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Five Favorite Bands Making Albums

I feel the need to highlight the people I actually like who are making music these days. The first three are kind of Indie superstars and all had stellar records last year – one of them was my number one in fact – and the other two are lesser known acts, one a lot more so than the other. 

 Arcade Fire

This was an obvious choice; that’s why it’s first. I really dug the Suburbs when it came out last year. And I’m digging it more with each passing day. Arcade Fire is kind of a monument on the landscape of influences. Funeral was my favorite album for a while, and even though Neon Bible and Suburbs don’t sound like it, I still really dig them too. Call me crazy, but I foresee a sort of monumental paradigm shift from Win Butler on the next Arcade Fire album, on the level Radiohead’s Kid A. I honestly hope it sounds like “Month of May” with more strings.

 Frightened Rabbit

Scottish Indie-folk kings, Frightened Rabbit released two really great albums in a row 2008’s Midnight Organ Fight and last year’s Winter of Mixed Drinks. The former is an immediately accessible album about the intricacies of the lustful and loving ties we have to the opposite sex. A charming love letter to love itself, it’s genuinely fantastic. The latter is a bit harder to get into, it expands on the themes in Organ Fight but it’s also a tad bit darker than the previous one. If anything, Mixed Drinks is more worthwhile as a record about the entirety of youthful living. “If you never see grey / If you never feel pain / Life starts to lose its taste”

 The National

Look a string of great records preceded by several mediocre ones, that’s amazing to me. The only band I can think that did that other the one I’m writing about currently are the Lemonheads. So the National are in good company then, even if their style is completely different from latter-day Lemonheads. The National create churning atmospheric and enigmatic songs whose real poetry you only access upon the third or fourth listen. Matt Berringer seems to stumble over some of his words assured and proud in his own lyrical machinations. And the instrumentation on most songs is interesting as anything out there. That’s why I like them, plus they seem like funny guys. If you want proof, look up the intro to the “Terrible Love (Alternate Version)” video or the entire video for “Conversation 16.”

 Fucked Up

Chemistry of Common Life is a magnificent statement. The previous sentence means nothing to you, if you’ve never heard of Fucked Up.  Chemistry was the band’s landmark album. The screamy hardcore blended with strange melodic indie rock twists all wrapped up into tight six-minute song packages. If that sounds like your cup of tea, Fucked Up is your band. The band’s new 78 minute, 18 track rock opera David Comes to Life is shaping up to be as good if not better than its predecessor. They’re recording a compilation of punk bands from the region where the rock opera is set with multiple vocalists, that’s dedication. To quote Philmatic, “They’re the good kind of pretentious.”

Andrew Jackson Jihad

This last one, I feel like they don’t get enough love. And boy do they deserve it. The duo create some of the tightest fucking music in the world. Their 2009 masterpiece Can’t Maintain is certainly weird and slightly self-indulgent, but only slightly. If you’ve never heard the Andrew Jackson Jihad brand of severely fucked up Folk-punk, go look up tracks like “I Love You”, “Heartilation”, and “People II: The Reckoning.” One thing that kills me about AJJ though is Sean Bonette’s sometimes intense, often melancholy crooning that sets the group apart. He feels bad for himself a lot of the time; and I do something insanely similar. In other words, these guys are my favorites. Go forth and listen.

-B. Yurgens 

2 years ago  4 notes

Cool Records Weekly: Thermals, That’s Right Thermals

New feature that will actually continue:

This week’s subject: Thermals and 2006’s The Body, The Blood, The Machine

 

The Thermals aren’t the world’s greatest band. But they are indeed one of the most consistent. Hutch Harris has a collection of fantastic chord progressions, running through his notebooks and head I suppose. And lyrically he’s so interesting. On “An Ear For Baby” he wails “Good luck getting god on the phone / Good luck getting even a tone”. He embodies the sense of disillusionment many youth feel against their respective religions. Being an angry young Catholic, I can empathize with that.

 

From what I can gather on the internet, The Body’s story is about a couple who are escaping from some religious state, I guess. And you can kind of pick up on that. But it won’t be detrimental to your enjoyment of the album, it barely even enhances the experience.

 

One of the most notable things about the lyrics is their blatant references to elements of Christian dogma and the biblical tradition, everything from Noah to Jesus. The track “Pillar of Salt” is a thinly veiled motif for chaos in the face of divine judgment, invoking the famous Genesis tale of Sodom and Gomorrah; wherein, Lot’s wife is transformed into the titular pillar of salt. One of the most obscure references is to the subject of “St. Rosa and the Swallows”, character from the European saint tradition.

