This is going to be short. No, seriously, it is! It might be a bit longer if I hadn't just spent a chunk of my minimal Sunday evening posting time on a comment at TAGN that's almost long enough to be a post in its own right.
I do have a "What I've been watching" post of my own brewing. It's going to need more concentration than I've got to give today, though, and I haven't found quite the right peg to hang it on, yet.
No, it's just going to have to be another post picking away at that NME 100 Emerging Acts list, I'm afraid. And frankly, by this stage it's getting tough to wring much more out of the ragged tail-end of the poor thing. I mean, we got as far as Wallice last time. How many more do you think there could be?
Well, there's Wet Leg, for one. Unfortunately there's not much I can say about the pride of the Isle of Wight that I haven't said already. Or much more I can show, what with them only having released four songs so far.
Luckily, there's this, which only went up on YouTube three days ago, so at least it's new and there's absolutely no chance I've linked it before.
Okay, I have linked the song already but only the video that plays in the background, not the live-in-the-studio performance, which is charmingly ramshackle. Can't wait for the album!
Next up, and slightly out of alphabetical order, if anyone's keeping count, here's Warren Hue, described by NME as "an electrifying moment where emo-rap meets post-punk." As I said last time, I find musical comparisons invidious but sometimes you just can't help yourself. I mean, doesn't that first twenty seconds remind you of someone?
I didn't think I was going to link the next one, when I first started listening to it. I liked it but not enough to pull it up for focus. And then the chorus kicked in. So satisfying. Also, the way she stuffs too many words into almost every line and still has it work makes me feel like I'm having palpitations. Not saying that's necessarily a good thing but it's notable.
And that's the end of the list or at least the end of the stuff I want to make a fuss over. Oh, except I didn't really do justice to the top of the alphabet, did I? It would be criminal to miss out on a mention for Cathy Jain. NME recommends Cool Kid, which I admit is right in my sweet spot but she has a cover of Lana's Chemtrails over the Country Club and that's just sublime.
I guess that's about it. I listened to well over half of the acts on the list, probably three-quarters. I only skipped the ones where the description made me feel almost sure it was something I'd most likely not appreciate. I might have been wrong but you have to make choices.
Of the ones I tried, there were only a couple I actively disliked and I'm keeping those to myself. All the rest that didn't get a mention were the kind of thing I'd be very happy to hear on the radio or at a party or on the soundtrack to a tv show or a movie or a game but after I'd heard them, I wouldn't feel any need to go check the artist out afterwards to see what else they'd done.
All of the ones I featured, I did that. Without any doubt, the glitchier they were, the more likely I was to want to know more. The more I've been learning about the hyperpop diaspora, the more I want to know. Perhaps the strangest thing for me is how deep the drum 'n' bass influence is on all of this and how very well that's working for me, now.
It never did before. I was around for that sound the first time and I wasn't up for it much. In those days I was still going to clubs and parties where it got some play and Mrs Bhagpuss really liked it (And still does.) so I heard a lot, one way or another. I didn't not like it but I liked a lot of other things more.
Now, somehow, the more things glitch, the better they sound to me. Go figure.
Lets end with some of that. Why not?
Recording ends.
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