Swing Lo Magellan, Dirty Projectors

Swing Lo Magellan, Dirty Projectors, 2012, :42

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

I've never heard of this operatic, art-indie band; it's another stumbled-upon Spotify surprise.  Apparently this is their least ornate album.  These songs are indeed rather beat-heavy and lean toward the electronic, yet it still comes across as an honest and personal collection of songs.  The blend of male and female vocals creates a warm, inviting sound.  I'm not as much of a fan of the desultory, off-beat percussion noises.  Favorite tracks: "Gun Has No Trigger," "Impregnable Question," "Swing Lo Magellan."

Break It Yourself, Andrew Bird

Currently doing one album for each year, 1960-2020. Today: 2012.

Break It Yourself, Andrew Bird, 2012, :59

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Whistling, violin, atmospheric layers of sound, and a singing voice so beautiful that if it weren't so understated you would call it "operatic." Unlike these indie kids, Andrew Bird doesn't need to dazzle with noise or attempts at virtuosity. That's because he is a virtuoso, and everything he does smacks of virtuosity just because he's doing it. Listening to this album after a few days of what is usually thought of as "indie rock" is like returning to the adult table after spending time at the kids' food fight. Intelligent, emotive lyrics accompany skillfully-arranged, ethereal melodies. Favorite tracks: "Orpheo Looks Back," "Danse Caribe," "Eyeoneye."

Key To the Kuffs, JJ DOOM

It’s What-the-Hell-is-This-Wednesday! Wherein I listen to something I know absolutely nothing about.

Key to the Kuffs, JJ DOOM, 2012, :42

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

No idea what this was before I played it.  DOOM is apparently a British-American hip-hop artist working with a producer with the initials JJ, thus the name.  Cut and chopped soundbites from cartoons and noir films mix with cryptic, absurd, intelligent lyrics. There's the usual self-glorification, but with a tongue-in-cheek attitude and mumbled name-dropping of superheroes, Gundam robots, Thomas the Tank Engine, and lots of other pop culture touchstones. Not to mention Eyjafjallajökull, an Icelandic volcano, somehow. DOOM definitely touches on topics that, in my limited experience with rap, aren't typical; "Wash Your Hands" is a germaphobic rant that has some significance for today : "I'm just sayin', wash ya hands fam / Before ya put your nasty thumbs in the underpants, damn / You like the way she shake her back area / It's like a sex machine that make bacteria."  Plus an attack on Frankenfoods and a desire, born of being stuck in the UK, of seeing people with more melanin.  Also: "Watch DOOM's laser graze you / More worse than Occam's razor / Not to interrupt / But anybody else notice time speeding up?"  Favorite tracks: "Guv'nor," "Banished."