First Impressions: Notes on Frank Ocean's Visual Album 'Endless'

August 19, 2016Music News, New MusicEzra CarpenterComment

Four years of anticipation came, at least in part, to an end yesterday night as Frank Ocean released his visual album Endless through Apple Music - the apparent precursor to an LP proper to come later this weekend. The video, set in the same white-washed warehouse where Frank Ocean broadcasted his website's livestream last week, is roughly 45-minutes long and plays new material behind black-and-white visuals of Ocean constructing a staircase. Transverso took to pen and pad to record some initial thoughts on Endless:

"Device Control"

We return to the warehouse seen in Frank Ocean's live stream; an imposing, stoic voice speaks.

"At Your Best (You Are Love) (Isley Brothers cover)"

Two impressions of Frank Ocean work away on workbenches, cutting wood on saws.
The song playing seems to be the studio version of the Isley Brothers/Aaliyah cover Frank Ocean released the day after Aaliyah's birthday last year.
A third Frank Ocean figure emerges.
The traditional R&B lyrics of the song, paired with the images of Frank Ocean working construction, convey "love" as industrious.

"Alabama"

Descending piano melody plays as Frank opens with quasi-rap verses.
Vocals come in split between the left and right channels, creating an overlapping and disorienting spatial effect.
Distortion on the closing vocals evokes iLoveMakonnen.

"Mine"

Transition between songs is quite unclear.
"Mine" may be an interlude or a song beginning with the forthcoming rap vocals.

"U-N-I-T-Y"

General note: wardrobe changes have occurred with each song.
Rap vocals demonstrate a strong improvement in Ocean's rap delivery; his cadence is more carefully paced and restrained compared to rap verses he previously released through his Tumblr.
Rapping style is most kin to that of Earl Sweatshirt's slowest moments on "Doris."

"Ambience 001: 'In a Certain Way'"

Interlude plays a record sample of dialogue (seemingly from a film).

"Commes Des Garcons"

Eclectic vocal delivery early on.
Deftly layered synths, vocals, and drum kits.
Tempo increase after chorus leads to instrumental based on chamber drums, faint synths, and artificial snares.

"Ambience 002: 'Honeybaby'"

Another brief interlude features the scorching wails of a soul singer crying "Honeybaby."

"Wither"

Noise from construction can be heard quite noticeably; one of few times, if not the first, this has happened in the video.
Instrumental is a widely spaced chord progression on a Rhodes.
Frank Ocean's vocal style and signature vocal registers seem unchanged.
Jazz bass-backing is faintly reminiscent of Thundercat.

"Hublots"

Another interlude whose beginning and end cannot be precisely determined without reference.

"In Here Somewhere"

Non-vocalist quasi-rap into.
Vocal layering compliments sparse synth instrumental.
Varying vocals may be a pitch-altered Ocean, another artist, or a sample.

"Slide on Me"

Slow guitar arpeggios form the foundation for this instrumental.
Instrumental layered with synth-bass backing and hissing and fluttering drum kit accents.
Vocal reemploy split-channel spatial effects.
Ocean appears to be spray-painting rectangular boxes black; this is one of the last visuals featured on Ocean's live stream. The boxes are transferred from an aerosol protected paint room to the main warehouse.
Synth outro has a very ethereal aesthetic.

"Sideways"

Another rap verse from Frank.
Instrumental sputters in and out in a tremolo-style break.
Ocean stacks the boxes by sliding one end over a standing metal rod, forming what seems to be a staircase.
The steps increase in color from bottom to top; from a natural wood grain to black.

"Florida"

Interlude featuring chorus vocals accented by layers of harmonies sung by Ocean.

"Deathwish (ASR)"

Instrumental features distant, distorted, high-register vocals.
Waning synths are layered with trap-style percussion.
General note: Album is highly contemporary. It incorporates elements of contemporary hip-hop (Young Thug, iLoveMakonnen) without seeming fadish or gimmicky.

