What's New(s)?

Pete Rock produces a Mac Miller/Schoolboy Q track

 

Few producers in hip hop have ever been able to create a vibe quite like Pete Rock. Listening to any number of tracks, you can find a way to float off in a matter of seconds. So it's no surprise that go-to weed rapper Mac Miller and the effortlessly cool Schoolboy Q would team up with Rock on a song.

Left off of Miller's breakthrough 2013 record Watching Movies with the Sound Off, "Melt" is cut from the same hazy cloth. Twinkles abound, strings are delicately plucked, and Rock's drums possess a gentle crispness instead of their typical boom-bap quality. Stereogum's Tom Breihan calls it "softly psychedelic" and I'm inclined to agree. "Melt"'s the type of song a rap fan would throw on before taking a hit of acid or smoking "cigarillos bigger than armadillos" as Miller does. Whatever your preferred leisure is, "Melt" provides a terrific soundtrack.





Stream RiFF RAFF's NEON iCON album now

Though RiFF RAFF's second studio album NEON iCON is scheduled to drop next Tuesday through Diplo's Mad Decent label, one of rap's resident weirdos has gotten antsy and released the whole thing for streaming now.

Anchored by the undeniably catchy, DJ Mustard assisted "How to Be the Man", NEON iCON is a blitzkrieg of brightly colored, chintzy sounding Southern hip hop that begs to be blasted out of a car and replayed at least a dozen times. And if Jody Highroller's presence is grating to you at all, as it is to many rap purists, the guests he wrangles for NEON iCON are proven entities. Diplo, Mac Miller, Harry Fraud, and Lex Luger all produce, while rappers: Childish Gambino, Mike Posner, Slim Thug, and Paul Wall guest.

If you want to take a dive, NEON iCON's available for streaming below and can be preordered here.



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"The Worst Guys" ft. Chance the Rapper- Childish Gambino

 

I'll never fully understand the constant criticism that swirls around entertainment polymath Donald Glover's Childish Gambino project. Does he frequently trade in corny punchline rap? Unquestionably, but so does human-joke-machine 2 Chainz and he's widely lauded for it. If it's a matter of authenticity, Rick Ross' impressive rise to rap royalty rode on the coattails of a grandiosely fictionalized gangster persona. Even complaining that Gambino cycles through other rappers styles widely misses the mark. Rap was built on re-appropriating what's come before you and sampling depends on the very same. Though it’s worth mentioning, much of this is a moot point. Gambino just happens to rub some rap fans the wrong way and there’s little to be done about it.

Childish Gambino seems to realize that on the recently leaked “The Worst Guys” and he’s better off for the realization. He sounds relaxed here, shuffling in-and-out of a goofy Schoolboy Q snarl over a wonky carnival synth sound. He brags about sitting courtside not for a Lakers game, but to see the Clips. A wonderfully nuanced joke and confirmation that at least for now the Clippers are no longer playing second banana in the Staples Center. The bass knocks lend Gambino extra heft, though they're temporarily traded for bright xylophone strikes. Similarly, what begins as a chest-puffing sex-story concerning a threesome warps into a painful admission of not "getting it up" and being "awkward as f***". Just when you thought he'd run wild, he pulls in the reins. A guest appearance from Chance the Rapper is surprisingly restrained as well. The Chicago spitballer is perfectly content to hiccup the simple chorus of "all she needed was some". In short, Gambino simplifies everything here and if you still don't understand it, it's no longer his problem.

Listen to the new track here and look for Gambino's album Because the Internet to drop next week via Glassnote. 

What's New(s)?

Arcade Fire debut "Afterlife"

 

While the run-up to the Arcade Fire's fourth LP Reflektor has been impossibly bombastic with performances on SNL, The Colbert Report, and a costumed show over the weekend in Brooklyn, the music that's taken a back-seat to the publicity has been thoroughly dynamic. Second single "Afterlife" which debuted on the Zane Lowe show began "with a Haitian percussion loop we recorded way back at the end of The Suburbs tour … It went through a bunch of variations and it took a while to get the chorus right" according to frontman Win Butler. Wordless vocals whisper in and out and shards of guitar fracture the track, pointing toward their epic-rock leaning past. However, the drumming stays steady while crafting an infectious number that's dancefloor ready.

Reflektor is out October 29 through Merge.

