Staff Pix 11/15: New Releases

Here’s what we’ve been buzzing about these past few weeks.

“patty hearst” by The Crying Nudes

The Crying Nudes have been releasing an array of progressively sweeter singles over the past couple of months, and I am so here for it. The Dean Blunt and Fine collaboration’s initial releases were dark, playing into the metallic and, at times, pitchy sound present in a lot of Dean’s work. Yet the duo seemed to wrap this up with the release of their first album a couple months ago and since then, have leaned into a much more charming sound. Fine’s vocals in “patty hearst” stick to her lazy, echoey roots, but offer up something much more hopeful and dreamy. In combination with the very minimal guitar and drums from Dean, the song is simple, but intriguing nonetheless. Both Dean and Fine are experts at making simplicity impactful, so it only makes sense that this is ever-present in their collaboration. —Adelaide Russell

“Take Your Mask Off (feat. Daniel Caesar & Latoiya Williams)” by Tyler, the Creator

I love an authenticity anthem, and Tyler delivers all that and a couple of laughs with “Take Your Mask Off.” He raps out a couple character sketches. First, a tough-guy gangster facing “five to ten,” who was actually raised middle-class and loved “drama club.” Next, Tyler calls out a gay God-fearing preacher who’s “got a wife, got a kid, but [who] be fuckin’ them boys.” Then Tyler tells us of a woman with postpartum who feels so stifled and purposeless by her housewife responsibilities that she “Can’t even get alone time to think of killin’ [herself].” But Tyler makes sure to turn the knife on himself too: for scapegoating his fame-related stress on exes, for his irrational business investments in overly expensive brand ventures (GOLF WANG and GOLF LE FLEUR*), for his involvement in someone’s marriage, for his hubris, his selfishness, his self-evasion. After that litany of vulnerable confessions, we see Tyler is practicing what he preaches: “Now go and stand in the sun, and use them fake tears to water your roots / Take that mask off and tell ‘em the truth, let’s talk about it, *****.” With that, Tyler has taken his mask off. And even if that catchy, cathartic chorus—“And I hope you find yourself / And I hope you find yourself / And I hope you take that mask off.”—isn’t enough to make you bare your scars too, at least you’ll walk away with more empathy for those struggling to do the same. —Christian Jones

“Punish” by Ethel Cain

At the anticipation of her soon-to-be-released album, Perverts, Ethel Cain’s new single “Punish” gives listeners a peek into the new world of shame, pain, and of course punishment that she intends to explore. According to several posts by the artist on Tumblr, “punish is about a pedophile who was shot by the child’s father and now lives in exile where he physically maims himself to simulate the bullet wound in order to punish himself. At least that’s what I had in mind when I wrote it. The song can be whatever you want it to be.” In traditional Ethel Cain fashion, the track is meant to be a trip into a different world, one where the listener is put into the uncomfortable perspective of a pedophile who continuously imagines himself being shot. It’s heavy and intimate, beginning with the sounds of a creaking swing-set and ending with the eerie reverb of piano. The vocals are distinct, they’re simultaneously delicate yet feel like a tense whisper right in your ear. “Punish” is a masterpiece of the power of uncomfortability. And after all, it’s happening to every-body. —Sophie Parrish

“Image - Grimes Special” by Magdalena Bay and Grimes

“Ooohhh m-m-my-my-my G-G-G-odddddd…It’s a Christmas miracle!” Yeah, yeah, we all know Imaginal Disk may just be the undisputed AOTY, and “Image” is its most popular single. Not that Magdalena Bay needed any more sauce, but adding Grimes to anything is never a bad choice. This Canadian spaghetti-aficionado turns this already brilliant track into a dark, decrepit piece of awe. I miss “We Appreciate Power” Grimes as much as the next annoying pop head, and this is one of the closest tastes we’ve gotten of it in far too long. I rue Elon Musk for many reasons, but stripping us of Grimes and her beep-bop-boops really tops it all off. Anyways, fuck that guy, Magdalena Bay and Grimes shred, don’t do drugs, keep rockin’ on, PLUR. —Sofia Giarrusso

