Staff Picks: Best of February 2022
Orpheus is back with our staff’s favorite listens from February! Check it out here.
Collage of various artists, 2022.
Clare D’Amato
The Easy All-Stars’ Radiodread, a 2006 tribute album that song-for-song reinterprets Radiohead’s 1997 OK Computer with reggae, dub, and ska, was a frequently-visited listen this February. For me, one of the simplest pleasures in life is a really well-done Radiohead cover (Lianne La Havas’ “Weird Fishes” immediately comes to mind.) To have an entire album of *really* well-done Radiohead covers from one of Radiohead’s arguably top albums almost feels too good to be true. All the music I listened to as a kid was my mom’s and select covers from Radiodread were on her playlist. For the longest time I thought the Easy All Stars’ “Karma Police”, featuring Citizen Cope, was the original; I was quite shocked when I heard Radiohead’s version for the first time and it didn’t immediately start out with an incredible reggae guitar riff. I really recommend this album to anyone who’s a Radiohead and/or reggae fan; personal stand-outs from Radiodread, aside from “Karma Police”, are “Airbag” and “Let Down.” The Easy-All Stars have also released tribute albums of Pink’s Dark Side of the Moon and The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club.
Tiffany Zheng
Some of my favorite finds from February have to be Suki Waterhouse and Etta Marcus. Both artists have pretty limited discography, eight and six songs on Spotify, respectively, but they have me hooked with their haunting, yet airy and dreamy vocals, and styles reminiscent of Mazzy Star. From Suki Waterhouse, I’ve been playing “Moves” and “Good Looking” on repeat, and from Etta, I’d recommend checking out “Hide & Seek,” “Salt Lake City,” and “Provider.” Leon Bridges, a soul artist best known for his 2015 track “Coming Home,” is another artist I’ve been playing quite a bit. I love the contemporary R&B artists dominating the genre right now, but Leon Bridges (and his incredible jazz band) offers a classic, older soul sound that truly fills up my heart. Everyone should listen to Coming Home (Deluxe) and his collaborative EP with Khruangbin, Texas Moon, for all your groovy-moody-funky needs. As for his newest album, there are several gems Gold-Digger’s Sound, including “Motorbike,” “Magnolias,” and my personal favorite, “Blue Mesas.” Finally, anyone following me on Spotify can see that I’ve been listening to an embarrassing amount of The Neighbourhood (RIP, their newly announced hiatus), but we don’t need to talk about that.
Ben Rotko
Rakshak might be my favorite album of the year. It’s early to make that call, certainly, but Bloodywood’s debut album hits me in every place I like. I’ve been following the Punjabi folk-metal band since 2018 and their music has grown so much since then. Rakshak leans into elements of nu-metal and metalcore. Rapper Raoul Kerr can be a bit rough around the edges at times, but his verses hit with the force of a thousand trucks. “Gaddar” rails against Indian sectarianism, while “Dana Dan” addresses the subject of sexual assault with a brutal anger rarely seen in modern music. “Jee Veery” which translates to “Live, brave one” in English, is a beautiful track carried by Karan Katiyar’s flute melody, while vocalist Jayant Bhadula excels on “Machi Basad.” His growls are world-class, while he shows the higher side of his range on “Yaad.” The latter is the album’s standout track for me, a soaring epic inspired by the death of Katiyar’s childhood dog ten years ago. The song, whose title translates to “remember,” stirs chills and tears in me even after many listens.
Katie Ryu
I kind of expected my February to be dominated by Mitksi. With the release of her highly-anticipated sixth studio album, I thought I might find myself in a month-long Mitski music marathon. As expected, Laurel Hell is a brilliant album. Mitski’s latest work is layered and intentional, and it requires more than a few sentences to properly delve into. I’m also finding that the more I listen to the singles, the more I like them (“Heat Lightning” sounds like a church song; I love it and cannot be convinced otherwise). But in a surprising twist, my ultimate favorite from February has to be from Arlo Parks. I never quite got into Collapsed in Sunbeams back in 2021, but I’ve slowly been giving it a proper listen (cue a special shoutout to “Too Good” and “Eugene”). That said, it’s Parks’ most recent single, “Sofly,” that has me obsessed. The song is airy and indulgently catchy, and I think all of its pop elements encapsulate pretty much everything good pop ought to be. But narrowing in on “Softly” specifically, with the yearning, Parks’ gorgeous tone, the “I must admit I wanted you to save me” line—I’m in love.
Tristan Haeger
Glitch Princess is the latest album from Singaporean songwriter and producer yeule. The album is a journey through love, obsession, heartbreak, loneliness, and isolation. Sonically, the album pulls from industrial, ambient, glitch and hyperpop, indie rock, and electronic music. “Don’t Be So Hard on Your Own Beauty” is a recounting of a manic episode where their friend told them to not be so hard on their own beauty. “He always reminded me not to be so hard on my beauty when it started to get destructive”. Backed by an acoustic guitar, the track is one of the more calming and hopeful moments on the album despite the painful lyrics. “Electric” sees yeule grappling with suicidal thoughts with an angelic, soaring chorus. Featuring industrial production and a haunting, searing chant, “Mandy” channels the raw chaos and noise of drug addiction and the escape it provides for them. Glitch Princess is beautiful, haunting, noisy, and elegant. It delves into the mind of an artist who has been hurt countless times, and turns it into something simply beautiful. “I break my mind apart just to re-create a specific feeling or a vision I had that I found beautiful.”