Newish & Obscure/Unknown/Unpopular “Pop” (on eMusic & Bandcamp)

Comments

• idiotprogrammer

  September 2020

  Probably not related, but there's a songwriter Monk Turner I think is great. His albums are great too -- all free on bandcamp https://monkturner.bandcamp.com/ I wrote a profile about him   and even interviewed him. He has another album coming out in October, but I think his best albums are Emergency and God Complex. 
• omnifoo

  September 2020

  On your rec, I'll check him out.
  
• omnifoo

  January 2022

  More Obscure, Unknown, & Unpopular Pop Albums

  Recent episodes of my podcast have considered whether pop music that nobody has heard of or likes can still call itself that, and these fine albums further the conversation nicely.

  The ones I like less either try to hard (are too poppy) but aren’t very catchy, lack a single, or otherwise are hard for me to imagine being played at a party anywhere around the world or for uncritical (or rather inarticulate) pop fans who’ll skip songs or not like stuff w/out giving any explanation or apparent thought.  For the really poppy ones, I doubt I could listen to two similar albums in a row w/out craving more substantial aural nourishment.

  Note that some or rather most are synth-pop and others do their best to insist that rock music is still pop.  There’s no hip-hop here, not that I don’t like hip-hop.  There’s also no country music, and I definitely don’t like pop country.

  In the approximate order I’d like to listen to them, as usual…

  1.   “The Beirut School” - Mashrou Leila (2019).  I did a whole podcast episode about their previous album and noted that there’s some tracks that appear on both, unfortunately reducing the repeated listenability of the beginning & end somewhat.  Bandcamp inexplicably doesn’t carry them, so this is a rare instance of eMusic exclusivity for a cutting edge dark pop sound in deep, breathy Arabic.  Their earlier work is more world-rock with folk elements, but on this and “Ibn El Leil” they’ve fully embraced synth-pop and sound better than the 80s ever were, in large part for keeping the strings.  Songs like “Inni Mneeh” also harken back to their pre-synth roots from time to time.  The variety applies not only to instrumentation but also anthemic, soulful, or slick.

  2.  “S/t” - Phone Tag (2012).  This is quite far from new, but they show a mastery of keeping three-minute synth-pop songs interesting, catchy, and varied from start to finish.  Only a few, like NZCA Lines, follow the same rules and maybe do a little better.  The opening tracks are clear highlights, but I don’t hear any filler or anything too obnoxious so as to require skipping, not easy when swinging for the seats so frequently.  At the same time, those expecting lyrical depth might not be satisfied, but that’s not what they’re going for.  The album knows well how to alternate between busy songs and more understated ones with the vocals front and center in the mix, as on “Compass” and most of the latter songs.  This is mostly a synthesized affair, but guitars aren’t absent.  Anyone sad MGMT gave up this sound will also like the glam falsetto action.  Pretty hard to find any other reviews, but I basically agree with this one’s 6.5/10 rating, minus its targeted negativity:  http://www.ssgmusic.com/phone-tag-phone-tag-lp/.    https://duttyartz.bandcamp.com/album/phone-tag 

  3. “Hyper In” - Perrine 3000 (2020).  Five tracks of literal and figurative echoes, each over five minutes long and sung in flippant French, invoke a bygone era and undoubtedly several bands I’m not cool enough to cite.  Guitar effects are used uniquely on the opener to toe the edge of noise, something I always enjoy but might scare the average pop listener. “Le roy” uses old organ rhythm sounds & shoots for a slowly warping tape sound.  “Normal” augments an electronic loop w/ light jabs of guitar, and I can’t tell if it’s the same vocalist or a lady swapped in. “Dernière Partie” is a slow guitar meander w/ synthesized rhythm & a lady having a one-sided conversation with herself, pleasantly enough, the first of two songs on this list with “Dernière” in their titles. Despite not understanding the lyrics, the longer songs give the impression of greater depth than most others on this list while still providing great listening pleasure.  99 cents or NYP on Bandcamp:  https://cheptelrecords.bandcamp.com/album/chptl-049-hyper-in 

  4.  “Wino Oracle EP” - The Zolas (2015).  The opening track is among the best evidence I’ve heard lately that rock bands can still make pop music if they try, a near perfect combination of rhyming lyrics switching into and out of falsetto for a chorus in a way that encapsulates what I think a pop single should do:  hook you and make you remember it.  I’ll have to look into their full albums and other works, but I’m satisfied to sum the first three songs up as a poor man’s Yeasayer or MGMT, with vocals & guitars that want to be Vampire Weekend, which is just fine to combine.  The fourth hems closer to Franz Ferdinand.  Light Organ’s 99-cent EPs continue to prove themselves worthy in myriad ways.  https://thezolas.bandcamp.com/album/wino-oracle-ep 

