Rogueish

Things that are too short for my blog, too long for Twitter.

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Yusuf Grillo (Nigerian, 1934-2021), Drummers’ Return, 1983-99. Oil on canvas, 122 x 107 cm

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I really love the aesthetic Chuu has chosen for her debut album, kind of a cyberpunk dystopia via the 80s version of the 1950s. The music is also great, and makes me wish for a collab with Carly Rae Jepsen (Carly Rae Chuupsen, if you will).

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Also in other Charli XCX soundtrack news, A. G. Cook's soundtrack for The Moment is very good.

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Just extraordinary quantities of gender here, I love it so much.

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Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith's recent more pop records have been good, but I'm glad she's back to her traditional synth bloops. More synth bloops backing Alina Bzhezhinska's "Unspoken Truth"; and a maybe similar languorous vibe on Fabiano do Nascimento's Vila.

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Stuart Reid, "Deraa. The Arab welcome to the first Handley Page machine to arrive in Palestine, 22nd September 1918"

This painting was on display as part of the IWM's Emergency Exits exhibition, and it's a fascinating image, particularly as UK aircraft are still interfering in Palestine.

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Jelly Hollingworth from Let's Eat Grandma making a solo album that sounds a lot like Let's Eat Grandma (i.e. it's really good).

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In the lead up to the release of U I'd only heard the remixes (with Yves and Ninajirachi) so I was surprised by just how capital P Pop the album is (not a complaint). "Bodyfeeling" in particular could almost be a Carly Rae Jepsen track.

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Shura covered in the style of Abra.

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I can mostly take or leave the tracks on the expanded version of Jade's That's Showbiz!, but "Church" is one of the best tracks she's done (and it doesn't hurt that I first encountered it via this performance).

Perrie's "Woman in Love" appears to be a big course-correction back to pop after her solo album, of which I for one approve.

Lots of good stuff from still-extant girl groups, too: "Maybe I'm Crazy" by Sweet Love, "Millions" by Say Now (who I liked a lot when they were called needanamebro and haven't liked as much since they gotanamebro, but they seem back on track), "Tweak" by Girlset, and "Leak it" by FLO.

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Kerry James Marshall, Better Homes, Better Gardens (1994)

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A good year for interesting k-pop records (or a good year for me noticing interesting k-pop records at least). Yves is kind of impossibly cool (if her haircut in the "White Cat" video doesn't convince you, check out her guest show on NTS radio). Chuu's Only Cry in the Rain has a wide range of different styles (my favourite being the faintly martial saw-wave sadbanger "No More"), as does Nmixx's Blue Valentine (the title track of which invents the impressive new genre of k-donk ballad).

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flowerovlove has already released a number of very good records, but "New Friends" feels like it ought to be her ascension to proper pop stardom, the midpoint in synthpop bangerdom between Carly Rae Jepsen and Sabrina Carpenter.

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With Louder, Please Rose Gray crosses the rubicon from dance-pop to pop-dance.

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Jessie Murph is kind of like if you took the vibe of Lana Del Rey's first album and really ran with it ("Blue Strips" is her best song, but the meta confessional of "Gucci Mane" and the "might do what dumb bitches do" bit in "Bad as the Rest" are also very good).

Other Lana Del Rey adjacent music I have been enjoying includes Mallrat's cover of "Radio" and the very melodramatic (in a good way) Baby Nova song "Killed for Sport".

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One thing I've realised putting together my advent calendar playlist is that I've seen, by my standards, quite a lot of live music this year, which is a nice thing to reflect on (and I've already got a few things lined up for next year - I think I'm most excited for Yves). I recorded this because it's my favourite song from her most recent album, although it's not really representative of how energetic the show was - Mallrat spent most of the time bouncing around the stage.