Sep 24, 2020

@awhellno

#53: M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming [8.8/10]​

PCP is one h--- of a drug. Crazy how you can remember those nights that you don't remember like Drizzy said. Usually when I DJ'ed college parties I strayed away from the drugs and liquor, always tried to sit behind the boards and focus being the soundtrack for these lunatics and watch the carnage unfold in front of my eyes. At this one particular bacchanal, this one burly dude wearing a Tapout tank and sunglasses that presumably hid his dilated eyes approached the booth and complimented the music, only to then hand me a tablet, just looking at it already I knew that s--- was PCP...now I know what you're thinking, why did good old Fire Squad accept some hallucinogens from some random cac? Yo, lowkey the dude had this funky aura about him that I just had to trust in the moment, dude looked like a debauchery guru sent from a Judd Apatow flick. Needless to say, that acid trip was mind-blowing, it got all the more ecstatic when this song came up on the mix. Don't think I've ever experienced another more euphoric, albeit drug-induced, feeling when the synthesized guitars kicked in that MFer and everyone in that party just collectively lose their s---...

M83 for years dedicated themselves of making some of the most expansive synth-driven music known on Earth. What separated them from the likes of other New Wave revivalists is, they had a mastery of multiple styles coupled with a bravery of even experimenting them into these dense Shoegaze/Electro-rock tracks. With every progressing release they got better at fusing these clashing sounds until they got sick of getting limited recognition for wonderful dream-pop songs, so on this Double-LP they patented their experimental electric keyboard to churn out full-blown stadium anthems. There were no restrictions on maximalism, everything was meant to sound big and blissful on both of the CDs, even the mellow tracks on here are something to just marvel at from both an instrumental and song-writing perspective. This was an ambitious record, sure with a bit of filler, with truly staggering heights that make it all worth the sit down into this band's jubilant world of smashing drums and rapturing synths.

 

Sep 20, 2020

The write up the album deserves. Always found it a really fascinating listen

 

Sep 18, 2020

echoing @awhellno , @Ordinary Joel ur one of the most knowledgeable, insightful and articulate members here when it comes to new music, non-hip hop especially. would love love ayyyy love a thread or something by u championing certain tracks or artists. would be a high quality addition to the discourse

 

Sep 18, 2020

I'm actually being real!

I love music and want to learn more before I take a plunge into that world.

I also half-arse a lot of things and if I want to do something like you guys then I'd prefer to know my s--- before I write something

Guess it's the dreaded self-doubt really.

 

Sep 18, 2020

@Ordinary Joel

#51: Japanese Breakfast - Soft Sounds from Another Planet [8.5/10]
​

We...need....a......new album....from....them........badly.

Excuse me I apologize, I was dying of thirst like Kendrick chasing Sherane, it's just the relishing feeling that I can't quench after I heard this album again. It's important to establish another point that Joel probably knew all along compared to us peasants: Dream-Pop is another genre that's impossible to make bad music in. Japanese Breakfast has been our generation's answer to Slowdive from the 90's, it's a similar stamp of ethereal, misty music to gaze at the night sky. Actually it's scientifically proven that this band's music is instantly elevated once PM hits (As proven by me, a random tastemaker on an online Eminem forum). When they dropped their first major LP Psychopomp, the signs of a great and mystical band were there, but this, THIS...

It's hard to describe what's Japanese Breakfast's greatest strength, since every component from this album and every thing that followed after has been nothing short of elite. Let's start with the lead singer Michelle Zauner, she is the modern reincarnation of Hope Sandoval of Mazzy Star fame--a faint, whimsical presence with a voice that was born to compliment soft guitar riffs and soaring strings/synths of the genre. The band itself is also versatile, being able to balance experimental alternative rock chords/drumwork and then revert to hazy indie-pop is no small feat. It gives this album a marvelous range, a true showcase of various nuances clashing together to formulate the perfect soundtrack to a late night road trip under a starry sky to an inconveniently distant convenience store. It's an incredibly rewarding album to venture into, whenever and whatever they drop to follow this is gonna be heavenly.

 

Sep 13, 2020

@Chazi

#48: Compton's Most Wanted - Music To Drive By [8.4/10]​

This is some vintage west coast vibes like Michael Myers would say. That's where the jokes end since this record is mean-mugging personified in music, I can't even remember the last time I heard it actually. In fact when I finished listening, I looked down and noticed a pair of Cortez on my feet, I was covered head to toe in Dickies, looked in the mirror and suddenly I'm rocking curls like Cube. If you're not listening to this in an old school Lac or Chevy, you're not doing this right.

