Listen Here – Soundcloud/Spotify
It took a long time, but when first sluggishly sliding up to Angel Olsen’s now 10-year-old debut, Strange Cacti continues to impress for its complete and utter subtly. Similar to what Nico was trying to do with her first record Chelsea Girl, Olsen is angelic but has a form of mystery and ethereal grasp on her delivery as well.
The cover art that is inviting, but also a silhouette of Olsen becomes nostalgic. As if an older record that spins from the previous generation, dust and thick crackles and pops are present through the recording, even when seen digitally. Over the six tracks, the 21 minute runtime is less about a sprint and more about sustainability through sound. Her opening work of “Tiniest Lights” is both graceful and heartbreaking; Two hands of stone that overturn to become housing for plant life.
Dwelling with the guitar strings that are isolated, plucking to be the only instrumentation while Olsen is practically a songbird trapped behind this glass enclosure. Instead of breaking through or flying over, she stays muddied but is essentially covered in a gleaming gloss. When she is able to achieve these high notes, her voice never breaks and is vigilant, even bursting through and beginning to crack through the cage.
Later on “Some Things Cosmic,” Olsen is able to relax in the waves that cascade and wash away more pain than they bring.
The distant memory is erased and discovered anew by vocals that coexist within the strings that strike alongside. She begins to describe, “If cosmic force is real at all, it’s come between you and I. I want to be naked, I don’t need my body… I’m floating away.” Equipped with a veil of static, Olsen is simply elegant here and can transpose the idea of identity, becoming familiar through any fashion.
It is only when the record stops spinning and the final piece of “Creator, Destroyer” begins to sprawl as her solemn curtain call. The light show spans and is centric around her. The energy that she debuts is orbital and lays stepping stones that years later have finally been able to become realized.
Rather than pounding and destroying, Strange Cacti is a formation of growth surrounded by more poetic writing and easily digestible final productions. As time marches on toward the inevitable abyss, Olsen can champion expression through simple, but compelling performance.
Bones has spent years adapting to the woodlands known as musical landscapes and has been able to circumvent the exclusivity of a record contract, creating his own trail through the darkened wilderness. Sometimes by gaslight, sometimes by burning campfires, Banshee is Bones’ versatile predator-prey connection to the fascination with ghostly apparitions.
With a majority of TeamSESH producers covering the main mapping of the project, this leaves Bones to work in a skeleton hand over catchy instrumentation. With “TheDifferenceBetweenUs,” Banshee showcases this approachability while still maintaining a distance. Almost as if it was a foreboding cabin in the woods, Bones on “TheDifferenceBetweenUs” illustrates, “We could stop, drop, and roll forever, cause fires happen no matter the weather. You can hope for the best but you know the worst might come. Just leave my body somewhere dark, leave all my things in a box on the porch.” The fine mix of 808 percussion that clashes with the rattling hi-hats are a bright mix that co-exists within Bones’ depressed delivery.
Often filled with tracks consisting of single verses, this era of Bones is reflective with only a single piece reaching over the three-minute mark. A format that allows 13 tracks to be pushed over 29 minutes. One of the more bombastic tracks, “TheHandOfTheWitch” is a chilling instrumental that is both cold and destructive. The way that producer StereoRYZE can pin together these 808 patterns that shatter glass and a build-up through striking synth keys is the climax of a horror show. Where the evil finally reveals itself, Bones on “TheHandOfTheWitch” is able to form closer to shouts as he describes, “Motion fluid like oceans, got ‘em all wondering what’s the commotion. Look all they see is a corpse that’s smoking, till I turn Bones and I show ‘em who own it.”
Where Banshee is a solid mix of both poetry and splashes of fire over crisp production, the record as a whole can be boiled into one of the strongest releases from
Bones currently. Especially shown on the track “42Carats” that is less about orchestrating damage and more about honing on production. Bones is able to describe over his hook, “Every time I turn around I see the same thing, I see the same faces I see the same names,” as Greaf forms both a push and pull on the instrumentation. This combination that has been present in TeamSESH as a steel handed partnership, Bones and Greaf are simply mesmerizing.
