What are we looking for from
Tyler, the Creator circa 2015? We're five years removed from hearing "what the devil plays
before he goes to sleep." Four from being introduced to the
"f***ing walking paradox" who surrounds torch-bearing
love tracks with stomach-churning
rape jokes. All the protests
and think-pieces
have been dead for at least two years now. So now what? What then? With all of
the artifice and hype swept away, what reason do we have to still pay attention
to Tyler? Is he the kind of artist we don't want to grow up because his
"immaturity" was what made him so fascinating to begin with? What the
hell does artistic maturation mean for Tyler?
That central question is what
makes listening to Tyler's fourth LP Cherry Bomb so frustrating; he
doesn't have a meaningful answer. At times, flecks of musical evolution in Cherry
Bomb are infinitesimal. "Pilot"'s got an incredible thrum to it,
the kind you could fit on a percussive Dizzee Rascal track and
then it’s swallowed by static before the chorus even starts.
"Buffalo"'s lovely little chintz synths can't stand up to the
unstable drum burbling, which makes you think the mic was inside the kit.
There's a Clams Casino
feel in the way Cherry Bomb is blown out, it sounds like it was
mixed in a tin bucket of mop water then resuscitated with the exposed wires
from a nearby light switch. You may need to consult Genius to find great lines
like "Boy I got them epic shots like jaywalking in Missouri." The
whole of closer "OKAGA,
CA," with its cooing vocals and lithe strings, concerns escaping all
of life's bullshit by flying to the moon with a loved one, but you'd never know
that from the vocal effects applied to T.C.'s voice. I get the Yeezus
aesthetic at work, but Yeezus was
quotable from the words "Yeezus season approaching" in the opener "On Sight." Not
so with Cherry Bomb; Tyler's trying to make a noise album while being
lyrical, which isn't a workable dichotomy.
Not that everything Tyler says
on Cherry Bomb is something people would want to hear. He still bounces
the word "f****ot* around, which is far more frustrating now because he
admits "I'm going harder than coming out the closet to conservative
Christian fathers." That's a funny lyric undercut by his laziness to find
a different word to finish verses. The more negative among us could take a line
like "laying on my trampoline, gazing at the stars, "in the
aforementioned "Okaga, CA," as the sort of inward-looking platitude appearing
in a C-grade Kid Cudi effort. For people who eat maple syrup
on a regular basis, hearing something so positive and sweet from Tyler is
satisfying.
There are great moments on Cherry
Bomb that don't need any caveats. If the instrumental from the title track
didn't pop up in the 2015
horror insta-classic It Follows, then I must've been plugging my
ears and closing my eyes. The opening notes sound like the devil waking up from
a deep slumber. The dissonance works to Tyler's favor here because his rapping
is so malevolent and fractured you'd believe he's trapped in this kind of
hellscape. Elsewhere "The
Brown Stains of Darkeese Latifah Part 6-12" (Remix) is flat-out
marvelous and should be played to future generations of music lovers interested
in 2010s music. It blends PC
Music helium sighs; DJ
Mustard plinks, clanging Pharrell percussion and an Arca-esque sense ofbuild.
I kept hitting repeat when I first listened to the album and logged 10 listens
of the song on day 1 of the LP's surprise release. Tyler talking smack while
nomming on Eggos is a detail that can't get old.
And
then there's "Smuckers," Cherry Bomb's unshakeable center of
gravity that features both Kanye West and Lil Wayne. Compared to "The
Brown Stains..." the "We
Major" Jr. song is miles better. All three rappers are in near-peak
form, so picking a winner is difficult but Kanye's "Richer than white
people with black kids, scarier than black people with ideas," is too good
to ignore. The track’s brilliance is clear long before the horns stop blurting
and Tyler fires a final missive.
I
wish could say that for all of Cherry
Bomb because I do find Tyler compelling as a musician. He’s willing to
entertain ideas most would run scared from. He’ll f*** around and put hokey
skits where they shouldn’t be. He’ll have keyboards fight for Sunlight with dark
synthesizer clouds. The dude’s has
enough respect and talent to bring Kanye and Wayne together and not be shown
up. He believes in himself, but Cherry
Bomb proves he still isn’t sure who he is as an artist.
