The Official ACL Blog for like Eight People!
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One Liner: Real deal gangster rap with a ton of pretty good guest verses Wikipedia Genre: Hip hop Spotify Says Similar To: Vince Staples and Trinidad James (really? A$AP Rocky isn't the top one?) Home: Harlem, NY (Hungry Ham!) Poster Position: 5 Slot: ? Thoughts: I've been a big fan of A$AP Rocky for a while, and have generally liked Ferg's stuff as well, but I've never really dug into the deal with this posse of people using the A$AP name. So, for your edification, here is the deal. The A$AP Mob is a hip hop collective that came out of Harlem in the mid-oughts. The original guys were ASAP Yams, ASAP Bari, and ASAP Illz, but since then the more famous members of the crew have been Rocky and Ferg, and then to a lesser extent, some other ASAPs. Just because I think it is kind of funny, here are all of the ones listed on the Wikipedia page: A$AP Ant, A$AP Bari, A$AP Ferg, A$AP Illz, A$AP Lotto, A$AP Lou Banga, A$AP Nast, A$AP P on the Boards, A$AP Rocky, A$AP Snacks, A$AP Twelvyy, A$AP Ty Beats, A$AP TyY. I think my favorite of those is "Lou Banga," because it makes me think of the guy who did that shitty song about getting a lot of different ladies names in his life, "Mambo No. 5." Instantly, that guy's rapper name is a joke. Anyway, so who is Ferg? His real name is Darold D. Brown Ferguson, Jr. Which is a hell of a name. I can see why you'd want to make sure you granted that one down to your kid, Darold Sr. According to Wikipedia, he started clothing and jewelry lines before he started rapping, but then his buddy ASAP Rocky encouraged him to rap more and they joined this crew together. His first album was 2013's Trap Lord, which has the excellent and silly "Shabba."
Two things make that track amazing. First, the chorus, which allows me to yell about having the right amount of gold chains and ONE GOLD TOOOF! like I'm shab-Shabba Ranks (a Jamaican dancehall guy from the 90's, the guy who sang that "Mr. Loverman" song). Two, when he yells MASTER BRUCE! randomly in there, it has always been one of my favorite things of all time ever. You should try yelling it along with him. It will change your life. Also, look at his eyes when he says that in the video. Roger Rabbit shit. That track is actually his second most listened to from that album (62.7 million), the top track is a remix of the song "Work," which was originally on a ASAP Mob mixtape, but that now adds in a bunch of stars (Rocky, French Montana, Trinidad James, and Schoolboy Q) and has just over a hundred million streams.
I mean, I get it. Right now, you are wondering why I am pushing this kind of all-brags-all-the-time rap on you. Well, sometimes, this is the good stuff. You can't just watch Schindler's List every day, sometimes you need to watch Fast & the Furious 27 and have fun. And on top of that, those kinds of posse cuts can be uneven. I think Schoolboy, Rocky, and Ferg put in good verses there, but French Montana? He's like an even worse Rick Ross. There are a bunch of other good tracks on this older album, like the fun sing-along "Dump Dump," which allows you to yell a rude chorus about discovering carnal knowledge of someone else's young lady friend. Overall, this is a good album of rap braggadocio. Then, the 2016 album Always Strive and Prosper (stands for A.S.A.P. ! Look at what he did there?!) came out, and like that first disc, he uses a ton of good cameo appearances to load up the album. On Trap Lord, he had A$AP Rocky, Schoolboy Q, B-Real (from Cypress Hill), Onyx, Waka Flocka Flame, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Trinidad James, and more. On this new one, he gets Missy Elliott, Chuck D, Schoolboy Q, Migos, Future, Rock Ross, Big Sean, and others including Skrillex on one track. The best of those is probably the Big Sean one. But the best two songs on this are both more of the brawny, tough guy brag rap that work well for this guy. First, you have "New Level," Ferg's second most listened to track on Spotify and the one that stars Future as the guest. Hell yes.
68.6 million streams. Plus 59 million views on YouTube. It's that beat, brawny and buff and ready to rumble. A little ominous with the violins. But definitely something to turn up loud and bob your head to as you churn your elbows around and show off your fancy bracelets. "Put these ni**as in the dirt!" Too bad that Future has to smear his idiotic autotune all over the track, but I can forgive that for the pure joy of the chorus. And then the second best track on the album is the one with Schoolboy Q, "Let It Bang," with 14.4 million streams.
BTW, the first minute of that video is not part of the "Let It Bang" song, for some reason they used a minute of the song "Psycho." But hot damn, man. I mean, Schoolboy's verse is freaking the real deal shit. And overall, that who track is good stuff, tough, gangster stuff about hard ass uncles and taking care of business with the gun. "Cologne and liquor was his odor, fragrance of a riding soldier, ODB was his persona, he was high on Mars (I think that is what he said at the end of that line), 40 ounce and then some marijuana, when grandma died from pneumonia, now his life a roller coaster, put that shit on God." This is the good stuff, the story-telling-you-can-see-what-they-are-talking-about good stuff. There are stinkers on this album, like the Rick Ross garbage on "Swipe Life," or the Lil Uzi Vert-assisted "Uzi Gang," or the crooning garbage with Chris Brown, but luckily we likely won't hear much of that in the fall because he'll be doing without those crap collaborators at the Festival. I've just spent three days at work and several hours in the car letting these tunes bang, and I think this will be a really fun show to go see. Recommend: Yes.
Rap. Excellent rap. So very glad he'll be at ACL Fest, as I only got to see part of his show at Fun Fun Fun Fest a few years back, and wanted more. A$AP comes from Harlem, part of the A$AP Mob (including A$AP Ferg, "Master Bruce!"), and also buddies with Schoolboy Q. I forget how I first came across him, but he put out a mixtape in 2011 called Live Love A$AP, and that was one of the first DatPiff mixtapes I ever found.
Live.Love.A$AP has some amazing tracks - some of the best rap I have enjoyed in the past decade. The first four songs on that album (sadly the album isn't available to stream on Spotify, so you'll have to go to DatPiff or YouTube) all crush it. Top shelf beats and production from Clams Casino. in three of those first four. First, I give you "Peso," clocking in at over 31 million views.
The deep bass, that atmospheric tinkle of bells, then other sounds trickling in - plus Rocky's smooth as hell lyrics and fun wordplay. Then you've got the opening crush of "Palace," with this huge descending bass fade, screwed lyrics, chanting monks, and so much damn bravado for an opening track of an artist you've never even heard of:
He name checks his influences on there, and you can hear them - New Orleans, Tennessee, Houston - but he also spits a bar like Bone Thugs, name checks Master P and Kriss Kross, uses DJ Screw's Houston methods on his lyrics, and yet still represents Harlem. It is a thing of beauty. Before I leave that album, I have to show you "Wassup" as well.
That opening beat is so chill, and yet ominous when the bass comes in. And the flow of the lyrics over the top of that - the offbeat delivery is so kick ass. 15 million views. And what the hell, I showed you three of the first four tracks from the album, here is "Bass," the fourth that kicks so much ass.
Screwed again, and so very good.
You'll notice, on "Wassup," that he repeatedly calls himself that "pretty motherf**ker." This is a big part of his schtick, that he rocks the finest clothes and is all in on fashion. I don't even hear most of the references - I have no flipping clue who Raf Simons even is, but Rocky is apparently the man on fancy fashion. I could care less what he's wearing, I just know that he sounds freaking bad ass while wearing it.
