June '21 Music

 

Garbage - No Gods No Masters (2021): Amazing that a new album dropped without any premonition. Historically, Garbage is my all time favorite female lead band and I'm proud to say that I followed them ever since in '95 they had their first self-titled album "Garbage". I've seen them live on multiple occasions. Listening to this album granted it's only been a few times since it dropped the day before I'm writing about this, I'm not going to say that it's immediately grabbed me in the ways that past albums have done it for me. One thing that resonates is the unique Garbage imprint of integrating these quirky sound effects throughout starting from the first thing you hear - coins being deposited into an arcade machine to these various synthesizer laser sounds, a very Butch Vig signature. Songs throughout retain a very 90's and punkish theme. Notable track is "The Men Who Rule the World" which is a very anthemic track that has strong feminism written all over it as Manson boldly challenges the gender stratification of the world. The first few songs are heavily produced and adrenaline filled, but Shirley Manson's sultry and personal voice really becomes front and center midway through the album in the song "Waiting for God". The album will be on rotation for awhile until I start to really find the hook that gets me into the album. In the meantime, I'm also going to go through this phase where I'm going to non-stop play their past hits and reverting back to the Garbage binge. 

On a side note I still think that their music video is not only one of the best songs, sonically, but visually it is the best of music video (when they used to be more of a thing) EVER. It's amazing that this video has barely aged. 

Olivio Rodrigo "Sour" (2021)- It was a shock to me when I first saw that Rodrigo's song "Driver's License" appeared on a SNL sketch that was the precursor to her eventual debut as a live performer on said show. I discovered her major smash hit "Driver's License" back in early March when the song dropped in my playlist and was instantly drawn to the song given that it has hints of Lorde sounds throughout. This is an album that on first listen, I confess that it's going to require me to engage in more listening to really get into it. I guess my challenge is that not every song here is on the level of "Driver's License" (and rightfully so), and so I want to appreciate all her other songs on this album. A broad range of styles starting from the first song "Brutal" which is this really punk rock song that disrupted my impressions of Olivo Rodrigo, to the more power anthem ballad song of "Traitor" and then to the more soft, pop acoustics of "favorite crime". Maybe it's more of a knock on just me because of my age, but I guess there are certain aspects to this album that someone growing up in a generation of Taylor Swift would better appreciate this album that I do here. Nonetheless, I want to keep this album on rotation. 

Trip Lee "Rise" (2014) - Not a new release, but I just accidentally discovered this Christian rapper who hails from my hometown of Dallas, TX. This is a upbeat rap album that is put together from top to bottom. I've been listening to a number of albums from specifically Christian rappers, like NF and Lecrae, though it's interesting because what defines a "Christian rap album" and it seems like it's just hip hop minus the explicit language especially when it comes to the N** word. But Trip Lee does have legitimacy in the Christian music community given that his past albums received the Dove Awards . Back to this album, Trip Lee really demonstrates the Southern roots influence in his music with a bit of crunk (if that's even the right term to use) and creative word play. The song "Lights On" is a true banger and was the hook that got me into this album. "Manolo (Feat. Lecrae)" is a hard hitting song that's definitely chock full of that Southern twang hip hop style and something obviously you wouldn't expect to hear on a Christian music station. 

Noga Erez "Kids" (2021)- This was not a recent album in rotation, but I just wanted to give a shout out to one my favorites of 2021. Nogra Erez is an Israeli singer and songwriter, who dabbles into many different genres but her main genre is hip hop. Her style is very much MIA in the way that she has strong anthems like "End of the Road" that's got this bit of a playfulness yet she's singing about these serious worldly issues. The production is top notch with smooth flows and chock full of these unique sounds presumably from all these different cultural influences. A notable song is "Fire Kites" that consciously delves into the Israel-Palestian political/social tensions brewing and sparked by the protests in Gaza- providing a voice for all those affected saying in a recent interview about the song "and they became violent, setting off kites to the Israeli side causing a lot of damage.. It really helped me to see these girls as human beings and not numbers in the paper."