Mac Demarco/Tyler, the Creator working together...
That ellipses in the headline exists for a reason. Two undeniable goofballs like Mac Demarco and Tyler, the Creator doesn't just give cause to pause, but cause for concern. The pair have spent some time together in the studio while Demarco's been in L.A., presumably to promote his upcoming Salad Days LP. Yesterday, music site Line of Best Fit tweet out the above photo, which we can take to mean the two are filming something. The real news of course would be if whatever it is doesn't turn out to be: weird, schlocky, or downright disgusting.
Mac Demarco’s aforementioned Salad Days arrives April 1 via Captured Tracks, and you can hear the jangly first-take "Passing Out Pieces" below.
The Flaming Lips, Sting, Broken Bells to pay tribute to the Beatles on Letterman
For the next six years if you're a music fan at all, you can expect a constant barrage of "On this day fifty years ago in the Beatles..." statuses. The first major domino in that parade will topple next week with a "Beatles Cover Week" on CBS's Letterman program. Considering CBS was the network that Ed Sullivan was on when the Fab Four first joined him in '64 and Letterman films in the very same theatre, it's only appropriate to reignite Beatlemania from the locale.
So beginning Monday of next week, a bevy of artists ranging from The Flaming Lips (no strangers to Beatles covers) to Sting, Broken Bells, and John Lennon's son Sean, will all tip their hats to the lads from Liverpool, leading up to a February 9th airing (the exact date of the Sullivan gig) of tribute special called The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute To The Beatles. Twist, shout, scream. Do whatever you'd like to celebrate the milestone.
For news updates throughout the day, follow @AllFreshSounds on Twitter and check back in Monday for more of the newest in new(s).
"Look" announces
itself in "typical" Odd Future fashion, Tyler delivering "it's
the f****ng aaahhh" in his guttural yell before the beat screeches to a
halt and he sarcastically promises to "tone it down". The screen
comes down and the initial scene has been broadcast before. Tyler's
"pissing inside your swimming pool", rocking paint jobs "flatter
than Miley Cyrus' ass", and moonlighting as "the blackface of white
America". Hodgy Beats doubles down on the oddly familiar over the precise
drum strikes, copping to being "mentally crowded" and "spilling
more than I drink".
Then Domo Genesis enters the
arena and the reset button may as well be hit for a second time.
Since his Under the Influence release, I've been fervently insisting
Domo is on a steady ascension to the upper echelon in the OF crew and
"Look" continues the climb. Domo's long been pigeonholed as the
resident "weed rapper", but here he's surprisingly sober
rattling off the opener "live from the gutter, young stunner, trumps what
you n****s blundered, I uppercut by the bundle, n**** take a number," with
devastating dexterity. He's out for blood and Earl's lusting for
it in the finale. Earl's unnerving calm disappears in the fog of the glitchy
backbeat as he opts to "chalk out n****s". The minor details of a
Sweatshirt verse continue to deliver major damage, in this case the close-up
image of his "thumb sticking to that pump grip". "Sticking to
the script" is a misnomer; they're rewriting their own mythology one page
at a time.
The debut MellowHigh album (Hodgy, Domo, and Left Brain) is being teased for a Halloween release, no word yet if "Look" will make the final cut.
I'm 'bout my butter, never let them suckers te me under
If you've ever found yourself driving around GTA's infinitely expansive environs wishing for some Flying Lotus to soundtrack your lawless spree, you either really like the L.A. producer or just want to relax while you expend a few bullets. Either way, Rockstar has granted your wish with FlyLo FM, one of 17 different radio stations featured in GTA V (out September 17 in stores), and hosted by the aforementioned producer. In addition to new music from the man himself, FlyLo FM will also feature music from: Tyler the Creator, Clams Casino, Aphex Twin, OutKast, and more. "Garbage", the new cut from Tyler is a bleeping Clipse-esque nightmare, where Tyler styles himself as a "salesman sorta giant" with "dope in the bag." Check out the tracklist below and give the new song a spin.