Rocky's first real album was the confusingly titled Long.Live.A$AP, released in 2013. The initial single off of that album was called "Goldie," which has over 40 million spins on Spotify, and just so happens to have the beats per minute I use to jog. Stand up and jog to this:
17 million views, and so much swagger and solid flow. For me, it is just that combination - the beat is good, nothing groundbreaking, but when mixed in with the perfectly timed lyrics and then slowed down chorus, it just clicks perfectly. He's still repping the Houston sound and Master P, and you have to feel extremely cool when you can slur "bitchin' witcho bitch ass" or "errybody play the tough guy 'til shit pop off" repeatedly while listening to the track. I am sooo hard, yo.
Also on this album, A$AP's biggest hit without any doubt, is the collaboration with Drake, 2Chainz, and Kendrick Lamar, called F**ckin' Problems.
59.5 million YouTube views. 102 million Spotify spins. This is one of the most popular tracks I've reviewed so far for this year's artists. A ton of that traffic comes to this song because its got Drake and Kendrick Lamar on it, so take the popularity with a grain of salt (at least they knew well enough to keep 2Chainz to just the hook). Great beat, top notch guest verses, with a mediocre verse from Rocky himself, but still a hell of a track. The rest of the album is also good, with standout tracks "Long Live A$AP," the Skrillex-assisted "Wild for the Night," the posse cut "1Train," and the trippy-sounding "LVL."
And now, as of May 25/26, the new album is out. The original release date was supposed to be June 2, but it either leaked or he decided to stream it early. He has a ton of collaborators on here - Kanye, M.I.A., Future, Schoolboy Q, Juicy J, UGK, Lil Wayne, Mos Def. Oh, and Rod Stewart. WTF? I forget where I read it, but Rocky himself said there would not be any radio hits/singles on this album. He cited the Beatles, as artists who had been making popular tunes and then shifted into weird stuff without the pop feel, as an inspiration. I don't know how much of that is showmanship and trying to psych people out, but I think there are plenty of hits on this album. Frankly, I think he's full of shit. This album is just as chock full of well-crafted beats and his excellent sound as any others that came before it.
The most listened-to track from the new album (albeit based on early release as a single) is the strangely named "Lord Pretty Flacko Jodye 2" with just over nine million listens:
Dark, ominous, gritty, straight-forward for just 2 minutes. For reasons I'm not sure about, that video transitions from that song straight into the Lil Wayne-assisted "M'$" (second most listened to track on the new album) for the last minute. "M'$" is sweet as well, with a crusher of a beat, although I could leave the Lil' Wayne verse. "Max B" uses a slowed down sample of "Peter Piper" that is super cool as hell, even if it ends with a weird indie singer being sad. I looked up Max B, and that is apparently the stage name of an older Harlem rapper who is currently in prison on a 75 year sentence. According to this article, the guy singing that sad song is some rando English singer who appears on five of the songs on this album. Weird, but that beat in that song is fab. "Jukebox Joints," the Kanye track, has a tight, old school sample feel and a damn good Kanye verse. The Schoolboy Q collabo "Electric Body" is just waiting for strip joints to discover it. Album opener "Holy Ghost" is also a slowed down beat and Rocky just strutting all over it. "Wavybone," the one with UGK and Juicy J, has another laid-back soul sample and great verses from each of the rappers. Smooth, ready to be blared from the open top of a pimp daddy caddy down in H-town. After a few listens, this album is good stuff. I'm not going to go all "instant classic" on you, but I'm also going to keep listening to it for the rest of the day and maybe all of tomorrow.
Just because I think you ought to experience it, here is that Rod Stewart-assisted track, called "Everyday"
Not sure why they list Rod Stewart as though he is on the track. Maybe he is singing live, but that definitely sounds like just a sample (and according to the Internet, it is). Miguel has a great voice as well - I like the way he parrots the Stewart sample. Strange song that switches things up multiple times on the beat/sound, but it sounds cool anyway.
This guy is really great. I know that he doesn't match the mold of who I normally fawn over in rap, as he really doesn't do much story-telling in his raps. That being said, his style and rhythm over beats are just too smooth and perfect for me to ignore. And even if he's not weaving stories, he still uses clever wordplay to create slick couplets and verses that could make you groan, but more frequently make me smile. Definitely going to go see him do his thing.
One Liner: Real deal new school gangster rapper, buddies with Kendrick Poster Position: 3 Thoughts: I've seen Schoolboy live more than any of the other artists in this year's lineup, so I have a pretty good idea of what we will see this fall. I got to see him play first at Fun Fun Fun Fest a few years ago, right after the excellent Habits and Contradictions (2012) came out, and it was a blast. A friend of a friend was being really weird about the fact that I knew all the lyrics to "Hands on the Wheel," the A$AP Rocky-assisted single from that album, but this was right when I'd discovered A$AP, loved him, and thereby discovered Schoolboy. I dug it. Whats the deal? That track is down to #5 on the Popular list for Schoolboy, but at 65.5 million streams, its his third most listened to track.
I've also heard that track repeatedly at other people's shows, as the on-hold music before the show starts. Bomb ass beat, great yell-along hook, and dumb lyrics you can chant as you think about how tough and awesome you are while you listen. The other big song from that album, which you will almost certainly hear at the show, is "There He Go," which Schoolboy usually turns into a call and response with the crowd. Maybe "Druggys Wit Hoes Again" as well, which features Ab Soul. I saw him twice around the time he released 2014's Oxymoron, at SXSW shows, one of which was pretty damn small, over at the uphill stage at Stubbs. Even with a tiny crowd (I didn't get there early but was still like 3 rows back), he was high energy, talking tough and bouncing around having fun. He walked out in the crowd at one point and it was fun to just see him clowning around with people as he rapped. The big hit from that one was "Collard Greens," which features Kendrick Lamar. Again, this song won me props by knowing the lyrics, when I showed up at the old fraternity party for my college homecoming, and the stoner dorks in my old fraternity were amazed that an ancient alum: (a) knew what rap is; (b) knew who Schoolboy Q is; and (c) knew the majority of the lyrics to a brand new song from him. I ran this school back in the 90's, suckers! Bow down!
70.7 million streams, and another cool sounding beat that just breaks from the pack of other current rap sounds. The bassline is bouncy and kind of playful. And of course, it helps to have Kendrick on your track... His most listened-to track overall is "Man of the Year," with 78.7 million streams, which also comes off of Oxymoron, but the track I'd rather feature is "Hell of a Night," which was featured on a Mr. Robot episode I watched just last night and it was perfect for that moment.
