Travis Scott - Astroworld (Grand Hustle/Cactus Jack/Epic, 2018)

Driving to work this AM and saw on Spotify this thing finally came out and ended up spinning it there and back. I've never been a big Travis Scott fan but this album has been in the works for so long and boasts such a ridiculous array of collaborators that I figured I'd have to at least check in on it. It's a monster, really. 17 tracks, I don't know the total length but gotta be in the 70 minute zone, and packed to the gills. Drake, Frank Ocean, Swae Lee, Kid Cudi, James Blake, a Stevie Wonder harmonica feature, Pharrell, The Weeknd x 2, 21 Savage, Quavo & Takeoff, let alone the production credits, which for me is the best part. For me, there are some good tracks here - the album starts very strong with "Stargazing", a total headtrip, Frank Ocean on "Carousel" and "Sicko Mode" with Drake. All 3 are legitimate bangers with some really adventurous, head-turning production. "R.I.P. Screw" is messy and disjointed but in a wonderful way that feels like an appropriate ode to screwed music. After that things get spotty. Maybe I owe the album a few more listens but I think at the end of the day my problem with Scott is that he's just not a terribly interesting rapper. And here he gets upstaged by the production and a lot of the features. It's an impressively put together record, but it feels strangely forgettable. We'll see if it sticks on a few more playthroughs.

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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.

Abstracter - Cinerous Incarnate (I, Voidhanger, 2018)

I was not aware of these guys, who formed in 2010 as a noise duo, and slowly evolved and added more members and turned into a kind of death/blackened doom metal project. They've got ties to other noise acts I don't know (Sutekh Hexen) and other industrial acts I don't know (Only Now). Quite a stew and the band pulls of something that sounds truly different. It's got a tentacle in each of the aforementioned genres but blends them really well. It's quite hard to pin them down in fact. Big, heavy riffs with a production level along the lines of a sludge/black metal record but sharp instrumentation and just a dirty atmosphere...ambient noise passages separate a couple tracks as a nice diversion...very cool

Grouper - Grid of Points (Kranky, 2018)

I've never really liked Grouper much, lots of other wogs go ga-ga over anything she puts out but it all leaves me cold. I wrote her off for a while, heard some hype for this new one, and I'm back to writing her off again. It's the same ghostly vocal samples/quasi religious/hymnal vibes..haunting and ethereal and...nothing that gets me all wound up. Pass.

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