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Black Keys May 26, 2017
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Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach’s solo album ‘Waiting On A Song’ evokes a different past

The Black Keys have been stalwarts of contemporary rock music since releasing The Big Come Up in 2002, which positioned them as the sludgy, bluesy midwestern bloc of the early 2000s garage rock era.

Much has been made of this period of music recently, with the release of author Lizzy Goodman’s new book Meet Me in the Bathroom (obviously named after a Strokes song), which celebrates and chronicles that brief moment in time when rock music became cool and relevant again.

People who were young in the early 2000’s are now in their mid-30’s, and there’s this sudden nostalgia, and revisionism, about what that time in rock really meant.

The Black Keys, although active at the time, never really “belonged” to that era. The Keys stayed out of the drama and the capitulation of bands like The Strokes and found mainstream success much later than The Killers or Kings of Leon.

Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney have just released good music for almost two decades, getting slightly more mainstream and poppy as they went along, upping the production level, bringing in figures like Danger Mouse or Ike Turner as producers at times, and having their music used liberally in movies and shows.

The Black Keys always seemed very dad-cool, very above the fray, despite their music becoming slightly formulaic on Brothers and El Camino by the end of the decade.

The Big Come Up and Thickfreakness, released in ’02 and ’03 respectively, are f*cking badass blues records. The opening guitar riff on “Busted”, the first song of Come Up, starts with a little Ali Farka Toure-esque picking, and then devolves into total face melt-dom.

The Keys’ sound was so simple. Auerbach on distorted, jangly guitar and muffled vocals and Carney on the drums.

They ran it back on Thickfreakness, the riffs got dirtier and heavier on their second album.

The Keys subsequently went a little bluegrass, they went for a bigger sound, and by 2010 they became the biggest rock band in the business when Brothers went certified platinum and won three Grammy’s.

It’s clear that Auerbach and Carney are pretty versatile musicians, judging from their solo work and collaborations with other artists, but the Black Keys are a pretty specific-sounding group, the variance in their sound depending on how hard Auerbach’s foot was pushing on the distortion pedal.

Dan Auerbach first solo album Keep It Hid, released right before The Black Keys’ crossover smash album Brothers, is pretty representative of his ability to take it down several notches with a softer, more contemplative style and songwriting.

Auerbach will release his second full-length album next Friday, but it’s available for streaming over at NPR Music.

Waiting on a Song is an album that is very comfortable with itself. There are no face melting riffs, no distortion, just some pleasant (mostly acoustic) strumming and some clever lyrics.

The opening, titular track is an incredibly agreeable song, sounding very Creedence Clearwater Revival-y, about songwriting and looking for inspiration. Auerbach sings about his writer’s block,

“I been thinking and been hummin’
I been pickin and I been strumming
Just waiting, waiting on a song”

“Malibu Man” feels like the end of the journey (both musical and personal) if one was to start at “Brooklyn Bound” off The Big Come Up and finally get out of the big city. But is moving off the island even a good thing?

“I moved from New York
With my boogie board
And bought a big house on the ocean
I stopped being me”

“King of a One Horse Town” is the second single off the album, along with “Waiting on a Song”, and it feels like a standout. There’s some definite America undertones (“A Horse With No Name”, “King of a One Horse Town”… coincidence?).

Auerbach said in a statement about the meaning of the “One Horse Town”,

“The King of a One Horse Town is anyone who’s scared of the outside world. Anyone who’s afraid to go beyond their own block for fear of failure. It could be a drug dealer. A drunk. A professor. That’s a feeling any of us can relate to.”

“Cherrybomb” sounds like mid-career Beck, and it initiates a second half of an album that has more energy than the contemplative first half.

There’s some Norman Greenbaum, or really any late 60s/early 70s, quasi-spiritual pop-rock on “Stand By My Girl”, where Auerbach will absolutely stand by his girl, because, as he sings, “she’ll kill me if I don’t”.

“Undertow” sounds like an AM radio jam from the top of the charts in 1972, which is to say, it’s hyper-specific niche indie rock in 2017.

This is perhaps the theme of Waiting on a Song. Auerbach is clearly a retrophile, The Black Keys’ sound evokes the past of blues and heavy rock; on Auerbach’s solo work, the Akron, Ohio native celebrates different elements and histories of rock music.

Listen over at NPR, and buy (stream) the album next Friday, June 2nd.

album May 25, 2017
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Migos’ Takeoff drops fire new track, but OG Parker puts solo rumors to bed

Yesterday, after Takeoff released his first ever solo endeavor, the stripped down “Intruder”, Migos fans were convinced the ATL trio were about to split up and go their separate ways.

Takeoff’s release came off the back of Offset’s “Monday” and Quavo’s “Paper Over Here”, all released on producer OG Parker’s SoundCloud, further fueling the rumors of, if not a break up, at least solo work from each member of the best group in hip-hop right now.

Earlier this month, Travis Scott claimed a collaborative album with Quavo was “coming soon”, and the de facto leader of the group is popping up all over the music industry with features everywhere from Liam Payne (why?) to Mary J. Blige to DJ Khaled to Lil Durk.

So what’s good? XXL reached out to Migos collaborator and producer OG Parker, who posted all three the songs, whether fans should be expecting solo work from Migo Gang.

