What other music are you into?

Not sure how I feel about Art Angels as a whole. Kill V. Maim and Flesh Without Blood are fantastic and some of the best tracks Grimes has ever put out IMO, but overall I didn't feel like many of the songs on Art Angels made much of a lasting impression on me. I'm completely behind Claire going in a more "conventional" pop direction, and there's no doubt that that's always been a goal of hers and that she's demonstrated time and time again that she has fantastic pop sensibilities, but I can't help but feel a little disappointed by this album. It just kind of feels... empty to me. Not lyrically or thematically, but musically. Visions had a similar sort of ephemeral quality, but it felt so fresh and left-field for a pop album that I felt like I could listen to it on repeat forever and not get bored of it.

Though Visions and Halfaxa are two of my favorite albums ever, so maybe I was always setting myself up for disappointment. Idk. All I ever want Grimes to do is put out a super stripped back, like, ambient chant album in kind of a similar vein as Björk's Medulla or something. Her voice in this clip is legitimately one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard:

I discovered an absolutely AMAZING duo from the 80's that I have to share with you guys.  It's a brother-sister synth-pop duo from the 80's named Sophie & Peter Johnson.  I can't find much information about them.  They released one album and a few singles, and then disappeared off the face of the earth as many bands from this era did.  However, the music they left behind sounds like nothing else.  It fits in well with the era it came from yet eerily sounds like something that could have been released yesterday.  Their taste in synthesizer sounds and constructing dreamy atmospheres is incredible.  Sophie's vocals and melodies remind me a little bit of the band TOPS, but the background music is so dreamy and psychedelic that it brings to mind vaporwave and seapunk stuff like James Ferraro more than anything from the era.  Give their peel session a listen and tell me if I'm just crazy: it's 13 minutes of some of the best 80's pop music I think I've heard.  If you like the stuff on the Sfire mix be sure to check this out.



There's also this vide of a B-Side from one of their singles that sounds SUPER ahead of its time.  I can hardly believe that it's form 1985.  I can imagine someone like A.G. Cook or Hudson Mohawke having released this in the early 2010's.  

soooooo much better.  besides Oblivion and Genesis there's not a single track from Visions I've ever listened to more than twice.  She showed some serious promise and talent on that record obviously, don't get me wrong, but it was just too mumbly and repetitive for my tastes, I always thought it was overrated but wanted to hear more and MAN does this new album deliver.  Her songwriting and singing have totally leveled up and provide a really crucial center for her brilliant productions to revolve around.  Kill V. Maim and Pin are sooooo sick

New Arca album is absolutely incredible... ever since I first listened I keep getting bits of it stuck in my head... and it gets better every time round

OH MY GOSH THIS IS TOO GOOD

is anyone else REALLY glad missy elliott's back