 

Probably the most notable thing to me is how the record never really seems to stop. It has the atmosphere of constantly being chased or oppressed, the type of atmosphere that stifles art. You’re so focused on remaining free that you lose either the energy or will to think freely. It’s kind of a pretentious idea, but you probably think I’m right if you’ve listened to The Body.

 

All pretension aside, The Body, The Blood, The Machine is a fantastic collection of songs, if it means nothing more to you. What makes the record better than most of the stuff I listen to is how deep you can get into it. I immediately picked up on a number of the references, but you might not especially if you’re not from the Judeo-Christian tradition.  Just go listen to it, alright.

 - B. Yurgens

“The light out \ We don’t talk \The light out \ We sleep now” 


2 years ago  5 notes

A Little Something About Nothing

I feel the need to post something, so here goes.

Worst New Music

So there’s this music website that all the hipsters like; it’s called Pitchfork. And this website uses this shitty fucking tag called Best New Music. Now don’t get me wrong, sometimes they tag killer albums like the Suburbs from last year. And other times, they tag atmospheric bullshit that barely passes for popular music. One of these offenders is Julianna Barwick, granted it’s not her fault they saddled her with the tag. Sometimes, I actually feel like I’m drowning and when I press pause it’s like coming up for a breath of air. But her music is genuinely boring at points, overly long songs that never seem to reach any sort of climax. It’s disappointing.

In addition to this singular offense, Pitchfork is very selective and pretentious about whom they give the tag. Whenever an artist who receives the tag is mentioned in any sort of news post, the author is quick to mention they just got “BNM’d”. Which is frustrating in the first place, they’re sort of gloating, telling the reader “We told you so!” I hate shit like that. Plus, if you have no clue what the hell “BNM’d” is, it just sounds plain dirty. Fuck you p4k!

About a Girl (From Sweden)

From the roaring first track all the way to the final stirring moments on her sophomore record, Lykke Li displayed that she isn’t the same lonely little girl from Youth Novels. “Youth Knows No Pain” is a good display of how interesting the record can be. The strangely tribal percussion and deafening organ line develop the entire affair into a memorable one. In addition to this, the entire experience is a far more coherent one. On Youth Novels, there’s no unifying vision; there’s a few interesting ideas and some derivative pop shit. This development of interesting things actually strengthens Wounded Rhymes and makes it a whole lot better than it would be otherwise.

Moral of the Story: Consistent instrumentation and arrangement makes for solid records.

About a Wolf Gang

Odd Future is still blowing up. And I’m digging mostly everything they do, which brings me to two tracks the collective recently released, the odd “Less” and the fantastic “TANGGOLF”.  

“Less” is super strange and good. The beat is composed of slightly Latin percussion and a flute solo. And the Casey Veggies verse is pretty good too. It sounds like nothing else Mellowhype. Hodgy Beats is super chilled during the hook and the verse, which is kind of weird. But I really dig this track. Hopefully it shows up on a future release.

“TANGGOLF” is basically Hodgy and Domo rapping over “4th Chamber” by the GZA. One of the most notable things to me is that both of them take time in their respective verses to recite the “Free Earl” mantra. It ends rather abruptly, probably appropriately as it’s not supposed to be a real track. Either way it’s really good and worth your time.

-B. Yurgens

2 years ago  2 notes

I owe you a review, but it’s not going to be of anything new, I’m afraid…

Let me start this off by saying that I’m sorry that it’s been so long since I’ve posted on here. There’s not really any excuse, seeing as I like writing these reviews so much.

Anyway, for someone who listens to so much music (495 songs in the last month, and that’s not counting repeat plays… if it did, then it would probably be more like 1200), I’m incredibly bad at listening to new stuff, whether it be new releases or recommendations from friends. One group I will always listen too, though, is Odd Future. So today, for the first time, I listened to sub-group MellowHype’s BlackenedWhite album all the way through for the first time. I’ve liked MellowHype for a few months now, but I pretty much stuck to the same 4 or 5 songs by them.