OG Parker denied any solo goings on and took personal responsibility for the release of the three tracks. From XXL,

“I really just told them I plan on releasing a couple songs on my SoundCloud. That was really just me dropping the solo tracks. That wasn’t their idea or anything.”

Are there plans for solo shit in the future? OG Parker says not to his knowledge,

“I never heard anything about solo projects… I always just hear Migos. All I hear is Migos stuff. They always just talk about Migos.”

As cool as these little solo songs are, that Migos are not stressing to do solo shit is reassuring, at least to me.

Especially coming off the release of Culture, why would Offest, Takeoff, and Quavo want to jet off in their own directions? I mean, dudes are literally family, “Bad and Boujee” is certified platinum, and their music is debuting at #1 on the Billboard charts to universal acclaim.

But because of Quavo’s apparent start power, certain outlets and fans are pushing for solo work from the Migos.

It might be cool to hear some solo projects at some point from Quavo, Takeoff, and Offset, but they have so much more to accomplish together!

Some are convinced that it’s all just a conspiracy to break up the new Beatles.

I’ve gotta be honest, I was just happy to see Takeoff out here doing his own thing, getting some shine.

https://twitter.com/Niicksx/status/867527153843306496

https://twitter.com/IamAkademiks/status/867454270857150466

https://twitter.com/Ch0pped/status/865282406953218048

For me, I’m glad the Migos are staying together, I think they perfectly compliment each other and can truly take over this rap shit as a group.

Why go solo?

808 mafia May 25, 2017
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Track-by-track: TM88 is one of hip-hop’s preeminent tastemakers

As hip-hop becomes more expansive and diverse, producers, as much as the artists themselves, are pushing the music forward, finding new sounds and directions in an eternal search for the coolest shit out.

TM88 is one of these producers at the forefront of the genre, making wild beats. Along with Southside, TM88 makes up the helm of 808 Mafia, a production collective that has shaped the sound of ‘New Atlanta’ over the last five years.

808 Mafia helped transition Atlanta away from the post-crunk era to the current trap sound, arguably the defining genre in American music today.

TM88’s first major beat was on Wacka Flocka’s Triple F Life on a track called “Lurkin”. The beat itself sounds kind of like Lex Luger lite, which makes sense seeing as Luger was a founding member of 808 Mafia.

“Lurkin” is fire, but more than anything it shows how TM88 has grown as a producer over the years.

In 2013, TM and 808 Mafia began cheffing up for Gucci Mane, with production credits on five projects Gucci released that year.

TM88’s dark, menacing sound is slowed down and sludged up from his earlier stuff, the producer found his sweet spot, like so many others from ATL, working with Gucci Mane.

TM88 also began collaborating with Metro Boomin’ (through Gucci) in 2013 on songs like “Squad Car” off Gucci and Young Thug’s Young Thugger Mane La Flare.

2013 was easily TM88’s breakout year, making beats for Gucci Mane and Future, in what would become a renaissance period for ATL hip-hop.

If TM88 broke out in 2013, the 808 Mafia honcho established himself as one of the prominent producers in the game in 2014.

With appearances on the late great ATL legend Bankroll Fresh’s album Life of a Hot Boy and Future’s massive Monster mixtape, TM solidified his position in the game.

I mean, dude produced “Codeine Crazy” so you know he’s a GAWD.

TM88’s style kept getting more and more different, pushing barriers and finding new sounds. In a 2015 Fader interveiw, TM88 talked about his sound,

“If I could explain it… shit man, I be on drugs. Them ‘xans and all that shit. So it’s real drug, pharmacy music.”

“Codeine Crazy” is certainly that.

One of the best aspects about ATL hip-hop is how the community seems to support itself.

Established producers will work with young artists, bringing them into a certain lane, which is what TM88 and Metro did for 21 Savage on his debut mixtape The Slaughter Tape.

From 21 Savage’s debut to Drake’s If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late, TM88 was truly doing everything in 2015.

My dude TM was truly out here making music with A-Trak.

You know when you’re smoking loud in A-Trak music videos you’ve pretty much reached the peak of the music industry.

And that siren sound popping up all over hip-hop beats? Yeah, that was TM88 and 808 Mafia. They ripped it from Kill Bill. TM told The Fader,

“Every time something happens in Kill Bill, that little noise just comes out of nowhere. We were like, ‘What the fuck, that shit is crazy.’ It just psyches your mind out or some shit—it gets you real amped, and ready for the fight, like some real ill shit finna happen!”

The first time it came up was on Young Thug’s “2 Bitches” (Danny Glover), but as TM88 says, “On the mainstream level, it took off with ‘Commas.'”

TM88 has gone from member of a production collective 808 Mafia to a hip-hop tastemaker with solo releases and collaborative projects, including an album with Juicy J and Wiz Khalifa, TGOD Mafia: Rude Awakening.

Dude has made some of the hottest beats of the last couple years, including multiple tracks off Thug’s Jeffrey.

If you’re unconvinced of TM88’s impact on the game, he produced probably the biggest song in hip-hop right now (sorry old heads), Lil Uzi Vert’s “XO Tour Lif3”.

Comparing “XO Tour Lif3” with “Lurkin” from back in 2012, TM88’s growth through the years is pretty wild. The synths on “XO Tour Lif3” could hold their own in pretty much any genre beyond hip-hop, a far cry from trying to sound like 2010 Lex Luger.

