PANDÆMIA: A Soundtrack.
There's a soundtrack to everything. Even to the longest two years in the history of time.
Referring to the last two years as an adverse period that has come to a close is a bit of a cliché, (and a bit of a premature stretch, and we haven’t seen nothing yet) if you ask me. I never want to be a pessimist, I am as optimistic as the next responsible vaccinated adult in the building, but nobody really knows when or how the plot of this “thrilledy” of a situation will take a turn for its final stretch.
If anything did happen in these past two years, it was the spurring of great albums by some usual and then some unusual suspects. Again, this is based on my own personal –confessedly– all-over-the-place taste in music.
Kylie Minogue - Disco
November 2020 found us being super confused over who won the elections in the US, so much so, that my boggled brain heard the lyrics to Kylie’s Real Groove “We got something better, Got that real groove, baby” as “We want something better, we want real Joe Biden”. No? Just me? OK. Regardless of the above, Disco is easily one of Kylie’s most cohesive, mature and solid albums. Ever. Virtually every single track of the album sounds like something you think you’ve heard Kylie sing before, only better and different. There’s no other way of putting it. The album is elaborate in its production and as fulfilling as a classic pop record should be. Yet, in 2021 we were offered not one, but two reissues of the album we didn’t know we needed, and in 2022, her live 2020 virtual concert Infinite Disco was released as a mini album. The first reissue, dubbed The Guest List Edition contains collaborations with Dua Lipa, Years & Years (whose recent album: Night Call is also a mesmerizing pop record), Jessie Ware, Gloria Gaynor and remixes to some of the original tracks, while the second is an extended version of the original; A 5-minute version of Supernova? Yes, thank you!
Agnes - Magic Still Exists
So, having not realized that the Agnes here is the same as the Agnes of 2008’s Release Me, I was tickled by her single 24 Hours and then by the subsequent single Here Comes The Night before I made the connection. I must confess, that I was super hyped in anticipation of her full album Magic Still Existsafter the Studio 54-reminiscent, disco feel of 24 Hours and its gorgeous video and then, the scandi-pop, ABBA-esque, epicness of Here Comes The Night. However, the album, albeit being a great album, left some more to be desired (by me, personally). Don’t get me wrong, the songs on it are great but as a total, the filler interludes and the TWO spoken assertion-type tracks felt like placeholders for where more great tracks should be. Nevertheless, XX, 24 Hours, Here Comes The Night, Love and Appreciation and Fingers Crossed are solid gold tracks for all sorts of playlists, from “Getting over your ex” to “Swooning over your new boyfriend” playlist.
Arisa - Ero Romantica
So, certain things stick to me. One of the things that stuck, since my short stint as a college student in Italy, is a certain, yet harmless, infatuation with the Italian pop scene. Arisa’s latest release “Ero Romantica” (I used to be romantic) follows no specific recipe, other than maybe that consisting of a really good production and impeccable vocals. The titular, intro track is as much of a surprise as it is an absolute anthem. Despite its mere two minutes and 14 seconds, it’s a power-play of a track: Arisa’s vocals and the (be it deliberate or inadvertent) reference to 90s house music, especially that stemming from Italy (hello Gala) leave you yearning for more. And more you get: The two following tracks, Psyco and Agua de Coco glide on the same style; Think italo dance/house but with face-melting vocals. The album further explores dance-pop before it smoothly melts into Arisa’s signature ballad-oid articulate storytelling. For an album that’s titled “I used to be romantic”, it surely ends on a romantic note with L’Arca di Noé (Noah's Arc); “I booked Noah’s Ark, they said there’s a place in third class, you and me together along with two butterflies”. I can’t help but feel happy for her, she’s still a romantic.
Jessie Ware - What’s your pleasure
Oh Jessie! The intro single Spotlight, was an addictive and representative precursor of the whole party that What’s your pleasure turned out being. A re-release of the album’s as a Deluxe Edition, further gifts us Hot and Heavy and an additional selection of bonus tracks and remixes. The production, the writing, the vocals are all defined by sheer and absolute class. It's like the horrid noise of all the tik-tok challenges and chorusless songs by your random "DJ-Whatevs" have ceased and the seas parted for Jessie to come and save us! I guess Jessie Ware does know what our pleasure is.