 




Neil Young to release live solo show from 1970

  
There are few things more haunting than a Neil Young solo show, and come November that spectral presence will return via a recordings from a series of performances from the Cellar Door. Young set-up shop at the DC club in 1970, playing a series of six shows just three months after his third LP After the Gold Rush dropped. The live record travels along a similar of the Massey Hall live-album (sharing six tracks in common), but also issues live takes of Young classics: "Only Love Can Break Your Heart", a piano version of "Cinnamon Girl" and Buffalo Springfield track "Expecting to Fly". 

Live at the Cellar Door drops November 30 through Reprise. Below you can find the tracklist, along with a clip of Young performing "Old Man" from Live at Massey Hall. 

1. "Tell Me Why"
2. "Only Love Can Break Your Heart"
3. "After the Gold Rush"
4. "Expecting to Fly"
5. "Bad Fog of Loneliness"
6. "Old Man"
7. "Birds"
8. "Don't Let It Bring You Down"
9. "See The Sky About to Rain"
10. "Cinnamon Girl"
11. "I Am a Child"
12. "Down by the River"
13. "Flying on the Ground Is Wrong"

Childish Gambino "3005"

 

New Childish Gambino track "3005" finds entertainment polymath Donald Glover delivering a minor-key club-banger, backed by knocking bass and wobbling synthesizer lines. Gambino cycles through a series of flows during the songs verse, while settling on his tender croon for the chorus. "I used to care what people thought, but now I care more" he delivers in an introspective tone that has marked much of his work. Glover's work may be constantly shifting, but certain things remain the same. 

"3005" follows "Yaphet Kotto" (Freestyle), presumably both from Childish Gambino's sophomore studio LP Because the Internet which is still lacking a release date.

 


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

"Womyn 2"

Das Racist and Childish Gambino share an intense love for dropping as many dizzying pop-culture references as possible, so it was only matter of time before a collabo happened. DR rapper Heems and Gambino link up on "Womyn 2,"  one of the strongest tracks from Heems staggering Nehru Jackets mixtape. Over a twisted-Indian influenced sample and booming bass, Heems declares "women are the best," while Gambino is content with name-checking Anthony RHCP's Anthony Kiedis, New Girl, and Looney Tunes. Here we have two dedicated jokesters bringing their best, bouncing back-and-forth like Bonkers, leaving everyone laughing.

"Womyn 2"- Nehru Jackets

    

"It's a bonfire, turn the lights out"

"Bonfire"- Camp

One week from now, Childish Gambino will be dropping his debut album Camp. In the past week, Gambino has released the above video for lead single "Bonfire," and "Heartbeat," which features a massive electro-tinged beat. The album is currently streaming on NPR's site.  

   
For my money, this is going to prove to be one of the better rap releases of the year, as Gambino has been slowly building towards this moment. His breakout may have been last year's "B**ch Look at Me Now," which did the "impossible" and made a Grizzly Bear song sound like a legit rap beat. After the success of the two I Am Just a Rapper mixtapes, Gambino released the well-received Internet-album Culdesac. Not only has awareness of Donald Glover's Gambino project grown, but his style has changed as well. Gone is the higher-pitched squeak of earlier offerings, replaced with a slightly lower delivery. One thing that has not changed over time is Glover's ability to weave in hysterical punchlines, that may have you consulting Wikipedia. Ultimately it's that effortless humor of his, coupled with his deft beat selection that will make Camp a release worth checking out.

"No One Else is Doing This"

Artwork Childish Gambino's debut album.

Camp scheduled for a November 15th release.

Courtesy of the website Rapdose, the official tracklist for actor/comedian/rapper Donald Glover aka Childish Gambino has been released. The album is scheduled for a November 15th release and will be Gambino's first studio album have several mixtapes and one Internet-album (Culdesac). Gambino has high hopes saying, "I think it's a cohesive piece, and I wanted to tell a whole story with it." He went on to reference The Notorious B.I.G's '97 album Life After Death, which is well-regarded for it's rich narratives. Gambino is touring the country as part of his "Sign Up" tour and working on a music video for Camp's first single, "Bonfire." 

Official Camp tracklist:

1. Outside
2. Fire Fly
3. Bonfire
4. All The Shine
5. Letter Home
6. Heartbeat
7. Backpackers
8. L.E.S.
9. Hold You Down
10. Kids (Keep Up)
11. You See Me
12. Sunrise
13. That Power

"Freaks and Geeks"- EP 

NSFW