In Revue-At. Long. Last. A$AP (A$AP Rocky)

Who the hell does A$AP Rocky think he is? That's the half-serious question I have when I finish At. Long. Last. A$AP, Rocky's clouded, wigged-out, overlong (by about 10 minutes) third album. Dude put an unknown British folk singer on nearly a third of his LP. He repurposes the schmaltzy Platters holiday tune "Please Come for Christmas" for aquatic stomper "Excuse Me." "Wavybone" has him resurrecting the dearly departed Pimp C to count pyramidal stacks of paper. M.I.A. comes through just to spitefully chant "tell your new b**** to suck a d***," on lean sipper "Fine Whine." And his organ-driven second single "Everyday" samples Rod Stewart. ROD STEWART. As in the dude behind "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" Listening to At. Long. Last. A$AP. I'm reminded of H.G. Wells' when he lambasted James Joyce's ponderous book Finnegan's Work: "who the hell is this Joyce who demands so many waking hours of the few thousands I have still to live for a proper appreciation of his quirks and fancies and flashes of rendering?"

The answer to my question is he's "A-f***king SAP." Lord Pretty Flacko's the most unflappably confident rapper since '06 T.I. At his most uncool, he's cool because he thinks he is. Kanye West, Schoolboy Q, Lil Wayne, Future and Mos Def all bring their A-game to At. Long. Last. A$AP and you walk away thinking Rocky won the bout. He has a way of phrasing that makes a possibly mundane brag seem amazing. Like on "Canal St." when he spits "your favorite rappers corpses couldn't measure my importance." How great is that? He could've said he's better than your favorite living rapper. Not enough. He's better than any rapper living or dead. And you believe him when he says so in his spacious cadence. 

It's nightmarish when he applies the style to the Danger Mouse produced "Pharsyde." The recollection: "Found his body parts in awkward places like apartments, basements, Garbage vacant, lots, garages, spaces, Harlem's far too spacious," is something no one should have to see, but it's more horrifying because of how Rocky steadily pinballs to the conclusion. Violent people aren't to blame for such carnage, the entire city's guilty. So too are crooked pastors and peddlers of religion, whom Rocky ferociously indicts on fervent opener "Holy Ghost." To hear him tell it, the ushers are skimming from collection baskets and "they tryna' dine us with some damn wine and crackers." If the line is autobiographical it's absolutely deflating.

The production of At. Long. Last. A$AP only reinforces Rocky's nightmarish/hellacious words. "Lord Pretty Flacko Jodye 2" stomps so heavily that bones in your feet get broken. When Rocky and ScHoolboy Q play their long-running game of one-upmanship on "Electric Body," you fear it's going to end in dual beheadings. The opening Friday the 13th woodblock clanging cultivates such an air of menace that it doesn't even matter the song is tailor-made for stripper clubs with its XXX hook "shake that ass girl, make that coochie wet." It's too terrifying to twerk to. Ditto for "M'$" which is undoubtedly bass heavy, but crams in enough screams, synth heaves and engine revs to make Death Grips envious. Lil Wayne, turning in his best performance in four years ("6 Foot 7 Foot"), sounds like Galactus coming to swallow Earth whole when he raps over the track. 

Even when the beats have room to breathe the rapping sounds authoritative. Take the golden soul of Kanye West produced "Jukebox Joints," the track never gets above an inside voice, but A$AP and 'Kanye manage some impressive s***-talking. The former brags about changing rap and the latter claims to be "a black man with confidence of a white male." I especially love the Kanye line because it's continuing the 2015 trend of him indulging in sly racial commentary. Meanwhile "Everyday" has none of "Juke Joints" import and might be the most compelling effort on At. Long. Last. A$AP. The track's warm organ is hypnotic piping out of a car window on a summer night and the aforementioned Stewart sample is oddly rousing, his raspy voice just works for a banger. When you're constructing beats that can bang and sample Rod Stewart, without seeming crammed, you're in rarefied air.