TM88 is the truth, after making his imprint on the upper echelons of hip-hop, he’s working with up-and-comers like Lil Uzi and Smokepurpp.

The ATL beatmaker also has a way with words. When talking to The Fader about producers stealing his Kill Bill siren tag, he both shot down all the imitators in hip-hop production and also described his own process with one of the truly greatest quotations about music ever.

“Yeah, a lot of people using it. But you know your sound, you know who’s making this shit. I think people shouldn’t even get the shit confused, because you know when you hear those real 808s. A lot of people shit be sounding real soft; it don’t be that real thump. We just get high, man. If you really listen to the beats, we just put a whole bunch of sounds together that wouldn’t match, and make them match. It’s weird: it’s like banging trashcans together and getting angels to come out that motherfucker.”

Dude said “banging trashcans together and getting angels to come out that motherfucker”.

TM88 is going to keep pushing the music forward and getting angels out that motherf*cker.

Bruh May 24, 2017
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But what is really good with the MTA? An investigation

On Monday, the New York Daily News published a report covering internal strife at the MTA over the disastrous state of the organization and the service it (supposedly) provides.

The article, “MTA ignoring ‘abysmal’ on-time performance of subway trains”, claimed that leadership at the MTA is just straight up not worried about arrival times and the MTA is now divided into two camps, “one saying service has to be evened out for passengers’ benefit, the other saying on-time performance would cut down on riders’ waiting time.”

From the Daily News,

“’They’re not that worried about service,’ a source familiar with the internal report said of agency brass. ‘They just think that it’s not really that bad. They’ve convinced themselves they don’t need to worry about abysmal on-time performance.’”

https://twitter.com/jonathenmunoz/status/866643411507580928

According to the report, the powers that be at the MTA are more worried about ‘spacing out the trains’ in an efficient manner. Yes, the main priority of the MTA is spacing out trains… as opposed to travel time.

Again, from the Daily News,

“While on-time performance takes a backseat to trying to evenly space trains to close gaps, riders frequently will be told there’s ‘train traffic ahead’ — a brushoff that can mean anything from a delay due to a sick passenger or a signal problem a borough away that’s rippling through the system. The amorphous phrase delivers practically no information, leaving already unimpressed riders more steamed and bewildered.”

Any NYC resident knows that harrowing phrase “train traffic ahead”, which is truly the worst possible thing to hear on the morning commute. As for the MTA’s philosophy to “evenly space trains to close gaps” there’s nothing about this idea that makes sense. They’ve been actively spacing out these trains and train performance is just getting worse.

Instead of looking at the faltering system and concluding “wow we need to work on arrival time” like normal people, the MTA allegedly wants to eliminate arrival time as a statistic altogether.

“MTA officials actually have a ‘high level of interest’ in simply eliminating ‘on-time performance’ from the public operation reports they release every month.”

This is total insanity. The MTA has looked at the growing pile of problems their system faces and decided that on-time performance should be scrapped as a tracking statistic.

If it’s not ignorance, it’s a downright malicious attempt at hiding information from the public about how shitty their system has become.

Of course the MTA faces a ridiculous (growing) list of issues that the Daily News documents,

“Aging cars and track equipment, new cars that struggle to perform as well as well as older ones, and an ancient signaling system, with parts dating back to Franklin Roosevelt’s presidency.”

Franklin Rosevelt’s presidency. Man what.

According to those that know what’s good (not people at the MTA) the signaling system is really at the heart of the issue. The New York Times published a story earlier this month addressing this signaling system.

It doesn’t look good.

From the Times,

“The signal system is the hidden, unglamorous backbone of the subway, controlling when trains can move down the tracks. But it is so outdated that it cannot identify precisely where trains are, requiring more room between them. And when it fails, trains stop, delays pile up and riders fume.”

According to the Times, the MTA began the process of revamping the archaic signal system twenty years ago and has finished work on ONE line. As the Times points out, this is not an ideal pace, “At the current pace, transforming every subway line could take half a century and cost $20 billion.”

It’s almost comical how bad the trains are in the second biggest city in the world and an institution in the MTA that makes a reported $14.6 BILLION in revenue every year.

Go to any other developed country in the world, public transit functions seamlessly, runs on time (there’s even a schedule!), and provides passengers with real information if there are any delays.

I’ve lost hope of ever having a good commute ever again. Just this morning, the F train I take every day (with usual delays and random mid-tunnel stops) was simply “not working”. No explanation, no solution, no nothing.

That the New York City subway system is so awful is a stain on the city, Governor Andrew Cuomo, and all the lawmakers in Albany and a complete failure of state and city legislature to provide taxpayers with the best service possible.

https://twitter.com/jbarro/status/865668537683030016

Combined with the fact that the MTA continues to raise fares, shit is downright criminal. The entire performance of this great city relies on the basic functionality of a subway system, people can’t afford to just not have working trains.

As the MTA is controlled by New York politicians, there’s undoubtedly some sort of paper trail to private contracts and corruption at the center of this whole thing. Am I accusing unknown politicians of broad corruption without proof and linking to an article from 2004 as evidence? Yes, yes I am.

https://twitter.com/BenDWalsh/status/867123487873388546

If city and state politicians don’t intervene and completely revamp the MTA’s structures, the system will only continue to crumble like the rest of this once great empire.

