BeatRoute Magazine BC Edition - January 2020

MUSiC ALBUM REVIEWS
...AND YOU WILL KNOW
US BY THE TRAIL OF DEAD
X: The Godless Void and
Other Stories
Dine Alone
Back in motion after a six-year lull,
Austin’s …And You Will Know Us
by the Trail of Dead celebrates lead
singer Conrad Keely’s return from
living in Cambodia by releasing a
10th full-length LP.
Bursting with creativity and
emotion, the versatile post-hardcore
outfit’s painterly riffs and spirited
harmonies generate grand impressionistic
landscapes on “All Who
Wander” and “Something Like This.”
Further in, the dauntless title
track, “Who Haunts the Haunter,”
and “Through the Sunlit Door ‘’
slice through thorny heart brambles
with laser-synth precision.
The electronically-enhanced
“Gravity” delivers a crashing
crescendo blow, before dropping
a thought bomb on your cognitive
ground zero.
Best Track: Don’t Look Down
Christine Leonard
TINASHE
Songs For You
Tinashe Music Inc.
K!MMORTAL
X Marks the Swirl
COAX Records
KAYTRANADA
BUBBA
RCA
WOLF PARADE
Thin Mind
Royal Mountain Records
“All these songs are for you baby.
You know who you are,” Tinashe
whispers on the six-second
“You.”
It’s a message to the loyal fans
who have waited patiently for
Tinashe Jorgensen Kachingwe
to finally reclaim her own sound.
After years of label interference
and a solid album in 2018 where
struggles over her sound were
apparent, R&B songwriter Tinashe
is finally back, completely
independent with an album full of
songs – for you.
Right from the start, Tinashe
makes it clear she has no ill will
towards her past troubles on
opening track, “Feelings.” “You’re
still stuck in the past,” she teases.
“I don’t get mad, I get bags.”
It’s a little bittersweet but
exhilarating how free she finally
sounds here, letting her voice
explore different octaves over
late night R&B beats and low-fi
disco tracks.
Songs For You cements
Tinashe’s staying power, proving
just how good an artist can be
when they’re in complete control
of their own sound.
“Would you fight for what you
want?” she asks on “So Much
Better.”
Tinashe clearly knows what
she wants, and she finally got it.
Best Track: Stormy Weather
Fraser Hamilton
“Stars,” the opening track to X
Marks the Swirl, sets the tone
for K!MMORTAL’s ascension to
a celestial sphere in their music
career. A departure from the
organic, acoustic quality of their
debut album, Sincerity, X spins
hard-hitting verses in brisk succession,
soothed by soulful hooks
and enlivened with impeccable
electronic production. Everything
we loved about K!MMORTAL in
Sincerity—a voice of raw honey,
whip-smart lyrics serving inconvenient
truths, community awareness—abound
in X, only amped
up. Magnetic from the upbeat
“Questions” and swaying “I’m
Blue” through to hip-hop heavy
“88 and Beyond,” K!MMORTAL
hits every note with confident
transcendence.
Best Track: Sad Femme Club
Dayna Mahannah
It’s been two and a half years since
Kaytranada’s Polaris and Juno-winning
debut album, 99.9%, and he
clearly took the time carefully
crafting his follow up, BUBBA.
Kaytranada made his name on
the back of a signature sound that
took Soundcloud by storm—one
marked by soupy basslines and
swinging drums. BUBBA bears
witness to Kaytra’s growth from
bedroom producer to bonafide
pioneer, one who has left a deep
mark on pop music as we look to a
new decade.
Kali Uchis, Pharrell, Tinashe,
Charlotte Day Wilson, SiR, and others
lend their talents without ever
taking away too much attention
from the star of this show, which is
Kaytranada’s lush productions and
thoughtful artistry.
Best Track: What You Need
Josephine Cruz
Set in front of the now-common
backdrop of the late-technological
ennui era, Wolf Parade’s fifth
studio album attempts to reconcile
our quasi-cyborg condition with
the beating hearts that remain
inside us still. Lead single, the
frenetic “Forrest Green,” tries to
make sense of the band’s natural
surroundings on Vancouver Island,
where the album was recorded.
The idyllic and spiritual island functions
as a metonym for the larger
condition of life according to Wolf
Parade, a sort of paradise lost to
big consumption and bigger money.
With heavy use of vintage
synths and some of the band’s
most urgent performances on
record, Thin Mind features a Wolf
Parade ready for a resistance that
starts within.
Best Track: Forrest Green
Sebastian Buzzalino
26 BEATROUTE JANUARY 2020