"Rushes"

Elongated strums on electric guitar form the base of this widely spaced instrumental.
The staircase is now approximately 7 feet tall.
Song features a female vocal contribution.
Latter end of the song features an increasing distortion on Frank's vocals.
- Sounds like what Kanye wished the vocals on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy sounded like.

"Rushes/Rushes To"

The electric guitar instrumental of "Rushes" carries over in greater distortion.
High-tempo, bass-heavy spattering percussion.
Electronic track serves as either the outro to "Rushes" or the intro to "Rushes To."

"Rushes To"

Acoustic guitar instrumental.
Song is the most minimal of the album.
Moments of double-tracked vocals.
The closing vocals feature Ocean at his most passionate; it is at the song's end that he strains his voice the most.

"Higgs"

Dancing instrumental of what sounds like an electronic steel drum.
Slow rap vocal delivery.
Some would consider the instrumental to be trip hop.
Shot closes in on Franks lower legs as he climbs the stairs.
The scene then cuts to the visuals featured at the beginning of the video.

Outro

The stoic voice featured at the introduction continues its dialogue.
Dialogue breaks into an avant garde garage house track.

Notably Missing from Endless

New songs performed on Ocean's California Live, You're Not Dead Tour (2013).

Upon first listen, the extent to which Ocean has broadened his range of musical influences and output is truly impressive. Considering his admiration for Radiohead, the electronic palate of the new material draws a (dare I say) warranted comparison to the magnitude of growth Radiohead demonstrated between Ok Computer (1997) and Kid A (2000). Yet with all that we have been given to savor from this visual album, an additional release is reported to still be due this weekend.

After Five Years Bon Iver Announces New Album, '22, A Million,' Releases Two New Tracks

August 13, 2016New Music, Music NewsSean McHughComment

Hold onto your high and tight fades you hipster hopefuls, Justin Vernon has returned from the proverbial woods to bestow yet another (seemingly) immaculate album via Bon Iver (or “Bonny Bear,” if you have only a casual predilection), entitled 22, A Million.

This might seem like yet another “surprise” release in a year that has been saturated with irrefutably tiresome “event” music cycle, but in true Vernon fashion, promotion for the new record has been under operation in plain site for months (even years). The first indication is the conception of Vernon’s passion project, Eaux Claires Music and Arts Festival - which Vernon co-founded with The National’s Aaron Dessner. A festival, which was indicated as an annual event in which Vernon would be able to premiere various Bon Iver and non-Bon Iver, related works.

The second indication came more recently, as promotional efforts ramped up with a mysterious YouTube video released on July 22nd featuring the title “#22days” and a tune that we now know as album single “22 (OVER S∞∞N).” Then, in early August, the Bon Iver socials began to tease artwork, and eventually, a “pedestrian” (really just an industry plant) happened upon a street mural featuring similar art to the 22, A Million album cover.

After the under-our-noses vague promotion, we now know the full, ephemerally wonderful scope of Bon Iver and JV’s shenanigans – 22, A Million is due out on September 30th, via long time Bon Iver label, Jagjaguwar. Vernon and co. premiered the entire 10-track record at Eaux Claires, fully realizing the festival’s purpose, and released two singles from the record immediately following the band’s headlining set.

Between the two singles, it's obvious that the Teenage Engineering OP-1 that Vernon had casually mentioned in a handful of interviews to promote Eaux Claire’s inaugural year in 2015 played a far more substantial role in JV and Bon Iver’s creative process for 22, A Million than anyone could have imagined. “22 (OVER S∞∞N)” and “10 d E A T h b R E a s T ⊠ ⊠” both feature every iteration of Bon Iver channeled through OP-1 production styles and effects. Conceivably, Justin Vernon has managed to do the impossible by not only maintaining Bon Iver tenants of musicality, composition, and lyricism, but progressing the entity itself without any repercussions from such growth.

