#36 Caroline Shaw and Sō Percussion: Rectangles and Circumstance

~ Lex Leeson ~ Leave a comment

Place in pets.

Night town.

Night town a glass.

Color mahogany.

Color mahogany center.

Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose.

Loveliness extreme.

Extra gaiters.

Loveliness extreme.

Sweetest ice-cream.

Page ages page ages page ages.

Wiped Wiped wire wire.

Sweeter than peaches
and pears and cream.

Wiped wire wiped wire.

Extra extreme.

Put measure treasure.

Measure treasure.

Tables track.

Nursed.

Dough.

That will do.

Gertrude Stein: ‘Sacred Emily’

Did you know Pablo Picasso once did a painting of Gertrude Stein?? That’s some real multiverse of madness shit. I understand that, back in 1906, Picasso was some 25 year old loser that wasn’t much of a draw at all – if you’ll excuse the pun – and Gertrude Stein was just some rich American who was shamelessly culturally appropriating the European art scene, so such a collaboration wasn’t exactly putting butts in seats back then. But Pablo Picasso and Gertrude Stein doing a team up in 2024?? That’s doing business! Box office numbers, and they doing outstanding! Running outta space in their damn bandwagon! Shame that Picasso died from pulmonary edema in 1973. That seems late for Pablo fucking Picasso, doesn’t it? He would have watched the 1970 World Cup. He wasn’t just alive to remember The Beatles, he saw their entire career! He was alive for seven James Bond movies! He only missed the eight, ‘Live and Let Die’, by a couple of months, so never got to experience Roger Moore’s take on the character, which I think we can all agree is the saddest thing about his death. Gertrude Stein though, died in the 1940’s, which seems like a very appropriate era for someone like Gertrude Stein to die. I know what you’re thinking: 1940’s? An extremely notable Jewish figure? I’m pretty sure I know what this is going to be in relation to!

Ahmad Yasser Sabri Abu ‘Abed

#37 The Smile: Cutouts

~ Lex Leeson ~ 3 Comments

In case anyone was wondering whether I still had these meme:

Been using that for more than seven years now, and yet it is as appropriate now as it ever was. More so, when you think about it. And, yes, I could technically edit it to make it more appropriate for the band The Smile, but I don’t believe in such Stalinesque historical revisionism. If we don’t learn from our history, we are doomed to repeat it. And I really want to continue posting this meme, so I refuse to learn from it.

By the way, I am so ready to write a long post debating the nuances and the propaganda surrounding Josef Stalin! Isn’t it quite ironic how perhaps the 20th century’s biggest victim of historical revisionism has been Uncle Joe himself??

Muhammad ‘Issam Mustafa Judah

#38 Waxahatchee: Tigers Blood

~ Lex Leeson ~ 1 Comment

What even is Waxahatchee now?

Katie Crutchfield is extraordinarily talented, don’t get me wrong. Whatever I ever say about them or the music they make, I never want the fact that they are ridiculously good at their job to be forgotten. Their songwriting skill is absolutely impeachable, I don’t think they’ve ever put their name to a song you’d rank below 6/10, they’re an obvious mentality monster whose mastery of their craft now has eight albums (plus other stuff. It’s hard to work out what counts) worth of hard evidence. She’s very good.

But what are they?

Bayan Muhammad Kamel Abu Khamash

#39 GloRilla: Ehhthang Ehhthang

~ Lex Leeson ~ 3 Comments

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh!

Get ’em Glo! First off, let me introduce her: bitch, she’s her. She’s here to tell you bitches now that y’all got her fucked up. Also, I feel it’s important to consider that, according to all available sources, the booty loose but the pussy tight. I’m pleased to hear about the tautness of Glorilla’s vagina, though I hope that she has talked to a doctor about possible vaginismus. That loose anus though, may be a serious issue, and I would seek urgent medical advice in case this rectal prolapse causes fecal incontinence. Don’t ask how I know this.

Listen, bit of a truck driver’s gear shift from the Mumbles, I know, but Necessary Evil is a wide church and all shall be considered. Anyway, it’s just science, y’know? I’m not a music critic, I’m just here to drop facts. If you want some miserably subjective whining about how good that fucking Cindy Lee album is, then there are plenty of options for you. On this blog we deal in cold hard certainties.

Amir Raafat Muhammad ‘Ayad

40 Mumbles: In the Pocket of Big Sad

~ Lex Leeson ~ 4 Comments

I’m kind of sick of this self-obsessed white guy indie-emo thing where this kind of mundane shit you pretend’s got any symbolism, or greater important to other people’s lives, rather than just some fucking tedious self-involved nothing

Poached Eggs, Chili Flakes

Manchester! Na-nanana-na! Manchester! Na-nanana-na!

I fucking hate Manchester sometimes. Most of the time, if I’m being honest. Sure I was born here* but I had little to no choice in that matter, and I live here now, but that’s only because you’re unlikely to find a better UK city experience than sleeping in a tent in St Peter;s Square while you wait to be housed by the council**.

(*well… in Ashton, which nobody in Manchester would consider Manchester, but seeing as nobody outside of Manchester has heard of or is arsed about it, let’s just call it Manchester for the benefit of this post

**and, to bring us back in, there’s a joke that nobody outside Manchester is going to get)

Manchester is special though, yeah? We do things differently, isn’t it? Something something FAC9087546 something something Coronation Street something something actually that person you’re thinking of is from Salford and we’re really inconsistent about whether we consider that a worthwhile distinction. Remember Oasis though? Remember when both the Stone Roses and The Happy Mondays were on the same episode of Top of the Pops? What do you mean you’re not even old enough to remember Top of the Pops?? I’ll have you know that British institution enabled Jimmy Saville to prey on more children than you’ve had hot dinners, and you need to show it some respect!!

