Welcome to yet another Loosies Of The Week, a wrap-up of this weeks singles, throwaways, leaks, and any other loose tracks I find. A wide range of genres this week, with a well-rounded level of quality. There's sure to be something you enjoy.
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What can't Kelly Lee Owens do? Earlier this year, the up-and-coming Ambient House producer dropped her self-titled debut. An astounding record that was brilliantly composed, beautifully arranged, and infinitely catchy. Quality poured out of each and every track, instantly setting Owens up for a promising future in the next wave of Electronic music. And now she releases 'More Than A Woman,' a cover of Aaliyah's award-winning cut of the same name. Produced by Timbaland in his progressive R&B heyday, 'More Than A Woman' conforms to Owens' talents better than you would imagine. Her vocals are soft and confident, the production punchy and scrumptious. And then, to add two halves to Owens' melting pot, she crafted a remix of her own cover. Whichever half of KLO you prefer, the Pop or the House, will direct you to the respective cut. Whereas the cover powers by off Owens' vocals, the remix takes a more Electronic approach as Owens substitutes her singing for her sultry spoken word one-liners.
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Regardless of his successes or failures, don't get it twisted, Yung Lean has always been a terrible rapper. Nothing about his style, apart from his rather cliched Hip-Hop content, is conventional, which basically means he's emphasizing the two worse halves. Either ride off technical proficiencies with stereotypical language, or be unconventional through and through. That being said, there's still something magnetic about him, and more accurately, his Sad Boys crew. Straight from his come-up, the story has always been about the cold, frigid Cloud Rap defining his identity. Yung Lean's best moments were those in which the production find a crevice in the ice as of yet unexplored, like 'Kyoto' or 'Hoover.' On 'Metallic Intuition,' that bit of hope is restored, after the immensely blunder-filled Warlord. Here, synths cascade across walls of crystalized ice with a bold atmosphere that, had Lean not been present, would've felt damn near Bjork-like. On top of that, Yung Gud, Sad Boys' primary beatsmith, includes numerous off-handed samples (including some creepy laughter) that allows 'Metallic Intuition' to stand out from Lean's typified tracks.
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Any other week and 'Walk On Water' would walk on by me. However, a slow week (excluding Taylor Swift, an empty abyss I'm not falling down) means Eminem's return, with Beyonce in tow, is intriguing enough to give a listen. Like the majority of Eminem's post-2010's work, hype gets the best of the Hip-Hop community, only to lead to inevitable disappointment. On 'Walk On Water,' confirmation is given immediately that nothing has changed. The schmaltzy Pop Rap / Contemporary R&B crossover lacks any discernible backbone, giving Em nothing more than a piano and strings to work with. This works fine with Beyonce, safe in her prototypical crooning state, but not so much with a rapper known for his fierceness. That being said, given how poor Eminem's aggressive rapping has become lately, 'Walk On Water's' slow recital, most certainly inspired by Big Sean, isn't all that abhorrent. The first half of the track is bearable, showing an earnest level of confidence regardless of the tedium quickly setting in. The final verse, what was supposed to be a big payoff however, is 'Walk On Water's' least impressive, as it's both sketchy and sappy.
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What does Soul music, Amazon, Open Mike Eagle, and Christmas have in common? Well, before this week, absolutely nothing. But with 'Snowsuit,' and a Christmas playlist of new, Soul songs curated by Amazon Music, those four oddities somehow make sense in the same sentence. On 'Snowsuit,' OME doesn't leave his Hip-Hop roots for Soul, but does acclimate the two associating genres by relying more on his singing talents. To make matters more aesthetically-pleasing, 'Snowsuit' also adheres to the Christmas style Amazon prompted, both in the production and content. OME plays the role of familial narrator, relating a child's birthday to Christmas morning and all the excitement that follows. His unassuming humor peeks through, with solid imagery that paints a cutesy picture of a festive memory that's boasted by the equally cheerful production. Substituting OME's typical synths are a flurry of bells, adding to the pleasing nature of 'Snowsuit.'
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What separates genre-spanning musicians from being credible or delusional? I do not ask this rhetorically, I'm genuinely wondering. Some pull the risks off with grace and awareness, like Kanye West or Lil Ugly Mane. Others' attempts are disingenuous and uncandid, feeling fake or desperate. Knowing AWOLNATION's music, and Aaron Bruno's origin of Pop Rock and Synthpop, what category do you feel 'Seven Sticks Of Dynamite,' a Singer/Songwriter Blues Rock ballad, would fall under? That's right, the latter. From the get-go, 'Seven Sticks Of Dynamite' just doesn't sound right. Something's off, because something is. AWOLNATION attempts to appropriate rigid, decades-old constructs into his format, using repeating one-liners and sudden yelping over an overly-simplistic guitar riff. That is before the second half comes in, and AWOLNATION's form formally takes over. Remove the first half, remove the tasteless genre-snatching, and 'Seven Sticks Of Dynamite's' final 90 seconds is something to applaud. It preys on Pop simplicity, but, like with AWOLNATION's best works, that's fine if you're not concerned with the art.
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The ongoing problem of quantity over quality isn't just a Trap problem now-a-days. Ty Segall's 2017 output, believe it or not, is comparable to that of Young Thug. Sure, he's only had one album, his second self-titled. But following that release, two EP's ensued, one just two tracks, the other six, and three separate singles unaffiliated with anything that came before. 'My Lady's On Fire' is the third of those, dawning a red cover that opposes and compliments 'Alta's' green and 'Meaning's' yellow. They're clearly intent on forming a soon-to-be whole. However, 'My Lady's On Fire' doesn't present another new for Ty Segall, an artist already running thin on ideas. Right off the bat, his Folk Rock feels awfully familiar, before and after the switch into 'My Lady's On Fire's' prominent passage. It's Wilco territory. The only thing separating 'My Lady's On Fire' from any of his similarly-minded 2017 cuts (like 'Orange Color Queen' and 'Talkin') is the horn arrangement that builds in the track's second half. It's quite original for him and basically saves the track from utter redundancy.
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