And A$AP Rocky unquestionably is in rarefied air. He's one of several hip hop artists: Drake, Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar, Lil Wayne and Rick Ross, capable of selling 100,000-plus copies of an album in the first week. Rappers don't do that anymore. Granted rappers don't sign deals worth $3 million anymore and A$AP did that too. He'll keep making that kind of money as long as he keeps putting out work as strong as At. Long. Last. A$AP. 

What's New(s)?

The Breeders are working on first new material in 5 years

Pixies be damned. Breeders co-founder and bassist Kim Deal doesn't need her former bandmates to continue making new music. Last year she and the rest of the Breeders (Kelley Deal, Josephine Wiggs, and Jim Macpherson) went on a well-received 20th anniversary tour for the game-changing Last Splash. And now with the tour wrapped up, that current lineup is in the studio's working on the first new Breeders's music since 2009's Fate to Fatal EP. 

Talking to Stereogum, Kim Deal says the band is " down in the basement recording and the songs are sounding good." To Deal, the recordings are what need to be done because as she freely admits "This is what I like to do. I like to record and play songs." The band recordings closely follow Deal's own work under the "Kim Deal Solo Series", which has seen the release of ghostly "Walking with a Killer" among other singles. No word yet on when the Breeders material will be released, but here's hoping it's nowhere near the legacy-killer Indie Cindy is.

Future meets Future Islands in a new Hood Internet mashup

It had to happen at some point right? Considering they share part of a name it was inevitable that ATLien Future and Baltimore-trio Future Islands would link up at some point, but its still jarring to hear that meeting unfold. Quite honestly, hearing anything laid over Future Islands now-viral "Seasons (Waiting On You)" would be jarring. For my own money it's the song of the spring, a piece of inescapable synth-rock that you wouldn't want to run away from if you could. The guitars blissfully hum along, the synths wriggle with crystal-clear clarity, and Samuel T. Herring's unmistakable vocals manage to sound giddy even while he's growing tired of someone else to grow up. There's seemingly nothing that could make the track more joyous.

Save of course for Future's Auto-Tuned hiccup from "Honest", which Chicago mashup group the Hood Internet liberally slather over "Seasons"' bright instrumental-bed. Though it still thrashes like a blind ghost-in-the-machine, his voice manages to find the heart and soul of the track with ease. It alights on the pinging synths and bass gulps as if it had been with them since the beginning. Put simply: it's a near-perfect fit and deserves to be heard.

Check back tomorrow for more of the newest in new(s) and follow AllFreshSounds on Twitter for updates throughout the day.

What's New(s)?

Future premieres video for "Covered N Money"

Last Friday on the blog, I dissected ATL-rapper Future's slice of "mausoleum trap" "Covered N Money". Now the booming, paranoid cut has an accompanying video. In the Alex Nazari directed clip, Future finds himself unable to shake the feds as he weaves through dark back-alleys to find whoever snitched on him. Paired with Future's garbled Auto-Tune and Sonny Digital's colossal drums, it's unspeakably tense. The type of thing where you expect a bloodbath at any second.

Honest is out April 22 through A1/Freebandz/Epic and you can view the clip now on WorldStar Hip Hop.



King Krule pairs with Ratking

Despite his professed admiration for hip-hop, it's hard to imagine glum electronic/R&B artist King Krule anchoring the hook of a track. His voice is too dour, the sort you expect to drop at any time because the weight its carrying is unimaginably heavy. But then again, French Montana has made a career out memorable, mumbled choruses so there's a lane for it.

And that's precisely the lane Krule travels down in "So Sick Stories", his pairing with NYC crew Ratking. While the trio is spastic and alive as they wander through abandoned corners of the Big Apple, Krule clings to brick walls and slabs of concrete. When he's bellowing about "souls that go to sleep" atop the springy drum-machine  you expect he's speaking in first person. The moniker of "The City That Never Sleeps" doesn't apply to everyone.

Ratking's debut LP So It Goes is out April 8 via XL imprint Hot Charity.

Check back in tomorrow for more of the newest in new(s) and follow AllFreshSounds on Twitter for updates throughout the day.