Mahmood - Ghettolimbo
After landing in second place at the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest with Soldi and releasing a stellar album: Gioventù Bruciata (Burnt Youth), Mahmood came back with an even more stellar (stellar-er?) Ghettolimbo. This album stands as proof that Mahmood was just not going to ride the success of his previous album and complacently release a new album in the exact same style. Ghettolimpo is a refined, stylish selection of tracks, attesting to Mahmood’s growth and explorations as an artist. From the intro Dei, you know you’re in for a journey and by the time you arrive to Klan, there’s no way you’ll (want to) leave the train. Mahmood represented Italy in Eurovision for the second time this year (after winning the national four-day music event, Sanremo) along BLANCO, with Brividi, and landed at 6th place.
Dua Lipa - Future Nostalgia
By now, this is considered a classic pop album, by many standards. It has, unsurprisingly, churned out a great deal of hits, it has sprouted a remix album, an online concert and was eventually re-released in 2021 with extra tracks. However a stellar track that was not included in the above but was released as a single, is a live version of Don’t Start Now which breathes a new, even more energetic breath of life to the song. Bonus: the original epic video to Physical by Canada.
GESS - Gimme That / Dignity / Collide
I didn’t know about GESS until Shea Couleé slapped us in the face with Collide on the premiere of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 5 in 2020 (which, honestly, feels like it happened, at least, four years ago). In true music vulture nature, I looked into GESS’s work and since then, Gimme That, Dignity and the Vigiletti remix of the latter have been circulating in my playlists non-stop.
Eli & Fur - Found in the Wild
Eli & Fur seem to be one of the busiest acts in the electronica/house music scene since they first came out in 2012 with Sea of Stars. They have been constantly producing, remixing and releasing singles since. Well, 2021 was the year they released their first full-length album. It’s a smooth, slow burning, gorgeous soundtrack to basically anything you may find yourself doing. Found in the Wild was also released as a live recorded album and a double remixed album. Extra: After releasing Found in the Wild Eli & Fur released Burning (featuring Camden Cox), which is a total journey –in the absence of a more original word– by itself.
Elisa - Seta
Bolting back to Italy real quick (and before we do that one more time later). Elisa is a staple in the Italian pop scene and one of the few Italian artists who recorded and made a career both in and outside Italy with English-speaking albums. To be completely honest, I love the fact that Elisa is recording in Italian again. Her full album, Ritorno Al Futuro/Back To The Future, released a few weeks after Seta is an absolutely gorgeous, double album: one set of 12 songs in Italian and then 15 in English. If I were to play favorites here, I would say that the set of italian songs feels like more of an intuitive, moving and heart-poured storytelling, whereas the english part of the album gravitates towards being more of a rock/pop-oid exploration. Back to the spearheading single of this release, Seta; It could be described as a signature Elisa song that put on its sneakers and started breakdancing before your eyes, while never breaking eye contact. FYI, it’s co-written by Elisa and the aforementioned Mahmood (Alessandro Mahmoud). So there you have it.
Cmnqmartina - Disco / Disco2
23 year-old, Italian Cmnqmartina released two albums in the years of the plague, literally titled Album and Album2. The second feels like an apt progression from the first one, although both are defined by awesome beats, electronic melodies that give way to Martina’s vocals and her quite raw lyrics. The result is a crude, dreamy electro pop sound (with just the exact right amount of darkness). Try Carne per cani, Lago blu, Pensieri sbagliati, and my personal favorite Se mi pieghi non mi spezzi at your own risk.
Perfume - Polygon Wave / Time Warp
Japanese electro-pop trio Perfume, have been popping albums and singles out for nearly twenty years!!! All of their work is written and produced by Capsule’s Yasutaka Nakata, (who is also singlehandedly responsible for Kyary Pamyu Pamyu’s material). In September 2020, they released a single bearing a title which perfectly described how we all felt for how the year was going: Time Warp. Even though the actual lyrics have nothing to do with the pandemic and the time-space distortion we've all had experienced up to that point, the barely three-minute track stood as a pleasant break from whatever was going on. Perfume’s sound at any given moment in time stems from Nakata’s music explorations “du jour”. So in 2021’s Polygon Wave we come across a disco pop-influenced iteration of Perfume, which almost aligns with that of Capsule's (Nakata's band) latest releases: Hikari no disco, Future Wave, Virtual Freedom. This is not the first time we have "tasted" this Perfume “flavor” before, it’s just that it’s a tad more cohesive and mature this time around.
A companion playlist, inspired by and including the above with the addition of some extra morsels, has been put together both on Apple Music and Spotify, so again, indulge at your own risk. Shuffle mode, encouraged.