That smoothie he makes at the start! Holy Hannah! You're gonna die, holmes! But the best part of this one is the build up and drop into a laid-back verse, which when seen live, works the crowd into a frenzy. Kind of an EDM move. Q came up with the Black Hippy crew, which included Kendrick Lamar, but before that he was apparently a Crip dealing Oxycontin and then other drugs until he got sent to prison for a felony charge he won't discuss. The stage name apparently comes from "When I was in school, all the homies called me Schoolboy. I wore glasses and I had a 3.3 in high school, before fucking up my senior year gang-banging. My name's Quincy, so I just stick to Schoolboy Q." In addition to his own albums, he has been featured on a lot of other rappers tracks - Macklemore, Anderson Paak, A$AP Rocky, A$AP Ferg, YG, Kendrick Lamar, 50 Cent, Ab Soul, Childish Gambino, Mac Miller, Action Bronson, Vince Staples, The Game, The Weekend, even a remix of Disclosure's "Latch." He just released a new album, 2016's Blank Face LP, that sounds good after my first few listens. The big hit so far is "THat Part," (15.2 million streams) which features Kanye West on a kind of clever verse. But I won't say that track has Schoolboy's strongest verse. The other early single with some play is "Groovy Tony" (3.6 M), but the tracks that I am liking more are "JoHn Muir," "WHateva U Want," and "Big Body." But none of those yet have a YouTube presence, so here is "Groovy Tony"
Back to that gangsta rap image right there. The E-40-assisted "Dope Dealer" is pretty tight too. This album, so far, has my head bobbing in a good way. We'll see how it is once I really dig into the lyrics. I'm a little surprised that none of the A$AP mob is on here, but so far I don't notice any dropoff. I'm sure you can tell that I'm interested in seeing him play again. I'll try to make it happen, we'll just see how the schedule plays out.
A$AP Ferg - Still Striving. This album came out just before I saw him at ACL Fest, so I had heard it like twice before I went into that show. The crazy thing is that everyone around me at that show was yelling along to this thing like it had been out since the 80's. Crazy as hell. Made for a very fun show, everyone obviously loving these tracks and being very into it when they kicked off. My first few listens of this were not all that impressive, mainly because I think a lot of his collaborators (and almost every track has a guest on it) are pretty weak. But the beats are brawny and hard, and some of the raps are kind of sticky - you keep saying in your mind that the rubber band man is like Usain Bolt because he's running this shit. For example, take "Trap and a Dream," the album opener. The beat, an echoing, ethereal sample of singing is layered with bass and trap clicks and some bells, which adds up to some mighty thump, but then Meek Mill starts his usual braying whiny garbage, and I don't want anything to do with it. Such a bad rapper. Same with Lil Yachty farting around on "Aww Yeah." Just stop ruining things with the bad rappers. But then get a look at "Plain Jane," which is by far the most popular track from this album at 42.7 million streams.
Yeeeaaaahhh. Check that beat, sing along with that chorus, talking shit about stuff being plain jane. Check out his explanation on Genius about what that means:
The last piece I got done with Ben would probably have to be my hood pope chain, which got different color stones in it. I got the infamous Yamborghini piece, the bull with the horns, and the Hermes link with the diamonds in it.
“Plain Jane” means when you ain’t got no diamonds or nothing in it. This represents class to me without all of the diamonds and everything in it. It does have baguettes on the inside of it. When you keep it plain Jane, or OG or somebody that’s very classic, they be like, “Oh, yeah, he didn’t …” You kept the stock rims on your car, that’s what it’s like. You didn’t have to throw the spinners and all of the trinkets on it to make it stand out. You ruin a watch that way. It’s like you buy a car and you just fuck it up with everything else. You buy it stock and keep it that way. The only diamonds that you’ll see on my watch is the ones that come with the watch.
When you add diamonds on to your watch, you lower the value of it. This is like an investment. If I ever go broke, I could really just trade this in and I’ll be good. But once you add the diamonds and you start flooding it out, it just ruins the art. It’s like taking a Picasso and just saying, “You know what, I think I should add green on it.” You don’t need to do none of that. You keep that Picasso the way it is.
Something about that is perfect, man. In this age of adding more and more junk to make things more xxxtreme and better, just get something legit and keep it like it is. "Nasty (Who Dat)" was another that was cool in person and pretty good on the album. I'll just keep the best tracks from this album. And if you have the chance to see this guy live, I'd go do it again. Alvvays - Antisocialites. I really liked their last album, especially the lovely anthem "Archie, Marry Me," and had high hopes for this album as well, but after a handful of listens, nothing on here is too terribly interesting. They are still doing the very sweet indie pop thing that was endearing last time, and I do generally like it here, but its one of those albums that is pleasant as it is playing, and then the next album starts and you struggle to recall anything that you just heard. The top track is "Dreams Tonite," and it will encapsulate all of that for you. 2.9 million streams.
Achingly beautiful, just a lovely track. Would be a great addition to a mixtape of some sweet person you need to woo appropriately, but an entire album of this just washes out your brain for 32 minutes and then is gone. Although I've kind of crapped on it, I'll actually save this one because I think it will work well to offset a lot of my music and relax me in my jamming. Backdoor thumbs up! Just like she likes it! Action Bronson - Blue Chips 7000. If you don't know Bronson, he's a heavy white dude with a vocal like Ghostface Killah and a propensity to rap about food. The best thing about this album are the super chilled out soul sample beats. None of that new school trap-synth-808 bull, this is some real organ and real snare and real guitar lick stuff. Hold on, before I get to the music, let me show you him making sandwiches while very high.
And:
I mean, damn. I actually tried to emulate that second one right there, without the cool bullet salami, by using honey and Sriracha on a leftover meatloaf sandwich that was freaking FIRE. UUNNHHHH!! So, now that we know about how awesome his sandwich making skills are, back to the tunes. The top tune from this album is "Let Me Breathe," which boasts a rad, old school beat and some silly ass lyrics.
That video makes it a little hard to enjoy the song because of the gaps for documentary style funnies. But the beat is good enough to make this a fine popcorn rap song. If that doesn't make you want to lay back the seat in your car and cruise, then you are me are different. No lyrics on any of these songs are changing my life, but a lot of these things make me grin for a sec. Like this one, from the album closer, "Microphone attached to my hand so I can dance my little heart out, Don't make me bring the white guitar out, Like the one in Wayne's World, That was shining in the window." Weird but funny. "The Chairman's Intent" is good stuff too. This will be another where I just keep a few tracks. A$AP Mob - Cozy Tapes Vol. 2. I enjoy me some A$AP Rocky, like Ferg pretty well, and think the Twelvy album is pretty solid too, but this mixtape of the A$AP Mob is pretty piss poor. I can't really tell who is rapping half of the time on these, but the overuse of Autotune is annoying and this is just way too uneven. The top track is called "RAF," which of course stands for Royal Air Force. (not really, you shouldn't trust what I say) 44.6 million streams.
I feel like I just watched a clothing commercial. According to the internet, Raf Simmons is a clothing designer who apparently makes exceedingly unattractive shoes that cost an ungodly amount of money. Go look at this page, where you can spend $500 to get some sneakers that look like something sold at Academy in the early 90's that had Dennis Rodman as the spokesman. No reason to check out this album.
Charlie XCX - BRAT. I am well aware that I am extremely late to this party, as this was the big album of last summer and the Kamala campaign and Saturday Night Live and everything else. But my ACL listening needs really interfere with my other listening action, and to be quite honest every time this album has popped up I have found something else to listen to. I got in to this a little with my Sabrina Carpenter review the other day, but I just can't get on board with the poptimism movement and the world declaring that this sort of thing is important music. I can't stand it. Sadly, this likely means that she will almost certainly be on the ACL lineup and I will be forced to dive more deeply into this stuff, but I have made my way through this album a handful of times and I hate the vocal effects and the generically uninteresting beats and the repetitiveness of it all. And I am for sure biased, because I wouldn't think a thing of it if the Black Keys had a generic and repetitive riff. But this is just not giving me any pleasure at all. The playcount is interesting to me, in that several of these songs, on the supposedly biggest album of 2024, have less than 40 million streams, while only four have more than a hundred million. Makes it seem to me like this wasn't as big a deal as the critics and media tried to make it seem. The top track by a ways is the album opener, "360." 334.9 million streams.
