been a long week, I don’t know if I have a lot of words in me

oh, for you too?

clipping. - Dead Channel Sky

If you were only aware of Daveed Diggs from Hamilton (he originated Lafayette/Thomas Jefferson) or as Sebastian from the live-action remake of Disney’s The Little Mermaid, this might blow your mind. Diggs has been, since before Hamilton, the main vocalist of brilliant and harsh LA noise-rap group clipping. The band has a history of writing incredible and award-winning sci-fi rap albums, and they’ve just done it again.

Dead Channel Sky is clipping. taking on cyberpunk dystopias (heads up: we’re living in one). If you have any love or nostalgia for The Matrix, this is for you. Producers William Hutson and Jonathan Snipes pull from the sonic landscape of cyberpunk to construct this album, ranging from harsh noise, dialup internet sounds, and classic rave vibes. Don’t expect a chill listen! EVERYTHING IS VERY IMPORTANT

Caleb Arredondo - Echo Sax

I found this one scrolling on instagram this week. A saxophone player delivers sheets of sound inside an empty parking structure which resonates and echoes like a whole ensemble. Equal parts John Coltrane and Steve Reich, this music is sublime.

Dennis Wilson - Pacific Ocean Blue

I’ve been listening The Beach Boys and their adjacent discography since Brian Wilson’s passing recently. This is one of the best things from anyone in the Beach Boys from the 70s and beyond. It’s a classic from the first track. It’s a very late-70s record, makes me think of Elton John and Randy Newman, McCartney’s RAM, but also Richard Swift, Father John Misty, and so much great music that’s indebted to this one. I cannot believe I’d never heard this one; I’m genuinely shocked my parents never had this one in rotation.

Do you like covers?

I’ve been going through and ripping old cds this week, mostly old weird CCM stuff and “Christian techno” which was a genre I was quite passionate about in my junior and senior years of high school. I will definitely be talking about some stuff here soon. But in doing so, I have found some random mix cds that I’ve thrown into the player. “Spring Break ‘03” was far too much emo for me now, but the unlabeled 2006 mix cd I found was surprisingly strong, suggesting that’s about when my music tastes started to calcify. But on that unlabeled cd was a truly incredible cover of TV On The Radio’s track “Hours”, that I had to track down. The good news is that I found it, the bad news is that it’s part of an hour-long covers podcast featuring a bunch of covers from bands in 2006 from music blog Coke Machine Glow. The TV On The Radio cover, by Ned Collette, starts about six and a half minutes in, but there are quite a few other very listenable covers in the mix.

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