Overall, let me say that I’m very impressed. From the opener, “Primo”, which continuously slows down as it goes on, it’s clear that this won’t be like any hip-hop album you’ve ever heard before. MellowHype is just a duo, and as one rapper (Hodgy Beats) and one producer (Left Brain), there’s a lot of focus on the beats here. Left Brain has a very distinct sound, despite only being in the game for a couple years. At his best, his tracks have the clattering, off-kilter, claustrophobic feel of the RZA’s less sample-based beats (think GZA’s “4th Chamber” — which, it’s worth noting, Hodgy and fellow wolf Domo Genesis recently spat over for free track “TANGGOLF”), but filtered through the lens of modern-day southern hip-hop and crunk. My personal favorite Left Brain moments happen on the most organic tracks on the album (i.e. the ones with real instruments/samples), which include Hell (with a great chorus sung by the introspective Frank Ocean), lead single RightHere (where — geek moment — Left Brain plays the same sampled bass line forwards and then backwards, back and forth), and Loco (with extensive sampling from a song by Cortex, a group which I can find almost no information on, except that they seem to exist only to be sampled on fantastic songs).

Unfortunately, Hodgy is a little bit of a weak link. While never outright bad (like goddamn Chris Brown trying to rap… I can complain about that later, though), he’s not so great on here — a little grating, vocally, and not quite as inventive with his imagery as we might expect from an Odd Futurite (is that a word?). And I’m not saying he can’t be fantastic — I love his verses on Sandwitches with OFWG ringleader Tyler, the Creator, or on the more recent MellowHype track LESS (with Casey Veggies, who I just found out is only 17, and is now making me feel like shit for not having anything to do with awesome-music-posted-on-the-internet yet). But on here… it’s just kind of a letdown.

Turns out that Hodgy is never a deal-breaker, though. He’s got plenty of guest rappers supporting him, too (check out Tyler’s amazingly schizophrenic verse on “Fuck Police”, where, with the aid of a pitch-shifter, he voices himself and an unsympathetic cop) I’ve listened to most of the album again since my once-through this morning, and it’s holding up for me. Not only that, but the songs I already liked made more sense in the context of the album — it’s a real mood piece. And exciting — these guys are still really young, and they’ve got lots more chances to wow us. Overall, BlackenedWhite is definitely worth the free download on Datpiff (on which everyone should have an account).

____________

Highlights: “Brain (feat. Domo Genesis)”, “RightHere”, “Loco”, and “Fuck Police (featuring Tyler, the Creator)”.

Rating: A-

— Phillmatic

2 years ago 

A Playlist for Rainy April

Here’s a playlist I made up today.

  1. Once and Never Again - The Long Blondes
  2. All I Want - LCD Soundsystem
  3. Where Have All The Rude Boys Gone? - Ted Leo & The Pharmacists
  4. “Theme” from Cheers - Titus Andronicus
  5. Estate Sale Sign - The Mountain Goats
  6. There Is A Light That Never Goes Out - Dum Dum Girls
  7. The Other Shoe - Fucked Up
  8. White Riot - The Clash
  9. Bratty B - Best Coast
  10. Let It Fall - Lykke Li
  11. In Motion - Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross
  12. Sunday Morning - Acid House Kings
  13. Baby Drugs - Tristen
  14. Mr. Grieves - Pixies
  15. Yonkers - Tyler, the Creator

-B. Yurgens

    2 years ago  3 notes

    Top Five for the First Quarter

    Preface: Sorry we’ve been a little lackluster in terms of content output. It’s just that we’ve been sort of busy in the last couple of weeks. It’s going to pick up. I just need to learn to use the queue function. Without further ado, here’s my top five albums from the first quarter. 

    [In no particular order except for the last one, that one’s my favorite.]

    Zonoscope – Cut Copy

     

    Strange Dance-pop stuff from the well-established Australian band, this record was a given in terms of success this year. And it does indeed succeed on its strengths. One of which is the ability to make any beat or synth insanely danceable.  [Highlight tracks: “Take Me Over”, “Blink and You’ll Miss A Revolution”,“This Is All We’ve Got”, “Hanging Onto Every Heartbeat”, and EVERYTHING ELSE]

    Nostalgia, Ultra – Frank Ocean

     

    Frank Ocean is a member of Odd Future; thing is he doesn’t share the same amount of contorted punk energy as say Hodgy or Tyler. But he does, interestingly enough, share Tyler’s gift for introspection; and Nostalgia, Ultra is where he takes that and runs with it. Singing over Coldplay, MGMT, and Eagles’ samples [“Strawberry Swing”, “Electric Feel”, and “Hotel California”], he carries himself over love, life, loss during Nostalgia’s forty minute runtime. The meat of Nostalgia, Ultra is Ocean’s sympathetic personality; he’s a loser who snorts coke and takes Novocain, all while watching his life pass him by.  [Highlight tracks: “Novacane”, “Lovecrimes”, “There Will Be Tears”, “Swim Good”, and EVERYTHING ELSE]