  5.    “Azul” - Marem Ladson (2020).  Dreamy, pretty, bilingual vocals & light accompaniment in five brief songs are a 99-cent slice of pop bliss.  Practice Spanish listening comprehension to the siren-like ooo’s on the opener or the slower tempo “Círculos”, and all will be right in your world.  The production gets stripped back from the first to the third, with “Savior” sung in English instead, actually switching between languages on the last two while re-electronifying.  A near-perfect pop EP. https://montventoux.bandcamp.com/album/azul 

  6. “Lemme Be” - La Vague (2019).  The female vocalist on this 99-cent EP has a unique delivery that’s basically rap, and where others might sing, as on choruses, she tends more to raise her volume & sass levels.  The video for the intense title track, likely a feminist anthem, is well worth a view for the subtitles giving the nonsensical verses’ lyrics and introducing the duo’s visages.  Production bisects rock (including guitar solos) and synth-pop, with Asian or maybe exoticizing oriental overtones.  She does sing more conventionally on the slower “Let Them Fall,” and then it’s onto their best Ratatat impression overlaid with her French verses & a Mandarin Chinese chorus on “Dernière Saison.”  The brief, tight “Fierte” sounds like standard French hip-hop, and the closing “Guilty” goes w/ a dance beat & more repetitive English vocals backed by a chorus repeating the last word rather gratingly.  They really put themselves out there and demand attention, but I don’t gather anyone’s listening, unfortunately.  https://lavague.bandcamp.com/ 

  7.  “Insônia” - Valuá (2020).  Pop rock from Brazil is rarely done better than this EP, rather on the soft rock side at first and with a subtly Latin sound.  “Veneno” is a clear radio-friendly single with a chorus that’s catchy without beating itself into one’s skull.  Smooth electronics take over & an overall 80s sound suggest Duran Duran as an influence and/or target.  By “Dança” the going gets weird w/ vocal distortion.  “Truques” introduces a female vocalist in sultry conversation.  There’s a lot of glamor here for a mere 99 cents.  I’m not sure why this isn’t on Bandcamp, but their 2018 EP is not quite as soft or interesting there, though it is at least NYP:  https://valua.bandcamp.com/releases 

  8. “Cuerpo, Ritual” - Michelle Billiet (2020).  These five songs have more of a Latin flavor to their synth-pop and more substantial heft to them, with the shortest still three and a half minutes.  “Tus Manos” starts w/ a whistle that evokes el campo, while the actual song mixes both electric & acoustic guitars & electronic elements very smoothly as an electro-salsa groove for her midrange vocals.  The mix and groove continue to be strengths on the other tracks, mixing in other, somewhat surprising elements to make the EP blend together, far above the quality suggested by the bargain 99-cent price.   https://michellebilliet.bandcamp.com/ 

  9. “Reconocer” - Malacara and Moha (2020).  This is an average electronic Latin pop EP in terms of production value, but I’d say the songs flow very smoothly, appropriately for the titles.  Female vocalists are front and center on all four tracks, and there’s nothing especially hard-hitting or deep in terms of lyrics, and maybe the elemental (water, fire, trees, blood) or non-verbal (on “Te Encontré”) choruses drill their way into our skulls a little a little more repetitively.  For 99 cents, I don’t know what better there is out there to own.

  10. “Земляничный Ашрам” - Левша-пацан (Levsha-Patsan, “Lefty Kid”?) (2019).  Russian hare krishna electro-reggae pop is unique, and that’s not up for debate.  This is a bouncy, upbeat collection of feel-good pop, too energetic to be called dub (or at least he’s no Little Tempo, the Japanese masters), but I’ve listened to it less than any of the others on this list.  The guy’s vocal stylings seem like a stream of consciousness, and there’s an abundance of funny voices on the opening track.  There’s also ample use of crowd yelling, which makes me think he’s shooting for stadium performances w/ audience participation, or maybe he’s just a big sports fan.  Usually something so novel and full of random accordions would attract me to give several listens to make sense of such unpredictable songs, but maybe this is all just too frenetic for my old ears.  The overall style and atmosphere reminds me of Fuzz Townshend, whose sole album “Far In” from 1999 was rated four stars by AMG but not reviewed, then left to dollar bins across the world, especially the song “I Have Seen the Light.”  I can’t handle this much energy anymore, but maybe you still can.  The 2nd half of the album, especially “Жигулёвская кругосветка” &  “Купание в Каме”, is more my pace w/out losing the playfulness, and maybe I should just skip the first half to listen more often.  It’s difficult to find information about him in English, but translating his Russian Wikipedia page is easy enough:  https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9B%D0%B5%D0%B2%D1%88%D0%B0-%D0%BF%D0%B0%D1%86%D0%B0%D0%BD  