Outside of the two singles, which include the classic lyrical cryptic messaging and phraseology, not much else is known about 22, A Million, and it's likely little else will be revealed until the album’s 9/30 release date. That being said, for the uninitiated that desire to find out more, it should be noted that the number 22 has played an immeasurably substantial role in Vernon’s life, via a press release for the album:

22 stands for Justin Vernon. The number's recurrence in his life has become a meaningful pattern through encounter and recognition. A mile marker, a jersey number, a bill total. The reflection of '2' is his identity bound up in duality: the relationship he has with himself and the relationship he has with the rest of the world. A Million is the rest of that world: the millions of people who we will never know, the infinite and the endless, everything outside one's self that makes you who you are. The other side of Justin's duality is the thing that completes him and what he searches for. 22, A Million is thus part love letter, part final resting place of two decades of searching for self-understanding like a religion. And the inner-resolution of maybe never finding that understanding. When Justin sings, "I'm still standing in the need of prayer" he begs the question of what's worth worshipping, or rather, what is possible to worship. If music is a sacred form of discovering, knowing and being, then Bon Iver's albums are totems to that faith.

Seeing as the album is set to release in early Fall, a 2016 tour announcement seems unlikely, but do not be surprised if Bon Iver hits the road in early 2017, as by that point, 22, A Million will have likely achieved indie-immortality that demands JV and Bon Iver’s presence once more.

Listen to “22 (OVER S∞∞N)” and “10 d E A T h b R E a s T ⊠ ⊠” and see the full tracklist below:

http://smarturl.it/BI_22AM 22, A Million Out September 30 on Jagjaguwar Created/Produced/Directed by Aaron Anderson & Eric Timothy Carlson Artwork by Eric Timothy Carlson Photograph by Cameron Wittig & Crystal Quinn No Justins were harmed in the making of this lyric video

http://smarturl.it/BI_22AM 22, A Million Out September 30 on Jagjaguwar Created/Produced/Directed by Aaron Anderson & Eric Timothy Carlson Artwork by Eric Timothy Carlson

22, A Million

22 (OVER S∞∞N)
10 d E A T h b R E a s T ⊠ ⊠
715 - CRΣΣKS
33 “GOD”
29 #Strafford APTS
666 ʇ
21 M♢♢N WATER
8 (circle)
_45__
00000 Million

Hamilton Leithauser + Rostam Announce New Album Details, Release "In a Black Out" Single

August 7, 2016New Music, Music NewsWeston PaganoComment

Now that we've listened to the first taste of ex-Vampire Weekender Rostam and The Walkmen's Hamilton Leithauser collaboration "A 1000 Times," the duo have filled in the details of their upcoming album and given us a second single to listen to as well.

"This is probably my favorite recording I've done in the last few years," Rostam said of "In a Black Out" on Twitter, and it's understandable why. Though much of peak Walkmen-era Leithauser vocals are delightfully thrown against a clash of reverb and electric guitar we have them gently laid over a bed of acoustic here, while a most likely Rostam-procured "Step"-esque choir combines to beautifully fill the space.

A 10 song LP titled I Had A Dream That You Were Mine is due out September 23 via Glassnote Records, the closing track of which features Angel Deradoorian, formerly of Dirty Projectors. Check out "In a Black Out," as well as the tracklist and album art, below.