I don’t hold out much hope, though, as Cuomo and co. are offering $1 million to anyone who can solve the problems facing the MTA, which is probably not a great sign.

If you’re a New Yorker with a vested interest in working trains, keep it locked. We’ll keep the MTA updates coming.

lebron james May 23, 2017
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After one of the best seasons ever, the NBA playoffs have been straight trash

The 2016-2017 NBA regular season will be remembered for the unprecedented statistical displays, a LeBron-less MVP race, and the emergence of a whole new group of stars that have reinvigorated the league.

But in the playoffs, everything has reverted back to Warriors and Cavaliers dominance.

Think about the main headlines during the regular season; James Harden turning into a glo’d up Steve Nash, Russell Westbrook being the most anomalous player in basketball history, Kawhi Leonard, while already the best defensive player in the league, becoming an unstoppable scoring force, and Isaiah Thomas transforming into the master of the fourth quarter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=km71xZ6ayh0

None of these storylines have been very prominent in the playoffs. Harden fell apart, Westbrook has no one on his squad, and Kawhi got duffed by Zaza Pachulia.

Isaiah Thomas obviously overcame personal tragedy and put in amazing performances against the Bulls and Wizards, but he’s now out of the rest of the playoffs with a hip injury.

Regardless of what happens in the finals, the playoffs have been vastly disappointing.

After a season of so much promise, of so much drama, and so much competition, for the playoffs to be an extended preseason for the Warriors and the Cavaliers is pretty disheartening.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BUa3lOphIzK/

Maybe it was written in the stars all along. Maybe we should’ve known that James Harden leading a Mike D’Antoni offense would fall apart in the playoffs. Maybe we should’ve anticipated the fact that Russell Westbrook was playing with a D-League all star team.

Perhaps it was obvious that if Kawhi got injured the Spurs would have problems making up for his absence and that relying on a dude that’s 5’9″ (no way he’s even that tall) is a recipe for disaster.

The most embarrassing thing was the fact that the Cavaliers played us all. For a majority of the season they looked so porous on defense, they had zero depth, and LeBron was once again playing  an unsustainable 38 minutes in every game despite having spent the equivalent of a young child’s life on the court.

There was all this panic about whether or not the Cavs could “flip the switch” and become an actually good team in the playoffs after a season of relative stasis.

All season, the Cavs’ strangle hold on the 1 seed in the East seemed vulnerable. First it was the Raptors who looked set to challenge LeBron and co., then the Celtics and Wizards looked more likely to grab the 1 seed. For what it’s worth, the Celtics did finish with the 1 seed and it seemed like the Cavs actually might be vulnerable.

In the West there was less of a race. The Warriors have been doing ridiculous shit all season long, but it looked like the Rockets could make it interesting with their new high-octane offense and James Harden running the point.

Maybe the Clips would make one last run (no… hey, stop laughing). And ultimately, the Spurs are always the Spurs and have their way of just winning shit (they won 61 games this year??!!?).

Then the playoffs started.

The Warriors have won every game of the playoffs by an average of 16.2 points per game (according to my calculations) and the Cavs lost their first game of the playoffs on Sunday.

Whatever your opinion of LeBron or the Warriors is, this doesn’t feel good for the league. Even if it was more or less inevitable that the Cavs and Warriors would face in the finals, the degree to which they’ve dominated has been startling.

I mean, look at the Raptors, who have been a very good team for a couple years now and made a bunch of moves during the season to beat LeBron in the playoffs.

PresidentMasai Ujiri went out and traded for Serge Ibaka and “LeBron stopper” (lol) P.J. Tucker. Then the Raptors went and got their ass beat in 4 straight games, without so much as a close game.

This whole thing has been particularly trash because I’ve been over here stanning for James Harden, thinking the Rockets could give the Warriors problems. I mean, Harden put up 29, 11, and 8 this season, truly one of the most ridiculous statistical years of all time and then… he fell apart against a Kawhi-less Spurs team.

Wild. Stephen A. Smith is never one for temperance and cool-headedness and since he turned into the bloviating talking head he is now, it’s hard to ever agree with him, but his summation at the end of the Spurs Rockets series was spot on.

“I don’t know what happened. I don’t know how to explain it. There needs to be an investigation. Somebody might have slipped something into his drink, somebody might have done something to him. I have no clue, but it is not James Harden. That was not James Harden that showed up for the Houston Rockets tonight. Somebody with his jersey showed up, it wasn’t him. I cannot believe what I saw.”

My feelings exactly.

Russell Westbrook didn’t let us down like Harden did, but still left a little to be desired in the playoffs. Dude did things we haven’t seen since Oscar Robertson was throwing up nightly triple doubles in the 60s against YMCA all stars.

But for all the statistical ridiculousness of Westbrook’s season, he was playing with zero help and had to go into Superman mode against the Rockets and came up way short.

The fact that the Warriors have swept their way to the finals, with Kevin Durant coming out and saying, “I made the 100 percent correct decision, win or lose,” only makes it all the more painful to see Westbrook flame out like that.

Russell Westbrook can hold his head high, it’s wack we never got to see the ultimate Russ/KD grudge match, but that’s just how these playoffs have been.

