WIBLT: Music to Fight the Variant to
What I've Been Listening To, 8/4/2021
‘What I’ve Been Listening To’ is a bi-weekly series that highlights 8 projects, 1 song, and 1 video that have been on repeat for me. Be sure to follow the ‘What I’ve Been Listening To’ playlist that is always up to date with the eight standout tracks from all of these posts in 2021.
Take care of yourselves & each other, and listen to this great music while you do.
They Think We Ghetto - Quadry
11 tracks, 36 minutes
Released: July 25th, 2021
From: Baton Rouge, LA
Genres: Hip-Hop/Rap
Recommended For Fans Of: Isaiah Rashad, Kenny Mason, JID
Though he’s released two EPs in the time since his 2018 debut album Malik Ruff, this is Quadry’s first full length drop since then. It’s worth the wait, as you can feel the dedication and precision in the way Quadry put together They Think We Ghetto. Over 11 tracks, he paints vivid pictures of his day-to-day experiences and emotions in a way that also feels like a love letter to southern rap, and just the south in general. Throughout the course of the album, Quadry samples the Baton Rouge based video Thuggin It and Lovin It, features artists with southern roots like Grip & bLAck pARty, named a song (Once Upon a Time In the Parking Lot) after a verse a little kid spit in a 2004 Boosie BadAzz documentary, and ends it all with a short skit about Popeyes chicken over the sound of DJ Skrew’s Sailin’ Da South playing in the background. It all comes together to create a project you won’t want to miss.
Standout Track: 4 My…. & We Were
Hussy - Hussy
7 tracks, 23 minutes
Released: July 23rd, 2021
From: South East London
Genres: Indie, Alternative, Lo-fi Rock
Recommended For Fans Of: Snail Mail, Wolf Alice, Bill Callahan
Hussy is the self-titled, self-written, self-produced debut from the south east London artist, self-released on her label Rock Hag. Hussy gained those skills playing in several London bands, and also working as a studio engineer before taking matters into her own hands. Though the solo project first came to life back in 2017, this is the first project she’s released under the name. For Hussy, doing everything herself represented rebellion as much as it did vulnerability. “These songs may appear to show a softer side and a vulnerability, but for me playing every instrument you hear on my songs and producing this all myself is also a rebellion against the people who’ve told me I needed a 50 year old man to remake my songs for me and help me find myself,” she told The Forty Five.
Standout Track: I Tried
Misanthropy - PERMO
5 tracks, 14 minutes
Released: July 30th, 2021
From: Falkirk, UK
Genres: Punk, Garage, Rock, Alternative
Recommended For Fans Of: Shame, Turnstile
PERMO, the three piece punk band from Falkirk, have put together a tight EP that’s explosive from the get-go with Misanthropy. This is their first official release, compiling three previously released singles with two brand new tracks. From start to finish, this is an electrifying in your face EP, that undoubtedly shows PERMO is on their way to climbing up into the ranks of the finest in UK punk. Whether you need it to workout, motivate yourself, or you’re trying to get some practice in for when you can safely enter a mosh pit again, this EP will give you everything you need to turn your energy up to 11. As far as I’m aware they’re also the first to coin the term ‘Karenoia’ on the closing track of the same name that rages against Karens and Big Brother alike.
Standout Track: Ultraviolence
Cabin Food - Tahj Keeton
6 tracks, 16 minutes
Released: July 1st, 2021
From: Atlanta, GA
Genres: Hip-Hop/Rap, Alternative, Punk
Recommended For Fans Of: Paris Texas, Tyler the Creator
Tahj Keeton has released a project every year dating back to 2018, and he made sure 2021 was no exception with the release of his excellent new EP Cabin Food. Though in an instagram post, Keeton calls this collection of tracks just the “calm before the storm,” as they were all made for an upcoming album before he ultimately decided to change direction. As with past releases, including the 2020 album SARF, this project shows the incredible range in his sound. It would be a waste of time to try to box Keeton into just one genre. That tone is set immediately as the menacing and bass heavy opening track Awake (Prelude) goes right into the gentler meditative cut Morningtime. If this is truly the calm before the storm, then the storm is going to be something incredibly special. This EP also comes on the heels of multiple appearances from Keeton on the posthumous 6 Dogs album, RONALD.