"They see a black man with a white woman, at the top floor they gone come to kill King Kong," Kanye West snarled during the industrial grind of "Black Skinhead". Well it maybe time to start circling the planes, because West is supposedly setting to work on a remix of the punishing track with none other than Miley Cyrus. The New York Post is reporting that the eternally twerking Cyrus linked up with Yeezus post-VMAs to record the remix for a prospective remix EP. It's tough to say if this is just lark or if Kanye will actually follow through on what will unquestionably be one of his most outrageous collaborations to date. While you wait for the dust to settle, go here for video of West's stark performance of Yeezus highlight "Blood on the Leaves" and the still ferocious performance of "Black Skinhead" live on SNL.
Franz Ferdinand cover Grimes
Scottish indie-rockers Franz Ferdinand recently released their fourth studio LP Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action and to promote the record the Glasgow-band went on French Station Oui FM to cover the still-infectious electronic glisten of Grimes' "Oblivion". Alex Kapranos and company ditched the keyboards for an all-acoustic cover of the tender track. This is not the first time this year the song has received the cover treatment, previously the Crutchfield sisters Katie and Allison of Waxahatchee and Swearin' took to the tune. Enjoy Franz Ferdinand's whispered offering below and look for their record in stores now.
"N***** wanna want to hear
you rap, don't nobody care about how you feel," Odd Future collaborator
Vince Staples derisively proclaims over the stuttering drums and in-house horn
section of "Burgundy". After three years of waiting, an over-publicized retreat to Samoa, an Internet-baiting return track,
and an impossibly dense appearance on an all-time posse cut;
any fan of Odd Future and Earl wanted an album of raps. This was the "hot and bothered astronaut," "crushin' motherf***ers like moths in a mosh-pit,"
always smart-mouthed and quick-witted.
All Earl had to do for Doris was
stack raps on raps on raps, instead he undertook an entirely different
construction project.
Not that there isn't plenty of
pure, unadulterated rapping here. "Hive", the third single to spin off of the
album is a midnight marauder through a crumbling Los Angeles, where
"death's less important when the Lakers lose". Vince Staples appears
once more to strut down Death Row; carrying a "yomper big as Larry Johnson"
and piling bodies up "Auschwitz". Earl mentions "crawling down
'Fax like a rich n**** centipede", and the beat stitched up by Matt
Martians and Earl suggests that slimy lurching quality. Spaghetti-Western
guitar ripples of "Hoarse" provides Earl an ample opportunity to slow
down, while still "leaving opponents floating with paper and dirty
porcelain". I’m hard-pressed to pick a favorite line from the album, though
"rolling slick as the bottom of the bowling kicks," is hard not to
love. Jandek death howls appear from behind a creaking door, ensuring
the song's nightmarish status.
Earl's living through another
kind of nightmare on "Chum",
where it's been "twelve years since my father left, left me
fatherless" and he's hunted down by attention-seeking news sleuths. Over a
prodding piano line, Sweatshirt attempts to make amends with his mother and
takes up an older brother in Tyler. In the track's most telling moment the
19-year old Earl is "indecisive, scatterbrained, and frightened."
It's easy to forget he's still a kid trying to keep his head above water. The
aforementioned "Burgundy" is equally autobiographical, finding
Earl lamenting the loss of his grandmother (for whom the album is named) while
he's stuck "trying to get this album cracking." A friend called the
song "special" and I couldn’t imagine it at first. Now I can see it.
Rare is the occasion an artist opens up the diary of his life and invites us to
thumb through it; written in such rich detail we can hear his heart racing
"in the midst of a tornado".
"Sunday" flips to
another page, focusing on rocky relationships and swearing off substances.
