The Friday Round-Up

As we come to the close of another week, we wanted to shine the light on a few records that may have fallen through the cracks — lovely, small albums that deserve a bit of spotlighting. They pretty much range across all genres, and the only thing they really share is that we like them all lots.

We’ll start with Joe’s picks after the jump.

JOE:
Emptyset, As Neat as a New Pin: I’ve written about this record here before, but I just wanted to give it another little boost. Small, fragile and delicate little lost-love songs delivered with the proper British lilt. What makes this record work for me is the balance of drama and dry wit — the first song is a big moper, complete with lonely violin and big, booming piano chords. But the first line of the song right after it? “If I didn’t know better, I’d say she were heaven sent/ There’s just one little problem: she’s on the wrong continent.” I can see fans of Jens Lekman, the Magnetic Fields and Belle & Sebastian loving this. Also bonus jam: contains a cover of Jesus & Mary Chain’s “Some Candy Talking.”

Blank Dogs, Under and Under: I’ve used this description before, but Blank Dogs to me sound like a Joy Division played in a rickety cassette recorder. The songs — particularly the vocals — have this weird, wobbly quality to them. The music is straight trashy post-punk, spindly, echoey guitars and bottom-of-the-well drumming. The aesthetic is super amateur, which suits me just fine. I keep wanting to compare them to the Fall, but they don’t sound anything like them. That could just be because I just started reading a Fall biography.

Finale, A Pipe Dream & a Promise: My gripes about contemporary hip-hop are well-documented (though I note, with some relief, that Jay-Z apparently shares them. Like the excellent new Tanya Morgan record, Finale’s A Pipe Dream and a Promise maximizes everything I love about 90s hip-hop: R&B-based production and nimble lyricism. The album is a story of Finale’s slow rise to fame (which, uh, might be a little premature, but I digress), and it’s peppered with interviews and spoken word bits about the golden age of hip-hop. Solid and satisfying, one of my favorite rap records of the year so far.

JAYSON

Nosaj Thing – Drift

Just an absolutely gorgeous and evocative blend of dubstep, glitch, and instrumental hip hop. It’s times like this I wish I were Philip Sherburne, as he could undoubtedly summon the tactile language necessary to properly describe the banquet of sounds available here. Instrumental hip hop heads and electronic-music aficionados pretty much already know the deal; I’m just adding my voice enthusiastically to the chorus. If you are a fan of Booka Shade’s Movements or Burial or Flying Lotus or anything in that particular wheelhouse and you somehow haven’t heard this yet…..you know what to do.

Tiye Phoenix – Half Woman, Half Amazin’

I mentioned this one when it went live on the site, and I want to emphatically come back to it and push it properly. Tiye Phoenix is a New York battle rapper who helped Chuck D. write the He Got Game soundtrack. From a straight-up rapping perspective, she’s incredible. She spits with twice the venom and force of Lady of Rage and Rah Digga combined, and her insane punch lines stack up so quickly that you hardly have time to scrunch up your nose and go “oh, shit” before the next one hits. Her disses carry the heat of real disdain: “Battle you? Nevermind/I’ve heard better lines from Kevin Federline/Damn, these some pathetic times,” she spits angrily on the opening track. She can talk greasy to other female rappers without losing her regal air. “I murder chicks, I’m movin’ on to murk dudes,” she rhymes on “Stop Right There,” adding, “You lack the stamina and speed you need to run the race/The only thing in common? We both bleed on the twenty-eighth.” I mean, come on. And her images are head-turning: one on song, she’s rhyming “off the top of the head, like toupees in a convertible.” I could go on, but to me her most compelling trait is her effortless swagger and confidence, the kind that only the most compelling rappers exude. She doesn’t hesitate to address bluntly what a miserable situation female rappers face in the testosterone-choked locker room of hip-hop, but she’s not letting it get her the least bit jammed up. My only caveat; while she’s pretty much peerless as a brute-force rhymer, she’s thus far underdeveloped as an artist, and the songs that aren’t about how good A) she is and B) you are emphatically not feel a little rote and perfunctory. But that’s a minor gripe. Check it out.

Pocahaunted – Island Diamonds

Glassy-eyed, creepy/pretty sorta-dub from Diva Dompe, she of our own beloved Blackblack! This is an appealing left turn for Diva. The slightly rickety, handmade charm that made Blackblack so near and dear to us is definitely present, though it’s harder to suss out through the rich, dank atmosphere; “Ghetto Ballet,” in particular, curls upward languidly like the kind of perfumed smoke that likely accompanied its creation (and that surely serves as an excellent complement.)

MARIS

Jenny Owen Youngs – Transmitter Failure

At first I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about Jenny Owen Youngs’ latest record. I was worried that she’d be sweet and folky and likeable, but that there wouldn’t be enough to elevate her out of the pleasant but boring zone. I am happy to say that I was dead wrong. There is fire beneath that sultry voice, and her lyrics cut like knives–literally: “Here is a heart/ I made it for you so take it/battered and braised, grilled and sautéed/just how you like it.” And then every now and then you get that awesome feeling of hearing a song for the first time and knowing that it’s pretty much gonna take over your life for the next few weeks. That’s how I felt when I heard “Clean Break.” I’m up to listen # 33, and it still packs a punch.

Next to Normal – Original Broadway Cast Recording

Now for something completely different. We don’t often talk musical theater on 17 Dots (even though I know for a fact that I am not the only member of the editorial team with a stage credit or two), but I have to rep for the original cast recording of Next to Normal. Next to Normal is just your average old Broadway musical about… manic depression. No, Disney this ain’t. But the music is gorgeous, every single member of the cast is solid, and, as a “perfect” wife and mother who is slowly losing her sh*t, Alice Ripley is a revelation. I was fortunate enough to catch a performance about a month ago, and I confess it was a literal 3-hanky experience. If you’re looking for one song to start with, I’d definitely go with “I Miss the Mountains.” Beautiful, surprisingly witty, and intensely cathartic.

Enjoy your weekend, everyone.