"Covered N Money"- Future

I honestly can't recall the last time I heard a rap song so lyrically celebratory that sounds absolutely paranoid. Rick Ross' "B.M.F." with booming Lex Luger production comes to mind, but even an effort like that had Ross' giddy "Rozayyy" ad-lib and random twinkles in Luger's beat to keep it bright. None of those elements appear in "Covered N Money," the latest release off of his forthcoming sophomore LP Honest. Instead, producer Sonny Digital applies industrial drum hits, chaotic sidewinders, and dead eyed synthesizers to deliver what could rightly be called "mausoleum trap."

For his part, Future crafts his influx of cash as a Sisyphean-tragedy. Having already cleared the hurdle of moving dope and making "new money," Future's graduated to the stage where anyone's willing to lie to him to get a slice of his pie. "They all want some from me," he snarls through Auto-Tune in the chorus. And when he says "all" he isn't being hyperbolic. His paper paranoia extends to his own household when he warns a family member "she better not get greedy." The only "brother's keeper" he can count on is a "9 millimeter." By the end, he can only turn back to the chorus and defy "I'm gonna get money like this for a while." He's trapped in a vicious cycle now; the sole option is to move forward. 

Honest is out April 22 through A1/Freebandz/Epic. (Not surprisingly many of the links for the cut have already been taken down, but you can find one here.)

What's New(s)?

Lil B takes on Kevin Durant again

For someone constantly preaching positivity, Lil B doesn't seem to have a lot of love for the Thunder's Kevin Durant. Back in 2011, the mighty Based God put a curse on the forward after Durant allegedly called him "wack." In 2012, B challenged Durant to a game of one-on-one that was accepted, but never occurred. 

The beef had essentially gone silent until this year's NBA All-Star Game when Lil B antagonistically tweeted out ""AND F*** KEVIN DURANT LIL B FOR LIFE - Lil B." That antagonism swelled to Wilt Chamberlain sized proportions over the weekend when B released the scorching "F*** KD." Assisted by booming horns, B suggests they "play a game of 21, it's really fun" and compares himself to Dirk Nowitzki and Latrell Sprewell. And in the chorus, he interpolates DJ Khaled's "Brown Paper Bag" to warble "f*** Kevin Durant." Considering the kind of year Kevin Durant has been having, that game of 21 the Based Go offers is ill-advised, no matter how great of a jump-shot he's got.

"F*** KD" is an upcoming cut from Lil B's Hoop Life mixtape. 

Future's Honest gets a release date

 

 

Future's Honest LP has been frustratingly delayed for months on end now, but today's announcement of a release date, album art (seen above), and tracklist made all that lost time worth it. 

Out April 22nd, the Atlanta rapper's sophomore album will feature past singles "Honest" and indelible posse-cut "Move That Dope" ft. Pusha T, Pharrell, and Casino. The A1/Freebandz/Epic release will also feature spots by: André 3000, Drake, Kanye, Lil Wayne, Wiz Khalifa, and Young Scooter, along with production efforts by Mike WiLL Made-It, 808 Mafia, and more. Last week, a well-received video game debuted for "Move That Dope", along with a video which you'll find below; accompanied by an official tracklist. 

Honest:
1. "Look Ahead"
2. "T-Shirt"
3. "Move That Dope" ft. Pharrell, Pusha T, & Casino
4. "My Momma ft. Wiz Khalifa
5. "Honest"
6. "I Won" ft. Kanye West
7. "Never Satisfied" ft. Drake
8. "I Be U"
9. "Covered N Money"
10. "Special" ft. Young Scooter
11. "Benz Friendz (Whatchutola)" ft. André 3000
12. "Blood, Sweat, Tears"

(Deluxe Edition)
13. "Big Rube Speaks"
14. "Side Effects"
15 I’ll Be Yours
16. "How Can I Not" ft. Young Scooter
17. "Sh!t"
18. "Karate Chop (Remix)" ft. Lil Wayne

"Move That Dope" ft. Pusha T, Pharrell, & Casino

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"Move That Dope" ft. Pharrell, Pusha T & Casino- Future

Cue the longest, loudest, most obnoxious Ric Flair "WOOOOOOO" imaginable. Plain and simple "Move That Dope" from Future's forever delayed Honest is inspirational. Sitting through 6 minutes of Mike Will Made It's futuristic burbles, you're bound to chortle or nod your head to the track at least once.