Earl's dreams have gotten dimmer since he "stopped smoking pot," as
his relationship plots a similar course. He struggles to pick up the phone at
the beginning of the hazy track and soon enough he's asking "why we argue
a lot." The up-and-down is embodied in the chorus, Earl confessing:
"and loving you is a little different, I don't like you a lot." Loving
someone is difficult, though liking them is no cakewalk either. For his part,
Frank Ocean raps about leaving the object of his affections "at terminal
three," vanishing into his sleeper seat. In the outro, he's wondering
"what we're about?" Amidst all the traveling and extended vacations, you
can forget the reason you’re coming home. "Knight" provides a
temporary remedy from the nausea inducing beats, prescribing a soul sample of
the Magictones (previously put to good use by Raekwon).
Most-improved-rapper on the O.F. team Domo Genesis is "chasing
profits" despite his promise to finish college. Domo opens up about his
own absentee father and his success in spite of him. Earl sends a "shout
(out) to the fathers that didn't raise us." They're scouring the same
abandoned mine and yielding diverse results. Domo maybe the resident stoner of
the group, but his ambitions burn like bleeding lava. Earl is simmering, slowly
balling his fist up. Domo's the child still trying to prove something, Earl's
refusing to dwell in the past and filling the void any way he can.
"N***** think cause you f***ing
made "Chum" and got all personal that n***** won't go back to that
old f***ing 2010 s***," Tyler bellows in his rasp at the onset of verbal
onslaught "Whoa". We're given the "misadventures of a
s***-talker," whose is just as likely to found "bruising gimmicks
with the broom he usually use for Quidditch," as he is to "get a nice
spanking" courtesy of a new Sears catalog. Earlier during
"Sasquatch" Tyler cruised around in a truck plastered by puppy signs,
looking for One Direction fans to kidnap. Bouncing perfectly off each other,
the two also manage to highlights the differences between themselves. Tyler's
blissfully stuck in a state of arrested development, he's "soaring to Taco
Bell" while Earl's given up on ordering from the kid's menu. On Doris we
can hear Earl rap, but we can also hear the sound of him growing up.
We're now more than halfway through the calendar, as the July heat begins to impose it's sweltering and unforgiving will throughout the country, so what better time than now to cool out, turn back the clocks a little bit, and revisit some of the top tracks from the year so far. Some of the tracks here are choice album cuts, powerful enough to stand alone but vital enough to be heard in their original context. Others are from burgeoning artists bubbling up from the underground. Still others are bonafide hits from artists who need no introduction. The one thing they are all have in common? They're some of the best songs to drop in 2013 and deserve to be heard.
#20. "Young & Beautiful"- Lana Del Rey (The Great Gatsby OST)
Lana Del Rey and Gatsby director Baz Luhrmann are kindred spirits. Two artists with identifiable talent obscured by accusations of being too opulent and flashy for their own good. That said it's hard to imagine any Luhrmann film attracting the sort of vitriol LDR's 2012 SNL performance attracted, outlets like EW wondering out-loud if it was "the worst performance ever." When debut Born to Die received reviews of "shallow and overwrought," and sounding like "a fake orgasm," Del Rey doubled down on the divisive material with Paradise, an EP that took her coy seductress personae and amplified it to deafening proportions. "Young & Beautiful" continues that sound, a thunderous bass threatening to shake the roof off the elegiac orchestra. Lyrically, Del Rey is as uncertain as ever, hopelessly wondering "will you still love me when I'm no longer young and beautiful?" On the page, you can dismiss the sentiment as shallowness of the worst kind, but Del Rey's breathless cooing assures sincerity. As much as we'd like to pretend that looks can't trump genuine love, in the minds of many they do. "Young & Beautiful" then is Del Rey's bracing for the day when heart & soul start to matter more than sight.
