Twenty-Fifth Post: 50 Favorite Albums of 2016

To celebrate this piece-of-shit year, here's 50 albums I like a lot, with a little blurb about why I like 'em. This'll probably be the last post of the year, so if you're still reading, thanks. Next year I'll post more bad music and try to convince you why it's good. Much love.

50) Gnaw Their Tongues - "Hymns for the Broken, Swollen, and Silent"
An absolutely disgusting black/death/industrial/noise album that will certainly raise eyebrows and freak out suburban families.

49) The Dillinger Escape Plan - "Dissociation"
This legendary mathcore outfit goes out with a bang, landing some of their best singles and most experimental passages in years.

48) Noname - "Telefone"
Simultaneously one of the most uplifting and depressing hip-hop albums of the year, with damn-near immaculate doo-wop and jazz beats under Noname's beautiful vocals.

47) Wreck and Reference - "Indifferent Rivers Romance End"
This duo continue their war on conventional metal, crafting dark and stripped-back instrumentals with fittingly gloomy performances.

46) The Body - "No One Deserves Happiness"
Another heavy duo here, this time melding pop and noise, making an uncompromising metal album with some of the most frightening vocals on a record this year.

45) Ian William Craig - "Centres"
A beautiful ambient album with a singular vision and delivery.

44) Wildernessking - "Mystical Future"
Beautiful post-black metal from the up-and-coming South African group.

43) Okkervil River - "Away"
Will Sheff and co. put out their best album in years.

42) Bookreader - "Dust Bowl Sallads"
One of the most unique noise albums in a while, combining old Americana tunes with disturbing start-and-stop blasts of harsh electronics.

41) Roly Porter - "Third Law"
A great electronic music album that sounds like a demented rave in deep space, with immaculate production and transfixing beats.

40) Mannequin Pussy - "Romantic"
A simultaneously furious and overjoyed album, throwing punk tradition out the window while writing some of the best punk tunes this year.

39) Lemon Demon - "Spirit Phone"
This is a joke album with a remarkably straight face, a gimmick with so many layers it becomes dizzying how great the songwriting is.

38) Genocide Organ - "Obituary of the Americas"
A fantastic power electronics album, probably the best to come out in a while, and also one of the best protest albums this year.

37) KA - "Honor Killed the Samurai"
A stone-faced hip-hop album from this soft-spoken rapper, but one with a remarkable attention to detail and storytelling.

36) Lori McKenna - "The Bird & the Rifle"
The best country album of the year.

35) Radian - "On Dark Silent Off"
An insane blending of rock, electronic, and jazz, with slow-building tracks that reveal themselves over repeated, focused listens.

34) Jambinai - "A Hermitage"
Post-rock done with tons of confidence and unique instrumentation from South Korea.

33) Deathspell Omega - "The Synarchy of Molten Bones"
A great, experimental black metal album from these French legends.

32) clipping. - "Splendor & Misery"
One of the most forward-thinking hip-hop albums this year, with rapid-fire flows colliding with folk music and a cappella wartime chants - it's nuts, but it works.

31) Sex Prisoner - "Tannhauser Gate"
The best powerviolence album this year; absolutely ferocious.

30) Big Ups - "Before a Million Universes"
Big Ups tackle Slint-flavored post-rock very well, crafting rollercoaster-like songs with huge dynamic shifts and great musicianship.

29) Emmanuel Fade - "Un-Flood"
Safari Al jumps into ambient and electronic music while blending hip-hop instrumentals and laid-back beats.

28) Tim Hecker - "Love Streams"
Hecker's happiest album combines chopped-up vocals with sharp, bright synth sweeps and amazing live instrumentation.

27) Diners - "Three"
This thing just fucking makes me smile.

26) Bent Knee - "Say So"
Bent Knee evolve into a huge, towering art-rock group with powerful vocals and intricate musical arrangements.

25) Matmos - "Ultimate Care II"
One of the best electronic albums this year comes from a fucking washing machine - who would've thought?

24) Vektor - "Terminal Redux"
Thrash titans Vektor craft a space-metal opera with some of the best riffs of the year.

