MUSIC

It’s been quite the year,

two months into 2018, and I have already heard a lot of great music,

and now I’m going to write about it.

Without further adieu, here are some of the releases I have been listening to.

Hip/Hop Rap:

Big releases in rap include Migos’ overblown Culture II, Gucci Mane’s sixth album, and the cinematic Black Panther Soundtrack, helmed by rap forerunner, Kendrick Lamar. The standout here is the latter, with a notable roster of producers, rap styles, and musical talents, the album is undeniably fun, yet kneels in comparison to K-dot’s discography. That being said, the soundtrack is more than big names and replaceable, (if not enjoyable,) features; Kendrick enlists some of music’s upcoming names such as R&B singer Jorja Smith on the cut “I am,” and electronic music’s gloomy bigwig, James Blake, on “King’s Dead.” Continuing with the trend of the lesser known artists, SOB X RBE, the pride of bay area rap, offers one of the most impressive tracks of the soundtrack with “Paramedic.” On the track Kendrick switches to the perspective of the film’s antagonist, Killmonger, while the west-coast group showcases their versatile styles and lyricism; Slimmy pledges gang loyalty, Lul G raps about the loss of his brother, Daboii explains why it's hard to smile with all he’s seen, and Yung T.O reforms segregation into empowerment, “They ain't wanna see me win 'cause I'm black/ So I pulled up in that all black Benz in the back.” If this track peaks any interest, be sure to listen to their thrilling February release, Gangin; a testament to west-coast hip hop and the group’s fantastic interplay, the record is filled with bay area stylized bops.

One rap album deserving of more attention comes from Baltimore rapper, JPEGMAFIA, with his outstandingly offensive, off the rails, Veteran. The album is overly aggressive in its lyricism, taking shots at the alt-right, Trump supporters, liberals, sexual offenders, feminists, white people, and Kanye West, just to mention a few. Not to mention that the notorious Jim Morrissey gets his own song: “I Cannot F***ing Wait Until Morrissey Dies.” This aggression transfers into the production; the bombastic electronic styled beats and soul samples scattered throughout the album are refreshingly experimental, similar to Vince Staples’ Big Fish Theory (2017), and Danny Brown’s, Atrocity Exhibition (2016). While the beats are often rampant and choppy, MAFIA’s versatile flows, varying from the shouting style of MC RIDE from Death Grips, to the smooth and more lyrical style of Dom McLennon, member of 2017’s most exciting music project, BROCKHAMPTON, uphold tracks that would otherwise deteriorate in the hands of a less skillful MCs. On the notable, “Baby I’m Bleeding,” JPEGMAFIA plans to drive-by the white house, “Now I'm at the White House, looking for your President/Hop out the van pointing guns at your residence” denounces rape culture and its bystanders, “It’s ironic you hang with a {brother} that beat women/And have the nerve to call yourself "Girl Pusher" and then later claims, “I’m the new Beyoncé.” If these bars stand as any indication, the album’s exaggerated mood and fluctuating tone offers one the most enjoyable listens of the new year.

On the other end of the spectrum, Irish rapper, Rejjie Snow, reveals his personalized debut, Dear Annie. In the same melodic soundscapes as Stevie Wonder, N.E.R.D., and Tyler the Creator, the album is frequently more surprising and beautiful than it is novice, particularly on “Rainbows,” and “Mon Amour,” where Snow takes a break from rapping to sing in French, Mon amour/Approche toi de moi/Je suis ton secret/Dans mon hôtel glacé.” 2 Chainz gave us a short and sweet EP called "The Play Don’t Care Who Makes It," as a follow up to 2017’s Pretty Girls Like Trap Music. I’ve also been recommended to listen to CupcakKe’s new sexually powered record, Ephorize, but sadly have not gotten around to it; sorry CuCakKe. Lastly, in case you forgot about him, Hussle is back with a return record, Victory Lap. Largely story driven, the album commemorates old school style while adopting flashy production and big named features such as K-Dot, YG, and Puff Diddy. However, it's important to talk about Hussle’s questionable post on social media regarding gay people in the black community as abandoners and sources of violence, resulting in a similar stir to Offset’s verse on “Boss Life, “I do not vibe with queers.” While certainly it’s sometimes necessary for artists to reveal the ugly undercurrents of society and even themselves, it’s also necessary to note that the homophobia still present in hip/hop is more poisonous rather than expressive and will only be dispelled through increased representation and awareness. In 2018, I hope it’s not too much to ask artists to rap about something else.