Rahaf Yihya Sa’di Hassan

Necessary Evil 24: The Biggest List Under the Sun

~ Lex Leeson ~ Leave a comment

Bumpin’ that bumpin’ that bumpin’ that…

Yeah, we’re back, so fuck me I guess?

The 16th year end Necessary Evil list of the year’s objectively and scientifically proven greatest music is a notable event for a few reasons. Firstly, it will be the first time I’ll be writing a list of year’s best bops and slaps that played out to a full twelve months of genocide. Like, the whole year. When I wrote last year’s list, it was only to the backdrop of a tiny bit of genocide that covered the last couple of months of the year. And who really pays attention in those winter months? Too busy thinking about Christmas, right? A couple of years back, for example, my housemate Darren engaged in the systematic and targeted slaughter of more than two dozen woman and children in those early December weeks, and I just didn’t notice because I spent the whole time trying to untangle the Christmas lights. Don’t worry, it happens, I get it.

Hajar Khalil Salah al-Bahtini

Statman Scoop (RIP): The Numbers Behind Necessary Evil 2023

~ Lex Leeson ~ 2 Comments

Shhh…

Do you hear that?

That distant thunder rumbling? Rumbling hungry like a beast? The beast it cometh, cometh down?

Yes, it’s November, which means we’re just a month away from Necessary Evil 2024. That annual highlight of every year when all of you sad, fat, middle aged, lonely, fat (did I say ‘fat’ already? Well, you really fat, so it’s fine) finally learn the objective truths about the year’s music and perhaps become aware of some albums released after 2004.

Firstly though, we need (we need) to look at the stats behind Necessary Evil 2023. Why? I’m not so sure anymore. I’m also not so sure why I’ve started doing these stats as an introduction to the next year’s list, rather than posting them close to when I do the actual list they’re about. Well, I do: after I spend a month constantly writing on this dumb blog that nobody reads, I never want to write about these stupid fucking albums ever again. This might be the last time I do this statistical break down. Might be.

Having said that nobody reads this dumb blog though, 2024 has actually seen the most amount of visitors to Necessary Evil ever. Like, 43% more visitors than last year. And I haven’t even done the one thing this blog does this year yet! I honestly appreciate every reader this blog gets, and you all make me possibly think it might be worthwhile to continue this piece of shit.

Eugh, enough sincerity, let’s make dick jokes and stuff:

the stuff

“Driving Myself Mad With Mental Health and Gender Stuff” – Efficax Interview

~ Lex Leeson ~ 4 Comments

Elle Gilliam is always taking her art places.

Over the course of the last five years, it’s difficult to think of many other musical artists who have so consistently and animatedly pushed their sound and style to more expansive and challenging places. When she first came to the notice of Necessary Evil, it was with the gorgeous, lilting, acoustic near Americana of ‘Picture Perfect Depression‘ in 2019, back when she was still recording as Helltown*. Her music five years on bears little resemblance to those essentially standard guitar based records, and along the way she’s also dragged it into so many avenues and artistic tangents that it has been anything but a straight progression.

(*and also still… y’know… mostly identifying as male…)

You may remember me interviewing Elle last year, so it makes sense that I would reach out to her on the 12 month anniversary to get an update on her current status, both artistically and personally. Well, that would have been in February, so fuck me I guess. Wonderfully though, Efficax soon released their follow up album to last year’s ‘DESTROYER‘, so I could at least question Elle about the themes and inspirations behind their new album to coincide with its release date. Well, that was in April, so fuck me I guess.

However, only six months after this essential record was released, I managed to tie Elle down and ask for her to talk us through the record’s fourteen tracks. As far as you all know, we met in a dusty but quaintly adorable bookshop cum cafe in the back streets of Los Angeles. Elle was nursing a kumquat espresso and idly browsing through a Breanne Fahs book when I came in, blinded by the rays of the mid afternoon sun trickling through her long hair. I sat down and apologised for the smell – I thought I’d seen a tuna sandwich in the bins outside the shop that unfortunately turned out to be a dead raccoon – and we began:

guess i got my fucking answer

‘Definitely Maybe (30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)’: My Dynamic Affection

~ Lex Leeson ~ 3 Comments

adjective

  1. 1.(of a process or system) characterized by constant change, activity, or progress

It’s never talked about in 2024, but Oasis were actually a far bigger deal than Nirvana.

In the UK I mean, of course. I am from the UK and writing this in the UK from the perspective of someone who lived in the UK in the 90s. If I were Spanish, I might be writing the praises of the million selling debut album by Laura Pausini, by far the biggest selling record of 1994 in that country. If I were Japanese, I might be talking about how neither Nirvana nor Oasis can hold a candle to Mr. Children (ミスターチルドレン), whose 3.4 million selling ‘Atomic Heart’ album obviously hit that sweet spot between tentacle porn and genocide denial that the country cherishes so much. But, I’m writing in English, so you’d probably just imagine I’d cede to the American version of history, as we are so often wont to do.

we’ll have lasaaaaaaaagnaaaaaaaaaaa