The start of that being a Google ad was deeply annoying to me as well, as, for sure, was the skit at the start. I hate it even more than the song itself. I'm sure its some meta commentary that an old white guy would not like that portion or the song, but at the end of the day I am what I am and this is not good. It just really feels like people felt like they needed to get on board with this in order to be cool or relevant or whatever despite its actual value. It sort of reminds me of the flow of Iggy Izalea. I will absolutely not be saving this album for later listens.
Soccer Mommy - Evergreen. Ahhhhhh, a balm to my soul after that schlock. She uses real instruments, and allows her voice to shine in all of its close-to-perfect glory. I also really like how the songs vary between slower indie rock burners and low-key rockers. My disappointment is that the disc is so darned short. 41 minutes feels like it slips by way too quickly. The most rock of all of the songs is the top streamer, with "Driver" and 1.6 million streams.
Dig that fuzzy guitar crunch at the start, and the break for the chorus. And I think the lyrics are sort of funny as well, with her saying she'd be the driver but is making no promises about staying on route. Also, it looks really annoying to ride in a convertible with long hair. Either way, I think her music is really a nice way to spend my time. She's not breaking any barriers or creating a Rushmore album, but it sounds wonderful to me.
Laura Marling - Patterns in Repeat. Another gem. Truly a joy to hear. However, despite that true praise, I am going to say that this wonderfully lovely collection of folky little beauties can be boring to me a little bit. Which is terribly rude, because it is really pretty. Sometimes you'd just rather have A$AP Ferg yell at you though. "Child of Mine" sounds like Aimee Mann giving me a hug while wearing a floor length chinchilla coat. "Interlude" keeps making me think that The Smile album has come back and I'm about to hear Thom Yorke sing about something weird. Lyrically, "Caroline" has an amazingly subtle storyline that sticks among the slightly annoying lalalalalalalala bits. I love the way she rends a tale of a lost love who still pops up in memory. Top track by a large margin is "Patterns" with 5.2 million.
Huh. She's so much younger than I expected. I don't know why I figured her for a 70 year old. Like I said, very lovely track - that fingerpicking is so nice. Now it's time for Ferg to yell at us a lil.
A$AP Ferg - DAROLD. One of my favorite memories of having my kids with me at ACL was sending them into the Austin Kiddie Limits area while I went to go watch Ferg's set. Afterwards, we grabbed a snow cone or something, sitting in the grass, and middle kid was like "Dad, did you hear how naughty the guy was who was playing outside of the face paint area? He used all the bad words!" Yes, yes, he did my sweet. Nothing on here is as good as "Shabba," "Plain Jane," or "New Level," but it can still be very fun to just go dumb with these sorts of brawny things. Although, I will admit that the album loses its way by pretty much turning into an R&B disc on the back half. Don't care for those tracks. But the front half that features guys like Denzel Curry and Future, those work. Top track is a solo one - "Thought I Was Dead." 2.6 million streams (which is crazy low - no one listens to Ferg?)
(1) I hate when the advertisement before a music video is a music video - did I click on the wrong thing? Who is this dork with a guitar in the A$AP video? (2) horns in a rap track always excite me (3) I've found myself walking around the house saying "hold up wait a minute let me talk my shit!" (4) anytime you get a crowd of kids jumping around and yelling a rap lyric, I am a big fan. I am surprised that the Future track wasn't the top one, but maybe he is falling off now too? And while I complained about the R&B back half, I actually find "French Tips" to be a pretty mellow LL Cool J-ish jam. I kind of like that sort of "here is how I'm going to take of my girl in extravagant ways" type rap. he even shouts out Biggie in here, and that matches as well. Dig it. Anyway, I wish I had more bangers and less pretty ones. Can't always get what you want...
This article about Vince Staples is cool. I appreciate the dude for trying to be thoughtful and appreciate someone else's perspective. These days, in the era of Trump and hot takes and instapundits and the mess that the internet comments section has created, I am refreshed by someone being appreciating of a differing viewpoint. That being said, "Norf Norf" is a damn jam, son. That lady needs to respect. His new album/mix-tape is cool as well (see below). And before we get to anything else, my friend Joseph just sent me this video, which is freaking amazing. Good song too, but having these guys mouth off to each other and then go to town is soooo awesome.
A$AP Ferg - Always Strive And Prosper. This album is all over the damn place. His last disc had a damn classic on it with the weird-ass "Shabba," which has allowed me to crow "MASTAH BRUCE!" for several years every time I hear it. I don't know that anything on here reaches that level of absurd coolness, although some of this is definitely absurd. He's also got a massive list of guest stars on here, including Future, Missy Elliott, Skrillex, Schoolboy Q, Rick Ross, Big Sean, and many others. I think the Schoolboy song might be my favorite, "Let it Bang," but the apparent hit is the one with Future called "New Level."
That beat right there was meant to be played before NBA games at maximum volume as the jumbotron shows video of Kahwi Leonard crushing inferior opponents with windmill dunks. I'M ON A NEW LEVEL! I still find Future's delivery to be dumb sounding and annoying, but you can't deny the toughness of the track. And then Ferg comes up with "Beautiful People," which is a gentle little Common-esque song that ruins the mood. "Hungry Ham," the one with Skrillex, is decidedly weird. And "Let You Go" is another shift into some sort of 90's love rap/ballad thing. I'm also so very tired of the Chris Brown hooks in rap songs. When A$AP sticks to the banger rap, he sounds good. I'll probably just save a few tracks from this one into my rap playlist. Bad Brains - Bad Brains. I know this is old stuff, but I never really listened to these dudes back in the day when they were making this music. RS did a recent ranking of all the best punk music of all time, and so I've thrown a couple of those albums into my Q for a listen. This band is/was weird mainly because they tried to mingle hardcore with reggae. Although, honestly, they rarely actually meld those two sounds, they just toss off a reggae tune in the midst of a bunch of thrashing, raw, punk tracks. Back in the day, this only came out on tape, and I don't think I ever heard it until now. I had heard their later album "I Against I" because the Living Colour people mentioned something about it being amazing, so I went and checked it out. It is much more funky and polished than this older, rawer album. Holy crap, I just recalled the band 24-7 Spyz. Do you remember that band? Likely not. I have one of their CD's, which I likely either found in the Waterloo used bin or got for free from Dave at the Austin Access tv station when I used to roll over there for free music after midnight on weekends, but it is kind of awesome. Man, I loved Living Colour back in the day. I need to do a write-up on my love for Vivid and Time's Up. Anyway, the most popular track on this album is "Banned in D.C.," which cranks out 2.4 million streams.
As you can hear there, and read from my words above, the word of the day is RAW. No tinge of reggae in that track, that is just straight-forward pummeling and destruction. I won't keep this album around, but it was a fun trip. Blink 182 - California. Man, I like this album a lot. Nothing new from the old sound of the band, in fact, any of these songs could have been taken from the sessions for Take Off Your Pants and Jacket and I would not have been surprised. Strong drumming, tight harmonic singing, quick blast songs, it sounds just like the old Blink. And they still keep their boyish frat party vibe going, with two super short songs ("Built This Pool" and "Brohemian Rhapsody") that contain a juvenile joke and little else. If you never did like Blink, then this disc will still be disappointing and boring to you, but as someone who enjoyed TOYPaJ back in the day, this sounds good to me. The hit off of here so far is "Bored to Death," and I like it even though it has been on constant rotation on the radio. Such a trademark sound, especially the chorus and the line "Life is to short to last long," sung as a throwaway line after the main portion of the chorus. I assume you've already heard that song 80 times, so I'll bring you my second favorite track, "San Diego."