More important than the hypnotic beat though is the effort of Future's collaborators, who're all hell-bent on offering up better dope-game advice than the dude who just wrapped up. A surprisingly lucid Future is seen bouncing from "beating that China like Kunta Kinte" to splashing scales with "baking soda water." Pusha T, never one to shy away from dope dealings, is stuck in a helpless dealer dichotomy "young enough to still sell dope, old enough to know better." As he admits near the end of his snarled verse, the only thing growing at the same rate as his age is his ego.

As ferocious as Pusha T appears, he's mere table-setting for the final two. Pharrell comes alive with the sort of rapping he's rarely delivered since In My Mind: Mixtape. He fields questions about his Grammy outfit and squeezes in a session of naked yoga. If this is any indication how his 2014 will go, the Neptunes producer will have another hyperbolic year. And hyperbole is all I can resort to when Casino comes through. Future's cousin is unrelenting in his approach, he bulldozes through "purp and zan" with Spartan intensity. And while "keep a 45 in my coat while I'm serving dope" scans as boilerplate gun-talk, when it comes in a weathered yowl it crosses from idle threat to guarantee. It's the one reality in a room full of vibrant fictions.

Future's second LP Honest still doesn't have a release date, but given the trove of material to appear Epic would be wise to set one soon.

What's New(s)?

Cam'ron & A-Trak team up

The amazing cover art you see above is from Federal Reserve, a forthcoming collaborative effort between Killa Cam and producer/Fool's Gold label owner A-Trak. Cam's been on a career revival over the last few years and first-cut "Humphrey" continues the trend. The pink one comes correct with his indelible gangsterisms and liquid non-sequiturs, as an A-Trak/Party Supplies soul-speckled beat soars in the background. If this track ended up on Purple Haze or Come Home with Me you wouldn't bat an eye.

The record is executive produced by former Roc-a-Fella partner Dame Dash and features appearances by Dipset crewmates Jim Jones and Juelz Santana. Federal Reserve doesn't have a release date yet, but it's out through Fool's Gold.

 





Hear Future cover Beyoncé's "Drunk in Love"

"Drunk" is an all-too-easy word to describe rap/R&B star Future's delivery. Slathered in Auto-tune, he slurs so many words and lines together you'd swear he'd had a few sips before he took to the mike. So his taking to Beyoncé's unreservedly giddy "Drunk in Love" is perfect. Keeping the vocal mysticism of the original beat intact, the ATLien idly floats on a river of vodka and exploratory synth noises. "I can't get my eyes off you" he admits in a moment of naked honesty. He's so forthcoming, that even in the sobered up verse when he brags "f****ng in my gold chains," it registers as endearing. 

Future's upcoming 2nd LP Honest  is without a release date for now, but given the material he's been putting out, a spring release seems completely plausible.








Neko Case expands tour


















Just yesterday on Twitter, Neko Case jokingly tweeted "We never stop touring, we just don't. We'll show up in your town eventually." And that brief aside is much more resonant today, as the alt-country/indie siren has announced a smattering of new tour dates in support of the excellent The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More Love You. The dates, in the U.S. and Canada, are book-ended by spots at Coachella and the Governor's Ball, and will feature indie-folk duo the Dodos as the opener.

Before the new tour begins, Case and company are winding down with a final pair of American dates and then capping off the run with a February 3rd spot on Conan.


