Genius #23.5 - November Scrap Heap
Microscrap! Songwriters, weirdos, & instrumentals. PLUS: Chanp LIVE in January.
When I tell you this is a micro-scrap heap, please know that these albums are all fantastic. The end of this year, my music listening habits have really cratered – I am working too many hours at the "Real Job" and also using much of my free time to "Write Music," so I can't also be listening at the same time. What a shame! We want the tunes! Ok here's 8 records that I enjoyed in November, presented in the noble scrap heap.
News
Bandcamp New & Notable Sep 5, 2019
No YouTube classic, but there will be a 3rd Chanp show in one month! Sunday 1/18 (MLK wknd) at The Undercroft in Baltimore: Queens weirdo rock sweethearts Star Card are in town and local songwriter Dollgrith (whose EP is absolutely fantastic) will also be there, +1TBA.
Scrap Heap
Teeny tiny scrap heap! Eight mighty records.
Songs with songwriting
You know, like verse/chorus/verse stuff. Gets more and more luxurious as you go down the list, from the primitive TTSSFU to the plaintive Snocaps, and then the lush Hannah Cohen record.
tmausy
TTSSFU - Blown EP (Partisan, Aug '25)
Glamorously trashy. Breathy-vocal, kinda ethereal shoegazey bedroom rock. Band name is "pronounced phonetically." Music for listening to at 3AM because you're depressed and can't sleep but also it seems like it shouldn't be your fault you feel that way.
Snocaps - Snocaps (Anti, Oct '25)
Oh shit the Crutchfield sisters are back!! & with wunderkind MJ Lenderman in tow! This is the ultimate in southern sad indie-punk. When Katie and Alison were younger, they co-led a band called PS Eliot with a mix of sweetly sad folky punk songs. When they broke up, the sisters started their own projects Waxahatchee (slow sad folk songs) and Swearin' (upper tempo punk songs). It's really a joy to hear them singing together again.
Hannah Cohen - Earthstar Mountain (Bella Union, Mar '25)
Cheers to my bandmate Catherine for sending this my way. Super lush production and orchestration offers some incredible basslines & a lot of the songs have a 60s wall-of-sound vibe. Cohen's cooing voice and varied songwriting is really nice. Bonus: Sufjan offers backing vocals and some piano & there's an Ennio Morricone song in the mix!
Kinda weird
Gets stranger as we go down – Julia Blair's anti-folk, then Danny Brown's hyperpop-infected rapping, and closing out with Kee Avil's glitchy ASMR experimental songs.
Jelle Gommers
Julia Blair - All Of My Important Things (Don Giovanni, Nov '25)
This is almost regular singer-songwriter, but it sits in this strange uncanny valley. There's a twee-ness to it that reminds me of Kimya Dawson, but Blair is more aware of her affect – she's still earnest, but not naive. Most of the songs feature Blair's voice accompanied by guitar or piano, but there's one odd little synth experiment that sits in the center of the album. If you want smart weird folk little songs about comparing your favorite childhood toys to your friendships. trying to get into heaven with your favorite frying pan, what your cat is thinking about, etc. then this is it.
Danny Brown - Stardust (Warp, Nov '25)
I love that Danny Brown teamed up with a bunch of hyperpop producers & singers to make his posi-est album all about getting sober and still partying. I don't know if every song necessarily works, but the collabs with underscores and IssBrokie are just awesome and worth listening. If you're into hip-hop but not hyperpop, this might be a good intro to the genre. Best verse on the album might come from Ukrainian rapper Ta Ukrainka.
Kee Avil - Crease (Constellation, 2022)
This is an insane debut album. Avil's kinda-ASMR vocals are the star with main vocals way up front in the mix and re-doubled effected vocals in the wings. The rest of the instruments are slippery guitars, found-sound drums, scratchy violas, glitchy glassy sounds. Her artist bio says "Grouper as produced by Autechre" and honestly, yeah.
Instrumental
Music without words, the legendary post-Chicago quintet Tortoise & the relatively unknown Geneva primal drone quartet La Tène.
ℭ𝔞𝔫𝔫𝔞𝔟𝔞𝔠𝔢𝔞𝔢
Tortoise - Touch (Int'l Anthem, Nov '25)
Damning with faint praise or whatever but this was way better than I expected. Their 1998 album TNT is one of my favorite records of all time, but they haven't hit anything close to that high since – the last few have been duds! Even this one is pretty inconsistent, but the second half of this record really comes alive (starting about halfway thru track 6).
La Tène - Moreïne / Déclives (Bongo Joe, Oct '25)
I love all the Bongo Joe shit, cool record label out of Geneva. Rhythmic drone music with a mix of primal drums, organ, and some other percussion that I don’t recognize. Two songs, each one is 15min long and each is basically just a monolith of traditional rhythms & experimental sounds. You’ll know if you’re into this within like 90 seconds.