#168 Julianna Barwick, The Magic Place (2011)
Rating: 2
Monastery music. Kind of like Pentatonix stumbled into a cathedral and wanted to mess around. Choral voices in the air (evidently much of which is just her own voice looped). This record was released on Sufjan Stevens’ label. Very little percussion, it floats. Lots of brain references in here for various choral genres - the Bulgarian chorus sound (“White Flag”), chants, that playing-wine-glasses thing, hymns, Enya (“Vow”)...I’m in church. I’m in a candle store. I’m watching a Terrence Malick movie. Beyond that, it's tough stating an opinion on this - it's like reviewing a restaurant and you have an awesome cold glass of water. It can be a joy and even beautiful, but somehow not that relevant to the question?
Pitchfork writers:
Her primary mode of expression is her voice and a loop pedal, layered to feel completely enveloping: the reverb-coated sound of singing and breathing, echoed until you forget where it’s coming from. Arriving early in a decade that would find other young artists drawing inspiration from the once-maligned New Age genre, the album represented a shift in how the underground could embrace the celestial.
#167 (Sandy) Alex G, DSU (2014)
Rating: 2
Lo-fi, spare, and guitar-based (his guitar can be found on Frank Ocean’s records). Do we still say "shoegaze" or nah? There's a certain vocal tone that I'd call "reluctant" - like I'd really rather not be singing, so I'm going to do it softly. Shades of Elliott Smith when it’s stacked & dubbed (“After Ur Gone,” the leadoff track) It's interesting, and there's talent. Lots of variation, there are some dad rock moves (“Boy”), some mopey grunge (“Hollow”) and some straight up alt-rock. To his great credit, he was only 20 or 21 years old here, and this is his “big” label debut - Fader had just called him “the internet’s secret best songwriter.” He records everything himself at home and everything feels intimate like that. Another collection of short tunes - 15 songs, 37 minutes.
Pitchfork writers:
His songs are built around catchy, intimate melodies evocative of Elliott Smith at his poppiest, with disorienting flourishes of freakiness, like a pitch-shifted baby voice or sharp blasts of dissonance. Insular without being inaccessible, addictive while still being idiosyncratic, DSU affirmed that the decade’s most singular voices were probably holed up in their bedrooms, waiting to be heard [Scott’s note: 29% of these words (16/56) are 8 letters or more, just sayin’]
#166 Nicki Minaj, The Pinkprint (2014)
Rating: 3
She's got more to sing about than booties here, feels "serious." There’s gun death in the first track. It's ambitious. And sounds expensive. OK yes, “Anaconda” is also on this record, so grains of salt all around. The record's not bad - some of the more monotonous Houston 'screwed up' slow beats and trap sounds. But there's some fun, some self-consciousness. The features are fun - Beyonce on "Feeling Myself", complete with West Coast backdrop. Drake and Lil Wayne on the Dr. Luke produced "Only." Square waves and slowed down. Most of the content is how great Nicki is, at rapping and business and sex and so forth. She straight up sings in “I Lied,” sounds like a Solange song. "Pills and Potions," the first single released, is a straight up Macklemore riff. Some of it is funny. The songs definitely adopt the style of their featured guests (Ariana Grande, Jessie Ware, Meek Mill). Couple of my favorites - “Trini Dem Girls” and “Four Door Aventador” - because they sound so different from "Starships" type pop-rap. And Anaconda - I mean, that's just fun. I'm on some dumb shiiiiiiiiit.....