#19. "Living Room"- Grouper (The Man Who Died in His Boat)
A good friend of mine once referred to Grouper's music as "quiet cries for attention that go unnoticed," as apt a summation of Grouper's hazy ambient drone as has ever been presented. These aren't cries for attention in a needy or narcissistic way, but genuine cries for help that waft up through your floorboards and float throughout the room. Grouper's music can be lovelorn, panic stricken, restless, and soul-searching. When you hear Liz Harris' wounded vocals crawling through the fog, you're hearing heartbreak on record. Closer "Living Room" is all-about restlessness and the aforementioned heartbreak that follows when you can't find a place to call your own. Harris' soft-strumming and reverb-heavy vocals are all you hear on the track, desperately searching for a place where "the spirit meets the skin," trying her best to "relate," to fit in and find a home. Before it's all over, Harris is forced to admit the charade of normalcy and sense of belonging are "getting harder and harder to fake." Cries for attention can often fall of deaf ears and few musicians capture those silent cries quiet like Grouper.
18. "Domo 23"- Tyler, the Creator (Wolf)
Any indications of Odd Future being relegated to also-ran status are obliterated the moment the first bass thud of "Domo 23" hits and induces heart palpitations in every living thing in its vicinity. "Yonkers" could be seen as the high-water mark, the Wolf Gang's antics at their most menacing and reprehensible. 2011 was far from the group's zenith, with 2012 yielding amongst other things a solid collabo tape and the runaway success of big brother Frankie's Channel Orange. All of that history ceases to exist when "Domo 23" struts out. You could be forgiven for thinking this song is the work of someone fresh out the gate, its brazen chorus evincing a youngblood with something to prove. No one would make the mistake though of thinking those churlish keyboards and nauseating synths, and that chorus of "f**k that Golf Wang," could belong to anyone not named Tyler. Here he's not courting controversy, but actively detailing it; referencing his "controversial" 2011 Pitchfork performance and remembering the roach-eating video that made him famous "b***h I ate one roach and I made a lot of money." And then there's the mentions of "midgets" and "it going down like Rodney King swimming lessons." OF didn't get here by playing nice or by the books, and "Domo 23" makes it known they don't plan on starting now.
#17. "Power Trip" ft. Miguel- J. Cole (Born Sinner)
J. Cole's proclivity is to place s**t-talking, chest-pumping songs alongside plaintive numbers where the last drop of Cole's charisma has been rung out. For every "Blow Up," or "Mr. Nice Watch," there's a track like "Too Deep For The Intro," or "Lost Ones," just around the corner, hanging its head in introspection. He's been accused of "overthinking" it at times, never content to let things exist as they are. The runaway success of Born Sinner's lead single "Power Trip" currently sitting at #20 on the Billboard charts acutely blends the former with latter, bringing in an understated Miguel vocal for the late-night ride. Just underneath that trunk-rattling bass beat, is a breezy little jazz number gently scratching the surface. Cole goes from being the one who's "totally bossed out," to breaking down and admitting, "she's got me where she want a n***a." The same hand he's holding a drink in, quivered in fear as he dropped off anonymous flowers to this "longest crush ever." When he's equating love with a drug, it's debilitating, he's hooked and can't quit cold turkey. Hearing that tremble in Cole's voice as he sings "I'm on one," you know why it is he's "up all night."
#16. "Where Are We Now?"- David Bowie (The Next Day)
Nothing about David Bowie's
career has been easy. When he saw success with the folk-rock leaning Hunky
Dory, he tossed it aside and adopted the pansexual personae of an Alien
rockstar named Ziggy Stardust. Tiring of he being a glam rock god (or goddess), he dabbled in soul
with Young Americans, before booking it to Berlin and crafting the
monumental "Berlin Trilogy," with Brian Eno in tow. And that entire
history, from Brixton to Potsdamer Platz is remembered in the pensive
"Where Are We Now." Moving at a staid pace with late-night lounge
music backing, Bowie doesn't go the aging rockstar route and question his own
mortality, only the path that lead him to this point in his life. "Where
are we now, where are we now? The moment you know, you know, you know," he
promises with a shaky certainty in the chorus. As the drums grow bolder, Bowie
becomes more resolute, "As long as there's sun, as long as there's sun. As
long as there's rain, as long as there's rain. As long as there's fire, as long
as there's fire. As long as there's me. as long as there's you." Life is riddled with uncertainty, but when you've
been around as long as Bowie has; you find an answer or two along the way.