Tour Dates:

1/30 Indianapolis, IN - The Vogue (w. Thao and the Get Down Stay Down)
1/31 Ann Arbor, MI - Ann Arbor Folk Festival @ Hill Auditorium (w. Thao and the Get Down Stay Down)
2/27 Fremantle, Australia - Fly By Night
3/1 Melbourne, Australia - Melbourne Zoo
3/2 Melbourne, Australia - Corner Hotel
3/3 Sydney, Australia - Sydney Opera House
3/5 Brisbane, Australia - The Hi-Fi
3/7 Adelaide, Australia - Womad Festival
3/8 Victoria, Australia - Meeniyan Town Hall
3/9 Victoria, Australia - Golden Plains Festival
3/12 Wellington, New Zealand - NZ Festival
3/14 Auckland, New Zealand - The Powerstation
3/16 Singapore - Mosaic Music Festival @ Esplanade Concert Hall
4/11 Indio, CA - Coachella
4/12 Tucson, AZ - Rialto Theatre (w. The Dodos)
4/13 Flagstaff, AZ - The Orpheum Theater (w. The Dodos)
4/14 Santa Fe, NM - The Lensic Performing Arts Center (w. The Dodos)
4/18 Indio, CA - Coachella
5/7 Albany, NY - Hart Theatre @ The Egg (w. The Dodos)
5/8 Montreal, Quebec - Corona Theatre (w. The Dodos)
5/9 Toronto, Ontario - Massey Hall (w. The Dodos)
5/10 Ottawa, Ontario - Bronson Centre (w. The Dodos)
5/11 Cleveland, OH - Beachland Ballroom (w. The Dodos)
5/13 Chicago, IL - Chicago Theatre (w. The Dodos)
5/14 Madison, WI - Orpheum Theatre (w. The Dodos)
5/16 Fargo, ND - Fargo Theatre (w. The Dodos)
5/17 Winnipeg, Manitoba - The Burton Cummings Theatre (w. The Dodos)
5/18 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan - O'Brians Event Centre (w. The Dodos)
5/19 Edmonton, Alberta - Winspear Centre (w. The Dodos)
5/21 Missoula, MT - Wilma Theatre (w. The Dodos)
5/22 Portland, OR - Aladdin Theater (w. The Dodos)
06-06 New York, NY - Governors Ball

"Night Still Comes" (Live in Studio Q)

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"Nothing But Some Pain"- Young Thug & Bloody Jay

Consider this '99 MF Doom linking up with Kool Keith of the Dr. Octagonecologyst era. Alternatively imagine Cam'ron circa Purple Haze and Dedication 2 Weezy teaming up to free-associate a track into oblivion. Equate it to an ice-cream free Gucci Mane and the BasedGod blessing a beat in tandem. Whatever pairing you conjure just make sure it's two of-the-moment rap weirdos getting together, because that's exactly what "Nothing But Some Pain" is.

Granted one-half of the oddballs, Future, comes in disembodied sample form only. Still Future, slathered in Auto-tune and accompanied by a twinkling piano casts a ghostly pallor over the track. Where past efforts from the interplanetary R&B star would be ideal for booming out of your car on a sunny day, "Nothing But Some Pain" is a windows up late-night affair. And in that witching hour, fellow ATL-native Bloody Jay comes slithering forward. Jay stumbles all over himself in his verses, stopping at so many odd moments you'd think the thudding drum beat was the sound of Jay hitting concrete. "He's me...I'm Lee...and there's nothing bigger than the bee..." he pregnantly pauses in one uncomfortable stretch. The best way to scare someone in our static-laden society is to remain silent.

Young Thug and Bloody Jay's extremely replayable Black Portland mixtape is available for free now.

 

What's New(s)?

Flaming Lips detail Ender's Game EP

As previously mentioned merry pranksters the Flaming Lips will be releasing an EP based on the upcoming Ender's Game film (out 11/1). Entitled Peace Sword, the six-track EP will drop digitally October 29 and then make a CD/Vinyl run for Record Store Day's Back to Black Friday celebration. That's the album artwork above and below you can find the tracklist along with the cult-like clip for The Terror cut "Turning Violent".

