and organ melodies and sharply tuned guitars all recorded very pristinely. The lyrics are quite pristine as well, catchy and seem to paint a refined metropolitan feeling throughout the album. Now it sounds very boomer but excellent at that.

Best Tracks: Do It Again, Dirty Work*, King*, Only A Fool Would Say That*, Reelin' In The Years*, Fire In The Hole, Brooklyn (Owes The Charmer Under Me), Change Of The Guard

A


Jazz-Rock/Pop-Rock/Yacht-Rock

Grimes: Geidi Primes (2010) (Pop)

On her debut, Grimes manages to properly introduce herself as the weird, fairy-like artist she has always been known as. Even if the otherworldy jargon basks too much in flippancy and many songs are underbaked, Geildi Primes is influential to the early 2010s dream pop/bedroom pop scene, through the strange and mysterious tone it sets and the instrumental versatility and simplicity.

Best Tracks: Rosa*, Avi, Feyd Rautha Dark Heart, Gambang 

B 



Dream Pop/ Experimental/ Indie Pop

Mac Miller: Circles (2020) (Hip-hop,Pop,Soul)

In continuing Mac's 2018 album Swimming, Circles has blends of hip-hop and soul sung with a Tom Waits vagrant-like romanticism, however, this time with more intimacy and enduring song compositions. The production and drums being bright and punchy are tailored well to most songs, and Mac's singing though ragged manages to be effective in the more soul-oriented songs, giving off the slacker, downhearted feeling he is known for. It is worth noting that Good News may be one of the most emotionally potent songs of the year.

Best Tracks: Circles*, Complicated, Good News*, Everybody, Hand Me Downs, Once A Day



B+




Hip-hop/ Neo-Soul/ Pop Rap

Chris Brown & Young Thug: Slime & B (2020) (Hip-hop,Pop,R&B)

A Chris Brown mixtape with awkward appearances from Young Thug. I've gotten the sense that Young Thug wants to get into more mainstream circles but here he just feels secondary and his performances are too tame and uninspired for their worth. If you like Chris Brown you might enjoy some bits but an overall ineffective pairing with little artistic merit, that is very shameful and often insulting.

E

Contemporary R&B/Pop Rap/Trap