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Patrick Masterson writesCHIRP Radio Best of 2018: Patrick Masterson
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Throughout December, CHIRP Radio presents its volunteers’ top albums of 2018. Our next list is from substitute DJ Patrick Masterson. Chicago artists only for this list because life is too short to read more about The 1975. |
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#1 Still Trippin' by DJ Taye (Hyperdub) |
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#2 Eat My Pu**y by Queen Key (Machine Entertainment Group) |
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#3 Quarterthing by Joey Purp (Self-Released) |
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#4 Exit Future Heart by Dustin Wong + Takako Minekawa + Good Willsmith (Umor Rex) |
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#5 The Lillywhite Sessions by Ryley Walker (Dead Oceans) |
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#6 Krash EP by Jean Deaux (Empire) |
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#7 Ronda by Mako Sica & Hamid Drake (Feeding Tube/Astral Spirits) |
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#8 The Mansion by Brett Naucke (Spectrum Spools) |
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#9 Eden by CupcakKe (Self-Released) |
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#10 Georg Friedrich Haas: Trois Hommage by Mabel Kwan (New Focus) |
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The first time I encountered Dante Sanders was as a teenager on the first of Hyperdub's 10-year anniversary compilations right in the wake of DJ Rashad's passing. Four years later, he had matured into maybe footwork's most forward-thinking technician on his debut full-length, long in the works and well worth the wait when it finally dropped. Of everything happening in this constellation of dance music's vast expanse (including the notable unearthing of DJ Slugo's "The Archive"), "Still Trippin'" invigorates uniquely for its execution of a seemingly natural marriage in footwork and rapping to be my favorite thing Chicago recorded music offered this year (admittedly, putting Kevin Drumm's whole Bandcamp page at #1 wasn't an option). Come, trip and convert to see for yourself.
From here, it seems like an awfully good sign that people can't come to an agreement on the go-to release of 2018 from that most marginalized of birds, the female rapper. Of course, the best bars in hip-hop have pretty much exclusively been coming from women recently irrespective of location, but Chicago happened to be blessed with a number of standouts this year. She may not be the easiest interview to watch or work with, but Ke’Asha McClure is only playing dumb or (more likely) higher than The Signature Room until you get her rhyming. "EMP" is a catchy, focused effort that's exactly as NSFW as its name implies until you shorten it for more sensitive ears the way I just did.
Can't tell you how many times I've miswritten this album as "Quarterstick" and immediately missed Rodan since it came out, but my gushing was nevertheless genuine as I enthused over yet another Musician in Chance The Rapper's Orbit Who's Better Than Chance (not up for discussion, don't @ me). Third time's the charm as the Savemoney member and Kami's other half in Leather Corduroys put out his finest record yet, building on the promise of "The Purple Tape" and "iiiDrops." Great show at Thalia Hall, too, in case you weren't there and are heroically seeking out more FOMO moments in year-end lists.
This one counts not just because Good Willsmith are one of ours (shouts to Hausu Mountain) or because the Tokyo-based Wong and Minekawa have released reliably through Thrill Jockey, but also because it was recorded here in town over the course of a single night when Wong and Minekawa were passing through on tour. It's one long, shimmering nocturnal vibe split almost arbitrarily into six pieces, all of which channel a delicate, soothing ethereality that can't be described by a visible color. Forget the possibility of overplaying.
I heard "Deafman Glance," too, and I think the story behind it is really compelling from a human interest standpoint even if the music sticks to the straight n' narrow a bit much for my tastes. "The Lillywhite Sessions," however, did the unthinkable and graciously allowed me the opportunity to hear a whole Dave Matthews Band record without ever having to actually hear a whole Dave Matthews Band record... which I recognize "The Lillywhite Sessions" would also do, but I think that speaks pretty clearly to how deep my aversion runs. Inspired interpretations afoot here, at any rate.
In a year where albums increasingly took on shorter and shorter forms as if to liberate themselves from the oppression of physical audio's confines by doing the same tricks in a smaller timeframe – see Tierra Whack for the logical endgame to all that – Jean Deaux billed "Krash" as an EP though it could just as easily have passed muster as a full-length given the way it straddles that divide. Semantics aside, it's more than enough time to show off how she can slip seamlessly from rapping to singing and back again atop beats that can be trip-hop slow or club-thumping quick. Highly recommended and not just because she's in with Saba.
Three words: "Dance With Waves." If you're not on board with the opening 15 minutes of this expansive hour-plus spiritual behemoth, you are not going to be on board with the four songs that follow it. Your loss; Mako Sica sound completely at ease with drumming mainstay Drake here, a collaboration it probably won't surprise you to learn was forged in the free-jazz fires of Constellation on Western. Brent Fuscaldo's vocals occasionally stride a little close to my line in the sand of campiness, but overall it's a pretty sublime balance between the two entities. Emanation is right.
Another guy in the Hausu Mountain and Umor Rex orbits returned to the Vienna/Cleveland imprint Spectrum Spools in March for his sophomore outing on the label co-run by the Editions Mego chief and one of the Emeralds guys. "The Mansion" fits that RIYL perfectly, a percolating ambient record with occasional glitches and found sounds wandering through the mix. The four cassettes Naucke put out between Spectrum Spools appearances did not diminish his ability to engage listeners with fresh noise, and for a certain type of person, this album will do wonders.
Queen Key may have been my preferred rapper of raunch in 2018, but CupcakKe rightfully got a ton of attention beyond our city's Sides for her similar brand of hip-hop influenced by Lil' Kim (or, just as likely, Khia). Most people seem to have gravitated toward "Ephorize" likely because they heard it first in the spring, which I can understand; I also think her vivid blue-hued portrait on that album cover is among the year's best. But to my ears, the 33-minute "Eden" released in November delivers the same messaging over a more eclectic palette of rhythms and influences. It's splitting hairs, really – you can't go wrong with the woman behind it all.
Mabel Kwan (of long-running contemporary classical concern Ensemble Dal Niente) dropped this one in late September to sate my inner Alex Ross with three pieces for one player on two pianos tuned a quarter-tone apart. Between 19 and 30 minutes each, they were originally written in the early '80s and are dedicated to Steve Reich, Gyorgy Ligeti and Josef Matthias Hauer by an Austrian composer who a) is not dead and b) has a Personal Life section on his Wikipedia page that is somehow both too short and too long. Kwan does a sterling job maintaining the tension throughout here; if subtle piano tone shifts are your speed, this'll do nicely for you, too.
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