Ryan’s Music Picks 🌸 25 May 2017

Looks like I’ve shifted to roughly monthly for these. Thanks for your patience. This is a lot of music that fits well into the late spring season (an important time for music, IMO). There are 3 different albums from 1968-69 in here this time, and a bunch of baroquely complex pop. That’s just what happens in the spring.

• Apple Music Playlist

• Spotify Playlist

Benjamin Clementine – At Least For Now (Apple Music, Spotify)I discovered Benjamin Clementine thanks to this post on MetaFilter. He’s pretty much a straight-up genius, making incredible piano songs that are equal parts rambling and purely pop. I keep getting lost in his songs and I love it.

David Axelrod – Songs of Innocence (Apple Music, Spotify)This 1968 album is legendary. It’s been sampled tons of times, and it truly is gorgeous. I know how this sounds, but it’s kind of a jazz rock odyssey, with horns and chimes and drums. It’s definitely a music nerd album, but it’s also a gateway drug, so watch out.

Kendrick Lamar – DAMN. (Apple Music, Spotify)I’m late to the game on this album and on Kendrick in general. I would say he’s unequivocally the best rapper alive if Run The Jewels weren’t around, but he’s defintely operating on a different level than most rappers out there. If he’s this good now, I can’t imagine what’s going to happen when he’s the age of the RTJ dudes.

The Mountain Goats – Goths (Apple Music, Spotify, Bandcamp)John Darnielle hasn’t been shy about how much he loves heavy metal and black metal, and it’s led his trademark wordy guitar-driven story songs to veer down a dark path. Goths is darker and heavier than most Mountain Goats albums, with songs that highlight the inherent ridiculousness of the goth lifestyle by taking it deadly seriously.

Jai Paul – 2013 Leak (DOWNLOAD)This album appeared unexpectedly in 2013, basically inventing the surprise album release. The Fader recaps what happened in this recent article. It turns out that it was an unauthorized leak, and, though it was unbelievably well-received, it caused the already-introverted Jai Paul to go into hiding, and he hasn’t released any more music under his own name since. But it’s an incredible mix of beats, samples, and guitar-based pop.

Marina and the Diamonds – FROOT (Apple Music, Spotify)It’s understandable that Marina Diamandis has a cult of personality among teen girls on tumblr. Her songs have a strong emotional element, unstoppable pop tendencies, and anthemically address issues people like tumblr teen ladies are also dealing with.

TW Walsh – Terrible Freedom (Apple Music, Spotify, Bandcamp)TW Walsh has released two of my favorite albums in the last two years. He writes devastating songs and keeps it experimental without getting too weird. TW is in a new band, called Lo Tom, with David Bazan and Jason Martin (of Starflyer 59) and you better believe I’m going to talk about that album once it comes out.

Leon – Bird World (Apple Music, Spotify, Bandcamp)Leon is well known on weird twitter as leyawn, and though he’s mostly good at sick burns and excellent jokes, he composes as well. He’s created a fun soundtrack to an imaginary game that’s equal parts Super NES platformer, a Playstation JRPG, and an 80s Studio Ghibli film.

John Fahey – The Yellow Princess (Apple Music, Spotify)Another album from the late 60s, this one is literally a whole album of acoustic guitar improvisation. It’s basically the original one, though. Classic.

Collin Strange – How I Creep (Apple Music, Spotify, Bandcamp)This is 4 tracks making up 31 minutes of driving, violent techno, like angry synthesizers and drum machines having a fight club.

Wintergatan – Wintergatan (Apple Music, Spotify, Bandcamp)I found Wintergatan thanks to this youtube video. He has a penchant for making syncopated pieces played by oddly automated instruments, and though his album is a bit more complexly produced than the music in that video, it’s no less entrancing.

The Zombies – Odyssey and Oracle (Apple Music, Spotify, Bandcamp)The third late-60s album in this collection, this one is absolutely the MOST legendary. You’ve definitely heard several of these songs on movie soundtracks, I know I have. This is the perfect album to blast on a day off while spring turns into summer.