March is an interesting month. Are we still in Winter? Stepping into Spring? Do we even have a good holiday this month? Not really! What we did have is a volumetric mass of great music released. So much that I can only cover a fraction released this month and look forward to the coming days where I can talk about the rest!

March’s Playlist is a kind of grab-bag of tracks I've enjoyed without any specific theme other than how they got me in the groove. I hope you enjoy them too!

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Prince and Camille

Over the course of his career there were many moments where Prince raised an eyebrow or two. Many of them are fully ingrained in the public consciousness at this point (I even wrote a bit about his ‘Love Symbol Era' in the past) however, one aspect that doesn’t get the same vigorous coverage is that of his musical alter egos. He’s assumed a few, such as Spooky Electric, whom he blamed for the recording and subsequent banishment of his infamous Black Album. My personal favorite, and the focus of this article, falls to the mysterious, gender blended, psycho-sexual Camille.

This wasn’t the first or even the last time that Prince would branch outside of his established persona to inject a little something new in his art. Just before Camille’s inception, in an act seemingly designed by the power of anti-marketing, his album Around The World was released with such little fanfare that even after the massive success of Purple Rain it landed with barely a drop. Even the cover was designed in such a way as to obscure the fact it was a Prince album. It seemed that Prince may have been growing tired of that flavor of superstardom and was willing to try anything to reignite that spark even if it meant vanishing completely. It wasn't until a simple act of studio magic, pitch shifting his already high voice to almost comical levels, that a new avenue opened for Prince allowing him to explore the world in a new pair of glasses. He may have said ‘I’m not a woman/I’m not a man/I’m something that you cannot understand’ in ‘I Would Die 4 U’ but it wasn’t until Camille that he was able to fully bring this complexity to full power.

Though the planned Camille album never saw an actual release in his lifetime (allegedly it will be released sometime in the near future) he did stealth release a majority of the songs onto other projects such as his grab-bag masterpiece Sign O The Times. Tracks like the infectious ‘You Got The Look’ with its ‘beauty battle of the sexes’ narrative and the immaculate ‘If I Was Your Girlfriend’ where he drifts in and out of the gender binary with a hypnotic carefree spirit.

‘If I was your girlfriend, would you remember/To tell me all the things you forgot when I was your man?’

Other tracks attributed to Camille share a similar playfulness such as the bouncy ‘Strange Relationship’ and the stomping ‘Housequake’ while others such as ‘Erotic City’ (though not an official Camille track, I argue the chorus is our first recorded Camille appearance) and ‘Shockadelica,’ (one of my favorite song titles) face his trademark sexuality with a new point of view. Here we're taken places that Prince has been before but this time we see them through a newly opened third eye that opens us up to a whole new perspective and playfulness that may have been taken too seriously before.

So, what makes an artist like Prince choose to adopt an alter ego at what was arguably the biggest time in his career? As enigmatic as Prince had always been it doesn’t take a grand imagination to see that when your personal profile reaches the stratosphere there’s bound to be a need to break free. Sure, it would be easy to just churn out the comfortable music that had already made you famous but sometimes, to save yourself and perhaps your soul, you need to branch out a little beyond yourself to find your center again. I feel like that's what Prince did here with Camille, inventing a whole other musical persona so that you can rediscover yourself. Otherwise, we may not have gotten an album like Sign O The Times and that would have been a massive shame.

It's moments like that that Make Prince in all his variations so fascinating and I will never stop being inspired by them.

Gorillaz- Cracker Island

Speaking of alter egos, Damon Albarn (and artist Jamie Hewlett) has been spear heading the virtual supergroup Gorillaz since the beginning of the new millennium. What started as a bit of a novelty with shockingly good genre blending music has only grown since then. While the heights of Demon Days may never again be reached, Damon and his collaborators have been putting out surprisingly consistent recordings over the years and even if I don't always vibe with every track there is always something new being explored. Enter Cracker Island where over the course of its brief runtime we are given some of the best Gorillaz tracks and collaborations since The Plastic Beach.

