Albums of the week: New music from Chet Faker, John Mayer, Clairo, Aldn – Kultur


Chet Faker – “Hotel Surrender” (Detail Surrender)

The more recent pop history owes to the Australian indie soul singer, producer and songwriter Nick Murphy alias Chet Faker “Gold” and “Talk Is Cheap” are the two most beautiful hipster hymns that you can mumble with your mouth closed. And on the new album “Hotel Surrender” (Detail Surrender) there are now two more with “Get High” and “Feel Good”! Very nicely pushed by a few stumbling beats in slow motion. If nothing goes forward again, but it’s enough if everything becomes a little more elastic on the spot.

John Mayer – “Sob Rock” (Sony Music)

About the guitarist and songwriter John Mayer there are two opinions. Quite a few – and a significant number of them are allowed to be guitarists – consider the 43-year-old American to be the pop guitar hero of the present day. As a star guitarist, after various number one albums and countless superstar collaborations in the USA, he is undoubtedly on the way to becoming National Treasure. As a virtuoso he is also highly valued by his colleagues, he attended the professional pop forge Berklee College of Music in Boston, and part of the John Mayer Trios is the bass genius Pino Palladino. For many admirers of his art, his song “Neon” is something like Mount Everest of guitar playing. Youtube is full of videos in which the subtleties of the song are meticulously deciphered and analyzed. However, all those who do not have too big ears for clever guitar playing have unfortunately mostly only listened to all the rules of the art, all too good mainstream pop blues rock with too many and too long guitar solos. Will that change with Mayer’s new album “Sob Rock” (Sony Music)? Probably not. The self-ironic (the album title means something like kitsch rock) and awesome perfection, with that here of the decayed synth-soft rock of the eighties Toto, the Dire Straits and paying homage to Rick Springfield is pretty gorgeous though. The album for those moments when you have to calm down, but don’t want to take yourself too seriously.

Clairo – “Sling” (Fader Records)

What is chamber pop for some is streambait music for others, i.e. what was once called elevator music. Just not too intrusive, rather elegiac, sparingly orchestrated soundtracks for the room climate, on which the mostly female vocalist likes to be at the front of the mix so that it sounds as if someone is whispering straight into your ear. Pop of this kind has long since reached hundreds of millions of views on streaming platforms such as Spotify or Youtube. But not because they targeted the fans, but because they run so perfectly inconspicuously in the most popular playlists. The term came up a few years ago as a musical equivalent to endemic clickbaiting, in which sensational headlines promise something that the digital video content that can be called up does not keep. The term “Spotify-Core” coined by the New York Times is perhaps better because the listeners are not at all disappointed with the generic music. They always want more of it. You think of it when you look at the new album “Sling” (Fader Records) by the American singer and songwriter Claire Cottrill alias Clairo hears, even if the categorization may not be entirely fair in your case. Minimalist bedroom indie pop would be nicer. In the best moments, with “Blouse” for example, it sounds very fine Simonandgar sparkling, warm and comforting. Otherwise just a little too often a touch too formulaic melancholy.

Aldn – “Greenhouse”

Of course, there is also something new at the avant-garde end of contemporary post-internet pop. So not the music that to the internet, but rather the music that arises under its reception and production conditions (eternal impatience of the users and absolute simultaneity of all genres and their revivals). Aldn does what is called hyperpop or glitchcore on “Greenhouse”, i.e. nervously flickering electro-pop with overdriven hip-hop beats and depressively droning helium singing, plus scratchy background noises of all kinds. In other words: who needs peace of mind when you can get upset with songs like “Happy Ever After”. Music at the time. The soundtrack for a badly hungover nap on the nail board.

.



Source link