That video makes me want to vomit - the movement of the lyrics is unsettling to my eyes. But I dig the tune, and the nostalgic points making about jamming the Cure in the parking lot before a show. "Los Angeles" is also good, as is "California" and "No Future." Another album that is fun, although you're not going to want to parse the lyrics and make a case for a Pulitzer. But fun to jam nonetheless. Vince Staples - Prima Donna. The EP starts off with a messed up intro of Staples singing "This Little Light of Mine" before a gunshot cuts him off, and then segways straight into the Andre-3000 sampling start of "War Ready," which bangs a pretty tough ass track over a basic click/clack/thump beat. I can't unpack all of these lyrics, but it sure sounds like this is the future battle anthem of the Black Lives Matter army.
"Heaven, Hell, free or jail, same shit County jail bus, slave ship, same shit A wise man once said that a black man better off dead So I'm, war ready." The rest of the album doesn't get much lighter, even if the beats do get a little more buoyant and excited. I especially like the sound on "Prima Donna," which also features A$AP Rocky and this great, bouncing, bass heavy beat. "Pimp Hand" is also a tight beat. Speaking of Andre 3000, "Smile" sounds a lot like Andre's rap delivery. I'm going to keep listening to this disc, I'm interested to keep unpacking what is going on in here.
I've let a load of singles pile up in my Spotify queue - as I delete out the albums I've heard and reviewed, I leave behind anything that was not album length stashed among the albums. These are usually in the list because I've looked at the New Released page for Spotify, and hoping that I was finding a full length new album, I've added the track. Let's do some extremely quick hits on these, shall we?
Take a Daytrip - Stressed. Tough rap very clearly from a British guy. Kind of a Skepta sound, over a very brawny beat. I like it. Adding it to my Popcorn Rap playlist.
Mortal Bones - The Well. 5:30 of sludgy, plodding rock and roll. It steps up a little at the 3 minute mark, with a little better groove and chug for the guitar solos and Sabbath-sounding jam. But then it goes back to the slog. I'm good without this one.
Black Bananas - Powder 8 Eeeeeeeeight. Where the hell did this one come from? Psych freakout with electronica from a band that rings zero bells. Nope.
GoldFish - Moonwalk Away. I like the reference (I assume it is a reference) to Eddie Murphy's old standup about how dumb the moonwalk is for a partners dance. But this is a very chilled electronica thing. It's nice. Not very interesting, but seems like something that would belong on the soundtrack to The Beach, or would soundtrack some time at a ritzy hotel's pool.
Ty Segall - Every 1's a Winner. Love this tune. Was going to add it to my list of top rock and roll songs from 2019, before realizing that it is actually a 2017 song that somehow came onto my radar two years later. Psych crunch and phuzz and a loose groove ready made for head bobbing pleasure.
Young Thug, J. Cole, Travis Scott - The London. Meh. J. Cole puts down the best verse, but the whole track is mediocre. Too much autotune, not enough intelligence in the rhymes.
Cardi B - Press. This is a crappy song. Cardi has done some good tracks, but this is not one of them. Very bark-y delivery, stilted sounding, and uninteresting lyrics.
White Reaper - Might Be Right. Very good tune. I like the White Reaper thing - pop rock in the vein of Weezer, throwing down some Kiss solo sounds in the middle, but otherwise making a tuneful, catchy rock song.
Bon Iver - Hey, Ma. The best song on that new album - I really like this one. Poignant, longing, beautiful.
Strung Out - Daggers. Pretty solid alt rock tune. Has one of those lulls in the middle, where I can imagine the moshing kids catching a breather and circling while they wait for the rock to kick back in. Sounds like Sum 41 to me.
Migos - Stripper Bowl. As usual, not a good song. Terrible lyrics.
Spoon - Bullets Spent. Yeah, this one is good. I like Spoon, I don't love Spoon, but this is a good jam.
Jeremy Renner - Heaven Don't Have a Name. YES! I have been waiting for so long to finally discuss this song. If you don't know who Renner is, he is the actor who plays that pointless ass arrow shooter boy on the Avenger movies, and also was in the one Bourne movie that didn't feature Damon. This is a single, of several singles he released in 2019, that is fucking absolutely godawful. Like, nothing at all is redeeming. The music blows. The singing sucks. The lyrics are cringeworthy death. As an overall product, it is just about the worst. And yet because it was after some album that I liked for a while, I've heard it no less than 15 times. Truly godawful.
Prophets of Rage - Made With Hate. Nothing great. Very generic RATM groove combined with pretty boring bars from Chuck D.
Death Cab for Cutie - Kids in 99. I like it. Lyrically, its interesting, even if the music itself is pretty plain jane. Although, I'm also kind of a sucker for the DCFC sound.
Foals - Black Bull. I named this one of my top rock songs for the year - its a good jam.
Vince Staples - So What? Episode 01. Fine. He's done much better tracks in the past.
A$AP Rocky - Babushka Boi. I think I've realized, over time, that Rocky's first album was deceptively awesome because of Clams Casino's production. I don't think he's released a purely good track since that first album. The track is a little interesting just because its weird, but the bars are nothing special.
Pusha T feat Lauryn Hill - Coming Home. Another one that is nothing special. I like both of these folks, but the beat sounds like a spare one left over from an old Kanye track, and while Lauryn's voice still sounds good, the lyrics are generic.
Big Sean and A$AP Ferg - Bezerk. I like Big Sean more than I should - something about his delivery always gets me excited. Ferg is awesome. This one works well - properly bouncy and fun for a popcorn rap song.
Whew! A lot of mediocre stuff! I need to be better about just deleting the singles that aren't any good!
Bob Dylan - Rough and Rowdy Ways. In a welcome change, I've actually enjoyed this album. Dylan's voice still sounds like a Muppet with a two pack a day habit, but the music is appealingly relaxed and of course the lyrics are descriptive and interesting. The opening track almost sounds like a Willie song - the plucked classical guitar and very basic accompaniment - but lyrically he's stuffing ideas and metaphors and characters into every nook and cranny of that low-key composition. He really does contain multitudes. The second tracks has a bluesy swagger like a classic Stones tune. The tune of "My Own Version of You" sounds very much like a deep-cut Jimmy Buffet tune on one of his jenky recent albums that I liked more than I should have - and later, "Key West (Philosopher Pirate)" actually does sound like something Buffet would have written.
The top streamer is a crazy ass tune - a 17 minute long song about the assassination of John Kennedy and what came afterwards. Fabulous story-telling. From "they blew off his head while he was still in the car" to a bunch of radio song references as he continues to sing about details of the aftermath - speeding past Dealey Plaza or heading for Parkland Hospital - and then just starts actually requesting songs to be played like he's talking to the DJ. It's an odd juxtaposition, but it also rules. Just seems like a narrator actually sad about the events and taking comfort in music. "Murder Most Foul" Just over 3 million streams.
