"Better In Tune With The Infinite" ft. LaTonya Givens

If you were to rank agitated music fan bases, Jay Electronica's small but fervent base would surely be near the top. Since signing with Jay Z's Roc Nation label in November 2010, the New Orleans-born rapper has released exactly zero LPs. Songs and guest appearances have been just as sparse. Wikipedia lists exactly one effort in 2011 and a pair in 2012. Last year was a little more kind to Jay Elec fans, when he guested on Mac Miller's "Suplexes Inside of Complexes and Duplexes" and Big Sean's "Control". Granted he only rapped for a minute on the former before disappearing into a whisper and the latter presented him with the unenviable task of clawing out of Kendrick Lamar's gargantuan shadow. So as 2013 transitioned to 2014, there wasn't exactly much hope for his debut Act II: Patents of Nobility (The Turn) to drop.

But in the past two weeks, Jay Elec stock has been on the uptick. March 9 he paid tribute to the Notorious B.I.G. on J. Period's March9Revisted mixtape, comparing himself to an alchemist and delivering a "universal message." Then over the last week he logged time down at SXSW, hanging with producer Just Blaze and Dan the Automator. Apparently the love he got at the festival moved him to release "Better In Tune With The Infinite", his first track as a lead artist in several years. While it's hard to rationalize waiting so long for a single track, "Better In Tune With The Infinite" makes you consider it. Blurring together samples of Elijah Muhammad and The Wizard of Oz, the subdued number is rife with the pop-culture philosophizing Electronica perfected on "Exhibit C". "It's frustrating when you just can't express yourself," he appropriately begins. He's aware as anyone that his career thus far has been marked by false-starts; as known for his setbacks as successes. "They might could feel the music, but could never ever feel me," he puffs over mourning piano and strings. For all we know about Jay Electronica's music, we know very little about the man himself. And that won't change, no matter what he does.

Should Auld Acquaintance...

It's time to ring in the New Year, to bid farewell to 2013, when we: found out what a Reflektor was, saw the Twinkie make a sterling comeback, added "twerk" and "selfie" to our lexicon, rejoiced at comeback after comeback of artists from My Bloody Valentine to Daft Punk and Nine Inch Nails, and generally celebrated the first year post Mayan Apocalypse.To start 2014 off right, I thought I'd be extra generous and give some great songs to blast as 2013 gives way to 2014. Some are my personal favorites from the year, others just sound perfect to play as the ball drops. Enjoy, stay safe, toast to better days, and have a Happy New Year's Eve.

"Kool On"- The Roots

"My Last" ft. Chris Brown- Big Sean

"Grown Up"- Danny Brown

"Sweet Life"- Frank Ocean

"DoYaThing" ft. James Murphy & Andre 3000- Gorillaz

"Clique" ft. Jay Z- G.O.O.D. Music

"Last Donut of the Night"- J. Dilla

"Hands on the Wheel" ft. A$AP Rocky- Schoolboy Q

"We Can't Stop"- Miley Cyrus

"Suit & Tie" ft. Jay-Z- Justin Timberlake

"Get Lucky" ft. Pharrell & Nile Rodgers

"F***in Problems" ft. 2-Chainz, Drake, & Kendrick Lamar- A$AP Rocky

"Control" ft. Kendrick Lamar & Jay Electronica- Big Sean

"Hold On, We're Going Home" ft. Majid Jordan- Drake

"Forever"- HAIM

"When a Fire Starts to Burn- Disclosure

"Bound 2" ft. Charlie Wilson- Kanye West

"How Many Drinks? (Remix)" ft. Kendrick Lamar- Miguel

"Entertainment"- Phoenix

"Step"- Vampire Weekend"

"Reflektor"- Arcade Fire




"Afterlife"-Arcade Fire

"XO"-Beyonce

"Countdown"- Beyonce

"One More Time"- Daft Punk

"Fireworks"- Animal Collective

"My Year in Lists"- Los Campesinos

 

"Last Nite"- The Strokes

"Miss You"- The Rolling Stones

"This Year"- The Mountain Goats

"Last Year"- Best Coast

 

"Champagne Year"- St. Vincent

"New Year"- Beach House

 

"New Year's Eve"- Tom Waits

"New Year's Day"- U2

Look for the rest of the Top 40 Albums of 2013 list in the next day or two. Unfortunately I'm not a factory and can't churn something out everyday, but have no fear the last few rounds are on there way. 