Indie/Rock/Alternative:

Once Indie giants, the dissociative MGMT alienated their fan-base through multiple experimental releases over the past few years. While few praised the group’s deviation, their new styles were mostly meet with frustration and confusion, ‘Why would the band responsible for the biggest indie hits of the decade consciously change their sound?’ However, their most recent release, Little Dark Age, is their most accessible album since 2007’s Oracular Spectacular. From the funk-jazz mashuped opening, “She Works Out to Much,” a song describing a failed relationship because of a difference in physical activity habits, to the synth-toned “Little Dark Age,” a dismissive callback to the tracks that made them a household name, MGMT disclose their return to pop with pop songs in their most reinventive, ominous, and unique forms. On “TSLAMP,”(acronymic as time spent looking at my phone,) the duo examines the topical issue of smartphone addiction, “I'm wondering where the hours went/As I'm losing consciousness/My sullen face is all aglow/Time spent looking at my phone,” and the emptiness behind all those Facebook likes, “All the memories you've shared/Devoured by perverted creatures.” Also worth checking out is the morbid and existential, “When You Die;” an Ariel Pink styled psych rock jam, the track carries the ugly undertones of last year’s elections and the band’s overall non-conformity, “Go f*ck yourself/You heard me right/Don't call me nice, again.” Also noteworthy are the odes to the best thing around: Friendship; from the 80s nostalgic “Me and Michael,” and the record’s centerpiece, “James,” “If you need a friend/Come right over/Don't even knock/And I'll be home/The door is always open,”  the band’s mood shifts into more of a funeral disco party, rather than the indifferent, ‘how the hell did we end up here,’ outlook.

In the Rock-osphere, Yo La Tengo is back! The band released four new singles, most noteworthy “Shades of Blue,” and the instrumentally loud, yet somehow ambient “You are here.” If these tracks are in any way like their upcoming full-length release, There’s a Riot Going On, (March 16th) I’m psyched. As the dubious pitchfork says, “No one can rock like Yo La Tengo can;” I’m afraid I must agree with them on that. Chapel Hill band, SuperChunk released their new record What a Time to be Alive, and American rock band, Screaming Females, released All At Once. Both bands dispatch punk-riot songs and expand upon their previous held soundscapes, marking them as worthy listens for rock and punk fans alike. The psych-punk duo hailing from Northern England, The Lovely Eggs, issued This is England, an explorative record both sonically and thematically. Produced by Dave Fridmann, the man behind The Flaming Lips and Tame Impala, the album’s innovative sounds guide the listener through the groups reaction towards the rise of white nationalism in their homeland and across the pond. On the fuzzy-fun pandemonium that is, “Wiggly Giggly,” the couple urges listeners to craft their own realities, and on standout, “I'm With You,” the group aligns itself with the desperate kept out of supposed, all-expecting countries.

One of the best alternative-rock releases I heard this February is not an actual new release, but a remaster of Car Seat Headrest’s exalted Twin Fantasy (2011). The newly released version expands upon the original’s production quality as well as references, opting for a better realized cut of an already impressive bandcamp album. Generally, the record encompasses the teenage experience in a way that only a teenager could. On the epic, twelve minute spanned, “Beach Life-in-Death,” singer-songwriter Will Toledo captures the liminal existence of teenage adolescence by constantly questioning, What should I do?” and defeatedly admitts, “I’m running out of drugs to try.” The follow up ballad (of sorts), “Stop Smoking (We Love You),” cools down the explosiveness of its predecessor, and is later incorporated into the hazy “High to Death,” where Toledo laments, “I wish I was sober/I can’t get off up off the ground.” The album is raw and open, and Toledo frequently shares his sexual confusion and insecurities, “I pretended I was drunk when I came out to my friends,” while paying homage to his inspirations; praying for a new voice he sings, “God/ I wish I had Frank Ocean’s voice” (Cute Thing, Twin Fantasy) On standout, “Bodys” Toledo acknowledges the delicateness of mortality, “Don’t you realize our bodies could fall apart at any second?/I am terrified your body could fall apart at any second.”