Download "In A Blackout" and preorder the album I Had A Dream That You Were Mine: https://hamiltonrostam.lnk.to/IHadADream http://www.facebook.com/hamiltonrostam http://www.twitter.com/hamiltonrostam http://www.instagram.com/hamiltonrostam http://www.hamiltonrostam.com Music video by Hamilton Leithauser + Rostam performing In a Black Out. (C) 2016 Glassnote Entertainment Group LLC http://vevo.ly/AU5Exf

I Had A Dream That You Were Mine:

A 1000 Times
Sick as a Dog
Rough Going (I Don't Let Up)
In a Black Out
Peaceful Morning
When The Truth Is...
You Ain't That Young Kid
The Bride's Dad
The Morning Stars
1959 [ft. Angel Deradoorian]

The Avalanches Announce New Album, Release First Track in 16 Years, "Frankie Sinatra"

June 2, 2016Music News, New MusicAndy TabelingComment

As we approach the 16th anniversary of The Avalanches’ classic debut Since I Left You, the Australian group has finally announced the release date of their impending second album, Wildflower, on Zane Lowe’s Beats 1 show. The record will be released on July 8 via XL Recordings and features a slew of collaborators including Father John Misty, Toro y Moi and Biz Markie. Along with the announcement and the group’s first major interview since falling off the map after Since I Left You’s release, the group also dropped the first single, the delightful “Frankie Sinatra,” complete with a hallucinogenic music video.

The track, built around a sample from Wilmoth Houdini's “Bobby Sox Idol,” is a bit less dense and layered than some of the debut records’ more famous jams. Instead, the focus is put on the two featured MCs: Danny Brown and MF Doom. Brown especially delivers two spirited, humorous verses that flows effortlessly over the quirky, strange beat. If this first sample is an indication of the group’s direction on Wildflower, we’re in for a treat.

of Montreal Announce New Album 'Innocence Reaches,' Hear First Single "it's different for girls"

June 1, 2016Music News, New MusicWeston PaganoComment

of Montreal has debuted new single "it's different for girls" on Zane Lowe’s Beats 1 show and announced new album Innocence Reaches will follow-up last year's Aureate Gloom on August 12 via Polyvinyl.

Right off the bat it's clear the (American) Athenian psychedelic darlings have re-enlisted frontman Kevin Barnes' brother David for the art direction, with this newest kaleidoscopic offering exploring the “wonderment for the female anatomy." The track itself also harkens back to a more pre-Lousy With Sylvianbriar glittery sound and bears at least a passing resemblance to label-mates STRFKR.

According to Kevin, the forthcoming tunes are indeed more inspired by his contemporary peers than past work,

“Forever I’ve been detached from current music. I got into this bubble of only being in some other time period. I came up picking apart the Beach Boys, the Beatles, and symphonic pieces. But last year, I was hearing Jack Ü, Chairlift, Arca, and others, thinking about low end and sound collage. It was an extra layer to geek out on.”

At least one other song from Innocence Reaches has been performed live already as well. Listen to "it's different for girls" and check out the full album art and (all lowercase) tracklist below.

"it's different for girls" appears on of Montreal's full-length album, Innocence Reaches, available August 12, 2016. Pre-order 2xLP/CD/cassette/digital: http://plyvnyl.co/innocencereaches

Innocence Reaches

let’s relate
it’s different for girls
gratuitous abysses
my fair lady
les chants de maldoror
a sport and a pastime
ambassador bridge
def pacts
chaos arpeggiating
nursing slopes
trashed exes
chap pilot

Read our in-depth interview with of Montreal here.

Wild Beasts Announce 5th LP, 'Boy King,' Drop Lead Single "Get My Bang" Music Video

May 24, 2016New Music, Music NewsWeston PaganoComment

Enthralling experimentalists Wild Beasts have announced their forthcoming 5th LP, Boy King, due out August 5 via Domino with the release of lead single and video, "Get My Bang" and a host of European tour dates.

Wild Beasts have never been afraid to evolve across albums, and this first taste of Boy King - leather jackets, immensely '80s cover art, and all - is no exception. More straightforward than previous works, a linear drum base and unabashedly direct lyrics shed much of the painstakingly clever wordplay and dynamic brooding that set apart their past discography as "Get My Bang" reignites much of their signature libidinous themes but with an altogether different sort of polished package. "No getting it right / No getting it wrong / Just getting it on," indeed.