    Mind Spiders – Mind Spiders

     

    Mind Spiders are ridiculously fun.  They have this strange notion about garage rock; and they play as if many of tragedies from the scene haven’t actually occurred. The album plays like a slightly more upbeat version of Blood Visions by Jay Reatard [If you don’t get that reference do yourself a favor and pick that up.]. Peppered throughout the affair are tons of strange B-movie kitsch sounds that seem to play up the whole fifties thing; and it works, on a number of level. There are so many catchy riffs jumbled in here, it sort of reminded me of the chaotic mess that was last year’s epic The Monitor [one of my personal favorites].  It’s truly fantastic for lovers of garage rock; also you can ignore Kurt Vile, excepting “Jesus Fever” because that song is fantastic. [Highlight tracks: “Don’t Let Her Go”, “Mind Spiders Theme”, ”Neurotic Gold” and EVERYTHING ELSE]

    All Eternals Deck – The Mountain Goats

     

    The Mountain Goats are now three people. Three people who make a fanastic trio. And that fantastic trio makes insane music. It doesn’t hurt that John Darnielle is a fucking poet.  He has some of the best lyrics around, okay. The guitar is catchy; the rhythm section is solid. There’s not much to dislike about the band at this point. Also, all of the track titles are three words.  [Highlight tracks: “Birth Of Serpents”, “Estate Sale Sign”, “Sourdoire Valley Song”, “Liza Forever Minelli”]

    Charlatans at the Garden Gate – Tristen

     

    If I said something like: “Tristen has a voice as the big as the sky.” You’d probably be hard-pressed to disagree. Because you would know that I’m right; so I’m going to say that; hang on it’s coming up; are you ready? Here we go; Tristen has a voice as big as the fucking sky. There, I said it; are you happy? Anyways, this is probably my favorite album from the first three months. You want to know why? Okay, I’ll go ahead and tell you. I really dig Indie pop, especially indie pop with a retro tint. And Tristen is doused in this weird 60s Country vibe that I really dig. Check ‘em out. [Highlight tracks: “Eager for Your Love”, “Doomsday”, “Baby Drugs”, “Wicked Heart” and EVERYTHING ELSE] (Sorry for the semicolon abuse.)

    -B. Yurgens

    2 years ago  4 notes

    the Mountain Goats – Birth Of Serpents

    Birth of Serpents - The Mountain Goats

    Fucking Genius

    2 years ago  21 notes

    Phillmatic’s spring 2011 playlist (part 1)

    1. The Other Shoe — Fucked Up — David Comes To Life

    2. Seasons — Blu & Exile — And If You See The E Drop ‘Em

    3. Lovers in Japan (Osaka Sun Mix) — Coldplay — Viva La Vida

    4. Amnesia — Blu — Her Favorite Colo(u)r

    5. Accordion — Madvillain — Madvillainy

    6. Gobstopper — J Dilla — Donuts

    7. Skinny Love — Bon Iver — For Emma, Forever Ago

    8. Dooinit — Common — Like Water for Chocolate

    9. LESS (Feat. Casey Veggies) — MellowHype

    10. Rainbow In The Dark — Das Racist — Shut Up, Dude

    11. Drugdealer — Anthony Green — Avalon

    12. Privilously Poncheezied — Dance Gavin Dance — Downtown Battle Mountain II

    13. Massage Situation — Flying Lotus — Reset - EP

    14. Won’t Do — J Dilla — The Shining

    15. Loco — MellowHype — Blackenedwhite

    16. Will Do — TV On the Radio — Nine Types Of Light

    17. Rock Me I — Moe Pope — Life After God

    18. Time: The Donut of the Heart — J Dilla — Donuts

    19. Take Me High — Pac Div — Mania!

    20. Drop — The Pharcyde — Labcabincalifornia

    2 years ago  4 notes

    Kanye West, ft. Curtis Mayfield, Charlie Wilson, Jay-Z, and KiD CuDi (prod. Pete Rock) – The Joy

    Song of the Day

    “The Joy” — Kanye West, ft. Curtis Mayfield, Charlie Wilson, Jay-Z, and KiD CuDi (prod. Pete Rock)

    2 years ago  34 notes

    frank ocean – novacane

    Novacane - Frank Ocean

    2 years ago  4 notes

    Five Favorite Bands Making Albums

    I feel the need to highlight the people I actually like who are making music these days. The first three are kind of Indie superstars and all had stellar records last year – one of them was my number one in fact – and the other two are lesser known acts, one a lot more so than the other. 

