DJ Sabrina The Teenage DJ - Destiny
This is one of the weirdest things I’ve heard all year, but also one of the most mainstream things. On one hand it’s an effervescent pop album, recalling early 2000’s pop stars like Nelly Furtado and solo-career Gwen Stefani. It sounds like music you would have heard on Nickelodeon and other kid’s networks when they were advertising upcoming programming. It’s lightweight fluff that has a big smile on it’s face. But Destiny is also an almost 4-hour plunderphonics journey that has echoes of the first Avalanches album and a myriad of vaporwave sub-genres. I mean, who puts out a pop album without a proper lead vocalist and songs that are mostly 8 or 9 minutes long?
There’s even echoes of groups like Daft Punk on the pumping “Brave” and especially the Avalanches on a song like “Garden Party” which has these upbeat brass parts that are really upbeat. Even when an MC turns up to rap on a verse on a song like “I’ll Always Be There” it reminds me of when big name rappers would turn up randomly on some pop song in the late 90’s (remember when Texas did that song with Wu-Tang Clan?). The problem is, there’s only one pace and tone to it all, whilst it’s really uplifting to listen to, it’s a welcome relief when “Invincible (Something To Hold On To)” comes in with it’s harsher electro sounds and “The End” with it’s slick R&B homage.
When it does slow down at the end, it feels like a deserved stopping point; “Without Crying/Without Hiding” and “Slowdown (It's Never Too Late)” feel like a natural emotional end point for the album. It’s a remarkable thing, it manages to hit all these notes of remembering melodies and vocals from pop hits but not accurately being able to actually remember what those songs are. Maybe it’s telling that an abridged version of the album was released just a few weeks ago, and maybe I should have spent my time listening to that. But I think there’s merit in sitting here and listening to Destiny all the way through and being part of that journey. Just clear four hours from your schedule and you’ll be fine…
Also Check Out:
Hannah Diamond - Perfect Picture
After her debut album finally came out in 2019, six years after her first single came out in 2013, this new album Perfect Picture is more of the same PG Music staple sound, super shiny, glistening hyper pop. This has been the label’s signature sound, a self-aware style of pop production that steals from the 1980’s to the 2000’s to make music that is a clear homage to the manufactured artifice and superficiality of pop songs. But in the era of the Taylor Swift juggernaut, are you really making “pop music” if it’s not, y’know…. actually popular?
Other Stuff
Is the vinyl boom starting to show cracks in the marketplace? At online reseller Discogs, that appears to be the case. There is a delicious irony in older vinyl enthusiasts seeing their favoured format come back into vogue but not realising that popularity would cause problems in the market place for them down the line. How long before they’re telling younger folk to stick to streaming and stop messing things up for older folk:
In recent years, as vinyl sales have surged and the format has gained surprising popularity among Gen Z pop fans, one might assume Discogs would be flourishing economically. But recent decisions at the company, including the unpopular fee increase, suggest otherwise. In late 2022, sources say the company laid off around a dozen staff members, some of whom were longtime, trusted employees. Then, in January, the company shut down VinylHub, a mobile database of record stores that was treasured by Discogs users but which never brought in much money for the company.
One theory behind the site’s woes is that, in recent years, Discogs has struggled to ride the wave of the poptimist vinyl boom. Young Taylor Swift fans are happy to drop $44.99 for a re-recording of an album they already own, but they’re buying them from retailers like Target, not Discogs, which caters to an older, perhaps snobbier clientele. (Mass-market retailers like Target and Walmart reportedly saw their vinyl sales increase by 361% between 2019 and 2022.) Meanwhile, the Zoomer enthusiasm drives up the price of newly released LPs, which may frustrate more seasoned vinyl enthusiasts and dissuade them from buying albums.
Drought in Brazil's Amazon reveals ancient engravings:
They are at a site known as Praia das Lajes and were first seen in 2010, during another period of drought not as severe as the current one.
The rock carvings appear against a backdrop of dense jungle, with the low brownish waters of the Negro River flowing nearby.
Most of the engravings are of human faces, some of them rectangular and others oval, with smiles or grim expressions.
"The site expresses emotions, feelings, it is an engraved rock record, but it has something in common with current works of art," said Oliveira.
Poison Specialist Accused of Poisoning His Wife; how ironic:
Her husband, who worked as a poison control counselor taking calls about potential poisonings, attempted to have Bowman cremated, but the county medical examiner's office intervened because it had, as the complaint points out, begun to believe that the woman died under "possible suspicious circumstances."
And boy, were those circumstances suspicious. After speaking to people close to the couple, investigators learned that not only had the Bowmans discussed divorce due to infidelity, but that Connor, who was wracked with debt, told someone that he would get a $500,000 life insurance payout from his wife's death.