ALBUM EXCHANGE: Nilufer Yanya & Chrystabell
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We're back with a brand-new album exchange for your listening pleasure, dear listeners! This time around, we're taking a closer look at singer/songwriter Nilufer Yanya's harrowing second album PAINLESS and outré chanteuse Chrystabell's dance-pop science fiction epic Midnight Star. Will either of these recent musical works be inducted into the TRAPPO Essentials Can(n)on? That's for us to know and for you to find out. So get on that and listen to the episode, already! It's embedded below, or you can find it on Apple, Google, Spotify or Anchor, so choose your own adventure and join us on this musical odyssey!
(The albums are embedded at the end of the post for your convenience. -D)
That's it for now, but the conversation doesn't have to end here! You can leave a comment below and tell us your thoughts on the music featured in today's episode, suggest topics for future episodes, or just generally tell us how you think we're doing. If you're feeling a bit more wordy, feel free to send us an email and spill your guts! And don't forget to visit our official Instagram feed for the complete experience. Your feedback could be featured on a future episode!
Thanks for listening!
Why does it always have to be some thing with the music? Between this shit you're on with the Chrysta Bell record and that nonsense you typed out over the Fountain noise, you keep polluting music with these dumb "big ideas". Can't music just be music? Midnight Star is cool electro-pop. But you go on about meditation and eastern philosophy and whatever else, and you can't just enjoy the music for what it is. This reaching analysis crap is exhausting. Try simply engaging with the actual music once in a while and stop being such a pretentious wanker.
ReplyDeleteI'm loving these wild extrapolations on the music! This episode was super impactful and catapulted me down a few fascinating rabbit holes. I really enjoyed it.
DeleteNeither of these albums really did a whole lot for me. The first one (Nilufer Yaya) had some good music at times, but the singer’s voice is weirdly off-putting to my ear. It’s hard to explain. You guys mention how that’s probably a deliberate choice on her part, and I respect that, but it doesn’t really grab me.
ReplyDeleteThe second one is better, maybe, but I consider myself a fan of Chrysta Bell’s music, with This Train being my personal favorite, and this feels like too much of a departure from her other work and I wasn’t ready for it. The dance electro stuff just isn’t my scene, and I’m sure you’re right that there’s other stuff going on here, but the music itself is just too different from her usual work and I’m not a fan. Maybe I could warm to it, and I’m willing to give it another shot soon, but my first impression is lukewarm at best.
But Billy’s canon isn’t TRAPPO’s canon, so it is what it is. I’m an adult. I’ll just keep listening to my old Andrews Sisters records while I sit in my recliner and shake my wrinkled fist at passing clouds.
I thought the episode was decent. It wasn't too long and it never really felt long, and I really like both of the artists you're highlighting. I wasn't familiar with Nilufer Yanya before, but I've listened to PAINLESS a few times now, and it's solid stuff. I am curious to check out Miss Universe now, but I wonder if it's going to be a letdown after enjoying PAINLESS so much. Midnight Star is killer electro-pop with a lot going on under the hood. I disagree with the commenter above who thinks you're reading too much into the music, since basically all of the stuff you mentioned in the episode is in the music itself. It's not subtext, but the actual text. Chrystabell doesn't explicity mention the concepts of Brahmin or the bodhisattva or the collective unconscious by name, but if you pay attention to the lyrics it's all right there. It's a far-out concept, but Chrystabell's a far-out artist, and Midnight Star signals that she's still growing and evolving as both an artist and as a human being, and that's awesome.
ReplyDeleteSince I've got your attention, may I recommend Dead Men Tell No Tales by Australia's Allison Forbes? it's a haunting, melodic folk/country record from a major talent that needs more exposure. Keep on truckin', Trappo!
I heard “Midnight Star” before I listened to the podcast and I have to say I wasn’t prepared to hear somebody name-drop stuff like Brahman or bodhisattvas in reference to this music. I didn’t really see it at first, but I relistened to the record based on your recommended track order, and I’m pretty sure you’re onto something. Is it over-analyzing? I don’t know. I don’t think so. It’s really cool to think about either way. Why can’t Midnight Star be out there somewhere, spreading her message of love and unity throughout time and space? I like being confronted with concepts I’m not really prepared for, stuff that kinda forces me to think outside the box for a while.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I like music that I can listen to while tripping out late at night, and that Midnight Star fits the bill for me, my dudes. I’m high as a kite and drifting through parallel universes and shit without ever leaving my couch. Who could ask for more? I even did like one of you suggested and loaded up some galaxy ambient video on YouTube while i cranked up the music and I went on a fucking TRIP. I don’t know if I ever came back down. Part of me’s still cruising through the cosmos looking for the scattered pieces of my soul or some shit. It’s a long story. Thanks, TRAPPO.
ReplyDeleteI baked a French silk pie last week and I listened to Midnight Star while I was putting it all together. I had the house to myself so I could really crank up the music, and based on the reactions from my family, this was the best French silk pie I’ve ever made, and it’s already my specialty. So I’m going to give Chrystabell at least partial credit for this delicious, delicious pie. No offense to Nilufer Yanya, but if I cooked to Painless (which I enjoy), the final dish would probably turn out bitter or gritty or slightly burnt. The mashed potatoes might wind up in a toxic, co-dependent relationship with the peas. That would not do.
ReplyDeleteI would share my French silk pie recipe, but it’s been in my partner’s side of the family for five generations, and she’d probably divorce me if I just posted it on the internet. Sorry TRAPPO but we’re just not that close.
Who eats clouds for breakfast? Robots? Do robots need to eat in the future? That’s just poor engineering. Water vapor’s gonna short circuit those robot brains. You might as well just push the robots into a swimming pool. Everything else in the record I’m okay with, but this clouds for breakfast policy is a step too far.
ReplyDeleteI guess I don’t get it. This Chrystabell music is not connecting with me. It’s got too much going on, too much production. So much noise from so many different sources, because we now can do anything digitally, so we throw too much stuff into the mix and it just sounds like white noise. A little restraint would go a long way. And don’t get me started on the “story” you’ve strung together behind the music. I don’t want to read a novella to understand the themes behind some pretentious noise-pop crap.
ReplyDeleteAnd Painless just sounds like some sleepy, bored woman mumbling through a bunch of generic grunge loops you could build on an app in ten minutes. I hate to be so down on this music, but I just don’t get the praise at all. I’m mystified.