With Game 4 of the Cavs/Celtics series later tonight, I expect nothing less than a LeBron masterpiece, coming off a game where he scored 11 points and had every old dude on twitter screaming “JORDAN WOULD NEVER”.

I know, I’m sorry for posting any Skip Bayless content in front of your eyeholes, just know that he said this, don’t even watch the video.

After the Celtics got blown out in Games 1 and 2, people began to suggest that maybe the young backcourt of the Wizards, with Bradley Beal and John Wall becoming legitimate stars, would have been a better matchup against the Cavs, but as J.R. Smith points out, if you can’t win Game 7, it’s quiet for you.

So what can the league do to stop this Cavs/Warriors dominance? The NBA has put in new rules in an attempt to prevent these “super teams” from happening, giving teams who originally drafted or signed a player higher spending power than other teams in free agency.

For example, the Thunder can offer Russell Westbrook, one of the first players eligible under the new rule, $219 million over 5 years, but any other team can only offer him $162.5 million/4 years, according to NBA.com.

I guess this is an effective tool in helping smaller market teams retain their talent, but I don’t see this preventing super teams. Kevin Durant isn’t losing money because he went to Golden State, in fact moving to the Bay Area has made Durant richer.

Basically, I have no answers. I don’t really have a point besides saying this shit is trash. I’m sure the Finals will be cool and fun, it’ll be dope to watch these two ridiculously good teams go at it for (I assume) 7 games, but these playoffs have been totally uninspiring.

Thing is, the NBA is essentially impervious to any issues at this point. It is an unstoppable force of a sports league, growing at a ridiculous rate overseas in Europe, Asia, and Africa.

It is second only to soccer in terms of global appeal, and playoff ratings are actually up this year, at a time where live sports ratings are plummeting across the board.

Judging off their performances of late, the Cavs and Warriors aren’t going anywhere anytime soon, either.

Maybe it’s just time to stop worrying and embrace the greatness of the Warriors and the Cavaliers…

Music May 22, 2017
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Chad Hugo says he’s retiring from music, deletes Twitter, so WTF is good?

Yesterday afternoon, Chad Hugo, music producer, songwriter, and member of The Neptunes and N.E.R.D. claimed that he was resigning from music on his Twitter account.

Since then, Hugo has deleted the tweet, as well as his twitter account, with a rep claiming that it “was a bad joke”. But here’s a screenshot of the shocking news.

Twitter

But the damage was done, with people bugging out on social media about Hugo’s apparent resignation.

For people of a certain age, The Neptunes and N.E.R.D. were music royalty. Obviously Pharrell has gone on to become a worldwide superstar, but Hugo was the unsung hero of both groups.

The sudden announcement from Hugo was all the more shocking as Pharrell claimed as recently as November that a new project from N.E.R.D. was in the works.

The prospect of a new N.E.R.D. album is too exciting, although we can’t imagine what it would sound like after all these years.

Hugo, Pharrell, and Shay Halley made up N.E.R.D., mixing together elements of funk, rock, hip-hop, and soul to make some of the most formative and important music of the early 2000s.

In 2002, N.E.R.D. released debut album In Search Of… and as Pharrell sings on the intro track “Lapdance” they were truly “something you’ve never seen before”.

Pharrell was obviously the star and the face of the group, but the trio was the perfect mix of different influences and styles.

Hugo is probably best known for his work with N.E.R.D., but no one can sleep on the impact of The Neptunes.

Hugo and Pharrell met in middle school, and immediately began making music together, comprising the beat-making duo The Neptunes.

The Neptunes made some of the hottest beats of the mid-2000s, cooking up everything from the hardest hip-hop to revamping the sound of the biggest pop stars in the world.

Here’s just a quick list of Neptunes productions; Mystikal’s “Shake Ya Ass”, Beenie Man’s “Girls Dem Sugar”, Snoop’s “Drop it like It’s Hot”, Pharrell/Jay-Z “Frontin'”, Gwen Stefani’s “Hollaback Girl”, Kelis’ “Milkshake”, Fab’s “Young’n” as well as all of Justin Timberlake’s solo breakout Justified album. The Neptunes could literally do it all, making some of the most iconic beats of pop and hip-hop music in the early 2000’s.

I mean, they made Birdman’s “What Happened to that Boy” and Britney Spears’ “I’m a Slave 4 U” in the space of a couple months.

Also we’d be remiss not to mention the greatest hip-hop beat of all-time, “Grindin'” yeah that was The Neptunes too.

Basically, we’re happy to hear that Hugo was just wiling out a little bit and this is by no means true.

That Daft Punk stuff Pharrell worked on was cool I guess (“Happy” was not), but we need to get the band back together and get some mid-2000’s N.E.R.D. and Neptunes shit ASAP.

album review May 19, 2017
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Wavves stay true to roots on ‘You’re Welcome’, released on own label

Over the last decade, Wavves have risen to the top of the pop-punk pyramid.

Wavves first burst onto the scene with Wavves and Wavvvves, released in 2008 and 2009 respectively. These first two releases were recorded by frontman Nathan Williams by himself in his mom’s garage.

That’s pretty evident when listening to Wavves and Wavvvves, they are exemplary lo-fi records. Williams combined his lo-fi sound with surf-rock elements, often humming or “la la la”-ing over his own vocals, creating a fun dichotomy between surf rock and lo-fi noise rock, and fashioning his own unique sound.

