Writing about things that do and don't exit
Zacharia Tayler's The Day We Finally Go is a collection of twangy, gritty anthems. The phrase "No Depression" is central to the history of country music. The Carter Family's 1936 song "No Depression in Heaven" imagined a sublime escape from the economic bleakness of the day. Uncle Tupelo made a hardscrabble cover (bearing the shortened … Continue reading Daily Yinz – Zacharia Tayler – No Depression
A few words about a few local tracks that hit the spot this week ### Feralcat - palm trees & blankets Breezy, sax-adorned beats for the beginning of summer. What you hear when you call the magical relaxation hotline that doesn't exist, but should. More fro Feralcat Follow on Instagram ### cokeworks - Vulture The … Continue reading Weekly Wrap-Up 06.21.24
Hip-hop duo follows the Two Guns EP with an LP of the same name. The sweeping, technicolor string loop that guides the "Magenta Narcotics" instrumental sounds like a distorted fragment ripped from the Wizard of Oz score--fitting, because that film contains an overt reference to a certain magenta narcotic that would leave anyone feeling far … Continue reading Daily Yinz – BOSSY x JVGGY HENDRIX – Magenta Narcotics
Mento Fellini's new album, Temptation Babylon, contains nearly two hours of music. Temptation Babylon teems with rainbows of sonic diversity. Whether he's shredding with hairsprayed fervor, hammering out a lo-fi piano ballad, slinking around a hazy disco rhythm, or harmonizing on a euphoric hook, Mento Fellini's Dane Adelman resembles only himself; he bends classic sounds … Continue reading Daily Yinz – Mento Fellini – Laney
CHAOS is the first installation in Madame Dolores's four-part naeama series. Naeama, short for Navigating Earth Manual, is a multimedia project that includes audiovisual and literary components. The work seeks to illuminate a path of strength, justice, and decency in a world whose governments and power apparatuses embody the opposite qualities. The ten pieces featured on … Continue reading Daily Yinz – Madame Dolores – I wasn’t supposed to be HERE
Alexander Stanton's first townsppl album since 2017 is Beyond The Garden Wall. The balmy compositions and rich arrangements found on Beyond The Garden Wall suggest a bustling community in which the songs' narrators grow up, fall in love, live, and die. Not a concept album exactly, but a work, like The Kinks Are the Village … Continue reading Daily Yinz – townsppl – Man of the Future
A few words about a few local tracks that hit the spot this week ### Alysm - Love (Something in Between) A smitten-but-confused cyborg croons away over jellyfish synths and electric funk bass; a screwed-down radio jockey officiates. More from Alysm Follow on Instagram and Facebook Animation by Alysm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RukjQE7oJWA ### Reliable Child - Handsome … Continue reading Weekly Wrap-Up 06.14.24
Chandra Rhyme continues her paper chase with new single "Motivated." "Motivated" finds Chandra flexing in trilingual fashion: there's English, there's Spanish, and there's Cash-ish. As she puts it on the song's bouncy hook, "Talking 'bout money? / Then you speaking my language." That's the thesis statement, and Chandra fleshes it out in spirited fashion, backed … Continue reading Daily Yinz – Chandra Rhyme – Motivated
Bedroom artist's latest single is an ethereal rush of melancholy. Gracyn Blu Louis started work on "october" with the goal of creating a simple, layered a cappella piece. They ended up with an intricate arrangement--full of vocal harmonies and synths and percussive additions generated with hands and breath--that broke their computer. The song centers on … Continue reading Daily Yinz – Gracyn Blu Louis – october
The electro-industrial duo's latest album is Hope is the Last Refuge of the Dying (Distortion Productions) "The Four Winds" begins with an old-timey radio broadcaster voice intoning, "The final maddening space between life and death," and that's exactly what the song sounds like. Simmering electronics and pummeling drums combine to form an adrenaline-jumped heartbeat, while … Continue reading Daily Yinz – Red Lokust – The Four Winds
Bored In Pittsburgh 