Rafiq Bhatia – Environments
A very abstract, very technically impressive and well-produced record, but aside from evoking an overall feeling of watching a storm at sea, from a windy coast, this record feels emotionally flat. The Mammoth would recommend it to jazz or other art music fans, but for more casual listeners it’s probably a miss outside of its use as background music.
Highlight Track: Rain on the Canopy | Melting Sky
Worthy of Investigation?
It’s an interesting record but overall the Mammoth did not find it so revolutionary in its composition to motivate him to look further into Rafiq Bhatia’s work.
Maruja – Pain to Power
This record presents a very interesting form of genre fusion. The Mammoth had previously only heard a saxophone alongside punk-adjacent music in the form of ska, but here it’s used to add a very tense, frenetic energy to Maruja’s songs. Anger pervades through the first half of the record. Maruja isn’t limited into one means of conveying their aggression – sometimes they’re morally righteous, sometimes they’re eager to burn energy in a scrap. Rarely does it veer too far into preachy energy (mostly limited to a few spoken word segments that stick out like a sore thumb). Towards the end, they cool their heels just a tad, but it’s an impressively complete record.
Highlight Tracks: Saoirse, Zaytoun
Worthy of Investigation?
The Mammoth would say so, it’s a spin on punk he hadn’t heard before and the jazziness of the latter half intrigues him.
Frost Children – Sister
If the reader likes their dance music to have a manic energy with a frenetic edge to it, they’ll love the first half of this record. “Position Famous” through “WHAT IS FOREVER FOR” is a sprint of glitch pop, rife with huge choruses, DJs shouting hype, and buzzy synths. By around “Sister”, the record goes on a more mellow, alternative bent that is reminiscent of 2000’s emo music, but retaining Frost Children’s electronic instrumentation.
Highlight Tracks: Control, Sister
Worthy of Investigation?
While no part of this record is bad, it was difficult for the Mammoth to pick out highlight tracks. It’s a good dance record, but not so good he caught himself looking it up in his free time to listen to. Probably a pass in terms of their larger work.
Matt Maeson – A Quiet and Harmless Living
This is a great record. The Mammoth can immediately recommend it and will investigate Maeson’s previous work. There’s fantastic emotive writing on this record – whether it’s the anthem to checking out in “Downstairs”, or the ode to manic depression in “Split Personality Blues”, Maeson aptly switches between anthemic choruses and quiet, pensive verses throughout the record. Put this on if the reader wishes to sit and reflect for 37 minutes.
Highlight Tracks: Look Down on Us, Split Personality Blues, Downstairs
Worthy of Investigation?
Absolutely!
King Princess – Girl Violence
King Princess sings like someone who is fully aware of her voice’s capabilities, and is all over the place on this record. She sings with bratty attitude in the callout track “Cry Cry Cry”, swaggering bravado in “RIP KP”, and vulnerable, personal longing in “Say What You Will”. There’s bopping, bass-led tracks, fuzzy guitar tracks, abstract synth tracks, this record is a powerhouse of alternative pop, covering tons of ground. The Mammoth especially wants to call out this great production trick she employs with her vocal production – there’s plenty of use of reverb, doubling, harmonic choruses, etc, to make her vocals sound bigger at various points, but she will rapidly cut out all that to a single, unaltered voice for a lyric’s punchline. The effect is immediately effective.
Highlight Tracks: Cry Cry Cry, Origin, Slow Down and Shut Up, Serena
Worthy of Investigation?
Absolutely. The Mammoth has heard bits of King Princess’ prior work, and from that limited sample size, this record is a huge leap forward from her earlier records, but he’s still interested to see everything she’s put out there.