23) Nails - "You Will Never Be One of Us"
Todd Jones and Nails continue to make their argument for the label of "heaviest band in the world".

22) Puce Mary - "The Spiral"
This album is where noise should be in 2016: imaginative, frightening, and totally unique.

21) DEAKIN - "SLEEP CYCLE"
Animal Collective member DEAKIN finally puts out his album, full of beautiful soundscapes and fantastic performances.

20) Ab-Soul - "Do What Thou Wilt."
The abstract asshole finally puts out the album we all knew he could put out: a razor-sharp dissection of race, religion, and class warfare from the best penman of TDE.

19) PUP - "The Dream Is Over"
These Canadian punks made an album that's as much fun as playing with four little puppies, and if you know anything about puppies, you know how good this album is.

18) Radiohead - "A Moon Shaped Pool"
Leave it to Radiohead to make one of the bleakest albums of the year, but the surprising thing here is just how pretty the depression is.

17) The Body & Full of Hell - "One Day You Will Ache Like I Ache"
Two of the most interesting groups in metal team up to stretch the limits of conventional genre-based music (metal, noise, industrial) and make one of the most exciting albums this year.

16) Chambre Froide - "Rouges Chappelle"
This elusive French black metal group flew heavily under the radar but ended making one of the best metal albums this year.

15) Eluvium - "False Readings On"
Eluvium puts out the warmest, most beautiful ambient album this year.

14) Swans - "The Glowing Man"
Michael Gira ends this iteration of Swans with a meditative, slow-burn of an album.

13) The Microphones - "Early Tapes, 1996-1998"
Phil Elverum ends his nightmare of a year with a fascinating and heartbreaking look at the past.

12) Xiu Xiu - "Plays the Music of Twin Peaks"
Xiu Xiu not only put out of my favorite cover albums ever but also one of the most interesting and obtuse art-rock records this year.

11) Mizmor - "Yodh"
One-man black metal master Mizmor releases a genuinely disturbing and atmospheric album.

10) Danny Brown - "Atrocity Exhibition"
A great, forward-thinking hip-hop album from one of the most interesting artists in the genre (featuring some of the best production of the year from master beat-maker Paul White).

9) Touché Amoré - "Stage Four"
When was the last time an album broke your heart?

8) Death Grips - "Bottomless Pit"
The punk-as-fuck hip-hop trio put out a rock-tinged record full of overwhelming beats and impeccable performances.

7) The Drones - "Feelin Kinda Free"
The best band in Australia right now release an album that, ironically, says more than any band in America about politics this year.

6) David Bowie - "Blackstar"
Bowie decides to turn his passing into one of the most heart-wrenching and perplexing albums about death of all time.

5) Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - "Skeleton Tree"
But Nick Cave's album about death was just that much more intense and fascinating.

4) A Tribe Called Quest - "We got it from Here... Thank You 4 Your service"
Another album linked inextricably with death, this one takes its mourning and morphs it into power, making the best album about the year 2016 in the year 2016.

3) Car Seat Headrest - "Teens of Denial"
Maybe it's too early to call, but Will Toledo's meteoric rise into the greats of alternative rock may be the clarion call for a new wave of great, guitar-driven music.

2) Aesop Rock - "The Impossible Kid"
Aesop sharpens his pen and crafts the best hip-hop album of the year with impeccable wordplay, flow, and insane storytelling.

1) Jeff Rosenstock - "WORRY."
Jeff. Fucking. Rosenstock.

Twenty-Fourth Post: Favorite EPs and Singles of 2016

With December approaching quickly (tomorrow, actually), I'm starting to compile a list of my favorite albums this year. This post is for other, non-album releases this year that I loved and wanted to give a little shout-out to. Why? God knows.

Alphabetically:

ANTWON - "DOUBLE ECSTASY" EP
Absolutely disgusting rapper ANTWON gets especially dark and personal on this EP, with standout tracks like "Luv" proving he's much more than a one-trick pony.

The Body - "To Know and to Hide" Single
Once again, this Portland-based duo released some absolutely soul-crushing music (as part of the fucking Adult Swim Singles Series!).

Botanist / Oskoreien - "Green Metal / Deterministic Chaos" EP
Both Botanist and Oskoreien continue stretching the limits of black metal on this split EP.

