I think After Hours is better than a lot of the albums that got nominated instead, but I don't really understand how people decide on whether or not something got "snubbed." Like, wasn't every album that didn't get a nomination technically snubbed? Not sure on what basis people choose ones to get indignant on the behalf of, other than that they themselves liked the album in question.
tbh it's probably the most persuasive pick of the bunch for that reason - one of the few 2020 albums I can think of that the general pop music-listening audience talked about for more than 2-3 weeks.
True cowardice not nominating the 100 gecs/Fall Out Boy remix from Tree or Clues, but otherwise a better batch than usual!
Betting on Phoebe Bridgers being this year’s Billie Eilish at the actual ceremony.
Tired of award shows being hosted by guys who set behind a desk in a suit on whatever network is hosting the awards show in question. Society has progressed past the need for..., etc.
Reading news like this reminds me of those periodic updates you’ll see about how the stock market/Dow Jones etc. is doing better than ever. It’s like you’re supposed to look up at these towering new records to distract you from looking down and noticing the lack of floor for most everyone else.
I feel distant from this one as compared to how much I used to love it. Of course the "new Kanye" of it all is a factor, but there's something about how hard it signals its masterpiece aspirations that impresses me a little less now. I enjoy the ragged glory of Yeezus or even Life of Pablo a little more by comparison.
That said, it's still an undeniable masterpiece.
Maybe the voters in question would've been more amenable to the big fat nothing they're being offered if Biden had pretended he listens to Kendrick Lamar too.
"How Much a Dollar Cost" is still my personal fav Kendrick song. In general, I think his highest artistic highs come in these moments of deep introspection and inner conflict, externalized over properly "epic" instrumentals ("Sing About Me, I'm Dying of Thirst" and "The Blacker The Berry" also come to mind). Can't really knock the singles, though...
A very worthy subject for one of these! A lot of strong picks, though "Beth/Rest" still rubs me the wrong way...probably a me-problem. Also justice for "715 - CRΣΣKS," maybe the saddest song a robot has ever made.
Sounds great! Nice mix of the Suburbs' directness with Funeral's passion/vitality. I think a "back to basics" type album probably makes the most sense after the unfun excess and meta humor of Everything Now - kinda the All That You Can't Leave Behind to that album's Pop. Seems like it's in their wheelhouse to pull off.
It's really stood the rest of time, Anohni ended up being completely correct about everything she brought up on the album. An arresting record that I'm surprised isn't discussed more.
They’re giving Grammys to antifa SoundCloud kids, very scary! We’re going to look into it very strongly, Can we get Two Against Nature by Steely Dan back please? Morning Phase, so many great records...
I'm so impressed by how OPN's continued to move closer and closer to the center of left-field pop music without ever compromising on weirdness. Also love that he and Abel are pals now
We did the hope/change thing 12 years ago, and I sincerely hope that no one voting for Joe Biden between now and a week from tomorrow expects our myriad national crises to just disappear overnight/is prepared to push a Biden admin towards meaningfully addressing them.
This is a great 30 seconds of music! Love that he linked up with Knxwledge, whose album from earlier this year 1988 is very much worth checking out. I ended up being sliiiightly let down by uknowhatimsayin¿, but I could see it being a productive pivot towards more music that operates from a rap elder statesman perspective.
Also He Got Game is sooo good, a top tier Spike Lee movie for sure. Danny has taste!
I do wish it hadn't taken winning a prestigious award for Backxwash's three months-old record to get covered here and elsewhere, but I'm glad it happened at all. Definitely an artist whose music resembles the shape of the rap internet to come.
The Roots were one of the first hip hop groups I got into! Would love new music from the band proper, but I've been really digging Black Thought's recent run of EPs - urgent and authoritative. His verse on Bandana last year was phenomenal as well.
Considering art through the lens of how it slots into modern U.S. politics seems like one of the least generous ways to go about assessing creative expression.
It's interesting to hear such a backward-looking record from these guys, given their career to date - and especially their 2010s work - has been characterized by creative restlessness and pushing past formalist conventions. It doesn't feel like a record they could have made at another point in their career, though - it's patient, and massive in scale in spite of its surface-level simplicity. It makes for an interesting contrast with the current phase of Aphex Twin's career too (can't help but think about how his and Autechre's trajectories relate). Whereas his output post-return has been made up of well-executed/revamped victory laps, Autechre is releasing material contiguous with past work but noticeably beyond it, no longer bound by any parameters except the ones they choose to apply. Not an Aphex knock, it just really emphasizes how singular Autechre is - very few artists remain creatively vital for this long.
I get so hyperbolic talking about these guys, but what they do excites me like little else in new music these days. Love to see that love represented from other folks here as well.
It hits! It's very grandiose and practically neoclassical at times. A cool/fitting "late period" record from them, and an especially good pivot from the outward growth phase of their career (which NTS Sessions 1-4 sorta necessarily capped off - hard to top that one). Excited for you to hear it!
Also glad you're digging the new Rian Treanor - great record that promises future great records from him, I think.
Loving it as well - it's sort of working in the same new age-y space as Oversteps, but it's more melodic/straightforward than anything they've done in ages, and with all the mastery of sound design/tonality of their most recent work still on display. Hard-pressed to think of a band that's more "in their bag" right now than Autechre, they consistently kill it.
re: their blurb above though, they've definitely released other albums in the last seven years? elseq 1-5 and NTS Sessions 1-4 for one, to say nothing of all the live albums.
That Jason Derulo song has apparently been huge on TikTok, which could account for it going #1 this week? Yet another instance of that platform moving closer to the nucleus of pop culture, I guess...wonder if I should get on there already.
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