  

What's New(s)?

The Weeknd opens for Justin Timberlake

The lecherous persona the Weeknd's Abel Tesfaye wed in hell with noxious, churning samples couldn't be further removed from the committed, sugary-sweet R&B epics Justin Timberlake crafted on the double-sided 20/20 Experience. However, starting this Wednesday the Toronto-native will be joining Timberlake on his massive 20/20 Experience tour. Tesfaye will be playing opener in six cities before jetting over to Europe in the early Spring of 2014 to join Drake on his "Would You Like A Tour" run. Tickets for most of the shows have been snatched up, but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy the Weeknd's partnering with Drake on the anthemic "Live For" below.

Nicki Minaj responds to Kendrick Lamar's "Control"

"Kendrick, Jigga, and Nas, Eminem, Andre 3000, the rest of y'all". In the midst of his world-conquering "Control" verse, Kendrick Lamar seemed to have forgotten the "Monster" that is Nicki Minaj, discarding her into the unnamed "rest of y'all" category. Over the weekend, Minaj appeared on NYC's Power 105.1, where amidst a host of topics she discussed her noticeable absence from the list of hip-hop royalty.

"I'm probably in the top five mother f****rs he did mention, so go and do your mother-f***in' research," Minaj asserted. "But I also feel like he's maybe one of those respectful gentlemen that probably felt like, 'I don't want to say a female's name." To stake a further claim for the throne, Minaj proclaimed her royal-status "I'm the queen of New York, I'm the king of New York. Let me tell you why. Platinum albums...number one in five mother-f***in countries," Minaj heralded. Go below for the amazing clip, and head here for Minaj's ferocious guest spot on Ciara's "I'm Out."

Yoko Ono debuts star-studded "Bad Dancer" video

If you thought it'd never be possible to merge the disparate worlds of the Roots, Deerhoof, Reggie Watts, "This American Life" host Ira Glass, and the Beastie Boys together you were completely sleeping on Yoko Ono's musical largesse. 

Following her Letterman performance last month with psychedelic pranksters the Flaming Lips, Ono has released a video for the infectious electronic-bounce of "Bad Dancer" featuring the aforementioned stars and more. In it Ono creates a new painting, while two-stepping with a revolving door of celeb dancers. Highlights include ?uestlove's endearingly goofy turns, Mike D and Ad-Rock moving with the energy of their 80s selves, and Comedy Bang Bang's Reggie Watts appearing in a sequined cape to dance like the calculate madman CBB fans know him to be. Getting all of these people under one roof may have seemed like a Herculean task, but as Ono says in the song "never say never".

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

What's New(s)?

Yoko Ono/Flaming Lips perform on "Letterman"

Yoko Ono has never been one to shy away from spectacle and last-night the 80-year-old artist brought that showmanship to the Late Show with David Letterman. Performing "Cheshire Cat Cry" from the latest Plastic Ono band offering Take Me to the Land of Hell, Ono was aided by son Sean Lennon and merry-pranksters the Flaming Lips, who provided the abrasively grooving beat. Flips frontman Wayne Coyne mostly stuck to the sideline, manipulating a bullhorn while Ono bleated away "stop the violence". Letterman summed up the piercing act afterwards quipping, "It's fun when you leave the theater humming the music from the show, isn't it?"

Take Me to the Land of Hell is available now through Chimera Music.

Kendrick Lamar throws shots at Drake (kind of)

 

One of the countless rappers Kendrick Lamar took aim at in the world-conquering "Control" was Drake, who along with a whole host of hip-hop artists Lamar promised to "murder" and make irrelevant. During an interview with Elliot Wilson to promote Nothing Was The Same, the Canadian-artist seemed nonplussed about the whole situation, saying "Kendrick is giving people moments, but are you listening to it now, at this point in time? Okay... It was real cool for a couple weeks". Now in brief clip from an upcoming BET cypher, Lamar is "covertly" sending shade Drake's way, rapping "Yeah, and nothing’s been the same since they dropped 'Control'/ And tucked a sensitive rapper back in his pajama clothes," he raps. "Ha-ha jokes on you, high-five, I’m bulletproof/ Your shit'll never penetrate/ Pin the tail on the donkey/ Boy you been a fake". This time out will Drake have "a reply for it"?

