Amnesiacs Snippets

It's been another sunny day here in Northern ████████, moderate winds at a smooth 25 degrees in the shade. To close out the day, let's take a brief look at the newer releases in the music world. As the clock rolls over to a new day, we know that a new project of ████ has been slated for release tomorrow. We probably all remember when they teased this released on their social media several months ago with that video clip - man, that did waves. I didn't know you could post that kind of stuff without getting suspended. Dark - literally and figuratively, in an aesthetic that captures the Zeitgeist of contemporary Hip Hop and House music. Either way, since then, this date has been in the back of our minds, ticking closer bit by bit, even as time goes, and I've been looking forward to this album drop. I know there's been buzz about the fact that we haven't had any singles for this album yet, which is unusual, especially for ████, who we know as the artist infamous for releasing most of their albums in the form of singles over the course of a couple of months. I for one, think it's a welcome change, totally in line with the new direction they seem to be taking for this release. To be honest, ████'s work has been starting to get stale, and this project might be an indication that they agreed, even before the sentiment is going to have the chance to show up in any reviews of their records. ████ haven't been very open about their process in general, but what we know from interviews given to ██████ █████ magazine's ████ ███ that this new direction was likely facilitated by changes in their private lives, and while it's far from me to pry into such personal affairs, things like these can be catalysts for exciting developments. Here's why I'm making a fuss about it though, when we still have a few hours to the record even dropping: We here at ████████, 183.3 FM got a few sneak peeks at the record provided by ████'s own in-house label! Unbelievable, right? We didn't get any full songs, judging from the track time, and we'll be hearing it for the first time along with you. If you want to have an exciting night drive, stay tuned and get a little taste of ████'s "Amnesiacs".

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And that was "Granite Braces" from ████'s new album "Amnesiacs". What a ride, eh? Not sure what to make of those solid fifteen seconds of screaming in the middle there, if I'm honest. I can see it working once, but maybe not if it's going to be a thing every time we hear the chorus transition into the drop, but then again I'm not the artist. I hope you don't mind me taking the freedom to riff a little more than usual in between these cool previews we're getting, but it's got me more than a little excited. Especially considering ████'s previous output. Their last album "Desert Meridian", was composed of mostly instant classics, but they were all very similar in style, whereas "Granite Braces" already feels much darker than anything in "Desert Meridian". Like that screaming bit. ████ has never been one for conventional structure, but this has been their first piece that had a break written to be unpleasant to the ears, though it does seem like it works in context. I guess we'll have to see for tomorrow to decide whether it works in its complete context. Before we play the next snippet, I have a quick traffic report here. On the C502 between ███████ and ████████-████ there's a tree on the highway. Let's avoid that road for tonight, alright guys and gals? There's a team working on clearing the highway, and we'll give you a heads up when they're done. Now that that's done, let's get back into "Amnesiacs"-land. The next snippet came with a note. Apparently this is the fourth track on the record, and was the one to be finished the first. Let's take a quick listen into the drop of "Ostentatia", by ████, featuring █████ ██████.

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This was certainly an interesting listen. I can see the critics having some issues with the liberal use of the monkey sample in the chorus and bridge, but I have the suspicion that ████ was more than aware of that possibility. ████ have never been very charitable in their depictions of the wealthy and powerful, though they have always managed to stay safely in the realm of tactful allusion, but this time they're likening them to monkeys pretty overtly. I think I might need a moment to get used to this new version of ████. A shame this portion had all the verses censored. I feel like they would have really brought the meaning of the chorus together. This is number two of four sample recordings our station received. Actually, I would like to talk a little about how that happened in the first place, because that's actually quite interesting. Like everybody we sent a pitch to the label, trying to score an interview with ████ or some promo material that's - what do the kids say these days? Clippable? Anyway, it was a relatively standard marketing copy, because we were really not expecting an answer. Some midnight radio DJ getting exclusive insight into a release this hyped? Not likely. Honestly, I might have had the intern write the copy, if I didn't respect the label as much. Sending one of these out is a little like sending out a job application. Of course it would be nice to hear back, even in case of a rejection, but it's really not expected, so weeks pass and we thought they just binned our pitch. It's fine, we didn't put that much work in there anyway. And then yesterday we found a brown cardboard box in the reception. Our production manager thought it might have been a bomb or something, until someone opened it. It was just labeled "████, Amnesiacs Demos" with no sender or return address. Creepy, but we confirmed later with the label that they sent this. We might have played it even if it weren't sent by the label, but in that case we would have needed to verify the contents of the tape first. This version is much better for all of us though. Let's take a crack at the third demo, and boy am I excited about this one, because we've had it confirmed that its title is in reference to one of the greats. Here is "Troubled Waters".

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There's certainly very few elements left from the folk classic, or perhaps ████'s hidden them somewhere else in the song. I guess the undercurrent of jangly guitar-strums could be borrowed from "Bridge Over Troubled Water", but I don't know if that really warrants the allusion in the title. Dear listener, perhaps you can tell that I'm not entirely convinced by this one. Not that the snippet was particularly bad, you probably agree that the melody was at least pretty, if less catchy than we're used to from ████ and their House-music roots. I- actually, I have to interrupt our little listening party with another quick traffic spot. The C502 is still blocked, now completely between ████████ and ██████-████ in both directions. A tree fell on the highway due to the high winds this evening. We're going to keep updating you on the situation. There was a minor collision between vehicles on the C528, causing congestion down to the exist to ████████████. Stay safe on your way home, folks. Either way, let's take a few more minutes to talk about "Troubled Waters", yeah? I think what's bothering me is the reference. My parents were very much into folk music, so even though while it's not really my kind of music, I have a bunch of fond memories of listening to records of these songs, and pulling these references in general I think should have a good reason. Maybe I'm missing something, maybe we just didn't get the part in the sample that carried the reference, I could change my tune in a few hours, but so far, I think I liked the other two samples a lot more. We have one last sample here, which is self titled. Yes, the track is called "████". Slightly unusual to self-title a track, rather than an album, but not unheard of. Boomtown Rats, Fleetwood Mac, the likes. Maybe ████ wants to join the ranks of these modern classics by following in this slightly obscure tradition. Anyway, here is "████" from their upcoming "Amnesiacs".

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Exciting stuff. Honestly wild that we came in on a key-change, and the sample went about a minute. There's song's out there that are about this length on their own. You wanna know what I think? I think this sample might be their bridge. I think sending us this sample is a flex about being able to write a bridge that's a full minute long. Remember that key-change? Tell-tale sign of a bridge. It makes sense to pull out the stops for a self-titled track, and boy does this track feel busy. There's so much stuff in here. I think I heard a few analog synth-lines in there, and if that's true, then ████ was probably shooting for a magnum opus. Why they would do it in a project that's this dark in tone overall, no idea, but tonight we've only caught glimpses of the story ████ is going to tell with "Amnesiacs". Phew, listeners, it's 11:45 PM, we have to give you the last news of the day in a few moments, and when that's done the album will be out. I hope you've enjoyed this last minute sneak-peek at a mysterious new set of tracks. Stay cool, and take care. I've been ██████ ██████████, this is ████████, 183.3 FM, next time you'll hear from me, it'll be a new day. Good night, Northern ████████