     Arcade Fire

    This was an obvious choice; that’s why it’s first. I really dug the Suburbs when it came out last year. And I’m digging it more with each passing day. Arcade Fire is kind of a monument on the landscape of influences. Funeral was my favorite album for a while, and even though Neon Bible and Suburbs don’t sound like it, I still really dig them too. Call me crazy, but I foresee a sort of monumental paradigm shift from Win Butler on the next Arcade Fire album, on the level Radiohead’s Kid A. I honestly hope it sounds like “Month of May” with more strings.

     Frightened Rabbit

    Scottish Indie-folk kings, Frightened Rabbit released two really great albums in a row 2008’s Midnight Organ Fight and last year’s Winter of Mixed Drinks. The former is an immediately accessible album about the intricacies of the lustful and loving ties we have to the opposite sex. A charming love letter to love itself, it’s genuinely fantastic. The latter is a bit harder to get into, it expands on the themes in Organ Fight but it’s also a tad bit darker than the previous one. If anything, Mixed Drinks is more worthwhile as a record about the entirety of youthful living. “If you never see grey / If you never feel pain / Life starts to lose its taste”

     The National

    Look a string of great records preceded by several mediocre ones, that’s amazing to me. The only band I can think that did that other the one I’m writing about currently are the Lemonheads. So the National are in good company then, even if their style is completely different from latter-day Lemonheads. The National create churning atmospheric and enigmatic songs whose real poetry you only access upon the third or fourth listen. Matt Berringer seems to stumble over some of his words assured and proud in his own lyrical machinations. And the instrumentation on most songs is interesting as anything out there. That’s why I like them, plus they seem like funny guys. If you want proof, look up the intro to the “Terrible Love (Alternate Version)” video or the entire video for “Conversation 16.”

     Fucked Up

    Chemistry of Common Life is a magnificent statement. The previous sentence means nothing to you, if you’ve never heard of Fucked Up.  Chemistry was the band’s landmark album. The screamy hardcore blended with strange melodic indie rock twists all wrapped up into tight six-minute song packages. If that sounds like your cup of tea, Fucked Up is your band. The band’s new 78 minute, 18 track rock opera David Comes to Life is shaping up to be as good if not better than its predecessor. They’re recording a compilation of punk bands from the region where the rock opera is set with multiple vocalists, that’s dedication. To quote Philmatic, “They’re the good kind of pretentious.”

    Andrew Jackson Jihad

    This last one, I feel like they don’t get enough love. And boy do they deserve it. The duo create some of the tightest fucking music in the world. Their 2009 masterpiece Can’t Maintain is certainly weird and slightly self-indulgent, but only slightly. If you’ve never heard the Andrew Jackson Jihad brand of severely fucked up Folk-punk, go look up tracks like “I Love You”, “Heartilation”, and “People II: The Reckoning.” One thing that kills me about AJJ though is Sean Bonette’s sometimes intense, often melancholy crooning that sets the group apart. He feels bad for himself a lot of the time; and I do something insanely similar. In other words, these guys are my favorites. Go forth and listen.

    -B. Yurgens 

    Cool Records Weekly: Thermals, That’s Right Thermals

    New feature that will actually continue:

    This week’s subject: Thermals and 2006’s The Body, The Blood, The Machine

     

    The Thermals aren’t the world’s greatest band. But they are indeed one of the most consistent. Hutch Harris has a collection of fantastic chord progressions, running through his notebooks and head I suppose. And lyrically he’s so interesting. On “An Ear For Baby” he wails “Good luck getting god on the phone / Good luck getting even a tone”. He embodies the sense of disillusionment many youth feel against their respective religions. Being an angry young Catholic, I can empathize with that.

     

    From what I can gather on the internet, The Body’s story is about a couple who are escaping from some religious state, I guess. And you can kind of pick up on that. But it won’t be detrimental to your enjoyment of the album, it barely even enhances the experience.

     

    One of the most notable things about the lyrics is their blatant references to elements of Christian dogma and the biblical tradition, everything from Noah to Jesus. The track “Pillar of Salt” is a thinly veiled motif for chaos in the face of divine judgment, invoking the famous Genesis tale of Sodom and Gomorrah; wherein, Lot’s wife is transformed into the titular pillar of salt. One of the most obscure references is to the subject of “St. Rosa and the Swallows”, character from the European saint tradition.