Ceschi / Pat the Bunny - "Ceschi / Pat the Bunny" EP
Pat the Bunny goes out the way he came in: effectively unnoticed and making choices that would make most people very concerned (in this case, teaming up with rapper Ceschi for a quasi-collaboration). Surprise! They both nail it.

Clarence Clarity - "SAME" EP(?) / "Vapid Feels are Vapid" Single / Hidden Tracks
We got teased this year: an EP of the same song over and over, an official single release and two hidden tracks on his SoundCloud make this enigmatic madman a must-listen.

Cloud Nothings - "Modern Act" Single
This song has no right being this good.

COLOR TV - "COLOR TV" EP
Embracing the fun side of 70s punk, COLOR TV craft four catchy and well-produced tunes.

Death Grips - "Interview 2016" EP/Mixtape
What can I say? Even at their most unabashedly ridiculous they still make great music.

The Dillinger Escape Plan - "Limerent Death" Single
I cheated a little bit here (since it landed on "Dissociation") but man, this single is everything to love about Dillinger in one song.

Full of Hell - "Amber Mote in the Black Vault" EP
Another slice of highly technical aggression from this quickly-rising grindcore/hardcore band.

Gorguts - "Pleiades' Dust" Single/EP
Technical death metal masters Gorguts prove why they're revered with killer songwriting and some of the heaviest riffs this year.

Iglooghost - "Little Grids" EP
UK-based producer Iglooghost compiles some older singles and some remixes for a fun dance/electronic music EP.

Injury Reserve - "Oh Shit!!!" Single
One of the most ridiculous hip-hop songs this year.

Jackal Onasis - "Big Deal Party" EP
A surprisingly pretty alt rock EP with a big heart and bigger distortion pedals.

Carly Rae Jepsen - "Emotion Side B" EP
I hate it as much as you do, but she's making some of the best pop music around right now. We all have to come to terms with it.

Kagoule - "Pharmacy" Single
90s revivalism continues in earnest (but it's good!).

Krallice - "Hyperion" EP
Colin Marston and company continue to blend the lines between mathcore, black and death metal in fascinating ways.

LUKA - "Pauses of the Night / Why Don't You Go to Her" Single
Canadian sweetheart LUKA put out two of the best love songs this year here.

Mommy - "Songs About Children" EP
This is a dark, fairly disturbing EP about psychiatric institutions all filtered through a grimy, lo-fi punk lens with violent performances abound.

Nail Polish - "Authentic Living" EP
Nail Polish embrace Wire's old hard-edged punk sound with fantastic results.

Open Mike Eagle - "How to Be Super Petty To Your Ex" Single
While fucking hilarious, this track is also moving and catchy as hell - in short, it's Open Mike Eagle.

Pile - "Cut From First Other Tape" Single
While I'm incredibly frustrated that the tape is damn near impossible to get my hands on, this single is pretty fantastic.

PURGIST - "Our Temple is On Fire" EP
Some of the most genuinely unnerving and depressing noise music I've heard this year.

Run the Jewels - "2100 (feat. BOOTS)" Single
RTJ comforts the hip-hop listening world in the face of Trump with one of their best songs yet.

Scallops Hotel - "Too Much of Life Is Mood" Single/EP
Milo, under the moniker of Scallops Hotel, makes some beautiful, hazy hip-hop.

Seattle's New Gods - "How's It Going to End?" Single
Grunge-tinged but soaked with punk aggression, these up-and-comers nail this new track.

Secret Circle - "Keep it Low" Single
Lil Ugly Mane, ANTWON, and Wiki team up for one of the best collaborations in hip-hop since, well, Run the Jewels.

Skeleton - "Skeleton" EP
The impossible-to-track-down Skeleton release a grimy, blackened punk EP with some serious balls.

Sporting Life - "Slam Dunk" EPs
Producer extraordinaire Sporting Life dropped three EPs this year of fantastic beats and remixes from the likes of Actress and Babyfather.

Tony Molina - "Confront the Truth" EP
Last but not least, Tony Molina put out a surprisingly beautiful EP of acoustic ballads this year. For some reason. I'm not complaining, but why?

