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)