Standout Track: Strawberry Drums
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SHILOH: Lost For Words - John Glacier
12 tracks, 25 minutes
Released: July 30th, 2021
From: London, UK
Genres: R&B, Hip-Hop/Rap, Lo-Fi, Electronic
Recommended For Fans Of: Madlib, Vegyn, Shygirl
John Glacier takes their debut album to cut lo-fi vocals through warm and glitched out electronic production. Those instrumentals are held down by Vegyn (boundary pushing producer, probably most well known for collaborations with Frank Ocean), who has a solo or co-producing credit on every track. Glacier told Clash Magazine that Vegyn is her cousin on her mom’s side, “he’s also a sick producer that welcomed me to record. Growing up he had a dog that I used to watch.” The pairing of Glacier’s vocals over Vegyn & co.’s production makes a truly unique sound that is easy to get lost in. Previously Glacier had shared music online, such as the 24 second clip A Child was Sad so I made this infront of her to make her laugh on her Soundcloud page, but hardly ever uploaded to digital streaming platforms like Spotify or Apple Music, making this her official debut album. It feels like the type of project that’s meant to be played front to back, but take the intro track below as a sampler.
Standout Track: If Anything
This Far - Teamonade
4 tracks, 15 minutes
Released: July 23rd, 2021
From: Bowling Green, OH
Genres: Indie Rock, Pop, Midwest-Emo
Recommended For Fans Of: Bartees Strange, Alex G
“u ever go to mcdonalds and your beverage of choice would always be the sweet tea mixed with the minute maid lemonade and one day they just got rid of the lemonade so now you're just filled with rage” - Teamonade’s Bandcamp bio.
If you’ve ever been filled with the rage described above, have I got an EP for you. This Far is Teamonade’s second EP, and was released under Counter Intuitive Records. This time around the project was produced by Steve Warstler, known for his work with Citizen among other bands. These four tracks are grounded by lead singer Osi, a vocalist with such incredible range that you might think the band puts more than one person on vocal duties (I know I did on first listen). In reality, the incredible sound on here is held down by just three members, Osi on vocal/guitar/piano, TJ on bass, and Ryan on drums. Their talents are on full display throughout this stellar EP.
Standout Track: Impulse
Blind Obedience - Taphari
12 tracks, 30 minutes
Released: July 23rd, 2021
From: Brooklyn, NY
Genres: Hip-Hop/Rap
Recommended For Fans Of: Bbymutha, Pink Siifu
Taphari, the Brooklyn artist who’s earned the nickname Rap Alien, gives us his first full length release here with Blind Obedience. From the moment you hit play, it’s apparent where the alien nickname comes from as Taphari’s voice pitch shifts between octaves over an aggressive yet abstract beat. From start to finish this isn’t like any other album I’ve heard before. Production wise it melds elements of drum and bass with trap drums and spacey synths. Makes sense for an artist that got his start in the “underground queer club scenes of Bushwick.” For Taphari, the album title is a statement to the mentality he had to kill in order to create this project.
“Blind Obedience is the psychology of doing as told without thinking for one's self about what is being asked of you. As a culture, we are socialized to be blindly obedient to patriarchy, classism, anti-blackness, capitalism, etc. This album process revealed to me so much of myself that wasn’t my self and set fire to all secondhand beliefs and conditions that kept me divide and neurotic in my existence. This album was created in the energy of self-actualization.” -Taphari in an Instagram caption.
There’s really no one track I could pick that would give you an idea of what to expect from this album, but to me this one was the most fun.
Standout Track: Kathy Bates
You Freak Me Out - gnawing
10 tracks, 35 minutes
Released: July 9th, 2021
From: Richmond, VA
Genres: Alternative, Punk, Grunge, Country
Recommended For Fans Of: Dinosaur Jr., Neil Young, Yuck
gnawing took the lockdown ‘break’ from live gigs as a chance to hunker down and put together their full length debut, You Freak Me Out. As a band, gnawing describe themselves as “a loud rock and roll band that wishes they were a country band.” While you would never mistake this for country music, you’ll hear hints of it - a certain twang in some vocal passes, a particular acoustic guitar riff, etc. In general though, their sound owes more to 90s alternative rock. In particular, songwriter John Russell credits bands like Dinosaur Jr., Pavement, and The Lemonheads as major influences. This goes for the majority of the album that features fuzzier, electric guitar lead tracks, but if you put on Crenshaw Ave. and close your eyes, you may think you stumbled upon an unreleased Neil Young record. Taking all these influences together to create something entirely their own, gnawing’s debut is a ripping good time.
Standout Track: Summer Heat
A Song
Locust Laced - Sleigh Bells
The fact that this feels fresh today in terms of what’s coming out in hyperpop and adjacent music, while also sounding like it could fit right into either of Sleigh Bells’ albums from 2010 or 2012 just proves they were ahead of their time.
A Video
Say What You Will - James Blake
While both are obviously very talented and accomplished producers, I personally find James Blake to have a much more interesting and versatile sound than FINNEAS, especially when it comes to their respective solo releases. That makes it all the more interesting (and funny, which was probably the point) that Blake would even compare himself or get jealous at all.
Thank u