Week in Pop: xCephasx, Krystle Warren, QOQO ROBOQS

Post Author: Sjimon Gompers

CHUCK

CHUCK introduces his final album; press photo courtesy of the artist.

The rumors are true. Amid a variety of hype & singles leading up to what is to be CHUCK’s final album, Frankenstein Songs for the Grocery Store available today; Charles Griffin Gibson unleashes what we believe might be the Brooklyn artist’s magnum opus. With an upcoming record release show happening in Brooklyn September 6 at Secret Project Robot with Soft Yes, Frog, Magana—we present a listen to a cycle of inspired pop jams & gems that Gibson intends to be played on supermarket radio stations from sea to shining sea.
CHUCK brings on the brilliance with Frankenstein Songs for the Grocery Store that starts with the dazzling electro-instrumental of “Stoner”, starting the power pop party with the local love & lore of “New Yorker” that offers up a state of the artist’s own unions. Melancholia drifts with the emotive “It’s Gonna Rain”, with the earnest & emotive inflections of “Becky”, leading into the already much beloved single “Cherry Tree”, that floats beautifully into the introspective “Bodies”. And the hits just keep on coming, as CHUCK crafts a work deserving of being side by side with the (SANDY) Alex G catalog penning pop numbers that appeal to the most intimate & guarded places of the mind/heart like “Hudson”, the radio dialing spinning interlude “Bulldog”, right before diving into the infectious & earnest “Meow”, continuing those ultra emotive impulses with “Oceans”, offering more heart & observations with “Caroline” that works like a series of Polaroid snap-shots arranged together to make up a biographical narrative.
Romanticism is everywhere on this album as CHUCK keeps the vibe earnest & all aims true on “Kiss [For Janne]”, offering another echo-laden ambient interlude with “Grocery Store” that sends salutations of warm regards & care with “Happy Birthday”, completing the cycle with the blissful outro of “Teenage TV” that serves as something of an ode to growing up, growing old & sending those coming-of-age sentiments down the stream of life’s ever unveiling chronicles. CHUCK introduced us to his final album with the following thoughts:

Frankenstein Songs for the Grocery Store is the final CHUCK record. After 10 years of making music in my bedroom, it’s time to hang it up. This final album is dedicated to all my fellow working stiffs in their 30s. I got lyrics about minor health issues, diets, endless train commutes, fluorescent lighting—you name it! Proceed with caution, bittersweet tales of adulthood lie ahead.


CHUCK’s final album Frankenstein Songs for the Grocery Store is available now via Audio Antihero.