“the Gleam pt. 3” by Mount Eerie

Pt.1, Milk Crate Staff Pix

Things Phil Elverum loves: Songs as questions, parentheses, multiple parts over spanning periods of time, instrumentals, referencing a symbol and letting it fester for years before bringing it up again, obsessing over symbols and never shutting up about them, contradictions, having a death grip on indie men that can’t be described with mere language, trying to describe things with silence or static or pause, being in nature, acoustic/instrumental versions that will make you cry, a think piece

Pt.2, Milk Crate Staff Pix 

Things Phil Elverum has a complex relationship with: The moon, most animals, the ending of things, light, the beginning of things, the ending of things, the ending of things, the ending of things 

Pt.3, Milk Crate Staff Pix

Night Palace is yet another triumphant and emotionally devastating release from the king of emotional devastation. —Monika Krueger

“Better” by Alice Phoebe Lou

I was finally introduced to Alice Phoebe Lou beyond her hit “Witches” when I saw her open for Clairo a few weeks ago. Lou has beautiful music and the way her voice blends with her chill instrumentals is perfect. She makes me sway, as I and many others did while she shared her music with the crowd at Roadrunner. Her new song “Better” feels like a gentle breeze, the lingering joy after spending time with friends, and warm soup. She continues to harness that gentle yet rich tone. Her lyrics are a thoughtful exploration of a complicated feeling: the beauty of perseverance after you have to let someone go. It can be hard to find optimism when someone walks away from what seemed to be a passionate connection. But, Lou tells us “things can only get better and better.” —Izzie Claudio

“Fashion” by Heidi Montag

I have deeply fond memories of being six and parading around my living room wrapped in a blanket, giving the performance of a lifetime to an absolutely fantastic Lady Gaga demo called “Fashion” that was unfairly relegated to the Confessions of a Shopaholic soundtrack. Fifteen years later, the song is seeing an official, on-streaming-and-everything release not by Lady Gaga, but by former reality TV star Heidi Montag. If you know anything about Montag, you know that she is potentially the only person qualified to sing this song. When Gaga sang the absolutely genius hook, “Oooh, la la la la, we love designer,” she sounded somewhat self-serious. Montag can’t sing, but she makes up for it with the deeply strange way she wraps her voice around the syllables, making the word “stilettos” sound like it’s not even a part of the English language. The song even opens with a smooth-brained howl of “Heidi!” “Fashion” is a deeply indulgent piece of greasy, deep-fried dance pop, and it’s the comfort food we all need right now. —Bennett Himmel

“Drone:Nodrone” by The Cure

In yet another electrifying rock tune that certainly does not cure my November slump, The Cure reassures me that we are on the same boat: we are both concerned with the state of ourselves and the world. Their new album, Songs of a Lost World, takes on a distressed take on the modern world with a new spin to their classic sound – an almost indie-electric twist seen in groups like Jamiroquai and Duran Duran. However, this new sound is ultra-fitting to perfectly capture their anxiety. It’s almost a lighthearted solution and a disco-rock-pop soundtrack to dance worries away. While The Cure is “pretty much done,” I don’t think I’ll get enough of this album for a while. —Ari Mei-Dan

“lEgs In tHe aIr” by TisaKorean

All the strangest aspects of mumble rap are swirled into one on this highlight from TisaKorean’s latest album, In Silly We Trust. Pulsing cloudy synths; a mellow, bumping bass; and the most explicit lyrics to pass through my ears in a long while, all of it comes together to make the comical, adolescent, and plain awesome “lEgs In tHe aIr.” It’s bouncy and light just as it’s disgusting and absurd. TisaKorean flips all the coolness of rap on its head. He’s given us tracks of laughable danceability, just as deserving of an “AYYY” as they are of an “AHAHA” and maybe even an “EWWW!” —Nathan Hilyard