Hope you find something you like here!

Twenty-Third Post: Why I Have Shitty Taste

This is an opinion post. If you don't really care (I don't blame you), skip this one: there'll be more music soon.

My favorite album this year is Jeff Rosenstock's "WORRY." It's not because it's the most well-played album this year, or even the best written. It's not the best recorded album this year by any means, and it's 90s revivalism will turn off listeners who aren't down with being unabashedly uncool. It's not a significantly better album than "We Cool?", his last album, and it's not too much of a stretch out of his comfort zone. In fact, "WORRY.", by most standards, is probably just a few notches up or down from "okay", depending on your view. But, it's my favorite album this year because it came about at the right time in my life. And I'll defend the shit out of the record if you come at me about it.

Nick Cave made a truly haunting record with "Skeleton Tree". A Tribe Called Quest made some of the most potent, important points on an album this year after having been out of the game for two decades. Aesop Rock proved he's still a master of word smithery on "The Impossible Kid". Lori McKenna wrote the best country tunes of the year on "The Bird & the Rifle". The Body and Full of Hell pushed music to its limits on their new collaborative release. And, lest we forget, David Bowie took us into the gaping mouth of death itself. So why fucking Rosenstock?

It comes down to this: in the past month and a half, "WORRY." became my most-played album on iTunes. When I turn my iPod on in the morning, the last thing I was listening to was probably "WORRY." I know 95% of the lyrics. But it still gives me the kind of chills you get when someone says something way, way too true. It was a classic right-place, right-time scenario. That does not mean there were no releases this year as groundbreaking as "WORRY.", it simply means it is the one I latched onto strongest and can truly not explain every reason why.

Maybe this means I have bad taste. Maybe "WORRY." is objectively less important in the long run than, say, "You Want It Darker". But I can tell you with certainty that I trust myself to know what I like and to know, to some extent, why. And I like "WORRY."

Albums that happen at specific points in your life affect you, that's just common sense. I don't think I would be as bowled over by AJJ's "Knife Man" if I discovered it right now as when I did four years ago. Bad Brains' self-titled would be merely kind of off-putting if I found it when I wasn't a blindly angry high schooler. I can safely say I only give a shit about a band like the Drones because I found them when I began to truly be interested in politics.

And now I'm a college freshman, slightly worried by things I see and terrified of things I don't. I struggle with some interaction (I run a music blog, for Chrissake) and like to watch bad art house films in my free time. Yesterday I saw two seasons of the Eric Andre show and fell asleep at 4:30 AM. I feel deeply sentimental for things I don't really understand. And I fucking love Jeff Rosenstock's "WORRY."

Thanks for reading.

Twenty-Second Post: Ratking, "So It Goes" (2014)

Hey, all. Been a while. Working on year-end lists and the like, so there'll definitely be more posts in the next month. Putting up a piece tonight on subjectivity, so I figured I'd put up some music while I was being pretentious.

Ratking's "So It Goes" is a genuinely unique hip-hop record, one with a distinct style that's been aped in the years after its release but never to the same effect. The trio (now duo) is composed of MCs Patrick "Wiki" Morales, Hakeem "Hak" Lewis, and producer Eric "Sporting Life" Adiele. They come from Harlem, NY, their main source of inspiration and pain. Ratking seemingly came out of nowhere in 2014 (although they were signed to XL Recordings since 2011) with "So It Goes", an album that mimics their neighborhood and experiences through a filter of multiple styles and in doing so, made one all their own.

"So It Goes" is a fascinating album in how it straddles accessibility and experimentalism. This comes mostly from Sporting Life's amazingly intricate beats that are often swallowed in layers upon layers of samples that weave through heavy sub-bass and brittle hi-hats. From the vocal sample calling out of the fog on lead single "Canal" to the recurring sound clip taken from a police interaction on "Remove Ya", Sporting Life really uses samples to make an atmosphere. We truly get the feeling that Ratking are leading us into a place only they understand. This is not to say there are no helpful touchstones: while 90s boom-bap is a recurring theme, everything from Suicide to Animal Collective are clear influences. From an instrumental standpoint, there's really nothing like it.