I don't much care for "Black Rider," but otherwise the album is pretty solid from front to back. Most of it is very low key on instrumentation and backing music. Usually either bluesy strut or basic classic guitar. I can dig it.
A$AP Ferg - Floor Seats II. Now that is a transition. Dylan to Ferg. I liked the first one of these, like I liked Ferg's early stuff, but this one isn't great. Most isn't terrible, but at only 28 minutes, there isn't a lot of material here to cover up that some of this is chaff. Some of the beats seem like they are too fast for Ferg to handle, like the last two tracks - "Hectic" and "Aussie Freaks." He does a track here with Marilyn Manson, which is creatively titled "Marilyn Manson." Lame - nothing interesting about it - can't even really tell if Manson says anything in it? The best tracks are "Value," "No Ceilings" (with Lil Wayne), and the second half of "Dennis Rodman," once Tyga is done doing his exceedingly boring portion. The collab with Nicki Minaj is the hit, with 28.4 million streams (many more than the next highest one). "Move Ya Hips."
Ferg's verse is almost nonexistent - when he says the title line it sure sounds like Nicki wrote that and told him what to say - no fire there at all. And Made in TYO pretty much just said the name of the song a few times to get credit somehow. Nicki just does what she always does, a few changes to her voice to make it seem interesting, when the lyrics aren't at all. Pretty good beat, uninteresting raps. Disappointed in this one and won't save anything.
Public Enemy - What You Gonna Do When The Grid Goes Down? Well, they're still out here, trying to seem as though they have something interesting to say about the current political moment. The George Clinton opening, with no raps, but a freaking serving of funky weirdness, may be the best time to turn this one off. "GRID" is just a preachy track about how we are all addicted to the internet, but it is SOOOOOOOOOO SLOOOOOOOOOOW. It's literally like Grampa Chuck D wrote a rap, slowed down a track so that he could keep up with it as he meandered along with his deep thoughts about how using the Internet is like being trapped in a real web, and then invited Grandpa B Real to also do the same. And it hurts me to hear them yell "WHEN THE GRID GOES DOWN" as though on "How I Could Just Kill a Man." Painful. Could have been cool - George Clinton, P.E., and Cypress Hill all together could have made something interesting and powerful, instead this just meanders along and repeats the title a million times. "State of the Union" talks smack to Trump, which I like, and the beat is pretty solid. But again, it seems slow, too methodical, too stale. I need some bombtrack-ass shit for this - give me Welcome to the Terrordome's beat or something.
I'll definitely say that hearing the Beasties jump on to a track is enjoyable, but unfortunately, they can't salvage the boring retread of the "Public Enemy No. 1" beat. The "Fight the Power" reboot is probably the best thing on here, which isn't a great compliment. Can't they come up with something new instead of just shoving a million guests into one of their classic beats?
The Nas verse is very good. The video, compiling video footage of a bunch of the recent protests, is also very good. Actually, now that I listen again, this is a good tune. I still wish they would have done something original, but these verses are inspired and valuable.
Several tracks actually talk smack to Trump and the current state of affairs, which is necessary and cool and good, but no one is going to listen to these boring ass, slow ass uninspired tracks. Their Spotify discography is actually really interesting - you can tell that no one from the younger generation has discovered them, as their top track on Spotify is something called "Harder Than You Think," from a 2007 album that doesn't ring a bell to me. Nothing from Apocalypse '91. Kids these days, man.
Protomartyr - Ultimate Success Today. Each time this disc comes on, I think it is the new IDLES. Not sure where I found this one to add to my queue, this band doesn't ring a bell to me at all, but it's pretty good. The vocals can be a little underwhelming at time, more of a spoken word thing, but the music is in my wheelhouse of brawny, crushing post-punk riffage. But then, there will be like, a clarinet that fires up to take a few of the riffs - I'm thinking of "Processed by the Boys," which otherwise sounds like it could be at home in Fugazi's catalog, except for the clarinet meandering in here and there for a quick cameo. But the instrumentation on these tunes is good stuff, different - they don't just pound the whole time, but they'll switch it up from a quiet section to pounding and back again, which is certainly more interesting than just all one or the other. Again, I wonder where I found this, because they are getting very few streams - no tune on this album has more than a million streams. Top track is "Processed by the Boys" at 924k.
Fiiiiiiiiiccccccctttttttttiiiiiiiiooooooooonnnnnnnnnn!!! F that little puppet anyway. It really does read like poetry to review the lyrics at the bottom of that screen. "Worm in Heaven" is one of the ones that does a good job of being gentle at first - "I wish you well...hope you find peace in this world..." - and then it kicks in a little at the end. This is just an interesting sound - I think I like it.
Harry Styles - Harry Styles. Funny, I've heard good things and terrible things about this album before I ever even tried it. Friends on both sides of the spectrum have either loved it or hated it intensely. I think I fall towards those who loved it, but I'm a little more reserved in my pleasure. This guy, in case you somehow don't know, was one of the One Direction guys. A friend who went and saw his show the other day at the Moody said that the decibel level of the screaming girls in attendance at the show was brutal, to the point of making it hard to hear the actual songs. Which is funny to me - I've never seen anything like that before. The opening track to this album makes me think of Dan Auerbach and the Black Keys, very spacey blues acoustic sound, reverb-soaked and chilled. I like that tune, "Meet Me in the Hallway," quite a bit. "From the Dining Table" has that same style. But most of this album is more like a John Mayer album reflecting the soft rock sounds of the 70's in America. I don't know what the problem is in the "Woman" song, but there is a weird buzzing fart sound that happens throughout it, and it is distracting beyond all measure. I think, without that sound, it would be a pretty solid song, but as recorded, I say screw that song. The most popular track, without any doubt, is "Sign of the Times," with over 265 million streams. It is OK, I'm not in love with it, so I'll give you one of the other top tracks, "Two Ghosts."
Just a very nice little track. Spare and quiet, very pretty. Nothing flashy or heavily produced, not at all what you would expect from a former boy-band guy, but this is the vibe of most of the album. I think it is good. I'm surprised to be saying that I would keep this album around, but I'm going to do it anyway. At pickup from basketball practice the other night, I put this album on when three 4th grade girls got in to my car, just to see what they thought. No high pitched screaming was involved, but I did catch one of them singing along for a bit. Paramore - After Laughter. Paramore is a funny band. In my mind, I think that they are a lot harder than they really are - pop punk with some screaming. Maybe their older tunes were a little bit harder, but now this stuff is pure pop rock ready for all the dancing you can fit into your pants. Hell, just sitting here listening to this album again I'm grooving around in my desk chair and unable to stop myself from thrusting my head forward in an uncomfortable turtle bird dance. Just try listening to "Rose-Colored Boy" and keeping still. If you can do it, I'll give you ONE AMERICAN NICKEL next time we see each other in real life. Unless I don't have one, in which case you can get one for yourself and then remember that I gave it to you each time you see it. FYI, their Spotify bio right now is a terrible thing probably written by a PR firm and it makes me want to die, but the current playcount listed by Spotify means they are the greatest band in all of history. Literally, it says "6,087,1242,351,093" [sic] monthly listeners. I mean, 60 TRILLION monthly listeners is pretty amazing. Hot damn. Thinking this was a typo, I checked Taylor Swift's count, and she has 315 TRILLION monthly listens. Holy Hannah. Anyway, I digress. These tunes have a little worldliness to them, in the way Graceland or Vampire Weekend have a lilt of world music poking into them, but overall it is power pop rock stuff that is crazy catchy. The top song is one that is reminiscent of their prior big hit ("Ain't It Fun," which is a legitimately fun track), the album opener, called "Hard Times."