Co-frontman Hayden Thorpe explains,

“After five records there had to be an element of ‘what the fuck?’ It became apparent that that guitar almost became the character within the songs, that phallic character, the all-conquering male. I’m letting my inner Byron fully out, I thought I’d tucked him away, but he came screaming back like the Incredible Hulk. I think ‘Boy King’ is an apocalyptic record. It’s about swimming in the abyss. When you think about sex, you’ve got to think about death, they’re one and the same.”

Boy King was recorded in Dallas, enlisting producer John Congleton (St. Vincent, The War on Drugs), while the accompanying visual was shot in Belgrade and directed by Olivier Groulx (Arcade Fire, alt-J). Check out the video, tracklist, and tour dates below.

Wild Beasts - Get My Bang (Official Video) from 'Boy King' - the new album out 5th August 2016 Pre-order digital: http://po.st/BoyKingDL Pre-order CD/LP/LPX: http://po.st/BoyKingStore Listen to Wild Beasts on Spotify: http://po.st/WildBeastsSP http://po.st/MyBangStream Directed by Olivier Groulx The video for 'Get My Bang' was shot in Belgrade and directed by Olivier Groulx (Arcade Fire, alt-J, Scott Walker) featuring vocalist Hayden Thorpe's twisted routine of Justin Timberlake-meets-Trent Reznor choreography.

Boy King

Big Cat
Tough Guy
Alpha Female
Get My Bang
Celestial Creatures
2BU
He The Colossus
Ponytail
Eat Your Heart Out Adonis
Dreamliner

Tour:

6/18 – Madrid, ES @ MadCool Festival
7/26-27 – Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club
7/28-29 – Brighton, UK @ Hove Old Market
8/18 – Brecon Beacons, UK @ Green Man Festival
8/26 – Dumfries, UK @ Electric Fields
8/27 – Helsinki, FI @ Modern Sky Festival
9/02 – Vlieland, NL @ Into the Great Wide Open
9/04 – Laois, IE @ Electric Picnic
9/24 – Hamburg, DE @ Reeperbahn Festival
9/28 – Bristol, UK @ Motion
9/29 – Oxford, UK @ O2 Academy
9/30 – Margate, UK @ By the Sea Festival
10/01 – Sheffield, UK @ The Foundry
10/03 – Cambridge, UK @ The Junction
10/04 – London, UK @ The Roundhouse
10/07 – Newcastle, UK @ Northumbria Uni
10/08 – Glasgow, UK @ QMU
10/09 – Manchester, UK @ Academy
10/12 – Belgium, BE @ Botanique Orangeries
10/13 – Paris, FR @ La Gaite Lyrique
10/14 – Tourcoing, FR @ Le Grand Mix
10/15 – Strasbourg, FR @ La Laiterie
10/16 – Cologne, DE @ Luxor
10/18 – Copenhagen, DK @ Pumpehuset
10/20 – Berlin, DE @ Kesselhaus
10/21 – Prague, CZ @ Lucerna Music Bar
10/23 – Zurich, CH @ Rote Fabrik
10/25 – Milan, IT @ Magnolia
10/26 – Lyon, FR @ Epicure Moderne
10/29 – Bilbao, ES @ BIME

"What You Talking About?" Peter Bjorn and John Finally Return With New Single, Album Announcement

March 10, 2016Music News, New MusicWeston PaganoComment

Endlessly endearing Stockholm indie pop trio Peter Bjorn and John have been taunting followers with hints of #PBJ7 for what seems like ages now, though with only last year's one off single "High Up (Take Me to the Top)" to satiate us in the long five years since 2011's Gimme Some there's been little from the band to show for it.

That all changed today, with the release of lead single "What You Talking About" and the announcement that #PBJ7 will finally arrive on 6/10, titled Breakin' Point and released via the rockers' own label INGRID they cofounded with fellow Swedes Miike Snow and Lykke Li. It seems safe to assume that the two tracks premiered on NPR's World Cafe last summer - one of which was called "Breakin' Point" - will also be on the LP.

