Album 88

FLAPPER - MINAKO YOSHIDA Flapper is ecstatic, restless yet refined. Yoshida was one of the leading voices of the Rock and Soul infused music that was coming out in the 1970’s from Japan. This style that she helped pioneer would later become City Pop. She enlisted help from many of her other contemporaries on this record, including Haruoumi Hosono and Tatsuro Yamashita. Even though only one track was completely written by her, this is still her record, and she makes that ...obvious with her demanding vocal performance. From the tropical fueled (Do You Like Rum?), to the heartfelt piano ballad (A Season I Tried to Forget), there is a track for nearly every mood. The use of vibrant percussion and strings on the record is not overbearing, putting itself together like puzzle pieces into the grooves set by drums and bass. Flapper encapsulates detail, without begging for your attention. See more

"Superclean, Vol. II" - The Marias I have been listening to one my favorite albums during quarantine. Superclean, Vol. II by The Marias has been on repeat since the day I discovered The Marias. Each song holds a different memory and some of these memories often merge together. It ranges from marta rides to school (ABQ), falling in love (Carino and Over the Moon), car rides with friends (Ruthless) and even the memory of going to see them in concert/ waiting hours in line to be in the front row. Superclean Vol. II has been one of the albums that has brought me peace during quarantine.

"Heaven to a Tortured Mind" - Yves Tumor In April of this year, Yves Tumor produced & released their highly-anticipated release, Heaven To A Tortured Mind. The record features some psychedelic trance accompanied by some genre-splitting samples sure to appeal to musicphiles of every corner. Miami-native, Sean Bowie (Yves Tumor), came through just as hard two years after he released his critically acclaimed debut, Safe In The Hands of Love which you might have heard on your t...rusty, 88.5 FM! Heaven To A Tortured Mind has been on repeat all quarantine JUST to remind me of my perpetual loneliness. If you too would like to sulk, while also rocking out, Yves Tumor is for you!! Some of my favorites include Kerosene! featuring Diana Gordon, which may I add sounds like a timeless rock ballad that is sure to be a classic. Other faves include the catchy, Super Stars & genre-bending, album opener, Gospel For A New Century, which follows the disintegration of a beloved relationship & the existentialism that goes along with it. This release is easily my favorite of the year thus far & is a perfect introduction to the dystopia of Yves Tumor. FAVORITE: Keronsene! featuring Diana Gordon Honorable mentions: Super Stars, Gospel For A New Century & Romanticist

"Ungodly Hour" - Chloe x Halle I would go as far as to call this one of the best new RnB albums that I have ever heard. Chloe x Halle have always made it known that they were a force to be reckoned with, but Ungodly Hour takes a departure from their typical moody, rich sound to bring a newly matured and refined point of view. The album not only displays a full range of emotions, but to me, showcases a new sense of vulnerability previously hidden. Not to mention, they produced the entire record themselves! With all of this in mind, I love the album so much because of how much fun they sound like they had making it. The energy they create is infectious. Favorite Tracks - Forgive Me, Tipsy, Do It, Lonely, & Wonder What She Thinks of Me

things happen, it’s okay! - FROMTHEHEART This project is a series of wholesome collaborations from a group of indie electronic musicians / producers. Some big names on the project include Valentine, underscores, jedwill1999, Chuck Sutton, and Yung Skrrt. These 8 songs add up to 18 minutes of earworms, headbanging, and potential tears. Sugary-sweet autotune all up and down the album, and production that is sometimes banging, sometimes glitchy, but always impressive. One of t...he most fun albums of this year and one of the most emotional as well. Favorite song: 5T4YTRU Objective best song: MIDWESTEMO2

HOW I'M FEELING NOW - CHARLI XCX Charli's fourth studio album, "How I'm Feeling Now", is a perfect album for anyone's quarantine moods. While I haven't been really into her previous albums, this album really encapsulates a lot of the feelings that I (and others around me) have felt throughout quarantine. With songs like "Anthems", going back to missing going out to parties and hanging out mixed with existential dread about the current state of the world, "7 Years", a cute lov...e song about how her relationship with her current partner has really changed throughout their 7 years and even more so during their time quarantined together. Other songs like "Pink Diamond" throws back to her very hard club pop sound, making all of us miss going out to those clubs we used to frequent every weekend. If you've felt up and down throughout quarantine and isolation, especially if you're quarantined with a partner, I definitely recommend giving this album a listen. "How I'm Feeling Now" cycles through all of the feelings throughout this time, from fear to boredom, existential dread, and thinking more about our relationships with our friends and lovers. Songs I recommend are: -I Finally Understand -Anthems -Forever

CRASHED MY CAR - HOOK This project came out earlier in the year although I’ve been streaming it now more than ever. Hook’s bubbly sound and unapologetic attitude is likable and empowering rap to listen to. Some of my favorite tracks are Fall in Luh, Awesome, Wanna Be, and the popular title track Crashed My Car.

