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I’ve posted about Chanel Beads a few times on onrepeat.substack.com as one of the bands popping off in Brooklyn and beyond right now—a collaboration between musician Shane Lavers, vocalist Maya McGrory (Colle) and experimental instrumentalist Zachary Paul. The sound is a result of manipulated strings and something called “fake jazz” which I can’t describe but sounds right.
6d ago
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I haven’t heard someone have a neutral take on this album (except pitchfork, ever the hipsters and perfectly on brand for reviewing this), people seem to either despise it for its hypercynical meta-satire, perfectly poised to deflect any possible criticism thrown at it, or love it. Though I largely agree with what the haters are saying, I end up falling into the latter camp. I fucking love this project, both from an intellectual and from a basic standpoint, flanking the naysayers at both sides of the bell curve meme.
“Meme” — that’s the headline of this project. C&W’s 90s-indebted breakbeat pop chugs along with Weezery guitar riffs and droll narration, only broken up by random (in the xD sense of the word) meme snippets. This may sound torturous, but something about the way they weave these brainrot vine compilation samples through their tracks is really special. I want to compare it to John Oswald’s Plunderphonic manifesto, where he (Im probably misphrasing) argues for utilising highly recognisable microsamples in experimental music, because the feeling of fleeting recognition is a powerful one unique to that technique. But also it’s just fucking funny! But I won’t give any spoilers as it feels like explaining a YLYL challenge before you watch it.
As for the actual content, I will maybe come back to write about this later. There are some really great (and not so great) reviews online about this project, which I highly recommend checking out, as well as the surrounding discourse.
AOTY. bring back tinymixtapes
Dec 30, 2024
debut single from some folks I used to play with back in NYC, jangle rock is so back y’all
Aug 2, 2024
Glitchy, catchy, loud, angsty, euphoric. So much is crammed into these 8 songs, emotionally and sonically, i feel pretty comfortable calling this a maximalist project. I adore it
Jan 30, 2025
Top Recs from @brettdavisrip
I was at a party and this song came on, and it’s the best. Cansei de Ser Sexy (named after a Beyonce quote that she “got tired of being sexy”) were a Brazilian group you were either a fan of or at least heard played in Zune commercials. I completely missed a reunion tour last year and that is a bummer!
I always thought the Death From Above they were talking about were DFA but on closer inspection of the music video, it is indeed, Death From Above 1979 they are listening to while making love.
6d ago
Beak> has been around for some time now, featuring some of Bristol’s finest talents, including members of Portishead. They came on my radar when they produced the debut Anika album many years ago. This is pure CAN and that’s not a bad thing to be!
6d ago
Jonnine Standish, one half of the long-running Australian moody, atmospheric post-punk band HTRK, also makes solo stuff that I’ll let her bio describe: “Skeletal rhythms slink and echo through dimly lit streets framed by fragments of guitar, bass, breath, keys, scrapes, and haze.” HTRK inspired a lot of bands I’ve featured lately, like aso, Astrid Sonne and Acopia
6d ago