Like I said, power pop with guitar. Snappy as hell, very fun, even if the music behind it is pretty basic strum and drum 80's disco-fied rock. I enjoy it. These are the best songs on this album, others are slow and maudlin (looking at you, "26") full of violin swells and lyrics about dreaming. But other tracks, like "Caught in the Middle," which are like funky No Doubt outtakes, are more fun again. While I've enjoyed a few trips through this one, I'll let it go but save a song or two into active playlists. Logic - Everybody. I generally like Logic. I've written about him before, his rapid fire rapping is pretty fun. He does a weird thing where each album has a spoken theme that weaves between some of the songs. The last one was about space travelers or something. This one has the story of a guy who dies and meets "God" in purgatory before he is reincarnated as every human being ever in the history of man. Or something. I'm a little confused, but I enjoyed the reaction he had when, right after he finds out he is dead, he found out his wife had been cheating on him. One track from this album has blown up and become a real live hit, easily eclipsing any of his old hits (like the great "Flexicution" or "Alright"). I was going to choose "Everybody" as the song to play for you, because I think it best reflects his speed flow, but now that I realize there is a hit track on here, I'll give you that one. 380 million streams, this is "1-800-273-8255."
a) I love Don Cheadle (his character in Out of Sight is amazing); b) I need to go listen to that full album by Khalid to check out what the El Paso boy has going on; and c) watching videos for this blog is turning me into a blubbering idiot. Why do I tear up at half of these videos now? That one is really well done, but damn man. BTW, that phone number is the suicide prevention hotline, and if you listen to the lyrics, it is the sound of someone starting at "I don't want to live anymore" and ending with "I don't want to die today." Powerful song, well done video, but now I'm messed up. I liked the piece of "Killing Spree" taking people to task for living through their cell phone screens. I liked the black/white dichotomy study of "Take it Back" (and the shitty stuff that happened to Logic as a kid). But overall, nothing on here is grabbing hold of me as much as the past albums for tunes that I'd want to keep listening to. A$AP Twelvy - 12. Another part of the A$AP Mob, and while this is better than the Mob disc I reviewed the other day, it still falls behind the best stuff that Ferg or Rocky put out. The currently most popular track has just over 2.5 million streams, this is "Hop Out."
That is a jenky ass looking video, in their rented cars and getting all dirty in the desert. OK song, pretty tough, no lyrics that really stand out. The better stuff is the more laid back tracks like the opener, "Castle Hell" or "Diamonds" (which sounds very much like something from a Rocky album, instead of sounding like something he is guesting on for Twelvy, it sounds the other way around). But then some of the laid back stuff is lame, just slow and boring (like "Yea Yea Yea (Maps")). This disc was better than I thought - popcorn rap, nothing of substance - but I'll still let it go.
Had no intention of this, but we've got a rhyme (Drake and Blake) and then some clams in the mud by a casino populated with folks on crutches. Makes complete sense, right?
Drake - Views. Oh, Drake. I'm finally getting around to listening to this album, which was released as an exclusive for Tidal or Apple or HotBeatz.org earlier this year, so I couldn't hear it on Spotify for the first few months, and then got caught up in ACL listening, so I haven't heard it until now. Also, I really dislike Drake. So my reluctance to listen to the disc has also played a part.
Why do I really dislike Drake? Mainly I think that is in response to the rest of the world's worship of the guy, when I think that worship is undeserved. I read a list recently ranking the "songs of the summer" and it claimed that Drake's "One Dance" was the clear winner for 2016. Which is a terrible thing to say during the summer when Justin Timberlake's "Can't Fight the Feeling" was the obvious party-jam-feel-good track all summer long. And, I think "One Dance" blows.
Oh man, don't even get me started on the morose and introspective intro to that video. Two minutes of being so dang deep! So deep! Then the beat is an uninteresting Caribbean piano riff and click. However, while I bag on the track, he has 882,697,457 streams for that song alone on Spotify. That is, like, more than all of the ACL artists this year combined. For one super crappy song. Amazing. And it crushes his other "hits," like "Started from the Bottom" (143 million), "Hold On We're Going Home" (290 million), "Marvin's Room" (83 million), and even "Hotline Bling" (547 million).
Because I'm all about being real on this blog, I have to admit that I like "Hotline Bling." I know this goes against just about everything else I've said in this post, but something about that awesomely bad Casio 2000, on-hold-music beat sounds just right to me and I get sucked in despite my general distaste for Drake. I have a problem.
Realistically, the only time I like Drake is when he leaves the generic 90's R&B singing behind and just freaking raps. This is why I similarly do not like the stupid sounding "Controlla" track, where he actually name-checks Jodeci (if only he also called out Dru Hill, Sisqo, and K-Ci & JoJo). Unfortunately, none of the tracks on here really go brawny. Maybe "9," "Still Here," or "Hype," but even those are pretty weak. Maybe Drake got all of his manly rap out of his system on the What a Time to Be Alive mixtape and needed this album to be all about sad-face-emoticon mumbling and coo-singing.
I'd also like to note that this album is 1:21 long and has 20 freaking songs. Just give me the 12 best, man. No need to fire out all of the future b-sides about your sadness right here. I will not hold on to this album.
James Blake - The Colour in Anything. This album is going to be affected by the fact that it comes right after me bagging on R&B blandness. Blake is an interesting sounding dude, kind of a D'Angelo, Sam Smith, Disclosure thing going on. The album is brooding electronica that never quite gets to the dance floor, but steps up tempos every once in a while to make it seem like it might. Another album that seems to just drag on a little too long for me - 17 songs of very similar sounding stuff gets lost on me. The most listened to track from the album is "I Need a Forest Fire," with 11.8 million streams as of right now.
So much Bon Iver influence in there. Starts like the sun is coming up over a mist-shrouded lake in the woods, and then all the Auto-tune descends over a strange, simple sample and beat. Like the rest of the album, it is pretty enough, but imminently forgettable. I won't save any of this.
Clams Casino - Rainforest. Nope. This guys made some of the best beats on the A$AP Rocky mixtapes, but this stuff is b-side garbage compared to the beats for "Palace," Bass," or "Wassup." This EP is from 2011, so this might have even been what A$AP heard to turn him on to the guy, but you'd have to have a dang good ear to go from this odd, atmospheric sound to the heft and bang of A$AP's sound. I guess the best one on here is "Waterfalls."
Don't bother going back to check out this EP, not worth your time.
Mudcrutch - 2. Hell yes. I was starting to think that this entire post was going to be negative Nancy about everything, but this album is excellent. For those of you living under a rock, this is Tom Petty's old band, his first band from way back in the day, that he has resurrected to make classic rock goodness with. Their first disc was also good, but this one just hits a perfect sweet spot for me of classic Tom Petty and southern blues rock swagger. However, temper my excitement slightly, as this is one of those classic "check it out!" albums where the album streams start high on the first song and then drop as the songs progress. Meaning that a lot or people try it out for a song, or two, or three, but few are finishing the whole thing. I might be wrong, and what the hell, I dig the whole thing. The most listened to track is the album opener, "Trailer," with 367k streams.