NEWS AT 11 - Corp. Quarantine has made me wonder when life will go back to normal. I miss being able to do things like go to the movie theater, and I’ve found out that I’m far more productive at school than I am at home. Me, being the vaporwave guy who runs the vaporwave show, albeit poorly, at the time being, has been listening to, believe it or not, vaporwave. Vaporwave, and all its slowed down goodness, is designed to make its listeners feel nostalgic . Remember when... weren’t all in quarantine? Vaporwave does. Remember when commuting to Atlanta from the metro area took two hours instead of 40 minutes? Vaporwave also remembers. I digress. The album I’ve been listening to, on a seemingly endless loop, is one of my favorite albums of the vaporwave genre. That album is Corp. (Catsystem Corp.) News At 11. The album that signified the death of the vaporwave era. Now, when I say that this album signaled the death of vaporwave, I don’t mean that this was the last vaporwave album to come out, nor is this the reason why vaporwave is a dead meme. News At 11 shows the listener about the day vaporwave died. That day being 9/11. The album, like a lot of Catsystem Corps.’s work, has a jazzy tone to it. However, unlike their other works, uses samples of news clips and commercials just before the first plane hit the North Tower. Some of my personal favorite songs of the album include: Goodmorning America, Downtown, and Channel 4. I think the album is great for a morning stroll through the city, and compared to an album like Saint Pepsi’s and Luxury Elite’s Midnight Delight, this album is more enjoyable during the day rather than at night. I personally give this album an A+ for making me wish for things to go back to normal, and I also give it a C- for also making me realize that normal wasn’t all that great either. Recommendation albums for vaporwave fans would include Midnight Delight, a collaboration album by Saint Pepsi and Luxury Elite, Mantra by VHS Logos, and The Sunset by Phoenix #2772. If vaporwave isn’t your genre, I would also recommend listening to the original soundtracks to the 2019 films Annihilation and Captive State. I’m also giving a recommendation to Somali Yacht Club’s album The Sun.

AKÁTÁ - TAVES In early 2018, Atlanta artist, Taves, began to release self-produced demo tracks through their Soundcloud (tavesfaves). These demos comprised of warm jazz and dance vocals over experimental, lo-fi, Black-inspired beats. Compositionally, this project was a space for Taves to explore their musical heritage. In March 2020, Taves released these demos in a full EP via Harsh Riddims. The title, Akátá, is Yoruba for cat away from home, and has historically been use...d as a derogatory term for Black and African Americans who were enslaved. The title is also the first peak into the story Taves has packed within the EP. Taves expresses that songwriting for them typically begins with frustration, boredom, and/or anxiety. They use music as a tool to communicate with the outside world, but at the same time, Akátá’s early demos were recorded with no original intention of release. I believe the personal nature of the project contributes to Akátá’s experimental and intimate atmosphere. Akátá opens with the official versions of previously released demospost-produced by a friend of Taves. Following these tracks, Akátá offers listeners the experience of hearing the original demo versions. These demo tracks are my personal favorites of the EP. They convey a dreaminess that is replaced in the official tracks with a fuller bodied sound. From their Bandcamp: Their EP ‘is an homage to the femmes in their family. It touches on those who’ve both impacted their life and suffered under failing systems to the point of their demise. This work is a part of their effort to process many tragic events from their youth. They use elements of R&B, Jazz and EDM to communicate their pain in a way that gets the audience both moving and reflecting on the dance floor."

BECAUSE THE INTERNET - CHILDISH GAMBINO A timeless album is rare. As I listen to Childish Gambino’s futuristic-yet-nostalgic Because the Internet, I’m brought back to sophomore year of high school in 2013, blasting the video game-esque banger 3005 through my cheap earbuds during independent work time in geometry class (which I eventually failed. So it goes.) It feels just as relevant now as it did in my earlier internet days. The album takes us on a journey through the li...fe of Rick Ross’ son who trolls celebrities online and hosts lavish parties, only further alienating him from others. From the intense and bold album opener Crawl, to the playful The Worst Guys, to the wistful and echoey Flight of the Navigator, to the dreamy and melancholy closer Life: The Biggest Troll, it’s colorful and cinematic. The mix of rocking guitar solos, far-off echoing vocals, and spacey synths and vibrations encompass sounds of the formidable digital age, begging us to analyze our own lives on the internet. As we’re increasingly connected online, we curate an image that can make us lose sight of ourselves. Gambino forces a mirror in front of our faces and asks us who we really are when the camera isn’t on. Life’s the biggest troll, says Gambino, and the joke’s you showed up-- no matter how carefully you construct a narrative for others to see, you still have to live with yourself, whether in 2013, 2020, 3005, or beyond. See more

WRASfest 2020 Cancelled - wrasfest.com

Tune in tonight at 8 for the premiere of @ISLETINGS for some of the best rap (and more) from the British Isles!!!

Did you miss us at the org fair?? Come see us THIS Wednesday at the Fall in Love series at student center West. See you there!!