If the Beach Boys made punk slacker rock it would sound exactly like Wavves.

After releasing Wavvvves, Williams suddenly became an indie darling and all of the relevant blogs and music festivals came calling.

Williams hired drummer Ryan Ulsh, was booked for a massive European tour, and took off from his mom’s garage, destined for punk rock stardom

What happened was kind of what you would expect from an early 20’s kid who stumbled into sudden fame.

At the 2009 Primavera Sound Festival, Williams took a whole bunch of drugs, bugged out on his drummer, and began berating the crowd, who then started launching bottles at him.

Ulsh walked away after the incident, with Williams taking a pretty intense backlash with headlines like “Wavves Self Destruct in Barcelona” and “Wavves Meltdown in Spain” from Pitchfork and Stereogum.

In an interview with Pitchfork after the whole Barcelona debacle, it’s clear Williams felt pretty bad about what happened, most notably the frayed relationship with Ulsh, but also how quickly he became over-exposed.

He told Pitchfork,

“Yeah, it’s just weird. I feel like people forget sometimes that I’ve only been doing Wavves live for four months, and it’s picked up to this point so quickly. I never expected to have this type of exposure, and I never expected to be doing these things. I think maybe it all hit me, and it’s just kind of a lot to process so quickly. I don’t know.”

Williams cancelled his European tour, the burden of the pressure clearly weighing on him,

“In the end, the whole reason I left… it got to a point where it became so stressful and there were so many people whispering in my ear. It just got so big so quickly. I think maybe I realized it, and it freaked me out a little bit. Obviously, I handled it in the worst way possible, but it was just… I don’t know.”

In that interview it seems like Williams is pretty disillusioned, especially with the interference of money and business suddenly having an impact on his art,

“It’s weird because it’s kind of like a personal thing, and then these business-y things are all kind of tangled in it. It’s weird to say when it is fun and when it isn’t fun. And if it isn’t fun, I guess I shouldn’t really be doing it anymore. But I do love doing it, and it is fun. But with every good, there is a bad part of it.”

In the space of a couple months, Nathan Williams went from holing up in his mom’s garage with a bunch of weed and recording records for fun, to magazine covers, to a European tour, to then facing backlash from the music world for getting too drunk on stage.

Sudden pressure and fame had clearly gotten to Williams, but ever since this chaotic period, Wavves have been shockingly stable and consistent.

With the late Jay Reatard’s band members bassist Stephen Pope and drummer Alex Gates, Wavves went on to make a great pop-rock record with King of the Beach, cementing the group as a legitimate figure in a genre that was thinning out and badly in need of some direction.

King of the Beach has a much bigger and clearer sound than anything Wavves had done previously. King was the first Wavves project recorded in an actual studio at Fat Possum Records, stripped of the lo-fi purity of the earlier records.

King of the Beach showed Wavves had more versatility as a band, beyond the hazy confines of Williams’ mom’s garage.

After a couple of smaller releases, including the LP Life Sux in 2011, Wavves kept dropping fun, cool alternative rock, never changing too much from the style initiated on King of the Beach, but always changing up the approach slightly and never exactly replicating their formula.

The sound got bigger, less surfer-rocky, more grungy, culminating in 2013’s Afraid of Heights, which was a perfectly good album, but problems with the bands’ new label, Warner Bros., caused friction with the release.

Then 2015’s V came off the back of a personal breakup and heightened tensions with the label.

After the release of V, which Pitchfork wrote “sounded like a hangover”, Wavves left Warner Bros. and issued a pretty damning press release, calling out major labels’ treatment of smaller bands that aren’t “cash cows”.

An excerpt from Williams’ statement shows just how catastrophic Wavves’ experience with Warner Bros. was. Williams wrote,

“I’d never come in contact with such a poorly run company in my life. It was anarchy. Nobody knew what they were doing. Turnover rate was like an American Apparel. It was really all cons—unless you’re a cash cow. For everyone else, major labels can’t help you. Maybe at one time they could, but that time is dead.”

For all the venom in this statement, Williams and Wavves backed up their talk, starting Ghost Ramp, a record label where Williams can release Wavves music, Sweet Valley, an instrumental duo consisting of Williams and his brother, and a growing list of artists, including Cloud Nothings.

According to their website, Ghost Ramp “specializes in a diverse roster that also includes a large emphasis on video game soundtracks.”

Wavves have taken matters into their own hands, releasing their music on their own terms on their own label, releasing the band’s new album, You’re Welcome on the label.

As Afraid of Heights and V seemed to dip into the melancholic, You’re Welcome sees Wavves back to their carefree punky best. On this album Williams is singing about how cold his winter house is and drinking lemonade by the pool, as opposed to the more nihilistic material of his previous couple releases.

This record feels closer to King of the Beach than V, there’s a return to the lo-fi, albeit not close to that of Wavves or Wavvvves. “Daisy”, “You’re Welcome”, and “No Shade” are head-bopping pop-punk at its best.

“I Love You” is a wonderfully-written song about cali luv that sounds like something out of Weezer’s early discography (the two W-loving groups collaborated on a song last year).

While the sound is familiar, the techniques used on You’re Welcome are a little different. There’s some sampling, more synthesizers, and drum machine-sounding drums.

Despite all the chaos of his earlier career, Williams has found some success and satisfaction over the years, becoming a sort of standard bearer for rock bands over the last decade.