     

    Probably the most notable thing to me is how the record never really seems to stop. It has the atmosphere of constantly being chased or oppressed, the type of atmosphere that stifles art. You’re so focused on remaining free that you lose either the energy or will to think freely. It’s kind of a pretentious idea, but you probably think I’m right if you’ve listened to The Body.

     

    All pretension aside, The Body, The Blood, The Machine is a fantastic collection of songs, if it means nothing more to you. What makes the record better than most of the stuff I listen to is how deep you can get into it. I immediately picked up on a number of the references, but you might not especially if you’re not from the Judeo-Christian tradition.  Just go listen to it, alright.

     - B. Yurgens

    “The light out \ We don’t talk \The light out \ We sleep now” 


    A Little Something About Nothing

    I feel the need to post something, so here goes.

    Worst New Music

    So there’s this music website that all the hipsters like; it’s called Pitchfork. And this website uses this shitty fucking tag called Best New Music. Now don’t get me wrong, sometimes they tag killer albums like the Suburbs from last year. And other times, they tag atmospheric bullshit that barely passes for popular music. One of these offenders is Julianna Barwick, granted it’s not her fault they saddled her with the tag. Sometimes, I actually feel like I’m drowning and when I press pause it’s like coming up for a breath of air. But her music is genuinely boring at points, overly long songs that never seem to reach any sort of climax. It’s disappointing.

    In addition to this singular offense, Pitchfork is very selective and pretentious about whom they give the tag. Whenever an artist who receives the tag is mentioned in any sort of news post, the author is quick to mention they just got “BNM’d”. Which is frustrating in the first place, they’re sort of gloating, telling the reader “We told you so!” I hate shit like that. Plus, if you have no clue what the hell “BNM’d” is, it just sounds plain dirty. Fuck you p4k!

    About a Girl (From Sweden)

    From the roaring first track all the way to the final stirring moments on her sophomore record, Lykke Li displayed that she isn’t the same lonely little girl from Youth Novels. “Youth Knows No Pain” is a good display of how interesting the record can be. The strangely tribal percussion and deafening organ line develop the entire affair into a memorable one. In addition to this, the entire experience is a far more coherent one. On Youth Novels, there’s no unifying vision; there’s a few interesting ideas and some derivative pop shit. This development of interesting things actually strengthens Wounded Rhymes and makes it a whole lot better than it would be otherwise.

    Moral of the Story: Consistent instrumentation and arrangement makes for solid records.

    About a Wolf Gang

    Odd Future is still blowing up. And I’m digging mostly everything they do, which brings me to two tracks the collective recently released, the odd “Less” and the fantastic “TANGGOLF”.  

    “Less” is super strange and good. The beat is composed of slightly Latin percussion and a flute solo. And the Casey Veggies verse is pretty good too. It sounds like nothing else Mellowhype. Hodgy Beats is super chilled during the hook and the verse, which is kind of weird. But I really dig this track. Hopefully it shows up on a future release.

    “TANGGOLF” is basically Hodgy and Domo rapping over “4th Chamber” by the GZA. One of the most notable things to me is that both of them take time in their respective verses to recite the “Free Earl” mantra. It ends rather abruptly, probably appropriately as it’s not supposed to be a real track. Either way it’s really good and worth your time.

    -B. Yurgens

    I owe you a review, but it’s not going to be of anything new, I’m afraid…

    Let me start this off by saying that I’m sorry that it’s been so long since I’ve posted on here. There’s not really any excuse, seeing as I like writing these reviews so much.

    Anyway, for someone who listens to so much music (495 songs in the last month, and that’s not counting repeat plays… if it did, then it would probably be more like 1200), I’m incredibly bad at listening to new stuff, whether it be new releases or recommendations from friends. One group I will always listen too, though, is Odd Future. So today, for the first time, I listened to sub-group MellowHype’s BlackenedWhite album all the way through for the first time. I’ve liked MellowHype for a few months now, but I pretty much stuck to the same 4 or 5 songs by them.

    Overall, let me say that I’m very impressed. From the opener, “Primo”, which continuously slows down as it goes on, it’s clear that this won’t be like any hip-hop album you’ve ever heard before. MellowHype is just a duo, and as one rapper (Hodgy Beats) and one producer (Left Brain), there’s a lot of focus on the beats here. Left Brain has a very distinct sound, despite only being in the game for a couple years. At his best, his tracks have the clattering, off-kilter, claustrophobic feel of the RZA’s less sample-based beats (think GZA’s “4th Chamber” — which, it’s worth noting, Hodgy and fellow wolf Domo Genesis recently spat over for free track “TANGGOLF”), but filtered through the lens of modern-day southern hip-hop and crunk. My personal favorite Left Brain moments happen on the most organic tracks on the album (i.e. the ones with real instruments/samples), which include Hell (with a great chorus sung by the introspective Frank Ocean), lead single RightHere (where — geek moment — Left Brain plays the same sampled bass line forwards and then backwards, back and forth), and Loco (with extensive sampling from a song by Cortex, a group which I can find almost no information on, except that they seem to exist only to be sampled on fantastic songs).

