Danger Mouse/Black Thought - Cheat Codes. When Danger Mouse first popped onto the scene with that Grey Album, he seemed like the smartest innovator ever. Now that seems a little less shiny, with a lot of other people mashing things up in a similar way since, but I'll still say that his crate-digging ability and classic-while-innovating beats are still very fun. I don't know Black Thought at all, he's apparently the lead rapper from The Roots. He's got a good flow on here, and they bring a ton of good guests on as well to add different flows and styles. It's a fun album, feels like smart person rap. I thought "No Gold Teeth" would be the top track, as it encapsulates everything that is right about this album - funky/weird sample beats, smooth delivery of vocals. I also hear it on the local radio a good bit. But instead, the one with Joey Bada$$, Russ, and Dylan Cartlidge, called "Because," is the top streamer with just over 9 million.
Laiiiiiid back. Dig it. Thought's beard is legit. One of my favorite things for a great rap track is when a good beat is used for a bunch of different people to jump in and drop their style. I know a posse cut is not some sort of revelation in the world of rap, but it's just cool as hell for a looped sample-mash like that to just spool out into infinity while different guys grab the mic and give it a shot. This album is good.
Jeff Rosenstock - No Dream. A co-worker actually recommended the follow-up to this album to me, an odd ska reimagining of these punk bangers. Personally, I much prefer the originals. This is in the vein of my recent love for Turnstiles's brand of tuneful post hardcore punk stuff. Part of me just wishes that he used a different name, I literally cannot remember his freaking name. I think I called him Matt Rosenblatt the other day. A lot of the tunes just launch right in to pummeling mode and never let up, and it's good fun. I used it as my soundtrack the other day for some yardwork and its just the right combination of hard-edged and boogie to keep my brain in a happy place and ready to either headbang or shimmy. Like, the top track starts with a jenky drum machine, but then punks it up until a metal breakdown in the middle that requires - at least - a heavy nod of the head. "Scram!" with 2.4 million.
"GO KICK ROCKS AND DIE! WOOOO!" White Reaper-esque jam. And as you can tell from that video, this was a product of 2020, which is why you have video of people playing bass along in their room next to a treadmill or otherwise just doing stuff alone. And not everything in the album is so hard, as the next song on there, the title track, is a very spare sounding tune for the first half and then turns into a pogoing screamalong. A lot of fun harmonies among the crush. I find it all to be a damn good time!
Maneskin - RUSH! Funny thing about this album. A few weeks ago, I read a Rolling Stone review of it that was solidly complimentary. First off, annoyingly, RS has stopped giving star ratings for their reviews (cowards!). Secondly, they have reduced their album reviews to a trickle, reviewing like 2 a magazine. Now, I'm well aware that we now have a million sources for album reviews on the Internet, but it was always nice to have a well-curated package of top albums that I should check out. I don't know who to trust on the Internet! Feels like a cop out to quit reviewing music. They are scared to pan Led Zeppelin again and get made fun of forever. But to the point here, their review fawns on this band. "To a degree, Måneskin have won the fight for their right to party: With their growing stardom, runway-glam fashion and makeup sense, and a guitarist (Thomas Raggi) who actually plays solos once in a while, Måneskin do feel like the only major-league rock band making any dent in the culture at large." or talking about an "undeniable earworm" or "kicky-fun" and "new wave novelty." AND THEN, I see a ton of other reviews that absolutely excoriate this album. For example, Pitchfork: "Their new album is absolutely terrible at every conceivable level."
I think I fall in the middle here. It is not a good album, but it is definitely a fun patchwork of goofy shit and rock riffs. Which, I think there is always a time and place for. Like, The Struts do this sort of glamtastic ridiculousness well. And this one has some definitely catchy tunes based on funky bass and guitar power. I think it is always delicious to hate on something like the Pitchfork folks do, and this album has lyrics that are ripe for piling on, but instead this just feels like a generic throwaway of fun music. Like saying that the ninth Fast and Furious movie is crappy cinema. Well, no shit, buddy. They weren't trying to impress the Academy.
The play-count is really weird on this album though. It is definitely overlong. They definitely could have cut the track listing in half instead of firing out 17 songs and almost an hour. But the top three songs, the only three with over 100 million streams, are the last three songs. When has that ever happened? Weird. But the second-to-last track is the top one at 192 million streams - "Supermodel."
Which is weird, because that is definitely one of the weaker tunes on the album for me. Has a lot less funk and soul than other, earlier tracks. And the line "her boyfriend is the rock and roll" just makes me cringe. "Baby Said" is a more fun song for sure. But while it was fun to dig in to the tunes just out of curiosity, I don't need to save the album.
Also, in case you didn't know, this is that same band that did "Beggin'" a few years back, the song that gets some alt radio play and sounds to me like a long-lost Live b-side of those guys trying to do some upbeat music with crappy accompaniment. Also, that track has freaking 1.275 BILLION streams. Good gravy.
Run the Jewels - RTJ CU4TRO. Weird ass remix album, turning the tunes from Run The Jewels 4 into cumbia/reggaeton/other Latin styles that I don't understand. I think it is a bummer, it removes some of the power and strength of the originals to remove the crushing bass from "Yankee and the Brave" to instead add in slinky little piano, snare, shaker sounds for "yankee y el valiente." I want the punishment, not some limp dance beat from a Casio preset. Much of this feels the same way for me - the beats on the original album were ferocious and iconic. None of this feels as vital, makes it feel like a clown show. Here is the top one, "ooh la la," which goes from a clever-sounding, ominously-piano'ed, thumping beat, to this uninspiring remix that has none of the soul.
I am well aware that I am not a connoisseur of Latin music, and so I'm a terrible judge of what is good and how it should sound, but I don't like any of this.
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