Hyperbole and imagery to the side, this album is an hour long cruise around one of the most notorious hoods of the United States. The production is exactly as you'd imagine, replete with Funk samples and slow-burning drums to give it that classic, breezy Californian soundscape. MC Eiht's voice is tailor-made for gangster rap, there's a sort of evilness and grit in his vocals that serves as the perfect narrator for these tales of crime & nihilism. It can be a bit repetitive especially with the themes as the album does drag on towards the end, but overall it's a landmark album for the West Coast, it planted the seeds between the legendary beef of Eiht vs Quik and it's hard not to nod along to this classic.

 

Sep 10, 2020

@Sav Stanfield

#46: Rio Da Yung OG - City On My Back [7.7/10]​

Finally got around to this, by my own admission I've been thoroughly impressed by the collection of songs he's accumulated. Detroit's new stylistic wave for some reason has me drawing parallels to Cash Money's New Orleans bounce, I can hear a bit of Juve & B.G's flows whenever I hear the likes of Teejay & Rio float over a beat. There's also a similar rapid BPM that these hectic piano-heavy productions share with Manny Fresh's fast drums & snares, overall it gives this intriguing dynamic of trap themes over something that could have banged in Detroit's infamous house music era from the 90s.

Rio is no exception to the rule of "you can never rap enough about outlandish s---". His stories are on some serious Tony Montana adventures of treachery, megalomania and machismo, it's very easy to get engrossed into his raps. He still needs to work on his song-writing chops as it's clear he can write some mean 16s, but everything else is still very raw and he can be a bit one-note. This ends up making the tape a tad bit linear, but the production and rapping is too strong to be ignored. It's a wild ride into a wildly entertaining life, with Rio acting as one h--- of tour guide, if he can continue developing I don't see how the likes of him, 42 Dugg, Teejay & Kasher could be denied any longer as legitimate gatekeepers of a new decade of street bangers.

 

Sep 10, 2020

Still absolutely loving this thread!

 

Sep 9, 2020

Wanna read more Tribe thoughts from you after the Low End Theory review, so gonna throw Q-Tip’s Kamaal/The Abstract in since I never hear anyone talk about that album

 

Sep 9, 2020

@Sign Language

#44: HUM - You'd Prefer an Astronaut [8.8/10]​

Now THIS is what I'm talmbout! It's been awhile since I went through this one, it was another gem that I uncovered (albeit, with some deep digging) thanks to your old Rock music discussion thread on here! Looking at the date, this also came out the same year as another personal favorite of ours, a lot of that Chicago alt-rock definitely had some overlap with similar guitar techniques and riffs. HUM however, explores their influences much more profoundly and what we get, is no short of a masterpiece.

Right off the bat we get a Shoegaze-heavy song where that distorted guitar feedback is giving zero f---s whatsoever, that whole outer space aesthetic echoes throughout the album. But calling this space-rock would be lazy, the drum work is almost metal-like actually, it's shoegaze but with a sledgehammer strapped on it's back like Thor. Much like other 90's alternative, the themes are melancholic and foreboding, which only adds onto the already powerful aesthetic the instruments produce, you can't help but get suddenly nostalgic listening to music like this & the Pumpkins. I mean for Christ's sake, just listen to this tune, it's perfect windows-rolled down cruising through your old neighborhood music. Fantastic album, you can clearly hear a lot of the Deftones being inspired from this band the more you comb through their catalog.

 

Sep 9, 2020

Good looking out bro! I respect that you actually took an hour of your day to listen to this s--- lol.

And btw. Flavor is back with PE.

 

Sep 9, 2020

@Rick James

#43: Flavor Flav - Hollywood [3/10]​

"My momma always told me, never be like Flavor Flav, be like Chuck D" - Jay Electronica

That was the first thought that came to mind when I regretfully accepted this challenge. Looking at the date, this came out roughly at the time when he had his stupid reality series on VH1 Flavor of Love, so this was when the Flavor machine was in full throttle. His descent into obscurity coincided with a failed chain of Fried chicken restaurants collapse alongside a cameo on a notorious late-night show which resulted in him getting kicked in the f---ing face. Life hasn't been easy for the former Public Enemy hype man, but neither was it easy for my ears when I sat down next to this abomination.

This record is one colossal hot mess for starters. The production process of this album went on for close to a decade, meaning there are some blatantly dated songs and references scattered throughout the project. His rapping, for lack of a better word, sucks, multiple times I wish Chuck D interrupted the studio session and slammed Flav's clock over his g.d. head. It's mercilessly long too, packaged as a double-LP just in case you couldn't get enough of this musty loser. Please stay away from this folks, it's an exercise in masochism trying to endure this project.