The opening title track smashes down the gate with a blast of synths and distorted vocals detailing a trip to a mysterious island where a cult thrives by distorting reality and the truth. This is the most potent depiction of ‘the story' that accompanies the album, though it isn’t as obvious as Gorillaz records past. Sure, there are a few over-arching themes (disinformation, cult behavior) and a kind of ‘lost soul’ vibe that carries through tracks like the Caribbean infused "Tired Influencer" and the grooving drum and bassline of "Tarantula.” Even the solemn closer "Possession Island"(featuring Beck) with its yearning vocals, soft swooshing synths and gentle guitars the feeling of a ‘concept album’ comes a little light on the concept. Make no mistake though, even if the ‘story’ isn’t fleshed out with more than a few songs that doesn't detract from the overall quality, in fact, there are a few absolute classics here.

Tracks such as “Oil” with Stevie Nicks come in with a light but driving percussion & contemplative vocal performance that takes flight and ascends in moments of beauty brought home by a declaration that ‘individual actions change the world.’ The soft drifting and claps of "Baby Queen” speak to a type of paternal nostalgia of watching someone (in this case the Princess of Thailand) grow to become something wonderful.

Other collaborations, such as the Tame Impala & Bootie Brown led "New Gold,” hit with a solidly groovy instrumental though I wish the bars by Bootie Brown came in a little harder to match the swirling and creeping guitars around him. My favorite feature comes on "Tormenta” with Bad Bunny taking the lead through a love soaked tropical reggaetón beat with quiet moments of sadness sprinkled throughout by Damon's muted & sorrowful vocals.

By the time the album comes to a close with the smashing breakdown in "Skinny Ape” and the aforementioned “Possession Island” it's clear to me that this is the most focused Gorillaz album since Plastic Beach and while some songs may overshadow others, I don’t find myself wanting to skip any of them. My only regret is that banger tracks like "Controlla" featuring Mc Bin Laden and "Crocadillaz" with De La Soul had found a way onto the main album release rather than just the back end of the Deluxe Edition.

Overall, this album is a solid groove worth many rotations. It’s great to have another one from Damon and crew.

Caroline Polachek - Desire, I Want to Turn Into You

I just recently started to dive into the music of Caroline Polachek, who was impossible to escape for a while in the fickle world of TikTok with the track ‘So Hot You’re Hurting My Feelings.’ While that track was an infectious pop outlier on her super solid and moody 2020 album, Pang, I was more drawn to the first couple singles from her most recent album Desire, I Want to Turn in to You. Tracks like the opener “Welcome to My Island” and its irresistible, near-robotic verse, followed by the thunderclap of a chorus (baring the album title!) and the celebratory chants throughout carries a mild yet tongue and cheek menace.

‘Bunny Is a Rider’ whistles in with a driving bass line, snappy rhythm and unbreakably catchy chorus that all combine to a magically groovy and mythically empowering track, and the Spanish guitar driven love song ‘Sunset’ breaks through with a hook that grips you like a seatbelt in a joyride on the edge of a seaside mountain.

‘Butterfly Net’ and ‘Hopedrunk Everasking’ add an ethereal layer to the album, the latter of which calls to mind the best of Bjork’s Vespertine/Medulla Era and the gorgeous album closer ‘Billions’ bridges the gap between the poppiest tracks and the glitchier and moodiest moments in a gorgeous way.

Caroline’s vocals throughout are powerful, hypnotic and bounce around the album with a dexterity that twinkles with charm, humor, & an emotion that can be hard to quantify but never resisted. Never is this more evident than ‘Blood & Butter,’ (my favorite in an album packed with favorites) where the love and desire build up and finally break loose with a stunning instrumental & show-stopping bagpipe refrain. From the start of the record, she wraps you up in her world and somehow you understand even the most intangible lyrical moments.

Every rotation of this album makes it an even deeper listen and with Caroline’s clever and often abstract wordplay throughout there’s so much to unpack. Every new layer is like an uncovered treasure and with every track hitting as powerfully as they are, it’s my favorite type of treasure hunt. This album is astonishing from top to bottom and its already one of my favorites of the year.

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