Tracklist:
1. "Peace Sword ("Open Your Heart")"
2. "If They Move, Shoot 'Em"
3. "Is The Black At The End Good"
4. "Think Like A Machine, Not A Boy"
5. "Wolf Children"
6. "Assassin Beetle - The Dream Is Ending"

"Turning Violent"

  

Drake allegedly kicks Future off tour

 

Apparently "just being honest" has gotten interplanetary R&B artist Future this time around. Page Six is reporting that Future Hendrix made "off-the-record" remarks to Billboard reporter Erika Ramirez saying of his tourmate's new album Nothing Was the Same, "Drake made an album that is full of hits but it doesn't grab you...They're not possessive; they don't make you feel the way I do." 

Upon hearing the news, Drake is reported to have told his agent "either Future gets fired, or he'll fire him." A back-and-forth began and ended with Future's getting the boot from the tour. For the loss, Future is allegedly making plans to sue Drizzy for lost wages amounting to $1.5 million. 

If nothing else, this story provides yet another example of why you should never assumed anything is really off the record. Below you can listen to "Tony Montana" featuring the two former tourmates in action.

Check back in tomorrow for more of the newest in new(s).

"Money Ain't No Issue" ft. Future & Fabolous- Meek Mill

Bankrolled by the paper-printing Maybach Music "empire", Philadelphia flamethrower Meek Mill doesn't need to pay money any mind for the foreseeable future, though you'd never know it from the harried "Money Ain't No Issue". Appearing on the third installment of the Dreamchasers series, the cut careens out of the gate with a chaotic harpsichord sample that shatters when a hard-rock guitar chord stomps in and Mill commands "let's get this f****ng money". Mill dizzily moves from one spending spree to the next, parking in six-figure "whips" to pick up "red bottoms" and "Jordans". Future's typically sedate robotic vocals shift into hyperdrive here, "screwed up I ain't slowing down" he delivers while dropping a quarter mil on a new car. For his part, Fabo' plays the wizened veteran, use to the money and all the trappings it entails. "Mo money mo problems" Meek Mill raps, summoning the ghost of the guru on conspicuous spending. Right now, Milly's only problem is stopping to enjoy his earnings.

Dreamchasers 3 is available now for download at Datpiff. 

What's New(s)?

Azealia Banks debuts new track

Harlem rapper/R&B singer Azealia Banks debut LP Broke With Expensive Taste has been in a perpetual state of delay, but that hasn't stop the firebrand from staving off audience hunger with new material. Banks is already teasing a new mixtape, titled Fantasea II: Second Wave tenatively scheduled for a July 11, 2014 release. While such a far-off date might seem farfetched, Banks has supplied "Count Contessa" for proof. The beat supplied by producer Lone squelches and squeaks like interstitial JRPG music, if it was soundtracking a nautical themed house party. "If you can't dance and if you can't sing", Banks intones several times over the wavy synths. If the release date has any grounding in reality, we'll have plenty of time to practice our moves. 

 Daft Punk time travel in new video

If Daft Punk's rosy love-letter to the 70s Random Access Memories failed to demonstrate robots are capable of experiencing nostalgia, the French duo's new video featuring Pharrell and Nile Rogers is the final proof. Nothing overly complicated about the set-up here, just the four collaborators in an angelic disco glow playing for a dance conscious crowd at Studio 54 circa 22nd century. The camera pans the entire crowd and we find there isn't a single soul not caught up in the groove. Daft Punk has supplied a video that lives up to the song's lofty commands.

How to Dress Well releases "Hangover Mix"

  

"Ok i woke up super hungover today and made this mix of songs," Tom Krell of How to Dress Well begins his most-recent Soundcloud posting. The near 45 minute mix weaves through intermittent clips of Krell recontextualizing current rap juggernauts in the way of "Hold On We're Going Home" and a Ryan Hemsworth remix of "Honest". Krell finds the time to stop over and laconically back up Kanye West on "Hold My Liquor" with his breathless falsetto. We also detour to incendiary bits of Kevin Gates, subdued acoustic strumming from the reviled GG Allin,  and slow-burning pieces from Tink and Tracy Chapman. When considering the parenthetical title of "Hungover Mix", the genre-hopping starts to make sense. As Krell succinctly puts it in his post, "it's like a mix of songs that soothe and punish".