When it comes to what is said on the album, it's just as good, if not better. Admittedly, this comes mainly from Wiki's absolutely amazing flow and personality. His energy practically carries every single track here, with Hak adding supplemental verses to anchor Wiki in a realm of reality. His delivery is an acquired taste, definitely, but once you get on his almost off-the-dome style his storytelling is impeccable. This is especially true on the title track: the beat, constructed with controlled chaos by Sporting Life, compliments Wiki's stop/start machine-gun flow. When the hook (something Ratking usually eschews in favor of pure bludgeoning) arrives, it's a much-needed breath in the verbal onslaught.

In terms of highlights, the album is chock-full of them: the first track, "*", features a piercingly high sample screeching along with almost juke-style kick drum runs. "Canal" has one of the most ferocious verses on the whole LP, while the second single "So Sick Stories" is much more laid-back (due to King Krule's pitch-perfect, deep-voiced hook). "Eat" is oddly beautiful, led by Hak's singing and a fuzzy kick-snare pattern.

But "Snow Beach", to me, really elevates the album to a realm no other artist would be comfortable in, let alone make an almost seven-minute cut in. The opening is downright psychedelic: plinking bells compete with crashing waves, voices fade in and out, Wiki's voice loops in the background and a trap-style beat rattles against the entire thing. When Wiki and Hak emerge form the mess, they appear with such charisma (in Wiki's shout-along ad-libs and Hak's smooth singing) that its hard not to love. But the track suddenly shifts gears, throwing in a 90s NY sound replete with jazz horns and fuzzy piano samples lying on top of a busy bass line. Wiki adapts to the sound with his rhyme scheme and style, and Hak forms a truly memorable hook with gorgeous lyrics. It's pretty fucking cool.

Also, when they perform live, Wiki hits the mic against his head. What's not to love? Links below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAWzCmkJqpc ("Canal" video)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yzdb4gEaF6E ("So It Goes" video)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihextXXsLew ("Snow Beach" video)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sdn3__jAH64 (Boiler Room show)

http://tinyurl.com/hrju7x3 (MEGA)

Twenty-First Post: Okkervil River, "Away" (2016)

Most days right now have been shitty. From the deaths of Leonard Cohen and Leon Russell to the unprecedented and, frankly, disturbing election, these past few weeks have been difficult. For a while I considered posting something about these topics specifically, but in the end, I felt that it was overstepping my place. This is a music blog, and while music reflects reality, I should not force my own reality on art like that. Today's post is something that should be comforting, at least to a degree.

Will Sheff knows something about shitty days. After years of putting out great folk-rock records under the name Okkervil River (lifted from an old Russian short story by Tatyana Tolstaya), he's gained a fairly small, but passionate, following. After being signed to Jagjaguwar and releasing a few critically successful albums in "The Stage Names" and "Black Sheep Boy" in the early 2000s, he fell out of public eye for a bit. 

Sheff and Co.'s latest release, "Away", finds the group returning to a smoother, folk-ier sound. While dabbling in rock ideas, the album is notably softer. Songs are meandering, cushioned by reverb and floating along on softly plucked guitar lines. Synth organs are quiet and comforting. What makes the album remarkable is what makes most Okkervil River releases remarkable: Sheff's unabashedly wordy and literary approach to songwriting and lyricism coupled with his distinctive singing voice. 

The first track is one of the best songs of the year and a perfect start to the album: "Okkervil River RIP" is gently affecting, beautifully written and played delicately. As layers and layers build on the song, Sheff never lets go of the reins fully: as acoustic turns to electric and drums cradle the entire orchestra, there is still a feeling of control. In his delivery, Sheff speaks on fame, death, music, and the public eye with a removed grace. As someone never fully recognized by the public, Sheff's musings on the demise of loved musicians is all the more heartbreaking.

To be honest, there's something to like in every song here. While some lose focus in their overwhelming atmosphere, they still have memorable lines and catchy hooks ("Comes Indiana Through the Smoke" being the biggest example). Even the longer songs are entertaining, with "Judey on a Street" featuring incessant, tapping percussion and an impassioned performance from Sheff. "Mary on a Wave" is a fantastic love song, featuring honest-to-god "sha-la-la"s. The chorus is ethereal and beautiful, while the verses are driven by twin guitar lines that compliment each other beautifully.