Jazz/Classical/Ambient:

A wonderful jazz album, Modern Lore, was released by one of my favorite guitarists, Julian Lage. Lage recruits two other musicians for the record, Scott Colley for bass, and Kenny Wollesen for drums, diverting from his minimalistic solo work on World’s Fair, and expanding upon his electric-amplified sound on 2016’s Arclight. However, Modern Lore is dissimilar to Lage’s earlier work on Arclight in its unbounded qualities, constantly venturing from bebop to blues, from ragtime to folk, encircling the heart of American jazz and blues. For new listeners, this is a great album to discover how jazz is much more than just, ‘elevator music,’ and for returners, it’s certainly a standout in Lage’s discography thus far, and a reminder of his boundless capability. Be sure not to miss the incredible closer, “Pantheon.” From the minute you hear footsteps alongside the sound of the not too distant ocean in Niklas Paschburg’s, Oceanic, one cannot help but be completely immersed into one of the best sounding records I’ve heard this year. Recorded in his seaside Baltic studio, the album’s production is tethered on ambience and modernist classical tropes, as pianist Paschburg draws influence from his piers and mentors as well as the environment around him, filling the album with harmonious strings, bass, and drums, upkept by his dazzling piano above sounds of the ocean. Standouts include the immersive opener, “Spark,” and the slow burning “Sand Whirling.”

Pop/R&B/Newcomers/Favorites:

Ravyn Lenae, (collaborator with Noname and SZA), recruits producer Steve Lacy, the indie musician and producer behind DAMN’s “Pride,” and the Internet, for her soulful and groovy Crush. Standouts such as the incredibly catchy “Sticky,” combine Lacy and Lanea’s styles into accessible nifty grooves. Rhye returns for another soothing R&B/Pop record, Blood. However, this time around, Rhye is more focused on style over substance, with little lyrical meanings beyond simple rhymes, the attention is clearly on the production. Nonetheless, the arrangements are hauntingly beautiful, and the sensuality of Rhye’s genderfluid voice results in one of the most soothing listens of the new year. Check out, “Stay Safe,” or “Waste,” part noncoherent, part unwinding, but most of all, beautiful. Newcomer Aaron Childs, offers one of the more playful R&B releases with “Tangerine;” expressing his sentiment for a lost lover, and sustaining 2017’s strange obsession with fruit-erotica, he sings, “Tangerine, that’s how it tastes when I think about you.” The Norwegian singer-songwriter, (and actress,) Okay Kaya, delivers a safe-sex lullaby with the elegant “IUD,” where she connects female desire and the essentialism of contraception, “Baby your so baby but I don’t want your baby.” The accompanying music video is simply stunning, and her full-length album is due sometime later in the year; it’s is worth keeping on your radar. Columbian singer, Kali Uchis, revealed a new R&B track, with “After the Storm.” The track is a funkadelic delicacy, thanks to a collaboration effort from legend Bootsy Callens, who integrates classic funk sonics into Uchis’ R&B style. Along for the ride is everyone’s favorite flower boy, Tyler the Creator, offering a tamed yet memorable verse d, “Kali, what you mean? I take it offensive/'Cause I'm the hottest flower boy/That popped up on the scene” Not to be amiss, Frank Ocean posted an interpretation of Breakfast at Tiffany’s, “Moon River,” on his Tumblr in the early morning after valentine’s day. His version carries the lo-fi accompaniment consisting of a Spacemen-esque hollowed and smooth guitar, alongside pitched and stacked vocal effects. Like Endless’ “Rushes” and Blonde’s “White Ferrari,” the masterful minimalistic production on this track emphasizes Ocean’s voice, reminding the listener of its rarity. Like Simone and Lennon, his voice has the capability to sonically transcribe emotion; being both heartbroken yet full of desire, both restrained and liberated, it’s a testament to music’s ability to conjure feeling despite its invisibility. It would be hard to say that listening to “Moon River” after a sleepless valentine’s day night, was not one of the best things I hear in 2018 thus far.

So that’s that.

Hope you were able to find some new sounds.

I’m excited for the coming months; global twelve-piece electronic group, Superorganism, is out with a new record in March,one that I will most likely have on repeat, also, Yo La Tengo!

I’m feeling there may be a surprise from ASAP Rocky in the foreseeable future as well…

Here’s to more good music.

​

-Skruupa ('19-'20)