Tips Zum Selbstmord

I've loved HIRS since, uh, last year, when I heard You Can't Kill Us, then retroactively loved them some more when I grabbed The First 100 Songs. Who couldn't love a grind band with the mission statement "TRANS, QUEER, anti-authoritarian, thrash with PUNK ethics to destroy capitalist misogynist scum and empower WOMEN, POC, and the LGBTQIA community...". And the music fucking rips. Friends. Lovers. Favorites. is more of the same except with a lot of guests (hence the title) including some high profile ones like Laura Jane Grace of Against Me!, Shirley Manson of Garbage, Alice Bag, Sadie Switchblade, and others. And the best part? They're a grind bands that knows the meaning of being succinct and to the point. This album is only 14 minutes long, and features almost no samples, which I thought bogged down some of their work (let's face it, sample-heavy grind band is a pretty 2000s look...just be a kick ass grind band). It's great.

Noise compilations are already pretty dodgy affairs. "Hey want 20-odd blasts of random, context-less noise blasted at you for 80 minutes?". Usually not so fun. But I snagged a groovy Vinyl-on-Demand comp called Mexican Cassette Culture 1977-1982, which I guess this one maybe stemmed from (first release from this Insane Muzak imprint, which sounds like a name John Olsen might come up with, or one who was aping John Olsen might come up with), and it was great. But it was VOD so you got like 6 or 8 sides, a few tracks from each group, some longer sidelong pieces, etc. A bit of time to sink your teeth into each artist. This one is the aforementioned 2-4 minute blasts variety and after a while it's hard to really hear anything at all. As a bit of a history lesson in subversive music in Spain in the 80's it's interesting, but it's not much fun to listen to. Meh.

I'd never heard of Park Jiha before or the groups she'd played in. Communion is her first solo record - in addition to composing these 7 tracks she plays piri (double reed bamboo flute), saenghwang (mouth organ) and yanggeum (hammered dulcimer). Kim Oki joins her on saxophone & bass clarinet, John Bell on vibraphone and Kang Tekhyun on percussion. This album strikes a fascinating balance between being accessible (I'd almost say catchy) and completely alien - you've almost certainly never heard anything like it. I returned to it time and time again and found it endlessly listenable, sounding not at all like anything remotely "jazz improv" despite the format being there. I can't describe it, just listen.

I don't listen to much vaporwave anymore because, let's face it, it's all derivative ass-sucking crap these days. But I still make time for Cat System Corp. for his "mallsoft" classic Palm Mall, some of the best interweaving of that vaunted 80's aesthetic and vaporwave/ocean funk/whatever beats (and straight up dreamy ambience). This one, which I believe translates to Family. Work. Shop., is the soundtrack to an 80-minute VHS CatCorp released compiled of footage shot by the dude himself on business trips, family outings, and so on. I don't have the tape but the soundtrack is all right - unfortunately for me more "soft" than "mall" which is to say less ambience and field recording and more beats, some of which are downright rump-shaking and funky at times. What's undeniable is that CatCorp has clearly grown as a musician, or a producer, or whatever you'd like to call him, far beyond what this genre usually lends itself to.

A Crow Looked At Me is regrettably absent from my 2017 best of because I stupidly waited until after the year was done to give it a listen. Didn't think it'd be my thing. I'd never listened to Mount Eerie/The Microphones/Phil Elverum much before. But it knocked me out, of course, was really one of the better things I listened to of the year. Now Only continues in very much the similar vein, less an album per se and more a healing project for Elverum following the death of his wife. These aren't so much songs as acoustic-guitar backed explorations, catharses, musings from a man still trying to find his way out of a nightmare. I think A Crow Looked At Me was better, maybe because it was like getting your head dunked in cold water whereas this is more A Crow Part 2 (the last song on this album, in fact, is titled "Crow Pt. 2"). Moving and heartbreaking and real, there is no question that A Crow and Now Only and what might come next will stand as absolute pillars...

Weird EP from Diplo whose production credits need no intro here. Despite the title this isn't a collection of bangers, rather the mood here is a little...wistful? Morose, even? The production has plenty of bombast - witness in particular "Suicidal" featuring Desiigner (as repetitive and maddeningly catchy as anything the latter comes out with) and "Look Back" featuring D.R.A.M. which is damn near melodramatic in its hugely over-the-top production. "Worry No More" with Lil Yachty and Santigold is also very catchy and radio ready. "Wish" with Lil Xan is completely forgettable and mostly a snooze, "Get It Right (Remix)" feat. MØ and GoldLink is also cinematic but not terribly good either. My favorite is "Wish" with Trippie Redd's raw-throated, shouty vocals (almost bordering on annoying but not quite). Catchy and anthemtic. The mood of this EP is scattered and a couple good tracks in its 18 minutes' length makes it f...

This is a great album that came out of nowhere for me as much as it did for most anyone else. Just 10 tracks, 41 minutes, but packed with musicality and ideas and heartfelt lyrics. Saba's flow is smooth and, well, lyrical and the production is gorgeous - dreamy, jazzy, and pitch perfect. The flow changes in "Life" are downright dizzying and "Prom/King" switches gears in the blink of an eye. Fantastic and worthy of multiple listens.