Sheff delivers the one-two punch with the ending, however. "Frontman in Heaven" is one part hilarious and one part depressing: Sheff's character here is overwhelmingly nervous, focusing way too hard on everything and examining everything as a message from the "Sky Man". His quest for meaning is subtly highlighted with absolutely ridiculous lines: "It's going to be funky fresh Christmas and I don't think I can handle it" being my favorite. But then again, there are amazing lyrics like "I watch the dying sun sink on those jerk-offs in their convertibles". To close out the record, Sheff seemingly goes off the rails. When I saw them live, he prefaced this song by stating every day he would write himself an email with a line that didn't make much sense and then put them all together into this song. I have no idea if that is true. "Days Spent Floating" is gorgeous and experimental, driven by gently plucked guitar lines and a wishy-washy synth line floating in and out. As percussion digs in and grounds the track in something like reality, Sheff lets the track run out. This speaks to his skill as a songwriter: he knows exactly when to stop. Let's just hope that's not too soon.

I hope this record finds you well. Links below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BpA_MqGBtk ("Okkervil River RIP " video)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuDQpN2Pa5M ("Mary on a Wave")

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kBWufLX0vU ("For Real")

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGxIwOriQAM (Live on KEXP)

http://tinyurl.com/h5byxru (MEGA)

Twentieth Post: LIL UGLY MANE, "UNEVEN COMPROMISE" (2012)

Happy Halloween. In honor of today, I wanted to make a post on one of the spookiest artists I know: the Ugly Mane himself.

Lil Ugly Mane (stylized LIL UGLY MANE, referred to as LUM from now on) is a noise artist. During any conversation about the Richmond, Virginia-based musician, I make sure to include that first. He makes noise, punk, metal, avant-garde, and most notably, hip-hop. He's a scrawny white guy named Travis Miller who produces under the name Shawn Kemp (or variations on it) and blew up in the post-first-wave-internet-rapper ooze that birthed Odd Future and, to a degree, Death Grips. He makes (well, made) gangsta rap with gimmicky pitch-shifted vocals with a fixation on death and drugs. But when you dig a little beneath the surface, things get unsettling really quickly.

After his mixtape "MISTA THUG ISOLATION" took the internet by storm (following a few demos and a preview mixtape titled "PLAYAZ CIRCLE" that got minimal attention), LUM began to play with the Bandcamp platform to create a persona that would become somewhat legendary. The jump in quality from the demos to "MISTA THUG ISOLATION" was notable: the vocals were produced very well in their low pitch, the beats were fantastic, and the lyrical content was disturbing and (while not subtle) intelligent in their delivery. It left people hungry for more. But LUM went dark, posting cryptic semi-albums and singles, then a triptych of instrumental mixtapes (the last one landing around two and a half hours long) that included everything from unused, dusty and gorgeous hip-hop beats to searing noise and black metal. Finally, he satisfied curiosity with his elegy to hip-hop and the LUM persona ("ON DOING AN EVIL DEED BLUES", a fantastic track) and then his dying gasp ("THE WEEPING WORM" followed by the swan song "Oblivion Access"), nailing the coffin shut.

"UNEVEN COMPROMISE" is a single/EP in the curious period following "MISTA THUG ISOLATION" and before his "Three Sided Tape" series. Its two parts (one intro cut, better heard than described, and a proper song made of multiple discernible sections) are the best thing LUM has ever put out. From the fantastic beats to meticulous songwriting to the jaw-dropping lyrics, LUM pushes horrorcore and other jokey genres into a place of uncomfortable reality. I'll be talking about the second part of "UNEVEN COMPROMISE" below, going into each section in length.

