| SputNews Well v.8 |
| 1 |  | Black Country, New Road
For the first time
Hello and welcome back to Sputnik's weekly tabloidzine, by and for the good people of Sputnik ed. fking no-one. the dedicated user for this instalment is TrantaLocked. How are you doing, Tranta. Begin! |
| 2 |  | Live Skull
Bringing Home the Bait
SECTION 1: Sputcore round up
let's go through all the latest sputcore from the previous month or so and review it quickly just so we are on the same page (which you can then turn)! |
| 3 |  | Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The LSO
Promises
borderline good |
| 4 |  | Xiu Xiu
Oh No
very good |
| 5 |  | Tomahawk
Tonic Immobility
borderline |
| 6 |  | Ben Howard
Collections from the Whiteout
not great |
| 7 |  | The Antlers
Green to Gold
pretty / boring |
| 8 |  | Bruit
The Machine Is Burning...
surprisingly good |
| 9 |  | Kishi Bashi
Emigrant
annoying |
| 10 |  | Godspeed You! Black Emperor
G_d's Pee AT STATE'S END!
mediocre |
| 11 |  | Yukika
Timeabout,
okay |
| 12 |  | Kauan
Ice Fleet
ok |
| 13 |  | Zao
The Crimson Corridor
pretty solid |
| 14 |  | The Armed
Ultrapop
very solid |
| 15 |  | Hail the Sun
New Age Filth
lame as hell |
| 16 |  | Manchester Orchestra
The Million Masks of God
lame as purgatory |
| 17 |  | Kero Kero Bonito
Civilisation II
excellent |
| 18 |  | Porter Robinson
Nurture
bland |
| 19 |  | Origami Angel
Gami Gang
too long pretty fun |
| 20 |  | Siouxsie and the Banshees
The Scream
SECTION 2: shoutouts
Now that we have turned the page, it is time for shoutouts. This is section 2, so there will be 2 shoutouts this week. Here they are: |
| 21 |  | Foxing
Nearer My God
Rowan5215: "gorillaz had more impact on the culture than the entire canon of britpop. no sugars in the mocha please" |
| 22 |  | Animal Collective
Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They've Vanished
Colton: "lol" |
| 23 |  | Portishead
Third
SECTION 3: list is digs
Okay we have run out of news, so please allow me to present my digs. This is list is candid from now onwards. |
| 24 |  | Cynic
Focus
Since discontinuing my listening journal after hitting my fated #2222th rating, I've actually started listening to coherent patterns of music. So that's nice. I'll probably restart the journal once I hit #2300, but here's a streamlined miniversion for the time being.
Focus is a bit of an anomaly, but it was overdue and rips like no-one's business, so that's all okay. Great album. |
| 25 |  | The Cure
Three Imaginary Boys
THE CURE!
I think it was dipping my toes into Xiu Xiu that made me realise how hopelessly out of touch I was with this band's discog, outside of Pornography and Disintegration. Catch-up underway, results so far:
Three Imaginary Boys is a fairly decent post-punk post-punking with relatively little identity but a handful of good tracks. Nice start. |
| 26 |  | The Cure
Seventeen Seconds
Awesome album, great songwriting and solid atmosphere. I love how sparse and wraithlike everything is here compared the muggier albums that followed in the Gothic TRIO. Definitely my favourite of the three. |
| 27 |  | The Cure
Faith
Seventeen Seconds pt.2 except this time the gravity is turned up. It's not on the same level of despair as Pornography, but this album is heavy. I don't enjoy it as much, but it's still great and I'll come back to it for sure |
| 28 |  | The Cure
Japanese Whispers
The Walk was the only Cure song I knew as a kid and I loved the shit out of it - bit of a surprise to realise that it was part of the group's next step from fucking Pornography. Peak gothic gloom to sparkly synthpop, who knew. Good release, The Walk + Lovecats are good bangers |
| 29 |  | The Cure
The Top
This is a mess, some of it is outright bad, and the good bits aren't great. Next. |
| 30 |  | The Cure
The Head on the Door
Now we're talking! Really versatile and quirky pop writing, I like this one a lot and can see it growing and growing. This band is pretty great innit |
| 31 |  | The Cure
Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me
And there was I getting all comfortable with how conveniently consumable all Cure releases up to this point had been. Yikes, this is a behemoth. I kinda feel why: so much excess in those themes and some of them jams. At points it holds up great, at others tracks feel like retreads of each other. I like this but don't know if I love it as a whole. Would be KILL or KEEP primo material if more people jammed it.
CURE DISCOG TBC |
| 32 |  | The Beatles
Please Please Me
OLD SHIT!
The Cure somehow reminded me that I don't listen to enough old shit, so here we go: early Beatles (and friends)! I'm a firm disciple of the the 1 compilation, so this wasn't ~that much of a voyage of discovery, but it was still a good ol time
Please Please Me is a really endearing rock n roll record! I like it! Somewhat patchy tracklist and an inconsistent sense of identity at this point, but fair shit tbh - I'm not about to complain that the Beatles didn't sound like the most developed versions of themselves in 196 fking 3. Good! |
| 33 |  | The Beatles
With the Beatles
Please Please Me II except the harmonies are a little stronger and, conversely, there are fewer memorable tracks. And too many covers! Strong opener though. |
| 34 |  | The Beatles
A Hard Day's Night
Now this is more like it! Really solid album, great writing across the board, a ton of great tracks, better album flow than the previous two and even a few deep cuts. I love it when homework is FUN.