  11. “Stripes” -  Simon Lord (2014).  This was an easy purchase based on his excellent work with both Simian and the duo Roberts & Lord, and he holds up adequately as a solo act.  Keeping expectations reasonable, one shouldn’t expect anything as immediate or infectious as with those two projects; the cover art suggests blending seamlessly w/ one’s environment, and that’s what the songs on this album largely do.  It’s kind of a thinking person’s soft rock here, with some big words on the first two tracks, as well as rhythmic complexity on the drums.  After the watery opening, mid-tempo indie rock prevails in harmless succession, with nothing over four minutes or really standing out.  This is one of those albums where all the songs are well written or produced enough to hold one’s interest or be selected for a college radio show, but there’s nothing flashy to cross over or particularly memorable to remind one to come back to the album regularly.  The whole album has a laid-back feel, and his voice goes a little high without generally reaching falsetto while tending to curtail rather than hold notes.  Singing about time seeming to stand still on “Molecule” barely slows the passing from one song to the next.  Its 32-minute duration almost sounds effortless, and that can leave one craving something more ambitious.   https://wonderfulsound.bandcamp.com/album/stripes  

  12. “Rubbed Out” - Alexis Taylor (2008).  Another bandleader of note, this gave high hopes b/c I enjoyed 2014’s more substantial “Await Barbarians” quite a lot, almost on par with an actual Hot Chip album.  The songs on this album, bookended by abstract noise (clunky but purposeful filler), are minimalist and on the slow side, which over a 2 to 3-minute run time can leave a listener feeling rather unfulfilled.  It’s often just one instrument (keyboard or guitar) paired with his vocals, so “Plastic Man” & “Coming Up” are highly recommended for anyone allergic to rhythm.  AMG mentions this album in its artist bio but not the discography, but I’ll go w/ its authority that it’s not actually from 2019 like mp3s themselves insist; it would make sense if this stripped-down sound is from an earlier time.  Fans will enjoy it, but others won’t be won over unless they prefer lo-fi singer-songwriters over full bands.  https://alexistaylor.bandcamp.com/ 

  13. “Szamotuly” - Polskie Nagrania (2018).  I’m grateful that for the majority of eMusic purchases, most albums sound significantly better or more interesting than their 30 to 60-second song samples, often showing fully formed evolution and progression.  That makes it wise to err on the side of taking leaps of faith on the tons of stuff that can’t be heard in its entirety anywhere else.  There will also inevitably be some like this album w/ promising artwork (faded dudes w/ vintage-looking instruments in front of crumbling bricks) and built of loops that sound intriguing or otherwise enticing in small doses but fall short of being very interesting songs.  Not understanding Polish might matter for the tracks w/ the most vocals, but otherwise these feel like kinda piecemeal instrumentals.  The sampledelic nature of the proceedings means that every hook is basically a loop, and so the songs live or die on how many times the listener wants to hear the same sound over 2-4 minutes, with slight variations, additions & subtractions, and occasional builds to choruses.  In other words, adding beats to abundant old ragtime & jazz foundations was pretty fresh in the 90s, but by 2018 they’re not exactly breaking new ground.  The vocalist’s delivery is a smooth monotone between (or alternating between) speaking, rapping, and singing, not flashy in the least—think Day One or MOT (rather unsuccessful groups w/ clever lyrics delivered by an average-sounding white dude or two).  I don’t hear a standout single in half an hour, but it’s pretty inoffensive and appealing to those who like old-timey samples.  Someone who understands Polish might hear a Beastie Boys revival in a shifting, kinda funky track like “Pełna bujana”; others are likely to tire of the novelty or not find it novel enough in the first place.

