Uneasy and quintessentially stilted. But on Alex G’s latest affair, he sounds as settled as he ever has.
Tag: Review
Lorde: “Solar Power”
Pop music artists face a constant battle – the need to foster their unfathomable popularity whilst trying to keep their artistic integrity. Many fail, almost unapologetically. Others manage to succeed, but rarely entirely on their own terms. So what the fuck do we make of Solar Power? It features glistening, sunny production and Lorde’s vocals are as crisp as ever. But the writing is… almost so cringeworthy that it’s hard to believe. We’re left with a mess from an artist who is used to being very tidy.
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Tenet (Review)
Watching Tenet is like playing a game of chess. Except you’re playing it in reverse. And halfway through you’re told it’s not chess. And someone starts explaining completely different rules, that you’ve never heard of, but explains them in a way that they seem to think is obvious and you’re too embarrassed to do anything but nod. You will not understand Tenet the first time you see it. There is simply too much to process in such little time. At one stage the protagonist is told to try not to think about the contorted time-travel concepts being thrown at him. That’s a bit harder for the audience; when almost the entire movie feels like a vomit of exposition about what is going on and why.
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Joey Purp: “Quarterthing” (Review)
Chicagoan Joey Purp was the quiet breakout star of 2016 with his debut album iiiDrops. Listen to any track of his and you’re not surprised he used to be in the SaveMoney crew – he has all the writing ability of Chance The Rapper. Quarterthing proves he’s no fluke. It’s not only consistent, but it packs a few sneaky surprises that show Purp is much more than the barking struggle rapper he might’ve seemed at first.
BROCKHAMPTON: “iridescence” (Review)
How do you become a phenomenon? Right now in music, no one knows quite how to do it like Brockhampton. Like Odd Future before them, they’ve become a full-blown THING – more an idea or a vibe than a mere ‘group’ at this point. Their latest album, iridescence, has got all that same manic energy that made them so eye-catching in the first place. This isn’t a concept album or deep dive into the Brockhampton members’ personalities. This is just combustible energy releasing from a bunch of creative, confused twenty-somethings.
Noname and Saba Sound Miles Away From Home On The Loungy “Ace” [Click To Listen]
Two rappers rooted deeply in the new-ish wave of ponderous Chicago music are Noname and Saba. Both came up around Chance The Rapper’s Acid Rap-hovering orbit in 2013 with respective eye-opening verses. But the great find was that both of these artists are brilliant in their own right, no qualifiers needed. “Ace” isn’t an earth-shattering single, but it’s further proof that these are two of the better, more thoughtful writers in hip-hop.
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The O’My’s: “Tomorrow” (Review)
The O’My’s Tomorrow is a low-stakes neo-soul album rife with tracks that don’t snap or pop, but instead warmly simmer and swirl around your brain. It’s the mark of a duo that have a crystal-clear idea of the music they want to make. This is ear-pleasing music – the soundtrack to a rainy Chicago day.
English Rapper Jevon’s “Paranoia” Sounds Like The Ultimate Drake and Timbaland Collab [click to listen]
Eminem: “Kamikaze” (Review)
There’s a telling skit on Eminem’s new album Kamikaze. It’s his manager, Paul Rosenberg, warning him not to go through with an LP basically full of scathing disses. You can hear it in Rosenberg’s voice – he’s dead serious about it being a bad idea. And he’s right. The aggro-rap Kamikaze proves two things we already knew about late-career Eminem. One: he can rap. Two: he cannot write an actual rap song. This is an exhausting, borderline-embarrassing album. Should’ve listened to Paul, Em.
THE MIDNIGHT SPECIAL 