oOoOO & Islamiq Grrrls - Faminine Mystique (Nihjgt Feelings, 2018)

After witch house blew up (and after becoming one of the few witch house artists worth listening to) oOoOO promptly took some time away from that crappy and toxic scene - respect points. He reemerges here in a collaborative effort with Islamiq Grrrls, a relative unknown producer/vocalist from LA. On Faminine Mystique they sling tattered witch house garb over the bones of pop tunes, to a really strange effect - some of these songs feature references to Chris Isaak, the Eagles, breakbeat, hip hop...as usual within that Scene, it's hard to tell how much of this is loving homage, irony, or pastiche. But it works pretty well. I'm not sure if each musician wrote their own lyrics but it seems to me that the tracks with Grrrls' vox feature clunkier lyrics which kind of weighs the project down, and they never truly lift off into completely uncharted avant pop territory but it's certainly a departure from "witch house typical" and definitely shows two artists trying to come up with a new kind of musical discourse, even if they aren't inventing a new language. Think Religious Knives with a more hip-hop bent and you're in the ballpark. Interesting.

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Nachtmystium/Leviathan - In the Valley of Death, Where Black Metal is King: An Homage to the Roots (Ascension Monuments Media, 2018)

What the fuck is that title. Okay I get the first part is a Judas Iscariot tribute, but did we really need "an homage to the roots" in there? Hey wouldn't it be funny if these were actually covers of the band The Roots? Anyway. This album was supposed to come out 10 years ago, but it was blocked by the bands' respective labels. Now I guess they've figured out a way, or Blake Judd needs money for drugs so he's figured out a way, to put this out. The Bandcamp version has 8 tracks, 5 from Nachtmystium and 3 from Leviathan, but I've seen a 10-track tracklisting elsewhere. On the version I have, we have Nachtmystium covering Judas Iscariot, Ildjarn (twice), Von and Burzum. Leviathan tackles Ildjarn (twice) and Von once. I seem to be missing Leviathan's Judas Iscariot cover ("Where the Winter Beats Incessant") and one of Nachtmystium's Von covers ("Von"). Weird. Wonder if there were some licensing issues or something. All four Ildjar...

Corrupted - Felicific Algorithim (Cold Spring, 2018)

For whatever it means, this is the beginning of Corrupted's "Hollow" series. Maybe the clue is in the music? Unlike Corrupted's traditional ultra-slowed down, Spanish-sung, Japanese doom metal this is instrumental harsh noise. Still filthy and angry and depressive but sans vox and also more or less sans metal. Both untitled sides are meant to be played at either speed. The result? Meh. I miss Corrupted's brand of doom, this relatively anonymous harsh noise is fine and all but if I'm listening to Corrupted...well I know what I want. Skippable.

A$AP Rocky - Testing (ASAP Worldwide/Polo Grounds/RCA, 2018)

I've always liked A$AP Rocky for his experimental-ish tendencies. Namely his tracks with Clams Casino, shit like "Electric Body", "Wild for the Night" with Skrillex (hey it's a good track), etc. On Testing A$AP set out to push the boundaries even further, or at least being more brazen in his attempt at making an experimental hip hop record, as opposed to a hip hop record with some experimentation. Hence the title. There's a whole whack of interesting collaborators on here - FKA Twigs, Dev Hynes, Moby via a "Porcelain" sample, Frank Ocean, Clams Casino, Dean Blunt...as well as some less-eyebrow raising names like Kid Cudi, Kodak Black, French Montana, Juicy J...so what's the verdict? Well it sounds as unsettled and restless as A$AP likely was while putting this together - it's less an album and more a collection of experiments. I can't even confidently say it's a better album than LONG.LIVE.A$AP. or AT.LONG.LAST.A$AP. But I resp...

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