In a genre that devours and spits out any exciting new talent, leaving a sprawling wasteland of bands that never followed up their first album or succumbed to drugs and alcohol, Wavves have survived the alt-rock gauntlet.

Grab a cold one, pull up to a body of water, and rock out to You’re Welcome this summer.

murda beatz
beats May 19, 2017
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Murda Beatz is the Toronto producer behind some of hip-hop’s biggest hits

The beauty of social media and the internet, as it pertains to the music industry, is that if you have the skills, you can reach and connect with other artists, no matter your background or where you’re from.

This is the case with Murda Beatz, real name Shane Lindstrom, who has become one of the hottest producers in hip-hop, seemingly out of nowhere.

Hailing from Fort Erie, Canada, the town directly across the border from Buffalo, NY, Murda Beatz wasn’t exactly from a hotbed of hip-hop.

For This Life I Cannot Change

A post shared by YOUNG MURDA (@murdabeatz_) on

Despite the fact that Lindstrom was just down the road from Toronto, the producer saw the States as the land of opportunity for this music shit.

So how did the producer of such bangers as “Pipe It Up”, “Like Dat”, and “Portland” go from Fort Erie, Canada to becoming one of the most trusted producers for Gucci Mane, Drake, Migos, and the rest of the biggest acts in hip-hop?

As he told the Fader in a August 2016 interview, Chicago’s drill scene was Murda’s intro into the American music scene, but then he found about these dudes Migos on the internet. Skippa Da Flippa (the real inventor of the dab) connected them,

“I went to Chicago and tried to get big in the drill scene. With GBE, Lil Durk, all those guys. Then I wanted to get my music into Atlanta. Found these guys the Migos on the internet before they blew up. Started sending beats to Skippa Da Flippa. He started showing them my beats. From there, they started liking the stuff, and they blew up. They started flying me out and I started living with them, around 2012, 2013. Going on the road with them. That’s how we built our good relationship that we have now. I’m glad that we still have that close bond. Now, I can help them in ways and they can still help me in ways.”

Murda has established relationships with artists to where they’re literally family.

Despite the fact Murda Beatz was able to forge his connections over the internet and social media, those personal relationships, and working together in person in general, are still important in the biz.

Murda claims that those close friendships will see him and Migos keep making music forever.

Although Murda Beatz got his official start in America through the drill scene in Chicago and networking with the right dudes from Atlanta, he has made some vital Canadian connections as well.

Murda claims that he and Toronto crooner PARTYNEXTDOOR are “really good at making music together” and one could argue that PARTY’s “Like Dat” is definitely proof of that. PARTYNEXTDOOR’s own production skills surely help during the songwriting process, as he sees things that other artists might not.

Murda Beatz then connected with Drake beatmaker Boi-1da at a Wiz Khalifa show and they started working together. Murda spoke about Boi-1da Fader,

“I started talking to [his camp] more and started going to his house and making beats with him. I learned a lot making beats with him, about mixing and everything. He’s a guy that I looked up to in the industry. He’s a very humble guy. He’s very successful.”

Collaboration is another crucial aspect of Murda Beatz’s process, and hip-hop production in general right now. Murda told the Fader,

“There’s more people on beats now. People are collaborating. People are using samples. People are just taking elements from other people and producing records together. It’s kind of like in the pop world, where there is four people on beats. I feel like that’s happening more in urban music as well. It’s good to see that. I am actually producing records and bringing people in for certain things. Molding records together. Co-producing after records are made and placing them as well.”

Murda Beatz is truly the representation of the 2017 music industry. A Canadian kid from along the Niagara River reached out to American rappers on the internet and started building a growing empire out of nothing.

Watch this dude’s moves over the next couple years. In the meantime, here’s a couple Murda bangers.

“Yacht Master” Swae Lee, 2 Chainz

“No Shopping” French Montana ft. Drake

“Back On Road” Gucci Mane ft. Drake

“It’s A Vibe” 2Chainz ft. Ty Dolla $ign, Trey Songz, Jhene Aiko

“Sweet Sweet” Travis Scott

A$AP Rocky May 18, 2017
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A$AP Rocky talks Black Lives Matter, freestyles about gentrification at Oxford

On Tuesday, the Oxford Union, the famous debate society at Oxford University, invited A$AP Rocky to a talk on Constructing the Hip-Hop Artist.

In recent years, the Oxford Union has been attempting to rebuild its image after a racist scandal severely damaged its reputation.

The Union advertised a cocktail named the ‘Colonial Comeback’ across the university on pamphlets that depicted a pair of black hands in chains.

It was sold as part of a debate the Union was having over whether England should pay its former colonies reparations.

This was in 2015, and at the time Nikhil Venkatesh, a then-BME at the Student Union said of the scandal, according to the Guardian,

“Reducing centuries of violent oppression to a humorously named cocktail is simply unacceptable. We are still living with the damaging legacy of colonialism. Sadly Oxford, and especially the Oxford Union, remains dominated by privilege, which is why inconsiderate episodes such as this occur. Oxford students are becoming more aware of these issues, and we have in our student body a number of activists who are trying to effect change in our attitudes to race.”

This is the context in which the Oxford Student Union invited A$AP Rocky to talk about a variety of things, including his politics and gentrification.