")))____◎◎◎◎█████", or as it's more commonly referred to, "Uneven Compromise", starts as a black metal song disguised as a grimy hip-hop track. Horror-movie bells chime as clicks and moans fade in from the background, and with a few artificial snare cracks, LUM's voice intones "Corrupted by the darkness / Now you fall into an endless sleep". And, fuck, it gets so much more fun. "Satanic prophecies / Christian hypocrisy"? "Flesh is the fabric that covers my robes / Blood is the matter that built up my throne"? "Same wolf from that folklore / Drinking blood right out of that goat horn"?! It's fucking Burzum! It's Bathory! It's Darkthrone! This shit is disturbing! As the beat fades out, pianos lightly plink to bring us out of the hellhole we've been thrust into.

A sampled quote discusses the implications of rap on our behavior, possibly alleviating some of the darkness heaped upon the first section. As the sample, layered in reverb, fades away, a boom-bap beat with flutes and jingling chimes recall 90s hip-hop while another sample discusses existentialist ideas in music and art. These two quotes and samples are thought-provoking in their placement in and over the song. This section ends by slowing down to a stop.

What follows is a well put-together sound collage, repeated over a growing, noisy drone. The four lines are all samples from other songs, describing the music industry as the reason we are disenfranchised with music itself. As everything grows to a crescendo, the collage cuts out.

The 90s aesthetic returns suddenly with beautiful piano chords and live drum beats cradling record scratches and a simple bass line. The lyrics fly in suddenly, telling a very personal story describing an encounter someone (maybe LUM, maybe an everyman) has with a friend dealing with addiction. From the writing to delivery, this section is heartbreaking. As we come to learn more about these characters, their plight becomes much more relatable until we feel connected to them. When the story comes to its shocking conclusion, LUM cuts us away to another, slightly more off-putting and worryingly anxious beat. With cut up vocal samples and tape hiss, this section drags along until it dies away. But there's still 26 seconds left.

Here, LUM lets us have it. All the bottled rage and intensity that can't come through with something as orchestrated as hip-hop is unleashed as a raging harsh noise wall. The song floors it until it cuts away, dropping us right back where we started. It's fucking genius: in a multi-tiered song, LUM forces us past our comfort zone and doesn't even let it end! We're mid-beatdown, and like the sadist he is, he won't finish us off.

"UNEVEN COMPROMISE" is great. No way around it. Jumping into LUM's entire mythos is tiring and more disappointing than not, but it is pretty fucking interesting. This is the apex, though, where he shakes the praise and familiarity of "MISTA THUG ISOLATION" (an album I admittedly don't like) and steps into something truly special.

Fucked up shit. Happy Halloween. Links below.

https://liluglymane.bandcamp.com/album/uneven-compromise ("UNEVEN COMPROMISE")
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7-p1Wy3oLs ("Uneven Compromise - Live")

http://tinyurl.com/zkmprsf (MEGA)

Nineteenth Post: Danny Brown, "Atrocity Exhibition" (2016)

When Danny Brown created a visceral portrait of drug addiction and party culture on "XXX" and "Old", the world responded with what amounted to a shrug. While some recognized him as the insanely talented, idiosyncratic and unique voice he was, many others lumped him in with "shock" rappers - using his intense subject matter as a crutch, or gimmick. Danny knew that he would have to go completely nuts to shake these opinions, and on his latest record, his first for Warp, he does.

From the opening seconds of "Downward Spiral", Danny and Paul White (his primary producer for the record) inform us that this thing will pull no punches. Using a heavy, thick, psych-rock inspired instrumental with reverbed guitar stabs and seemingly random drum hits, the pair throw us headfirst into the sweaty, claustrophobic drug haven Danny describes. His singular, strangled, squeaking voice is like a bleat from the underworld - when he shouts, "gotta figure it out", it's almost a challenge. In a way, this track is the mission statement: from the pit of darkness and self-loathing driving the lyrics to the downright challenging instrumental, the entire album follows its lead.

"Tell Me What I Don't Know" is an excellent follow-up to this track by playing it a bit straighter - Danny even raps this song in a "normal" voice. It may be the song that most reflects Danny's roots in more ways than one: it's deeply sad, following a dead friend's life in Detroit, and uses a beat including heavy synth lines with breakbeats. There are a few odd, intentional omissions and additions in the beat and lyrics here, making a seemingly straightforward track that much more strange and intriguing. "Rolling Stone" follows suit in that way, with production and a feature by Petite Noir grounding this track in reality. There are wonderful little additions like cowbell or a heavy, organic bass line. It's significantly darker than most songs on the album, making the opening sequence up until this point pretty soul-crushing.