    Unfortunately, Hodgy is a little bit of a weak link. While never outright bad (like goddamn Chris Brown trying to rap… I can complain about that later, though), he’s not so great on here — a little grating, vocally, and not quite as inventive with his imagery as we might expect from an Odd Futurite (is that a word?). And I’m not saying he can’t be fantastic — I love his verses on Sandwitches with OFWG ringleader Tyler, the Creator, or on the more recent MellowHype track LESS (with Casey Veggies, who I just found out is only 17, and is now making me feel like shit for not having anything to do with awesome-music-posted-on-the-internet yet). But on here… it’s just kind of a letdown.

    Turns out that Hodgy is never a deal-breaker, though. He’s got plenty of guest rappers supporting him, too (check out Tyler’s amazingly schizophrenic verse on “Fuck Police”, where, with the aid of a pitch-shifter, he voices himself and an unsympathetic cop) I’ve listened to most of the album again since my once-through this morning, and it’s holding up for me. Not only that, but the songs I already liked made more sense in the context of the album — it’s a real mood piece. And exciting — these guys are still really young, and they’ve got lots more chances to wow us. Overall, BlackenedWhite is definitely worth the free download on Datpiff (on which everyone should have an account).

    ____________

    Highlights: “Brain (feat. Domo Genesis)”, “RightHere”, “Loco”, and “Fuck Police (featuring Tyler, the Creator)”.

    Rating: A-

    — Phillmatic

    A Playlist for Rainy April

    Here’s a playlist I made up today.

    1. Once and Never Again - The Long Blondes
    2. All I Want - LCD Soundsystem
    3. Where Have All The Rude Boys Gone? - Ted Leo & The Pharmacists
    4. “Theme” from Cheers - Titus Andronicus
    5. Estate Sale Sign - The Mountain Goats
    6. There Is A Light That Never Goes Out - Dum Dum Girls
    7. The Other Shoe - Fucked Up
    8. White Riot - The Clash
    9. Bratty B - Best Coast
    10. Let It Fall - Lykke Li
    11. In Motion - Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross
    12. Sunday Morning - Acid House Kings
    13. Baby Drugs - Tristen
    14. Mr. Grieves - Pixies
    15. Yonkers - Tyler, the Creator

    -B. Yurgens

      Top Five for the First Quarter

      Preface: Sorry we’ve been a little lackluster in terms of content output. It’s just that we’ve been sort of busy in the last couple of weeks. It’s going to pick up. I just need to learn to use the queue function. Without further ado, here’s my top five albums from the first quarter. 

      [In no particular order except for the last one, that one’s my favorite.]

      Zonoscope – Cut Copy

       

      Strange Dance-pop stuff from the well-established Australian band, this record was a given in terms of success this year. And it does indeed succeed on its strengths. One of which is the ability to make any beat or synth insanely danceable.  [Highlight tracks: “Take Me Over”, “Blink and You’ll Miss A Revolution”,“This Is All We’ve Got”, “Hanging Onto Every Heartbeat”, and EVERYTHING ELSE]

      Nostalgia, Ultra – Frank Ocean

       

      Frank Ocean is a member of Odd Future; thing is he doesn’t share the same amount of contorted punk energy as say Hodgy or Tyler. But he does, interestingly enough, share Tyler’s gift for introspection; and Nostalgia, Ultra is where he takes that and runs with it. Singing over Coldplay, MGMT, and Eagles’ samples [“Strawberry Swing”, “Electric Feel”, and “Hotel California”], he carries himself over love, life, loss during Nostalgia’s forty minute runtime. The meat of Nostalgia, Ultra is Ocean’s sympathetic personality; he’s a loser who snorts coke and takes Novocain, all while watching his life pass him by.  [Highlight tracks: “Novacane”, “Lovecrimes”, “There Will Be Tears”, “Swim Good”, and EVERYTHING ELSE]

      Mind Spiders – Mind Spiders

       