BEATLES DISCOG TBC |
| 35 |  | The Sonics
Here Are the Sonics
Protoprotopunk, huh? This is a bit of a one-trick pony, but it's good fun and has big energy. So hooray for that. Not sure how much I'll come back to it for reasons other than making quaint rocknroll party mixes (uh) but the world makes more sense now! |
| 36 |  | The Beach Boys
Pet Sounds
I finally listened to Pet Sounds end to end! It was great! Slight issue with the music and arrangements being visionary, but the subject matter being corny as all hell for the most part, but the Beaches and their Boiz had enough sunshine to wear this adequately.
I'm kinda angry at myself for not getting here earlier because I've now spent years hearing this cited across a b r o a d range of works and it's harder to take it purely on its own terms, but it sure af holds up. Better late than never. Will clear up some other Beach Boys in good time. |
| 37 |  | Joni Mitchell
Blue
I heard this a couple of times earlier this year, but wasn't really sure where I sat to it and didn't want to rush to a conclusion. To be honest, I still feel similar, but I'm now much more confident that A) I like it and B) Joni Mitchell really is a super talented writer and it wasn't just p4k chatting air. There's so much heart and detail to these tracks that I feel it's less a case of "oh you listened to Blue, nice did you get the Blue experience" and more one in which you go on a longer emotional journey with the record over unconfirmed stretches of your life (this goes for half the albums in this section tbh, but is particularly my vibe here). I'm okay with that! Travelling, travelling... |
| 38 |  | Tim Buckley
Starsailor
this is a lot. some of it is brilliant, some of is extra af. probably very inspired. |
| 39 |  | Lamp
For Lovers / 恋人へ
SHIBUYA KEI
What the fuck is Shibuya Kei? For a long while, I assumed that it was plasticated pseudovintage whateverness from multiple decades ago and ignored it. This was really stupid of me. Here is an explanation:
"Melodically, Shibuya-kei bridged the orchestral pop and Wall of Sound of Brian Wilson and Dyke Van Parks, Brazilian bossa nova, Californian ‘60s soft and psychedelic rock, French Yé-yé and chanson, American East Coast hip-hop sampling and plunderphonics, lounge pop, exotica, film music and much more, bringing together styles of music from all corners of the globe that had never previously interacted in such fluid fashion.
These artists took historic, internationalist pop genres and updated them for the ‘90s, bolstering their dancefloor cred with the beats of breakbeat, downtempo, trip hop, krautrock, Chicago house and British Baggy/Madchester. While Shibuya-kei wasn’t the first retro-futurist pop movement, it was one of the most audacious, made even more recognisable by its kitsch, retro fashion aesthetic."
make sense? uh. so it's basically what city-pop was for the late 70s/80s, but with beats instead of boogie and for the 90s/00s. Stylistically it's pretty anything-goes, but there are definitely common threads to its aesthetic and methodology.
Anyway this Lamp album is really lovely bossa nova/jazz pop and you can (and should!!!) check it out and enjoy it without scratching your head over what Shibuya Kei is. Lovely stuff. |
| 40 |  | Lamp
Dream / ゆめ
This one is more jazz pop and less excellent and quite long, but it has a gorgeous closing trio so I don't mind. Good album. THANK YOU STEAK ILY |
| 41 |  | Serani Poji
Manamoon
Apparently this album (and this alone, from the band's work) came out of a video game score, which makes sense but I wouldn't have known. Slick stuff, very comfy mood/study/social twee jams that get a little wearying if you pay too much attention to them but are otherwise ideal background music. Excited to explore this project more |
| 42 |  | Kahimi Karie
Nunki
Yeah this isn't a shibuya kei THANKS RAMON it's a deconstructed ambient pop arthouse piece and I don't know how I feel about it. maybe it is interesting maybe it is dull. Kahimi Karie is smart but does she have the right voice for this? |
| 43 |  | Kahimi Karie
Larme de Crocodile
Now this is more like it - Francophile late 90s indie pop delights. some parts are more delightful than others, but the pacing and aesthetic are p much on point throughout. cool. |
| 44 |  | Pizzicato Five
Pizzicatomania!
One of the bands/maybe albums that started it all, from way back in 1987. This is pretty okay, aesthetic holds up and there are some neat ideas but I was kinda relieved to read that this band hadn't yet come into their own at this point.
SHIBUYA KEI TBC |
| 45 |  | The Klezmatics
Jews With Horns
KLEZMER
So I've loved klezmer melodies for years now but didn't make much effort to explore them outside of John Zorn. Bad! Let's go. The Klezmatics are a Jewish group from NYC and this album is a really solid re-orientation act. I need to spend more with it, but their performances are lively as hell and hearing larger band arrangements of this sound sparks joy |
| 46 |  | Orchestra Goldberg
Kleftico Vlachiko
1908 recording of a cool piece. Joy |
| 47 |  | Abe Schwartz
National Hora (Part 1) / National Hora (Part 2)
1920 recording of a virtuoso accompanied by his daughter on piano. Such rich melodies, such beautiful style. Yes |
| 48 |  | Masada
Alef
John Zorn's flagship klezmer project, except it wasn't klezmer! It was an Ornette Coleman-worshiping 4-piece turning trad klezmer sounds (but new melodies!) into weirdo jazz. Classic. Some of it is classic - this is a super solid record and has some Zorn alltimers on it. Recommend |
| 49 |  | Ned Rothenberg
Inner Disapora
More experimental jazz/klezmer fusion, but much more elongated, spacious compositions. Also very good. |
| 50 |  | Sleepytime Gorilla Museum
Grand Opening and Closing
SECTION 4: This is the end of this sputnews update, here is a quote from neekafat:
"Coldplay are better than the Beatles"
and there we have it. Ta! |
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