  14. “Happily Ever After” - Mount Sims (2008).  I’m somewhat embarrassed to admit that Milwaukee’s MS suffers from the syndrome where I wish every album would just remake his first one, the ultra-catchy “Ultrasex.”  2005’s  “Wild Light” & this one both have what could be critically praised as a more “mature” or subtle sound, but the best synth-poppers find a way to explore different styles and lyrical themes w/out sacrificing catchiness.  If I’d stumbled upon these latter albums w/out having heard the first, I’d probably find them intriguing and maybe like them more, but my association of the moniker w/ “sexually charged,” danceable earworms is too strong to overcome.  AMG’s bio https://www.allmusic.com/artist/mount-sims-mn0000502924/biography doesn’t bother to talk about any but his first album either.  With that preamble out of the way, this album takes an interesting approach to constructing its songs balanced precariously between electronic and acoustic (mainly electric guitars & drums) sounds, much less dance-oriented than both previously mentioned albums.  The atmosphere is dark (though not quite Pitch Black Manor dark), and the vocals, alternating between snotty and romantically dramatic, are deliberately more repetitive than the looping melodies on the first two tracks.  “Playing for Keeps” and others that follow remind me of Add (N) to X via Tim Curry in Rocky Horror-esque vocals.  Being all but unclassifiable doesn’t do the music any favors, but comparability to the likes of Gary Numan and other luminaries of electro-quasi-goth & synth-rock should definitely check it out.

  15. “Republic of Paradise” - Aphir (2020).   Snapped this one up without sampling based on the strength of 2017’s “Twin Earth,” and while I don’t regret it, I’m decidedly less than bowled over by its iciness.  This is shorter than the already slight 33-min. run time of the previous album, and it begins wistfully with immediate solo vocals mentioning the title, recurring later with instrumentation on the tenth track.  Overall, this album shows the importance of having a “banger" of a single to capture and keep the listener’s attention.  Nothing here is (especially) obnoxious (haters of vocal affectation & distortion will disagree) or low quality, but after eight very deliberate spins in search of a favorite song or two, many more tries than I’d give the average album, I have to throw my hands up.  Her vocal delivery is unique enough to spice up fairly pedestrian, very cold, and often marginally musical electronic accompaniment, but this is the kind of album that washes over the listener without any track stopping to make a strong impression.   With nothing reaching four minutes in length, the way to do that is to have a catchy single or two, but given that she doesn’t sing much here, the choruses, such as they are, don’t stick much.   Try “Helianthemum” for one attempt to marry a driving, “Run Lola Run” style that all but stops in its tracks with a shoehorned melodic chorus.  Almost half the songs feature a guest, but I wouldn’t have known it w/out reading.  There’s clearly a vision involved here, and different production on any given song or the album as a whole might make it more compellingly, memorably realized.   6/10.    https://aphir.bandcamp.com/album/republic-of-paradise 

  16. “ОБРЯД” - The Bengali (2019).  Either a long EP or a short album, and any one of the songs could be a single, I suppose, though that’s not necessarily a good thing.  An unusual name and album cover on one of the many Russian pop labels drew me to sample this, and curiosity barely held to make the purchase, over worries about trashy Eurotrance pop.  These have some acoustic elements, mostly used on the intros & outros before or after kicking the beat, but they’re fundamentally trance w/ vocals and choruses intended to get the blood pumping, emotions piqued, and body moving on the dancefloor.  Russian-Bengali connections are just novel enough for the music to stand up to minimal scrutiny or be more interesting than countless albums in a similar style.  Expect a formula, i.e. sentimental = slow & w/out the dancebeat at first, and you won’t be disappointed.

  17. “S/t” - Granula Grace (2020).  An easy 99-cent dip into Vidlik, the label of endlessly praised Onuka, this EP kicks off with male vocals to rival Coldplay at their most cloying, set to unremarkable trance.  The second is a slow piano crooner approximating R&B for the whitest people on the planet.  Despite quiet parts, the fourth track is the most dancefloor appropriate.   The calm, soothing piano-vocal combination on the closing track is the least adorned and most committed, probably my favorite song.  The choruses aren’t particularly memorable, and I don’t find the simple melodies especially catchy, not that I need them to be.  Blandly accessible production and falsetto “Oooos” are probably enough to get their foot in the door to most people’s ears.  Overall, this is entirely too poppy for me to enjoy more than on very rare occasions, maybe after listening to nothing but experimental noise all day. 

  Perhaps notably, I don’t seem to buy pop music on Bandcamp.

  Rather than reposting repeatedly, here’s my lists of what’s left on eMusic:  http://www.omnifoo.info/pages/eMuReddit.html 

  & by my evaluation http://www.omnifoo.info/pages/eMusic%20Labels.html

  & by genre https://www.emusers.net/forum/discussion/comment/94512/#Comment_94512   Recent, random posts suggest it is time to include a reminder: eMusic is a website for buying & downloading mp3s.  It is www.emusic.com