#15. "Blood on the Leaves"- Kanye West (Yeezus)
When the beat finally drops on Yeezus centerpiece "Blood on the Leaves," it's instantly the most arresting moment on an album overrun with them. All the blood, guts, venom, and vitriol spill out through the speakers with the unholy horn section. "So let's get on with it," are the last words Kanye West summons up before that beat obliterates the haunting "Strange Fruit" sample West resurrected for a sordid tale of love and loss. The soulful Nina Simone cover of the Billie Holiday classic is the lingering remnant of "backpacking Kanye," rapping and "making soul beats just like you." The emotive robotics present on the track call back to the 808s phase and the christening of "unholy matrimony," recalls the hedonistic heights of MBDTF's "Hell of a Life." West over a near decade long career has proven incapable of running in place, and for all the talk of "look-backing" this track plows forward. So let's get on with it.
#14. "Perfect Form" ft. Shy Girls- Cyril Hahn (Single)
Up to this point Vancouver based producer Cyril Hahn had staked a claim on remixing cuts by
pop royalty, in the case of "Touch My Body" he slowed them down and
conversely turned up the sexual tense. Every coo, oh, and ah was
rendered as a cloud of warm air to fog up a window on a cold winter
night. That's not the case on "Perfect Form," his debut single which
will drop September 9 via the PMR label. "Perfect
Form" is utter euphoria for 4 straight minutes. Calculated slinking has
been shed for a freewheeling dance-floor cut. Portland-artist Shy Girls
(responsible for one of the great Indie R&B cuts of 2013 so far)
provides the alluring vocals "she's got perfect form, I love it when she
moves like that," with siren-like aptitude. On either side of the song,
it's the only line he can muster, admitting "I'm so tongue-tied I don't
even know my lines." Being this caught up in the now, who really has
time to think?
#13. "Good Ass Intro"- Chance the Rapper (Acid Rap)
If a better suited title has been affixed to a track this year, I haven't seen it and doubt I will. The track pulls the double-duty of introducing the endlessly creative and innovative world of Chance's Acid Rap album and absolutely grooving. "Good Ass Intro" has more forward momentum than Chris Johnson in full-sprint, Chance only breaking for the enrapturing gospel breaks courtesy of BJ the Chicago Kid. The song's glowing horn section is soulful without ever sounding "dated," occasionally elevating Chance to the status of nouveau motivational speaker or perhaps preacher, "balancing on sporadicity and f***ing pure joy." He's not just celebrating, he's doing "motherf***ing money dances," and gleefully "kicking dirt on the shirts of lames." The first admission from Chance on the track is that "raps just makes me anxious," with something this confident it's hard to believe.
#12. "The King"- Tree (Sunday School II: When Church Lets Out)
It doesn't take much to get lost in the novelty of "The King" once that chipmunk Elvis sample comes darting into the room. It's not everyday you hear a track from The King flipped for a rap-track, let alone one as tender and delicate as "Can't Help Falling In Love." Once the novelty of hearing the gravelly-voiced Tree (Chicago native and self-professed king of the soultrap movement) wears off, the move starts to make sense. Elvis' dark-blue croon on the original conveyed a sincerity with few peers in his discography, and Tree manages the same on this cut from his stunningly cohesive Sunday School II record. Where Elvis was begging for the object of his affection to grasp his hand, Tree's "telling my son I love him," wishing to "see my momma age," and detailing picturesque scenes of sitting in a church-pew singing. "I know who I am, and I ain't tryin' to find me," he proclaims in his signature rasp over booming drums in the first verse. Baring your soul's easier when you know yourself as well as Tree does.
Like what you're seeing so far? Already sensing a snub or two? Think you have an idea of what will claim the number one spot? Then drop a comment below or tweet at @allfreshsounds to let your voice be heard. And look for the rest of the list to be unveiled on Friday.
