AJ SUEDE & WOLFTONE – PERMAFROST DISCOVERIES

There’s a standard some set for themselves and I can always appreciate that. Quality control is an important factor that many seem to take into consideration. Just because someone tells you they have 50 or 100 songs they haven’t recorded yet doesn’t mean it’s good music. Let’s face it, not everyone can be a Guided By Voices/Robert Pollard. For most, the best option would be to just leave 75% of their work on the cutting room floor.

Washington state’s AJ Suede is quite the conundrum, and in 2023 alone, he quietly released only four solo albums and the G’s US project, which he partnered with thoughtful rapper R.A.P. Ferreira. Why is this all important to mention? Well, there are a number of facets that are offered through the variety of releases, and no, none of his works should have been omitted or left shelved. Suede’s laidback cadence & delivery don’t always need to be forceful for him to get his point across. On the new Permafrost Discoveries, a collaboration with producer Wolftone, things are no different. At this point in his career, we can be sure AJ Suede can rhyme over anyone’s beat production but Wolftone, another Washington resident, creates larger-than-life layered beats throughout the 10-track album which suits Suede perfectly.

While Wolftone’s evocative beats are enticing, one can’t help but return again and again to “Off Track Betting,” which not only pulls from spooky 1940s film soundtracks (I can’t help but think of ‘Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein’ with a frightened Costello as a coffin creaks and slowly opens) juxtaposed against a lightly tinged Boom Bap rhythm. It shouldn’t work, but it does. In spades. The only issue is Suede’s vocals. Don’t get it twisted, his wording and phrasing is a delight as it moves seamlessly across tracks. Of course, if the levels were just a bit higher… but that’s a personal preference. When he spits, “I’m off track bettin’ on myself when the sun’s not settin’ on myself, dust stay collecting on the shelf by the stack of all the records you’ve invested on yourself…” it’s a keen sense of self never straying from the path always staying true to himself. All that in just one track.

“I do this in my sleep, and then I wake up, and keep doing it, you know what I mean.” These are Sued’s words as he opens “Rent’s Dew,” and the way AJ Suede’s words just roll off his tongue, it’s not braggadocio, it literally sounds like fact. Wolftone provides an interestingly layered, atmospheric backdrop, with a timbre of gloom… sans beats. It works. On “The Square Root of Two” featuring BlkSknn, the mood completely shifts, becoming more orchestral in a sense as semblances of string arrangements permeate throughout as the drifting percussion allows both emcees to volley their rhymes against one another. Maybe we can have an AJ Suede / Philharmonic Orchestra collab in the future because yes, THIS. At only two minutes and 20 seconds, this is a beautifully emotional piece. “Limited Edition” again featuring BlkSknn shifts again moving further along into 70s soulfulness, on the fringes of blaxploitation film soundtracks. While the track would work for just about any talented emcee, both Suede and Blk make it their own. BlkSknn is somewhat self-deprecating but he’s quite aware of his own worth as is Suede. Both emcees rise above their surroundings and nothing is holding them back!

If high hopes are what you’re going into with Permafrost Discoveries, you’re not going to be disappointed. Throughout the album, the Suede god is unrelenting, weaving together his words like the master of his craft that he is. It works well against Wolftone’s musical landscapes that are sometimes edging on the brink of collapse. It’s all just about flawless.

WHY? – THE WELL I FELL INTO

Some play music and some write, compose, and record extravagant works of art. It’s up to the artist to figure out which path to take and for the discerning listener to make up their minds as to what they’re listening to and how they process that music. It’s important to have artists who can do things with music rather than just focusing on three chords. There’s nothing wrong with three chords but music shouldn’t be restricted or restricting.

Why? – Yoni Wolf (vocals, multi-instruments), Doug McDiarmid (multi-instruments, vocals), Matt Meldon (multi-instruments, vocals), Josiah Wolf (multi-instruments, vocals) – always delivers something to open the senses. This time around, with its seventh full-length release, The Well I Fell Into (Joyful Noise Recordings), it doesn’t seem that things have changed. That’s not to say Why? repeats itself, but instead, it opens doors and minds to things we may not have known were possible to do. Throughout this release, we find an assortment of instrumentation (strings, piano, percussion) as Why? builds well-thought-out compositions, much like on “Marigold” as it crescendos and falls, shifting its dynamic interplay. This leads to “Brand New,” possibly one of the best pop songs ever to be constructed within the past decade. I understand that’s saying a lot but there are reasons. Why? sticks to a verse-chorus-verse structure with the obvious addition of bridges but the song’s beauty is in its simplicity as it soars through crescendos and well-written lyrics as Yoni Wolf uses just the right amount of volume and melody to share them. You won’t be able to get enough of the song.

The group has an untethered ability to create pop songs with ease and without restriction. With the morose “Jump,” the band is able to convey its imagery covered in dark clouds and when Yoni sings “I need another jump man,” we can almost imagine how close to death he is. The piano sets the mood, the tone, and it’s exquisite. As listeners, we can feel the pain, the struggle, the heartbreak. It’s amazing. The band is able to switch its own musical emotional state from one track to another and its own style without losing its identity. “Sin Imperial” utilizes synths allowing the group to sound less organic, while still remaining quite animate through its additional instrumentation use. Here the band is larger than life with vocal harmonies that truly stand out.

Throughout The Well I Fell Into we can see and hear the band’s pop sensibilities stand out from the plethora of its own contemporaries. The musicianship remains unchallenged as is the band’s songwriting. Why? keeps setting the bar higher and higher only challenging itself through every subsequent release. Competition? There is no competition. It seems the band wants to be better than it previously was, and that’s not an easy task.