Just a classic sound - kind of a She's the One/Wildflowers era vibe, and a good story/lyric about living in that trailer after high school. The rest of the album is generally like this too. If you like Petty, then you're going to enjoy this thing. I'll be saving this one to listen to many more times.
One Liner: Rapper collective that reminds me of Brockhampton
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia but hip hop, rap Home: San Francisco Poster Position: 14 Both Weekends.
Saturday at 3:20 on the Miller Lite Stage.
Thoughts: Yes! This may be the top five rap on the bill, even down here at line #14 on the poster. I'm so damn glad to hear rap that actually sounds good and isn't some skinny white model whining about his feelings! Has that Brockhampton feel because it won't just be a straight-forward rap with one guy taking the reins for the entire track - it'll have a tempo switch or a new rapper or a R&B interlude or whatever that pops up in the midst of the track. One article I read said they sound like Odd Future, but I never really could figure out how to get into Odd Future.
The name may stand for Avant Garde Club, but it's sometimes hard to tell with groups like this who are trying to play around during their interviews. The dudes look like a big group of freshmen in college started a skate club or something. The main guy is named Jody Fontaine - in the videos below he is the main rapper.
Three albums - 2020's Halfway Off the Porch, 2021's Fuck Your Expectations, and 2021's Fuck Your Expectations PT. 2. The first album has their top streamer - the one that got them noticed by a record label and then involved in a remix with A$AP Ferg. "Memphis" has 9.5 million streams.
Love the backwards videos. Shoutout Pharcyde. Fun story of how a bunch of kids from the Bay Area ended up with a song called "Memphis." The producer and the main rapper were just up too late in the studio, and the producer was looping a sample that said "north Memphis n*****s" over and over. It wasn't working and he was about to trash the idea, when Fontaine came up with the "let these n*****s know!" loop, they recorded it real quick, and off they went. When it came time to name the song, they were just like, screw it, call it "Memphis," no one is ever even going to hear it. And now that it's their hit, people are all mad that they don't really have any reason to rep Memphis. "JF: Now we got people in our YouTube comments talking about, “Y’all not even from Memphis, y’all can’t come to Memphis — blah, blah, blah. BB: Why do they all have nose rings?” That is funny.
And just for comparison, here is the remix with NLE Chopper and A$AP Ferg. Their second-most streamed track at 7.1 million.
That beat is a good time - tough and bouncy and great for a good time. So, after they caught a little hype from that track, they had a call with someone from the record label Columbia. The resulting track was "Columbia," all about the odd experience of being offered big money for doing their art, which they used to make a weird alien video.
I've said this before, but I am always a sucker for a good horn sample in a rap song. Love that. The first one that always comes to mind is Trick Daddy's "Shut Up," because the horns on that one are so perfectly angry. Jay-Z has a couple good ones, Kanye has "Touch the Sky" and likely others. But a good horn lick instantly improves anything.
That song is their most streamed from the newer albums, but "NOHO" is currently more popular on Spotify and has a fun groove to it. Definitely makes me want to shake the shoulders a little bit. Overall, I like the true rap tracks better than the R&B-ish ones. "TRUTH" is pretty solid too. But for the most part, I don't see the PT. 2 album as good as either of the earlier two. "QUESO" is kind of fun, but other than the "Memphis" redux, its about the best thing on here.
I'd go watch this. Seems like they would put on a show and have fun with it.
One Liner: The Pumped Up Kicks guys, still making pop rock goodness.
Wikipedia Genre: Indie pop, alternative rock, indie rock, dance-pop, indietronica, neo-psychedelia (oooh, "indietronica" is a new one).
Home: Los Angeles
Poster Position: 2 Both Weekends Friday at 6:10.
Honda Stage.
Thoughts: Last here in 2017, with a 2014 appearance before that.
Pop rock for the masses. Unless you have been living under a rock or refuse to listen to normal radio or watch TV or otherwise exist in a regular, public arena with the rest of us, you have heard "Pumped Up Kicks" before. Likely more than a million times before. Because it has an insane 1.7 BILLION streams on Spotify. Holy Hannah.
This video has been seen over a BILLION freaking times. I mean, damn. It was a number one single, received a Grammy nomination, and generally took over the world in 2011. And despite the sunny little tune and happy sounding chorus, the whole thing is about a psychotic kid who is telling other kids that they'd better run when he starts shooting them. You would also probably recognize "Helena Beat," "Don't Stop," "I Would Do Anything For You," and "Houdini" from their first album. This video, for Houdini (from their first album) was up for a Grammy but did not win:
That original album (2011's Torches) ended up selling a ton because of "Pumped Up Kicks," and some of those other songs were pretty popular in their own right, especially "Don't Stop."
The next album was 2014's Supermodel. Had a few singles, nothing as world destroying as Kicks, but "Coming of Age" is a pretty catchy ditty. 77.9 million streams.
My preconceived thought is that I dislike these guys. "Pumped Up Kicks" got (and still gets) so much airplay that I'm annoyed by it. This seems like pop factory music made to appeal to the lowest common denominator. Without giving them a shot, I've got loads of that hipster-held-hatred garbage for something inauthentic. But if I toss all of that out the window and just enjoy "Coming of Age," its a damn fun jam. Supermodel is pretty good from front to back. Just enjoyable dance rock. It should set off some fun, even if it won't inspire the next Springsteen.
And I think Mark Foster is a great success story. He moved to L.A. from Ohio to pursue music and was going nowhere, working day jobs and just trying to get noticed, scuffled around for a few years, got heavily addicted to drugs, but then came up with "Pumped Up Kicks." Launched him into the stratosphere. I think that is cool. Well, not the drug addiction bit, but the old rising from the ashes bit.
As an aside, I had a weird moment, where I thought Spotify had messed up and started playing A$AP Rocky, because Foster the People's track "A Beginner's Guide to Destroying the Moon" actually samples A$AP Rocky's "LVL," which is an odd juxtaposition.
Weird, right?
After that, Sacred Hearts Club came out in 2017. It did not break much new ground for the band, they are still sticking to really danceable pop rock jams that are pretty fun to just jam out to. But they do extend more into electronics. The top song back when the album came out was "Doing It For the Money," now at 38.1 million streams.
This got some radio play back then and honestly, it isn't my favorite tune. I feel like they are trying too hard to court the electronic side of their demographic and leaving behind the fun party rock in favor of sounding kind of like a trap EDM track. And the album has other unfortunate examples of the same, like "Loyal Like Sid & Nancy," which is about a minute worth of EDM thumping that opens up a little but stays pretty lame. The more I hear that track the less I like this whole album. On the other hand, "Lotus Eater" is a good rock song that should be their yardstick for measuring good songs. But the big hit that erupted from the album ended up being "Sit Next To Me," which still gets radio play even today. 346.6 million streams.
Overall, I've enjoyed listening to that album all day - even with my reservations about going electro instead of sticking to their core sound. "SHC" is pretty solid. "Sit Next To Me" is tasty.
But after that 2017 album - no more albums. Curious what happened there. Some 2021 singles, a 2020 EP, and some remixes, but not much for like seven years. Wikipedia has nothing explaining that gap, it just sounds like they split from their record label and have been enjoying the freedom of releasing a single when they feel like it. Unfortunately, that makes it a little less interesting to see them live, when I've already seen them play the tunes from those three albums described above. Oh well. I can't be too choosy here, depending on the schedule, I'd probably go watch these guys do their thing. Maybe a new disc is just about to drop.