Breakin' Point will feature production from some well-known names, including Paul Epworth (Paul McCartney, U2, Florence + the Machine), Greg Kurstin (Beck, Adele), and Emile Haynie (FKA Twigs, A$AP Rocky).

Check out "What You Talking About?" below, in all its upbeat, disco-vibe glory.

Now We Are Alone: Majical Cloudz Is Disbanding

March 4, 2016Music NewsWeston PaganoComment

Sadly, it seems like the majic is ending.

Only a month after former tour-mates Youth Lagoon did the same, Majical Cloudz has announced through social media today that they are breaking up. Including their most recent release, the Wait & See extended play, and last year's phenomenal full length Are You Alone? (which was Transverso's #2 album of 2015), the dreamy duo graced us with two LPs, two EPs, and a handful of one-off singles in the short four years since their first performance in March, 2012. Their final show is in Montreal this Thursday, March 10.

Devon Welsh and Matthew Otto combined to create some of the most sharply evocative music of our generation. A visceral series of confessions shrouded in the most soothing of soundscapes, it cut deep to the simple core and personified it in plain sight: a synthesizer, a microphone, a white shirt, an unwavering gaze.

I remember listening to Impersonator at my mother's house when it first came out. "Are you depressed or something?" she asked, and I laughed. Despite the undoubtedly melancholy outward appearance of Majical Cloudz, it was never an inherently negative emotional experience; even at their darkest points their songs are paradoxically uplifting upon the same waves of the flood that drowns you down, as ethereal melodies lift you over brooding, coursing vocals. It's a uniquely comforting closure. It's one we need now more than ever.

All along Welsh seemed to prepare us for the end. "If you won't be seen again / I hope you know you were my friend / And in my head the world will never hurt you," he offers in Are You Alone?'s aptly titled opener, "Disappeared." It's truly not easy news to swallow, but if we've learned anything from Majical Cloudz it's how to properly eulogize:

"He was obsessed, and it was okay."

Catch Some "New Psych" From Ladada

February 9, 2016New Music, Music NewsWeston PaganoComment

Virginia Beach-based Josiah Schlater's project Ladada (pronounced "luh-DAH-duh") released a self-titled debut back in 2014 that was quietly one of the best records floating around the indie lane of the information superhighway that year.

Ladada's most recent release, "New Psych," is just that, expanding upon Schlater's rich surf rock riffs and lazy vocals with a louder, punchier effort demanding to be heard. Purveying a self-described "soda pop" genre, the sound energetically ricochets between psych rock and shoegaze.

The track is the lead single from Ladada's forthcoming EP, Hi Five, which will hit hands everywhere 4/1 via Gold Robot. Hi Five will take physical form as a curious limited edition "transparent coke bottle green" 12" with Ladada on the flipside, which you can pre-order here.

Lead single off the forthcoming Hi Five EP, available as a limited edition 12" on transparent coke bottle green. Pre-order now: http://goldrobotrecords.bigcartel.com/product/ladada-hi-five

Youth Lagoon Is No More

February 1, 2016Music NewsWeston PaganoComment

It seems we must take a break from celebrating LCD Soundsystem's long-awaited reunion, for just as the Music Gods giveth they also taketh away.

Only a few short months after releasing his 3rd album, Savage Hills Ballroom, Trevor Powers has announced in a tweet that he is disbanding the beloved Youth Lagoon moniker, but will set out to begin different projects in the future.

pic.twitter.com/wotcJpQZo9
— Youth Lagoon (@youthlagoon) February 1, 2016

Youth Lagoon's impressive trilogy of records, The Year of Hibernation, Wondrous Bughouse, and Savage Hills Ballroom will live on forever, but if you wish to catch a final fleeting glimpse of the original performer live and preserved on his aforementioned farewell tour the dates below are your last chances: