Quick reviews: February
Here’s my second batch of short reviews, once again featuring some of my favorite music moments from this month!
Toro y Moi — Outer Peace (2019)
Chaz Bear’s latest effort picks up right where Boo Boo left, all while injecting newfound vitality to his trademark sound. Through a collection of songs heavily influenced by genres like house, funk, and more traditional synth-pop, this album paints a portrait of nightlife that distances itself from idealized nightclub fantasies, choosing to focus instead on subjects like idle pleasure or monetary anxiety-induced melancholy. Equal parts intelligent, fun, and chill, Outer Peace stands out by managing to combine relaxed grooves with an underlying sense of melancholy in a way that feels completely natural.
Sade — Diamond Life (1984)
While I’ve been familiar with Sade’s music pretty much my entire life, this month marked my first time listening to the band’s debut. In simple terms, this album can be described as a collection of sophisticated love songs that smoothly combine soul, funk, and jazz elements. Resulting in a record that feels like everything falls right into piece, especially in the case of the album’s singles, which still remain some of the band’s most referenced work. Its one weakness, however, comes from the fact that these same singles easily outshine most of the album’s cuts, both in terms of ideas an execution Even if it remains pretty rough around the edges, Diamond Life is a first sample of some of the ideas that would make the Sade
Frederic — Frederhythm2 (2019)
As if it were a direct sequel to their previous album, Frederhythm2 offers its listeners more of the catchy, playful melodies that make the band stand out. All while still featuring their fantastic groovy guitar riffs and their most dynamic usage of synths to date. As it happens with all of this band’s releases, there doesn’t seem to be any sort of idiosyncratic statement behind Frederhythm2 beyond releasing fun, catchy music. Something they seem to excel at, in my opinion.
OUJI — One More Time/World Is Mine
While these two tracks weren’t released together, I decided to write a bit about both of them, mainly because they really showcase OUJI’s understanding of how diverse dance music can be. One More Time — a cover of the seminal classic by Daft Punk — starts faithful enough, only for it to gradually become a more playful, groove-infused, take on the original. World Is Mine, on the other hand, is a bass heavy, dancehall track that combines heavier urban beat sections with a darker background melody that repeats through the entire song.
Ariana Grande — thank u, next (2019)
The release week for thank u, next saw the singer as the target of some of the most rightfully made (yet embarrassing) callouts for cultural appropriation I’ve seen in my entire life. Which sadly take away from the album’s enjoyment. The album itself, however, remains a really strong release that plays up to the r&b and pop combination already mastered by Grande. The result is this being both a really lighthearted, fun release and Ariana Grande’s most cohesive full-length release to date. Probably my favorite PR disaster of the year (at least so far), thank u, next remains an unfortunately good album surrounded by even more unfortunate circumstances.