 

Sep 6, 2020

@icecube

#41: Pharoahe Monch - Internal Affairs [8.5/10]​

This is once again another case of pretending the objective score doesn't exist and me absolutely loving this album. Let's talk about Rawkus, back in my backpack days of high school I used to religiously bump Soundbombing II, Black On Both Sides, Train of Thought...it could go on forever. When it comes to premier penmanship that wasn't focused on punches & grittiness like Pun and DMX were doing around the same time, the label had multiple guests of backpack rap extraordinaries show up on the things like the Lyricist Lounge and just black out without the glossiness of high-end studio mixes. On the freestyle I linked, we had this dude Pharoahe Monch of Organized Konfusion fame, stand shoulder to shoulder with titans like Black Thought & Common and still hold his own, a year later we'd get his Rawkus debut...

NY has a smorgasbord of various pens and performers around this time, practically everyone was a standout in their own right. In the case of Pharoahe's loud yelling a---, he takes every technical barometer to the extreme; it's an endless barrage of intricate rhymes, set-ups, metaphors coming at you with a rapid-flow if he deems it necessary. Whether it's his take on doing personified pov-storytelling, splitting atoms or him riding the Godzilla theme and tell us to shut the f--- up, Internal Affairs is an exhibition on how to be a technically great rapper and do the not so novel concept of rapping for rapping's sake at an enjoyable level. Even the feature list is something to marvel at, every guest is appropriately tailored for the mood of the song, truthfully my favorite to this day is still his song with Organized Konfusion cohort Prince Po, they have such amazing chemistry together. Honestly I'm just gonna be bumping these oldies all day, once I hear those dusty break loops I can't go back.

 

Sep 1, 2020

@Jeans

#36: Daniel Johnston - 1990 [9.1/10]​

d---, I've been thinking about this man's life the entire day ever since last night when I sat down with some chips to watch that documentary. It's, always tough putting the right words whenever an artist isn't with us, since we tend to either get overly magnanimous, death tends to canonize people and make their contributions all that more significant. But when you live your life battling literal demons from within and still make heavenly music, it's absolutely merited to give this man his roses. I work in this psychological field for further context, it's such a difficult hurdle for everyone that undergoes mental health struggles.

That brings me to this, a lo-fi diaristic account of someone that views the world with such childlike innocence and sees the evils that plague it. It's another extremely personal album that almost makes it uncomfortable to listen to, since it feels like you snuck into this dude's living room and he's performing this on his couch, guitar in hand, without him noticing your presence. His songwriting is so heartfelt, it's transparent and equally optimistic, but even then when the pessimism creeps in is when the album hits staggering highs. The sequencing of original songs, to live performances to covers of The Beatles & Bruce Springsteen, give this album a montage-like sensation, it's truly rewarding getting through till the end. I'm definitely gonna explore his older work, but huge thanks for sending this in my way, may this wonderful man find heaven at last.

 

Aug 30, 2020

I always do this out of habit haha, love getting the context behind everything I listen to! I'm actually gonna watch tonight the doc The Devil and Daniel Johnstone since it's apparently about his background & mental health struggles.

 

Aug 29, 2020

@Ordinary Joel

#32: Sampha - Process [8.7/10]​

I was very excited to revisit this, for some reason I vividly reminisce on SXN80's glory days whenever I hear pieces of this project. Reminds me of the last moments the old crew like DP & Final would still actively post & tag us on Plug, it dropped around that time so that's probably why? Either way, there were multiple reasons to be excited for this; this guy's soulful voice rocks, he's an expert at creating a mood with his writing capacity and if you heard any of the SBTKRT records you'd know Sampha is a god-send over ANY instrumental thrown his way.

This didn't feel like a solo debut at all. The records here have a seasoned maturity way beyond it's years, Sampha approached this as if it was towards the closing curtains of his career. It's a highly personal, albeit somber album, which is difficult to pull off if your approach is short-sighted and too eager. We experience none of that here as he opens up about his heartbreaks and demons in a way that's just incredibly vulnerable and admirable, this album was his therapy session and you can feel that boulder being lifted off his shoulders with each passing song. It's electronic soul in a way that had never been done before, with a twist of Neo-soul when a few accompanying live instrumentals sneak there way in. It's a monumental album, I seriously encourage anyone to give a listen, just bring a box of tissues next to you.

 

Aug 28, 2020

Couple months and I’m game