      Mind Spiders are ridiculously fun.  They have this strange notion about garage rock; and they play as if many of tragedies from the scene haven’t actually occurred. The album plays like a slightly more upbeat version of Blood Visions by Jay Reatard [If you don’t get that reference do yourself a favor and pick that up.]. Peppered throughout the affair are tons of strange B-movie kitsch sounds that seem to play up the whole fifties thing; and it works, on a number of level. There are so many catchy riffs jumbled in here, it sort of reminded me of the chaotic mess that was last year’s epic The Monitor [one of my personal favorites].  It’s truly fantastic for lovers of garage rock; also you can ignore Kurt Vile, excepting “Jesus Fever” because that song is fantastic. [Highlight tracks: “Don’t Let Her Go”, “Mind Spiders Theme”, ”Neurotic Gold” and EVERYTHING ELSE]

      All Eternals Deck – The Mountain Goats

       

      The Mountain Goats are now three people. Three people who make a fanastic trio. And that fantastic trio makes insane music. It doesn’t hurt that John Darnielle is a fucking poet.  He has some of the best lyrics around, okay. The guitar is catchy; the rhythm section is solid. There’s not much to dislike about the band at this point. Also, all of the track titles are three words.  [Highlight tracks: “Birth Of Serpents”, “Estate Sale Sign”, “Sourdoire Valley Song”, “Liza Forever Minelli”]

      Charlatans at the Garden Gate – Tristen

       

      If I said something like: “Tristen has a voice as the big as the sky.” You’d probably be hard-pressed to disagree. Because you would know that I’m right; so I’m going to say that; hang on it’s coming up; are you ready? Here we go; Tristen has a voice as big as the fucking sky. There, I said it; are you happy? Anyways, this is probably my favorite album from the first three months. You want to know why? Okay, I’ll go ahead and tell you. I really dig Indie pop, especially indie pop with a retro tint. And Tristen is doused in this weird 60s Country vibe that I really dig. Check ‘em out. [Highlight tracks: “Eager for Your Love”, “Doomsday”, “Baby Drugs”, “Wicked Heart” and EVERYTHING ELSE] (Sorry for the semicolon abuse.)

      -B. Yurgens

      Phillmatic’s spring 2011 playlist (part 1)

      1. The Other Shoe — Fucked Up — David Comes To Life

      2. Seasons — Blu & Exile — And If You See The E Drop ‘Em

      3. Lovers in Japan (Osaka Sun Mix) — Coldplay — Viva La Vida

      4. Amnesia — Blu — Her Favorite Colo(u)r

      5. Accordion — Madvillain — Madvillainy

      6. Gobstopper — J Dilla — Donuts

      7. Skinny Love — Bon Iver — For Emma, Forever Ago

      8. Dooinit — Common — Like Water for Chocolate

      9. LESS (Feat. Casey Veggies) — MellowHype

      10. Rainbow In The Dark — Das Racist — Shut Up, Dude

      11. Drugdealer — Anthony Green — Avalon

      12. Privilously Poncheezied — Dance Gavin Dance — Downtown Battle Mountain II

      13. Massage Situation — Flying Lotus — Reset - EP

      14. Won’t Do — J Dilla — The Shining

      15. Loco — MellowHype — Blackenedwhite

      16. Will Do — TV On the Radio — Nine Types Of Light

      17. Rock Me I — Moe Pope — Life After God

      18. Time: The Donut of the Heart — J Dilla — Donuts

      19. Take Me High — Pac Div — Mania!

      20. Drop — The Pharcyde — Labcabincalifornia

      Five Favorite Bands Making Albums
      Cool Records Weekly: Thermals, That’s Right Thermals
      A Little Something About Nothing
      I owe you a review, but it’s not going to be of anything new, I’m afraid…
      A Playlist for Rainy April
      Top Five for the First Quarter
      the Mountain Goats – Birth Of Serpents

      Birth of Serpents - The Mountain Goats

      Fucking Genius

      Phillmatic’s spring 2011 playlist (part 1)
      Kanye West, ft. Curtis Mayfield, Charlie Wilson, Jay-Z, and KiD CuDi (prod. Pete Rock) – The Joy

      Song of the Day

      “The Joy” — Kanye West, ft. Curtis Mayfield, Charlie Wilson, Jay-Z, and KiD CuDi (prod. Pete Rock)

      frank ocean – novacane

      Novacane - Frank Ocean

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      B. Yurgens -- He Likes Guitar Music, And Some Hip-Hop.

      Philmatic -- He Likes Hip Hop, And Some Guitar Music.

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