Quick Hits, Vol. 239 (Griselda, Mac DeMarco, Flying Lotus, A$AP Ferg)

Griselda - WWCD.  This was on someone's year end top ten list who I didn't feel like writing up the entire list, and its pretty solid.  Eminem discovered them, and they're sort of a combination between Wu Tang and Action Bronson.  I generally like the tracks - chilled, grimy beats - brags and boasts and bravado for the lyrics - but there is one thing that gets under my skin - they make WAY too many sounds of guns with their mouths.  It's OK for that to happen once or twice, or heavily on one song, but when every. single. song. involves multiple instances of a guy saying "THU THU THU THU THU!" it is over the top in a bad way.

But if you can leave out the gun mouth noises ("BBBBBDDDDRRRPPPP!"), the lyrics are pretty good and the sample-laden beat is cool, so I can dig it.  Very much a Wu/Ghostface feel there.  They get Eminem, Raekwon, and 50 Cent on tracks, so they've got star power, and I generally like the album, I just need them to relax the "BWP BWP BWP BWP BWP BWP!" business.  The funny thing about the Em verse is how out of place it feels, like the album was over and you have started something else.  He's just doing his usual nimble wordplay thing, but right after a pound of grimy bars from these other guys, it is jarring to have it dropped in at the end.  Good album.

Mac DeMarco - Here Comes the Cowboy.  I like DeMarco on general terms, but this one just takes that lazy day goofball aesthetic to further and further lengths, which feels like getting stuck in a vat of mental peanut butter.  The droning on "Nobody," combined with the tempo, and the flat little guitar plucks, and Mac's gently bummed out lyrics combine into the musical equivalent of a drugged nap on a warm day.  Of course, that track happens to be the top one on the album, so here you go.  14 million streams.

Its not a bad album if you want something very chilled out.  For me, every time it has come back up in my queue, I wish I could just forward to something else.

Flying Lotus - Flamagra.  Oh neat!  An album that is 27 freaking songs long!  Just the sort of thing I want to dive into and remain latched into for like 3 hours!  Actually, this one is only an hour and seven minutes long, it just looks intimidating.  As for the tunes - much of this is very weird, funk freakout stuff.  See "Takashi," an instrumental jam session at a breakneck speed.  He also brings George Clinton, Anderson.Paak, Tierra Whack, Solange, and other oddballs on board for some weird moments.  It's interesting, I suppose, but other than a few fun moments that don't last, it isn't great.  It is also very piecemeal - nothing cohesive here connecting the songs except for strangeness.  The Anderson.Paak song has the most streams - so here you go.  "More," with 5.8 million streams.

Nothing wrong with Paak's voice man, that guy is consistently great.  But the track itself isn't terribly exciting.  Also, the Denzel Curry track is pretty good.  More of a normal rap track with a steady beat, rather than a free-association-wig-out like her gave to Tierra Whack.  While I'm sure this album is viewed as inventive and original, I don't care for it.  Too manic for my tastes, with a million different ideas and sounds blasted at you over 27 songs.

A$AP Ferg - Floor Seats.  I like Ferg more than I probably should.  He has yet to put out a complete album that works from front to back, but he has moments that draw me in each time.  This one is the same.  The key draw is the first track, the title track, that samples the Prodigy song "Smack my Bitch Up," but at a super laid back, laconic pace, to create something that is a very cool throwback reminder, but its own thing.  Its the second song on the album, with a more traditional trap beat, that wins the streaming crown though, as "Jet Lag" has 24 million streams.

Lyrically, it's not his best, but the beat is tough and tight and I get why it might be a hit.  The end of the video cracked me up though...  I'm mad that I missed out when he came to town a few weeks ago - it was unfortunately the same weekend as the wife's birthday.  I don't think I'm going to save the whole album - I might save a song or two.