Diss tracks and beef have been a big part of hip-hop since the very beginning, and have lead to stone-cold classic tracks (see "Takeover"), but in this digital era the flames of a feud are easier than ever to fan. If this leads to future awe-inspiring verses from either individual, I'm all for it, but if not hyped up fights like this become a distraction to the artists and do a tremendous disservice to hip-hop as a whole.



Kevin Shields gets conspiratorial 

 

Last time out the notoriously reclusive Kevin Shields (frontman of My Bloody Valentine) was bemoaning the band's stunning omission from the Mercury Awards decrying, "Our album's not a real album because it's independent. The corporate-ness has got to such a point where we've essentially been told that we don't exist. So, technically, that album doesn't exist. OK? It's not allowed to exist according to the Mercury prize... God help [whoever wins]... There are sinister forces at work."

Well now it seems Shields has found even more nefarious forces in the music industry, pulling the strings of an entire musical movement. In an interview with the Guardian, Shields claims the thrivent 90s Britpop was "massively pushed by the government." According to the Guardian, the MBV frontman had a less than thrilled reaction to the mention of the Cool Britannia movement, surmising "the 1990s wave of optimism and patriotism centered on the global successes of Britpop and bands like the Spice Girls". 

Listen to MBV's excellent "she found now" from their 20-years in the making LP mbv below.

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

"Control" ft. Kendrick Lamar & Jay Electronica

"Tell Flex to drop a bomb on this s***," Kendrick Lamar knowingly warns at the beginning of his verse. Calling Kendrick's verse atomic isn't even accurate, this isn't Nagasaki or Hiroshima for hip-hop. This is Tsar-Bomba, unparalleled levels of destruction that no one else would dare repeat for fear of reprisal. However, only focusing on Kendrick's carpet-bombing of everyone else in hip-hop would do to a tremendous disservice to "Control" as a phenomenal rap song. The bridge where Kendrick revives the stereo-panning of "m.A.A.d. city" is an onslaught of assonance and alliteration, that may be the brightest point of the entire fireball.  On either side of King Kendrick Lamar are unassailable verses from Big Sean and Jay Electronica. Big Sean tends to be one of those guys you either love or hate (forget fence-sitting) and if at the very least you don't love Sean's intensely autobiographical verse of "talkin' to the reaper to reverse death, so I can kick it with my grandad," then you have no heart for hip-hop. Jay Electronica breathlessly maneuvers through an inextricable sea of religious iconography for his verse; "tangling with Satan over history" and inscribing Jay Elec on the Book of Life. In any other scenario the rabid dogs of hip-hop would be foaming at the mouth over a new Jay Elec verse, but it's missing the firebreathing and namechecking that made Kendrick's verse so "controversial" in the first place. One mad city wasn't enough, so Kendrick's reach becomes bi-coastal and scoops up the Big Apple for lunch. Why stop there though? Kendrick continues over the blistering No I.D. beat to bring everyone else down and in the process raise the bar for rap: 

"And that goes for Jermaine Cole, Big K.R.I.T., Wale,

Pusha-T, Meek Millz, A$AP Rocky, Drake,

Big Sean, Jay Electron', Tyler, Mac Miller.

I got love for you all, but I'm tryna murder you n****s.

Tryna make sure your core fans never heard of you n****s.

They don't wanna hear not one more noun or verb from you n****s.

What is competition I'm tryna raise the bar?"

Some (see Joe Budden) chose to stand at the gates to the keep the rap interlopers out. Others sat in silence , K.R.I.T. indulged his inner Maximus, and Lupe Fiasco crafted theoretical attacks. Pusha took the invitation in stride, not bowing to regional pettiness or half-baked retorts, simply tweeting: "I hear you loud and clear my n****." Rest assured, retaliation tracks will arise. But before they do rappers would be wise to heed the words of Omar Little: "if you come at the King, you best not miss."

Big Sean's Hall of Fame is out August 27 via G.O.O.D. Music.