Jack Forman - Hold The Phone - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Jack Forman returns with the follow-up to his acclaimed Amazon Originals InchSongs From the Monkey HouseInch debut album with this hysterically kid-driven collection of songs for current (and former) kids. From diving into Super Mario 3 to a pet cat who eats everything except for Pop Tarts, these twelve songs take listeners to a whirlwind of laugh-out-loud-funny destinations. The album is permeated with a bouncy slightly-caffeinated energy that may just wear out the remaining CD players of North America.

Baby Man, the new album by Fruit Bats, is like nothing else in Grammy-nominated songwriter Eric D. Johnson's catalog. Little in the arc of his career-including Fruit Bats' evolution from home recording project to rollicking roadshow, his solo output, and his work with Bonny Light Horseman-points the way to this album, in which his only accompaniment, aside from the occasional blush of synthesizer, is a guitar, banjo, or piano. Save for producer Thom Monahan, reuniting with Johnson for the first time since Fruit Bats' 2019 breakthrough Gold Past Life, it's just Johnson in the room, meaning that when the turntable's needle meets Baby Man's groove, it's just him and the listener, mutually in for a reckoning. Monahan's return to the booth was vital having mapped the outer limits of Eric D. Johnson's musical imagination, nobody was better equipped for the deepest trip yet into his soul. Baby Man is an intimate album, but rather than deliver a stripped-down or back-to-basics approach to the Fruit Bats sound, it's introspection is rendered at epic scale. InchIt's minimalist-maximalism,Inch Johnson says of his and Monahan's approach. InchThere are fewer tracks on each song-four or five at most compared to recent albums where there'd maybe be five tracks on a song just for synths-but this is me at my most hi-fi.Inch What he and Monahan do to striking effect on Baby Man is explore the full power and range of his voice. Pushed forward in the mix, Johnson's vocals-a showstopping element of his craft- have new purpose and depth on Baby Man, breathing life into some of the rawest songs he's ever written into being, actively finding the heart in the lyrics sometimes just hours after they'd been penned. A text sent to Monahan one morning-InchI'm just trying to write a couple more songsInch-later becomes the first line of InchPuddle Jumper,Inch a finger-picked heartbreaker whose only

Mitski warmly recalls a quote from sculptor El Anatsui, InchArt grows out of each particular situation, and I believe that artists are better off working with whatever their environment throws up.InchWith this nerve exposed lyrically, and having dived into her new beginning, Mitski chooses her 2014 breakthrough album Bury Me at Makeout Creek to explore uncharted sonic territory, trading in large string arrangements for guitar and bass. While studying composition at SUNY Purchase's music conservatory, she previously recorded music with a full orchestra. However as college graduation inched closer, Mitski moved away from the concert hall and into the campus' active DIY scene. Upon relocating to New York following graduation, she entered stages at Death By Audio, Silent Barn, and Bed Stuy basements, entrenching her songs of love, fear, lust, and brilliant clarity into entirely sympathetic ears.Since releasing Bury Me at Makeout Creek, Mitski has received international acclaim for her distinct, arresting sound and profoundly reflective lyrics. Pitchfork applauded the as Inchinventive and resourceful,Inch while Rolling Stone celebrated her Inchdeep-cutting lyrics.Inch NME said of Bury Me, Inchit's a record that doesn't tug at your heart-strings as much as it mercilessly pounds at them, taking to your emotions like a lead pipe to a piñata.Inch She has also received widespread attention for her InchcatharticInch live shows as dubbed by The New York Times' Jon Caramanica.InchI was so young when I behaved 25,Inch Mitski sings on InchFirst Love / Late Spring,Inch Inchyet now I find I've grown into a tall child.Inch This veritable thesis speaks to sentiments of the poetry and beauty of struggling up the hill to adulthood. Mitski follows El Anatsui's humbling advice, cathartically revealing snapshots from her adventures in youth, and the empowerment found in sharing these stori