The ghost floats through the forest as if there was nothing touching it, similar in a way that Bones can cascade over these tracks and format a treasure trove on Banshee. Working as his third release of 2015 before April was over, the hardest working skeleton continues to impress even after the initial bonfire has faded out.
Listen/Watch Here – Youtube
Produced By: Bwitdaheat
Shot By: C4digitalmedia, Totrueice, + Billmikepgh
Listen Here – Spotify
“A playlist of tracks that were featured on MattsMusicMine.com from the week of August 10th – 16th. From Reviews to Streams, never miss a track with these playlists that are uploaded every single Sunday till I drop dead.”
Featuring: Enjoy, Tony Seltzer, A Lau, Princess Nokia, Action Bronson, blood Orange, Sean Price, TEK, Primitive Man, Vein, Master P, BlaqnMild, Ace B, Magnolia Chop, Bladee, Lisha G, King Krule, Naeem, Swamp Dogg, Justin Vernon, ABG Neal, TrippJones, Choo Jackson, Black Soprano Family, Neptunian Maximalism, Divide And Dissolve
Track List: Our Territory, Smooth (R3mix), Cynthia, Latin Grammys, Jewelry, Onion Head, I Love You (Bitch), Entity, 20 Seconds : 20 Hours, Make It Out, Werk, Valerie, Wake Up, Comet Face, Simulation, Startisha, Hotboy, Pack, U A STAR, It’s Over, Magická Džungl’a, Iadanamada!, RVR
Listen Here – BandCamp
Guitar + Saxophone: Takiaya Reed
Drums: Sylvie Nehill
Mixed + Mastered By: Laura Lansdowne
Artwork By: River Streader
Track List: RVR, 8VA
Listen Here – BandCamp
Guillaume Cazalet: Amplified Bass, Baritone, Barytone Guitar, Bow, Sitar, Flute, Trumpet, + Vocals
Jean Jacques Duerinckx: Amplified Saxophone, Barytone, + Sopranino
Sebastien Schmit: Drums, Percussions, Gongs, + Vocals
Pierre Arese: Drums + percussions
Track List: To The Earth: Daiitoku-Myōō no ŌDAIKO, To The Earth: NGANGA, To The Earth: LAMASTHU, To The Earth: PTAH SOKAR OSIRIS, TO THE EARTH: MAGICKÁ DŽUNGL’A, To The Earth: ENŪMA ELIŠ, To The Moon: ZÂR, To The Moon: VAJRABHAIRAVA Part I, To The Moon: VAJRABHAIRAVA Part II, To The Moon: VAJRABHAIRAVA Part III, To The Moon: IADANAMADA!, To The Moon: OI SONUF VAORESAJI!, To The Sun: EÔS, To The Sun: HEKA HOU SIA, To The Sun: HELIOZOAPOLIS, To The Sun: KHONSOU SOKARIS
Listen/Watch Here – Youtube
Featuring: Heem, Rick Hyde, Benny The Butcher, + DJ Drama
Produced By: Don Cannon
Directed By: The Wizard
Listen/Watch Here – Youtube
Directed By: David Newbury – BeyondDreams412
Produced By: Christo, Jay Card, Nice Rec.
Listen Here – Spotify/Amazon/iTunes
Featuring: Jay Critch, Leeky G Bando, Edot Babyy, Slayter, Wiki, Vonna Hurk, Swook, Vinny Fanta, ABG Neal, Princess Nokia, Rah Swish, Tazzo B, 26ar, TrippJones, Hawa, Rocko Ballin
Track List: Money Talk, James Bond, Back, Cash Out, Vonna’s Interlude, Skrr, Levitate, Hotboy, Cynthia, Sue Me, And1 Remix, Hey Tony Interlude, Pack, Man Down, I Know