BROCKHAMPTON [EDIT 9.21.18]

One Liner: Self-described as THE WORLD'S GREATEST BOYBAND!  Off-kilter, fun hip-hop from a large crew.
Wikipedia Genre: Indie pop, indie electronic, dream pop, electronic rock 
Home: L.A. (but originally formed in San Marcos)

Poster Position: 5
Day: Friday at 6:45
Both Weekends.

Thoughts:  This group is one of those crazy weird collective groups where like 38 people appear to be contributing to the group at any given time, but it works.  I reviewed one of their albums a few months ago after seeing it talked about in some 2017 year-end lists.  Let's get into the backstory first.

The group formed in San Marcos, Texas a few years ago, but then moved to L.A.  They apparently formed after their "leader" Kevin Abstract posted an invitation on some weird Kanye message board to see if others wanted to form a band.  That original group was called AliveSinceForever, but it melted into BROCKHAMPTON a few years later.  Wikipedia lists 15 current members and 4 past members of the group.  But some of those dudes are apparently just art directors, and aren't actually contributing verses.  This article provides a more in-depth background look at each of the members, in their own words.

Of interest (to me at least) from that article:

• Kevin Abstract is only 20 or 21 years old.  And from Corpus.  I don't know why it seems weird to know that a creative brain came from Corpus, but it just does.
• Some other dudes interviewed are from Houston, The Woodlands, Glen Rose, and Austin.  Cool but so strange to think of a rapper from the Woodlands.  I need to expand my mind.  But it sounds like several of these guys actually met in high school.
• I love the idea of them all in the BROCKHAMPTON house, out in L.A., just churning out beats and raps and videos and imagery, like a factory for creatives.  Wake, bake, and create.
• JOBA was in school at Texas State, which sounds like the reason they moved to San Marcos in the first place.  Super rad to think of these wack art brains posting up in plain jane old San Marcos.

So, what is the music?  You've been reading so long without any music!  I'm so sorry.  Even though they call themselves a boy band, this is rap/hip-hop first and foremost.  And it is really good.  The most listened to track is called "SWEET" and has this rad Middle Eastern-flavored beat.  18.4 million streams.

That beat is so freaking dope.  If it doesn't make you want to dance then you're doing it wrong.  I love the dude who is singing about The Woodlands and his "honey butter," maybe the stuff at Whataburger, or maybe a drink of lean with Sprite.  You get like 5 good verses by different dudes, and then this coked out looking singer steps out and starts buzzing all over the screen while singing in voices like Leo DiCaprio playing Eminem in a Lifetime special.  I am very much looking forward to yelling the chorus to this song while I dance my ass off.

One of the interesting thing about the group is how they fired out three albums in rapid succession last year - Saturation on June 9, Saturation II on August 25, and Saturation III on December 15.  And they have been releasing music videos at a similarly breakneck pace - their YouTube channel offers up 12 in the "SATURATION trilogy," but that only scratches the surface, as there 21+ more videos up there.  So I have a bunch more videos to watch and show you, apparently.

The second most popular track is "Gold," with just barely over 17 million streams.

That cracked out looking guy sounds like Andre 3000, now that I think about it more.  Less like Eminem doing voices and more like A3K being freaky.  I wish there was a video for "Stupid," from the third Saturation, because I dig the beat and chorus.  "Boys wanna play with my cell phone but I don't want nobody to see whats in it."  

You honestly should just go onto YouTube and run through some of these videos.  They all appear to start with Roberto, and then they generally just follow the dudes doing some weird stuff in a street in L.A.  Pretty basic, but with an arty slant, like bench pressing a huge pencil or dressing up in cardboard boxes.  In "Heat," I laughed at the random guy who rolls up in an old Honda and is like "uh, should I just drive around these dudes jumping around and filming?"  And then the Leo DiCaprio guy comes in and loses his shit.

Damn man.  Take a freaking Xanax, buddy.  Its like Abstract came up to him just before they cut the song and was like: "hey fred, you got that verse ready for Heat?"  And Fred is like "uhhhhhhhhh, yep, got it, just going to scream 'fuck you' a few times."  And then the end is like a horror movie scene with everyone being taken over and dancing in unison.  These dudes are weird, but I'm digging it.

I definitely prefer the hip-hop-centric tunes of the Saturation trilogy (although some of those tunes lean on sing/song R&B type stuff instead, like "Face.") over their earlier album, 2016's All-American Trash, which is less rap-centered and more into the R&B fold.  Still has rap and hip-hop elements, but stuff like "HOME" is just a song without any rap.  Still OK, but not my preference.

According to this article, their first weekend Coachella set was a trainwreck.  Hopefully they get those technical glitches resolved for the second weekend and then come to Austin to blow the doors off.  I'm in.

Also, if you want to see the process they use for making a song (and a fire song, in my opinion), watch this (but you'll need almost an hour):

[EDIT 9.21.18]  They boys released a new album today, called iridescence.  I've run through it five times so far today, and its pretty good.  I'd be way more into it, except I think they try to jam too much into many of these songs.  This isn't entirely new, they frequently throw curveballs in their songs, but I wish they wouldn't do it so much.  They'll get a good beat and groove going with a song, and then after 3 minutes they'l downshift entirely into some piano ballad and fart along with that for a minute to end the song.  Although, I have to admit that they fooled me on this with the two opening tracks of this album.  "NEW ORLEANS" has this ominous, rotten beat that sounds super cool, but then the transition into "THUG LIFE," which is a pretty lame piano thing, is so seamless and shares the same clicking background noise, that they seemed like the same song.  All of that to say, listen to the first track and then skip the second track.  The one that keeps catching my brain as I listen is "J'OUVERT," 

That video is trippy, and the beat is super beefy.  That first verse, by Angry McYell-a-lot, is a trip compared to the laid back second verse.  Dig it.  They also have a song named "SAN MARCOS" that has a poignant chorus over strings - "I want more out of life than this, I want more, I want more."  The song has to do with a shitty life and suicidal thoughts in San Marcos, but then dropping out of Texas State in favor of the band and getting the hell out of there.  I'd personally rather jam the bumping stuff than the confessionals, but I dig both.