When asked why he doesn’t get political in his music, A$AP said he talks about what’s real to him and he isn’t going to rap about politics to “stand out”,

“Not everybody should be like Kendrick or talk about political things just to stand out. Also, not everybody should be like A$AP Mob and talk about drugs and girls and clothes. We don’t all have to talk about the same topics.”

A$AP was also questioned on his opinions on Black Lives Matter, to which he gave a rather convoluted answer, calling police shootings “inevitable” and black-on-black crime as the “main topic”,

“Why are we exploiting the beef between the urban community and the police force when 60 people got shot on a Friday and Saturday [on July holiday weekend in 2014] in Chicago in black-on-black crime? So one cop shoots a black person… that kind of shit is inevitable. Not to glorify it, but that’s nothing new. Let’s talk about the black-on-black crime. If you’re not gonna talk about the main topic, then don’t talk about it all.”

It’s not great when you’re recycling Fox News talking points about black-on-black crime, but Rocky went on to deliver an impassioned freestyle about the damage of gentrification on his upbringing,

Rocky seems to have some complex opinions about the state of race in America, which will surely not sit well with members of the left and the BLM movement.

You can watch the whole talk below as Rocky talks about his debut album, trying to go mainstream, and the impact of the late great A$AP Yams on his life.

grime May 17, 2017
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J Hus puts himself and London on the map with ‘Common Sense’

In the last couple years, London has emerged as a hotbed of hip-hop, with artists like Stormzy and Skepta getting worldwide recognition and respect in the American hip-hop scene.

There were the token Drake features and Noisey documentaries, and Stormzy and Skepta have become legitimate stars, but the whole grime scene appears, at least from across the pond, to be pretty monolithic.

Of course, with any burgeoning music scene, the stars of the genre will drive the direction of the sound and the aesthetic, but grime has been pigeon-holed, at least in the States, by Skepta, Giggs, and Stormzy’s success.

Skepta and Giggs in particular make sense to an American ear; this familiarity has translated to worldwide success for these dudes, but grime is a much more diverse and multifaceted genre, than Skepta domination and Atlanta trap cosplay.

That’s where J Hus comes in.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BTUTbijl4Fm/

The East End MC from Stratford, London has been active on the grime scene since 2015, with releases like “Lean and Bop” and “Dem Boy Paigon” showing a promising young MC having some fun over dancehall beats, but neither of these releases pointed to anything beyond making fire music for the club.

J Hus got the approval of grime godfather Stormzy, appearing on February 2017’s Gang Signs & Prayer‘s “Bad Boys” along with Ghetts.

But J Hus’ new album Common Sense, might be the most interesting U.K. hip-hop record in recent memory.

The kid from Stratford combines elements of grime, U.K. garage, dancehall, Afrobeat, hip-hop, and R&B seamlessly, all punctuated by piercing wise-cracks and boastful roadman rhymes.

J Hus shows his complete diversity as an artist throughout Common Sense, announcing himself as the new torch-bearer for a burgeoning genre trying to escape Skepta autonomy.

On “Did You See” J Hus is at his boastful best, rapping “Came looking like a ganja farmer/
Your daddy betta hide his daughter” over a springy, steel drum-driven beat, and a bouncing bass. It’s safe to say Stormzy is a fan.

https://twitter.com/Stormzy1/status/836725226792693766

The instrumental on “Did You See” could easily stand on its own in any dancehall or garage setting, shit just belongs in the club.

“Common Sense”, the eponymic second single of the album exhibits a pretty big sound, sounding very early 2010’s Maybach Music, for the typically minimalist genre. But J Hus isn’t the typical grime artist.

“Clartin” is a banger about drive-bys and ‘opps’ and could be held up to any Chicago drill or Atlanta trap, but it isn’t an attempt at copying that sound, rather a response to it. It’s London’s answer to drill and trap, not a replication of it.

After we emerge from the dark streets of London’s East End, J Hus takes us inside the crib on “Closed Doors”, a love, or perhaps more accurately a sex ballad, with some jazzy live horn instrumentation and a smooth as fuck drum kick.

The production on Common Sense makes it one of the most diverse hip-hop albums in recent memory, especially in the sometimes monolithic grime genre.

From the dramatic strings, reminiscent of early 2000s era G-Unit on “Goodies”, to the post-dubstep drums on “Plottin”, London-based producer Jae5, who produced the whole album, has created the canvas for J Hus to paint his lyrical art.

Listening to Common Sense, you get the feeling this is a record that could only be made in London at this particular moment in time.

J Hus, the son of a Gambian mother, brings in elements from across the world to make a truly global-sounding album. Common Sense is representative of the cultural tapestry of London, drawing from the litany of styles and subgenres that have popped up in the clubs and neighborhoods throughout London in the past twenty years.

But ultimately, the most crucial aspect of Common Sense‘s success the album’s basic authenticity.

There’s no token American rapper feature, no Skepta or Stormzy appearance, although both have endorsed J Hus. Common Sense makes no attempt to appeal to American audiences or craft a crossover hit to find a way onto Hot 97 or a tour with Drake.

J Hus has announced himself as a very serious force to be reckoned with, not only in the U.K. grime scene, but in the hip-hop genre as a whole.

Common Sense is a special record made in a very specific time and place. We’ll be banging this shit all summer.