Much has been written or talked about in terms of the next track and well-loved single, "Really Doe". From the absolutely incredible verses from every artist here (Ab-Soul, Kendrick Lamar, and Earl Sweatshirt) to the minimal, fantastic production (Black Milk), even to the placement of the verses and the progression of the beat, this song is excellent. It's definitely in contention for single of the year, and it's easily the best posse cut I've heard for a while. And Earl is definitely getting deserved recognition - his verse absolutely brims with bottled violence.

The run following "Really Doe" may be my favorite on the album: "Lost" has a totally wonky, dirty, disgusting sample-based beat and some of Danny's best-written verses. It's funny, intimidating, and his flow is insane: Myke C-Town, a pretty great critic, asserted that no one else can do what Danny does in terms of how he puts his words together over these instrumentals. I agree. His threats are for real, and they all come from his impeccable musical ability. "Ain't It Funny" is fucking fantastic, no way around it. From the blaring horns that just peel your eyes back, to Danny's breathless and bloodthirsty delivery, to the insane effects layered over the entire thing... this track is amazing, taking hip-hop to a place not many people would dare to touch, while Danny dives right in. "Golddust" and "White Lines" take even more liberties - it gets downright overwhelming in the layers of horns and Eastern elements splattered all over the entire thing. "White Lines" features a mind-blowingly weird moment when Danny raps rapid-fire over flute bursts of a sample in almost Busdriver, "Imaginary Places" style. The ad-libs just add to the entire feeling. It's very Warp Records, both these tracks. It's mentioned that this album feels like being on drugs, and these songs are perfect examples of this.

"Pneumonia" is almost a simple song - from the opening, with ominous clanking and bell hits, we're expecting Danny to take his foot off the pedal for a second. Then the verse hits, and his flow returns to something completely unpredictable, but he makes it sound effortless. While the song plays wildly with expectations, it does seem to break the concept for a second, something Danny's addressed. It's a party song for the paranoid and high.

He jumps right back in on "Dance in the Water", a sample-based track that feels like a layer of grime layered on top of you that Danny eventually sets on fire. It's weird. It's really fucking weird. Paul White and Danny turn a dance instruction into a song, painting Danny as the ruler of some disturbing land where he is the dance god. I can't explain this song, but that's nowhere near a bad thing. The chorus is just completely undeniable.

"From the Ground" is something of a breath of air - Kelela's feature is excellent, and the song really does a good job of making you look around at the atmosphere Danny's made so far. "When It Rain", the first single, features Danny's impeccable flow and a singular Detroit drum style but its four-on-the-floor drums really pound at your head, almost to the point where you want to tap out. "Today" follows these tracks up with a relatively easy-to-understand song. It's paranoid and scary, sure, but in terms of listenability its not that oppressive. It's a great track, especially when taking the lyrics into consideration, speaking about Danny's lifestyle and the decisions people make in environments where they seem to have no other choice.

Then there's "Get Hi". Which sounds like being high. I can't listen to it, usually, or I get sort of stuck and have to listen to it over and over. It's amazingly well done, beautiful and thought-provoking, especially when he lists off jazz greats who had horrible drug addictions. It's a strange setup when you listen to the last song, following it. "Hell for It" is restrained but may be Danny's angriest song. He speaks to those who didn't recognize him for the talent he is, vowing to give them hell for it. And unlike most songs of this nature, he deserves the chance to say this. 

This album is amazing. There's nothing quite like it, even in the large pool of experimental hip-hop around, Danny has crafted something spectacularly unique. I think it's one for the history books: the time when mainstream hip-hop got a huge slap in the face in the form of the most experimental album to be widely accepted in fucking years. 

"Atrocity Exhibition" takes its name from Joy Division and JG Ballard, two uncompromising figures. Add Danny Brown. Links below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNogzmuULLM ("Ain't It Funny")

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csxSwkl4Gd0 ("Pneumonia")

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spfsdpuvUyQ ("Really Doe")

http://tinyurl.com/h5hu9kp (MEGA)